Spread Spectrum

Introduction to Spread Spectrum

• Problems such as capacity limits, propagation

effects, synchronization occur with wireless
systems
• Spread spectrum modulation spreads out the
modulated signal bandwidth so it is much
greater than the message bandwidth
• Independent code spreads signal at transmitter
and despreads signal at receiver
 Multiplexing
channels ki
• Multiplexing in 4 dimensions
– space (si) k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

– time (t) c
– frequency (f) t c
– code (c) t
s1
f
• Goal: multiple use s2
f
of a shared medium c
t
• Important: guard spaces needed!
s3
f
 Frequency multiplex
• Separation of spectrum into smaller frequency bands
• Channel gets band of the spectrum for the whole time
• Advantages:
k3 k4 k5 k6
– no dynamic coordination needed
– works also for analog signals c
f
• Disadvantages:
– waste of bandwidth
if traffic distributed unevenly
– inflexible
– guard spaces

t
 Time multiplex
• Channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain
amount of time
• Advantages:
– only one carrier in the
medium at any time
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
– throughput high even c
for many users
f
• Disadvantages:
– precise
synchronization
necessary
t
Time and frequency multiplex
• A channel gets a certain frequency band for a
certain amount of time (e.g. GSM)
• Advantages:
– better protection against tapping
– protection against frequency
selective interference
– higher data rates compared to k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
code multiplex c
f
• Precise coordination
required

t
 Code multiplex
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

• Each channel has unique code

c
• All channels use same spectrum at same time
• Advantages:
– bandwidth efficient
– no coordination and synchronization
– good protection against interference
f
• Disadvantages:
– lower user data rates
– more complex signal regeneration
• Implemented using spread spectrum technology
t
 Spread Spectrum Technology
• Problem of radio transmission: frequency dependent
fading can wipe out narrow band signals for duration
of the interference
• Solution: spread the narrow band signal into a broad
band signal using a special code

interference
spread power signal
power signal spread
interference
detection at
receiver
f f
Spread Spectrum Technology
• Side effects:
– coexistence of several signals without dynamic
coordination
– tap-proof
• Alternatives: Direct Sequence (DS/SS), Frequency
Hopping (FH/SS)
• Spread spectrum increases BW of message signal
by a factor N, Processing Gain

Bss  Bss 
Processing Gain N  10 log10  
B  B 
Effects of spreading and
interference
user signal
broadband interference
narrowband interference
P P

i) ii)
f f
P sender P P

iii) iv) v)
f f f
receiver
 Spreading and frequency
selective fading
channel
quality

2 narrowband
1 5 6
3 channels
4

Narrowband frequency
guard space
signal
channel
quality
2
2
2
2
2
1 spread spectrum
channels
spread frequency
spectrum
DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) I

• XOR the signal with pseudonoise (PN) sequence (chipping

sequence)
• Advantages
– reduces frequency selective Tb
fading user data
– in cellular networks
0 1 XOR
• base stations can use the
Tc
same frequency range
chipping
• several base stations can
detect and recover the signal sequence
0 1 1 0 10 1 0 1 1 010 1
• But, needs precise power control =
resulting
signal
0 1 1 0 10 1 1 0 0 101 0
DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) II

transmitter
Spread spectrum
Signal y(t)=m(t)c(t) transmit
user data signal
X modulator
m(t)
chipping radio
sequence, c(t) carrier

receiver correlator
sampled
received products data
sums
signal demodulator X integrator decision
radio
carrier
Chipping sequence,
c(t)
 DS/SS Comments III
• Pseudonoise(PN) sequence chosen so
that its autocorrelation is very narrow =>
PSD is very wide
– Concentrated around < Tc
– Cross-correlation between two user’s codes is
very small
 DS/SS Comments IV
• Secure and Jamming Resistant
– Both receiver and transmitter must know c(t)
– Since PSD is low, hard to tell if signal present
– Since wide response, tough to jam everything
• Multiple access
– If ci(t) is orthogonal to cj(t), then users do not interfere
• Near/Far problem
– Users must be received with the same power
 FH/SS (Frequency Hopping
Spread Spectrum) I
• Discrete changes of carrier frequency
– sequence of frequency changes determined via PN sequence
• Two versions
– Fast Hopping: several frequencies per user bit (FFH)
– Slow Hopping: several user bits per frequency (SFH)
• Advantages
– frequency selective fading and interference limited to short period
– uses only small portion of spectrum at any time
• Disadvantages
– not as robust as DS/SS
– simpler to detect
FHSS (Frequency Hopping
Spread Spectrum) II
Tb

user data

0 1 0 1 1 t
f
Td
f3 slow
f2 hopping
(3 bits/hop)
f1

Td t
f

f3 fast
f2 hopping
(3 hops/bit)
f1

t
Tb: bit period Td: dwell time
FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) III

transmitter narrowband Spread transmit

signal signal
user data
modulator modulator

frequency hopping
synthesizer sequence
receiver

received data
signal demodulator demodulator

hopping frequency
sequence synthesizer
 Applications of Spread
Spectrum
• Cell phones
– IS-95 (DS/SS)
– GSM
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Wireless LANs
– 802.11b
Performance of DS/SS Systems
• Pseudonoise (PN) codes
– Spread signal at the transmitter
– Despread signal at the receiver
• Ideal PN sequences should be
– Orthogonal (no interference)
– Random (security)
– Autocorrelation similar to white noise (high at
=0 and low for  not equal 0)
 PN Sequence Generation
• Codes are periodic and generated by a shift register and XOR
• Maximum-length (ML) shift register sequences, m-stage shift
register, length: n = 2m – 1 bits

