Separate FEC Coding for Parallel Combinatorial Spread Spectrum
Communication Systems
Shigenobu Sasaki Ken-ichi Takizawa
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Niigata University
2-8050 Ikarashi, Niigata, 950-2181 Japan
E-mail: kojiro@eng.niigata-u.ac.jp
Ab-We propose a forward error eorreetiOn (FEC) coding
scheme for parlial-mle-parallelmulticode direct sequence spread
spectrum 0 system that is referred to as parallel
combinatorialspRadspoctnun~systemsLnformationdata
are conveyed in two ways: the combination of orthogonsl codes
and the polnrity or phase of their transmitting orthogonal code. It
is known that FEC wding is an essential factor in the SS systems,
espedallyintheCDMAenvironmentStraightfomarFECeoding
shows signifiesnt performance improvements, However, it could
reduce the data transmission rate of PC/SS systems.
From the of error rate performance in the PUSS
systems, estimation of a combination of orthogonal codes
domhteslhetotalsymbdand bitenwrateperformance. In this
paper, FECcoding is separately applied to the combinah data of
orthogonal eodes and the phase data of W i tnmmitting
orthogonal code, and less redundant FEC code is enough to the
phase data of orthogonal eodes by this coding schem Therefore,
the total information rate exceeds that offered by the conventional
FEC coding is applied. Simulation mulls show that the error rate
performance of the PClSS system quipped with the separate
FEC coding is lower than it is when conventional FEC coding is
applied to the PUSS system, in spite of having higher overall
coding rate.
I. INTRODUCTION
Code division multiple access (CDMA) systemsbased on direct
sequence spread spectrum @S/SS) technique have become a
main stream of air interface in various wireless communication
networks [11-[3]. High-speeddata mnsmission is a major topic
in wireless communications for the coming multi-media
applications. We have to consider WO points on CDMA to
apply to wireless multimedia communicationnetworks. One is
how to transmit high# data under available bandwidth
limits, and the other is how to achieve required performance
(e.g. error rate) under severe signal-tomise ratio (SNR)
conditions. The possible candidates for high-speed data
transmission in DSICDMA are the orthogonal multicode
CDMA [4][5] and mulkanier CDMA [6]. We focus on
mulkode CDMA in this paper.
So fiu,we have proposed the parallel combinatorialSS (PUS)
technique [7'J[8] to solve the former problem. In PC/SS systems,
multiple pseudoimise codes are simultaneously
transmitted out of a preeigned orthogonal PN code set for a
single user. Phase shift keying (PSK) is employed to specify the
0-7803-7244-1/01/$10.00 @#)01IEEE
F-11
Shogo Muramam Hisakazu Kikuchi
phase of individual transmitting PN sequences. In other words,
this is a partiakodeparallel [IO] technique that includes
orthogonal signaling DS/SS and all code parallel (multicode)
DS/SS techniques [4] as special cases. .
On the other hand, forward error correction (FEC) d i g has
been recognized as an effective technique against noise,
interference,jamming,fading, and other channel impairments.
Our previous works have shown that Reedsolomon (RS) code
brings a significant improvement in error rate performance for
PC/SS systems [8][11]. Though straightforward FEC coding is
still effective for PUSS systems, information mte will reduce
because of redundant symbols. In the PC/SS receiver, a
combination of transmitted PN codes has to be estimated to
demodulate overall transmitted i n f d o n data Severe
degradation in error rate performance occurs when a
combination of transmitted PN code IBS been erroneously
estimated.
in this paper, separate FEC coding for PC/SS systems is
proposed. In the proposed coding scheme, different FEC codes
with different coding rates are applied to the combination data
of PN codes and the phase data of their transmitting PN codes,
respectively. In the receiver, the combination data of PN codes
are demodulatedat first The phase ofeach transmitted PN code
is then demodulated based on the corrected estimation of
transmitted PN codes through FEC decoding and reencoding.
In the next section, the concept of PUSS systems and their
system configuration are described. In !kction 3, proposed
separate d i g for PUSS systems and its d d i g strategies
are described Finally, simulation results on the BER
performance are shown under frequencyaonselective Rayleigh
fading channel environment, and conclusions follow.
11. CONCEPT AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONOF F'C/sS
SYSTEMS
In a PUSS system, a set of M orthogonal PN codes is assigned
for an individual user. Inforation data is conveyed by R
orthogonal codes that are chosen among M orthogonal codes
assigned in advance. Additional i n f o d o n dah is conveyed
by employing q-ary phase shift keying (PSK) modulation for
each orthogonal code to be transmitted The amount of
 t
i

