Tracking of Fast Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum Signals

In this paper tracking of the fast frequency hopping spread spectrum signals is analised. It is shown that the traditional "early-late" (EL) loop cannot be used in the systems in which the hopping rate becomes comparable to the information rate without the system processing gain degradation. Two modifications of this loope are proposed. The first is the delay compensated EL loop (DCEL) which can be used at moderate hopping rates; the second is the early-late loop with two branches (TBEL) suitable for any hopping rate.