Acquisition for DS/CDMA systems with multiple antennas in frequency-selective fading channels

A generalized code acquisition scheme for direct-sequence code-division multiple-access systems with multiple antennas is proposed over frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed scheme is developed on the framework of a generalized configuration of multiple antennas and correlators. The nonconsecutive search method is generalized and extended to multiple antenna systems to exploit multipath signals in improving acquisition performance over frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed scheme also adopts a hybrid decision strategy to make effective decisions on acquisition. The mean acquisition time performance of the proposed acquisition scheme is analyzed and evaluated in frequency-selective Rayleigh-fading channels with general multipath delay profiles and spatial-fading correlations. The effects of nonconsecutive search on mean acquisition time are investigated for various channel environments, and the optimal choice of decision strategy is discussed. Furthermore, effects of various configurations of multiple antennas and correlators, decision thresholds, and correlation interval on the performance are also investigated.