---A-
I
?
orthogonal
PN codes
(a) transmitter model @) receiver model

Fig. 1 Basic configural[ion of PUSS systems

information data bits per symbol is combination and phase data form the receiver output data
through the parallel to serial conversion.

m. SEPARATE CODING FOR P a s s SYSTEMS

where 1. J stands for the maximum integer that is less than or In the receiver of the FUSS system, a combination of
equal to x. The first term stands for the combination data of
transmittedPN codes should be estimatedat firstto demodulate
transmitting PN codes. The second tenn stands for the phase
phases of transmitted PN codes. An error in the transmittedPN
data of each transmitting PN codes.
code estimation will lead to a failure in decodmg phases of PN
A basic configuration of PC/SS systems is shown in Fig. 1.
codes.
Input data is divided into two parts: the first is the combination
Transmitter and receiver c o n f i w o n of the proposed FFC
data of orthogonal code for transmission, and the other is the
coding/decoding of a FUSS system is dqlayed in Fig. 2. The
phase data of transmitting PN codes. The combination data is
combination data is fed to an FEC encoder. qV, K&RS code is
fed to a constant weight encoder with length M and weight R.
assumed as he FEC ccde. An RS encoder output is fed to a
For abbreviation, this constant weight code will be referred to as
constant weight e n d e r that is the same as in conventional
(M,R)-CWC. R transmitting PN codes are detennined by PC/SS systems. Phase data is also encoded by another FEC
choosing PN codes corresponding to the ‘1’ bits in a CWC
encoder. Coding rate ofthis FEC code can be different from the
codeword. The phase data is fed to q-ary PSK modulator to
RS code to combination data In this paper, the second FEC
determine the phase of transmitting PN d e s . All modulated
code is assumed to have the same code length as that for
signals are summed and transmitted to channel.
combination data, and this FEC code for phase data is referred
In the receiver, received signal is fed to a bank of M I Q
to as (N, K,)-FEC code.
cornlators. These correlator outputsare utilized to estimate the
In conventional ccded FUSS systems, infixmation bit rate is
c o m b d o n of transmitted PN codes. R PN codes that have
larger magnitude of correlator outputs are picked up as the
(m bits per symbol if @, C>RScode is employed as an
FEC code. Since the coding rates in the combination data and
transmitted PN coda. This estimation result forms an QM, l?)
phase data are WN and KJ?, respectively, the amount of
constant weight codeword in such a way that R bits
information data bits per symbol in the proposed coded PClSS
corresponding to the tmmnitted PN codes are ‘1’ and
system is given by
remaining M-R bits are ‘0.’ The constant weight decoder
decodes this QM, R>cwC estimate for the combination data
Another idonnation to be demodulated is the phase data of
kmsmitted PN codes. Based on the previous -on of the
transmitted orthogonal code combination, R conelator outputs (2)
are selected among A4 outputs of the oorrelator bank. ?he In the receiver, several components such as the bank of M
selected correlator outputs are fed toqary PSK demodulators in I Q correlators, the transmitted PN code eshmion, and the
parallel, and are demodulated to the phase data These combination data decoder through QM, R ) CWC decoder are
same as those in conventional PUSS receivas. The PN code

