Improvement of Window-Based PN Code Acquisition Scheme in CDMA Spread Spectrum Systems

Improvement of Window-Based PN Code Acquisition
Scheme in CDMA Spread Spectrum Systems

Kwang Man Ok and Chung Gu Kang
Department of Radio Science and Engineering
Korea University
Seoul, Korea
kmok@korea.ac.kr

Abstract In this paper, we propose a generalized version of
window-based pseudonoise (PN) code acquisition scheme selecting
one or more largest hypothesis energies rather than selecting the
single largest one per search window for verification. By
performing the numerical analysis based on the flow graph
approach, we show that our proposed scheme selecting the plural
largest hypothesis energies outperforms the conventional one in
both the AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. Furthermore, it is
shown that we can obtain the optimum window size robust to the
variation of the pilot Ec/Io with our proposed scheme.
Keywords - Code division multiple access; pseudonoise code
acquisition; spread spectrum communication; synchronization
I. INTRODUCTION
Most of mobile stations in commercial CDMA systems,
such as IS-95 and cdma2000 systems, employ a window-based
pseudonoise (PN) code acquisition scheme, in which the total
time hypotheses are divided into plural search windows and
they are serially tested until a correct time hypothesis is found.
In each window test, this scheme measures all the hypothesis
energies in serial, parallel, or hybrid manner, selects the largest
one among them, and compares it with a decision threshold,
sometimes called window threshold. If the largest hypothesis
energy exceeds the window threshold, the corresponding time
hypothesis is retested to verify whether it is correct or not.
Otherwise, the subsequent search window is tested [1]-[4]. By
restricting the number of false alarm events in each window test
to one at most, this scheme with a moderate window size was
shown to improve acquisition performance over the
conventional immediate verification scheme [4].
When the pilot Ec/Io is low, however, this scheme with the
moderate window size incurs lower detection probability than
the conventional scheme. This is because a correct hypothesis
energy is not likely to be the largest one among all the
hypothesis energies in the search window under a low pilot
Ec/Io. In this paper, we propose a generalized version of
window-based PN code acquisition scheme in order to improve
detection performance under a low pilot Ec/Io. It selects one or
more largest hypothesis energies per search window and
compares them with the window threshold in order of
hypothesis energy size. We also evaluate the mean acquisition
time of our proposed scheme in both the AWGN and Rayleigh
fading channels, using the flow graph approach.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In Section II,
we describe the system model under consideration and our
proposed scheme. In Section III, we derive the mean acquisition
time of our proposed scheme. The performance of our proposed
scheme is presented in Section IV. Finally, we conclude this
paper in Section V.
II. SYSTEM MODEL AND PROPOSED SCHEME
j
e
2
m
a
C
E ( )
C
h t mT ( ) r t
( ) I t

(a) Transmitter and propagation channel
1
N
n
? Z >
yes
fail
success
*
2
n
a
( ) r t ( ) * ( 1)
C
h n T t +
( ) 1
C
t n T + +
I
Y
Q
Y
1
N
n
( )
( )
2
2
I
Q
Y
Y
+
1
L
l
l
Z
Z
no

(b) Receiver and time hypothesis testing device
Figure 1. System model under consideration
Every base station in commercial CDMA systems transmits
the forward pilot channel in order to facilitate synchronization
in mobile stations operating within its coverage area [5]. The
mobile stations typically use one or more noncoherent time
hypothesis testing devices with postdetection integration in
order to acquire the forward pilot channel [6]. Fig. 1 shows the
system model under consideration. Thin lines correspond to real
domain and thick lines correspond to complex domain. Fig. 1(a)
shows the baseband model of the transmitter for the forward
pilot channel and the propagation channel.
C
E is pilot signal
energy per PN chip.
m
a is a complex PN code, i.e.,
I Q
m m m
a a ja + where , 1, 1
I Q
m m
a a . ( ) h t is the pulse
shaping filter with a constant band-limited transfer function, i.e.,
( ) ( ) 1 sinc
C C
h t T t T where
C
T is PN chip interval. and
are the amplitude and phase variations of the transmitted
signal through the propagation channel, respectively. ( ) I t is
This full text paper was peer reviewed at the direction of IEEE Communications Society subject matter experts for publication in the IEEE ICC 2006 proceedings.
1-4244-0355-3/06/$20.00 (c) 2006 IEEE
4941
interference from the other forward CDMA channels of the
same base station as well as other cells. It is modeled as
complex AWGN with zero mean and variance equal to
0 C
I E
where
0
I is total received energy, i.e., pilot signal energy plus
interference signal energy [7]. ( ) r t is received signal. The
forward pilot channel is spread, filtered, and transmitted without
data modulation. Fig. 1(b) shows the baseband model of the
receiver and the time hypothesis testing device. ( )
*
h t is the
matched filter of ( ) h t . is sampling timing error.
*
n
a is the
complex conjugate of
n
a . N is the number of correlated PN
chips.
I
Y and
Q
Y are inphase and quadrature correlation
values. L is postdetection integration number. Z is hypothesis
energy. is decision threshold. The received signal is filtered
and sampled. The input samples of the time hypothesis testing
device are despread, correlated, squared, and summed. The L
successive energy measurements, performed on the same time
hypothesis, are integrated into a hypothesis energy, and it is
compared with the decision threshold. If it exceeds the decision
threshold, the corresponding time hypothesis is declared as
correct. Otherwise, it is declared as incorrect.

