IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 18, NO.

1, JANUARY 2000

73

Modeling of Code Acquisition Process in CDMA

NetworksAsynchronous Systems
Marcos D. Katz and Savo Glisic, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractIn this paper, we discuss modeling of serial code acquisition process in a code division multiple access (CDMA) network.
Due to multiple access interference (MAI), the process is characand probterized by a different probability of signal detection
ability of a false alarm
in each cell of the code delay uncertainty region. We derive exact expressions for average code acquisition time and its variance. In addition to this, we also present several useful approximations, which enable easy engineering use of
these results for practical applications in future universal mobile
telecommunications system (UMTS) solutions. Numerical results
based on this analysis are used for decision threshold optimization
in code acquisition process for asynchronous CDMA networks.
Index TermsCode acquisition, code division multiple access
(CDMA), synchronization.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE THEORY of code acquisition in spread spectrum systems is well established and documented. A recent paper
by Polydoros and Glisic [1] presents a comprehensive review
of the problems and possible solutions. The main criteria for
the performance assessment are the average acquisition time
and its variance. Different strategies use different algorithms to
search the code delay uncertainty region. This uncertainty region is usually divided into a finite number of discrete points
called cells. The optimum maximum likelihood approach examines simultaneously all possible candidates of the code delay
(cells) resulting into a considerable complexity, especially if the
code is long. A less complex algorithm, called serial acquisition,
would examine one cell in time, resulting into much simpler implementation but longer acquisition time. In this approach, only
one out of these cells represents the synchroposition where
the correlation between the local and the input sequence is high.
Most of the previous work is limited to the analysis of the case
of spread spectrum signal in a Gaussian channel. A common
characteristic of that work is an assumption that the probability
of a false alarm in all nonsynchrocells is the same.
In a general case, a CDMA radio network is characterized by
the so-called nearfar problem where different users reach a particular receiver with different power levels. After despreading
at receiver , the overall received signal will have three components: the useful signal, the multiple access interference (MAI),
and Gaussian noise. The useful signal will be proportional to the
of the code and will have high
autocorrelation function
Manuscript received October 1, 1998; revised April 15, 1999.
M. D. Katz is with Nokia Networks, Oulu FIN 90651 Finland and the Centre
for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu, Oulu FIN 90014, Finland.
S. Glisic is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu,
Telecommunication Laboratory, Oulu FIN 90571, Finland.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0733-8716(00)01202-6.

value if the input code and the locally generated replica are synchronized; otherwise its value is close to zero. The MAI is probetween the despreading
portional to the cross correlations
code and the codes of all other users in the network.
In a quasi-synchronous system [3], [9] special care is taken
that the contribution of the MAI term in synchrocell is negligible
is constant for each cell of the code delay uncertainty
so that
region. It depends only on the signal-to-Gaussian noise power
ratio. In such a system, all users are synchronized within the
, where
range where mutual cross correlations have values
is the length of the code. For a specific class of codes, like
Gold, Gold-like, small, and large sets of Kasami codes, cross
. This
correlation has three or five values, one of which is
means that all users are synchronized within an error, which is
less than the distance between the two adjacent peaks of the
correlation function. Due to the fact that the synchronization is
defined as a range of errors (a not-zero error is required), the
term quasi-synchronous network is used.
In an asynchronous network, MAI takes on different values in
is difall cells including the synchrocell, so that in general,
ferent. Modeling and analysis of ML-code acquisition for such
cases has been analyzed in a number of papers [1][13]. Complexity of these algorithms is further increased by the presence
of MAI. For these reasons, in this paper, we analyze modeling
of serial code acquisition process in such an environment. In our
opinion, this is a viable solution at this stage of technology. In
the next stage, we expect that combination of parallel and serial
algorithms will be more feasible and even then, this analysis
will be useful for the system performance evaluation. In Section II, a short description of the model is given by emphasizing
the differences between the quasi-synchronous and synchronous
case. In Section III, expressions for the average acquisition time
and its variance are presented and discussed. Most of the mathematical derivations are given in the Appendixes A and B. In
addition to this, we also present several useful approximations
which enable easy engineering use of these results for practical
applications in future UMTS solutions.
II. MODEL OF CODE ACQUISITION PROCESS IN ASYNCHRONOUS
NETWORKS
We will analyze a serial search [2] of the uncertainty region
partitioned into cells. Most of the time in practice, the number
of cells is equal to the code length . In order to increase the
chance to detect the synchrocell, sometimes is chosen to be
. A careful optimization is required to simultaneously minimize and keep high the probability of synchrostate detection.
Thus, each cell represents one of phase positions between received and local sequences. In general, there are three different