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(a) transmitter model
Fig.2 Transmitter and receiver configuration of the separate FEC coded PC/SS system
combination estimates are decoded into combination data
symbols by (N &bRS decoder. On the one hand,the decoded
symbols are of course used as a part ofreceiver outputdata On
the other hand, they are fed again to a course of an RS encoder
and an QM, K)-cWC encoder to find more correct phase data
estimates. Even if decoding errors caused by erroneous
estimation in transmitted PN codes come to appear in a
codeword, they can be corrected by RS decoding. The corrected
combination data codeword is again e n d to be fed to the
PN code selector for improved demodulation of phase data.
The phase data is thus demodulated by the errorcorrected
combination codeword and the primary R correlator outputs.
Selected correlator outputs are fed to independent qary PSK
demodulators. These demodulator outputs are fed to an qV,
K,>FEC decoder in parallel to m v e r phase data Finally,
phase and combination data are reardered to form receiver
output data.
A. Decoding Strategies
The RS coding is applied to the combination data in the
proposed PC/SS receiver. It can be also applied to the phase
data There are two decoding strategies at the RS decoder. The
first is errom anly decodig, and the other is error-anderasure
decoding.
In the case of errorsaiy decoding, demodulation makes a
hard decision for every received symbol. These. symbols are
supplied to the RS decoder. Let qV, K>Rs code be used for an
RS encoder and decoder. The error correction capability is
given by
Additional performance improvanent is expeckd if
m-anderasure decoding is used.In this case, all pattems of t
symbol errors andh symbol erasurescan be corrected as long as
F-13
t
(b) receiver model
they satisfy
2t + h I N - K . (4)
In order to implement error-anderasuredecoding, the PC/SS
receiver needs to generate particular information to specify
erasure location.
B. Generationand Use of Erasure Information
While erroranderasured d i g is able to enhance the error
correction capability of RS codes, the PC/SS receiver needs 93
provide erasure location information to the RS decoder. A
PC/SS receiver has a bank of M correlates to perform
maximum likelihocd demodulation. h o n g these mrrelator
outputs, R outputs would contain the desired signal as well as
noise. RemainingM-R outputs would contain only useless noise.
Denote the jth largest cornlator output in magnitude as (i=1
to M). Among Moutputs, R PN codes that have larger
magnitude are estimated as transmitted codes in PUSS
demodulation. Therefore, CR is the smallest correlator output
corresponding to one of transmittedR PN codes,and cR+j is the
largest correlator output corresponding to one of the PN codes
that are possible but have been in no use for actual transmission.
Thus, a certain quantity equivalent to SNR can be defined by a
ratio of these two correlator outputs. In this paper, a squared
ratio of cR+jtoC~is used as such informationto specify erasure
locations, as follows.
y =-IcR+l 1’ (5)
IcR I‘
A symbol of interest becomes less reliable if it has larger y.
Obviously the nnge of y is in the interval of W y 4 because
cR+j < c ~As. the differencebetween CRand Chj in magnitude
is smaller, the incidence of symbol error will be thought to be
more frequent in FUSS systems. The reliability of the received
symbols is measured by means of yand unreliable symbols am
erased before the decoding process.
Once erasure infomation yhas been obtained, it goes to an
RS decoder together with demodulatedsymbols. In RS decoder,
prior to decoding process, unreliable symbols has to be erased.
F -0-
-.-.-
Entire data
Combmaiton data
Lett errors andh erasuresbecorrected in acodeword. Basedon -* \%.- .. ...x-. .. Phase data A
the descending order of h symbols that have larger yare
declared to be erasure symbols. Then both symbol errors and
erasures are decoded by the modified BerlekampMassey .e
algorithm [151.
The difficulty in implementing error-anderasure decoding
usually lies in erasure declarationstrategy. However, a decision
which symbols to be erased is quite simple by means of using
the ratio yof correlator outputs in PUSS receiver. . ; ; ;
-
+
# of infomation symbols K,
4 Ib
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS Fig. 3 BERpdormance in the PUSS system with sep;nate FEC coding.
Bit error rate @ER) performance of the proposed method is (15,9)-RScodeisappliedtothephasedata,(l5,IC>RSoodekapphed
evaluated by a computer simulation. Frequency-nonselective to the combination data.
Rayleigh fading channels are assumed. It is also assumed that Fig. 4 illushates a BER comparison for the PUSS systemin the
no diversity is implemented in the receiveL Table 1 lists the caseofconstantcodingrateonthecombinationdata.Accordingto
specification of the PUSS parameters in this simulation. Binary the result in Fig. 3, (15,7) RS code is employedastheFECcode
PSK modulation is assumed in q-ary PSK modulator and for the combination data When is 14dB,BER performance
demodulator for phase data, i.e. q is set to two. improvement is observed as the coding rate for the phase data
Fig. 3 displays bit error rate @ER) performance versus increases. If higher the coding rate becomes, more energy each
coding rate with respect to the combination data in the coded transmitting PN code has, due to Eq. (2) On cmtmy, enor
K/SS system considered in this paper. (15, K&RS code over correction capabilityin the codewod on the phase data decmses.
GF(26) is applied to the combination data (15,9)-RS code over As coding rate in the phase data is low, BER in the combination
GF(9) is applied to the phase data. Emranderasure decoding data is a dominant kctorof overall BER performance.However, if
based on the erasure declaration scheme described in the
coding rate in the phase data becomes higher,BERinthephase
previous section is applied to the combination data in the RS
decoder. Note that if all of the error correcting capability of an
RS code has been spent to COtTect erasures, the codeword
cannot be corrected when und-ted error symbols also exist
In this simulation, the capability in co&g two-symbol
err06 is reserved in the errormderasure decoder. Errors.only
decoding is employed in the RS decoder with respect to phase
data As long as the coding rates are low, BER in the
combination data is lower than BER in the phase data. If the
cdmg rate exceeds 8/15, this dependency between BER of
those data is inverted.The minimum BER surelyexists and it is
when (15,6)-RS code is employed. Slightly worse, but still low
BER is maintained in case of (15,7)-RS code employed in the
combination data.
TABLE 1
SMULATION PARAMFTEK IN THE pc/ss SYSTEM
10"' ;' i ' + ' ' '
# of information bits K,
.. --
; ; Ib-' 1; '
I Number of assigned PN codes, M I a I
Number of transmitting PN codes, R 4 Fig. 4 BERperfamanceinthepc/sS sy-stem withseprate FEC coding.
Bit rate per period of PN code m 10 bitslsymbol (15, KJ-RS code is applied to the phase (15,7)RScuckBapp6ed
to the combination data.