Start PN code acquisition
yes
yes
Is it correct ?
k++
k>K ?
yes
Measure W hypothesis energies
Select K largest hypothesis energies
k =1
Remeasure hypothesis energy on kth best hypothesis
Move to subsequent search window
Accept time hypothesis
no
no
no
yes
no
1
th largest ? k Z >
2
? Z >
Verify kth best hypothesis

Figure 2. Proposed window-based PN code acquisition scheme: Flowchart
Fig. 2 shows the flowchart of our proposed scheme. W and
K are the number of tested and selected time hypotheses per
search window. Z is hypothesis energy and
i
is the ith dwell
threshold (i=1, 2). Now, our proposed scheme operates as
follows. The 1st dwell test measures W hypothesis energies
within a search window in serial or hybrid manner, selects the K
largest ones among them, and compares the largest one with the
1st dwell threshold. If it exceeds the threshold, the 2nd dwell
test is performed on the corresponding time hypothesis.
Otherwise, the subsequent search window is tested. If the
remeasured hypothesis energy exceeds the 2nd dwell threshold,
the verification test is performed on the corresponding time
hypothesis. Otherwise, the next largest hypothesis energy is
compared with the 1st dwell threshold. If the K largest ones are
already compared with the threshold, the subsequent search
window is tested. If the tested time hypothesis is verified as
correct, the PN code acquisition process is terminated.
Otherwise, the next largest hypothesis energy is compared with
the 1st dwell threshold.
In typical realization, the measurement and selection of
hypothesis energies are implemented by hardware, i.e., ASIC,
so as to maximize the efficiency of power consumption.
Meanwhile, decision and state transition parts are implemented
by software, i.e., CPU or DSP, so as to maximize flexibility.
Though our proposed scheme selects one or more largest
hypothesis energies rather than selecting the single largest one
per search window, it does not increase implementation
complexity because it is the essential part to serve Rake
reception [8].
III. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS
To derive the mean acquisition time of our proposed
scheme, we resort to the generating function of the linear signal
flow graph obtained from Markov chain assumption and
Masons formula [1][2][4][6][9]. To simplify the derivation, we
assume that the number of time hypotheses per PN chip is one,
sampling timing error ( ) is zero, the number of correct time
hypotheses is one, the number of the total time hypotheses is the
integer multiple of the window size (W), and the verification
test is ideal, i.e., false alarm and detection probabilities in the
verification test are zero and one, respectively. We also assume
that the detection events at the 1st and 2nd dwell tests are
uncorrelated or fully correlated in the fading channel.
A. AWGN and Uncorrelated Fading Case
Fig. 3 shows the state diagrams of our proposed scheme.
Fig. 3(a) shows all paths from the state of the 1st dwell test on a
false search window to the state of that on the subsequent search
window. False search window is the search window composed
of W incorrect time hypotheses. Let
Fi
P be the false alarm
probability of the time hypothesis testing device at the ith dwell
test (i=1, 2). We assume that it does not depend on the fading.
This assumption is acceptable because interference component
is typically much larger than signal component in the received
signal. In both the AWGN and fading channels, it is given by
( )
1
0
!
i
i
l
L
i V
Fi
l
V
P e
l
(1)
where V is the sum of the variances of inphase and quadrature
correlation values at an incorrect time hypothesis, i.e.,
0
V NI
and
i
L is the postdetection integration number at the ith dwell
test (i=1, 2) [6]. Let
( ) k
WF
P be the probability that only k
hypothesis energies at the 1st dwell test on the false search
4942
window exceed the 1st dwell threshold ( ) 0 k W . In both
the channels, it is given by
( )
( ) ( )
1 1
1
k W k k
WF F F
W
P P P
k
j \

