Digital downconverter/despreader for direct sequence spread spectrum communications system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising:
- a free-running, non-steered, clock generator which outputs an A/D sample clock;
the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal;
an A/D converter which receives the spread spectrum signal and the A/D sample clock and outputs a digitized signal from the spread spectrum signal;
a local pseudo-noise sequence signal generator which outputs a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; and
a complex downconverter/polyphase filter which receives the digitized signal and the A/D sample clock and a sample timing phase control signal, simultaneously filters and downconverts the digitized signal to baseband, corrects timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputs a complex corrected baseband signal.
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Abstract
A digital despreader and downconversion technique useful for spread spectrum communications receivers digitally tracks a timing phase of a PN sequence without the need for steering an external hardware clock. An additional benefit of the technique is the use of a receive filter matched to the bandlimited transmit chip sequence prior to despreading which reduces the amount of noise present after despreading. A narrowband filter also permits the use of a single A/D converter in the receiver, IF sampling at a relatively low sample rate compared to other techniques. A method for reducing a total number of computations required thereby facilitating implementation in a single custom digital integrated circuit is also described.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An apparatus for digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising:
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a free-running, non-steered, clock generator which outputs an A/D sample clock; the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal; an A/D converter which receives the spread spectrum signal and the A/D sample clock and outputs a digitized signal from the spread spectrum signal; a local pseudo-noise sequence signal generator which outputs a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; and a complex downconverter/polyphase filter which receives the digitized signal and the A/D sample clock and a sample timing phase control signal, simultaneously filters and downconverts the digitized signal to baseband, corrects timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputs a complex corrected baseband signal. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. An apparatus for digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising:
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a free-running, non-steered, clock generator which outputs an A/D sample clock; the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal; an A/D converter which receives the spread spectrum signal and the A/D sample clock and outputs a digitized signal from the spread spectrum signal; a local pseudo-noise sequence signal generator which outputs a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; a complex downconverter/polyphase filter which receives the digitized signal and the A/D sample clock and a sample timing phase control signal, simultaneously filters and downconverts the digitized signal to baseband, corrects timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputs a complex corrected baseband signal; wherein an impulse response of the downconverter/polyphase filter is matched to a pulse shape of the spread spectrum signal; a demultiplexer which receives the complex corrected baseband signal from the complex downconverter/polyphase filter and separates the complex corrected baseband signal into a complex punctual signal and a complex early/late signal and outputs the complex punctual and early/late signals; wherein the complex punctual signal consists of samples of the complex corrected baseband signal detected at chip detection points; and the complex early/late signal consists of samples of the corrected signal detected at chip transition points; an early channel processor which receives the complex early/late signal, despreads and accumulates the complex early/late signal using the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputs a complex early timing error signal; a punctual channel processor which receives the complex punctual signal, delays the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreads and accumulates the punctual signal using the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputs a complex data symbol; a late channel processor which receives the complex early/late signal, further delays the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, relative to the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreads and accumulates the early/late signal using the further delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputs a complex late timing error signal; and a digital signal processor which receives the complex early timing error signal, the complex data symbol and the complex late timing error signal and performs coherent carrier frequency and phase tracking and MPSK demodulation on a complex data symbol and which outputs a demodulated data bit, sample timing phase control signal and filter coefficient values. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising the steps of:
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generating a free-running, non-steered, A/D sample clock;
the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal;converting the spread spectrum signal into a digitized signal using the A/D sample clock and outputting a digitized signal; generating a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; and simultaneously downconverting to baseband and filtering the digitized signal with a polyphase filter, correcting timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex corrected baseband signal. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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11. A method of digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising the steps of:
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generating a free-running, non-steered, A/D sample clock; the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal; converting the spread spectrum signal into a digitized signal using the A/D sample clock and outputting a digitized signal; generating a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; simultaneously downconverting to baseband and filtering the digitized signal with a polyphase filter, correcting timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generate pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex corrected baseband signal; separating the complex corrected baseband signal into a complex punctual signal and a complex early/late signal; outputting the complex punctual and early/late signals; the complex punctual signal consisting of samples of the complex corrected baseband signal detected at chip detection points; and the complex early/late signal consisting of samples of the complex corrected baseband signal detected at chip transition points; despreading and accumulating the complex early/late signal using the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex early timing error signal; delaying the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreading and accumulating the complex punctual signal using the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputting a complex data symbol; further delaying the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, relative to the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreading and accumulating the complex early/late signal using the further delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex late timing error signal; and performing coherent carrier frequency and phase tracking and MPSK demodulation on said complex data symbol and outputting a demodulated data bit, sample timing phase control signal and filter coefficient values. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. An apparatus for digitally downconverting and despreading an analog direct sequence spread spectrum signal, comprising:
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a clock generating means for generating and outputting a free-running, non-steered, A/D sample clock; the A/D sample clock having a rate which is an integral multiple of a chip rate of the spread spectrum signal; an A/D converting means for receiving the spread spectrum signal and the A/D sample clock and outputting a digitized signal from the spread spectrum signal; a local pseudo-noise sequence signal generating means for generating and outputting a local pseudo-noise sequence signal; a complex downconverter/polyphase filtering means for receiving the digitized signal and the A/D sample clock and a sample timing phase control signal, simultaneously filtering and downconverting the digitized signal to baseband, correcting timing phase misalignment between the digitized signal and the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputting a complex corrected baseband signal; wherein an impulse response of the downconverter/polyphase filter is matched to a pulse shape of the spread spectrum signal; a demultiplexing means for receiving the complex corrected baseband signal from the complex downconverter/polyphase filter and separating the complex corrected baseband signal into a complex punctual signal and a complex early/late signal and outputting the complex punctual and early/late signals; wherein the complex punctual signal consists of samples of the complex corrected baseband signal detected at chip detection points; and the complex early/late signal consists of samples of the complex corrected baseband signal detected at chip transition points; an early channel processing means for receiving the complex early/late signal, despreading and accumulating the complex early/late signal using the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex early timing error signal; a punctual channel processing means for receiving the complex punctual signal, delaying the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreading and accumulating the complex punctual signal using the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, and outputting a complex data symbol; a late channel processing means for receiving the complex early/late signal, further delaying the locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, relative to the delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal, despreading and accumulating the complex early/late signal using the further delayed locally generated pseudo-noise sequence signal and outputting a complex late timing error signal; and a digital signal processing means for receiving the complex early timing error signal, the complex data symbol and the complex late timing error signal and performing coherent carrier frequency and phase tracking and MPSK demodulation on a complex data symbol and outputting a demodulated data bit, sample timing phase control signal and filter coefficient values.
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Specification