Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum Tutorial

DR. KIRAMAT ULLAH, ZAIN UL ABEDIN, MUHAMMAD HASSAN, AHSAN MUKHTAR, MUHAMMAD
USMAN IMTIAZ

ABSTRACT:
This article is about FHSS (Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum) and one method suggested for

Security improvement in it. In this report you can find an in depth information on FHSS from the

basic level to the aim of the project. A detailed explanation is given about the Modulation,

Frequency Hopping, PN-sequence generation, Frequency table w.r.t PN sequence which form

crucial components in generation of the FH-spread signal. And finally demodulation is done and

the obtained waveforms are analyzed. The whole process is simulated in the well-known

simulator MATLAB. Working code is attached with this report. One method is suggested to

improve the security in the FHSS.

Introduction:
DEFINITION:
It is the repeated switching of frequencies during radio transmission, often to minimize
the effectiveness of "electronic warfare" - that is, the unauthorized interception or jamming of
telecommunications.

 Generate a bit pattern.

 The original message modulates the carrier, thus generating a narrow band
signal.
 The frequency of the carrier is periodically modified (hopped) following a specific
spreading code.
 In FHSS systems, the spreading code is a list of frequencies to be used for the
carrier signal.
 The amount of time spent on each hop is known as dwell time.
 Redundancy is achieved in FHSS systems by the possibility to execute re-
transmissions on frequencies (hops) not affected by noise.

FHSS Sender Block Diagram: -

Figure 1:Simplified Diagram for Transmitter for FHSS

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FHSS Receiver Block Diagram:

Figure 2: Simplified diagram for Receiver for FHSS

Implemented Block Diagram of FHSS Transmitter: -

Figure 3:Transmitter of proposed Technique

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Explanation:

The above block diagram is the sender block that is used in FHSS. The improvised block diagram
is given above where all the odd bits use the PN sequence and the even bits use the encrypted
PN-sequence (GRAY CODED) for frequency synthesizing. This makes the jammer harder to find
the PN –sequence because the repetition occurs after several iterations than the un improvised
one.

Realization in MATLAB:

With the help of the block diagram we are able to carry out step by step process. Firstly a bit
sequence is generated, and then follows the modulation of the signal (BPSK). Then PN-sequence
is generated and the even bits are replaced with its gray code and thus now we have an
Improvised PN-sequence. This follows the frequency synthesizing with the help of Improvised
PN-sequence. Thus finally multiply the frequencies with the modulated signal to give out the FH-
spread signal. Using the grid, plot commands we managed to get the plot between frequencies
and PN-sequence.

Uses:

 Important form of encoding for wireless communication.

 Transmit either analog or digital data
 Analog signal (transmission)
 Developed initially for military and intelligence requirements
 Spread data over wider bandwidth
 Makes jamming and interception harder
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MATLAB CODE:
clc

clear all
close all
even=1;
odd=1;

% generate pn sequence
cp=randint(1,20,[1 7]);
%
for k=1:20
if(mod(k,2))

dualcode(1,k)=cp(1,k);
evenbits(1,even)=cp(1,k);

even=even+1;
else
oddbits(1,odd)=cp(1,k);

odd=odd+1;

const= bin2gray(cp(1,k),'psk',16);
dualcode(1,k)=const;
end
end
s=round(rand(1,20));
signal=[];

carrier=[];
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t=[0:2*pi/119:2*pi];
for k=1:20

if s(1,k)==0
sig=-ones(1,120);
else

sig=ones(1,120);
end
c=cos(t);
carrier=[carrier c];

signal=[signal sig];
end
subplot(4,1,1);

plot(signal);
axis([-100 2500 -1.5 1.5]);
title('\bf\it Original Bit Sequence');

bpsk_sig=signal.*carrier;

subplot(4,1,2);
plot(bpsk_sig)
axis([-100 2500 -1.5 1.5]);

title('\bf\it BPSK Modulated Signal');

t0=[0:2*pi/4:2*pi];
t1=[0:2*pi/9:2*pi];
t2=[0:2*pi/19:2*pi];
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t3=[0:2*pi/29:2*pi];
t4=[0:2*pi/39:2*pi];
t5=[0:2*pi/59:2*pi];

t6=[0:2*pi/119:2*pi];

c0=cos(t0);
c0=[c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0 c0
c0 c0 c0 c0];

c1=cos(t1);

