Method and system for spread spectrum code acquisition

1. A method for synchronizing a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) frame, the method comprising:

selecting a finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies, wherein the finite number corresponds to frequencies for which coefficients may be determined by a receiver;

generating a preamble-codeword in a frequency domain for the DSSS frame based on the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies, wherein the preamble codeword comprises frequencies with a greater spectral power compared to a background spectral power;

generating a preamble in a time domain based on the preamble-codeword in the frequency domain;

prepending the preamble to a coded data stream to form the DSSS frame;

transmitting the DSSS frame;

receiving the DSSS frame;

generating sparse Fourier coefficients of the preamble-codeword by performing a Sparse Discrete Fourier Transform (SFDT) on the preamble;

generating reference complex conjugates of the sparse Fourier coefficients based on a reference codeword; and

multiplying the sparse Fourier coefficients of the preamble by the reference complex conjugates of the sparse Fourier coefficients of the reference codeword.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies have higher spectral power than a background power spectral density of the preamble-codeword.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies comprise randomly selected frequencies.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the randomly selected frequencies are randomly distributed within negative and positive frequencies.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies comprise specifically selected frequencies.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the specifically selected frequencies are selected symmetrically around a center frequency.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a different preamble-codeword after the preamble-codeword has been used for a predetermined period of time.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference codeword comprises the preamble-codeword agreed upon in advance between a transmitter and a receiver.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a delay estimation signal by applying an iterative filtering algorithm to results of the multiplication.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a delay estimation signal by applying a Sparse inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (SiDFT) algorithm to results of the multiplication.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of preamble duration to coded data stream in each DSSS frame is assigned to hide the spectral peaks of a preamble portion of the DSSS frame in a white noise spectrum of the coded data stream.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a different preamble-codeword after the preamble-codeword has been used for a predetermined number of transmitted frames.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies is performed prior to generating the preamble-codeword in the frequency domain.

14. A code acquisition module for a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) receiver, the code acquisition module comprising:

a Sparse Discrete Fourier transform (SDFT) module configured to perform an SDFT to calculate SDFT Fourier coefficients on a a received DSSS frame comprising a preamble codeword that comprises a finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies having a greater spectral power compared to a background spectral power density;

a multiplier configured to multiply the SDFT Fourier coefficients by reference complex conjugates of sparse Fourier coefficients of a reference codeword to generate a cross-correlation of the received DSSS frame and the reference complex conjugate Fourier coefficients; and

a filter module configured to input the cross-correlation and output a delay estimation for the received DSSS frame.

15. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the finite number of non-uniformly distributed frequencies comprise sparsely allocated spectral peaks determined by a preamble-codeword.

16. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the reference codeword comprises a preamble-codeword agreed upon in advance by the DSSS receiver and a transmitter.

17. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the filter module is configured to accept an input signal from the multiplier, apply an iterative filtering algorithm to the input signal, and output a delay estimation signal.

18. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the filter module is configured to accept an input signal from the multiplier, apply a Sparse inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (SiDFT) algorithm to the input signal, and output a delay estimation signal.

19. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the SDFT module, the multiplier, and the filter module comprise a digital signal processor.

20. The code acquisition module of claim 14 , wherein the SDFT module comprises an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).