lEEETR0JSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY,VOL.IT-l&NO.

4, JULY, I$#% 569

An Analysis of the Pseudo-Randomness Properties

of Subsequences of Long m-Sequences
JAMES H. LINDHOLM

Abstract-Expressions are derived for the moments of the dis- case m-sequences may be a very critical design factor.
tribution of weights of M-tuples or subsequences of long m-se- Bartee and Wood”’ performed an exhaustive comparison
quences. The expressions display a systematic relationship between
the moments and the characteristic polynomial or generating of all m-sequences of lengths up to and including N =
function. An algorithm for determining the third moment, which 214 - 1 = 16 383 for a wide range of subsequence lengths
measures skewness, is shown to provide a practical aid for select- to select “optimum” m-sequences. For a given subsequence
ing optimum m-sequences for various correlation-detection design length, M, and fixed-length m-sequences the “optimum”
problems. m-sequence, in the sense of Bartee and Wood, is essentially
that one whose minimum weight M-tuple has greatest
I. INTR~DUOTI~N weight. In one of their examples, a particular-system
performance parameter varies over more than five orders
N RECENT YEARS, shift-register sequences have
of magnitude from worst-case m-sequence to best-case
been analyzed algebraically,‘1’-‘41 investigated ex-
I m-sequence. Unfortunately, Bartee and Wood found no
perimentally via digital15’ as well as analog’61 ap-
systematic relationship between their set of optimum
proaches, and their properties have been exploited in a
m-sequences and the corresponding generating functions.
variety of applications.‘71 In particular, the maximum-
The auto- and cross-correlation properties of the sum-
length linear shift-register sequences (i.e., m-sequences)
sequences in Gold’s13’ study are with respect to an entire
or so called pseudo-random sequences are the most well
period of the m-sequences involved. However, not all
documented and appear as the basic building blocks for
pairs of m-sequences yield “good” families of nearly
a variety of composite coding techniques. For example,
orthogonal sum-sequence codes. Gold finds a systematic
Bartee and WoodL5’ consider interlacing several short
solution to the selection of “good” pairs via the notion
m-sequences having relatively prime lengths to obtain
of coset functions and characteristic sequences. 13’’14’’I”
long codes having good short-term correlation properties
Lastly, Roberts and Davis”] apparently fail to recognize
to promote rapid acquisition in a radar ranging applica-
the variation in the statistical properties of smoothed
tion. In a somewhat different application, Goldf3’ con-
m-sequences of the same length. Two possible explanations
siders the sum-sequences obtained by adding two different
could account for this: 1) not very many different se-
m-sequences of the same length term by term (Mod 2)
quences of any fixed length were tested and/or 2) sta-
for all relative phase shifts of the parent m-sequences to
tistical tests involving only mean value and variance were
obtain large families of “nearly” orthogonal sequences.
applied. In this paper we consider the moments of the
In a third type of situation, Roberts and Davis,“’
distribution of weights of M-tuples from any given m-
consider the statistical properties of low-pass filtered
sequence, and develop a systematic relationship between
m-sequences for simulating a Gaussian process. The three
the moments of the distribution and the characteristic
examples just cited represent prototypes of a class of
polynomial via the notion of coset functions. In addition,
problems which bracket the area of investigation of the
the coset function approach yields a systematic relation-
present paper.l The general problem area involves the
ship between the distributions of the entire family of
pseudo-randomness properties and/or weight distributions
m-sequences of any given length. The amount of computa-
of segments from m-sequences. Most of the well-known
tion necessary for a complete description of the distribu-
“nice” pseudo-random properties of m-sequences pertain
tions is practically prohibitive however, especially if large
to averages over an entire period of the m-sequence.
families of long m-sequences are involved. The first few
The detailed weight distribution of segments from m-
moments of a distribution are sufficient to describe the
sequences is not well known. The problem would not be
main geometrical features of the distribution.“’ In general,
so bad if the distributions obtained from different m-
central moments are used for this purpose. Thus, the
sequences of the same length were all essentially the
variance provides a measure of dispersion or spread about
same. However, there are significant differences and, de-
the mean value. The third central moment provides a
pending upon the particular application, selection of the
natural measure of skewness, being negative, zero, or
optimum m-sequence or, at least, rejection of the worst-
positive as the distribution has a long negative tail, is
symmetrical, or has a long positive tail, respectively. The
Manuscript received June 19, 1967. ‘-
The author is with Sylvania Electronic Systems-Central Division fourth central moment provides a measure of flattening.
Sylvania Electric Products, Inc., Williamsville, N. Y. 14221 As shown later, the first and second moments of the
1 Several more recent and pertinent references[131-[161 have been
brought to the attention of the author. distribution of weights of M-tuples from any m-sequence
570 IEEETRANSACTIONSON INFORMATION THEORY,JULY,l968
TABLE I
WEIGHT CHARACTERISTICS0~500-TUPLES FROM SIX mG?kanEwxs OFLENGTHN = Zz3 - 1

