Patent ID: 8688112

Claim:
A method that effectuates detecting a cell k in a multichannel wireless communication environment, comprising: receiving signals from a plurality of cells, wherein the signals from the plurality of cells include a secondary synchronization channel (SSC) sequence S k for each of the plurality of cells; identifying candidate cells k based at least in part on the received signals; selecting one or more signal metrics associated with each of the candidate cells k; determining a dot-product for each of the received signals with the SSC sequences S k for each of the candidate cells k; determining a fast Fourier transform (FFT) of the dot-product for each of the received signals with the SSC sequences S k of the candidate cells k; squaring the FFT of the dot-product for each of the received signals with the SSC sequences S k of the candidate cells k; determining a sum of L k taps based on the squared FFT for each of the candidate cells k, wherein L k represents a multipath number from candidate cell k, wherein the L k taps are obtained by shifting a FFT window by a constant delay of Ï„*, and wherein the one or more signal metrics includes the sum; utilizing a threshold value to determine L k where a L k value is unknown and more than a tap is detected; refining identification of candidate cells by incoherently combining multiple observations over time and space in different channels, wherein L k taps with the largest sum tap-values are selected prior to combining signal metrics over different obervations as ascertained by the squared FFT that correspond to the dot-product for each of the signals with the SSC sequence associated with one of the candidate cells k; comparing corresponding signal metrics associated with each of the candidate cells k in order to identify a cell exhibiting maximum signal metrics situated within one of the candidate cells k as the closest detected cell; and employing a location of the closest detected cell to infer a position of an access terminal.