Spread Spectrum

Spread Spectrum

The initial application of SS techniques was in the development of military guidance

and communication systems. By the end of World War 2, spectrum spreading for
jamming resistance was already a familiar concept to radar engineers, and during
subsequent years, SS investigation was motivated primarily by the desire to achieve
highly jam-resistant communication systems. As a result of this research, there
emerged an assortment of other applications in such areas as energy density reduction,
high resolution ranging, and multiple access.

The techniques considered in this lecture are called spread spectrum because the
transmission bandwidth employed is much greater than the minimum bandwidth
required to transmit the information. A system is defined to be a spread spectrum
system if it fulfills the following requirements:

The signal occupies a bandwidth much in excess of the minimum bandwidth

necessary to send the information.

Spreading is accomplished by means of a spreading signal, often called a code

signal, which is independent of the data.

At the receiver, dispreading is accomplished by the correlation of the received

spread signal with a synchronized replica of the spreading signal used to
spread the signal.

Standard modulation schemes such as frequency modulation and pulse code

modulation also spread the spectrum of an information signal, but they do not qualify
as spread spectrum systems since they do not satisfy the conditions outlined above.

Spread spectrum signal hides the signal by transmitting it at low power and thus,
making it difficult for an unintended listener to detect its presence in noise (low
probability of intercept). Spread spectrum signals are now used to provide reliable
communications in a variety of civilian applications, including digital cellular
communications and interoffice communications.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 1 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

The Beneficial Attributes of Spread Spectrum Systems

Interference Suppression Benefits

White Gaussian noise is a mathematical model that, by definition, has infinite power
spread uniformly over all frequencies. Effective communication is possible with this
interfering noise of infinite power because only the finite-power noise components
that are present within the signal space can interfere with the signal. The balance of
the noise power may be thought of as noise that is effectively tuned out by the
detector. For a typical narrowband signal, this means that only the noise in the signal
bandwidth can degrade performance. Since spread spectrum (SS) techniques were
initially developed as a military application to permit reliable communications in the
face of an enemy interferer (jammer), we begin by focusing on the anti-jam (AJ)
capabilities of SS.

The idea behind a spread spectrum AJ system is as follows. Consider that many
orthogonal signal coordinates or dimensions are available to a communication link
and that only a small subset of these signal coordinates are used at any time. We
assume that the jammer cannot determine the signal subset that is currently in use. For
signals bandwidth W and duration T, the number of signaling dimensions can be
shown to be approximately 2WT. Given a specific design, the error performance of
E /N
such a system is only a function of b 0 . Against white Gaussian noise, with
infinite power, the use of spreading (large 2WT) offers no performance improvement.

Jamming is not always the result of an intentional act. Sometimes, the jamming signal
is caused by natural phenomena, and sometimes it is the result of self-interference
caused by multipath, in which delayed versions of the signal, arriving via alternative
paths, interfere with the direct path transmission.

Multiple Access

Spread spectrum methods can be used as a multiple access technique, in order to share
a communication resource among numerous users in a coordinated manner. This
technique, termed code division multiple access (CDMA), since each simultaneous
user employs a unique spread-spectrum signaling code.

A catalog of spreading techniques

The first two items listed under the category of spreading, direct sequencing (DS) and
frequency hopping (FH), are the most commonly used techniques for spectrum
spreading. As a jamming-rejection technique, time hopping (TH), the third item in the
list, is similar to spread spectrum in that the location of the signal coordinates is
hidden from potential adversaries. Also there are hybrid combinations of the
spreading techniques, for example, DS/FH, FH/TH, and DS/FH/TH.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 2 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Spread Spectrum System

Figure below shows the key characteristics of any spread spectrum system.

