ISSN 2249-6343

International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)

Volume 1 , Issue 2

Analysis of Different Pseudo Noise Sequences

Alka Sawlikar, Manisha Sharma

AbstractPseudo noise (PN) sequences are widely used in

digital communications and the theory involved has been treated
extensively in this paper. This paper analyses some interesting
properties of PN sequence. This paper further elaborates about
various methods of generation of PN sequences, few methods
discussed in this paper are: series-parallel method for
high-speed generation, avoiding the zero states, shift registers
with feedback, chaotic pattern generation. A detailed
comparison of PN sequence and chaotic sequence is also
described in this along with comparative analysis of LFSRs,
Gold sequence, Barker sequence, Kasami sequence.

II. PROPERTIES OF PN SEQUENCES

A PN sequence is a bit stream of 1s and 0s occurring
randomly, with some unique properties. The sequence serves
as a reference pattern with known random characteristics for
the analysis, optimization and performance measurement of
communication channels and systems.
A. Balance Property
In each period of a maximum length sequence, the number
of 1s is always one more than the number of 0s.

Index Terms Spread spectrum, pseudo-noise, Chaos, LFSR,

Code division multiple access, pseudo-noise codes, Maximal
length, Gold, Barker, Kasami, autocorrelation, cross
correlation.

I. INTRODUCTION
Pseudo random binary sequences (PRBSs), also known as
pseudo noise (PN), linear feedback shift register (LFSR)
sequences or maximal length binary sequences (m
sequences), are widely used in digital communications,
instrumentation and measurements [Lathi(1998)]. In a truly
random sequence the bit pattern never repeats. A pseudo
random binary sequence is a semi-random sequence in the
sense that it appears random within the sequence length,
fulfilling the needs of randomness, but the entire sequence
repeats indefinitely. To a casual observer the sequence
appears totally random, however to a user who is aware of the
way the sequence is generated all its properties should be
known. PN sequences have several interesting properties,
which are exploited in a variety of applications. Because of
their good autocorrelation two similar PN sequences can
easily be phase synchronized, even when one of them is
corrupted by noise. A PN sequence is an ideal test signal, as it
simulates the random characteristics of a digital signal and
can be easily generated. The following fig. 1 shows the
overview of PN sequence.

B. Run Property
Among the runs of 1s and 0s in each period of a maximum
length sequence, one half the runs of each kind are of length
one-fourth are of length two, one eighth are of length three,
and so on as long as these fractions represent meaningful
numbers of runs[Hykin(2001)].
C. Correlation Property
Correlation is a measure of similarity between two
sequences. When the two sequences compared are different it
is the cross correlation and when they are the same it is the
autocorrelation. Mathematically, the correlation between
two sequences x (k) and y(k) as a function of the time delay m
is expressed as
L 1

R(m) xy x(k ) y (k m) .(1)

k 0

The correlation equation for the digital bit sequence can

thus be written as
R (m) = total number of 1s / total number of bits (2)
Reference
Code

b1

b2

2
a1

b1

b3

3
a2

b2

a3

y2

bk

Shift
Register

K
a4

b3

+ +
y1

b4

ak

b4

bk

+
y3

Modulo-2
Adder

+
y4

yk

y1
1

y1 a1 b1
0 if a1 b1
1 if a1 b1

y1 a1 b1
0 if a b1
Fig. 2. Correlator 1
1 if a1 b1

Fig 1.Overview of PN Sequence

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ISSN 2249-6343
International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)
Volume 1 , Issue 2
Fig.2 shows a correlator of length K. One sequence ai is For example, the polynomial 1 + xI4 + x15 means that the
shifted through a K bit shift register and the output of each outputs from stages 14 and 15 are modulo- 2 added and fed
stage is applied to a set of K XNOR gate for comparison.
back to the input of first stage of a 15- stage register to get a
215 - 1 length sequence, as shown in Fig. 4.
D. Shift and add
B. Series-parallel method for high-speed PN generation
When a PN sequence is shifted and the shifted sequence
The maximum PN data rate depends on the type of logic
modulo-2 added to the un-shifted sequence with an
exclusive-OR gate, the result is the same PN sequence with device used. Since only one gate delay (due to the XOR gate)
some other shift. This is illustrated in Fig. 3, where a 15 bit PN is introduced in the feedback path the maximum PN rate can
sequence, a (k)), is arbitrarily shifted by4 bits to get, a (k - 4). be close to the highest operating frequency of the shift
The two sequences when modulo-2 added give a sequence register. The operating frequency of the PN sequence can be
which is a 3 bit shifted version, a (k - 3), of the original pushed beyond the shift register clock rate by using a
sequence a (k). Only when the PN sequence is modulo-2 high-speed multiplexer. This technique uses the
added to itself without shift is the result a sequence of zeros subsequence property of a PN sequence already discussed
[Li and Hykin (1995)]. A direct application of this property is [Gupta and Kumareshan (2005)]. As we can demultiplex a PN
in the generation of two identical sequences with a known sequence into two similar sequences at half the rate, we can
also multiplex two PN sequences to obtain a sequence at
large delay between them.
double the rate. However, the two sequences should
necessarily have a phase shift of half the sequence
2 -1=15 bits
length.Fig.5 shows the circuit for getting PN sequence of
length 27 -1 using series parallel method.
4

