CA2250074C - Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver - Google Patents

Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver Download PDF

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Publication number
CA2250074C
CA2250074C CA002250074A CA2250074A CA2250074C CA 2250074 C CA2250074 C CA 2250074C CA 002250074 A CA002250074 A CA 002250074A CA 2250074 A CA2250074 A CA 2250074A CA 2250074 C CA2250074 C CA 2250074C
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Prior art keywords
signals
signal
correlator
digital
inphase
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Expired - Fee Related
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CA002250074A
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French (fr)
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CA2250074A1 (en
Inventor
Anthony Peter Hulbert
David Peter Chandler
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Roke Manor Research Ltd
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Roke Manor Research Ltd
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Priority to GB9502992A priority Critical patent/GB2298110B/en
Priority to CN96180312.6A priority patent/CN1220061A/en
Priority to PCT/GB1996/000747 priority patent/WO1997036381A1/en
Priority to DE19681752T priority patent/DE19681752T1/en
Priority to CA002250074A priority patent/CA2250074C/en
Application filed by Roke Manor Research Ltd filed Critical Roke Manor Research Ltd
Priority to BR9612584-5A priority patent/BR9612584A/en
Priority claimed from PCT/GB1996/000747 external-priority patent/WO1997036381A1/en
Publication of CA2250074A1 publication Critical patent/CA2250074A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA2250074C publication Critical patent/CA2250074C/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04BTRANSMISSION
    • H04B1/00Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
    • H04B1/69Spread spectrum techniques
    • H04B1/707Spread spectrum techniques using direct sequence modulation
    • H04B1/7073Synchronisation aspects
    • H04B1/7085Synchronisation aspects using a code tracking loop, e.g. a delay-locked loop
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04BTRANSMISSION
    • H04B1/00Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
    • H04B1/69Spread spectrum techniques
    • H04B1/707Spread spectrum techniques using direct sequence modulation
    • H04B1/709Correlator structure

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Synchronisation In Digital Transmission Systems (AREA)

Abstract

Inphase and quadrature signals are applied to first, second and third correlators, the first correlator being arranged to generate prompt signals, the second correlator being arranged to generate late signals and the third correlator being arranged to generate early signals. The output from the first correlator is passed to estimation means and signals generated from the estimation means are multiplied with the outputs from the first and second correlators in respect of each channel. The inphase and quadrature channel signals generated from the second and third correlators are added together and the sum of signals are then subtracted to generate a signal for controlling a loop filter and clock generation means controls the analogue to digital converters.

