Analysis of Code-Assisted Blind Synchronization for UWB Systems

Timing synchronization is a preeminent challenge in ultra-wideband impulse radios (UWB-IRs). The conventional all-digital synchronization methods encounter some formidable implementation difficulties such as high rate sampling and high complexity RAKE structure. To avoid these challenges, semi-analog methods have been motivated recently. We have recently proposed a code-assisted blind synchronization (CABS) algorithm to realize timing synchronization blindly with the help of the discriminative property of both time hopping codes and well- designed polarity codes. The algorithm requires sampling at the frame rate only and bypasses channel estimation during the synchronization phase. This paper analyzes the identifiability and both the probability of acquisition and the the mean square error performance of CABS analytically. A data-aided code-assisted synchronization (CAS) algorithm is also proposed and a modified version of CABS which relies solely on the time hopping code is investigated.