. . .. .. . .

Spread-Spectrum Techniques
for Wireless munication

. . . , , . . . ..
I . .

.' '
, . . . .
I
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i,i"diri-L' 1 c.i' sI > I: t 'fhit s llic pi ' - ,,

to the use of spread spectrum

i i i \vi rr1es.s coiriiii uiii caii 0115.
'1'11e symbiotic r e ~ o i i s ~ i i p
betlveen wi,relexs coimii1inica-
Lions and digital microelecboiiics A Digital
is also clcvcloping rapidly. In- Communication System
clccd, inobilc. and pc~i-sonalcoin- Model
iiiiinicatiom is iio.cl~at pu-ity with
Consider a discrete-hie coin-
the computer incclustiy as a rnqjor
~nunicad.onsyslem wilh the
drivcr i n the dc\iclop.ineiit o f
traismitied digital infounatiou
hi g li - s 11 e ed 1ow- 17OWC.I- in te-
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.ptc,dc.ircuits. Undc.rlyiiigthis is This seciwiice is triuisiiiitted
the deep relationship bctwccn thc
over a channel such that the rc-
theories of signdproccssing and celvcci scqucnce i s
coniiiimi&m. This'is thc iiioti-
\ation btlhind the second objective
oi his atticle: to present the con-
cepts mid capabilitics of spred whcre E t 0 is the energy of the
spectriiin so Ihal. engineen veilred pulse representing each bit. and

26 MAY 1997

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(See the box for a short description of how this model re-
lates to the classical continuous-time system model.) In
this case, the optimal receiver is a simple level detector:
rm 2 0: guess that +1 was sent
rm < 0: guess that -1 was sent
In general, we will employ an optimal correlation re-
ceiver that makes its decision based upon a decision vari-
able ym,which is some function of the received signal r,.
(To simplify this presentation, we assume throughout that
the information source produces +l’s and -1’s with equal
probability.) In the present case, we have the simplest
possible receiver, where ym = r,. Its statistics determine
the performance of the receiver. It is easy to see that it is a
Gaussian random variable with mean b,!E and variance
d.From elementary detection theory, the performance
(measured in terms of the average probability of bit error)
of this binary pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) system
is determined by the ratio WO.
We now generalize this model as €allows: €oreach in-
formation bit, instead of one pulse, a sequence of N pulses
is transmitted; that is, if b, = i, then { i,i,...,i} is transmitted,
where i = k 1.We only consider the first transmitted bit, al-
lowing us to drop the subscriptm. Thus the transmitted sig-
nal for our information bit is
Modeling a Communication System
in Discrete Time
(3) The discrete-time formulation r, = am + w, is used to
hide the details of the physical communication system
that usesconthmwtime pulses to transmit the informa-
(4) tion bits. We briefly outline the relationship between the
two here.
The discrete-timemodel is related to the physical sys-
tem by interpreting Eand w, as the signal and noise con-
tributions to the output of a correlation (or equivalently,
matched-filter) receiver as follows; Let the transmitted
pulse during signaling interval m be & v(t-mT) where we
limit the pulse to be of duration T.Then, considering the
case m = 0 (i.e., the bit interval [O,q), the received sig-
nal is r(t) where
+ w(t).
r(r) = f ~ ( t )
Here w(t) is continuous-time additive white Gaussian
noise (AWGN) with power spectral density NJ2. To
guess the transmitted bit, the correlation receiver com-
putes
and our discrete-time model is completed by setting

Hence, N discrete-time pulses are sent to represent the bit

of information.This generalizes our model in the sense that
E= J’:v 2( t )at, w, = J’iv(t )w(i)cir
the duration of a data bit is partitioned into N subintervals. Hence, E
! can be interpreted as the signal energy.
During each subinterval, a pulse of energy Ec= FIN is For example, assume that v(t) is a rectangular pulse
transmitted. These sub-bits are known as chips. The re- with amplitude + . A . Then Z = A ’ T and
ceived sequence representing the bit is def
-
E[w:] = A’TN” - b2,andit can be shown that the average
probability of bit error is

where the noise, w,,now has variance E[W:] = a21N.