07338716/00$10.00 2000 IEEE

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IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2000

Fig. 1. Decision process flow diagram.

approaches to model this process: models based on signal flow

graph theory [1], [2], circular diagram [4][6], or pure probabilistic time-domain analysis [7], [8]. In this paper, the decision process is presented by the flow graph shown in Fig. 1.
We start from an arbitrary cell which represents synchrostate
. If the synchrostate is corwith a prior probability
), the process will be finished
rectly detected (probability
(state ) after one dwell period , which represents the integration time needed to create the decision variable. In -transform,
weight of the corresponding
this will be represented by
graph branch. In this representation, represents the unit time
interval. If the signal is not detected, the process will move to
. In this case,
cell 2, which is represented by branch
the process will have to move through all cells before it comes
again in cell 1, where it will have chance again to detect the
, represented by node
signal. In moving from cell to cell
and node
, a false alarm may or may not occur. The former
, where
is the
case is represented in the graph by
verification time of the process, and the latter case is represented
. In the verification mode, the initial decision is
by
checked up by increasing the integration time. Probability
and
are different in each cell due to the different MAI for
each delay. If the first cell does not represent the synchrostate (a
), the process moves to cell 2 with or
priori probability
without false alarm. These cases are represented by
and
, respectively. The process continues in the
same way throughout all cells. In each cell, the prior proba.
bility of having synchrostate is
In the analysis of the mean acquisition time and its variance,
we need the overall graph transfer function between state
and
that represents the acquisition-time probability-generating function [1]. The first and the second derivatives of this
, are used in
function with respect to , calculated at point
the expression for the average acquisition time and its variance
[see (12) and (15)].
For the derivation of the generating function we need the following definitions:

Fig. 2.

Equivalent graph for the ith cell.

In general, the transfer function of the equivalent loop for the

th cell can be written as

(3)
denotes
operation.
where
Fig. 2 illustrates a simplified branch of the th cell. If
is the equivalent transfer function for the branch connecting the
th node with the final node , we can write
(4)
where
(5)
The reduced flow graph of the single dwell acquisition
process is shown in Fig. 3, where
(6)

(1)

By inspection of Fig. 3, the generating function can be written

as shown in (7) at the bottom of the next page. Keeping in mind
that

(2)

(8)

KATZ AND GLISIC: MODELING OF CODE ACQUISITION PROCESS IN CDMA NETWORKS

75

Fig. 3. The reduced decision process graph.

the expression for generating function is further simplified, resulting in

The details are given in Appendix A, and the result is

(13)
(9)
Substituting

where

from (5) gives

(10)
and
gives the expression for the generDenoting
ating function in a compact form as

Generating function

(11)

III. THE MEAN ACQUISITION TIME AND ITS VARIANCE

(14)
Note that the first two terms of (13) preserve the form of previously known results for the mean acquisition time, namely
and
are constant [2] or when
is -valued
when
is constant [9]. If
is considered constant, we have
and
,
, and the third term in (13) bethat
comes zero. Under these conditions, the mean acquisition time
agrees with the corresponding results obtained in [1]. The variance of the acquisition time can be calculated by any of the following equivalent expressions [2]:

The mean acquisition time is obtained by differentiating the

and evaluating the result at
.
generating function
Thus
(12)

(15)

(7)

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IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2000

Using the results derived in Appendix B, for

can be expressed as

and by using (11), we have

(16)
From (16), we have
(17)
(24)
(18)

where the following notation is used:

where

(19)
Combining the obtained results gives the following expression
for the variance

(20)

(21)
and
are related, the variance can be
Since
written as a function of the mean acquisition time. The expression for the mean acquisition time has already been derived, and
and
by
it is related to

and
(22)
Thus
(24a)
Substituting these expressions into the equation for the variance yields

(23)

The variance of the acquisition time is obtained by substituting (24) and (13) into (23). It is interesting to compare expressions for the mean acquisition time with previous results.
Table I summarizes the results obtained for case 1, constant
, and
[2]; case 2, -valued
, and a constant
[9]
and
in quasi-synchronous networks; and case 3, -valued
-valued
in asynchronous networks.

