Conference on Advances in Communication and Control Systems 2013 (CAC2S 2013)

Performance Analysis of Spread Spectrum Techniques

Astha Singh1
Faculty Electronics Engg. Dept.
Dr. Ambedkar Institute Of Technology For Handicapped
Kanpur (UP), India
[email protected]

Abstract

In this paper we had analyzed the spread spectrum techniques in a broader sense, in context of their performance. Spread spectrum
is an increasingly important form of encoding for wireless communications. It can be used to transmit either analog or digital data,
using an analog signal. The basic idea of spread spectrum is to modulate the signal so as to increase significantly the bandwidth
(spread the spectrum) of the signal to be transmitted. It was initially developed for military and intelligence requirements. The use
of spread spectrum makes jamming and interception more difficult and provides improved reception.

Keywords: SS, DSSS, FHSS, BPSK, SFH, FFH.

A despreading operation reconstitutes the information into its
1. INTRODUCTION original bandwidth. Obviously, the same code must be known
in advance at both ends of the transmission channel. (In some
circumstances, the code should be known only by those two
Spread spectrum technology has blossomed from a military
parties.)
technology into one of the fundamental building blocks in
current and next-generation wireless systems. From cellular to
cordless to wireless LAN (WLAN) systems, spectrum is a
vital component in the system design process.
Since spread-spectrum is such an integral ingredient, it's vital
for designers to have an understanding of how this technology.
.

Fig2: Spread-spectrum communication system.

Spread-spectrum transmitters use similar transmit power

levels to narrowband transmitters. Because spread-spectrum
signals are so wide, they transmit at a much lower spectral
power density, measured in watts per hertz, than narrow band
Fig 1: Spreading Process transmitters. This lower transmitted power density
Spread spectrum [1] is more precise: an RF communications characteristic gives spread-spectrum signals a big plus.
system in which the baseband signal bandwidth is Spread-spectrum and narrowband signals can occupy the same
intentionally spread over a larger bandwidth by injecting a band, with little or no interference. This capability is the main
higher frequency signal. As a direct consequence, energy used reason for all the interest in spread spectrum today.
in transmitting the signal is spread over a wider bandwidth,
and appears as noise. The ratio (in dB) between the spread The use of special pseudo noise (PN) codes in spread-
baseband and the original signal is called processing gain [2]. spectrum communications makes signals appear wide band
Typical spread-spectrum processing gains run from 10dB to and noise-like. It is this very characteristic that makes spread-
60dB. spectrum signals possess a low LPI. Spread-spectrum signals
To apply a spread-spectrum technique, simply inject the are hard to detect on narrow band equipment because the
corresponding spread-spectrum code somewhere in the signal's energy is spread over a bandwidth of maybe 100 times
transmitting chain before the antenna (receiver). (That the information bandwidth (Figure 2).
injection is called the spreading operation.) The effect is to
diffuse the information in a larger bandwidth. Conversely, you
can remove the spread-spectrum code (called a despreading
operation) at a point in the receive chain before data retrieval.

© 2013. The authors - Published by Atlantis Press 683

 1.1 Bandwidth Effects of the Spreading
Operation
Spread-spectrum modulation is applied on top of a
conventional modulation such as BPSK[3] or direct
conversion. One can demonstrate that all other signals not
receiving the spread-spectrum code will remain as they are,
that is, unspread.

Fig 2: In a spread-spectrum system, signals are spread

across a wide bandwidth, making them difficult to
intercept, demodulate, and intercept
The spread of energy over a wide band, or lower spectral Fig 3: Spreading operation spreads the signal energy over a wider
power density, also makes spread-spectrum signals less likely frequency bandwidth.
to interfere with narrowband communications. Narrowband
communications, conversely, cause little to no interference to 1.2 Bandwidth Effects of the Despreading
spread spectrum systems because the correlation receiver Operation
effectively integrates over a very wide bandwidth to recover a
spread spectrum signal. The correlator then "spreads" out a Similarly, despreading can be seen in Figure4.
narrowband interferer over the receiver's total detection
bandwidth.

Since the total integrated signal density or signal-to-noise ratio

(SNR) at the correlator's input determines whether there will
be interference or not. All spread spectrum systems have a
threshold or tolerance level of interference beyond which
useful communication ceases. This tolerance or threshold is
related to the spread-spectrum processing gain, which is
essentially the ratio of the RF bandwidth to the information
bandwidth.
Spread spectrum uses wideband, noise-like signals that are
Fig 4. The despreading operation recovers the original signal.
hard to detect, intercept, or demodulate. Additionally, spread-
spectrum signals are harder to jam (interfere with) than narrow
Here a spread-spectrum demodulation has been made on top
band signals. These low probability of intercept (LPI) and
of the normal demodulation operations. One can also
anti-jam (AJ) features are why the military has used spread
demonstrate that signals such as an interferer or jammer added
spectrum for so many years. Spread-spectrum signals are
during the transmission will be spread during the despreading
intentionally made to be a much wider band than the
operation!
information they are carrying to make them more noise-like.
1.3 Waste of Bandwidth Due to Spreading Is
Offset by Multiple Users
Spreading results directly in the use of a wider frequency band
by a factor that corresponds exactly to the "processing gain".
Therefore spreading does not spare the limited frequency
resource. That overuse is well compensated, however, by the
possibility that many users will share the enlarged frequency
band (Figure 5).

