What actually does the LDE algorithm?

I’m reading the DW1000 Device Driver API Guide and in section 5.55 it talks about an LDE algorithm. From this thread, I can understand that details about the algorithm are protected How does LDE algorithm work? but, is there a chance to know roughly what it does?

Is it the algorithm that reads the pulse data at RX and estimates the timestep from the counter on which the first path signal has arrived? Basically, it already estimates the first path, am I right?

Correct. Effectively the receiver is looking at signal strength over time and trying to find the start of the pulse. Since the start is going to be hidden in the noise this involves extrapolating backwards from the first peak (which may not necessarily be the strongest) to estimate when exactly the start of the signal was.

The actual process is a little more complex e.g. it’s looking at the output accumulated over a number of pulses, but the basic concept remains the same.

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