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77

TABLE I
MEAN ACQUISITION TIME FOR DIFFERENT DISTRIBUTIONS OF P

The form of the three expressions provides an easy insight

into the major differences in average acquisition times for the
three cases. In the expression for case 2, when compared with
should be replaced by
, and
in the numercase 1,
ator should be modified by a factor given by (14). The first factor
, and the second modificatakes into account the average
tion takes into account the position of the initial search cell with
. In the expression for case 3,
respect to the distribution of
should be replaced by
[see
when compared with case 2,
(14)] in addition to a new term that should be added to the
numerator. This term can be expressed as
(25)
A first observation is that a sufficient condition for
to be zero is that
or
or both of them have a
constant distribution; that is, at least one of the following
, or
conditions is met:
. A proof for it is straightforward
,
, and . Since
from the definitions of
and
, the sign of
cannot be determined without
and
.
knowledge of the particular distributions of
, one can see that
as
From the definition of
. However, it is enough that
long as
is small to cause a considerable reduction of
at least one
. The variation of
also depends on the
the final value of
number of cells .
IV. APPROXIMATIONS
To get an additional insight into the system behavior, we will
present some approximations. A block diagram of the acquisi-

AND

tion scheme, implementing the algorithm described in Section

II, is given in Fig. 4. In the figure,
is the assumption that
is the
the decision variable is larger than the threshold, and
users, the
opposite assumption. For a CDMA network with
received overall signal can be represented as
(26)
where
is the bit of the signal transmitted by user with index ;

is the code of the signal transmitted by user with index

;
is the phase of the signal transmitted by user with index

.
For simplicity, a real signal is assumed. The extension to complex signal (I&Q) is straightforward.
In the receiver with index after frequency downconversion
and correlation with code , we have

(27)
where

is the cross correlation between codes with indexes

and ;
.

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Fig. 4.

IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2000

Generic model for the serial-search code acquisition receiver.

The MAI term

can be repre-

sented in each cell of the delay uncertainty region as a Gaussian

. In
zero mean variable with variance
order to average out the impact of MAI on the code acquisiwith the average value
tion process, we approximate
. Furthermore, we will use discrete approx,
imation of the correlation function
and
is the code length. One should be
where
, then represents the
aware that if the number of cells
,
. Therefore, the previous
index of the cell . For
equation can be expressed as
(28)
where and are two arbitrary sequences from the same set
of sequences. In the sequel, we will evaluate this expression for
different classes of codes, which are considered for applications
in UMTS system. For sequences, we will use the well-known
relation [10] which is based on Cauchy ineqality

which for
becomes
. For short codes, this
should be further elaborated. For a preferred pair of sequences
and
[10], [11] obtained by decimation by factor
,
and divides ,
sequence length
the three-valued cross correlation is given as
times
times
times
(31)
For a specific choice of these parameters, we have
1) Gold Sequences:

integer of
odd
even.
2)

(32)

Small Set of Kasami Sequences:

even

(33)

By using (28), we have in general case

(29)
and

(29a)
sequence,
and
for
For
Therefore, we have for the upper and lower bound on
following expressions:

(34)

.
the
V. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
(30)

For the generation of MAI, we use eight Gold codes of length

31, generated by a preferred pair of polynomials

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79

Fig. 5. Gaussian probability density functions (pdfs) at the integrator output in each cell. Pdf of the decision variable at the square-law detector output.
Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) = 2 dB, relative delay factor  = [16; 1; 21; 12; 27; 25; 1; 13]and V t = 1; 91E 3.

