Timing acquisition algorithm for an adaptive antenna array

1. Field of the Invention A timing acquisition algorithm for locating the sync timing position of a sync word embedded in a received signal for achieving synchronization between the received signal and a base station, e.g., a base station receiving the received signal, within a wireless telecommunications system. The timing acquisition algorithm is preferably a set of programmable instructions incorporated within a software package and processed by a processor at the within the wireless telecommunications system, such as at the base station. The timing acquisition algorithm gets rid of the unlikely sync timing position for each branch of an adaptive antenna array in the first step; gets rid of the unlikely sync timing position for all branches in the second step; and uses optimal diversity combining for the remaining timing position and uses the conventional correlation or mean-square-error (MSE) approach on the combined data in the third step to finally locate the timing position of the sync word. The first two steps limit the computational load of the third step to a reasonable level. For example, if only two sync timing positions remain after the first two steps, then during the third step, weight calculations need only be performed twice, i.e., one for each sync timing position that still remains.