To receive this signal we must alter the receiver struc-
ture. In this case, the optimal receiver employs a correla-
tion before the level detector. Therefore the decision
--I 2
variable is
where Q(x) = &I, ea

e *U’ dy. Hence, the performance of

N-1
the system is determined by da.
Y=CG
lI=O (7)
or The Spread-Spectrum Concept
y= c
N-1

“=O
(!€,b+ we)=N!€,b+
N-l

m=O
w,.
Notice that the transmitted signal (Eq. ( 5 ) )can be written as

sn = !& bcn, n = 0,..., N-1 (9)

Thus the decision variable y has mean N EJ = E& and vari-
ance N $ = 6 2 . Again the performance is determined by the
ratio WO.
where {c,)“,~~ = +-I, i.e., we explicitly identify the unit-
valued chips. The spread-spectrum property arises from the
fact that the chips, rather than being identically valued, are
drawn from a known (i.e., deterministic)binary source (This

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source is usually based on digital shift register logic, and the
sequence is therefore periodic.) The sequence of chips is
known as a spreading sequence. Thus, either co,cI, ..., cN-lor
-co, -c1, ..., - c ~ -(multiplied
~ by EC)will be sent.
From the point of view of implementation,the spread sig-
nal sequence can be generated using a 1-bit digital finite im-
pulse response (FIR) filter whose input is the stream of bits to
be transmitted. The filter provides a discrete-time pulse re-
sponse that is one period of the spreading sequence, and thus
produces N outputs for every input. The filtering can be per-
formed using normal digital logic, followed by a transforma-
tion to convenient +/- signal levels.
Now, assume that the spreading sequence (c,} is defined
for all n and has period N,i.e., C , , C ~=
+ Nfor
~ any k. Let
us specify two of its key properties: first, it has a mean value
of approximately zero, i.e.,
1 N-1
The second property is a time autocorrelation (referred to as
the discrete-time periodic autocorrelation function) and is
given by
These two conditions are ideal, but can be closely approached
in practice [4,5]. For example, many spreading sequences are
based on the maximum-length, or m-sequences, and inherit
from them the property that the number of +l’s and -1’s in a
period differ by one. In this case, we have simply
c, = f L The discrete-time autocorrelation function for
the m-sequences is
These time-based properties-for these deterministic se-
quences--are analogous to ensemble properties for a zero-
mean independent random sequence. Thus, spreading se-
quences are sometimes referred to as pseudo-noise (PN) se-
quences for their noise-like properties.
The resulting correlation receiver for the spread-spectrum
signal is given in block-diagram form in Fig. 1. It performs
the following operation to obtain the decision variable y :
Y= c
N-1
n=O
mc,
or
N-1
n=O
Notice how this reduces to Eq. (7) for the case c, = 1. Again
we have
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1. Basic spread-spectrum correlation receiver. Each transmitted bit
determines the polarity of the spreading sequence that is transmit-
ted. The received sequencefor m-th bit, 6 , is r,, = f c , + w,,, n =
0,1, ... N-1, which is correlated with a local copy of the spreading
sequence. The result of the correlation is compared with a thresh-
old (normally zero) to determine the detected value b,.
n=O
based on the properties of the spreading sequence. Hence, our
decision variable is again Gaussian with mean z3 and vari-
ance 0’.Comparing this result with the nonspread system
above shows that spreading yields no improvement in the
ideal AWGN channel. Notice that this is because the inde-
pendent-and therefore uncorrelated-noise process con-
tributes the same power in both cases.
As we will see, the power of spectrum spreading comes
from its effect on narrowband or correlated signals. These in-
clude interference, multipath, or signals from other transmit-
ters in the network employing spreading signals (known as
multiuser interference).
We note that the recovery of the signal requires that the re-
ceiver’s own copy of the spreading sequence be synchro-
nized with the received version. To see this, let the receiver’s
local sequence ?,, ,instead of being exactly time-aligned (or in
phase) with the received sequence, be offset in time,
?, = c,+ I , i # 0. Then the received signal will be
N-I N-1
n=O n=O
and the information is lost. Therefore, synchronization is a
key requirement in spread-spectrumsystem design. In the se-
quel, to maintain focus on the spread-spectrum concept, we
assume perfect synchronization.
Interference Suppression
Now suppose the channel contains an interferer: an unknown
constant, I , is added to the received signal. It is easy to show
that the decision variable for the nonspread system would
have a mean of N (E& + 0,which will render the system un-
usable for 1 1sufficiently large. On the other hand, for the
1
spread system, the received sequence is
MAY 1997
where in= I . Then our correlation receiver produces the deci- and observe that energy from adjacent bits causes severe in-
sion variable tersymbol interference (ISI), resulting in a performance loss
that depends upon the delay and amplitude of the specular
y= c
N-1

fl=O
(E&, + i, + w,)c,
(18)
components. (There are several methods not employing
spectrum spreading that can reduce the effects of multipath.
These are similar to techniques used for equalization of
yielding limited-bandwidth channels.)

y = N E cb + Zc c, + cw,c,
N-l

n=O
N-1

n=O (19)
Multiple Access
Now we turn to the case where there are number of transmit-
ting users, say K , and where the kth transmitter modulates its
or
data with a unique spreading sequence { c,’k’}.The members

y = NE,b+ O+cw,c,.
N-l

fl=O (20)
of this set of signature sequences or spreading codes have
the cross-correlation property

1, k = j,i=O
The decision variable has mean and variance 02,so the in- 1 N-l
0, k = j,O<jil<N,
terference is suppressed by the despreading (correlation) op- N n=O
eration. 0, k f j .

