Performance of a Self-correlating

of the Thesis Performance of a Self-Correlating Synchronization and Detection Scheme for IR-UWB in Multi-User Multipath Environments by NIRMAL CHANDRASEKARAN Thesis Directors: Professor Larry Greenstein & Professor Predrag Spasojevic Owing to the very low duty cycle of impulse like ultra wideband signals, timing acquisition with acceptable accuracy and complexity has been a constant topic of research. Most acquisition techniques can be broadly classified under two categories: Training based algorithms, which require a specific training sequence at the start of communication and Blind Acquisition, which relies on the correlation between successive data symbols transmitted and cyclostationarity of the transmitted signal. Amidst algorithms which use a clean template or a noiseless reference, a recent class of techniques named ‘Timing based on Dirty Templates’ (TDT) has been proposed. These algorithms rely on the correlation of two adjacent portions of the noisy received signal. One portion of the noisy received signal acts as a template for the other, thus improving the synchronization speeds and accuracy by making the acquisition independent of training sequences. A novel blind TDT algorithm, which we refer to as Agrawal Blind Synchronization scheme (ABS), was proposed for IR-UWB signals. Based on the design of the time hopping code, significant improvements in acquisition speeds have been demonstrated using the ABS scheme, compared to existing blind acquisition schemes. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the performance capabilities of the selfcorrelating ABS scheme in multi-user multipath environments. Adopting the best performing time hopping pattern, we investigate the effect of multiple interferers on absolute timing error,