Start

D3Q3

D7 Q7

D2Q2

D6Q6

D1Q1

D5 Q5

S1

S2

Start

D4Q4

Fig. 3. Addition of PN Sequence

III. GENERATION OF PN SEQUENCES

Fig. 5 Series-parallel method for high-speed PN generation

A. Using Shift Register with feedback

A PN sequence is generated using a shift register and
modulo-2 adders. Certain outputs of the shift register are
modulo-2 added and the adder output is fed back to the
register. An N-stage shift register can generate a maximal
length sequence of 2N-1 bits. Only certain outputs, or taps,
can generate a maximal length sequence. The generator
output is expressed as a polynomial in 'x'.

Fig. 4 A PN Generators with Polynomial 1 + xI4 + x15

C. Avoiding the Zero State

An N-bit register can generate 2N-1 states as against the 2N
states of a binary counter, as shown in the state diagram in Fig.
6. Although the counter states generate an ascending or
descending sequence, the PN generator output states are
apparently random. The all-zero state is missing in the PN
sequence. This state is inhibited, because the generator
remains latched to it. The modulo-2 adder in the feedback
circuit feeds only '0's to the input. An additional circuit is
needed to detect the 'all zeros' state and reset the PN register
to a valid state.
When the register length, N, is small, a NOR gate can
decode 0 outputs of the register, forcing a 1,to the
feedback input, through an OR gate, as shown in Fig.7a. A
modulo-N down counter may be used for decoding the all
zeros state in the PN sequence for large N. The PN data is
applied to the load input after inversion as shown in Fig.7b.

157

ISSN 2249-6343
International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)
Volume 1 , Issue 2
but a preferred maximal sequences can only produce Gold
codes, as shown in Fig.8. Fig 11(e) & (f) shows the encrypted
1111
1111
0000
speech signal and its spectrum using Gold sequences.
1110
0111

1110
1101

0001

1101

0011

0010
Up
counter

Down
counter

1010

0001

0101

1000

E. Barker Sequences
Barker sequences are short length codes that offer good
correlation properties. A Barker code is a sequence of some
finite length N such that the absolute value of discrete
autocorrelation function r () 1 for 0. Barker
sequences have many advantages over other PN sequences
[Kumar et al. (2008)]. These sequences have uniformly low
auto-correlation side these pseudo-random or pseudo-noise
(PN) properties include, among other properties, (a) balance,
(b) run and (c) auto-correlation lobes (1), but the size of
these families is small. Fig.9 shows Barker sequence
generator.

0011
0100

1010
1001
1000

0100

1011

0101

0010

0110

0110
0111

1001

1100

Fig. 6 State diagrams for (a) binary counter and (b) PN generator

X1
X5

X2

X3

X4

XOR

NOR

Fig .7 (a). A PN generator with all zeros decoder

PN generator
(2N-1)
Fig. 9 Barker Sequence Generator

F. Kasami Sequences
Kasami sequences are also PN sequences of length N =
2n-1, which are defined for even values of n there are two
classes of Kasami sequences: (i) small set of Kasami
sequences, (ii) large set of Kasami sequences. Small set of
Kasami sequences are optimal in the sense of matching
Welchs lower bound for correlation functions. A small set of
Kasami sequences is a set of 2n/2 binary sequences [Kumar et
al. (2008)]. Fig.10 shows Kasami sequence generator.

Output
N

LOAD

CO

CE

Clock

Fig.7 (b). All zeros decoding with a counter

D. Gold Sequences
Gold sequences are generated by the modulo-2 operation of
two different m-sequences of same length. Any two msequences are able to generate a family of many non-maximal
product codes,
a4

a3

a2

a1

a0

g(D)=45

a'4 a'3

a'2

a'1

Small set of Kasami sequences are optimal sequences and

have better correlation properties compared to Gold
sequences. But the set contains less number of sequences. For
the shift register of length n the number of possible sequences
for the small Kasami sequence set is only 2n/2 sequences,
whereas Gold code set contains 2n + 2 sequences. The number
of sequences can be increased by making some relaxation on
the correlation values of the sequences. The resulting set of
sequences is called large set of Kasami sequences [Kumar et
al. (2008)].

a'0

Fig. 8. Gold Sequence Generator

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ISSN 2249-6343
International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)
Volume 1 , Issue 2
IV. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
h( x ) x 6 x 5 1

h= [1,2, ......,0] an arbitrary nonzero vector

h' ( x) x6 x5 x3 x2 1

h' [d 0 , d1 ,....d n1 ]