Characteristic 500-Tuples Minimum Degree

Polynomial f(X) Number of Minimum Maximum Trinomial g(X) Third Central Moments
Code (Octal Notation) Feedback Taps Weight Weight Where f(X) Id-V SC3 WC3

i 40001001
40000041 ; 128
121 291
293 f$: $ ;: ; : 10707 - 1338
g 75310753
66666667 :: 141
139 297
302 227 + x2
226 x + 1 10335
9963 - 1245
-1292
40404041 4 179 307 None of degree -15
40435651 10 203 300 less than 500 -1.5

of length N = 2’ - 1 depend only upon M and N and Let A, denote the number of M-tuples from the set
not upon the particular m-sequence or characteristic jw74 = wo, WI, *-* I W,-, whose weight equals w.
polynomial. Higher moments are shown to depend upon Let S, = CE;’ b,,, denote the difference between the
the particular characteristic polynomial as well as the number of + l’s and - l’s in the M-tuple from {b, ) start-
M-tuple length. Thus the third moment provides the ing at the nth term and note that S, = M - ZW,.
first coarse sieve for separating highly skewed distribu-
tions from the more symmetrical ones. In many applica- Moments of the Weight Distributions
tions this “skewness sieve” may provide the simplest The distributions of W, and S, and t.he set of values for
procedure for selecting adequate m-sequences or, at least, A, provide equivalent descriptions of the m-sequence.
reducing the number of candidates for a more detailed The moments of the alternative distributions are simply
analysis. related as summarized below.
As a particular example, the detailed weight distribu- Let W” and S” denote the pth moments of their respec-
tion of 500-tuples (i.e., M = 500) have been calculated tive distributions. Then
for six diierent m-sequences of length N = 223 - l.lg’
The weights of the minimum weight and maximum weight
500-tuple are shown in Table I along with the character- w-g@? (la‘!
a 0
istic polynomial in octal notation. Also shown is the
minimal degree trinomial of degree less than 500 that is
divisible by the characteristic polynomial for each se-
quence when one exists. For comparison purposes the
third moments associated with the distributions were
calculated independently and are also shown in Table I.
It can be seen that the magnitude and sign of the third
central moments do indeed separate the highly skewed
distributions from the more symmetrical.

