Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A base station may broadcast a synchronization signal using a narrowband portion of a bandwidth of a cell. The synchronization signal may include a sequence repeated over several symbol periods using a cover code to support power-efficient cell acquisition. A user equipment (UE) receiving the synchronization signal may determine frequency and timing information for a cell by performing a weighted combination and accumulation of low complexity autocorrelation and cross-correlation procedures on the synchronization signal. The reduced complexity correlation procedures may be enabled based on the use of the cover code and a base sequence. In some cases, the cross-correlation may be performed at multiple sampling rates. The use of the cover code within the synchronization signal may also support correlation procedures that use recursive or repeated updates, which may allow for further reduced computational complexity relative to other cell search procedures.