Signal Search and Acquisition Algorithms for Software GPS Receiver

Based on the software platform of MATLAB simula-tion, the paper collects the real GPS intermediate frequency (IF) signal by the IF signal sampler, and uses it to carry out the time-domain correlation acquisition and the fast Fourier transform (FFT) acquisition on the C/A code of GPS signal, and also carry out the decision of the single-binary search and the M/N search on the personal computer. The experimental results show that comparing to the algorithm of time-domain correlation acquisition, the algorithm of FFT acquisition can consumedly reduce the computing times, and accordingly reduce the acquisition time. In addition, comparing to the decision algorithm of single-binary search, the M/N search can consumedly reduce the false-alarm probability and improve the detection probability. So, the M/N search can both control acquisition time effectively and meet the high performance requirement of acquisition.