II. DEFINITIONS AND SUMMARY OF RESULTS = $2 (M - 2WJ = & (9M”-‘(-2)“w’ (21-i)

The terminology and basic results are summarized in
this section. Specific examples are considered in the next = $ w$ (M - 2W)“Aw.
section.

m-Sequences Central moments Wz and Sz are defined by

Let {ai) = a,, a,, a,, . . * uNel denote an m-sequence

of O’s and l’s of length N = 2’ - 1 and let f(X) =
c;zo C,Xi b e i t s c h aracteristic polynomial where Ci = 0
or 1 and COG’, # 0. (i.e., a, = c:=l Ciun-i defines the (3
shift-register feedback arrangement). Peterson[“’ pro-
vides an extensive table of irreducible polynomials. and are simply related via
Let {biJ = b,, 6,, b,, *+. b,-, be a sequence of +1’s and
-1’s derived from {ui } by letting bi = 1 - 2~~. s: = (-2)p w:. !d

Subsequence Weights Derivation of the Moments

Let W, = CE;’ unci denote the weight or number of The derivation of formulas relating the moments of 11
l’s in the M-tuple from {ai] beginning at the nth term. distribution of weights of M-tuples from an m-sequence i
The subscripts n + i are understood to be in the residue the characteristic polynomial is done in terms of S,, usii
class Mod N. the +l, -1 notation of {bij.
 571
LINDHOLM: PSEUDO-RANDOMNESS OF SUBSEQUENCES

First Moment S1: %-L&i), which is equivalent to (ai] satisfying a tri-

nomial generating function
g(x) = 2”(1 + xk-’ + Xk-i). (8)
Since f(X) = 1 + c;=l CiXi is the smallest-degree
(5) polynomial that generates (a,), then f(X) must divide
g(X). Thus, B, is Ohe number of trinomials of degree up
This result follows from the fact that each of the M sums, to but not including degree M that is divisible by f(X).
ct:t b,+i, for i = 0, 1, 2, .. . M - 1 is over a shifted Another way of writing B, is
version or cyclic permutation of the entire m-sequence
which has one more (- 1) than (+l). B3 = MB,* - E d,
i=l
Second Moment S2: where Bh, is the number of trinomials of the form 1 +
Xc’ + Xdi that is divisible by f(X) where 1 < ci < di s
@a) M - 1. In coding terminology B, is the number of weight-
3 vectors in the shortened Hamming code orthogonal to
the shortened m-sequence code (M, r) generated by
f(X).‘”
Evaluation of B*, and Coset Functions: In this section
we consider two distinct problems. On the one hand
there is the problem of evaluating B*, for any particular
(64 m-sequence and for some particular M-tuple length. On
the other hand is the problem of determining the rela-
tionship between the trinomials associated with one
m-sequence and those associated with the other m-
Step (6d) follows from the shift-and-multiply group sequences of the same length. As we shall see, the problems
property of m-sequences whereby {ZL+~ b,+i) = {bn+k] are related through the notion of coset functions and
for some k when i # j. The rest is straightforward. characteristic sequences. [I’ ’I” The integers in the residue
class Mod N = 2’ - 1 can be assigned to disjoint sets in
Third Moment S3: Proceeding as before, we have the following manner. Those integers relatively prime
to N form a multiplicative group of which the set C, =
S3 = j$ Ng rg bn+i)3 (74
(1, 2, 4, *** 7 2’-I) is a subgroup. The product of C, by
other elements of the group leads to a coset decomposition
= -$-y {(3M - 2) Mg b,+i of the multiplicative group into 4(2’ - 1)/r cosets having
n 0 r elements each where 4 is the Euler function. The product
M-3 M-2 M-l of C, by other elements that have factors in common with
+ 3! C C C bn+ibn+jbn+k (7b) N lead to “improper” cosets that may have fewer than
i=O j=i+l k=j+l >
r terms. For each m-sequence of a given length N there
= --- M(3M - 2) is a particular starting condition or characteristic se-
+ f { (y)(-1) + (N + l>& quence such that all the terms contained in a particular
N
coset (proper or improper) have the same value. If f =
f(X) is the characteristic polynomial of an m-sequence
= -- $ denoted by V(f) = l/f(X) then Gold’4’ shows that the
+ 3!yB,.
characteristic sequence h of V(f) is h = (Xf)‘f-’ for degree
f odd and h = [(Xf)’ + flf-’ for degree f even. Thus, in
In step (7~) the factor B, is formally defined as the number
principle, one can determine the coset value assignments
of ordered 3-tuples (i, j, k) in the range 0 5 i < j < k <
for any particular m-sequence by writing out the m-
M - 1 such that (b,+i, b,+i) = (bn+k}. For each such
sequence characteristic sequence and observing the value
case the sum x”,:t b,+ib,+,b,+k = N. For the other cases
for one element of each coset. The coset function assign-
such that (b,+ib,+jb,+kj = {b,+k} for some h, the sum is
ments for the other m-sequences of the same length can
M
(- 1). Thus, of the 3 total combinations, B, have value then be determined by a counting-off or sampling proc-
0
ess. l1 I ’I3I Counting off or sampling a particular character-
M
N and B, have value (- 1). istic sequence by any element of C, = (1, 2, 4, . . . , 2’-l)
03 -
yields the same characteristic sequence. However, count-
Relationship of B, to f(X): As defined above B, is ing off by an element of some other proper coset yields a
the number of cases such that {b,+i*b,+iJ = {bn+kf for second m-sequence in one phase or another depending
i,j,kintherangeO<i<j<k<M-l.Intermsof upon the particular element chosen. Each of the $(2’- 1)/r
the original m-sequence { ai 1, this implies a, = an-+,.) @ proper cosets (including C,) thus produces all the dis-
572 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, JULY, 1968