Channel Modulator Channel Demodulator Channel

Encoder decoder

Pseudonoise Pseudonoise
generator generator

General Model of Spread Spectrum Digital Communication System

Input is fed into the encoder that produces a signal with a relatively narrow bandwidth
around some center frequency. This signal is further modulated using a sequence of
digits known as a spreading code or spreading sequence. Typically, the spreading
code is generated by a pseudonoise or pseudorandom number generator. The effect of
this modulation is to increase significantly the bandwidth (spread the spectrum) of the
signal to be transmitted. On the receiving end, the same digit sequence is used to
demodulate the spread spectrum signal. Finally, the signal is fed into the decoder to
recover the data.

We can gain immunity from various kinds of noise and multipath distortion.
The earliest applications of spread spectrum were military, where it was used
for its immunity to jamming.

It can also be used for hiding and encrypting signals. Only a recipient who
knows the spreading code can recover the encoded information.

Several users can independently use the same higher bandwidth with very
little interference. This property is used in cellular telephony applications, with
a technique known as CDMA.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 3 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

With direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), each bit in the original signal is
represented by multiple bits in the transmitted signal, using a spreading code. The
spreading code spreads the signal across a wider frequency band in direct proportion
to the number of bits used. Therefore, a 10 bit spreading code spreads the signal
across a frequency band that is 10 times greater than a 1-bit spreading code.

One technique with direct sequence spread spectrum is to combine the digital
information stream with the spreading code bit stream using an exclusive-OR (XOR).

Figure below shows an example.

Example of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum

Note that an information bit of one inverts the spreading code bits in the combination.
An information bit of zero causes the spreading code bits to be transmitted without
inversion. The combination bit stream has the data rate of the original spreading code
sequence, so it has a wider bandwidth than the information stream. In this example,
the spreading code bit stream is clocked at four times the information rate.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 4 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

DSSS using BPSK

To see how this technique works out in practice, assume that a BPSK modulation
scheme is to be used. Rather than represent binary data with 1 and 0, it is more
convenient for our purposes to use +1 and -1 to represent the two binary digits. In that
case, a BPSK signal can be represented as was shown in the following equation

s d ( t ) =Ad ( t ) cos ( 2 πf c t )

where

A = amplitude of the signal

f c= carrier frequency
d ( t )= the discrete function that takes on the value of +1 for one bit time if the
corresponding bit in the bit stream is 1 and the value of -1 for one bit time if the
corresponding bit in the bit stream is 0.

To produce the DSSS signal, we multiply the above by c (t ) , which is the PN

sequence taking on the values of +1 and -1.

s ( t )= Ad ( t ) c ( t ) cos ( 2 πf c t )

At the receiver, the incoming signal is multiplied again by c (t ) . But c (t )×c ( t )=1 and
therefore the original signal is recovered:

s ( t ) c ( t )= Ad ( t ) c ( t ) c ( t ) cos ( 2 πf c t )=s d ( t )

To generate a DSSS we can first perform the BPSK modulation on the data stream
d ( t ) to generate the data signal s d ( t ) . This signal can then be multiplied by c (t ) . An
implementation using this can be shown on the following figure.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 5 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum System

If the code functions are chosen with orthogonal properties, the desired signal can be
extracted perfectly in the absence of noise. The undesired signals are easily rejected.
In practice, the codes are not perfectly orthogonal; hence, the cross-correlation
between user codes introduces performance degradation, which limits the maximum
number of simultaneous users.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 6 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

DSSS Performance Considerations

The spectrum spreading achieved by the direct sequence technique is easily

determined as shown in the figure below.

