Method and apparatus for a synchronization channel in an OFDMA system

An orthogonal frequency domain multiple access (OFDMA) base station comprising:

• a synchronization channel generator generating a synchronization channel signal comprising a plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements, each of the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements have sequence index properties associated therewith for inherently determining the sequence index in response to the sequence index properties;
• and
• transmitter circuitry transmitting an OFDMA signal comprising a plurality of subcarriers, wherein the transmitter circuitry is coupled to the synchronization channel generator and transmits the OFDMA signal comprising the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements distributed over a portion of the plurality of subcarriers.

A wireless communication receiver for receiving orthogonal frequency domain multiple access (OFDMA) signals comprising:

• receiver circuitry receiving and demodulating OFDMA signals, the receiver circuitry comprising a filter filtering the OFDMA signals to isolate a bandwidth of the OFDMA signals which includes a synchronization channel signal, the synchronization channel signal comprising a plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements, each of the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements have sequence index properties associated therewith for inherently determining the sequence index in response to the sequence index properties;
• and
• a controller coupled to the receiver circuitry and decoding the synchronization channel signal in response to detecting the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements distributed over a portion of the OFDMA signals, the controller decoding the synchronization channel signal in response to detecting the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements and decoding the plurality of synchronization channel signal sequence elements in response to the sequence index properties associated therewith.