and

. Vector
defines initial delays (in chips) of the
sequences. By using known results for a square law detector followed by an integrator (integration interval and signal bandwidth ), the detector output signal (decision variable) probability density function (pdf) is shown in Fig. 5. In this analysis,
the equivalent noise variance is given by (28). The curves are obtained for 16 different cells of the code delay uncertainty region.
From this figure, one can expect that parameters
will depend on the decision threshold .
Three parallel results are presented for the normalized avis obtained by using
erage acquisition time
is the approxexact result given by (13) (case 3 in Table I),
is used (case 1
imation where the standard expression for
and
and
is the
in Table I) with
approximation where MAI is approximated by Gaussian noise
given by (28), (30), and (35).
with variance
is presented versus the threshold with
In Fig. 6,
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) being a parameter. One can see that
for large (> 10 dB) and small (<0 dB) values of SNR, there is
,
, and
not much difference between the results for
. In the range 0 dB < SNR < 10 dB, this difference will
also depend on the mutual phase of the codes. Maximum and
are illustrated in Fig. 7for three
minimum values for
and . The results
different values of penalty factor
are obtained for 30 randomly generated phase delay vectors .
versus the decision threshold
The exact value for
with number of users being a parameter is shown in Fig. 8
for three different values of SNR. For higher SNR, the range
of optimal threshold is wider. These results can be used to

create the look up table for optimal threshold settings. Fuzzy

logic and neural networks are a feasible implementation
approach.
One should be aware that in the case of imperfect code
synchronization
should be modified by modifying SNR
, where
is the timing error. The impact
by factor
will be averaged out by the fact that
of this error on
some of the interfering signal amplitudes will be increased
, and some will be reduced by factor
by factor
, where
is the derivative of the cross
correlation function.
VI. CONCLUSION
A model for code acquisition in asynchronous CDMA networks was introduced and the most relevant performance measures of the acquisition process were computed. The generic expression for the mean acquisition time, encompassing both the
previously known results [2], [9] and the case of asynchronous
networks, was derived. The new expression for the mean acquisition time is consistent in form with the already known results,
and it shows an even stronger dependence on the pattern distriand
. Exact results of the mean acquisition
butions of
time were compared to some proposed engineering approximations, as a function of several parameters of interest. Numerical
results give an insight into the impact of different system parameters on the system performance, especially the importance
of proper decision threshold setting. When applied to UMTS,
one should be aware that in downlink, with continuous transand
are due to an unintentionally
mission, unequal

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0 02; 0; 2; 5; 8; 10]. T B = 10, k = 10. Phase vector  = [2 4 6 20 11 29 6 4],

Fig. 6 Normalized mean acquisition time (T =T ), eight users, SNR= [ 5;

Solid line: T
. Dotted line: T
. Dasheddotted line: T
.

(a)
Fig. 7. Upper and lower bounds of the mean acquisition time for 30 realizations of a random phase shift vector. Normalized mean acquisition time (T
eight users, SNR [0; 5; 10]. (a) T B = 10, k = 5.

created nearfar effect by base station power control. The base

station will send more power to the users at the edge of the cell
where the impact of the interference coming from the adjacent
cell is more severe. In the uplink, unequal signal power levels
are due to both power control imperfections and unequal signal
level due to different processing gain for different data rates. For
continuous transmission in the paging channel, the model is directly applicable. For discontinuous transmission, the model is
, where
is the
the same with a modification
voice activity factor.

=T ),

APPENDIX A
DERIVATION OF EXPRESSION FOR THE MEAN ACQUISITION
TIME
In order to determine the mean acquisition time, a similar
procedure to the one that was used in [2] is followed. Only the
most important differences will be pointed out here. The mean
acquisition time is defined as
(a1)

KATZ AND GLISIC: MODELING OF CODE ACQUISITION PROCESS IN CDMA NETWORKS

81

(b)

(c)
Fig. 7. (Continued.) Upper and lower bounds of the mean acquisition time for 30 realizations of a random phase shift vector. Normalized mean acquisition time
. Dotted line: T
. Dasheddotted line: T
. (c) T B = 10, k = 20. Solid
(T =T ), eight users, SNR [0; 5; 10]. (b) T B = 10, k = 10. Solid line: T
line: T
. Dotted line: T
. Dasheddotted line: T
.

where
is the generating function defined by (11). Equation
(11) can be written as

The derivative of the generating function at

is

(a2)
where
is

(a4)

, and the generic th term

(a3)

The first term of (a4) is simply . The second term of (a4) can
is a sum of expresbe determined taking into account that
sions and then its derivative will be the sum of derivatives of the

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corresponding expressions. The derivative of the generic term

given by (a3) is computed by induction, resulting in

(a5)
Substituting (a5) into (a4) results in

(a6)

(a)

After some straightforward manipulations, the terms involving double summation are reduced as

(a7)
and

(b)

(a8)
Combining (a7) and (a8) according to (a6) and arranging
terms results in the following expression for the mean acquisition time:

(a9)
Denoting
(a10)

(a11)
(c)
Fig. 8. Normalized mean acquisition time for different thresholds. Number of
users = 2 8, T B = 10; k = 10, phase vector  = [2 4 6 20 11 29 6 4]:Solid
line: T
. (a) SNR = 0 dB. (b) SNR = 5 dB. (c) SNR = 8 dB.

