A multi-scale TOA estimation method for ultra wide band non-coherent energy detection receiver

In this paper, we propose a rapid time of arrival (TOA) estimation method, which is suitable for low complexity and low cost UWB systems. We develop an iterative algorithm that applies multi-scale sliding correlation window to reduce the system complexity and speed up the estimation process. In order to improve the accuracy of TOA estimation in the presence of multi-user interference (MUI), the perfectly balanced ternary sequence (PBTS) is employed as spreading code to suppress MUI. Through simulations, we show the MAE (mean absolute error) performance for proposed TOA estimation method in IEEE 802.15.4a channel model.