Mitigation of MuItipat h Thus, we have a set of K sequences with zero cross-

correlations and impulse-valued autocorrelations. (Note that
To understand the capability of spread spectrum in mitigating this includes the earlier autocorre~ationas a case.)
the time-dispersive effects of multipath channels, we re- Now that the signals simultaneously share a
introduce the sequence ( b m )“,O * for channel, and we are interested only in signal k = 1 Assuming I

of presentation, we the chip energy into the bits time synchronization among the signals, the received signal
by setting b, E {+ e}. 1Q
IU

Now consider the following simple multipath channel,

with a direct path with strength a and a specular (reflected) K

path that causes another copy of the signal to arrive at a delay 1 r* = 2 k=l
(k) (k)
bm ‘n +

with strength p. The received chips during the mth bit interval
are then It follows that the correlation receiver for signal k = 1 gener-
ates the decision variable
ab,c, +pbm-lcN-,+n,n = 0,...I- 1
5={
ab,c, +pb,c,-l, n = l , ...N-1, (21)
N-l

PI= 0
K

k=2
N-l

n=O
+cwN-1
y:) = b : ’ ~ ( c p ’ ) ’ + C b ~ ) C c t l i ) c r ; i )
n= 0
~ ( l ) ,
f l n
(27)
where we assume that 0 < 1 < N , i.e., the delay is less than one
bit duration. (Recall that m increments by one when N incre- The second term is known as the multiuser interference
ments by N.) Notice the specular path causes interference (MUI). Using the cross-conelation property,
from both a delayed version of the desired bit and the previ-
ously transmitted bit, bm-l.Here,

n=O fl=O Therefore, the cross-correlation property (sometimes called

the mutual orthogonality) of the sequences allows simultane-
ous transmissions in the same channel to be successfully de-
which becomes tected. This property allows spread spectrum to be used as a
N-I.
..
multiple-access method (like time-division multiple access
y, =Nab, + O + O + ~ W , C , (TDMA) or frequency-divisionmultiple access (FDMA)); it
lI=O is usually called code-division multiple access, or CDMA.
Normally, the different transmitters would not be syn-
The multipath signal is suppressed by the despreading. chronized in time, so each would be received with a different
We can see the effect of multipath on the unspread system delay. However, due to the cross-correlation property, it is
by letting c, = 1 for all N . Then we obtain easy to show that the same result holds for nonzero relative
delays.
.N-I .
y , = Nab, +plb,-, + P(N - l)bm+ W,C,
Notice that the interference, multipath, and multiuser in-
n=O (24) terference are all added to the signal in the channel. There-