Description

APPARATUS FOR CODE TRACKING IN A
DIRECT SEQUENCE SPREAD SPECTRUM RECEIVER
This relates to receivers for direct sequence spread spectrum and is concerned with code tracking part of the receiving apparatus.
The normal implementation of a code tracking device for spread spectrum consists of a so called early prompt late tracking loop and this involves energy detection of the correlated wave form for a correlation that is performed early, normally half a chip early, and a correlation of energy for a chip that is performed late, normally half a chip late. A
timing discrimination curve is then generated by subtracting the early from the late and this is used to close a feedback loop to adjust the time, such that the prompt occurs at the correct time.
;.
US-A-5 402 450 discloses a method and apparatus for estimating the magnitude and phase of multipath induced error in the position in time of the peak of a composite autocorrelation function by synchronising a reference signal to the timing of a received composite signal is synchronised to a reference signal. Time variations between early and late gate timing points of corrupted and uncorrupted autocorrelation functions are detected by employing scanning correlators.
US-A-5 414 729 discloses a pseudorandom noise ranging receiver which compensates for multipath distortion by making use of multiple correlator time delay spacing. The receiver consists of a sampling circuit, multiple carrier and code synchronising circuits and multiple digital correlators. The sampling circuit provides digital samples of a received composite signal to each of several receiver channel circuits. The synchronising circuits are preferably non-coherent and track any phase shifts in the received signal and adjust the frequency and phase of a locally generated carrier reference signal accordingly.
The correlators provide signals which are fed to a parameter estimator from which the delay and phase parameters of the direct path signal from which a range measurement can be corrected.
US-A-5 347 536 discloses a method of multipath noise reduction for spread spectrum signals in which phase variations among early and prompt lags are detected. Phase and pseudo-range observables are derived from earlier correlation lags and used to generate z multipath-free code cross-correlation shape. Deviations from that shape are used to infer the magnitude of multipath and to generate corrections for pseudo-range observables. Phase variations from early and prompt lags are used to generate corrections for carrier-phase observables.
An aim of the invention is to remove the need to have the early and late correlations taking place at half a chip but specifically, to enable them to be applied at plus or minus one chip. This results in particular difficulties in the normal implementation, in that at plus or minus one chip for a circuit that is operating at the normal timing, the correlation falisv to zero and therefore energy detection of the signals will tend to be very noisy and thus a normal implementation would lead to a discrimination curve that is itself very noisy and would lead to a very jittery timing loop.
The apparatus uses spread spectrum signals, which have been Nyquist filtered and therefore it uses signals, the correlation functions of which still has a good slope on it through the zero points and the basic problems are solved by not performing energy detection on the measurements taken or the correlations taken at these intervals but rather, A~AENDE~ S~~'_'-'~T
coherently compensating them against a phase reference derived from the prompt signal and thereby reducing the effect of the noise and this enabling a discrimination signal to be derived which is of a similar signal to noise ratio as would obtained in the more conventional plus or minus half a chip early/late situation.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver, comprising means for receiving a signal, means for converting the received signal into an inphase and quadrature signal, and analogue to digital converter means for converting the inphase and quadrature signals into digital signals;
characterised in that said apparatus further comprises a first correlator for handling prompt signals, a second correlator for handling late signals, a third correlator for handling early signals, estimation means for obtaining estimates of the output signals from the first correlator, first and second multiplying and adding means for multiplying the estimates with the output signals from the second and third correlators respectively and adding the inphase and quadrature channels together, subtraction means for subtracting the result from said first and second adding means, and control means arranged to receive the output signals from said subtracting means and generate control signals for the analogue to digital converter means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver, comprising means for receiving a signal, converting means for converting the received signal into an inphase and quadrature ~,;~;;:'~~D~J a~L~i -3 a-signal, and analogue to digital converter means for converting the inphase and quadrature signals into digital signals;
characterised in that said apparatus further comprises a first correlator for handling prompt signals, a second correlator for handling late signals, a third correlator for handling early signals, a frequency phase discrimination means for receiving the signals from said first correlator and generating a signal for controlling said converting means in a manner such that a coherent signal is contained on one signal phase channel, subtractor means for subtracting the output signals from said second and third correlators and control means connected to said subtractor means for controlling said analogue to digital converters.
According to a further aspect of the present invention there is ~ "
provided a method of acquiring code synchronisation between a received direct sequence spread spectrum signal and a locally generated reference code which locally generated reference code is representative of a spreading code used to spread the spectrum of said received signal, comprising the steps of:-converting said received signal into inphase and quadrature signals representative of said received signal, analogue to digital converting said inphase and quadrature phase signals into digital representations, in accordance with a selectively controllable sampling rate, correlating said digital inphase and said digital quadrature signals with said reference code in dependence upon a prompt temporal position;
characterised in that said method further comprises the steps of:-~t~J!~-~lf~!'.~.i ,=ur=_~_ -3b-further correlating at least one of said digital inphase and said digital quadrature phase signals with said reference code in dependence upon a late temporal position, further correlating at least one of said digital inphase and said digital quadrature phase signals with said reference code in dependence upon an early temporal position, forming an error signal in accordance with a difference between said early further correlation and said late further correlation, and adjusting said controllable sampling rate in accordance with said error signal.
Various embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein; _ ..
FIGURE 1 shows a typical correlation function for the output of a correlator.
FIGURE 2 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of the invention, and, FIGURE 3 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the invention.
Referring to Figure 1 a typical correlation function for the output of a correlator is shown, indicating the normal nominal positions for the early, late and prompt correlations, we well as the ~' ~-~ a ,:.lr'~.: .

