Performance Analysis for the Expanding Search PN Acquisition Algorithm

An approach is presented for approximating the cumulative probability distribution of the acquisition time of the serial PN search algorithm. The results are applicable to variable as well as fixed dwell time systems. The theory is developed for the case where some a priori information on the PN code epoch is available (reacquisition problem or acquisition of very long codes). The special case of a search over the whole code is also treated. The accuracy of the approximation is demonstrated by comparing with published exact results for the fixed dwell time algorithm.