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fore, the previous results can be combined to show that
spread spectrum provides resistance to
interference,
multipath, and
0 multi-user interference from other transmitters in the net-
work
Of course, our model sacrifices accuracy for simplicity.
First, as noted above, the sequence properties are idealized.
As we will see, some degradation will occur when practical
nearly orthogonal sequences are employed. Also, the se-
quences are periodic; often the sequence length is many times
greater than a bit duration to prevent performance loss.
These, and ulher considerations, must be accounted for in
system design.
Other considerations relate to the choice of our model.
First, this PAM system is a baseband model, meaning no si-
nusoidal carrier is used. In general, it is possible to use such a
baseband-equivalentrepresentation when analyzing wireless
communicationsystems. So far we have used a binary antipo-
dal signal set (i.e., the two possible symbols are +1or-l), and
assumed coherent detection. In general, we wish to be able to
model M-ary signal sets, where the information is transmitted
as inultibit symbols rather than bits. Also of interest is nonco-
herent detection, which is often employed in wireless net-
works. These generalizations can be readily accommodated
by allowing the data sequence to be complex, i.e., b = Ible’@,
and allowing an arbitrary phase shift, Cl,, to be added in the
channel, so that the received sequence becomes
r, =E,beJe“ f w , .
Direct-Sequenceand Frequency-
Hopping Techniques
The transiiiitted sequence above is a discrete-time represea-
lation of the actual signal. Since most transmission me-
dia-including wireless cominunication channels-are
continuous-he in nature, the discrete-time sequence is
transformed into a continuous signal for transmission over
the channel.
For the lollowing, we define the signaling pulse
The information pulse corresponding to bit m is
N-1
a contiguous set of N spread-spectrumchip pulses, where the
chip energy is defined as Ec = A‘ T,. Here T, is known as the
chip duration, and TC-’is known ading rate. The as-
sociated bit duration 5s then T, = r ratio, N,is some-
times referred to as the processing gain of the
spread-spectrum sy is often used to roughly charac-
terize systcm perfor Our spread-spectrum signal is a
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continuous-time function, s(t),consisting of the sequence of
information pulses s,(t):
-
s ( t )= s, (t-
Pl=O
In the development above, notice that the spreading se-
quence { c,} directly multiplies, or modulates, the informa-
tion sequence {b,}. For this reason, this is a model of DS
spread spectrum modulation. The spreading process in-
creases the signaling rate by a factor of N.Therefore, it fol-
lows that the frequency bandwidth of the signal is also
increased by a factor of N. Hence, if the bandwidth of the in-
formation signal (the information bandwidth) is W,, the
spread bandwidth is N W,. (This can be seen intuitively by
noting that the Fourier transform of a rectangular pulse pr(t)
yields an cnergy spcctrum with magnitude T 2
(Xfr)’ .
Though the actual signals are not pulses in isolation but ran-
domly modulated pulse trains, a similar result holds.) This
wider bandwidth is known as the spread bandwidth.
As we saw above, the spread bandwidth is actually N
times the information bandwidth. This suggests another pos-
sibility, where we take Eq. (30) with c, = 1for all n but modu-
late a sinusoid according to
Here f , is chosen from a set of N frequencies that approxi-
mately span the bandwidth NW,. Therefore, the signal “hops”
to a new frequency for every bit. This method of spreading is
calledfrequency hopping (FH), and the time during which the
frequency, f m , is constant (T,in this case) is known as the
dwell time. Here we have the case where there is one hop in-
terval (or dwell) per bit. In a manner analogous to DS sys-
tems, the N hopping frequencies are usually selected
according to a periodic pseudo-random sequence.
In the above equation, the information sequence, b,,
modulates the phase of the signal. The signal is said to be bi-
nary phase-shift keyed, and is referred to as a FWBPSK sig-
nal. Another FH signal format uses the information sequence
and the spreading sequence to jointly determine the fre-
quency of the signal, i.e.,
where the information is encoded using the frequency v,. In
the simplest form, there are a total of 2N possible frequencies
due to the two information frequencies encoding the binary
data. In general, there are M 2 2 frequencies used to transmit
the information. This M-ary frequency-shift keyed
(FHMFSK) format is popular for some wireless communi-
cations applications. One reason is the simplicity of the re-
ceiver: only the signal frequency needs to be detected. Of
more fundamental importance is its insensitivity to rapid
phase variations in the received signal that can occur in mo-
bile channels.
MAY 1997
 It is easy to envision the situation where the hop duration techniques may be required. In the case of stationary (e.g.,
is equal to more than one information bit interval. This (along nonhostile) interference, SFH systems can use a strategy that
with the above case of exactly one hop per bit) is called slow adapts the set of hop frequencies to avoid the interference.
hopping (SFH). Conversely, one could have multiple hops Another difference between the two arises in CDMA net-
per bit, which is known as fast hopping (FFH). Note that in works, where a number of radios share the channel simulta-
this case the resulting system is a hybrid of DS and FH, since neously. In this case, errors may occur in FH when two
the shorter pulse used at each hop will have a bandwidth transmissions occupy the same hop bin, and thus interfere
larger than the information bandwidth. with each other in the receiver. This occurs only occasionally
Another step normally required for transmission over a with proper hopping-sequence design. In DS systems, all
physical channel (for both DS and FH) is to use the baseband transmissions interfere in both time and frequency, and thus it
signal, s(t), to modulate a high-frequency sinusoidal wave- can be seen from Eqs. (27) and (28) that the despreading of the
form, cos(2n.t + e),known as a carrier. (In the cases of cellu- signature sequences provides suppression of the MUI. We
lar and PCN (personal communication network) systems, now investigate this further by generalizing Eq. (26) to the case
these carriers have frequencies of approximately 900 MHz where the relative received signal strengths differ. Let Zi?) be
and 2 GHz, respectively.) Conceptually, this can be repre- the received strength of the kth signal. Then we have
sented as a multiplication to obtain the actual transmitted sig-
nal, x(t):
(35)
x(t) = s(t) cos(2nfct + e), (34)
We earlier assumed the cross-correlation of the signature se-
where 8 is an arbitrary phase. Since the Fourier transform of a quences was approximately zero. To be more precise, we
product of two signals is the convolution of their transforms, must specify the cross-correlation value. For example, if we
it is easy to see that the bandwidth of the signal is centered at use the set of m-sequences of period N from Eq. (18), the de-
f,. (Depending on the implementation, the frequency- cision variable (or correlator output) becomes (see Eq. (27)):
difference product may have to be removed by filtering.) In
FH systems, the hopping can be implemented using a
frequency-agileoscillator that can switch among the frequen-
ciesf, + V, +f,. Since shorter dwell times and faster switch-
ing times imply higher manufacturingcosts, slow hopping is
used in the majority of FH systems. For DS systems the repre- or
sentation of Eq. (34) provides a useful interpretation: the
modulation by s(t) (see Eq. (31) and Eq. (30)) causes rapidly
varying phase changes to the signal during a bit interval, (37)
spreading the bandwidth accordingly. Because the phase
variations are pseudo-random, the transmitted signal has the Therefore, if for some k # 1, !kk) >> E?, the spreading gain,
appearance of wideband noise. N, could be insufficient to suppress the MUI. In wireless com-
munication, propagation losses can cause signal strength to de-
Comparison of DS and FH crease according to d”, where d is the distance from transmitter
to receiver and n can be from 3 to 8. Therefore, in, for example, a
Recall that in DS systems the instantaneous bandwidth is
cellular system, a single mobile unit near a base station can de-
equal to the spread bandwidth. In the case of slow frequency
grade performance for other mobile units dramatically. The root
hopping, the set of possible frequenciesish + V, +f,, and the of this near-far problem is the use-as a b o v e d f a correlation
signal information bandwidth is centered at. +f, at any mo- receiver designed for demodulation of a single signal. In at-
ment in time. Therefore, the instantaneous bandwidth is tempts to solve this problem, there have been two primary lines
equal to the information (or unspread) bandwidth, and the of attack. One approach retains the simplicity of the single-user
spread bandwidth is occupied only over longer time periods receiver (or detector), but employs power control of the trans-
(e.g., enough time for all hop frequencies to be employed). mitted signal to provide roughly equal received signal strengths.
This is the main conceptual difference between the two. The other is to employ (perhaps in addition) a multi-user detec-
Thus, even though the two approaches may have the same tor of higher complexity that is designed for the multiplicity of
processing gain (as measured by the ratio of the spread and signals present. Much research activity is currently underway
information bandwidths), they will have different strengths. for both approaches [6-91.
One difference is in the methods used in each to reduce the
effects of narrowbandinterference or intentional jamming. In
Other Spread-Spectrum Techniques
the situation where the jamming power is too large for the
spreading gain to overcome, DS systems employ receivers We noted above that fast hopping can be considered a form of
that attempt to remove the jamming signal, often by filtering hybrid DSRH spreading. It is also possible to combine DS
prior to the despreading operation. Because the jamming sig- and SFH so that the instantaneous bandwidth is equal to the
nal is often nonstationary (e.g., swept narrowband), adaptive DS bandwidth, with the spread bandwidth further increased