new proposed positions for the early and late positions, the prompt positions obviously being the same.
Referring to Figure 2, signal input generation means 2 shown as an antenna feeds a frequency converter means 4, which generates I and Q signals which feed into a pair of analogue to digital converters G, 8. The output of these feed into three half complex correlators. The correlator comprising units 10, 12, 14, 16 is for the prompt position, thus the I sample signal of the output of the converter 6 is multiplied by the prompt code in the multiplier 10 and is accumulated in the accumulator 14, and similarly for multiplier 12, and accumulator 16 for the Q channel.
The outputs for the prompt signal pass on to other circuitry used as familiar to those in art for demodulation purposes. The outputs are also fed to estimation means 18, 20 which essentially in this embodiment serve as filters to enhance the signal to noise ratio of the measurement of this position.
Similar operations are performed in the late correlator pair, consisting of multiplier 22 and accumulator 26 for the I channel and multiplier 24 and accumulator 2 8 for the Q channel, however the outputs of these are multiplied by the estimates derived from the prompt channel in multipliers 30, 32 and added together in the adder 34.
Similarly, for the early channel similar operations are performed by the multiplier 3 6 and the accumulator 40, the multiplier 3 8 and accumulator 42. The output from the accumulators 40, 42 are also multiplied by the estimates by the multiples 44, 46, the outputs of which are added by the adder 48.

-S-The outputs of the adders 34, 48 are then subtracted in subtracting means S0. It will be appreciated that these operations can be performed in a different order and in fact two multipliers can be saved if the subtractions are performed prior to the multiplications however, this embodiment better explains the principle.
The output of subtractor means 50 is fed to loop filter means 52 and used to control a clock generator 54 for the sampling of the converters 6, 8 in order to advance or retard the timing of the sampling in such a way to cause the prompt signal to coincide with correlation at the peak of the correlation function. It will be appreciated that additional embodiments of this invention are possible, for example, the sampling may initially take place at a higher rate-than one sample per chip and the generation of samples at one sample per chip may be formed through interpolator means and the timings of the samples generated through the interpolator means can be established through setting up the correct interpolator coefficients and the selection of these can also be controlled from the output of the filter means 52. It will also be appreciated that under some circumstances there may be an improvement if the outputs of estimates 18, 20 are so controlled as to normalise them so that they are constant amplitude and that they embody only the phase information of that es timate.
A local code generator 56 controls the multipliers 10, 12, 22, 24, 3 G, S 8 by way of the circuit 3 8 which generates the early/Iate/prompt signal.

A further implementation is shown in Figure 3. Referring to Figure 3 the signal generation means 60 is an antenna. A
frequency converter 62 feeds the I and Qchannels via analogue to digital converters 64, 66. As before, the multiplier 68 and accumulator 72 together form a correlator and similarly the multiplier 70 and the accumulator 74 form a further correlator.
The outputs from the correlators feed into frequency phase discrimination means 76 which. generates a frequency control signal in the manner familiar to those versed in the art which feeds back to the frequency converter 62 to control the phase of the conversion in such a way that the coherent signal is all contained on the I channel. In this way, for the early and the late signals, it becomes unnecessary to correlate on the Q channel and thus, a single multiplier 78 and single accumulator 80 only is provided which generates the early signal, and similarly for the late signal a multiplier 82 and an accumulator 84 only is provided.
The outputs from the accumulators 80, 84 are subtracted in subtraction means 86, which feeds the loop filter 88 for controlling the clock generator means 90.
A local code generator 92 generates early/late/prompt signals by way of the circuit 94 for controlling the multipliers 68, 70, 78, 82.
It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that alternative arrangements fully within the scope of the invention.
For example, connection to the frequency converters may be made via cables.

