Cell search method for a downlink channel of an OFDMA transmission system

An apparatus for searching cell in a multiple carrier wireless network, said apparatus comprising:

• means for obtaining and/or ordering an initial list of possible candidate couples [carrier frequency;
• bandwidth] according to said multiple carrier wireless network;
• means for reducing said initial list, delivering a reduced list of candidate couples, said reduced list comprising only candidate couples of the initial list that are compatible with a predetermined communication mode of said multiple carrier wireless network, wherein reducing said initial list comprises for at least some candidate couples of said initial list, an OFDMA processing step, in which a preamble is searched in view of a given number of symbols applied to a received signal at the values of a current candidate couple, said search being made by calculating a differential cross correlation C, between a differential received vector, calculated from said received signal, and a differential preamble vector;
• and
• means for searching, among the reduced list of candidate couples [carrier frequency;
• bandwidth], for at least one candidate couple associated with at least one cell of said multiple carrier wireless network and, if identified, selecting the at least one candidate couple associated with the at least one cell of said multiple carrier wireless network.

A non-transitory computer-readable support comprising a computer program product stored thereon, said computer program product comprising program code instructions for performing a cell search method in a multiple wireless network, when executed by a processor, wherein the method comprises:

• a step of obtaining and/or ordering an initial list of possible candidate couples [carrier frequency;
• bandwidth] by the processor according to said multiple carrier wireless network, said initial list comprising candidate couples;
• a step of reducing said initial list by the processor, delivering a reduced list of candidate couples, said reduced list comprising only the candidate couples of the initial list that are compatible with a predetermined communication mode of said multiple carrier wireless network, wherein said step of reducing said initial list comprises for at least some candidate couples of said initial list, an OFDMA processing step, in which a preamble is searched in view of a given number of symbols applied to a received signal at the values of a current candidate couple, said search being made by calculating a differential cross correlation C, between a differential received vector, calculated from said received signal, and a differential preamble vector;
• and
• a step of searching, among the reduced list of candidate couples [carrier frequency;
• bandwidth], for at least one candidate couple associated with at least one cell of said multiple carrier wireless network and, if identified, selecting the at least one candidate couple associated with the at least one cell of said multiple carrier wireless network.