Approximate Spectrum of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Signal

In our example, the information signal has a bit width of T, which is equivalent to a
data rate of 1/T . In that case, the spectrum of the signal, depending on the encoding
technique, is roughly 2/T . Similarly, the spectrum of the PN signal is
2/T c . Figure
(c) shows the resulting spectrum spreading. The amount of spreading that is achieved
is a direct result of the data rate of the PN stream.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 7 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

We can get some insight into the performance of DSSS by looking at its effectiveness
against jamming. Let us assume a simple jamming signal at the center frequency of
the DSSS system. The jamming signal has the form

s j (t )= √2 S j cos ( 2 πf c t )

and the received signal is

s r ( t )=s ( t )+ s j ( t ) +n ( t )

where

s ( t )= transmitted signal

s j (t )= jamming signal

n ( t ) = additive white noise

S j= jammer signal power

The despreader at the receiver multiplies s r ( t ) by c (t ) , so the signal component due

to the jamming signal is

y j ( t )= √2 S j c ( t ) cos ( 2 πf c t )

This is simply a BPSK modulation of the carrier tone. Thus, the carrier power
S j is
spread over a bandwidth of approximately
2/T
c . However, the BPSK demodulator
following the DSSS despreader includes the bandpass filter matched to the BPSK
data, with bandwidth of 2/T . Thus, most of the jamming power is filtered. Although
a number of factors come into play, as an approximation, we can say that the jamming
power passed by the filter is

( 2/ T )
Sj =S ( T /T )
( 2 /T c ) j c

The jamming power has been reduced by a factor of c

T /T
through the use of the
spread spectrum. The inverse of this factor is the gain in signal-to-noise ratio. This
gain is called the processing gain

Rc
G p=
R

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 8 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Processing gain is the parameter that expresses the performance advantage of the
spread-spectrum system over a narrowband system.

Some Application of DS Spread-Spectrum Signals

We briefly describe the use of DS spread-spectrum signals in three applications. First,

we consider an application in which the signal is transmitted at very low power, so
that a listener trying to detect the presence of the signal would encounter great
difficulty. A second application is multiple-access radio communications. A third
application involves the use of a DS spread spectrum signal to resolve the multipath in
a time dispersive radio channel. Finally, we consider the use of DSSS to overcome
jamming.

Low Detectability Signal Transmission

In this application the information bearing signal is transmitted at a very low power
level relative to the background channel noise and thermal noise that is generated in
the front end of a receiver. If the DSSS signal occupies a bandwidth
W s and the
power spectral density of the additive noise is
N 0 W/Hz, the average noise power in
the bandwidth W is
PN =W s N 0 .

The average received signal power at the intended receiver is PR . If we wish to hide
the presence of the signal from the receivers that are in the vicinity of the intended
receiver, the signal is transmitted at a power level such that R N
P /P <<1 . The
intended receiver can recover the weak information bearing signal from the
background noise with the aid of the processing gain and the coding gain. However,
any other receiver that has no knowledge of the PN code sequence is unable to take
advantage of the processing gain and the coding gain. Consequently, the presence of
the information bearing signal is difficult to detect. We say the transmitted signal has
a low probability of being intercept (LPI), and it is called an LPI signal.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 9 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Code Division Multiple Access

The enhancement in performance obtained from a DS spread spectrum signal through

the processing gain and the coding gain can be used to enable many DSSS signals to
occupy the same channel bandwidth provided that each signal has its own
pseudorandom sequence. Thus, it is possible to have several users transmit messages
simultaneously over the same channel bandwidth. This type of digital communication
in which each transmitter/receiver user pair has its own distinct signature code for
transmitting over a common channel bandwidth is called CDMA.

In the demodulation of each DSSS signal, the signals from the other simultaneous
users of the channel appear as additive interference. The level of interference varies as
a function of the number of users of the channel at any given time. A major advantage
of CDMA is that a large number of users can be accommodated if each user transmits
messages for a short period of time. In such a multiple access system, it is relatively
easy either to add new users or to decrease the number of users without reconfiguring
the system.

We determined below the number of simultaneous signals that can be accommodated

in a CDMA system. For simplicity, we assume that all signals have identical average
powers. In many practical systems the received signal power level from each user is
monitored at a central station and power control is exercised over all simultaneous
users by use of a control channel that instructs the users on whether to increase or
N
decrease their power level. With such power control, if there are u simultaneous
users, the desired signal to noise interference power ration at a given receiver is

Ps Ps 1
= =
PN ( N u −1 ) Ps N u −1

From this relation, we can determine the number of users that can be accommodated
simultaneously.

