A novel acquisition scheme that utilizes multipaths to improve acquisition performance is proposed for frequency-selective fading channels. The proposed acquisition scheme employs nonconsecutive search and joint triple-cell detection. The performance is analyzed in frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels. Equations for the probabilities of detection and false alarm are derived, and an expression for the mean acquisition time is developed. The mean acquisition time performance of the

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... d and conventional acquisition schemes is evaluated and compared. It is found that the proposed acquisition scheme significantly outperforms the conventional one. The effects of various channel parameters such as the number of resolvable paths, the shape of the multipath intensity profile (MIP) and the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) on acquisition performance are also investigated.