A system including a magnitude measuring module, an energy normalization module, and a metric generation module. The magnitude measuring module is configured to measure magnitudes of real portions of differentially demodulated signals, wherein the differentially demodulated signals are generated by differential demodulation of signals received from a base station. The energy normalization module is configured to generate a sum of energies of a plurality of subcarriers included in the signals received from the base station. The metric generation module is configured to generate a plurality of metrics for a plurality of symbols included in the signals received from the base station. The metric generation module is further configured to detect, based on the plurality of metrics, a preamble symbol included in the signals received from the base station.