, (
( ,
. (2)
( ) 0
WF
P z
( ) 1
WF
P z
( ) 1 K
WF
P z
( )
W
k
WF
k K
P z
( ) 2
WF
P z
2
m
F
P z
( ) 2
1
m
F
P z
P
K
z
( )
2
H z
( )
1 K
H z
( )
K
H z
M

(a) Partial state diagram from a false search window to the subsequent search
window
( ) 0
CWF
P z
( ) 1
CWF
P z
( ) 1 K
CWF
P z
( )
1 W
k
CWF
k K
P z
( ) 2
CWF
P z
P
K
z
( )
2
H z
( )
1 K
H z
( )
K
H z
M
( ) H z
M
M
( ) ,
1 1
W k
k l
CWD
k K l K
P z
+ +

( )
K
H z
( ) 1,1
CWD
P z
( ) , k l
CWD
P z
( ) , W K
CWD
P z
( )
1 K
H z
( )
1 l
H z
( )
( )
min , k K l
H z
2
m
D
P z
( )
2
1
m
D
P z
2
m
D
P z
( )
2
1
m
D
P z
2
m
D
P z
( ) 2
1
m
D
P z

(b) Partial state diagram from the correct search window to the success state or
the subsequent search window
( )
D
H z
( )
M
H z
( )
0
H z
( )
0
H z
( )
4
0
H z

( )
0
H z

(c) Reduced state diagram
Figure 3. State diagrams for analytical model
Let m be the 2nd dwell test time normalized by the 1st dwell
test time, i.e., ( ) ( )
2 1 C SW C SW
m NL T S T WNLT S T + + where
S is the number of time hypothesis testing devices and
SW
T is
the software processing time for decision and state transition.
Let
P
K be the verification test time normalized by the 1st dwell
test time. Let ( ) H Z be the transfer function from the state of
the 2nd dwell test on an incorrect time hypothesis to the state of
that on a subsequent time hypothesis or the stopping state. Then,
it is given by
( ) ( )
2 2
1
P
m K m
F F
H z P z P z
+
+ . (3)
If only k hypothesis energies at the 1st dwell test on the false
search window exceed the 1st dwell threshold ( ) 0 k W , the
2nd dwell tests are performed on ( ) min , k K incorrect time
hypotheses one by one and the subsequent search window is
tested. Now, all paths from the starting state to the stopping
state are merged into the following transfer function:
( )
( )
( )
( ) min ,
0
0
W
k K
k
WF
k
H z P z H z
, ]
]
(4)
Fig. 3(b) shows all paths from the state of the 1st dwell test
on the correct search window to the success state or the state of
that on the subsequent search window. Correct search window
is the search window composed of the correct time hypothesis
and 1 W incorrect time hypotheses. In Fig. 3(b), we assume
that detection events at the 1st and 2nd dwell tests are
uncorrelated. We also assume that the fading envelope of the
received signal ( ) is constant over the postdetection
integration interval (
C
NLT ). This assumption is acceptable
because the typical postdetection integration interval in IS-95
and cdma2000 systems, e.g., hundreds of PN chip intervals, is
much smaller than the channel coherence time subject to the
typical velocity of a mobile station. Let
Di
P be the detection
probability of the time hypothesis testing device at the ith dwell
test (i=1, 2). In both the channels, it is given by
( ) ( )
1
0
i
Di i i
P p p Z d dZ

(5)
where ( ) p is the PDF of the squared fading envelope
(
2
), i.e., ( ) ( ) 1 p in the AWGN channel or
( ) p e
in the Rayleigh fading channel, and ( )

1 i
p Z is
the conditional PDF of the correct hypothesis energy at the ith
dwell test (
i
Z ) given . From [6], ( )
1 i
p Z is given by
( )
2
1
2
2
1 1 2
2
1
i
i
i
L
M Z
i i V
i L
M Z Z
p Z e I
V V M
j \
j \
, (
, (
, (
( ,
( ,
(6)
4943
where V is the sum of the variances of inphase and quadrature
correlation values at the correct time hypothesis, i.e.,
( )
0 C
V N I E , ( )
a
I x is the a th-order modified Bessel
function of the first kind, and
2
M is approximately given by
( ) ( )
2 2 2 2
sinc sinc
i C C C
M L N E T N fT (7)
where f is frequency error. Especially in the AWGN channel,
Di
P is given by
2
2 2
,
i
i
Di L
M
P Q
V V
j \
, (
, (

