Laurence B. Milstein

Theory of Spread-Spectrum Communications--A Tutorial

Spread-spectrum communications, with its inherent interference attenuation capability, has over the years become an increasingly popular technique for use in many different systems. Applications range from antijam systems, to code division multiple access systems, to systems designed to combat multipath. It is the intention of this paper to provide a tutorial treatment of the theory of spread-spectrum communications, including a discussion on the applications referred to above, on the properties of common spreading sequences, and on techniques that can be used for acquisition and tracking.

Interference rejection techniques in spread spectrum communications

It is argued that the ability of a spread-spectrum system to withstand interference, both intentional and unintentional, is probably its greatest asset. Any spread spectrum receiver can only suppress a given amount of interference; if the level of interference becomes too great, the system will not function properly. Even under these latter circumstances, however, other techniques, which enhance the performance of the system over and above the performance improvement that comes automatically to systems from using spread spectrum, are available for use. These techniques typically involve some type of additional signal processing and are examined here. Two general types of narrowband interference suppression schemes are discussed and an overview is presented for several other techniques. The two classes of rejection schemes emphasized are (1) those based on least-mean-square estimation techniques, and (2) those based on transform-domain processing structures. >

Spread spectrum for mobile communications

The characteristics of spread spectrum that make it advantageous for mobile communications are described. The parameters that determine both the performance and the total capacity are introduced, and an analysis which yields (approximately) the number of users that can simultaneously communicate, while maintaining a specified level of performance, is presented. Spread spectrum overlay, wherein a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) network shares a frequency band with narrow-band users, is analyzed, and it is seen that excision of the narrowband signals from the CDMA receivers before despreading can improve both performance and capacity. >

On the performance of hybrid FEC/ARQ systems using rate compatible punctured turbo (RCPT) codes

This paper introduces a hybrid forward-error correction/automatic repeat-request (ARQ) system that employs rate compatible punctured turbo (RCPT) codes to achieve enhanced throughput performance over a nonstationary Gaussian channel. The proposed RCPT-ARQ system combines the performance of turbo codes with the frugal use of incremental redundancy inherent in the rate compatible punctured convolutional codes of Hagenauer (1988). Moreover, this paper introduces the notion of puncturing the systematic code symbols of a turbo code to maximize throughput at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of interest. The resulting system provides both an efficient family of achievable code rates at middle to high SNR and powerful low-rate error correction capability at low SNR.

Comparison of diversity combining techniques for Rayleigh-fading channels

Several methods of diversity combining for a Rayleigh-faded channel are evaluated and compared. The methods considered are, for coherent reception, maximal ratio combining (MRC), selection combining (SC), and a generalization of SC, whereby the two (three) signals with the two (three) largest amplitudes are coherently combined. We will call this method second (third) order SC, and denote it SC2 (SC3). Similar techniques are also investigated for noncoherent reception, with equal gain combining (EGC) replacing MRC, and noncoherent versions of SC2 and SC3. Numerical results indicate that SC2 and SC3 significantly enhances the bit-error rate (BER) performance relative to that achievable with SC, and under certain conditions approaches the performance achieved by MRC or EGG. The performance enhancement of SC2 and SC3 is especially noticable for noncoherent reception, where EGC is seen to provide the best performance only for low BER values. In fact, when the BER is 10/sup -3/ or greater, SC2 and SC3 performed comparably to EGG, and in some cases performed better than EGC.

Coherent DS-CDMA performance in Nakagami multipath fading

The coherent reception of direct sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) signals in a multipath fading channel is considered. The channel model assumes independent paths with Nakagami fading statistics; this model includes the Rayleigh channel os a special case and is a reasonable model for a frequency-selective fading channel. The bit error rate (BER) performance of a RAKE receiver under various multipath fading conditions is derived and evaluated. The results indicate that over 50 users may access the channel (assuming 127 chips per bit) simultaneously under typical fading conditions, and can achieve an uncoded BER of 0.01 with an average received signal-to-noise ratio per bit of 10 dB. >

Performance analysis and code optimization of low density parity-check codes on Rayleigh fading channels

A numerical method has been presented to determine the noise thresholds of low density parity-check (LDPC) codes that employ the message passing decoding algorithm on the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. In this paper, we apply the technique to the uncorrelated flat Rayleigh fading channel. Using a nonlinear code optimization technique, we optimize irregular LDPC codes for such a channel. The thresholds of the optimized irregular LDPC codes are very close to the Shannon limit for this channel. For example, at rate one-half, the optimized irregular LDPC code has a threshold only 0.07 dB away from the capacity of the channel. Furthermore, we compare simulated performance of the optimized irregular LDPC codes and turbo codes on a land mobile channel, and the results indicate that at a block size of 3072, irregular LDPC codes can outperform turbo codes over a wide range of mobile speeds.

On the feasibility of a CDMA overlay for personal communications networks

Because of the continually increasing demand for mobile communications, it has been suggested that personal communication networks (PCNs) be established in the 1850-1990 MHz range. However, that band of frequencies is currently occupied by various microwave signals transmitted by users ranging from utility companies to state and local agencies. In order to allow both sets of users to occupy these frequencies as well as improve the spectral efficiency of this band, a spread-spectrum overlay is proposed, whereby a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) PCN would share the spectral band with the existing narrowband microwave traffic. The results of several field tests which have been designed to demonstrate the feasibility of an overlay of this type are discussed. >

Error statistics in data transmission over fading channels

We investigate the behavior of block errors which arise in data transmission on fading channels. Our approach takes into account the details of the specific coding/modulation scheme and tracks the fading process symbol by symbol. It is shown that a Markov approximation for the block error process (possibly degenerating into an identically distributed (i.i.d.) process for sufficiently fast fading) is a good model for a broad range of parameters. Also, it is observed that the relationship between the marginal error rate and the transition probability is largely insensitive to parameters such as block length, degree of forward error correction and modulation format, and depends essentially on an appropriately normalized version of the Doppler frequency. This relationship can therefore be computed in the simple case of a threshold model and then used more generally as an accurate approximation. This observation leads to a unified approach for the channel modeling, and to a simplified performance analysis of upper layer protocols.

ARQ error control for fading mobile radio channels

In this paper, we study the correlation properties of the fading mobile radio channel. Based on these studies, we model the channel as a one-step Markov process whose transition probabilities are a function of the channel characteristics. Then we present the throughput performance of the Go-Back-N and selective-repeat automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocols with timer control, using the Markov model for both forward and feedback channels. This approximation is found to be very good, as confirmed by simulation results.