Fig.10 Kasami Sequence Generator

G. Correlation Measures
PN sequences of desired length are generated as described,
and the MSAAC and MSACC measures are computed for the
code set. Table.1 shows the correlation measures for PN
sequences of length 16 bits and Table.2 is correlation
measures for 32-bit PN sequences. From the results, among
all PN sequences m-sequences have low MSAAC values
since these sequences have single peak auto correlation
function. But these sequences are not suitable for speech
encryption since there is only one possible m-sequence of
given LFSR length. Gold codes have less MSAAC and
MSACC values and for a given length of m-sequence one can
generate more number of Gold codes so, these sequence
effectively remove the intelligibility of the speech signal by
de-correlating the speech samples. The MWH codes have
better auto correlation properties as compared to WH codes,
but they have poor cross correlation properties. OVSF codes
with some specific repetitive sequences gives less correlation
values. The MSAAC and MSACC values for OVSF codes
with repetitive sequences {-1,-1,-1, 1} are less and these
values are equal to the correlation values of MWH codes.
Table 1: Correlation measures for PN sequences of length16 bits
MSACC

LFSR satisfies all the properties of PN sequences but for

high degree of recursions it is computationally infeasible to
evaluate the distance between the phase shifts. It has good
autocorrelation but the sequence is not quite maximal length.
With Series Parallel method, the rate of generation of PN
sequence is at high speed and is used for doubling clock rate
of PN generator. Performance of Gold code is good as
compared to maximum length sequence and sample to sample
correlation is reduced [Kumar et al. (2008)].Small Kasami
sequences have less autocorrelation and hence more cross
correlation values but the number of sequences that can be
generated are less. Thus the security provided by these
sequences is less compared to Barker sequence [Kumar et al.
(2008)].
Concatenated Shift Registers are computationally feasible
and provides a large class of linearly concatenated shift
registers to generate approximately maximally spaced phase
shifts of PN sequence for use in pseudo random number
generation [Hurd and Welch (1997)].
In Chaos Based PN sequence the generation of pseudo
noise is using digital signal processor which is used in secure
communication [Guo and Wang (2010)]. It has good
statistical properties and generates large set of PN sequence.
It is used to randomize the signal over the links and provides
PN sequence of higher rate. It is used to generate encryption
key and its implementation is done using digital signals.
Fig 11.showing time domain and its spectrum
representation for 30 ms voice segment of the speech
utterance using m-sequence, Gold code, WH codes, MWH
codes and OVSF codes.
Fig.12 to 16. shows a periodic auto-correlation function
and cross-correlation function of Gold sequence, Barker-like
sequence, large Kasami sequence of length 63 bits and MWH
sequence, Gold sequence of length 64 bits.

Sequence

MSAAC

m-sequences

0.3467

WH codes

4.0625

0.7292

MWH codes

1.8125

0.8792

V. CONCLUSION

OVSF codes

1.8125

0.8792

We have shown the analysis of different PN sequences with

different generation methods. A PN sequence generated by
every method is analyzed to check if properties are satisfied.
Advantages of every method of PN sequence is studied in this
paper. PN sequences are used as spreading code. Correlation
measures for PN sequences of length16 bits and 32 bits is
given in Tables. We can extend analysis of PN sequences by
giving different parameters which are helpful for different
applications such as speech encryption and even generate PN
sequence using elliptic curves over prime field.

Table 2: Correlation measures for PN sequences of length32 bits

Sequence

MSAAC

MSACC

m-sequences

0.4807

WH codes

6.5938

0.7873

MWH codes

3.2188

0.8962

OVSF codes

3.2188

0.8962

Gold codes

0.6866

0.7451

Barker sequence

0.8127

1.0505

REFERENCES

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ISSN 2249-6343
International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)
Volume 1 , Issue 2
[1]

Haykin, S Communication Systems. 4th Edition. New York: John

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States:

Fig 11 : Time domain and its spectrogram representation for 30 ms

voice segment of the speech utterance , for original speech segment
((a)&(b)), for encrypted signal, using m-sequences ((c)&(d)), signal
using Gold codes ((e)&(f)), using WH codes ((g)&(h)), using MWH
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[10] V. Anil Kumar, A. Mitra, S. R. Prasanna, Performance Analysis of

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Fig.12: Aperiodic (a) auto-correlation function, (b) cross-correlation

function, of Gold sequence of length 63 bits.

Fig.13: Aperiodic (a) auto-correlation function, (b) cross-correlation

function, of Barker-like sequence of length 63 bits.

Fig 14. Aperiodic (a) auto-correlation function, (b) cross-correlation

function, of large Kasami sequence of length 63 bits.

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International Journal of Computer Technology and Electronics Engineering (IJCTEE)
Volume 1 , Issue 2

(a)
Fig.15: Aperiodic (a) auto-correlation function, (b) cross-correlation
function, of MWH sequence of length 64 bits

Fig.16: Aperiodic (a) auto-correlation function, (b) cross-correlation

function, of orthogonal Gold sequence of length 64 bits

161