On the asymptotic performance of threshold-based acquisition systems in multipath fading channels

The asymptotic performance of timing acquisition systems having fixed dwell time in multipath fading channels is investigated. The detrimental effect of the multipath channel fading on the acquisition performance is isolated by considering the asymptotic performance as the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increases. It is found that for any threshold such that the average probability of false alarm is less than a given tolerance, the channel fading results in a lower bound on the asymptotic average probability of miss which is nontrivial for a variety of fading scenarios. A threshold-based direct-sequence spread-spectrum signal acquisition system is considered and it is found that the detrimental effect of channel fading on asymptotic acquisition performance, albeit nontrivial, is not very significant. The asymptotic acquisition performance of two threshold-based acquisition schemes for ultra-wideband (UWB) signals with time-hopping (TH) spreading are also evaluated and compared. For both schemes, the detrimental effect of the channel fading on the asymptotic acquisition performance turns out to be significant.