Matched filter acquisition in fixed multipath channel

This paper introduces analytical results for a DS spread spectrum system with matched filter code acquisition in a fixed multipath channel. The performance measure is the mean acquisition time. Constant false alarm rate criteria are used as the threshold setting rule for the comparator. The energies of the multipath components are combined already in the acquisition process by using a chip level post detection integration. The method increases the probability of detection of the burst of multipath components, i.e., it decreases the mean acquisition time for finding the existence of the multipath profile. The numerical results indicate that the method improves the acquisition performance significantly, without requiring knowledge of the number of multipath components.