Discrete tracking system for slow FH. I. Algorithms with distributed synchronization group

A novel approach to slow frequency hopping (FH) spread-spectrum signal tracking is presented and analyzed. This approach is based on utilization of additional synchronization data carrying information for FH signal tracking purposes which is added to the digital data stream. Using a renewal process model, the steady-state probability mass function for the phase error process is derived, along with expressions for the tracking error variance, and the mean time to lose lock. Results are presented for several different tracking algorithms and a rough comparison with a standard early-late gate tracking loop is made.