System and method for adaptive overlap and add length estimation

A data receiving apparatus, comprising:

• a correlation module in communication with a receiver and configured to correlate a plurality of time domain samples of a data frame obtained from the receiver with an offset stored data frame to determine a plurality of magnitudes of correlation values corresponding to a corresponding plurality of time offsets;
• and
• an overlap and add circuit in communication with the receiver and the correlation module and configured to perform overlap and add on a data signal obtained from the receiver according to a determined overlap and add length and a determined time estimate;
• wherein the determined overlap and add length comprises the distance between a first edge offset and a second edge offset;
• wherein the first edge offset comprises an element of a first subset of the offsets whose correlation value magnitude is greater than or equal to a first predetermined threshold;
• wherein the second edge offset comprises an element of a second subset of the offsets whose correlation value magnitude is greater than or equal to a second predetermined threshold;
• and
• wherein the determined time estimate comprises the time value of the first edge offset.

Computer executable program code embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to a receiver to perform the functions of:

• obtaining a plurality of time domain samples of a transmitted instance of a synchronization data frame;
• obtaining a coarse estimate of a starting value for the synchronization data frame;
• correlating the time domain samples of the transmitted instance with a locally stored instance of the synchronization data frame at a plurality of time value offsets to determine a corresponding plurality of magnitudes of correlation values;
• comparing the magnitudes of the correlation values corresponding to a first subset of the offsets to a first predetermined threshold to determine a first edge offset;
• comparing the magnitudes of the correlation values corresponding to a second subset of the offsets to a second predetermined threshold to determine a set of potential second edge offsets;
• selecting a second edge offset from the set of potential second edge offsets using a false alarm mitigation procedure;
• using the first and second edge offsets to determine an overlap and add length estimate;
• using the first edge offset to modify the coarse estimate of the starting value to determine an estimate of a starting position of a time-domain data window for subsequent processing by an overlap-and-add circuit;
• and
• providing the starting position estimate and the overlap and add length estimate to the overlap-and-add circuit.