DT14

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Radio School
Digital Radio Transmission
DT14 Spread-spectrum
techniques CDMA

Modulator

Detector

Channel decoder

Channel coder

Speech coder

Speech decoder

RCUR
Core Unit Radio Systems and Technology

Index to DT14
bandspreading
CDMA, Code Division MA
code sequences
cellular systems
chip
cluster size 1
coordinated frequency hopping
discontinuous transmission, DTX
DS-CDMA
DS-CDMA, multipath propagation
DS-CDMA, synchronization
DS-CDMA, traffic capacity
fast frequency hopping
FEC
FH-CDMA
freqency hopping for military use
Gold sequences
interference-limited systems
interference suppression
GPS
jamming margin
matched filter detector
near-far problem
pn-sequences
processing gain
rake receiver
slow frequency hopping
Walsh functions

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Digital Radio Transmission

DT14 Spread-spectrum
techniques CDMA

Contents
page
1.
Overview
4
1.1. Different types of spread spectrum
4
1.2. How DS-CDMA works
5
1.3. CDMA for mobile cellular networks
6
1.4. Characteristics of interference-limited systems
7
1.5. Other uses of band-spreading
8
1.6. Interference suppression
8
2.
DS-bandspreading systems
9
2.1. Processing gain and anti-jamming margin
9
2.2. Transmitter and receiver arrangements
12
3.
Technical aspects of DS band-spreading systems
14
3.1. Synchronization
14
3.2. Code sequences
14
3.3. Adjusting the receiver structure to multipath propagation 14
3.4. Use of FEC (Forward Error Control)
17
4.
Frequency hopping for military systems
18
4.1. Fast frequency hopping
18
4.2. Slow frequency hopping
20
4.3. DS-CDMA
21
5.
Cellular systems based on band-spreading
22
5.1. Introduction
22
5.2. Band-spreading through channel coding
22
5.3. DS-CDMA
22
5.4 FH-CDMA
25
Appendix 1. Characteristics of pn sequencies
27
Appendix 2. Walsh functions

30

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

1. Overview
1.1. Different types of spread spectrum
It has already been shown in connection with frequency modulation and channel
coding that the detection characteristics can be improved through bandwidth
expansion (modulation gain and coding gain). If overall system considerations
permit bandwidth expansion, spread spectrum techniques can provide more
noticeable improvements in receiver sensitivity when interference is the limiting
factor.
The bandwidth expansion is achieved through applying a modulation (coding) that
is not directly related to the baseband information. Compared to FM, which can
also give considerable bandwidth expansion, there is no limit (or threshold) to the
improvement that can be obtained, so long as synchronism can be maintained
between the transmitter and the receiver. Thus, spread spectrum systems can
continue to discriminate against unwanted interfering signals, not marked by the
right code, even if the desired signal is considerably weaker than the interfering
signals within the wideband radio channel being used.
There are several ways of achieving band spreading. The three most common ones
are:
a. Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum
It is normally called Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access
(DS-CDMA) in civilian communication applications.
b. Fast Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum
It has only been used in military communication systems.
c. Slow Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum
It is normally called Frequency-hopping Code Division Multiple Access
(FH-CDMA) in civilian communication applications. It is used in military
mobile networks, i.e. the Swedish Truppradio.
The name CDMA refers to the fact that a spread-spectrum system with sufficient
bandwidth expansion can give so large suppression of interference from radio
connections, marked with the wrong code, that enough isolation is obtained
between simultanious connections to permit multiple access. CDMA is thus an
alternative to FDMA and TDMA, discussed in previous modules and in module
DM1.
The major reason to apply band-spreading in military applications is the
discrimination against hostile interference (jamming) with the intention to disrupt
the communication. The suppression of hostile jamming is based on the assumption
that the code can be kept secret, to prevent jamming signals from being marked
with the same code. In military applications, the code is generally determined by a
cryptographic key, similar to that used for encrypted transmissions.
Suppression of jamming was the original use of spread spectrum, which explains
the name of one of the most important characteristics: the Anti-Jamming or
Jamming Margin. Due to the bandwidth expansion, an acceptable transmission
quality can be obtained even if the interference/jamming (I or J) is considerably
stronger than the desired signal (received power C) at the receiver input. This
corresponds to a negative protection ratio (C/I)min, normally expressed in dB.

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

The definition of the jamming margin (I/C)max is the maximum relative level of the
interfering signal, I, at the receiver input, for acceptable transmission quality. The
jamming margin, for interference falling within the assigned frequency band, also
corresponds to the system selectivity at a FDMA system.
In true spread spectrum systems, the bandwidth expansion occurs for each information bit, which means that also the short term frequency spectrum is spread out.
This is obtained with direct sequence and to a large extent also with fast frequency
hopping.
In direct sequence band-spreading systems, each primary radio symbol is coded
with a chip sequence of much higher rate than the symbol rate. The ratio
between the chip and symbol rate determines the spreading ratio (ratio between
the modulation bandwidth after and before band-spreading). In a basic
direct-sequence system, the spreading ratio is equal to the processing gain which
is closely related to the jamming margin, see section 2.
In frequency hopping, the codes define the differerent frequency hopping patterns.
The optimum interference suppressing capability is obtained with random patterns,
which results in collisions, as sometimes more than one connection occupy the
same time-frequency slot. This limits the mutual isolation and thus the CDMA
capability.
At fast frequency hopping, the hops occur at least as fast as the rate of the input
signal to the transmitter modulator.
At slow frequency hopping (FH-CDMA), the hopping rate is so slow that many
information bits, using normal narrowband modulation, are sent during the duration
of each frequency hop. The problem is that it is necessary for good interference
suppression that the information in each source bit is spread out over the whole
assigned frequency band. This is achieved by adding FEC channel coding with
interleaving. This is the same hopping arrangement, that is discussed in modules
DT10 (channel coding) and DM1 (GSM). Frequency hopping was motivated in the
GSM system mainly by the need to introduce frequency diversity to support
channel coding with interleaving in connection with quasi-stationary propagation
channels.
This module deals primarily with DS-CDMA, as this is the preferred type of spread
spectum for cellular radio. A more detailed coverage is given in module DM3.