tinct m-sequences of a given length. If the cosets are
arranged properly, the coset function assignments for
each m-sequence correspond to a cyclic permutation of
the proper cosets together with an accompanying permuta-
tion among the improper cosets (see Tables II and IV).
If g(X) = 1 + xc + xd denotes a trinomial of degree cl
such that f(X) ] g(X), then f(X) ] [g2(X) = 1 + zzc + xzd].
Thus, one trinomial g(X) determines a set of trinomials
corresponding to a pair of c0set.s where, in general, c is
in one coset and G?is in another. In some cases c and d
may be in the same coset. If f(X) ] g(X), then f(X) 1
[x”-‘g(X) = 1 + xdec + x”-“1 and f(X) 1 [x”-“g(X) = 1+
X
N+e-d
+ JY, corresponding to two additional pairs of
cosets. Thus, the search for trinomials in the evaluation
of B*, for any particular m-sequence and for any given
M-tuple length is considerably eased by the above coset
relationship. For any particular long m-sequence and
M-tuple length greater than r but much less than N
(i.e., r < M << N = 2’ - 1) one needs to examine only
those cosets which contain an element or elements less
than M. From a practical computation viewpoint one
might consider testing each trinomial of degree M - 1,
or less, in turn for divisibility by f(X). For the trinomials
of degree up to 45, the listing given in Golomb et aLL1”
provides a good starting point. For higher-degree tri-
nomials the following algorithm provides a relatively
simple method of testing any particular trinomial for
divisibility by f(X).
set of trinomials that are divisible by the generating
polynomial.
The sampling or counting-off process which defines the
set of permutations of the coset function values for the
entire set of m-sequences of a given length also provides
the desired transformation of trinomials. Thus, knowledge
of the complete set of trinomials for one m-sequence is
equivalent, in principle, to knowledge of the complete
set of trinomials for every other m-sequence of the same
length. In practice one may know only a few trinomials
associated with perhaps only a single pair of cosets. In
this case the counting-off process yields the same number
of trinomials for each of the other m-sequences. Such
partial knowledge may not be very useful, however, if
one is interested in finding the minimum-degree trinomials
for each m-sequence. For example the cosets corresponding
to a minimum-degree trinomial for one m-sequence may
transform to cosets having only high-degree terms. Sec-
tion III contains specific examples using small families
of short m-sequences to demonstrate the theory.
Generalization to Fourth and Higher Moments:
S4 = i N$ (“g b,.i,)’
n cl i=o
M(M - l)‘(M + 2) + 41 N + 1
= M(3M - 2) - NB4
N
where

