Approximate computing for complexity reduction in timing synchronization

This paper presents the design and performance evaluation of a reduced complexity algorithm for timing synchronization. The complexity reduction is obtained via the introduction of approximate computing, which lightens the computational load of the algorithm with a minimal loss in precision. Timing synchronization for wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA) systems is utilized as the case study and experimental results show that the proposed approach is able to deliver performance similar to traditional approaches. At the same time, the proposed algorithm is able to cut the computational complexity of the traditional algorithm by a 20% factor. Furthermore, the estimation of power consumption on a reference architecture, showed that a 20% complexity reduction, corresponds to a total power saving of 45%.