Non-coherent multiuser receiver and method for aiding carrier acquisition in a spread spectrum system

1. A method for acquiring a user signal from among several user signals received from multiple users in a single burst, comprising:

receiving at a radio receiver a plurality of user signals in a single transmission burst;

suppressing at the radio receiver multiuser interference among at least some of the plurality of received user signals by performing a multiuser minimum mean-square-error equalization on symbol matched filter outputs; and

determining at a radio receiver a carrier frequency of at least one signal from among the interference suppressed plurality of received user signals.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein suppressing the multiuser interference is among all signals received in the single transmission burst.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the plurality of received user signals exhibit a rotating frequency while multiuser interference is being suppressed.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is executed by the radio receiver which comprises:

an antenna for receiving the plurality of user signals;

a matched filter bank that has an input coupled to an output of the antenna for despreading the plurality of received user signals;

a multiuser equalizer having an input coupled to an output of the matched filter bank for suppressing the multiuser interference; and

a carrier lock circuit having an input coupled to an output of the multiuser equalizer for determining the carrier frequency of the at least one signal from among the interference suppressed plurality of received user signals.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radio receiver comprises a non-coherent receiver in which carrier lock is not required for interference suppression.

6. A method for acquiring a user signal from among several user signals received from multiple users in a single burst, comprising:

receiving at a radio receiver a plurality of user signals in a single transmission burst;

suppressing at the radio receiver multiuser interference among at least some of the plurality of received user signals by performing a multiuser minimum mean-square-error equalization on symbol matched filter outputs; and

determining at a radio receiver a carrier frequency of at least one signal from among the interference suppressed plurality of received user signals by coherently accumulating at least two pilot symbols and squaring the accumulated value.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein determining a carrier frequency comprises coherently accumulating no more than three pilot symbols and squaring the accumulated value.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein determining a carrier frequency comprises, for each of several of the plurality of user signals, coherently accumulating no more than three pilot symbols and squaring the accumulated value, and further comprising averaging the squared values to increase a signal to noise ratio.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least some of the plurality of received user signals exhibit a rotating frequency while multiuser interference is being suppressed, said rotation not exceeding about 65 degrees while the at least two pilot symbols are being coherently accumulated.

10. A multiuser receiver for acquiring a user signal from among several user signals received from multiple users in a single burst, comprising:

an antenna for receiving a plurality of user signals in a single spread spectrum transmission burst;

a matched filter having an input coupled to an output of the antenna for despreading the received user signals;

a multiuser equalizer having an input coupled to an output of the matched filter for suppressing mutual interference among at least a portion of the plurality of user signals; and

a carrier lock circuit having an input coupled to an output of the multiuser equalizer for determining a carrier frequency of at least one user signal of the portion.

11. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 further comprising a chip acquisition FIR filter disposed between the antenna and the equalizer for estimating timing and amplitude for the portion of the user signals.

12. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 wherein the multiuser equalizer operates to suppress mutual interference among at least a portion of the plurality of user signals while the portion rotates in frequency.

13. The multiuser receiver of claim 12 wherein the multiuser equalizer operates to suppress mutual interference among all of the plurality of user signals.

14. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 wherein the carrier lock circuit comprises an accumulator for accumulating energy of at least two pilot symbols and a multiplier for squaring the accumulated energy value.

15. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 wherein the carrier lock circuit comprises an accumulator for accumulating energy of no more than three pilot symbols and a multiplier for squaring the accumulated energy value.

16. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 wherein the carrier lock circuit comprises, for each of the portion of the plurality of user signals, an accumulator for accumulating energy of no more than three pilot symbols and a multiplier for squaring the accumulated energy value, the carrier lock circuit further comprising an averaging sub-circuit for averaging the squared accumulated energy values.

17. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 wherein the carrier lock circuit comprises an accumulator for accumulating energy of at least two pilot symbols and a multiplier for squaring the accumulated energy value, and the multiuser equalizer operates to suppress mutual interference among at least a portion of the plurality of user signals while the portion rotates in frequency, said rotation not exceeding about 65 degrees while the at least two pilot symbols are accumulated.

18. The multiuser receiver of claim 10 , wherein the multiuser receiver comprises a non-coherent receiver in which carrier lock is not required for interference suppression.