SPREAD SPECTRUM

In spread spectrum (SS), we combine signals from

different sources to fit into a larger bandwidth, but our
goals are to prevent eavesdropping and jamming. To
achieve these goals, spread spectrum techniques add
redundancy.

Topics discussed in this section:

 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
Spread Spectrum

A signal that occupies a bandwidth of B, is spread

out to occupy a bandwidth of Bss
All signals are spread to occupy the same bandwidth
Bss
Signals are spread with different codes so that they
can be separated at the receivers.
Signals can be spread in the frequency domain or in
the time domain.
Spread spectrum
Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)
Frequency selection in FHSS
FHSS cycles
Bandwidth sharing
DSSS
DSSS example
Guided Transmission Media

• Transmission Media Classification

• Introduction to Guided Transmission
• Characteristics and Applications of
Twisted-Pair Cable
Coaxial Cable
Optical Fibre Cable
Transmission Medium

• Physical path between transmitter and the

receiver in a data communication system is
called the Transmission medium.
Classification of Transmission Media
Types of Transmission Media:

• Guided Media: Electromagnetic waves are guided

along a solid medium such as copper twisted pair,
copper coaxial cable or an optical fiber.

• Unguided Media: Provides a means for transmitting

electromagnetic signals through the atmosphere or
outer space. Can also be termed as Wireless
Communication.
Quality of Transmission
• Characteristics and quality of data transmission are
determined by medium and signal characteristics.

• For guided media, the medium is more important in

determining the limitations of transmission.

• For unguided media, the bandwidth of the signal

produced by the transmitting antenna is more important
than the medium.
• In general, signals at lower frequencies are
omnidirectional.

• At higher frequencies, it is possible to focus the signal

into a directional beam.
Cont…
• Key concerns for data transmission system
– Data rate & Distance

• Design factors which determine the data rate and distance

– Bandwidth
• Greater the bandwidth of a signal, the higher the data rate
– Transmission Impairments
• attenuation limits the distance
• Attenuation varies in different medium
• Twisted pair > coaxial cable > optical fiber
– Interference
• Cause of distortion in received signal
• More problematic in unguided media
– Number of receivers
• Signal receiving point introduces some attenuation and distortion
Different Media
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Twisted Pair Cable
• A twisted pair cable consists of two insulated copper wires
arranged in a regular spiral pattern.

• Typically, a number of pairs are bundled together into a cable by

wrapping them in a tough protective sheath.

• Least expensive and most widely used

 Cont…
Why Twisting?
• Twisting decreases the crosstalk
interference between adjacent pairs
in a cable.

• Tighter twisting provides much

better performance but also
increases the cost.

• Neighbouring pairs in a bundle

typically have somewhat different
twist lengths to reduce the crosstalk
interference.
 Cont…
• Transmission characteristics:
– used to transmit both analog and digital transmission
– attenuation for twisted pair is a very strong function of
frequency
– The medium is quite
susceptible to interference
and noise because of its
easy coupling with
electromagnetic fields
– Impulse noise (e.g.
lightening, electric spark)
also easily intrudes into
twisted pair
Types of Twisted Pair
• Two common types of twisted pair cables are
– Unshielded Twisted pair (UTP)
• E.g., ordinary telephone wire; local ethernet cable
– Shielded Twisted pair (STP)
• E.g., voice and data grade cables
Cont…

• These are different categories of UTP / STP.

Applications of Twisted Pair
Some common applications of Twisted Pair Cable:

• As local loop / subscriber loop in telephone lines

– individual residential telephone sets are connected to the local
telephone exchange
– It supports voice traffic using analog signaling

• Digital Subscriber Lie (DSL)

– It can handle digital data traffic at modest data rates

• Local Area Networks (10BaseT, 100BaseT)

– For creating local networks

• Connector Used – RJ45 (8-Lines)

– For connecting personal computers
 Coaxial Cable
• Consists of two conductors
– a hollow outer cylindrical conductor that surrounds a single inner wire
conductor.
– The inner conductor is held in place by either regularly spaced insulating
rings or a solid dielectric material.

• The outer conductor is covered with a jacket or a shield.