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Fig 5. The same frequency band can be shared by multiple users with
spread-spectrum techniques.

Spread Spectrum is a wideband technology. In contrast to

regular narrowband technology, the spread spectrum process
is a wideband technology. W- CDMA and UMTS, for
example, are wideband technologies that require a relatively
large frequency bandwidth, compared to narrowband radio.

1.4 Spread Spectrum Techniques:

1. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
DSSS significantly improves protection against interfering (or
jamming) signals, especially narrowband and makes the signal less
noticeable. It also provides security of transmission if the code is
not known to the public. These reasons make DSSS very popular by
the military. In fact, DSSS was first used in the 1940s by the Fig 7: Example of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
military.
DSSS can also be used as a multiple access technique, whereby information bit of one inverts the spreading code bits in the
several different pseudo random spreading codes are being used combination, while information bit of zero causes the
simultaneously. This multiple access technique is better known as spreading code bits to be transmitted without inversion. The
Direct Sequence CDMA. combination bit stream has the death rate of the original
DSSS is e.g. used in IEEE 802.11b and Zigbee. spreading code sequence, so it has a wider bandwidth than the
information stream. In this example, the spreading code bit
stream is clocked t four times the information rate.
1.4.1 DSSS using BPSK
Rather than represent binary data with 1 and 0, it is more
convenient for our purpose to use + I and - 1 to represent the
two binary digits. In that case, a BPSK signal can be
represented as:
Where,A= amplified of signal

Fc=carrier frequency
Fig 6: Block diagram for Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
d(t)=the discrete function that takes on the value +1 for
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) [4] is spread one bit time if bit in the stream bit is 1 and -1 for the one bit
spectrum technique where by the original data signal is time if the corresponding bit in the bit stream 0.
multiplied with a pseudo random noise spreading code. This
To produce the DSS signal, we multiply the proceeding by
spreading code has a higher chip rate (this is bitrate of the
C(t),which is the PN sequence taking on values of +1 and -1:
code) which results in a wideband time continuous
scrambled signal. S(t)=Ad(t)c(t)cos(2 fct)
At the receiver the incoming signal is multiplied again by c(t)
but c(t)×c(t)=1 and therefore original signal is recovered:
S(t)c(t)=Ad(t) c(t) c(t) cos(2 fct)=Sd(t)

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 Fig 9.1: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum System (Transmitter)

Fig 8: Waveform of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Using BPSK

Example

1.5 Frequency hopping system

Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of
transmitting radio signals by rapidly switching a carrier among
many frequency channels, using pseudorandom sequence
known to both transmitter and receiver. It is utilized as a Fig 9.2: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum System (Receiver)
multiple access method in the frequency-hopping code Fig.9.1 & 9.2 shows the Block diagram of frequency hopping
division multiple access (FH-CDMA) scheme. system. For transmission, binary data are fed into a modulator
using some digital - to analog encoding scheme, such as
Types of frequency hopping are:
frequency shift keying (FSK) or binary phase shift keying
(I) Slow frequency hopping (BPSK). A PN source serves as an index into a table of
frequencies each K bit on PN source specifies one of the 2k
(2) Fast frequency hopping
carrier frequencies.
1.5.1 Slow-frequency hopping- In slow frequency
At each successive interval a new carrier frequency is
hoping the symbol rate R5 of the MFSK signal is an integer
selected. This frequency is then modulated by the signal
multiple of the hop rate R. That means several symbols are
produced from the initial modulator to produce a new signal
transmitted corresponding to each frequency hopping.
with the same shape. On reception, the spread spectrum signal
Therefore each frequency hopping several symbols i.e.
is demodulated using the same sequence of PN-derived
frequency hopping takes place slowly.
frequencies and then demodulated to produce the output data.
1.5.2 Fast frequency hopping- In the fast frequency
hopping the hop rate R is an integer multiple of the MFSK
1.6 Advantages of Spread Spectrum
symbol rate R. That means during the transmission of one Spread-spectrum systems provide some clear advantages to
symbol, the carrier frequency will hop several times. designers. As a recap, here are nine benefits that designers can
Therefore each symbol transmission several frequencies hops. expect when using a spread-spectrum-based wireless system.
Thus- the frequency hopping takes place at a fast rate.

