Sequential-acquisition, multi-band, multi-channel, matched filter

Abstract

A parallel digital matched filter is constructed which performs numerous simultaneous correlations of a received spread spectrum signal against various replica offsets of its spreading sequence. This allows for the rapid acquisition of the received signal code phase, and subsequent handoff to tracking for a multi-channel receiver. A novel matched filter computational architecture is utilized, in which common digital arithmetic elements are used for both acquisition and tracking purposes. As each channel is sequentially acquired by the parallel matched filter, a subset of the arithmetic elements are then dedicated to the subsequent tracking of that channel. This process is repeated, with the remaining available arithmetic elements accelerating the acquisition of the next channel, and so on, until all resources are allocated as tracking channels. Additionally, multiple data inputs and delay lines are present in this architecture, and are available for processing at each arithmetic element. In this way, multiple signal bands and user channels may be integrated within a common receiver framework.