In determining the maximum number of simultaneous users of the channel, we

implicitly assume that the pseudorandom code sequences used by the various users
are uncorrelated and that the interference from other users adds on a power basis only.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 10 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Communication over channels with multipath

Examples of fading multipath channels includes ionspheric propagation in the HF

frequency band, where the ionspheric layers serve as signal reflectors, and in mobile
radio communications systems, where the multipath propagation is due to reflection
from buildings, trees, and other obstacles located between the transmitter and
receiver.

Out discussion focused primarily on frequency nonselective channels, where the

signal bandwidth W is smaller than the coherence bandwidth
B cb of the channel. On
the other hand, if
W >B cb , we considered two cases to system design. One approach
is to subdivide the available bandwidth W into N subchannels such that the bandwidth
per channel
W / N < Bcb . In this way, each subchannel is frequency nonselective and
signals in each subchannel satisfy the condition that the symbol interval
T >> T m ,
T
where m is the multipath spread of the channel. Thus, ISI is avoided. A second
approach is to design the signal to utilize the entire signal bandwidth W and transmit it
on a single carrier. In this case, the channel is frequency selective and the multipath
components with differential delays of 1/W or greater becomes resolvable.

DS spread spectrum is a particularly effective way to generate a wideband signal for

resolving multipath signal components. By separating the multipath components, we
may also reduce the effects of fading.

Generation of PN Sequences

A Pseudorandom or pseudonoise (PN) sequence is a code sequence of 1’s and 0’s

whose autocorrelation has the properties similar to those of white noise

By far the most widely known binary PN code sequences are the maximum-length
shift-register sequences. A maximum-length shift-register sequence, or m-sequence
m
for short, has a length L=2 −1 bits and is generated by an m-stage shift register
with linear feedback.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 11 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Summary

In summary, the PN code sequence is used at the transmitter to spread the

information-bearing signal into a wide bandwidth for transmission over the channel.
By multiplying the received signal with a synchronized replica of the PN code signal,
the desired signal is despread back to a narrow bandwidth while any interference
signals are spread over a wide bandwidth. The net effect is a reduction in the
interference power by a factor
G p , which is the processing gain of the spread
spectrum system.

The PN code sequence is assumed to be known only to the intended receiver. Any
other receiver that does not have knowledge of the PN code sequence cannot
demodulate the signal. Consequently, the use of a PN code sequence provides a
degree of privacy that is not possible to achieve with conventional modulation. The
primary cost for this security and performance gain against interference is an increase
in channel bandwidth utilization and in the complexity of the communication system.

Spread spectrum promises several benefits, such as higher capacity and the ability to
resist multipath propagation. Historically, spread spectrum as developed for secure
communication and military uses. Spread spectrum signals have the following
characteristics:

They are difficult to intercept for an unauthorized person.

They are easily hidden. For an unauthorized person, it is difficult to even

detect their presence in many cases.

They are resistance to jamming.

They provide a measure of immunity to distortion due to multipath

propagation.

They have a multiple-access capability.

Although we use much higher bandwidth for a spread spectrum signal, we can also
multiplex large numbers of such signals over the same band by assigning a different
code to each signal. The codes are so chosen as to achieve near orthogonality of the
waveforms. Recall that the two carriers used in QAM are also orthogonal. This
orthogonality, if strict, would allow multiple users to coexist in a given frequency
range without mutual interference, providing multiple access through what is known
as CDMA. This same principle also makes spread spectrum less vulnerable to
intentional or unintentional interference.

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 12 EC401 Communication Systems

 Spread Spectrum

Lecture 20 : Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum 13 EC401 Communication Systems