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3.3 Spread Spectrum Communication

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3.3 Spread Spectrum Communication

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de veron
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3.

3 Spread Spectrum Communication

The term spread spectrum modulation refers to modulation techniques which result in a trans-
mitted signal bandwidth which is much wider than the minimum bandwidth required for com-
munication. For example, a spread spectrum technique could use a signal having bandwidth
1 MHz to communicate information which can be communicated using narrowband techniques
using a signal having bandwidth 5 kHz. Spread spectrum modulation techniques are used in the
physical layer of many wireless commercial and military communication networks like 802.11,
GPS and CDMA2000. The advantages of spread spectrum techniques include resistance to jam-
ming and interference, low probability of interception, resistance to fading and suitability for
ranging applications. But the main reason for their popularity lies in their inherent ability to
provide shared channel access in multiple access channels in a decentralized manner.

The main principle behind spread spectrum’s ability to enable multiple access can be explained
by considering two sources (S1 and S2 ) who want to transmit a single bit each over a multiple
access channel to a single destinations D. Suppose they use amplitude modulation and Si
(i = 1, 2) transmits the following signal

ui (t) = ai vi (t) (3.13)

where ai ∈ {−1, +1}. The signals vi (t) have the property that they are approximately orthogonal
irrespective of the relative time-shift between them, i.e. they satisfy the following property
Z ∞
v1 (t)v2 (t − τ ) dt ≈ 0 (3.14)
−∞

for all values of τ . The received signal at the destination D is given by

r(t) = A1 u1 (t − τ1 ) + A2 u2 (t − τ2 ) (3.15)
= A1 a1 v1 (t − τ1 ) + A2 a2 v2 (t − τ2 ) (3.16)

where Ai (i = 1, 2) and τi (i = 1, 2) represent the attenuation and transmission delay of Si ’s


signal, respectively. We have neglected the noise term in the received signal for convenience. If
the destination now estimates τ1 and correlates the received signal with v1 (t − τ1 ), it can obtain
the value of a1 as shown below.
Z ∞ Z ∞ Z ∞
r(t)v1 (t − τ1 ) dt = a1 A1 v12 (t − τ1 ) dt + a2 A2 v2 (t − τ2 )v1 (t − τ1 ) dt
−∞ −∞ −∞
≈ a1 A1 (3.17)

Similarly, the value of a2 can be obtained by estimating τ2 and correlating the received signal with
v2 (t−τ2 ). Thus we are able to recover the values of the ai ’s and consequently the information bit
each source wants to communicate even though the transmitted signals overlap at the receiver.
The approximate orthogonality property of the transmitted signals shown in Equation (3.14)
is crucial for this to be possible. The signals used in spread spectrum modulation are able to
provide this property at the cost of occupying a wide bandwidth.

There are three main categories of spread spectrum techniques - direct sequence (DS), frequency
hop (FH) and time hop (TH). Hybrid spread spectrum techniques also exist which are a combi-
nation of these basic techniques. The main idea is to introduce high rate variations in the signal
used to transmit the information resulting in a signal which occupies a larger bandwidth.

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