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by hopping the DS bandwidth over a number of frequencies.
This can allow a much larger total spread bandwidth than can
be obtained by DS spreading alone. There has been a recent
surge of activity in developing alternate spread-spectrum
modulation methods for wireless channels. In this section we
describe techniques that have been proposed to improve
multiple-access performance.
An approach that shares properties of both DS and FH is
called spread-time (ST) modulation [101. Here, the direct
modulation occurs in the frequency domain, rather the time
domain. The Fourier transform of the transmitted pulse for
signaling interval m, q(t-mT), is
Here, the coefficients {gm(k)}determine the square root of
the desired transmitted spectrum corresponding to b, E { 1},
and @(k))is a complex-valued PN sequence. Notice also that
F, is the chip bandwidth. Since for DS the transmitted spread-
ing waveform is :
c,pr, ( t - nT, ), spread-time modula-
tion can be regarded as the dual of DS in the sense that the
spreading sequence modulates the spectrum of the informa-
tion signal. After the modulation, an inverse Fourier trans-
form is used to generate the time function for transmission
across the channel, so that the transmitted signal is
s ( t )= q(t - mT)w(t - mT).
m Qualitatively, the delay spread (or multipath spread) T, is
In this expression, ~ ( tis) a windowing function necessitated
by the finite extent of the spectrum Q(f).Also, a real-valued
signal can be assured by requiring E ( k ) = C*(-k - l), if neces-
sary. Notice that the time-domain pulse can be pre-computed,
eliminating the need for a real-time (inverse) FT.
As an example, we can set E ( k ) = e’ex , 0, E {0,+?,7c}.
Because direct manipulation of the phase of Q(f)is possible
in this manner, this is referred to as a spectral phase encoder
[ 101.Clearly, spread-time modulation can, in principle, pro-
vide the instantaneous bandwidth of DS by covering the en-
tire bandwidth. It is also an extension of FFH since the
instantaneous bandwidth (or short-term spectrum) can be
made to occupy a variety of patterns that utilize sub-bands to
varying degrees, since we can select C ( k )= 0 for selected
values of k. It follows that it is possible to shape the trans-
mitted spectrum in response to frequency-selective fading
or interference.
A similar technique can be described by modifying DS
modulation as follows: instead of using spreading pulses of
duration T,, use a set of narrowband (duration Tb)pulses but
stack them in the frequency domain [ 111 to get the transmit-
ted signal s ( t )= zz0
s, ( t - mT, ) with
n=O
Thus, the spreading sequence is applied in the frequency
domain to Ncaniers whose spacing is determined by the inte-
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ger F. This method is called multicarrier CDMA (MC-
CDMA) when extended to the multiuser case [ 111.
Spread Spectrum and Diversity
We demonstrated above that we can use a correlation re-
ceiver to reject multipath interference. In this section we con-
sider the problem of multipath in more detail, and introduce
more effective approaches.
Path Diversity
A simplistic but nonetheless useful model of radio-wave
propagation is to visualize rays propagating from the trans-
mitter’s antenna, which are then reflected from various
physical structures, such as buildings and walls, on their way
to the receiver. Assume that an isolated pulse is transmitted:
* due to the reflections, it arrives at the receiver via a number of
different paths. The paths will have different lengths, so the
pulses associated with the different paths arrive at the re-
ceiver at different times. They will also have different (and
varying) amplitudes due the different path lengths and to
other processes such as shadowing and diffraction. Further-
more, each path will have an associated phase offset related
to the number of reflections as well as the difference in dis-
tance. Finally, these quantities, including the number of
paths, will vary with time in a changing wireless environment
(39) (e.g., when a cellular phone is used in a moving vehicle).
the time span of arrival times of the pulses received via the
different paths. Clearly, the time span is a random quantity,
so T, is often defined as the standard deviation of the delay
spread. Let us assume that there are a finite number of distinct
paths. (In some cases, there are a large number of reflectors
nearby the receiving antenna. Here the delay can be modeled
as a continuous density.) If the transmitted pulse has duration
T, then the received copies of the pulse may or may not over-
lap with each other. In rough terms, if T, < T , then the pulses
will overlap in time and interfere with each other. In the ex-
treme case where T,,, << T, there will be very little interfer-
ence, and in fact the paths will add coherently. In practice, it
has been found that adequate performance is possible for T,
I 0.1 T. Notice that this corresponds to using signals of low
information bandwidth, or narrowband signaling. Con-
versely, if T, >> T, then the (relatively short) received pulses
will be separated in time. Here, because the various paths and
their relative delays can be distinguished, we say that the
multipath components are resolved. Notice that this only oc-
curs when a wideband pulse is employed. This property is the
basic reason that wide-bandwidth spread-spectrum tech-
niques are useful in the multipath environments found in
wireless communications.
An instructive discrete-time model for the wideband mul-
tipath channel employs a set of channels (corresponding to
the set of paths), each characterized by a delay, attenuation,
and phase. Let x(n) be the transmitted signal, where now the
time index is carried in parentheses. Now assume that there
MAY 1997
 prove performance. The basic idea here is
that, since a DS spread spectrum signal can
resolve components of a multipath channel, a
receiver can be designed to capture the en-
ergy of these components and combine them.
The most obvious approach is to employ a

