1. A method for synchronizing a received signal based on a maximum likelihood (ML) principle using a bisection technique comprising: (a) directly sampling the received signal in a preamble period; (b) obtaining an initial condition for initiating an iterative search by bisection method based on isolating an optimal estimate from non-optimal extremes; (c) performing said iterative search by bisection method; (d) generating another sequence using said bisection sequence, that converges to an ML timing estimate more rapidly; (e) computing an ML carrier-phase using said ML timing estimate; and (f) synchronizing the received signal based on said ML timing estimate and said ML carrier-phase.