Timing and Frequency Synchronization for 1-bit Massive MU-MIMO-OFDM Downlink

Abstract: We consider timing and frequency synchronization for the massive multiuser (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink where 1-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are used at the base station (BS). We focus on the practically relevant scenario in which orthogonal-frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is used to communicate over frequency-selective channels. Our contributions are twofold. First, we use Bussgang's theorem to analyze the impact on performance caused by timing and frequency offsets in the presence of 1-bit DACs at the BS. Second, we demonstrate the efficacy of the widely used Schmidl-Cox synchronization algorithm. Our results demonstrate that the 1-bit massive MU-MIMO-OFDM downlink is resilient against timing and frequency offsets.