1.2. How DS-CDMA works

The ability to detect the desired signal against a background of strong interference
is based on the incoming desired signal being marked with a specific code known
to the receiver, and not used by any other of the simultanious connections in the
system. All interfering signals into the receiver (besides the wideband input noise
No), not marked with this code, are considerably suppressed by the receiver signal
processing, see section 2. The degree of suppression is determined by the
spreading ratio, which determines the processing gain. The processing gain is
closely related to the jamming margin.
An additional condition for maximum receiver sensitivity is that the timing of the
locally generated code sequency matches the coding on the received wanted signal.
Input signals with wrong timing are suppressed, even is the code is right. This
means that if the propagation channel has a large delay spread, only part of the
multi-path signal can be detected with full sensitivity by a simple receiver with one
detection channel.
5

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

In a simple, one-channel receiver, the detector will try to match its code timing to
the largest multi-path component of the wanted signal. With more advanced signal
processing (rake structure, see section 3.3), several signal components can be
combined coherently in a multi-channel receiver, resulting in better utilization of
the received signal power and also in a diversity gain (multi-path diversity against
frequency-selective fading). To obtain diversity gain, it is necessary that the modulation bandwidth is wide enough to enable the different propagation paths to be
distinguished in time by the receiver signal processing. The same condition can be
expressed as the need for the system bandwidth to exceed the correlation
bandwidth of the propagation channel to make frequency diversity possible.
Such a receiver, which can simultaneously receive signals with different
propagation delays and/or different codes, can also be used for base-station
diversity with soft handover in the outward direction. Se figure 1.1.

Macrodiversity. Soft handover.

(Cf. fig. 3.1)

T: Base-station transmitter
R: Terminal receiver
The receiver knows the
spreading codes used by
the transmitters.

Figure 1.1

The same baseband signal with suitable spreading is sent from several base stations
with overlapping coverage. The terminal receiver decodes and combines signals
from several base stations simultaneously. It is necessary that the terminal receiver
knows the spreading codes used by the base transmitters involved.

1.3. CDMA for mobile cellular networks

An interesting question is whether CDMA can give better spectrum efficiency than
other types of multiple access, such as FDMA and TDMA. At CDMA the maximum number of simultanious connections is determined by the fact that all users
beside the studied one (wanted signal) will contribute to the total interference level.
If this grows too much, the transmission quality will be unsufficient. On one hand
the bandspreading consumes more spectrum, on the other hand the jamming
margin allows several connections to share the same band.
6

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

In a cellular system based on DS-CDMA, enough bandspreading is generally used

so that all cells can share a common frequency band (cluster size 1). This means
that the number of cochannel interferers will be much larger than at a
corresponding FDMA/TDMA system, which must use fairly large cluster size. In a
suitable designed, so called interference-limited system, advantage is taken of the
very efficient interference averaging, which results in a small difference between
the worst-case interference level and the average level. The cluster size is therefore
nearly determined by the average level of the interference. The interference
averaging gives a considerable improvement in frequency economy compared to
traditional FDMA and TDMA systems, where the needed cluster size is more or
less determined by the worst case interference level, which is much higher than the
average level. This is the main reason why a DS-CDMA or a FH-CDMA system
typically gives better frequency economy than a FDMA or a TDMA system.
A major additional advantage of DS-CDMA is very efficient dynamic resource
allocation (bandwidth-on-demand), see section 1.4 below. This is an important
consideration in future systems, which must handle non-speech signals. These
signals often have a high degree of burstiness, i.e. during a connection the maximum source data rate is much higher than the average rate. This is one of the main
reasons why DS-CDMA will be usd for the next generation cellular system,
UMTS.
FH-CDMA is not quite as efficient in this respect, but instead has the advantage
that coordinated hopping, which eliminates collisions, can be used within each
cell, giving in principle perfect isolation between the connections in each cell. This
is called an orthogonal arrangement. (To obtain maximum suppression of
interference from other cells, hopping patterns used at different cells shall be
mutually random. An option at GSM is frequency hopping, which is arranged so
that the hopping patterns are coordinated within each cell, but random between
differerent cells.) In a basic DS-CDMA system (without interference cancellation)
orthogonality cannot be obtained in the inward directions (see page 15).

1.4. Characteristics of interference-limited systems

The transmission quality, i.e. the b.e.r., is determined by the ratio between the
wanted signal (C) and the combined interference (I) from all the other connections
in the receiver input. Therefore, all features that have an influence on the level of I
(relative to the value of the wanted signal C and assuming a fixed spreading ratio)
will have an impact on the normalized system capacity (normalized with respect to
a given system bandwidth) and thus the frequency economy.
One consequence is the need to control the signal levels into the receiver (mainly
the base receiver) very accurately. Otherwise a nearby terminal with low
propagation loss will prevent detection of a weak signal from a terminal at the
outskirts of the cell. This is referred to as the near-far problem.
On the other hand all system facilities, which reduce the total interference level,
improve the frequency economy. A simple case, often used at two-way speech
connections is Discontinuous Transmission (DTX). It means that the transmitter
is cut off during speech pauses. For normal, balanced speech each direction is
active less than half the time. Therefore, DTX gives two times improvement in
system capacity in a typical case.

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

This concept is exteded further as fast dynamic demand assignment of channel

capacity (bandwith-on-demand). As is discussed in more detail in module DM 3,
the needed level of C at the receiver input, and thus the corresponding transmit
power, is proportional to the instantanious source data rate. (For a given bandwidth
after spreading, the processing gain and thus the jamming margin is inversely
proportional to the source data rate.) Demand assignment of channel capacity is
simply achieved through adaption of the transmit power to the source data rate.
Therefore, no central allocation of channel resources is necessary. This is one of
the most important advantages of DS-CDMA in connection with future cellular
systems.

1.5 Other uses of band-spreading

As a DS-CDMA detector strongly discriminates against received signals with the
wrong timing relative to the local code, very accurate measurements of propagation
delays are possible. The accuracy of the delay measurement is roughly inversely
proportional to the modulation bandwidth (roughly corresponding to the chip
length). Propagation delay measurements of signals coming from different transmitters with known positions can be used for navigation or position dermination.
An example is the Global Positioning System, GPS.
The wide bandwidth of the transmitted radio signal also means that the signal
power per hertz is low. This makes hostile interception of the signal more
difficult. If the bandwidth is wide enough, the signal will be masked by the input
noise of a surveillance receiver. For the same reason, spread spectrum facilitates
the coexistence of uncoordinated radio services in the same frequency band.

1.6. Interference suppression

An advanced attachment to a DS-CDMA system is interference cancellation or
joint detection. The principle is to use very advanced and complicated signal
processing to analyse the mixture of wanted signal and interference signals in the
receiver input. This information is used to improve the isolation between the
wanted signal and the interference. The ideal situation is to establish full
orthogonality between the wanted signal and the interference. This procedure can
only work if the receiver knows the code markings of all the interfering signals,
that shall be cancelled, and also can estimate the propagation channels for these
signals.
The simplest procedure is successive cancellation of one interferer at a time,
starting with the largest one. To the input is added out-of-phase a cancelling signal
corresponding to the strongest interferer. After that, the next largest one is detected,
and a suitable cancelling signal subtracted. The procedure continues until the
remaining interfering level is low enough, so that the reduced I/C ratio falls below
the AJ-margin and thus can be handled by the basic CDMA system.
It is planned to use interference suppression in the two system alternatives chosen
for UMTS (see module DM 3).

