A Comparison Between Tone-Based and Code-Based Cell Search Schemes for Multipath Division Multiple Access

Cell search procedure is an essential and critical process in an early stage when the user equipment (UE) is powered on. It mainly comprises symbol and frame timing synchronization, frequency offset compensation, and base station (BS) identification. Among the current exiting 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks, the UE completes the initial cell search based on different code sequences. In this paper, we investigate and compare two kinds of cell search methodology. Tone-based and code-based methods are explored for massive antenna systems. The detailed description and analysis are offered for two approaches. Simulation results indicate that the tone-based cell search not only possesses stable performance with respect to path numbers but also outperforms the code-based one in general channel realizations in terms of cell search error probability. The results suggest that the tone-based cell search could be used for 5G communication systems.