A Simple Algorithm for Determining B; and dj: The B, = MB: - gdiandB:

m-sequences generated by f(X) and f*(X) = z’f(l/x) j=1
are ‘( backward” versions of each other and hence have is the number of quartics g(X) of the form g(X) = 1 +
identical subsequence statistics. If f(X) ] g(X), then xb + xc + xd where 1 < b < c < d < M - 1 < N and
f*(X) ] g*(X). If, for example, g(X) = 1 + xc + xd, f(x) I g(X). Formally, the moment of any degree p can
then g*(X) = 1 + xd-c + xd and g(X) and g*(X) differ be expressed by
only in the degree of the intermediate term, (which does
not enter into (9) for the determination of B,). S” = -$ N$ (Me b,+i)’
Let {aijM = 1, 0, 0, * * . 0, 1, a,,,, . . . U~+~-~ denote n 0 i=o
the first M + r terms of the m-sequence generated by
f(X) starting with a 1 followed by (r - 1) successive 0’s. zz
F(O, P, Ml + + $ F(k, p, M) + (N + l>B,
k 1
Then for any trinomial g(X) = 1 + xc + xd where
r I d I M - 1 < N, f(x) I g*(X) and f*(x) I g(X) where B, denotes the number of k-term polynomials of
if, and only if, the (r - 1)-tuples (a,,,, uecz, . . . , u~++~) degree M - 1 or less that are divisible by f(X). In par-
and (a‘++1, ad+z, . . * , Ud+v-1 ) are identical. In other words, ticular B, = B, = B, = 0. The coefficients F(k, p, M)
the m-sequence satisfies a recursion relationship a,, = denote the coefficients in the formal expansion of
&+c 0 %+d- Since a, = 1, a, = a, = . . . = a,-, = 0, (CZ,’ bra+J” into a series of kth order summations.
then U,,, @ al+d = a,,, @ &+,j = *** = Ur-l+c @ F(k, p, M) # 0 only if k and p are both even or both odd,
a,- ,+d = 0. Thus, the search for trinomials of degree The first few nonzero values are given by
M - 1 or less that are divisible by f(x) is equivalent F(l, 1, M) = l!
to the search for identical (r - 1)-tuples in the (M + r)-
tuple {ai) M. The latter is a relatively simple procedure F(0, 2, M) = M
to program on a computer.
F(2, 2, M) = 2!
Extensiolz to Other m-Sequences: For any particular F(l, 3, M) = 3M - 2
m-sequence the identification of at least one trinomial
with each coset is equivalent to specifying the complete F(3, 3, M) = 3!
LINDHOLM: PSEUDO-RANDOMNESS OF SUBSEQUENCES

F(0, 4, M) = M(3M - 2)
F(2, 4, M) = 4(3M - 4); M>2
F(4, 4, M) = 4!
F(l, 5, M) = 15(M - 1)” + 1
F(3, 5, M) = 6O(M - 2); M>2
F(5, 5, M) = 5!.

III. EXAMPLES
The computational difficulty associated with moments
of degree higher than three renders them questionable for
rapid evaluation of akernative m-sequences. On the other
hand, the moments of degree one and two do not depend
on the particular m-sequence for a given length. Our
attention is therefore fixed on examples of third moment
analysis.

