Slow frequency hopping assisted MC DS-CDMA using large area synchronism spreading sequences

Abstract

The family of multi-carrier direct-sequence CDMA (MC DS-CDMA) systems exhibits numerous attractive properties, which render them attractive candidates for next-generation wireless communications. We demonstrate that spreading codes exhibiting a so-called interference-free window (IFW) are capable of outperforming classic spreading codes, when the interfering multi-user and multipath components arrive within this IFW. The best possible quasi-synchronous timing of the spreading sequences has to be adjusted with the aid of accurate adaptive timing advance control, which has to be significantly more accurate than that used in the lower-bit-rate second-generation GSM system. Fortunately, the IFW duration may be extended with the advent of multi-carrier DS-CDMA proportionately to the number of subcarriers. Hence the resultant MC DS-CDMA system is capable of exhibiting a near-single-user performance without employing a multi-user detector. A deficiency of the resultant system is that the number of spreading codes exhibiting a certain IFW is limited and so is the IFW duration. This contribution sets out to mitigate the above-mentioned shortcomings so that when the users' delays are in the range of the IFW, we separate them with the aid of the unique, user-specific LAS spreading codes. By contrast, when the users roam at a high distance from the base-station and hence their received signal arrive outside the range of the IFW, we separate them using their unique frequency hopping patterns.