• A single coaxial cable has a diameter of from 1 to 2.5 cm.
Cont…
• Due to its shielding, coaxial
cables are much less
susceptible to interference or
crosstalk than twisted pair.
Applications of Coaxial Cable
Some common applications:
• Television distribution (Cable TV)
• Long distance telephone transmission (10,000 voice
channels per cable)
• Local Area Networks
• Short-run computer system links (for high-speed I/O)

• Common Types:
RG-6, RG-7, RG-8
The RG designation stands for Radio Guide.
Optical Fiber
• An Optical Fiber is a thin (2 to 125 µm), flexible
medium capable of guiding an optical ray.

• Various glasses and plastics can be used to make optical

fiber.
• Made of ultrapure fused silica, glass fiber or even plastic.

• It has a cylindrical shape and consists of three concentric

sections:
– the Core
– the Cladding
– the Jacket
Cont…
• The Core is the innermost section;
• it consists of one or more very thin strands, or fibers, made
of glass or plastic;
• the core has a diameter in the range of 8 to 50 μm.

• The Cladding is a glass or plastic coating that has optical

properties different from that of Core;
• each fiber is surrounded by its own cladding;
• its diameter is 125 μm

• The Jacket surrounds one or a bundle of cladded fibers;

• composed of plastic and other material layered to protect
against moisture, abrasion, crushing, and other
environmental dangers.
Cont…
• Distinguishing characteristics:
 Greater capacity
• data rates of hundreds of Gbps over tens of kilo-meters
 Smaller size and lighter weight
• thinner than coaxial cable or bundled twisted-pair cable
 Lower attenuation
• Attenuation is significantly lower for optical fiber than for
coaxial cable or twisted pair
 Electromagnetic isolation
• the system is not vulnerable to external interference,
impulse noise, or crosstalk.
 Greater repeater spacing
• Repeater spacing in the tens of kilometers for optical fiber is
common; Coaxial and twisted-pair systems generally have
repeaters every few kilometers.
How Optical Fiber Works?

Refraction is the change in direction of wave propagation due

to a change in its transmission medium.
Cont…
• Optical fiber transmits a signal-encoded beam
of light by means of total internal reflection.

• The optical fiber acts as a waveguide for

frequencies in the range of about 1014 to 1015
Hertz

• High demand for communicating all types of

information (voice, data, image, video)
Cont…

Operating
Modes

Multimode Single-mode

Step-Index Graded-Index
Step-index Multimode Transmission
• Light from a source enters the cylindrical glass or
plastic core.
• Rays at shallow angles are reflected and propagated
along the fiber;
• other rays are absorbed by the surrounding material.

• This form of propagation is called step-index

multimode, referring to the variety of angles that will
reflect.
Single-mode Transmission
• When the fiber core radius is reduced, fewer angles
will reflect.
• By reducing the radius of the core to the order of a
wavelength, only a single angle or mode can pass: the
axial ray.

• This single-mode propagation provides superior

performance because the distortion found in
multimode cannot occur.
Graded-index Multimode Transmission
• by varying the index of refraction of the core graded-index
multimode transmission is possible.

• The higher refractive index at the center makes the light rays
moving down the axis advance more slowly than those near the
cladding.

• Rather than zig-zagging off the cladding, light in the core curves
helically because of the graded index, reducing its travel distance.

• The shortened path and higher speed allows light at the periphery to
arrive at a receiver at about the same time as the straight rays in the
core axis.
Light Sources and Detectors
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• Cheaper
• Greater Temperature Range
• Longer Life
• Shorter distance
• Power coupled: 25 µW (50 µW)
 Injection Laser Diode (ILD)
• Costlier
• More efficient
• Allows longer distance
• Power coupled: 1.0 mW (Monomode)
 Detectors:
• PIN Photo Detector
• Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)
 Comparison
Bandwidth, Electro-
Medium Cost Security
Data Rate Attenuation magnetic
interference

