Comparison of MUSIC and matched filter delay estimators in DS-CDMA

This paper focuses on the initial code phase estimation, also called acquisition, in the asynchronous multiuser CDMA system. The performance of the subspace-based MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) estimator is compared to the conventional matched filter. Simulation results for a communication system with ten users each having a 2-path Rayleigh fading channel and raised-cosine shaped chip waveform are presented. It is shown that the celebrated near-far resistance and the overall performance of MUSIC is maintained only at the signal-to-noise ratios higher than normally realizable in practical systems.