+"-'H=i=t
correlation receiver for each channel, and
combine their outputs. This is known as
n=O post-detection combining and is illustrated
for a three-path receiver in Fig. 2. If the three
cn branch estimates disagree, then it is assumed
2. Post-detection combining. This structure assumes that, due to the multipath that an error is detected, and the correct value
channel, two delayed and attenuated versions of the signal arrive at delays of 11 can be guessed using majority-logic detec-
and 12 after the first arrival. Notice that the delay elements in the received signal tion (voting). However, a better approach is
path of the receiver reverse the delay structure of the channel so that the signals to perform the combining before the summa-
from the three paths are processed simultaneously. tion, as shown in Fig. 3. The advantage of this
pre-detection combining is that it avoids the
loss of information about the received signal
are L distinct paths on which the signal travels to the receiver.
that occurs in the individual bit-decision blocks of the post-
Then the received signal is
detection combining receiver. The pre-detection multipath-
L-1 combining receiver is known as a rake receiver, due to the re-
r(n) = x a , x ( n - d, ) e f i k , semblance to a typical garden rake of the signal paths merg-
k=O
ing at the summing junction in Fig. 3.
The rake structure has proven to be extremely useful and is
where ak is the attenuation of the signal for path k, i.e., 0 < a,
employed in a number of commercial spread-spectrum sys-
I 1.Also, dk,a non-negativeinteger, and O,, 0 < 0, < 2n are the tems. We note that path diversity can be used in addition to
delay and phase associated with the kth path, respectively. other forms of diversity commonly employed in narrowband
Though the integer-valueddelays of this discrete-time model systems, such as antenna diversity. (Also called spatial diver-
are of course an approximation,the model has been used suc- sity, it uses two or more physically separated antennas. The
cessfully in a number of studies. signals from the antennas are either combined, or the antenna
Now assume that x(n) = 6(n).(We follow the usual DSP with the strongest signal is selected by the receiver for de-
definition of 6(0) = 1 and 6(n)= 0, n f 0.) Then r(n) is the modulation.) Therefore, the wide bandwidth spread-
pulse response of the channel and is a series of weighted spectrum signal allows the use of an additional method to im-
pulses. More importantly, this is a convolution, which natu- prove performance of wireless networks.
rally arises from the linearity of the model. This fact-that
the wideband fading channel can be modeled as linear fil- Frequency Diversity
ter-has led to a number of processing algorithms that im-
prove spread-spectrumperformance. Again consider a simple two-path channel, where the path
lengths arex, andx,. Now we probe the channel with a carrier
In order to use the model, we must specify L, a,, dk,and 0,.
Since they will vary with time, they can be modeled as ran- of frequencyf, and corresponding wavelength h, i.e., s(t) = A
dom processes. Indeed, the most general time-varying form c0s(2nf0t). To simplify our results, assume that the received
would show each of these as a function of n. However, for signals are of the same amplitude,A. Then, due to the time de-
many channels of interest these parameters vary slowly rela- lays of the paths, the two received signals will have a phase
tive to the information signaling rate TL', and thus can be offset of pxi, i = 1,2, where p = 2dh is known as the wave
considered constant over reasonably short time intervals. In number. The received signal is their sum
such situations the signaling rate is said to be greater than the
"fading rate" of the channel. r ( t )= A c0s(2nf0 t + px, )+ A cos(2TCf, t + px, ). (42)
Following this approach, we can redefine L to be a fixed Using trigonometric identities, we arrive at
maximum value based on the number of paths containing
most of the signal power. Then { a k } , { dk}, { €41,k = 0, ...,G1
form sets of random variables, or more generally, random (43)
processes. These are known as the path amplitude, arrival
time (or delay), and phase distributions, respectively. For our where x, is the difference in path lengths and x,,,is their aver-
purposes, their statistical descriptions are not important, and, age. Thus, the received signal has amplitude
indeed, numerous models have been proposed [ 121.
Instead, our purpose is to introducereceiver structures that 2A cos 2 Px
can exploit the characteristics of multipath channels to im- 2 (44)