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

2. DS-CDMA
2.1. Processing gain and anti-jamming margin
In direct-sequence spread spectrum systems, the output signal from the normal
transmitter modulator is mixed with a local oscillator signal modulated with a code
sequence (pseudo-noise or pn sequence) (see Fig. 2.1). Often 2 ASK (antipodal
modulation) is used. The bandwidth expansion is obtained by replacing each
incoming information bit with a code sequence comprising M chips. We assume
that that the chip modulation is also 2 ASK. An example of suitable sequences is
maximum-length shift-register sequences (see Appendix 1). If the information bit
rate is di, the duration of each information bit will be Ti = 1/di.
If the antipodal modulation is used, in rough terms the modulation bandwidth
before spreading will be W = 1/Ti = di. After coding, the signal will comprise a
sequence of chips of length Tc = Ti/M. The modulation bandwidth will be
B = 1/Tc = MW, that is, the bandwidth expansion will be B/W = M. This
corresponds to a processing gain, Gp, of M times, or 10 log M dB.

Spread spectrum through direct modulation with p-n sequence

Modulation bandwidth:

Information bit stream:

W di =

Ti
0

I
Ti

One chip

Tc
1 1

"0":

"1":

1 0

1 1

0 1 1

Each
information bit is
coded with an
M-chip code
sequence.
Tc =

1
Ti
M

Ti
Modulation bandwidth after spreading = B
B >>W

"Spread spectrum"

Processing gain = G p =

Fig. 2.1

B
W

1 M
=
M W
Tc Ti

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Spread spectrum technique. Processing Gain Gp

di b / s

input signal
Code key

PSK
(FSK)
Mod.

W
W di

Code
generator

B
B

Modulated
LO

m
r

Signal
bandwidth
Bsign = W

Gp =

pu

B
W

B jam B

No

PSK
(FSK)
Output signal Demod.

W
Attenuation C 0dB
Attenuation J G p

B
B>>W

m
r = pu
pu

: Propagation delay

I = Jammer
(Hostile or
within system)

Fig.2. 2

An approximate derivation of this expression is shown in Fig. 2.2. The starting

point is a conventional 2-ASK/2-PSK link with a matched receiver. The bandwidth
of the matched filter is approximately W 1/Ti. The spreading is obtained by
antipodal modulation of the transmitter oscillator using a pn-sequence with M times
higher data rate, making the bandwidth M times greater. In the receiver, the LO is
modulated with the same pn-sequence, which is syncronized in time to the
corresponding sequence enbedded in the received signal.
The result is that exactly inverse operations are performed by the transmitter
spreading mixer and the receiver despreading mixer. The bandwidth of the desired
output signal from the receiver mixer is thus despread to the original bandwidth W.
The original, non-spread signal spectrum from the transmitter modulator has thus
been regenerated and can pass through the matched filter of bandwidth W without
any attenuation. All other signals that have not been coded with the right pnsequence included time shift will have their bandwidth expanded to at least B when
they pass through the receiver mixer (convolution of the input spectrum and the LO
spectrum). Consequently, at most a fraction, W/B = 1/M, of the interfering signals
can pass the matched filter. As an example a spreading factor of 1 000 corresponds
to a processing gain Gp = 30 dB. However, owing to implementation difficulties, in
practice a somewhat lower value is obtained than the theoretical value of Gp
indicated above.
Inasmuch as the signal from the receiver LO has a noise-like characteristic, the
interfering signal from the matched filter will also be noise-like - regardless of the
structure of the interfering signal in the receiver input, especially if contributions
from many chips are added in the filter (impulse response much longer than a chip).
Closer analysis reveals that if the bandwidth expansion is enough, the noise from
the matched filter for all types of interfering signals that are not correctly coded is
very similar to Gaussian noise. Thus, the receiver detector is similarly influenced by
the noise density of the interfering signal and the thermal noise No, which means
that we can apply the same detector characteristic as previously derived for white
Gaussian noise. An example is given in Fig. 2.3.

10

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Jamming Margin = J/C

Jo =

W di

J
B

(Noise
density,
Watt/Hz)

C
C C
E

= B = i di
No
No Jo J

C = Ei di
J = JoB

p-n
sequence

C Ei di
=

J No B

Gp =

B
di

Ei
J

= Gp

dB N o
C dB
dB

( )

Jo No
Example: Information bit rate:

d i = 10 kb / s W 10 kHz

2-ASK modulation. Maximum permissible bit error rate of 1%.

Spreading factor: B/W=500, that is, B=5 MHz

Required

Ei
= 5 dB
No

Processing Gain, Gp = 500 times or 27 dB

Jamming margin, J/C = 27-5 = 22 dB

Fig. 2.3

Since the interfering signal occupies a bandwidth of at least B in the input to the
detector filter, the power density of the interfering signal, Jo, in the worst case will
be J/B. The influence of Jo on the detector can be regarded as equivalent to the
corresponding noise, No. The required value of C/Jo will be the same as the
required value of C/No for the basic arrangement without spread spectrum. From
this we get the expression for the jamming margin, J/C, as shown in Fig. 2.3. This
is a rough estimate. In a detailed analysis we would have to take into account the
auto and cross correlation characteristics of the code sequences and also the fact
that the amplitude distribution of the incoming interfering signals to the detector
can somewhat deviate from Gaussian.
Other modulation types than antipodal, which have different ratios between modulation bandwidth and modulation data rate, can be used for the basic modulation
and the spreading modulation. The relations, derived above, are still valid as long
as the processing gain is defined as the ratio beween the bandwidths after and
before spreading. As an example, at the systems to be used for UMTS, the basic
modulation will be either 4QAM or 16QAM.
Part of the bandwidth expansion can be achieved through coding. If so, the coding
gain is added to the basic value of the processing gain before adding channel
coding (see section 3.4). The basic processing gain relates to the source data rate not the rate after the channel coder.

11

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

2.2 Transmitter and receiver arrangements

If antipodal modulation is used, the information and spreading bits are defined in
terms of the polarity of the code sequence (see Fig. 2.1). This means that a common modulator can be used in the transmitter for both the source information and
spreading code (see Fig. 2.4). An NRZ signal, determined by modulus-2 addition
of the source signal and the spreading sequence, is applied to the phase modulator.
(The bit rate of the spread sequence should be synchronized to and be a wholenumber multiple of the information bit rate.)

