Design of acquisition algorithm based on a novel detector for weak GNSS signals

An acquisition algorithm based on a novel detector is proposed for weak GNSS signals in this paper. In traditional receivers, the over-threshold detection on amplitude or peak-to-mean ratio is usually employed for signal acquisition. Instead, the proposed novel detector exploits peak positions of successive multiple detections covering a full range of code phase offset to refine the detection performance. A self-adaptive method to dynamically adjust integration time for various signal strength is employed to further enhance the acquisition efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is capable of acquiring the signal when the Carrier-to-Noise Ratio is as low as 22dB-Hz, fixing the residual Doppler offset at the worst situation.