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 affected. This is in contrast to narrowband
n c 4 systems where the entire symbol can be
faded.
A slightly different argument applies to
slow-hopped systems, where a number of
symbols may be transmitted in the same “hop
bin.” Here, error-control coding is used,
where information symbols are encoded into
channel symbols with additional redun-
dancy, causing the information to be trans-
mitted using a number of frequencies. In
addition, interleaving can also be employed
to provide frequency diversity. Here, the se-
quence of coded symbols is re-ordered
(scrambled) in time so that consecutive chan-
nel symbols are derived from information
-c, ..
,- symbols that are widely separated in time.
This can also take advantage of the time-
. Rake (pre-detection) combining receiver. The L weights can be selected based on varying. -nature of some channels, such as the

various multipath diversity combining strategies. In equal-gain combining, they will cellular mobile channel. Note, however, that
either be zero (corresponding to no path at the corresponding delay) or of unit mag- the degree of interleaving can be limited by
nitude. In the case of maximal-ratio combining, the weights are selected to empha- requirements for minimizingthe delay in-
size the contributions of the strongest signal components. This strategy provides the curred.
best performance, but requires precise knowledge of the strengths of the multipath
components.
Other Perspectives
so that, if the difference in distance is considered the inde- Let us generalize our one-bithop FHBPSK
pendent variable, then the received signal power fluctuates signal to a complex signal; that is, if
with period A. Thus, the fading is dependent not only on the
difference in path lengths, but also on the transmitted fre- U, ( t - mT, ),
( t )= Ab,e’(2nfnf)pTb
(45)
quency.
Though this highly simplified model does not take into then we have from Eq. (32) that s m ( f ) = E{u m ( f ) 1. Now, in-
account the complexity ofawireless channel, it can be used to stead Of sending One consider sending a vector
understand response of practical channels as a function of fre- during signaling interval m si-
symbols {b,,o, bm,l,..., bm3N-l}
quency. As noted earlier, a practical environment can be multaneously, each at a different frequency fk.We obtain
modeled as having a random number of paths (not just two), N-1
and each path (while it exists) can be considered to have U, ( t )= APT, ( t - mTb )Ebm,ke’(2nht).
phase and amplitude that are random processes. The end re- k=O (46)
sult is that sinusoids-or, more importantly, narrowband sig-
This generalizes frequency hopping to the nonspread
nals-with sufficiently different frequencies have fading case where multiple symbols are sent using different subcar-
processes that are essentially independent. On the other hand, riers of different frequencies. This is known as multicarrier
frequencies for which fading is correlated are said to lie (or multitone) modulation (MCM). (Another label used in the
within the coherence bandwidth of the channel. A useful re- literature is orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing.) If
lationship (determined by Fourier transform relationships the subcarrier frequencies, {f,):::, span the available chan-
[13-151) is that the channel’s coherence bandwidth, Aft, is nel bandwidth, MCM can be considered another means of ex-
proportional to the inverse of its delay spread. ploiting a wideband channel.
With this background, it is easy to envision the use of fre- How should the subcarrier frequencies be selected? Let us
quency diversity, where the bandwidth of the signal is much assume that noncoherent detection will be used, since accu-
greater than the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Fre- rate detection of the received signal phase is often difficult,
quency hopping provides an explicit mechanism for doing Then they are chosen so that the complex waveforms are or-
this. Let us assume that the coherence bandwidth is less than thogonal in the sense that
the information bandwidth of the signal. In FFH the informa-
tion signal is transmitted as a number of chips, each of which
(47)
is transmitted at a different frequency. Because of the wide
bandwidth of the spread signal, the chips will be faded inde-
pendently, and thus only a portion of them will be adversely

