System access and synchronization methods for MIMO OFDM communications systems and physical layer packet and preamble design

An apparatus in a communication network, comprising:

• a processing element coupled to a plurality of antennas of a transmitter, wherein the processing element is configured to:
• map sub-carriers of a header OFDM symbol into a non-contiguous set of sub-carriers for each antenna of the plurality of antennas, wherein not all sub-carriers are used on all transmit antennas;
• multiplex within the header OFDM symbol at least a dedicated pilot channel on dedicated pilot channel sub-carriers and a broadcasting channel on broadcast channel sub-carriers for each antenna of the plurality of antennas, wherein the broadcast channel comprises information for a particular cell;
• and
• transmit each non-contiguous set of sub-carriers using each respective antenna of the plurality of antennas.

A method in a communication network, comprising:

• receiving, by a receiver, a signal from a transmitter, wherein the signal is transmitted from the transmitter by:
• mapping sub-carriers of a header OFDM symbol into a non-contiguous set of sub-carriers for each antenna of a plurality of antennas of a transmitter, wherein not all sub-carriers are used on all transmit antennas;
• multiplexing within the header OFDM symbol at least a dedicated pilot channel on dedicated pilot channel sub-carriers and a broadcasting channel on broadcast channel sub-carriers for each antenna of the plurality of antennas of the transmitter, wherein the broadcast channel comprises information for a particular cell;
• and
• transmitting each non-contiguous set of sub-carriers using each respective antenna of the plurality of antennas.