( ,
(8)
where ( ) ,
i
L
Q x y is the generalized Marcums Q-Function [6].
Let
( ) k
CWF
P be the probability that only k hypothesis energies
excluding the correct hypothesis energy exceed the 1st dwell
threshold ( ) 0 k W < . In both the channels, it is given by
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
1
1 1 1
1
1 1
W k
k k
CWF F F D
W
P P P P
k

j \

, (
( ,
. (9)
Let
( ) , k l
CWD
P be the probability that only k hypothesis energies
including the correct hypothesis energy exceed the 1st dwell
threshold and the correct one is the l th largest among them
( ) 1 l k W . In both the channels, it is given by
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1
,
0 1
1
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1
0
1
1
1
W k
k l
CWD
l k l
W W l
P F
l k l
p p Z d F Z F Z F dZ

j \j \
, ]
, (, (
]

( ,( ,
, ] , ]
] ]

(10)
where ( )
0 1
F is the probability that an incorrect hypothesis
energy is less than or equal to
1
, i.e., ( )
0 1 1
1
F
F P . If the
correct hypothesis energy exceeds the 1st dwell threshold and
it is one of the K largest hypothesis energies
( ) ( ) 1 &1 min , k W l k K , the 2nd dwell tests are
performed on 1 l incorrect time hypotheses and the correct
time hypothesis one by one. If detection is successful, the
correct time hypothesis is accepted after the verification test.
Otherwise, the 2nd dwell tests are performed on the remaining
( ) min , k K l incorrect time hypotheses one by one and the
subsequent search window is tested. If the correct hypothesis
energy exceeds the 1st dwell threshold but it is not one of the K
largest hypothesis energies ( ) 1 K l k W + , the 2nd dwell
tests are performed on K incorrect time hypotheses one by
one and the subsequent search window is tested. If only k
hypothesis energies excluding the correct hypothesis energy
exceed the 1st dwell threshold ( ) 0 k W < , the 2nd dwell tests
are performed on ( ) min , k K incorrect time hypotheses one by
one and the subsequent search window is tested. Now, all paths
from the starting state to the success state are merged into the
following transfer function:
( )
( )
( )
( ) min ,
1
, 1
2
1 1
P
k K
W
l
k l m K
D CWD D
k l
H z P P z H z
+ +

, ]
]

(11)
All paths from the starting state to the stopping state are merged
into the following transfer function:
( )
( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
min ,
min , 1
, 1
2
1 1
,
1 1
1
min ,
0
1
k K
W
k K
k l m
M CWD D
k l
W k
K
k l
CWD
k K l K
W
k K
k
CWF
k
H z P P z H z
P z H z
P z H z
+

+ +
, ]
]
+ , ]
]
+ , ]
]

(12)
Now, we can model our proposed scheme by the reduced
state diagram shown in Fig. 3(c). If the total time hypotheses are
divided into search windows including the correct search
window, the total transfer function is given by
( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
0
1
0 0
1
1 1
D
M
H z H z
U z
H z H z H z
, ]
]
, ] , ]
] ]
. (13)
Finally, the mean acquisition time of our proposed scheme in
seconds is given by
( )
( )
1
1
acq C SW
z
dU z
T WNLT S T
dz
+ . (14)
B. Fully Correlated Fading Case
Since the detection events at the 1st and 2nd dwell tests
under the same fading,
( ) ,
2
k l
CWD D
P P in (11) should be replaced by
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1 2
0 1
2
1
1 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 1
0
1
1
1
1
W k
l k l
i
i
W W l
F
l k l
p p Z d dZ F Z F Z F dZ

j \j \
, ]
, (, ( ]

( ,( ,
, ] , ]
] ]
(15)
and
( )
( )
,
2
1
k l
CWD D
P P in (12) should be replaced by
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2
1
0 1
2
1
1 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 1
0 0
1
1
1
1
W k
l k l
i
i
W W l
F
l k l
p p Z d dZ F Z F Z F dZ
j \j \
, ]
, (, ( ]

