On the Performance Evaluation of Variable-Dwell Time PN Acquisition Systems

The variable dwell time (VDT) acquisition algorithm has been proposed to reduce the mean acquisition time [1,2] of a PN waveform. Previous analyses pertaining to VDT systems have used either approximation methods [1-3] or simulations [4] to evaluate related system performance parameters, namely, P
D
, P
FA
and n, the mean dwell time per cell. We present two related algorithms to compute these parameters. Exact results are obtained by these algorithms. Furthermore, P
FA
and n can be evaluated more efficiently.