3 MHz, High,
UTP Low High Low
4 Mbps 2-10 Km

350 MHz, Moderate,

Coaxial Moderate Moderate Low
500 Mbps 1-10 Km

Optical 2 GHz, Low,

High Low High
Fiber 2 Gbps 10-100 Km
Unguided Transmission Media
• Physical Path between transmitter and receiver
in a data communication system
• Broadly classified into two types:
 Guided:- Waves are guided along a solid medium,
such as copper twisted pair, copper coaxial cable or
optical fibre.
 Unguided:- Provides a means for transmitting
electromagnetic signals through air but do not
guide them.
 Wireless Communication
• Three general ranges of frequencies are of interest in our
discussion of wireless transmission.
• 1 - 40 GHz: microwave frequencies
• highly directional beams are possible
• quite suitable for point-to-point transmission
• used for satellite communications
• 30 MHz - 1 GHz: radio frequencies
• suitable for omnidirectional applications
• 3x1011 – 2x1014 Hz: infrared frequencies
• useful to local point-to-point and multipoint applications within
confined areas
Antennas
• Transmission and reception are achieved by
means of antennas
 The antennas plays key role
 An antenna can be defined as an electrical
conductor or system of conductors used either for
radiating or collecting electromagnetic energy.
 For transmission, an antenna radiates
electromagnetic radiation in the air
 For reception, the antenna picks up
electromagnetic waves from the surrounding
medium.
Cont…
 For transmission of a signal, radio-frequency
electrical energy from the transmitter is
converted into electromagnetic energy by the
antenna and radiated into the surrounding
environment (atmosphere, space, water).
 For reception of a signal, electromagnetic energy
impinging on the antenna is converted into radio-
frequency electrical energy and fed into the
receiver.
Cont…
• Basically two types of configuration :

 Transmitting antenna puts out a focused

electromagnetic beam.
 Transmitter & receiver must be carefully aligned.
 Allows point-to-point communication.

 Transmitted signal spreads in all directions.

 can be received by many antennas
 Allows broadcast communication
Cont…
• Isotropic Antenna:
– a point in space that radiates power in all
directions equally.
– The actual radiation pattern is a sphere
with the antenna at the center.

• Parabolic Antenna:
– used in terrestrial microwave and
satellite applications
– A parabola is the locus of all points
equidistant from a fixed line and a fixed
point not on the line.
Antenna Gain
• Antenna gain is a measure of the directionality of an antenna
(but not output power vs input power).
• It is defined as the power output, in a particular direction,
compared to that produced in any direction by a perfect
omnidirectional antenna (isotropic antenna)
• The effective area of an antenna is related to the physical
size of the antenna
• The relationship between antenna gain and effective area
Propagation Modes
A signal radiated from an antenna travels
along one of three routes
• Ground wave propagation
– more or less follows the contour of the earth
– can propagate considerable distances, well over the
visual horizon
– This effect is found in frequencies up to about 2 MHz.
– Several factors account for such tendency
• electromagnetic wave induces a current in the earth’s surface, the
result of which is to slow the wavefront near the earth, causing the
wavefront to tilt downward and hence follow the earth’s curvature
• Electromagnetic wave experiences diffraction (slight bending of
light as it passes around the edge of an object)

• Example: AM radio
Sky Wave Propagation

• Sky wave propagation

– A sky wave signal can travel through a number of hops,
bouncing back and forth between the ionosphere and the
earth’s surface
– This happens due to Refraction (change in direction of
propagation of any wave as a result of its travelling at
different speeds at different points along the wave front.)
– a signal can be picked up thousands of kilometers from
the transmitter

• Example: amateur radio, CB radio, and international

broadcasts such as BBC and Voice of America
Line-of-Sight Propagation

• LOS propagation
 Generally works above 30 MHz

 transmitted between an earth station and a satellite

overhead that is not beyond the horizon.

 the transmitting and receiving antennas must be within an

effective line of sight of each other

 Types:
• Optical Line of Sight propagation
• Radio Line of Sight propagation
Cont…

 With no intervening obstacles, the optical line-of-sight can

be expressed as
where, d is the distance between an antenna and the horizon in
kilometers, and h is the antenna height in meters.

 radio line-of-sight to the horizon is expressed as

where K is an adjustment factor to account for the refraction.

