Simulation of serial acquisition in fast-frequency-hop system

A system for acquiring synchronization in a 16000-hop/s covertly coded frequency-hop one-way communications link is simulated to investigate the effect of interference and fading on the acquisition time and the probability of missing the genuine signal. The system is to use 7000 channels spaced at 25 kHz. The information rate is 1 b/hop. The serial search technique is used for coarse acquisition, since a narrowband IF (intermediate frequency) channel is to be used. The criterion used for the fading and jamming levels is that synchronization should work efficiently up to levels that render the signal useless even with synchronization. One of the main worries is the degradation in selectivity caused by the hop rate´s being comparable with the channel spacing. It was found that the acquisition time was typically about eight times the time the receiver has to be set in front of the transmitter to allow for clock inaccuracies