Example I
The detailed weight distribution of 500-tuples for six
different m-sequences of length N = 223 - 1 have been
determined by Mattson and Turyn. “I For illustrative
purposes the trinomials of degree less than 500 that are
divisible by the characteristic polynomials of those six
m-sequences have been determined independently and the
corresponding third moments calcuIated. The resuks for
the 500-tuples are summarized in Table I. The third mo-
ment Sz for M-tuples up to length M =( 100 are shown in
Fig. 1 as a function of M. Sequences denoted by A and
B have trinomial characteristic polynomials. The min-
imum-degree trinomials divisible by the characteristic
polynomial are themselves in these cases. Codes C and
D also have relatively low-degree trinomials divisible by
their respective charact.eristic polynomials. These first
four cases are from Golomb et al. “” By direct observation
on the first 523 digits of each m-sequence it has been
established that the only trinomials of degree less than
500 for each m-sequence are the Bt = 5, corresponding
to successive squaring of t,he least degree trinomial. The
remaining two codes E and F are from PetersonL1” and,
for these, B%j = 0 for M I 500.
The first two moments are common to each of the
m-sequences and are given by
M-TUPLE LENGTH
Fig. 1. Third central moment SC3 versus M-tuple length for six
m-sequences of length N = 223 - 1.
signed the value 1 and tails the value - 1 or 0 for X or
W, respectively.
Example 2
To demonstrate the application of the coset function
approach to the third-moment analysis consider the family
of 31-digit m-sequences. These particular exampIes are
also used by Golomb”] and Gold.14’ There are six distinct
m-sequences of length 31. However, three of these are
simply backward versions of the other three and therefore
have the same moments structure. We denote the three
pairs of sequences by A, B and, C and their corresponding
characteristic polynomials by JA(X), Jz (X); fs (X), fg (X);
and f c (X), f:(X) , respectively.
From PetersonL1” we find the three pairs of m-sequences
of length 31 denoted by their characteristic polynomials
in octal notation. Thus

f,(X) : 45 = 100101 = x5 + x2 f 1
f;(x) : 51 = 101001 = Z5 + x3 + 1
fs(X) : 75 = 111101 = x5 + Z4 + x3 + x2 + 1
f;(x) : 57 = 101111 = x5 + x3 + x2 + x + 1
fc(X) : 67 = 110111 = Z? + x4 + 2’ + x + 1
f$(X) : 73 = 111011 = Z5 + x4 + xa + x + 1
For M 2 500 these are the values one would expect from The cosets and t,he coset functional values are shown in
a balanced coin-tossing experiment if heads were as- Table II for each of the six m-sequences. In each case the
574 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, JULY, 1968
TABLE II
COSET FUNCTIONS FOR THE 31 DIGIT CHARACTERISTICSEQUENCES

Characteristic Polynomial

Co = (1, 2, 4, 8, 161 i 0 : 0 : :
Cl
c2 = (3, 6,
(9, 18,12,
5, 24, 17}
10, 20) : : 1 : ii 0
12”s= (27, 23, 15, 30, 29) 1
Cq = (19, 7, 14, 28, 25) 1 : i i : b
Cl,?&= {ZS, 21, 11, 22, 13) 1 0 1 1

TABLE III
TRINOMIAL DEGREE STRUCTURE
FORTHE 31 BITTT-SEQUENCES

Degree Code Degree Code

d ABC d ABC

; 000 111
000 ;i 111
: 000 111
000 s; 111
w 100 011
000 E 111
li 001
010 2 110
101
9 010 if 101
:Y 100 011
001 20 110
12 010 101
001 :s” 110
101 010
001 :i 110

m-sequence terms take on the value of the coset function

for the coset in which they occur.
-5
-6 c/ I
I I
From the two-tap or trinomial characteristic polynomial
fA(X) =x5+x2+1 we have fA(X) 1 g(X) and f:(X) I s*(X)
for the following trinomials g(X). -8
-7 v A
-9

