Blind bandwidth detection for a sample stream

A method for determining a bandwidth of a complex valued sample stream, comprising:

• correlating a first portion of a preamble symbol of the complex valued sample stream with a second portion of the preamble symbol to generate a time autocorrelated portion;
• transforming the time autocorrelated portion to generate a frequency diverse auto correlated portion;
• determining a first attribute deviation over a first region of the frequency diverse autocorrelated portion, wherein the first region has a first bandwidth;
• determining a second attribute deviation over a second region of the frequency diverse autocorrelated portion, wherein the second region has a second bandwidth greater than the first bandwidth;
• and
• determining the bandwidth of the complex valued sample stream by comparing the first attribute deviation with the second attribute deviation.

An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) receiver comprising:

• an OFDM engine, wherein the OFDM engine is configured structurally to correlate a first portion of a preamble symbol of the OFDM complex valued sample stream with a second portion of the preamble symbol to generate a time autocorrelated portion;
• transform the time auto correlated portion to generate a frequency diverse autocorrelated portion;
• determine a first attribute deviation over a first region of the frequency diverse autocorrelated portion, wherein the first region has a first bandwidth;
• determine a second attribute deviation over a second region of the frequency diverse autocorrelated portion, wherein the second region has a second bandwidth greater than the first bandwidth;
• and
• determine the bandwidth of the OFDM complex valued sample stream by comparing the first attribute deviation with the second attribute deviation.