(a12)

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83

and substituting these expressions into (a9) leads to (after a tedious algebraic manipulation) the final equation for the mean
acquisition time, namely

(a13)
where
;

is defined in (14).
Note that, with exception of the last term on the right-hand side
of (a13), the expression for the mean acquisition time is quite
similar to that obtained in [9] for quasi-synchronous systems.

(b3)
which, for

= 1, it is reduced to

APPENDIX B
DERIVATION OF THE EXPRESSION FOR THE VARIANCE OF THE
MEAN ACQUISITION TIME
Equation (23) shows the variance of the mean acquisition
time as a function of both the mean acquisition time already
. In the remainder
determined and the second derivative of
is outlined.
of this Appendix, the determination of
Many of the algebraic manipulations required here are similar
, which is given by
to those used in [9]. We start from

In order to facilitate the derivation of

(b4) as

(b4)
, we will split
(b5)

where

(b1)
(b6)
Its first derivative results are shown in (b2), at the bottom of
the page, while the second derivative is (note that for simplicity,
the dependence of H with z has been omitted)

and

(b7)
A few manipulations to (b6) leads to

(b8)

(b2)

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The first term of (b8) was already computed in [9], the second
term is reduced according to

, given by (b7) can be in turn split into

(b12)
and
(b13)

(b9)
Splitting (b12) as
and the third term of (b8) can be written as

(b14)
The first term of (14) can be developed as

(b15)

(b10)
Thus, the expression for

Distributing the sums on both terms of (b15) and working on

gives

results in

(b16)
The second term of (14) can be developed as

(b11)

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85

(b17)
Substituting (b16) and (b17) into (b14) gives for
(b20)
Finally, combining (b11) and (b20) according to (b5) gives

(b18)
Now, the expression for

, (b13), will be developed

(b19)
Developing and arranging terms results in

(b21)
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IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JANUARY 2000

[2] J. K. Holmes and C. C. Chen, Acquisition time performances of PN

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Marcos D. Katz was born in Salta, Argentina,

on January 29, 1962. He received the B.S.E.E.
degree from the Universidad de Tucumn, Tucumn,
Argentina, in 1987 and the M.S.E.E. degree from
the University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland, in 1994. He
is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in
electrical engineering at the Centre for Wireless
Communications, Telecommunication Laboratory,
University of Oulu.
From 1987 to 1995, he worked as a Research Engineer at Nokia Telecommunications, Fixed Access
Systems. In 1995, he joined Nokia Telecommunications (presently Nokia Networks), Radio Access Systems, where he is currently a part-time Senior Research Engineer. His current research interests are in synchronization and array
processing techniques.

Savo Glisic (M90SM94) is a Professor of electrical engineering at the University of Oulu, Oulu,
Finland and the Director of Globalcomm Institute for
Telecommunications. He was a visiting Scientist at
Cranfield Institute of Technology, Cranfield, England
in 19761977 and at the University of California, San
Diego, in 19861987. He has been active in the field
of spread spectrum and wireless communications for
25 years and has published a number of papers and
five books. He is the Coauthor of the book Spread
Spectrum CDMA Systems for Wireless Communications, (Norwood, MA: Artech, 1997) and Coeditor of the books Code Division
Multiple Access Communications (Norwell, MA: Kluwer, 1995) and Wireless
Communications: TDMA Versus CDMA (Norwell, MA: Kluwer, 1997. He is
doing consulting in this field for industry and government.
Dr. Glisic has served as Technical Program Chairman of the Third IEEE
ISSSTA94, the Eighth IEEE PIMRC97, and IEEE ICC01. He is Director of
IEEE ComSoc MD programs.