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data might be worse than& in the combination databecause the v. CONCLUSIONS
FEC codingcannolongerdefeattheperformancedegmhondue A sepamte FEC coding schemefor PC/SS systems have been
to Rayleigh f8ding. Then, clearat minimum appears in the BER proposed to accomplish high- data hansmission and low
in the phase data, and the total BER aswellwfien&&is 18dB error rate performance.. Estimation of a combination of
Fig. 5 displays BER performance in the separate FEC coded transmitted orthogonal PN codes dominates the overall ~ R D T
PUSS systems using two different RS code for the phase data; rate performance of PC/SS systems. Thus, RS code with
(1 5, 7>RS code (system A), and (15, 9)RS code (system B).
error-anderasure decoding is employed fix correcting
(15,7)-RS code is applied to the combination data in both erroneous estimation of transmitted PN codes.
systems. The total information bit rate is 4.7 bitkymbol for the Simulation results show that the coded PC/SS system in the
system A, and 5.2 bitkymbol for the system B, respectively. proposed scheme accomplishes both higher information data
Error-d-erasure decoding is employed to the RS decoder for rate and lower error rate performance. Binary PSK has been
the combination data, and mrs.only decoding is employed for only considered for modulation cOrreSpOnding to phase data
the phase data In this simulation, the RS decoder for the
Higher-rate data transmission and betta m r rate performance
combination data is capable of Correcting two errors and four will be possible if PC/SS systems are equipped with multiphase
erasures. modulation [121.
Almost the same BER performance has been observed in
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Fig. 5 BER performance in the separate coded PC/SS systems.

(15,7)-RS coding with EED is applied to combinationdata.

F-15