Preamble Detection Based on Cyclic Features of Zadoff–Chu Sequences for Underwater Acoustic Communications

Preamble detection is an important yet challenging task for underwater acoustic communications. The received preamble is distorted by unknown multipath propagation, severe Doppler scaling effect, various noise, and external interference in underwater scenarios. In this letter, we propose a cyclic feature detector using a Zadoff-Chu sequence by exploiting its cyclic features. The Doppler scale information is carried by these cyclic features. The proposed detector can bypass the requirement of channel information and is robust to carrier frequency offset. Moreover, it can deal with noise uncertainty and impulsive interference. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed detector significantly outperforms the state of the art in detection performance.