Transmitter for pn-sequence CDMA

NRZ
generator

Info
source

modulus 2

+
Code
generator

NRZ
generator

2-ASK
modulator

Code key
A

Tc

B
C

Ti

Fig. 2.4

As can be seen from Fig. 2.2, one way of despreading the received signal is
through the modulation applied to the local oscillator. The receiver mixer correlates
the received signal with the LO signal. Another procedure involves the use of an
unmodulated LO combined with a detector arrangement incorporating a filter, that
is matched to the code sequence (matched filter-receiver). One possibility is to use
a matched transversal filter whose outputs correspond to the train of + and -
bits in the code sequence (see Fig. 2.5).

12

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Detection using a matched filter

Tc
+1
++ - +- ++++ - - - + - -1

PSK
mod.

T = M Tc

P-n sequence mod.

LO
Matched
filter
Env.
det

Autocorrelation function
T

S1

1
1
M

Unmod.
LO

C=

I
S1 (t )S1 (t )dt
T

(Maximumlenght sequence

2T

+ + - + - + + + +- - - + - -

Instant

Matched filter
(SAW line)
Fig. 2.5

A fixed sequence can be realized by a SAW filter; a more advanced convolver-type

SAW structure can be used for a filter adjustable to different codes. At modest
bandwidths, the matched filter can also be realized using digital signal processing.
The advantage of a matched filter-receiver is that it facilitates synchronization of
the detector to the incoming signal. The correct synchronization in this arrangement is obtained by sampling the output from the matched filter at the right instant.
The matched filter can simultaneously process signal components having different
propagation delays. These occur at different times in the output and can be
distinguished provided that the difference in the propagation time is at least Tc.
(The usual way of implement the optimum receiver for multipath signals is the
RAKE structure, see Fig. 3.1).

13

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

3. Technical aspects DS bandspreading

systems
3.1 Synchronization
The usual despreading arrangements at a spread spectrum system is based on a
local oscillator, modulated by the chip sequence. For optimum reception of the
wanted signal, the the correct code must be used and also the pn-sequence shifted
to the correct time to match the propagation delay. The synchronization arrangement is often the most complex subsystem in the receiver. The synchronization
initially involves seeking of the correct code delay (locking in) and then
maintaining the synchronization during the connection.
A short sequence with good correlation characteristics, e.g. a maximum-length
sequence, is often used for the initial locking in. The autocorrelation function
determines the output signal from the correlator. A strong output signal from the
correlator is only obtained when the relative time shifts of the received signal and
the sequence applied to the local oscillator match. During the locking-in phase, the
phase of the code sequence that modulates the local oscillator slides slowly in
relation to the corresponding sequence in the received signal. The right setting is
indicated by a strong signal from the correlator. Once the correlation peak is
detected, the slide ceases and a feedback loop is switched in to maintain the
synchronization.

3.2 Code sequences

Despite their good autocorrelation characteristics, maximum-length sequences (pnsequences) have some limitations in connection with spread spectrum systems. In
military applications, where the main requirement is high resistance to jamming, it
is essential that the code sequences used cannot be cracked by the enemy. In this
context, it is clearly a drawback of maximum-length sequences that their integral
structure is such that if only a small part of the sequence is known (twice the
number of stages in the generating shift register), the entire sequence can be
calculated. A sequence with a much more complex structure can be obtained, for
example using a nonlinear combination of two maximum-length sequences (nonlinear requires a different mathematical operation from modulus-2 addition).
Several types of code types can be used for DS-CDMA. Often the total bandspreading is obtained by a combination of more than one spreading process, and
part of the bandspreading is obtained by FEC channel coding.
a. Different time squences of the same basic pn-code are assigned to different
connections. Time shifted versions of the same pn-sequence have optimum autocorrelation characteristics. (See appendix 1).
b. Differerent pn-sequencies are used to code different connections. The sequences
are generated by shift registers with different feedback structures. Despite their
good autocorrelation characteristics, maximum-length sequences have relatively
poor cross-correlation characteristics, i.e. the correlation curve may have prominent side lobes. In the calculation of the processing gain in section 2.1, it was
assumed that the cross-correlation characteristics were nearly perfect, so that the
effect of interfering signals coded with incorrect sequences was equivalent to
that of noise. However, this does not apply if the cross-correlation has prominent
side lobes. The largest secondary peak of the cross-correlation function is
typically only 10 dB lower than the main correlation peak.
14

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

For long maximum-length sequences of a certain length there are many

variations (different feedback arrangements of the signals from the shift-register
cells). For instance, for a shift register having a length of 10 there are 60 different sequence variants. If a suitable pair of sequences is chosen, their crosscorrelation characteristics will be much better than in the typical case given
above. If these sequences are added modulus 2 with different relative timeshifts, a large number of new sequences are obtained which also have good
cross-correlation characteristics. The Gold sequences (see Appendix 1) are the
best known sequences of this type.
c. Sequencies are used with improved orthogonality characteristics. The simplest
class of such function is the Walsh functions, see appendix 2. The 64-symbol
class of Walsh functions is used at the US DS-CDMA standard IS-95, see
module DM3. The limitation is that full orthogonality is only obtained if there is
very good time synchronization (at the receiver input) between the sequencies
used for the mutual isolation of simultanious connections. The timing is so
critical that it cannot be obtained in the inward direction. Even in the outward
direction, the isolation is somewhat degraded at the input to the terminal receiver, if there is multi-path propagation with large delay spread.
More advanced functions with similar properties as the Walsh functions will be
used for the WCDMA version of UMTS, see module DM3. The advantage with
these improved functions is adaptivity to a large spread of source data rates.

3.3 Adjusting the receiver structure to multipath propagation

Essential properties of a spread spectrum system are related to the criterion that the
receiver code must have exactly the right time relation to the wanted input signal to
be detected. The requirement on exact timing is given by the autocorrelation
function for the code sequence. In the case of good code sequences (maximum
length pn-sequences), the correlation will be insignificant as soon as the relative
time position differs by at least one chip. Broadly speaking, this means that the full
suppression, corresponding to Gp, will be obtained if the time position of the
receiver sequence deviates by more than 1/B from the optimum time setting (where
B is the modulation bandwidth after spreading). This has two important
implications for a system, with a wide modulation bandwidth:
- the impulse response of the radio channel can be measured very accurately
(resolution corresponding to one chip interval)
- only a small part of the radio channels impulse response is used by the data
demodulator if there is extensive time dispersion.
In the case of a simple receiver structure, some improvement to the sensitivity
characteristics can be obtained if the fading depth is reduced when the receiver is
influenced only by reflections having almost the same propagation delay. Greater
improvements in sensitivity can be achieved with a more complicated receiver
structure known as a rake receiver, which has several detection channels matched
to different propagation delays (see below).
With normal cell structures of the small cell or large cell type, a modulation
bandwidth of 3 MHz (time resolution 1/3 s or a 100-m length difference) is
required for a considerable diversity gain. In a system based on micro cells and
pico cells, greater modulation bandwidth would be needed since the time dispersion is smaller and therefore the correlation bandwidth greater.
15