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1.6.1. Reduced crosstalk interference: In spread-spectrum 1.6.8. Hard to intercept or demodulate: The very foundation
systems, crosstalk interference is greatly attenuated due to the of the spreading technique is the code use to spread the signal.
processing gain of the spread spectrum system as described Without knowing the code it is impossible to decipher the
earlier. The effect of the suppressed crosstalk interference can transmission. Also, because the codes are so long (and quick)
be essentially removed with digital processing where noise simply viewing the code would still be next to impossible to
below certain threshold results in negligible bit errors. These solve the code, hence interception is very hard.
negligible bit errors will have little effect on voice 1.6.9. Harder to jam: The most important feature of spread
transmissions. spectrum is its ability to reject interference. At first glance, it
may be considered that spread spectrum would be most
1.6.2. Better voice quality/data integrity and less static
effected by interference. However, any signal is spread in the
noise: Due to the processing gain and digital processing
nature of spread spectrum technology, a spread-spectrum- bandwidth, and after it passes through the correlator, the
bandwidth signal is equal to its original bandwidth, plus the
based system is more immune to interference and noise. This
greatly reduces consumer electronic device-induced static bandwidth of the local interference. An interference signal with
noise that is commonly experienced by conventional analog 2 MHz bandwidth being input into a direct-sequence receiver
whose signal is 10 MHz wide gives an output from the
wireless system users.
correlator of 12 MHz. The wider the interference bandwidth,
1.6.3. Lowered susceptibility to multipath fading: Because the wider the output signals. Thus the wider the input signal,
of its inherent frequency diversity properties (thanks to wide the less its effect on the system because the power density of
spectrum spread), a spread spectrum system is much less the signal after processing is lower, and less power falls in the
susceptible to multipath fading. band pass filter.

1.6.4. Inherent security: In a spread spectrum system, a PN 1.7 Conclusions

sequence is used to either modulate the signal in the time
domain (direct sequence systems) or select the carrier DSSS provides 11 Mbps capacity links, but it is a sensitive
frequency (frequency hopping systems). Due to the pseudo- technology (collocation, multipath, near/far, Bluetooth). The
random nature of the PN sequence, the signal in the air has most limiting factor, multipath, may be minimized by using
been "randomized". Only the receiver having the exact same the technology for short distances or in point to point
pseudo-random sequence and synchronous timing can de- applications. FHSS[5] provides only 3 Mbps capacity links,
spread and retrieve the original signal. Consequently, a spread but it is a very robust technology, with excellent behavior in
spectrum system provides signal security that is not available harsh environment characterized by large areas of coverage,
to conventional analog wireless systems. multiple collocated cells, noises, multipath, Bluetooth
presence, etc. The technology allows easy cellular point- to-
1.6.5. Co-existence: A spread spectrum system is less multipoint deployment, providing excellent reliability.
susceptible to interference than other non-spread spectrum
systems. In addition, with the proper designing of pseudo- References
random sequences, multiple spread spectrum systems can co- [1] R.M. Buehrer and B.D. “ Woerner Spread Spectrum for
exist without creating severe interference to other systems. Wireless Communication” Mobile and Portable Radio
This further increases the system capacity for spread spectrum Research Group Virginia Polytechnique Institute and
systems or devices. State University, Blackburg, VA 24061-111.

1.6.6. Longer operating distances: A spread spectrum device [2] Dr. Kwang-Cheng Chen, Professor “Spread Spectrum
operated in the ISM band is allowed to have higher transmit Communications’’ National Taiwan University.
power due to its non-interfering nature. Because of the higher
transmit power, the operating distance of such a device can be [3] Mohammed M. Olama,Teja P. Kuruganti&Steven F.
significantly longer than that of a traditional analog wireless Smith “Systems in the Presence of Multipath Fading
communication device. and Multiple-Access Interference’’ IEEE CQR 2012.
1.6.7. Hard to detect: Spread-spectrum signals are much
[4] Tan F. Wong: “Spread Spectrum & CDMA”.
wider than conventional narrowband transmission (of the
order of 20 to 254 times the bandwidth of narrowband
[5] Po-Ning Chen “Digital Communications Chapter 12
transmissions). Since the communication band is spread, it can
be transmitted at a low power without being detrimentally by Spread Spectrum Signals for Digital Communications.
background noise. This is because when de-spreading takes
place, the noise at one frequency is rejected, leaving the [6] Sorin M. SCHWARTZ “Frequency Hopping Spread
desired signal. Spectrum (FHSS) vs. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
(DSSS) in Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and
Wireless LAN (WLAN)”.

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