Shifted carrier-hopping prime codes for multicode keying in wavelength-time O-CDMA

In this paper, we study the use of shifted carrier-hopping prime codes (CHPC) for multicode keying in wavelength-time optical code-division multiple-access (O-CDMA) systems. By using the code\´s good properties of zero autocorrelation sidelobes and cross-correlation functions of at most one, each user is assigned M=2^m shifted copies of its own code matrix to represent m data bits per symbol with minimal interference. The advantages of our scheme are that: 1) a lower baud rate O-CDMA system can now support a higher bit rate; 2) no network synchronization is required; 3) no M-fold increase in code cardinality is needed, as compared with standard M-code keying; 4) the numbers of optical encoders and decoders can be reduced from M to one per user, a major hardware cost savings; and 5) user code confidentiality is enhanced, as compared with the transmission of one code matrix for each data-bit one in conventional "on-off keying" O-CDMA schemes. Finally, our performance analysis shows that there is a tradeoff between the error probability and the choice of M.