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Rake receiver

Thresholddetector

1
Code-sequence
generator

2
3

h (t )

R (microdiversity)

Impulse response T
T1

R (macrodiversity)
1

T2

h(t) = Impulse response for channel

T2

microdiversity

T1

macro+microdiversity

Fig. 3.1
The simplest arrangement for reducing the necessary fading margin is that whereby
only a small part (one chip interval) of the impulse response is used at any given
instant but where it is possible, when necessary, to jump to another, stronger
propagation path (corresponds to selection diversity). This is made possible by a
separate receiver channel that continuously measures the impulse response and
locates the strongest propagation paths. (A pilot sequence can be used for this
purpose).
A more effective diversity arrangement is obtained using a rake receiver, which
gathers the energy from several propagation paths (see Fig. 3.1). For coherent
combination of the contributions from different propagation paths to be possible, in
addition to time adjustment of the code, the relative phase positions of the LOs for
the detector channels must also be adjusted. This corresponds to equal-gain type of
diversity (see module G2, figure 5.3).
As shown in Fig. 3.1, a rake receiver can also be used to combine signals from two
base stations. This achieves macro diversity with soft handover.

16

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

3.4 Use of FEC (Forward Error Control)

In a spread spectrum system, it is very attractive to obtain part of the spreading
through error-correction coding. The resulting coding gain (time diversity gain)
enables the required E/No (local average) for acceptable transmission quality to be
reduced. (The same applies to E/Jo). For a given spread bandwidth and source data
rate, the processing gain is unaffected by the increased data rate from the channel
coder and still given by the ratio dc/di. (The coding gain is expressed in relation to
Ei/No, where Ei is the received energy per bit from the source). Thus, the coding
gain is gratis, i.e. obtained without any need for additional bandwidth expansion
(see Fig. 3.2), for a given value of Gp and di.

No channel coding
di

di

Modulator

Spreading

dc

C
Band
compression

Detector
Ei
N
o

GPI

J = No dc
C ggr Ei di

d
= c
di

Legend

Ei Ei C / di
= =

No Jo J / dc

d i = Information data rate

d b = Data rate from channel coder

With channel coding (same d i and dc as above)

di

Channel
coding

db

Modulator

db

Spreading

E b =C Tb
E i =C Ti

Detector

Spreading

d
Eb = Ei i
db

GPII

II

Gck = Coding gain

d
Processing gain
GPI = c
d i dB with no channel coding

dc

C
Channel
decoding

d c B = Chip data rate (= radio bandwidth)

d
= c
db

II

II

J = No dc = No db dc

C ggr Eb
db Ei ggr di db
ggr
I

J = No G G I
( c) ( P)
C ggr Ei
ggr

Ei
Ei
1
N = N G
o
o ( ck ) ggr

E
J
= i + Gc + GPI dB
C
No

Fig. 3.2

Channel coding combined with interleaving is an important addition to military

spread spectrum systems subjected to jamming. Without this arrangement, pulsed
interference is highly effective, especially if a relatively low error rate is required
by the transmission system. The most effective jamming is achieved when the duty
cycle is adjusted such that the relative power of the interference at the input to the
receiver to be jammed is just above the jamming margin. During jamming periods,
the error rate will be close to 50%. A transmission channel subjected to pulsed
interference resembles a channel with fading dips below the sensitivity threshold.
17

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

4. Frequency hopping for military

systems
4.1 Fast frequency hopping
In fast frequency hopping, the available frequency band is divided into a large
number of frequency slots. The spreading is achieved by generating unmodulated
radio pulses whose frequencies (corresponding the available frequency slots) are
determined by a combination of the input signal and code-sequence generator. The
code sequence in turn is determined by the code key.

Spread spectrum through fast frequency hopping

(1 bit transmitted per hop)
f

"1"

Code key
"0"
Codesequence
generator
001110

Serialparallel
converter

Frequency
synthesizer

di =

From information source

I
t thopp
hop

=W

t
t

hop

Fig. 4.1

For instance, if the available frequency band B is divided into n frequency slots
each having a width of W = B/n, a given hop frequency can be defined by sending
k bits at a time (n = 2k) from the code sequence generator. The width of the
frequency slots is often chosen such that it corresponds to the lowest value that will
give orthogonality (W = di = 1/thop for the case in which the hop frequency
coincides with the information data rate). Fig. 4.1 applies to a simple transmitter
arrangement, whereby the useful information is sent by 2-FSK with the use of two
adjacent frequency slots. The hop sequence determines where these pair of slots is
placed within the allocated bandwith B. The receiver incorporates a corresponding
hopping frequency synthesizer and suitable time synchronization, which results in
synchronized hopping of the receiver and the transmitter.
Since it is hardly possible to achieve phase coherence between adjacent received
pulses (owing to implementation complications of the frequency-hopping
frequency synthesizer and, above all, to the frequency-dependent delay on a radio
channel with time dispersion), transmission of the information is generally based
on orthogonal, noncoherent 2-FSK or MFSK. The digital input signal and the code
sequence control the frequency synthesizer in the transmitter.

18

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

For example, a 10-bit code sequence and 2-FSK, 211 (2048) different hop
frequencies are defined. In the receiver the identical code sequence is fed to the
frequency-synthesizer arrangement. On the basis of this, the receiver can determine
which two frequency slots (f1 and f2) are to be monitored during a hop interval to
determine whether a 0 or a 1 has been applied to the transmitter. A suitable
receiver arrangement is shown in Fig. 4.2 The signal energy in both frequency
slots is compared in the decision circuit, which decides which channel has the
highest energy.

Receiver for frequency-hopping CDMA

IF

Env.
det.

circuit

f1-fIF
HF

f1 or f2

Frequency
synthesizer

Decision

Code sequence "0"

Select highest
IF

Env.
det.

f2-fIF
Frequency Code sequence "1"
synthesizer

"0" / "1"

Fig. 4.2

In MFSK (M > 2), during each frequency-hop interval, information is sent about
n = 2log M information bits. Depending on the value of n information bits, a
frequency, fm, is generated from a group of M different frequencies (f1, f2 ... fM).
The receiver has M parallel channels. The outgoing sequence of n bits corresponds
to the channel which has the highest signal energy. (Basic modulation MFSK).
One considerable advantage of frequency hopping over direct-sequence spread
spectrum is the much easier synchronization. For a given bandwidth, B, the
requirement for synchronization precision in direct pn-sequence is determined by
the chip length, 1/B. In frequency hopping, the frequency band is split into a large
number of frequency slots each having a width of B/n (where n is the number of
frequency slots). This corresponds to a minimum length of radio symbols of n/B.
Compared with direct sequence, the required time precision in the synchronization
will be n times lower.
Above it has been assumed that the frequency slots for 2 FSK and MFSK are
packed together. However, this is not necessary. They can be placed independently
in random frequency slots over the allocated band. Using M frequencies, it is also
possible to send on more than one of these during each hop interval, i.e several
source bits can be transmitted during each hop interval.

