1

Spread Spectrum
Communication Systems
2
Overview of Spread Spectrum
Communications
Spread Spectrum is a means of transmission in which
the data sequence occupies a bandwidth in excess of
the minimum bandwidth necessary to send it.
Effectively the signal is mapped to a higher dimension signal
space
The signal component in each direction is sqrt(E/N)
Signal spreading is done before transmission by using a
spreading sequence. The same sequence is used at the
receiver to retrieve the signal
Spread Spectrum is most effective against interference
(intentional or non-intentional) with fixed energy.
Main commercial applications in wireless and GPS.
3
Spread Spectrum- Main Operation
x
b(t)
c(t)
m(t)
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) f C f B f M
t c t b t m
* =
=
B(f)
M(f)
4
Spread Spectrum: Main Operation
+ x
j(t)
m(t)
c(t)
r(t)
u(t)
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) t j t c t b t u
t j t c t b t c t u
t r t c t u
t j t b t c t j t m t r
+ =
+ =
=
+ = + =
2
) ( ) ( ) (
5
Generating the Spreading (Pseudo-
Noise) Sequence
The pseudo-noise (PN) sequence is a periodic binary sequence with
a noise like waveform that is generated by means of a feedback shift
register.
The feedback shift register consists of m-stage shift registers and a
logic circuit that perform modulo-2 (X-OR) arithmetic.
A sequence with period 2
m
-1 is called Maximal-Length sequence
6
PN Sequence: Example
s1 s2 s3
1 0 0
1 1 0
1 1 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
0 1 0
0 0 1
1 0 0
Spreading code 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 . . .
7
Properties of Maximal-Length
Sequences
In each period of a maximal-length sequence, the
number of 1s and the number of 0s in the sequence
always differ by 1.
The autocorrelation function of a maximal-length
sequence is periodic and binary valued.
( ) ( ) ( )
( )

s
+

=
=
}

period the of rest for the

1

1
1
1
2
2
N
T
NT
N
R
dt t c t c
T
R
c
c
c
T
T
b
c
b
b
t t
t
t t
8
9
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
with Coherent BPSK (DS/BPSK)
10
11
Analysis
The objective is to find the ratio of the SNR (SNR
I
) at the
input of the receiver to the SNR (SNR
O
) at the output of
the receiver
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) t j t c t b t u
J
T E
SNR
b b
I
+ =
=
Signal
Component
Jamming
Component
12
Analysis
( )
( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( )

+ s s
=

+ s s
=
otherwise 0
1 2 sin
2
~
otherwise 0
1 2 cos
2
c c c
c
k
c c c
c
k
T k t kT t f
T
t
T k t kT t f
T
t
t
|
t
|
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )

=
s s =
= =
1
0
0
2
2 cos
2
N
k
b k k
b
b
c
b
b
T t t c
T
E
t x
t f t c
T
E
t s t c t x
|
t
Define the set of orthonormal basis:
T
c
is the chip duration and
N is the number of chips
per bit (T
b
).
Signal Component
( ) ( ) ( )
( )

=
=
=
+ = =
+ =
1
0
2
1
0
2
1
0
2
1
0
2
1
0
2
0
2
1
0
1
0
2
~ 1
~ 1 1 1
~ ~
N
k
k
b
N
k
k
b
N
k
k
N
k
k
b
N
k
k
b
T
b
N
k
k k
N
k
k k
j
T
J
j
T
j
j
T
j
T
dt t j
T
J
t j t j t j
b
| |
Jamming
Component
13
( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( ) | | ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
b
T
c
b
s
b c
b
b
cj s
T
c
b
T
c
b
E t d t f t s
T
v
T t t f
T
E
t s
v v t d t f t j t c t s
T
v
t d t f t u
T
v
b
b
b
= =
s s =
+ = + =
=
}
}
}
0
0
0
2 cos
2
0 2 cos
2
2 cos
2
2 cos
2
t
t
t
t
( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
| |
| |
2
1
|
0
2 cos
2
2 cos
2
1
0
2
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
c
N
k
k cj
cj
N
k
k k
b
c
cj
N
k
k k
b
c
cj
N
k
T k
kT
c k
b
cj
T
c
b
cj
JT
j
N
j V Var
V E
j C
T
T
V j c
T
T
v
t d t f t j c
T
v
dt t f t j t c
T
v
c
c
b
= =
=
= =
=
=

}
}

=
+
t
t
c
b
I
O
b b
I
c
b
O
T
T
SNR
SNR
J
T E
SNR
JT
E
SNR
2
2
=
= =
Tb/Tc is called the processing gain (PG)
14
Probability of Error
v
cj
is a random variable with
zero mean and variance
JT
c
/2
v
cj
can be viewed as a white
noise with zero mean and
variance N
0
/2 = JT
c
/2
Assuming Gaussian distribution
for the jamming component, the
probability of error due to
jamming
When noise and jamming
exist the probability of error is
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
0 0
2 2 2
J
E
Q
JT
E
Q
N
E
Q p
b
c
b b
e
cj b
v E v + =
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
0 0
2
J N
E
Q p
b
e
15
0
0
J E
PG
P
J
J
P
T
T
J
E
b
c
b b
=
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
Jamming Margin
Jamming margin is the relative power advantage that an
interference may have without disrupting the
communication system.
16
Frequency-Hopped (FH) Spread
Spectrum
FH/SS is usually used with Binary FSK or M-ary FSK
The carrier frequency is determined by the output sequence from a PN generator
Slow hopping system has a hopping rate that is lower than the information rate
(symbol rate)
Several information symbols are transmitted by the same carrier frequency
Fast hopping system has a hopping rate that is higher than the information rate
One information symbol is transmitted by different carrier frequencies.
Encoder
FSK
Modulator
Mixer Channel
FSK
Modulator
Decoder Mixer
Information
Sequence
PN
Sequence
Generator
Frequency
Synthesizer
PN
Sequence
Generator
Frequency
Synthesizer
Time
Sync
17
Slow Frequency Hopping Example
Number of bits per MFSK
symbol = 2 M = 4
R
s
= R
b
/2
R
c
= max(R
h
, R
s
) = R
s
Length of PN segment per
hop = 3
Total number of frequency
hops = 2
3
= 8
18
Fast Frequency Hopping Example
Number of bits per MFSK
symbol = 2 M = 4
R
s
= R
b
/2
R
c
= max(R
h
, R
s
) = R
h
Length of PN segment per
hop = 3
Total number of frequency
hops = 2
3
= 8
19
Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
Multiple users can use the same channel as long as different users
are assigned different PN sequence (code)
Several users can transmit simultaneously on the same channel
The transmissions from other users will look like interference.
CDMA main application is wireless communication.
CDMA is the wireless standard for North America
Assuming all users have the same power, P
s
, the number of user N
u

that can be supported is given by:
( )
0
1
J E
PG
P
P N
b s
s u
=