Physical random access channel (PRACH) receiver for determining cells in which a preamble has been transmitted

A preamble detector, the preamble detector comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• and
• a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry, whereby the preamble detector is configured to perform a method comprising:
• obtaining N sample sets, wherein each one of the N sample sets comprises a set of M samples and each one of the N sample sets is associated with a different cell included in a set of N cells, and further wherein N is an integer greater than zero and M is an integer greater than zero;
• adding the N sample sets to create a first combined set of samples comprising M samples;
• forming a first candidate set of one or more tuples based on the first combined set of samples and an initial set of tuples comprising a plurality of tuples, wherein each tuple comprises a candidate preamble and a candidate delay, and wherein each candidate preamble comprises a set of samples;
• and
• using the first candidate set of one or more tuples to determine, for each cell included in the set of cells, whether a preamble included in the first candidate set of tuples was transmitted in the cell.