Selection of spreading sequences for direct-sequence spread-spectrum communications over a doubly selective fading channel

Error probabilities are evaluated for direct-sequence spread-spectrum communications over channels with doubly selective fading. The error probability for such a system depends on the spreading sequence, the autocorrelation function of the fading process, and the receiver signal-to-noise ratio. The focus of this paper is on the effect of the spreading sequence on the performance of differentially coherent detection of binary direct-sequence spread-spectrum signals using a correlator receiver. It is shown that significant performance differences result from different choices of spreading sequence. It is also shown that, given a moderate range of delay and Doppler spreads, sequences can be found which yield low bit error probabilities over the entire range. These are found to be robust with respect to a variety of shapes for the channel autocorrelation function and the full range of signal-to-noise ratios