34 IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING MAGAZINE MAY 1997

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This occurs when lh+l - f,l=
$.We will see shortly that this bibliography. Rather, we will mention here some references
allows the use of powerful signal processing techniques for that can serve as starting points for the reader interested in a
modulation and demodulation. more in-depth study of spread spectrum. Excellent introduc-
Recall that in a frequency-selective channel the received tory expositions, each with a different perspective, are [4,16,
signal strength varies with frequency. Therefore, it is possi- 171, while [18] provides a recently updated encyclopedic
ble to allocate the signal strength to the various subcarriers to treatment. A comparison of spread spectrudCDMA with
compensate. Thus we generalize Eq. (46)to other techniques can be found in [19].A more hardware-
oriented overview is given by [20].
U, ( t )= pTb( t - mT, )c
N-l

k= 0
A(k)b,,ke’(2nfk‘).
231
An introduction to interference rejection is [21],and [22,
provide thorough overviews, The techniques describedin
these papers use various adaptive signal processing methods
Unlike FH, MCM does not employ spectral spreading. To that can be used to improve performance in multipath [24],
elaborate, spreading can be exploited to average the fading. multiuser interference [25],and interference or intentional
On the other hand, with MCM, power can be allocated among jamming [261.
the subcarriers to maximize the performance (given that the Concise descriptions of rake receivers in a multipath envi-
magnitude of the channel transfer function is known). These ronment can be found in [27]and [141; an excellent tutorial
approaches can be viewed as two extremes of using an avail- that also presents a model for urban multipath channels is
able wide-bandwidth channel. [28].Starting points for more information on multipath wire-
Modulation and demodulation for MCM can be imple- less channels are [12,15, 29, 301. Finally, overviews of
mented using well-known signal processing techniques [141. CDMA for terrestrial and satellite-based systems are given in
First, let the signaling interval be T. Iffk = &7’, we can rewrite [31] and [32],and recent research in various aspects of
Eq. (48)as CDMA is detailed in [33].

Acknowledgment
k=O (49) The author thanks M.B. Pursley and A.D. Snider for their
and sampling at t = nTN, n = 0,..., N-1 yields careful reviews of early drafts of this article. This work was
supported in part by a grant from the University of South
Florida Research Council.

Paul Flikkema is an Assistant Professor in the University of

which can be implemented using the inverse fast Fourier
transform (FFT). In this context it is useful to view the inverse
discrete Fourier transform (DFT) as a matched filter for the N
orthogonal sinusoids. Thus, at first thought a FFT could be
used to demodulate the signals. However, since the transmis-
sions are not tones, but modulated signals, losses (due to
spectral leakage) will occur. Therefore, other types of filter
banks may provide better performance (see [ 141 and the ref-
erences therein).
This technique can also be compared with FH in terms of
complexity required in the modulator demodulator. While
FH systems require only a frequency-agile synthesizer,
MCM requires considerably more complexity-at least a
real-time DFT processor.
Finally, let us modify our MCM expression (Eq. (46))as
follows. First, simplify the vector of symbols so that the same
symbol is transmitted on all subcarriers, viz., let bm,O = l ~, ,=~
= bm,N-l = b,. Then, introducing a spreading sequence, c,,
we obtain the frequency-domain direct sequence formula
(Eq. (40))for F = 1. Therefore MC-CDMA can be viewed as
a spread-spectrum extension of MCM.
Further Reading
To aid understanding,concepts in this article have been sim-
plified. Since the literature on spread spectrum is vast and
growing rapidly, we do not attempt to provide an exhaustive
South Florida’s Electrical Engineering Department in
Tampa, Florida.
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