A method of accelerated carrier signal acquisition for a digital communication receiver, the method comprising receiving a carrier signal by a receiver comprising a carrier recovery loop (CRL), setting the CRL to an open loop setting using a processor, setting a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) within the CRL at a center frequency of the NCO, determining, by the processor, one or more initial parameters of the CRL, calculating an estimate and polarity for a sign frequency detection frequency using a sign frequency detector while simultaneously estimating a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) frequency by running an FFT using the processor, comparing polarities of the estimates of the sign frequency detection frequency and FFT frequency and determining a frequency offset using the processor, and adjusting one or more parameters of the CRL based on the frequency offset using the processor.