Method, apparatus and system for determining the position of a synchronization signal frequency.

A method for determining the position of a synchronization signal frequency among data transmitted from a transmitter and received by a receiver of a communications system, the method comprising the steps of: a) calculating a peak value representing a signal transmitted from the transmitter and detected by the receiver; b) estimating a frequency offset between the carrier frequency of the transmitter and a frequency reference of the receiver; c) estimating a quality factor using the estimated frequency offset; d) determining whether the peak value and the quality factor meet peak threshold conditions and predetermined quality; e) when the two predetermined such conditions are satisfied, store the peak value, frequency offset and quality factor and repeating steps a) -d); f) when either of the threshold conditions is not met, determining the position of the sync signal frequency as the location of a stored peak value and a stored quality factor.