Initial code synchronization of W-CDMA mobile systems exploiting local phase coherence and Pisarenko estimation

Noncoherent techniques can be adopted for pseudonoise code synchronization in the presence of random phase. Differentially coherent methods conversely operate with linear phase shifts, such as when a systematic frequency error occurs. This letter presents a method exploiting local phase coherence (inspired by the Pisarenko estimation), allowing global frequency estimation in the presence of random phase noise. Its accuracy is numerically compared with noncoherent and differential techniques for the initial stage of wideband code-division multiple-access code synchronization.