19

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

4.2. Slow frequency hopping

In network planning for military mobile and portable communications, the radio
equipment has to meet stringent selectivity requirements. Military radio networks
have to be designed such that they can quickly be reconfigured if sections (nodes)
of the network are knocked out. Therefore, the network must be able to function
without fixed base or relay stations. The basic framework for the network is based
entirely on the terminals included. This leads to a one-frequency simplex network.
(By way of contrast, civil mobile radio applications use duplex networks or
two-frequency simplex networks with base stations.)
A one-frequency simplex system uses the same frequency band for
communications in both directions. This incurs the risk of mutual interference
between terminals in close proximity to each other, if selectivity is limited between
links in a common, relatively narrow frequency band. The extreme case with
respect to interference levels occurs when terminals on the same vehicle have set
up simultanious connections with remote terminals. This results in very strong
interference because of low isolation between the nearby transmitters and
receivers. In an FDMA system this problem is overcome by suitable spread out of
the radio channels plus the use of highly selective channel filters, giving a
selectivity of 70-110 dB. A direct sequence spread-spectrum system would be
completely jammed by mutual interference in the system. Also the system
selectivity of a system based on fast frequency hop would be unsufficient
(spectrum spreading at the transmitter and receiver caused by transients due to the
very short dwelling time per slot).
Even with very large bandwidth expansion, the selectivity performance expressed
as the jamming margin is modest in a direct-sequency bandspreading system in
comparison with FDMA. In an FDMA system, typical adjacent channel selectivity
is 70 dB. Substantially better selectivity is obtained at greater frequency separation
from the interfering signal. It is impossible in practice to get anywhere near these
selectivity characteristics in a direct-sequence or even fast frequency hopping
bandspreading system. Instead, slow frequency hopping, employing typically 100
hops a second, is used. Many information bits are sent by normal narrowband
modulation during each frequency-hop interval.
In slow frequency hopping, the hop sequence is so slow that the same level of
selectivity is obtained as in normal FDMA transmission. Selectivity is reduced by a
negligible amount by the widening of the transmitted spectrum and the receiver
selectivity as a result of the frequency hopping.
Mutual interference between terminals is caused by collisions, i.e blocks will be
completely lost, if the same time-frequency slot is used by more than one
connection at a given instant. The more terminals there are in close proximity, the
more blocks will be lost and the higher will be the bit error rate. (In some system
configurations it is possible to coordinate the frequency hops such that collisions
can be avoided. This solution is known as orthogonal or coordinated frequency
hopping.)
If a system is to have good tolerance both to mutual interference within the system
and to external jamming, it needs to be designed such that the transmission quality
is acceptable even at a high error rate. If the speech-quality requirement is modest,
suitable speech codecs (e.g. adaptive delta modulators) can be used up to a bit error
rate exceeding 10%. Data transmission with a low bit error rate can be obtained
using low-rate channel coding with interleaving over several hops.

20

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

The disadvantage of slow frequency hopping as regards hostile interference is that

it incurs the risk of repeater jamming. If the time difference between the
propagation path via a hostile jamming installation and over the direct, desired
propagation path is small enough, the enemy will in principle have enough time to
measure the frequency of the transmitted radio signal (each frequency hop) and
generate a jamming signal on the same frequency. However, repeater jamming is
impossible if the additional propagation delay via the jammer is greater than the
duration of individual hops and if also the hopping structure is unknown to the
enemy.
Repeater jamming is clearly possible on a system using slow frequency hopping,
since the hops is of the order of 10 ms. This corresponds to a propagation distance
of 3.000 km. However, the scope for effective jamming in practice is considered to
be limited. The main reason for this is that many radio connections are established
simultaneously within a geographical area. This makes it extremely complicated in
real time to sort out which combination of hops belongs to any individual link, so
that this can then be jammed selectively. The alternative is for the enemy to adopt
wideband (subband) interference, in which case a system based on slow frequency
hopping can jamming is more or less as resistant to jamming as a system, based on
direct sequence or fast hopping.

4.3 DS-CDMA
DS-CDMA has been little used for terrestrial military networks without central
control and therefore based on simplex. As mentioned above, the reason is the
limited system selectivity, corresponding to the AJ-margin.

21

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

5. Cellular systems based on band

speading
5.1. Introduction
Three basic alternatives have been studied:
a. Very low rate channel coding, using orthogonal codes
b. DS-CDMA
c. FH-CDMA
Of these, only DS-CDMA has found commercial applications. It is used in the US
standard IS-95 and will be used for UMTS.
Thanks to large bandwidth expansion and other improvements, the required transmission quality can be obtained at much lower values of C/I (global average), than
was possible for the first-generation of digital mobile telephone systems based on
TDMA. Several factors contribute to the reduction in the necessary C/I: processing
and coding gain, frequency and antenna diversity and averaging of cochannel
interference.

5.2. Bandspreading through channel coding

Reduction of C/I through increased bandwidth can be achieved through channel
coding. The reduction in the C/I ratio is due to the coding gain. However, the scope
for achieving low values of the C/I ratio is limited by the fast performance
degradation that occurs at high ber from the data detector, i.e. at low values of
E/No. So additional bandspreading is necessary to reach cluster size one, coding
alone is not enough. Channel coding, combined with a sufficient modulation
bandwidth to provide strong frequency diversity and interference averaging,
enables the cluster size to be reduced to three, which simplifies frequency planning
of the cell structure. If a base-station arrangement with sector antennas is used,
each site covers three cells. Therefore, each site can use the same set of
frequencies. A concrete example is the Wideband TDMA system, proposed for
GSM. See module DM1.

