Rapid acquisition of spread spectrum signals

This investigation has focused on the fundamental principles of the acquisition process, mathematically quantifying potential acquisition performance as a function of receiver structures and devices, spreading waveforms and specially structured acquisition signals. Certainly the most obvious conclusion is that MF devices offer a relatively straightforward means (for DS systems at least) of achieving two to three orders of magnitude improvement in acquisition time. These magnitudes of improvement are quite significant for reacquisition operations in which only coarse or fine timing uncertainties exist. In addition, acquisition with a MF results in the smallest residual timing uncertainty at the completion of the acquisition process. Therefore, every attempt should be made to exploit this rapidly developing technology, especially for application to DS data links which require both rapid reacquisition and precision ranging capabilities. A specific recommendation for further work in this area is presented.