A coherent acquisition method for a PN sequence using binary search and an auxiliary sequence

Direct sequence spread spectrum systems require a local replica of the pseudonoise (PN) sequence to be synchronized with the received signal's spreading code. A method is proposed to improve the PN sequence acquisition time and decrease the acquisition time variability. The proposed method is based on a binary search algorithm. At each stage of the algorithm, an auxiliary signal is used to formulate a new search region within the PN sequence, and at each stage the search region is reduced by half. The region containing the incoming PN phase is therefore obtained within O(log/sub 2/ (N+1)) steps. A closed loop coherent PN acquisition algorithm presented by Salih and Tantaratana (1996) motivated the use of the auxiliary signal, and the algorithm of Salih et al. is also used for comparison. Results indicate the algorithm presented in this paper can achieve a factor of two to three times improvement in the mean acquisition time with a significant decrease in the acquisition time variability.