R()


-1/n nTc
-nTc Tc

Output
+
 Generating PN Sequences

Output m Stages connected

+ to modulo-2 adder
• Take m=2 =>L=3 2 1,2
• cn=[1,1,0,1,1,0, . . .],
usually written as 3 1,3
bipolar cn=[1,1,-1,1,1,-1, 4 1,4
. . .]
5 1,4
1 L
Rc m    cn cn  m 6 1,6
L n 1
1 m 0 8 1,5,6,7

 1 / L 1 m L  1
 Problems with m-sequences
• Cross-correlations with other m-
sequences generated by different input
sequences can be quite high
• Easy to guess connection setup in 2m
samples so not too secure
• In practice, Gold codes or Kasami
sequences which combine the output of
m-sequences are used.
Detecting DS/SS PSK Signals
transmitter
Spread spectrum
Signal y(t)=m(t)c(t) transmit
Bipolar, NRZ signal
m(t) X X

PN
sequence, c(t) sqrt(2)cos(ct + )

receiver
received z(t) w(t) data
signal
X X LPF integrator decision
x(t)

sqrt(2)cos(ct + ) c(t)
 Optimum Detection of DS/SS PSK
• Recall, bipolar signaling (PSK) and white noise
give the optimum error probability
 2 Eb 
Pb Q 
  
 
• Not effected by spreading
– Wideband noise not affected by spreading
– Narrowband noise reduced by spreading
 Signal Spectra

Bss  Bss  Tb
Processing Gain N  10 log10  
B  B  Tc
• Effective noise power is channel noise power
plus jamming (NB) signal power divided by N

Tb

Tc
 Multiple Access Performance
• Assume K users in the same frequency
band,
• Interested in user 1, other users interfere
4 6

1
3 2
 Signal Model
• Interested in signal 1, but we also get
signals from other K-1 users:
xk t   2 mk t   k  ck t   k cos c t   k    k 
 2 mk t   k  ck t   k cos ct  k  k  k  c k
• At receiver,

K
x t   x1 t    xk t 
k 2
 Interfering Signal

• After mixing and despreading (assume 1=0)

zk t  2 mk t   k  ck t   k c1 t  cos ct  k  cos ct  1 

• After LPF
wk t  mk t   k  ck t   k c1 t cos k  1 

• After the integrator-sampler

Tb
Ik cos k  1  mk t   k  ck t   k c1 t  dt

0
 At Receiver
• m(t) =+/-1 (PSK), bit duration Tb

• Interfering signal may change amplitude at k

 k Tb 
I k cos k  1   b 1  ck t   k  c1 t  dt b0  ck t   k  c1 t  dt 
 0 k 
Tb
I1  m1 t  c1 t c1 t  dt

0
• At User 1:
Tb Tb
• Ideally, t c1 t codes
0 c1spreading dt  are 0 ck t   k c1 t dt 0
A Orthogonal:
 Multiple Access Interference (MAI)

 1 
Pb Q  

 K  1 3N  2 Eb 

• If the users are assumed to be equal power interferers,

can be analyzed using the central limit theorem (sum of
IID RV’s)
Example of Performance
Degradation

N=8 N=32
 Near/Far Problem (I)
• Performance estimates derived using assumption that all
users have same power level
• Reverse link (mobile to base) makes this unrealistic
since mobiles are moving
• Adjust power levels constantly to keep equal

k 1
 Near/Far Problem (II)

 
1 
Pb Q 
1 
K

( k ) 3E (1) N  2 E (1) 

  k 2 b
E b b 

• K interferers, one strong interfering signal

dominates performance
• Can result in capacity losses of 10-30%
Multipath Propagation
 RAKE Receiver

• Received signal sampled at the rate 1/Ts> 2/Tc for detection and
synchronization
• Fed to all M RAKE fingers. Interpolation/decimation unit provides a
data stream on chiprate 1/Tc
• Correlation with the complex conjugate of the spreading sequence
and weighted (maximum-ratio criterion)summation over one symbol
 RAKE Receiver
• RAKE Receiver has to estimate:
– Multipath delays
– Phase of multipath components
– Amplitude of multipath components
– Number of multipath components
• Main challenge is receiver synchronization in
fading channels