This document discusses, among other things, a system and method of detecting wideband signals of bandwidth X within a communications system having a coherency time constant of T. A synchronization signal is generated as a function of a chirp signal that sweeps a portion of bandwidth X. The synchronization signal is transmitted and received as a wideband signal at a receiver. The receiver detects the synchronization signal within the wideband signal received at the receiver by generating a detection signal, correlating the received wideband signal with the detection signal and indicating when the synchronization signal is detected within the wideband signal. The detection signal is a complex conjugate of the synchronization signal.