gl(X) =
g*(X) = f”(X)
f(X) = x5 + x2 + 1
= xl0 + x4 + 1 -4f ~
-11
-10
-12 L
B C

M-TUPE LENGTH
g3(X) = f”(X) = x20 + x8 + 1 b from cosets C, and C,
Fig. 2. First moment S and second and third central moments
g4(X) = f”(X) = x1* + x9 + 1 S,z, S,3 versus M-tuple length M for the family of m-sequencesol
length N = 31.
g5(X) = f’“(X) = xl8 + x + 1,
gll(x) = xZ8 + xZF + 1
From fn(X) 1 xS1-‘fA (X) = zz9 + x3 + 1 we get
g12(X) = xz5 + xzl + 1
g6(x) = x= + x3 + 1 ’ gl&X) = xl9 + xl1 + 1 + from cosets C, and C,
g7(X) = x2’ + x6 + 1 g14(X) = xz2 + x7 + 1
g*(X) = xz3 + xl2 + 1> from cosets C, and C, g15(X) = xl4 + xl3 + 1,
g,(X) = xz4 + xl5 + 1
From Table II we see that fs(X) = 75 is the charac-
gm(X) = x30 + xl7 + 1, teristic polynomial of the m-sequence B obtained by
decimating or counting off the A sequence by 3’s. From
From fA(X) j z~~-‘{~(X) = xz8 + xz6 + 1 we get fA(X) 1fA(X) = x5 + x2 + 1 we get fn(X) 12 + xl1 + 1
LINDHOLM: PSEUDO-RANDOMNESS OF SUBSEQUENCES 576
TABLE IV
COSETMOD 63 AND COSETFUNCTIONVALUESFORCHARACTERISTICSEQUENCES

Characteristic Polynomial
*
fc fA* fB fc*
Cosets Mod 63 h3 a7 155 141 163 133 Remarks

0 = (0) 0 0 0 0 0 0
Co = (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32) &&-3O//-Tl 0 0 : : Co to CS are proper
(71 = ‘(5, 10, 20, 40, 17, 34) 0 : cosets. Their values
C’z = (25, 50, 37, 11, 22, 44) o- ’,/O : 1 El permute cyclically.

Ca (62, 53,
Cd = (58, 61, 43,
59, 23,
55, 46,
47, 29)
31) o----x
l- /--*\ -“:-1 1 : tl 0
C’s = (38, 13, 26, 52, 41, 19) l-- /- 1 0 0 1

C6
C, == (3,
(51, 6,39,12,15,
24,30,
48,60,
33)57) + -:: SO
rl 0 Thii pair permute.
1 Value alternates.

Cs = (9, 18, 36) This pair permute.