5.3. DS-CDMA
The necessary protection ratio in a spread-spectrum system based on DS-CDMA is
determined by the processing gain, Gp, and the required E/No ratio - which together
determine the antijamming margin (see Section 2).
From section 2.1 we get the following basic relations (to which coding gain might
be added):
Protection ratio:
C/I = Eb/No - Gp dB
Antijamming margin, AJ:
AJ = I/C = Gp - Eb/No dB
22

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

In a cellular system, the major part of the interference comes from the other
connections within the same cell, but in addition there are interference from other
cells, especially as with DS-CDMA all cells share the same radio band (cluster
size 1). Therefore, strong cochannel interference is obtained especially from
adjacent cells. See figure 5.1.
CDMA . All cells using the same frequency band

B2
B3

T6

(Base station)

(Terminal)

T4

T5

I5
I1
T1

I4
B1

I6
I3

C
T3

T2

I
< AJ
C

Figure 5.1

23

Power control:
Within a cell: C = I1 = I3 = I4

Interference from other cells:

I6 < C , I 5 < C (on average)

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

If we assume a DS-CDMA system for a telephony application with a speech coder

rate d and DTX with an activity factor and a bandwidth B after bandspreading,
we can derive the channel capacity for an ideal case. The major simplifications are
that we neglect the interference from other cells and assume perfect power
regulations (all signals into the base receiver have the same level).
The system capacity is the maximum number N of simultanious connections within
a cell. This is determined by the jamming margin:
AJ = (SI/C) = (N-1)I/C = (N-1) = (B/d)(No/Eb)
Going over to a dB expression we obtain:
(N-1) = B/d - - Eb/No
However, in a practical case several degradations must be accounted for. The main
ones are listed below:
a. Generally a cluster size 1 is used, i.e. all cells share the same band. Therefore,
the interference level is increased due to interference from other cells, especially
adjacent cells. In a typical case the interference level is increased by around
40 %, even if soft handover is used.
b. It is impossible to obtain perfect power regulation. A major difficulty is the need
to compensate also for the fast fading due to multi-path propagation.
c. The transmission quality is somewhat degraded also of the wideband, thermal
receiver noise (No).
Due to these degradations and a few additional ones, the system capacity is about
1/4 of the ideal figure derived above. Also when estimating the necessary Eb/No, a
margin for the multi-path fading must be added. The fading margin can be reduced
by diversity, i.e. frequency diversity, if the spread bandwidth is larger than the
correlation bandwidth of the propagation channel, or coding gain through channel
coding.

Let us study a concrete case:

At a cellular system, with the same channel allocation to all cells, antipodal
signalling is used. Over a nonfading channel Eb/No = 4.5 dB corresponds to
pb = 1%. Adding 2.5 dB fading margin we obtain Eb/No = 7 dB (local average). The
bandwidth expansion is 100 times, and DTX with = -3dB is used. Due to the
different degradation factors, referred to above, the system capacity is 1/4 of the
ideal.
The ideal system capacity N becomes:
(N-1) = B/d - - Eb/No dB = 20 + 3 - 7 = 16 dB, i.e. N= 40+1 = 41
The practical figure becomes 1/4 x 41 10.
We can make the same type of very rough capacity analysis for the IS-95 system
(taken from module DM3).
The data rate of the speech coder is 13 kb/s, the spread bandwidth is 1.25 MHz,
DTX with = -3dB, and an optimistic figure for Eb/No including fading margin is
7 dB. Again using a factor of 1/4 to account for the different degradations relative
to the ideal, we obtain:

24

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Gp:

20 dB

AJ-ratio:

13 dB

(N-1)

20x2 (before correction for degradations)

N = 11

(practical value considering all degradation factors)

Normalized to 1 MHz bandwidth, the system capacity becomes 8.8 one-way

speech channels per cell and MHz.
The advantages of DS-CDMA with a cluster size of 1 are as follows:
- Simple frequency planning, since the same frequency can be used by all cells.
- Possibility to introduce base-station diversity (macrodiversity) with soft handover.
- It is a perfect interference-limited system, with the advantages mentioned in
section 1.4 with respect to interference averaging and bandwidth-on-demand.
The major disadvantage is the limited jamming margin in combination with the
near-far-problem, which requires extensive practical measures for equalization of
power levels, including soft handover. The problems, connected with power
control, are eased if interference cancellation is introduced in future systems or if
DS-CDMA is combined with time duplex TDD (identical fast fading in up and
down directions, if the time between the up and down time slots is sufficiently
small, permits open loop regulation). Also the signal variations due to multi-path
fading is much reduced if very wide spread bandwidth (much larger correlation
bandwidth of the propagation channel) is used.

5.4. FH-CDMA
Bandspreading through slow frequency hopping in combination with fairly
extensive channel coding with interleaving can give comparable system capacity,
as direct sequence CDMA, for the same total system bandwidth. The disadvantage
of FH-CDMA is less efficient dynamic demand assignment of channel capacity.
For optimum interference averaging, random hopping sequencies shall be used,
which means that it is a certain risk for collisions. The resulting error bursts out of
the radio demodulator can be nearly completed eliminated by FEC, as long as the
collision rate is fairly low. However, as the system is more and more loaded, the
collision rate becomes so high that the error correction capabilities are degraded.
Finally, the error rate from the channel demodulator becomes so high that the
quality of the connections becomes too low. The capacity limit has been reached.
The collision risk can be reduced by band spreading and by DTX, i.e. FH-CDMA
has the characteristics of an interference-limited system. The collision rate can also
be reduced by coordinating the hopping patterns within each cell, thus achieving
full orthogonality.
Compared to a normal FH-TDMA system, the main factor, that improves the
frequency economy of FH-CDMA, is good interference averaging. Bandspreading
also gives the potential for improved frequency diversity, but the same advantages
are obtained at a normal, channel-limited TDMA system with frequency hopping.

25

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

An example of an advanced TDMA system is GSM. It includes channel coding,

interleaving and a frequency hopping structure, which combines a random structure
with risk for collision between different cells (gives optimum interference
averaging) and coordinated hopping between connections within each cell (giving
full orthogonality as the collisions are eliminated).
Extensive simulations have been made by ERA of the improvement in frequency
economy that can be obtained if a normal GSM-system (TDMA using the
frequency hopping option) is redesigned for operation in an interference-limited
mode. The result is that the cluster size can be reduced from 9 to 3, with only a
small amount of bandspreading (spreading ratio 1.5) and using DTX. In GSM, a
200 kHz TDMA channel is shared between 8 one-way speech channels, i.e. one
one-way speech channel uses 25 kHz of spectrum, see module DM1. Taking the
cluster size and the bandspreading into account, the spectrum needed by the FHCDMA system to offer one speech channel in each cell therefore becomes:
25x3x1.5 = 112 kHz.
This corresponds to normalized capacity of 8.5 one-way channels per cell and
MHz. The corresponding estimate for IS-95 in section 5.3 is 8.8 channels per MHz.

