Patent ID: 8422604

Claim:
A method for detecting frame sync and a frame structure, among a number N of frame structures, in a satellite communication system, each frame structure corresponding to a frame of a number of symbols, a maximum number of symbols per frame among all of the frame structures being M, the method comprising: acquiring Start of Frame (SOF) differential correlation value sequences for a plurality of symbols received by the satellite communication system; acquiring sums (d i,t ) of correlation values, normalized for SOF positions based on the number of symbols per frame, using the SOF differential correlation value sequences for each pair (i, t), t corresponding to one of the plurality of frame structures, 0≦t≦(N−1), i corresponding to one of the symbols, 0≦i≦(M−1); and selecting a maximum value (d z,x ) among the sums of correlation values, detecting z as a frame sync position of a transmitted frame, and detecting x as a frame structure index of the transmitted frame.