An apparatus for acquiring a pseudo noise (PN) code and a direct-sequence
code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) receiver are provided. The
apparatus for acquiring a pseudo noise (PN) code includes a PN code
generator for generating K PN codes, a multiplexer for multiplying a
received signal by +1 or -1 according to the value of a PN code selected
to be a reference code among K PN codes and outputting the multiplication
result, 2.sup.K-1 accumulators for accumulating the outputs of the
multiplexer according to a predetermined control signal, a selector for
outputting the control signal so that the output of the multiplexer can
input to one of the accumulators according to (K-1) code values excluding
the reference code, a programmable adder for adding the outputs of the
accumulators to each other according to a predetermined regulation and
outputting K correlation values, and a discriminator for outputting the PN
code having a correlation value larger than a predetermined value among
the K correlation values. It is possible to reduce the amount of
operations by grouping codes during a hybrid search where K code phases
are simultaneously searched by the DS-CDMA receiver and to simplify the
structure of hardware.