c1=[c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1 c1
c1]; c2=cos(t2);

c2=[c2 c2 c2 c2 c2 c2];
c3=cos(t3);
c3=[c3 c3 c3 c3];
c4=cos(t4);

c4=[c4 c4 c4];
c5=cos(t5);
c5=[c5 c5];

c6=cos(t6);
% Random frequency hopps to form a spread signal

spread_signal=[];
for n=1:20
c=dualcode(1,n);
switch(c)
case(1)
 spread_signal=[spread_signal
c0]; case(2)

spread_signal=[spread_signal
c1]; case(3)

spread_signal=[spread_signal
c2]; case(4)

spread_signal=[spread_signal
c3]; case(5)

spread_signal=[spread_signal
c4]; case(6)

spread_signal=[spread_signal
c5]; case(7)
spread_signal=[spread_signal c6];
end
end
subplot(4,1,3)
plot([1:2400],spread_signal);
axis([-100 2500 -1.5 1.5]);

title('\bf\it Spread Signal with 7 frequencies');

% Spreading BPSK Signal into wider band with total of
12 frequencies freq_hopped_sig=bpsk_sig.*spread_signal;
subplot(4,1,4)
%
plot([1:2400],freq_hopped_sig);
axis([-100 2500 -1.5 1.5]);

title('\bf\it Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum Signal');

% Expressing the FFTs

rec=freq_hopped_sig.*spread_signal;
lpf=fdesign.lowpass('n,fc',50,0.0168,119);
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d=design(lpf);
j=filter(d,rec);

figure,plot(j);
figure,subplot(2,1,1)
plot([1:2400],freq_hopped_sig);
axis([-100 2500 -1.5 1.5]);

title('\bf\it Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum signal and its

FFT');
subplot(2,1,2);

plot([1:2400],abs(fft(freq_hopped_sig)));
cc=zeros(size(dualcode));
cc=dualcode;
figure
fit=[];
for k=1:20
sig=(cc(1,k) -
0.5)*ones(1,10); fit=[fit sig] ;
end
plot(fit,'oblack','linewidth',8);
axis([-10 200 0 8]); grid on
hold on
for k=10:20:190
stem(k,9,'--','black')
hold on end

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OUTPUTS:
Bit Sequence:

11
SPREAD SIGNAL WITH SEVEN FREQUENCIES:

FH-SPREAD SIGNAL:

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FFT OF FH-SPREAD SIGNAL:

DEMODULATED WAVE:

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FREQUENCY vs PN-SEQUENCE:

BENEFITS OR ADVANTAGES OF FHSS:

Following are the disadvantages of FHSS:
 It provides very robust transmission path in the presence of interferences
such as multipath, noise and other wireless transmissions etc. due to support
of wide bandwidth.
 It can be employed in point to multipoint applications.
 It supports about ten nearby WLAN compliant APs (Access Points) without
any significant interference issues.
 It provides security against any kind of intrusion as only transmitter and
receiver are aware of PN codes.

DRAWBACKS OR DISADVANTAGES OF FHSS:

Following are the disadvantages of FHSS:
 As FHSS relies on carrier frequencies to transmit information bits, it leads to
strong bursty errors due to frequency selective fading mainly.
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  It supports lower data rate of 3 Mbps compare to 11 Mbps supported by
DSSS.
 It supports lower coverage range due to high SNR requirement at receiver.
 The modulation scheme has become obsolete due to use of emerging
wireless technologies in the wireless products.

RESULT and CONCLUSION:

Thus we have tried hard to reach the aim in getting all the plots as desired
and the results match with the theoretical background. FHSS is
implemented in MATLAB and its fft plot gave us a clear insight on it
regarding the spreading of the signal over the entire spectrum. And the
improvised PN sequence is implemented to improve the security in the
FHSS transmitted signals and is achieved .frequency vs PN-sequence plot
gave a clear picture on how the frequency is allotted for the given PN
sequence.

Glossary

PN Sequence:
(A pseudo noise code (PN code) or pseudo random noise code (PRN
code) is one that has a spectrum similar to a random sequence of bits but
is deterministically generated.)

Gray Code:
a numerical code used in computing in which consecutive integers are
represented by binary numbers differing in only one digit.
Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) is a two phase modulation scheme,
where the 0’s and 1’s in a binary message are represented by two
different phase states in the carrier signal: θ=0∘
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for binary 1 and θ=180∘ for binary 0.

References

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