Rapid Pseudonoise Signal Acquisition Algorithms Employing Charge-Coupled Device Matched Filters

The potential advantages of using CCD or other matched filtering devices to achieve rapid pseudonoise (PN) signal acquisition is well known. This paper presents performance analysis of two major algorithms using CCD PN matched filters. It is shown that in a large uncertainty range and low chip signal-to-noise ratio (Ec/No) environment, parallel-serial search is superior to serial-parallel search though this advantage dwindles as Ec/No increases. On the other hand, parallel search is a more favorable choice if the uncertainty range is small.