Detection and arrival time estimation of a pulsed sinusoid

A novel double-FFT method is presented for the computationally efficient detection and time-of-arrival (TOA) estimation of a pulsed sinusoid. Starting from the time samples x(n), the first FFT produces X(k), whose magnitude is summed for detection. If a pulse is detected, a second complex FFT, of the X(k)², produces a peak whose location corresponds to the TOA. Simulation results have been used to generate the ROC curves for the detector, and an evaluation of the TOA estimation accuracy. For SNR ≥ 5 db, the TOA root mean square errors are less than ten time samples.