26

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Appendix 1: Characteristics of
pn-sequences
The starting point is binary maximum-length sequences, which can be generated by
a shift registers with n cells and suitable feedback arrangements (see Fig. A1-1).
Maximum length ("ML") means that during one period of the generated sequence
the shift register goes through all possible states apart from the 0 state. This
means that the length of one period of the sequence is M = 2n - 1. The 0 state
corresponds to a stable condition, i.e. if this state should occur, the sequence
generator stops working (thereby causing an infinite train of 0s to be generated).
Before sequence generation starts the shift register is set to a suitable initial state
(of M possible states) by loading the shift register with a starting vector of n bits.
This determines the starting phase. Apart from different starting phases, the same
ML-sequence is generated regardless of which starting vector (excluding the
0-vector) is applied. The generated sequence contains nearly an equal number of
0s and 1s. One period comprises 2(n-1) 1s, and (2(n-1) - 1) 0s. From this
binary sequence the corresponding bipolar sequence can be generated: (1 +1,
0 -1).
Maximum-length (ML) and Pseudo-noise (pn) shift-register sequences
A shift register with n stages can assume (2n -1) states (excluding the "0" state)
A shift register with a suitable feedback passes all states and generates a periodic
ML sequence with a period of 2n -1.

Example: n=4
Modulus addition: 0 + 0=0, 0

Modulus-2
addition

1=1, 1 + 0=1, 1 + 1=0,

Binary sequence

0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0
1

Binary p-n
sequence

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

+1 +1 -1 +1+1 +1 -1 -1 -1 -1 +1 -1 +1 -1 -1 +1 +1 -1 +1 +1
2
Period= M=4 -1=15

Bipolar sequence

Characteristics
a) Bipolar ML sequence ("1" -1, "0" +1) has
an autocorrelation function in the form of a
pulse train (see Fig. B1-2).
This corresponds to an almost white spectrum.
b) The sequence contains a random train of "0"
and "1"s.
(e.g. Number of "1"s minus number of "0"s =1)
(a) and b) explain the term "pseudo-noise
sequence".)

c) Modulus-2 addition of two ML sequences

of the same classproduces another ML
sequence of the same class.
(Of the same class means from the same
shift registerarrangement but with
different starting states.)

Fig. A1-1

Such a pseudo-noise sequence has a spectrum very similar to white Gaussian noise.
Strictly speaking, this actually applies to the analog bipolar signal that is generated
by the sequence (see Fig. A1-2). The digital sequence is fed into a D/A converter,
which generates a train of bipolar Dirac pulses which are low-pass-filtered in a
filter having an impulse response in the form of a rectangular pulse of length Tc.
Thus, a random sequence of positive and negative rectangular pulses is generated.
The autocorrelation function for the analogue pn-sequence is periodic, having a
period of MTc, where Tc is determined by the clock frequency (1/Tc) of the shift
register. During one period of the sequence, the autocorrelation function has a
triangular top of height M = 2n - 1 and length Tc. The value otherwise is -1.
27

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

pn-sequence, autocorrelation function

p-n
ak
sequence
generator

ak (t kTc )
D/A
converter
h (t)

+1
a=
1
M

b (t)
h (t)
b (t)
t
Tc

+1 -1 +1 +1 -1 -1 -1 +1
0

Autocorrelation function:

t
Tc

b (t ) b (t + )dt

Tc

-1

M = 2 n 1

Fig. A1-2

The corresponding power spectrum is a line spectrum with spacing between the
1 and a spectrum width 1/T . The spectrum can be moved up to a
lines of MT
c
c
suitable wideband radio channel by passing the analogue pn-sequence through a
balanced mixer (DSBAM-ub modulator). Since the number of positive pulses is
slightly higher than the number of negative ones, the baseband spectrum has a
DC component, which is moved up to the carrier frequency on mixing. In the case
of a long pn-sequence, the carrier component is almost negligible (given a perfectly
balanced mixer). For example, in a 1,000-chip-long code, the power in the DC
component of the analogue pn-sequence is suppressed by 30 dB relative to the total
power of the signal.
It follows from the autocorrelation function, that 2n - 1 almost orthogonal signals
can be formed. The signals are pn-sequences with different time shift determined
by the start vector values. The set of signals corresponds to a linear code (2n - 1, n),
the code words for which are almost mutually orthogonal. If also the 0 code word
is included a linear code (2n, n) is obtained. (The code is called a maximum-length
code.) In theory, this can be used in a code multiplex arrangement in the direction
from the base station towards the terminals. A more practical arrangement for a
number of orthogonal channels in the outward direction is based on Walsh functions. In the inward direction from the terminals towards the base station, the
introduction of the necessary time synchronization would be extremely complicated.
One limitation with pn-sequencies of different types (generated by different shift
register structures) is that only some feedback arrangements result in maximumlength sequences. The number increases with the length of the shift register. A
length of 7 produces 18 such sequences, a length of 13 produces 630, and a length
of 17 gives 7,710 sequences. A further limitation is that some values of mutual
time shifts typically result in considerable peaks in the cross-correlation function.

28

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Acceptable correlation characteristics can be obtained for a relatively large code

group by using the Gold codes procedure. The principle is that, for a given shiftregister length, two feedback arrangements are chosen that produce two maximumlength sequences with good cross correlation characteristics. This provides a base
of two good code words.
Additional code words are then obtained through addition of the two base code
words with all possible mutual phase differences (see Fig. A1-3). Thus, a code
word group is obtained that comprises a total of 2 + 2n - 1 = 2n + 1 words. For a
maximum-length sequence of length M, the main peak of the autocorrelation
function will be M = 2n - 1. For a Gold code, the highest cross-correlation peak is
2n M

Generation of Gold sequence

+
Start vector

Clock
Start vector

+ + +

Fig. A1-3

29

Gold sequence

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Appendix 2. Walsh functions

Walsh functions are bipolar binary sequencies. Members of a group of Walsh
functions, defined over the same time interval, are mutually orthogonal. However,
a condition for the orthogonality is mutual time synchronization of the waveforms.
A few of the Walsh functions belonging to the 64 group are shown in figure A2-1

Waveforms related to the 64-group of Walsh functions

W0
W1
W2
W3

W32

W61
W62
W63
0

Figure A2-1

30

DT14 SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNIQUES

Author professor Sven-Olof hrvik

in cooperation with Ericsson Radio Systems AB
unit ERA/T, Core Unit Radio System and Technology
Publisher Ericsson Radio Systems AB
T/Z Ragnar Lodn
Ericsson Radio Systems AB
Torshamnsgatan 23, Kista
S-164 80 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone: +46 8 757 00 00
Telefax: +46 8 757 36 00

EN/LZT 123 1244/14 R6

Ericsson Radio Systems AB,1998
31