Cp = (27, 54, 45) : ; : x Value is constant.
C’,o = (21, 42) l------+1 1 1 1 1 Value is constant.
Cl1 = (7, 14, 28, 56, 49, 35) o------+0 0 0 0 0 Value is constant.
I I
since aS and a, in { ai IA become a,, and a,, in {ai),,
respectively, (i.e., 5/3 = (5 + 31)/3 = 12 and 2/3 = TABLE V
TRINOMIALDEGREE STRUCTUREFOR
(2 + 31)/3 = 11). From this one trinomial we find the 63 DIGITS-SEQUENCES
14 remaining trinomials as before. In a similar manner,
from Table II we see that fc(X) = 67 is the characteristic Degree Code Degree Code
polynomial of the m-sequence C obtained by counting cl ABC d ABC
off the A sequence by 9’s. Therefore, from fA(X) 1fA(X) =
000 111
x5 + 2’ + 1 we get f&X) 1xl4 + x4 + 1 = (z’ + x2 + 1)” 000 111
which leads to 15 trinomials (and their degrees) for the 000 111
000 111
sequence C. Recalling that the “backward” version of an 000 111
m-sequence has trinomials with the same degrees, we 100 011
000 111
summarize the complete trinomial degree structure for 001 110
the 31-digit m-sequences in Table III. A one in the binary 000 111
000 111
numbers ABC corresponding to each degree d denotes 010 101
the existence of a trinomial divisible by the characteristic 100 011
001 110
polynomial. For example, 5-100 means that there is a 000 111
trinomial of degree 5 divisible by fA(X) but none by 010 101
001 110
fB(x> or f&O. 010 101
Notice in Table III that for each pair of numbers 000 111
000 111
(d, --d Mod 31) one and only one corresponds to the 000 111
degree of a trinomial divisible by the characteristic 000 111
010 101
polynomial of an m-sequence. This feature is true in gen- 101 010
eral, since for any length m-sequence N = 2’ - 1, if f(X) 1 100 011
110 001
(g(X) = xd + xc + 1) where c is the degree of the inter- 101 010
mediate term, then f(X) 1 (xNmdg(X) = xNmdcc + xN-d + 1) 111 000
010 101
where now N - d = --cl Mod N is the degree of the 000 111
intermediate term. Similarly f(X) 1 (zN-“g(X) = xNmc + 011 100
010 101
xd-= + 1) where N - c = -c Mod N is the degree of the
trinomial. The result follows from the fact that each
number in the cosets appears only once as the degree of
either the trinomial or of the intermediate term. where it is recalled that B*, is the number of trinomials
From Table III the third central moments of each of degree less than M that are divisible by f(X) and
m-sequence for any length M-tuple, 1 5 M < 31 can xy:l di is the sum of their degrees.
be obtained via Fig. 2 shows the first three moments S, Sz, and Sz as
functions of M-tuple length M for each of the three
MB% - F d,. pairs of Sl-digit m-sequences. A comparison of Fig. 1 and
j=l >
Fig. 2 illustrates two significant features.
+ 3M2(N + 1 - M)
N2 1) For very long m-sequences it is possible to have
576
M-tuples which are longer than the shift register and
yet much shorter than the entire m-sequence. In these
cases, as illustrated by Fig. 1, the -M3/N + together with the methods of the previous example are
[3M2(N + 1 - n/r)]/N” terms are negligible and
the skewness of the M-tuple weight distribution is
determined by the low-degree trinomials. Thus, an
obvious rule of thumb for very long m-sequences and
relatively short M-tuples is that the two-tap feedback
arrangements produce relative skewed distributions.
2) For the shorter m-sequences the - M3/N + 3M2 *
(N + 1 - M)/N’ terms provide a significant con-
tribution to Sz for all M. The examples of Fig. 2
illustrates how the skewness oscillates as N increases
from 1 to N. Thus the m-sequence which has the
least skewness for one range of values of M may
not have the least skewness in some other range of
values of M. Note that S:(M) = -St(N - M).
In general Sz(JQ = (-l)“S:(N - M) = (-1)“s:.
(-M; Mod N) as inferred from Schmandt et al. ‘13’
Example 3
To illustrate the coset function approach to a case when
N = 2’ - 1 is not prime, we consider the t,hird moment
analysis for the case r = 6, N = 26 - 1 = 63 = 32.7.
There are only six distinct m-sequences with three being
the backward versions of the other. The cosets and coset
functions are shown in Table IV. In this case the coset
decomposition corresponds to counting off by 5’s. The
permutations of the proper and improper cosets are
indicated by dotted arrows to illust.rate the more com-
plicated situation that exists for composite-length m-
sequences. Again we denote the three pairs of m--sequences
by A, B, C and let
/A(X) : 103 = 001000011 = x6 + x: + 1
f;(x) : 141 = 001100001 = zs + x5 + 1
fB(X) : 147 = 001100111 = x6 + x5 + x2 + z + 1
f;(X) : 163 = 001110011 = x6 + z5 + x4 + x + 1
fC(X) : 155 = 001101101 = z6 + x5 + 9 + x2 + 1
f:(x) : 133 = 001011011 = z6 + x4 + x3 + x: + 1
IEEETRANSACTIONSON INFORMATION THEORY,JULY,lg@-j
From Golomb et al. ‘12’we find a starting set of trinomials
divisible by one or another of the above polynomials. These
sufficient to establish Table V.
Table V lists the degees dj of those trinomials of the
form g,.(x) = 1 + xc’ + zdi that are divisible by the
characteristic polynomials of the three pairs of m-sequences
A, B, and C.
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