Highly Noise-Robust Customization of SSB Format and Reception Scheme for 5G NR Sidelink-Based 60 GHz WPAN Systems

This study proposes a customized sidelink synchronization signal block (SSB) and corresponding reception designs tailored for 60 GHz wireless personal area network (WPAN) systems. To enable high-data-rate transmissions among proximate fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) devices, renewed 60 GHz WPAN systems based on 5G NR sidelink communications have been conceptualized to ensure compatibility with widely deployed 5G mobile communication systems. For highly reliable 60 GHz WPAN operation, continuous inter-node synchronization is required even under severely low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions below −10 dB. In this context, a noise-robust physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) tailored for 60 GHz mmWave WPANs has recently been proposed to maintain synchronization with a network coordinator under severe 60 GHz channel conditions. However, such a noise-robust PSBCH necessitates an equally robust orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol timing synchronization scheme. Accordingly, this study proposes a sidelink synchronization signal format and a corresponding symbol timing synchronization procedure specifically designed for reliable detection and demodulation of noise-robust PSBCH payloads in sidelink-based 60 GHz WPANs. The proposed design achieves accurate signal detection and symbol timing estimation for the customized PSBCH even at an SNR as low as −17 dB. Furthermore, to enhance the noise robustness of PSBCH demodulation, the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is restructured by assigning identical pilot symbols to repeated subcarrier indices. This DMRS mapping enables subcarrier-domain averaging, thereby significantly mitigating noise-induced pilot contamination in low-SNR regimes. Link-level simulations based on a recently developed indoor 60 GHz WPAN multipath channel model demonstrate that the proposed SSB format and reception design enable reliable control information broadcasting at SNRs down to −11 dB, while achieving demodulation performance comparable to that obtained with ideal symbol timing synchronization.