( ,( ,
, ] , ]
] ]
. (16)
4944
IV. NUMERICAL RESULTS
To evaluate the mean acquisition time of our proposed
scheme, we apply the typical parameter values found in
CDMA2000 systems to our analysis. Chip rate ( 1
C
T ) is
1.2288Mcps. The number of the total time hypotheses ( W ) is
32,768. Frequency error ( f ) is 2200Hz, which corresponds to
2.5ppm in the carrier frequency of 881.5MHz [5]. Pilot Ec/Io,
i.e., pilot signal energy to total received signal energy ratio is set
to -7, -10, and -13dB, respectively. The number of time
hypothesis testing devices (S) is 8. Various window size (W) is
used, e.g., W = 16, 32, , 4096. The number of selected time
hypotheses per search window (K) is set to 1, 2, 4, and 8,
respectively. The number of correlated PN chips (N) is 128. The
postdetection integration number at the 1st dwell test (
1
L ) is 1,
2, or 3 while that at the 2nd dwell test (
2
L ) is 2, 4, 6, or 8. The
1st dwell threshold (
1
) is 0, 1, , 12 while the 2nd dwell
threshold (
2
) is 10, 12, , 30. The unit of both the thresholds
is
0
NI . to the verification test time is set to 100ms. Finally, the
software processing time for decision and state transition (
SW
T )
is set to 0.2ms.
Fig. 4 shows the acquisition performance of our proposed
scheme in the AWGN channel. Our proposed scheme with K =
1 corresponds to the conventional scheme. When the pilot
Ec/Io, W, and K are given, the minimum mean acquisition time
is plotted by varying
i
L and
i
( ) 1, 2 i . Our proposed scheme
with K > 1 outperforms the conventional one at every pilot
Ec/Io. When the pilot Ec/Io is -7, -10, and -13 dB, our proposed
scheme with K = 8 reduces the mean acquisition time by 0.3,
6.5, and 15.2 %, respectively. As the pilot Ec/Io decreases, the
optimum window size of the conventional scheme decreases
from 512 to 128 but that of our proposed scheme with K = 8 is
fixed to 512. Thus, we can find the optimum window size
robust to the variation of the pilot Ec/Io by our proposed
scheme with large K. The merit of our proposed scheme with K
> 1 is attributed to the fact that the event of the correct
hypothesis energy being one of the K largest hypothesis
energies is more probable than that of the correct hypothesis
energy being the largest one.
scheme in the uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channel. Our
proposed scheme with K > 1 outperforms the conventional one
at every pilot Ec/Io. When the pilot Ec/Io is -7, -10, and -13 dB,
our proposed scheme with K = 8 reduces the mean acquisition
time by 3.4, 6.5, and 11.9 %, respectively. As the pilot Ec/Io
decreases, the optimum window size of the conventional
scheme decreases from 512 to 256 but that of our proposed
scheme with K = 8 is fixed to 1024.
scheme in the fully correlated Rayleigh fading channel. Our
proposed scheme with K > 1 outperforms the conventional one
at every pilot Ec/Io. When the pilot Ec/Io is -7, -10, and -13 dB,
our proposed scheme with K = 8 reduces the mean acquisition
time by 3.6, 7.1, and 12.3 %, respectively. As the pilot Ec/Io
decreases, the optimum window size of the conventional
scheme decreases from 512 to 128 but that of our proposed
scheme with K = 8 is fixed to 1024.
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048
Window Size (chips)
M
e
a
n

A
c
q
u
i
s
i
t
i
o
n

T
i
m
e

(
s
e
c
o
n
d
s
)
(Ec/Io=-7dB,K=1) (Ec/Io=-7dB,K=2) (Ec/Io=-7dB,K=4) (Ec/Io=-7dB,K=8)

Figure 4. Acquisition performance in the AWGN channel
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096
Window Size (chips)
M
e
a
n

A
c
q
u
i
s
i
t
i
o
n

T
i
m
e

(
s
e
c
o
n
d
s
)

Figure 5. Acquisition performance in the Rayleigh fading channel
(Uncorrelated Case)
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096
Window Size (chips)
M
e
a
n

A
c
q
u
i
s
i
t
i
o
n

T
i
m
e

(
s
e
c
o
n
d
s
)

Figure 6. Acquisition performance in the Rayleigh fading channel
(Fully Correlated Case)
4945
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have proposed a generalized version of
window-based PN code acquisition scheme. It is found that the
performance of window-based PN code acquisition scheme can
be improved by selecting the plural largest hypothesis energies
per search window for verification in both the AWGN and
fading channels. Furthermore, it is found that we can obtain the
optimum window size robust to the variation of the pilot Ec/Io
with our proposed scheme.
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[6] A. J. Viterbi, CDMA Principles of Spread Spectrum Communication,
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4946

Improvement of Window-Based PN Code Acquisition Scheme in CDMA Spread Spectrum Systems

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Improvement of Window-Based PN Code Acquisition Scheme in CDMA Spread Spectrum Systems

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Improvement of Window-Based PN Code Acquisition

Scheme in CDMA Spread Spectrum Systems

in the Rayleigh fading channel, and ( )

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