Randomized Search Strategies for Wideband Signal Acquisition

In this paper, we investigate performance of acquisition receivers employing randomized search strategies. In particular, we derive the expressions of the mean acquisition times (MATs) for the uniform randomized search strategy and the non-return-to-self uniform randomized search strategy (NRS). These two search strategies are robust against variation in the maximum dispersion of the channel, making them attractive from the standpoint of a receiver design. We also quantify the MATs of receivers that employ the uniform randomized search strategy and the multi-dwell detectors with optimal thresholds. The MATs are plotted for various search strategies over a range of signal-to-noise ratios, using a channel model that is suitable for wideband transmission. The numerical examples confirm the benefit of the uniform randomized search strategy and the NRS over the conventional serial search strategy.