Systems and methods for providing timing tracking loops in a communication system

A method for processing data in a communication device, comprising:

• receiving multipath signals from a transmitter and determining timing information based on the multipath signals received over a communication channel;
• based on the timing information, tracking a position of a channel estimation window (CEW) within an observation window corresponding to a maximum overall channel energy level;
• based on the position of the CEW, estimating a characteristic of the communication channel;
• and
• based on the position of the CEW, calculating tap coefficients for mitigating the effects of the communication channel on the received data.

A communication system, comprising:

• a radio frequency (RF) front end configured to receive multipath signals from a transmitter via a communication channel and determining timing information based on the multipath signals;
• a delay locked loop (DLL) comprising a maximum region detector configured to identify a target channel profile comprising at least a portion of the multipath signals based on the timing information, the maximum region detector further configured to apply a weight vector to each channel tap in the target channel profile and determine a tap with a maximum power level relative to remaining channel taps in the channel profile;
• a window timing loop (WTL) adjuster configured to track a position of a channel estimation window (CEW) within an observation window corresponding to maximum channel energy;
• a channel estimator coupled to the WTL adjuster configured to estimate a characteristic of the communication channel based on the position of the CEW;
• and
• an equalizer coupled to the WTL adjuster configured to calculate tap coefficients for mitigating the effects of the communication channel on the received data based on the position of the CEW.