Direct GPS P-code acquisition method based on FFT

Recently, direct acquisition of GPS P-code has received considerable attention to enhance the anti-jamming and anti-spoofing capabilities of GPS receivers. This paper describes a P-code acquisition method that uses block searches with large-scale FFT to search code phases and carrier frequency offsets in parallel. To limit memory use, especially when implemented in hardware, only the largest correlation result with its position information was preserved after searching a block of resolution cells in both the time and frequency domains. A second search was used to solve the code phase slip problem induced by the code frequency offset. Simulation results demonstrate that the probability of detection is above 0.99 for carrier-to-noise density ratios in excess of 40 dB· Hz when the predetection integration time is 0.8 ms and 6 non-coherent integrations are used in the analysis.