Timing error estimation for baseband multicarrier modulation

In this paper, the topic of timing error estimation for baseband discrete multitone modulation is addressed in the context of high‐speed digital subscriber line applications. To the authors' best knowledge, this problem is sparsely and not in depth treated in the literature. In this study the modified Cramer–Rao lower bound is derived, two conventional estimators are considered and a new one is proposed. Behavior of these estimators is evaluated in terms of bias, variance and computational complexity in a wide variety of scenarios, concluding that the proposed estimator appears to be superior in all instances. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.