Methods for mutual time delay estimation of wideband signals based on nonlinear digital filtering

Methods for mutual time delay estimation of wideband signals propagating in satellite communication systems are proposed. The signals are propagated in different channels and received with low signal-to-noise ratio. A characteristic feature of satellite channel is the presence of the Doppler Effect, which leads to a shift and scaling the signal spectrums. The proposed approaches are based on the separation of narrow-band channels from the studied signals, using non-linear digital filtering algorithms in each channel, and subsequent optimal (correlation) processing. The accuracy of the proposed methods and the reliability of the determination of time delay are investigated.