An offset-Z search strategy for spread spectrum systems

A new Z search method is proposed which can significantly improve mean acquisition time when compared with the best previous Z search strategy. The codephase search starts from a position offset from centre of a range which has been determined from a priori information. The proposed search method includes previous Z search strategies as special cases. The distribution and mean of acquisition time have been developed for the proposed search strategies. With minimum mean acquisition time as objective, optimization of the starting position offset has been investigated