 A good rule of thumb is K=4/3

 the maximum distance between two antennas for LOS

propagation is
where h1 and h2 are the heights of the two antennas.
Bands and Propagations
Terrestrial Microwave

• requires fewer repeaters but line-of-sight

• The antenna is fixed rigidly
• use a parabolic “dish” to focus a narrow beam onto a receiver
antenna
• usually located at substantial heights above ground level
• an alternative to coaxial cable or optical fiber

• Applications:
– In log-haul telecommunications (e.g. Military Comm.)
– In short point-to-point links (e.g closed-circuit TV, data
link between LANs)
– In cellular systems
Cont…

• The higher the frequency used, the higher the potential bandwidth
and therefore the higher the potential data rate.

• Common frequencies used in the range 1 to 40 GHz.

• For microwave (and radio frequencies), the loss can be expressed as

where d is the distance and
λ is the wavelength

• higher microwave frequencies are less useful for longer

distances because of increased attenuation
16
Satellite Microwave
• Satellite is a microwave relay attention

• The satellite receives transmissions on one frequency band

(uplink), amplifies or repeats the signal, and transmits it on
another frequency (downlink).

• Typically requires geo-stationary orbit

 height of 35,863 km
 spaced at least 3-4 degree apart (angular displacement as
measured from the earth)

• Typical uses
 television distribution
 long distance telephone transmission
 private business network
 global positioning
Cont…
• A single orbiting satellite will operate on a number of frequency
bands, called transponder channels
The most recent application of satellite
technology to television distribution is
direct broadcast satellite (DBS), in which
satellite video signals are transmitted
directly to the home user.

It has huge business market.

Cont…
• A recent development is the very small aperture terminal (VSAT)
system, which provides a low-cost solution.

• Using some discipline, these stations share a satellite

transmission capacity for transmission to a hub station.
Cont…
• A pervasive application is GPS (Navstar Global
Positioning System)

• GPS consists of three segments:

– A constellation of satellites (currently 32) orbiting about

20,180 km above the earth’s surface.

– A control segment which maintains GPS through a system of

ground monitor stations and satellite upload facilities

– The user receivers -- both civil and military

• the GPS receiver can determine its latitude, longitude, and

height while at the same time synchronizing its clock with the
GPS time standard
Broadcast Radio
• It does not require dish shaped antenna
• the antennas need not be rigidly mounted to a precise
alignment
– broadcast radio is omnidirectional
– microwave is directional

• Radio frequency range 3 kHz – 300 GHz

• Use broadcast radio, 30 MHz – 1 GHz, for
– FM Radio
– UHF and VHF television

• Does not suffer much from rainfall

• Suffer from multipath interference
– Reflections from land, water, other objects.
 Infrared
• Infrared communications is achieved using transmitters/receivers
(transceivers) that modulate non-coherent infrared light.
– (in coherent light, the electromagnetic waves maintain a fixed and
predictable phase relationship with each other over a period of time.)

• Transceivers must be within the line-of-sight of each other either

directly or via reflection

• Frequencies between 300 GHz to 400 THz.

• Can not penetrate walls.

• Used for short-range communication in a closed area using line-

of-sight propagation.
• Typical uses
– TV remote control
– IRD port
Comparision of Media
Medium Cost Bandwidth, Attenuatio EMI Security
Data rate n
UTP Low 3 MHz, High, High Low
4 Mbps 2-10 Km
Coaxial Moderate 356 MHz, Moderate, Moderate Low
500 Mbps 1-10 Km
Optical High 2 GHz, Low, Low High
Fiber 2 Gbps 10-100 Km
Radio Moderate 1-10 Mbps Low-High High Low

Microwave High 1 Mbps-10 Variable High Moderate

Gbps
Satelite High 1 Mbps - 10 Variable High Moderate
Gbps
Infrared Low 2.4 kbps - 4 Low Low High
Mbps
 Impairments specific to LOS Transmission

• Atmospheric Absorption
– from water vapor and oxygen absorption
– Rain and fog cause scattering of radio waves

• Multipath
– multiple interfering signals from reflections

• Refraction
– only a fraction or no part of the line-of-sight wave reaches the
receiving antenna.

• Free space loss

– loss of signal with distance
– bending signal away from receiver
 Cont…

• For the ideal isotropic antenna, free space loss is

• Loss in decibels: by taking 10 times the log of that ratio

 Cont…
• For other antennas, we must take into account antenna
gain

• So, the free space loss is: