Time-Synchronization of CCSK Short Frames

Efficient short Packet transmission is a key technique of the Internet of Things systems. When the data payload is small, the header used to help the receiver synchronization process becomes no longer negligible and should be shortened, and ideally removed. A Preamble-less frame generated using a non-binary error control code associated with a Cyclic Code Shift Keying (CCSK) modulation has been recently proposed. The paper presents a pragmatic approach to mitigate the time synchronization ambiguity at two levels: at symbol level thanks to an over-modulation of the CCSK symbols, and at chip level thanks to the Non-Binary code properties. Simulation results showed the efficiency of the proposed approach, where the blind frame synchronization is successfully performed at -10 dB.