Claims (10)

1. Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver, comprising means for receiving a signal (2, 4), means for converting the received signal (4) into an inphase and quadrature signal, and analogue to digital converter means (6, 8) for converting the inphase and quadrature signals into digital signals;
characterised in that said apparatus further comprises a first correlator (10, 12, 14, 16) for handling prompt signals, a second correlator (22, 24, 26, 28) for handling late signals, a third correlator (36, 38, 40, 42) for handling early signals, estimation means for obtaining estimates of the output signals from the first correlator (18, 20), first and second multiplying and adding means (30, 32, 34, 44, 46, 48) for multiplying the estimates with the output signals from the second and third correlators (22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 38, 40, 42) respectively and adding the inphase and quadrature channels together, subtraction means (50) for subtracting the result from said first and second adding means (34, 48), and control means (52) arranged to receive the output signals from said subtracting means (36) and generate control signals for the analogue to digital converter means (6, 8).
2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each correlator comprises a multiplier (10, 22, 36) and an accumulator (14, 26, 40) for handling the inphase signals, and a multiplier (12, 24, 38) and accumulator (16, 28, 42) for handling the quadrature signals.
3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the control means (52) comprises a loop filter (52) and clock generator (54).
4. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the multipliers (10, 12, 22, 24, 36, 38) in each correlator are controlled by a code generator (56) and means for generating early/late/prompt signal codes (58).
5. Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver, comprising means for receiving a signal (60, 62), converting means for converting the received signal into an inphase and quadrature signal (62), and analogue to digital converter means (64, 66) for converting the inphase and quadrature signals into digital signals;
characterised in that said apparatus further comprises a first correlator (68, 72, 70, 74) for handling prompt signals, a second correlator (82, 84) for handling late signals, a third correlator (78, 80) for handling early signals, a frequency phase discrimination means (76) for receiving the signals from said first correlator (68, 72, 70, 74) and generating a signal for controlling said converting means (64, 66) in a manner such that a coherent signal is contained on one signal phase channel, subtractor means (86) for subtracting the output signals from said second and third correlators (78, 80, 82, 84) and control means (88) connected to said subtractor means for controlling said analogue to digital converters (64, 66).
6. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the first correlator (68, 72, 70, 74) comprises a multiplier (68, 70) and accumulator (72, 74) for each signal channel.
7. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, wherein the second and third correlators comprise a multiplier (78, 82) and accumulator (80, 84) for each signal channel.
8. Apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding Claims 5 to 7, wherein the control means (88) comprises a loop filter (88) and clock generator (90).
9. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8, wherein the multipliers (78, 68, 70, 82) in each correlator are controlled by a code generator (92) and means for generating early/late/prompt signals (94).
10. A method of acquiring code synchronisation between a received direct sequence spread spectrum signal and a locally generated reference code which locally generated reference code is representative of a spreading code used to spread the spectrum of said received signal, comprising the steps of:
converting said received signal into inphase and quadrature signals representative of said received signal, analogue to digital converting said inphase and quadrature phase signals into digital representations, in accordance with a selectively controllable sampling rate, correlating said digital inphase and said digital quadrature signals with said reference code in dependence upon a prompt temporal position;
characterised in that said method further comprises the steps of:
further correlating at least one of said digital inphase and said digital quadrature phase signals with said reference code in dependence upon a late temporal position, further correlating at least one of said digital inphase and said digital quadrature phase signals with said reference code in dependence upon an early temporal position, forming an error signal in accordance with a difference between said early further correlation and said late further correlation, and adjusting said controllable sampling rate in accordance with said error signal.
CA002250074A 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver Expired - Fee Related CA2250074C (en)

Priority Applications (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9502992A GB2298110B (en) 1995-02-16 1995-02-16 Apparatus for providing code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
PCT/GB1996/000747 WO1997036381A1 (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
DE19681752T DE19681752T1 (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Device for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
CA002250074A CA2250074C (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
CN96180312.6A CN1220061A (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
BR9612584-5A BR9612584A (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for tracking code in a direct sequence diffuse spectrum receiver

Applications Claiming Priority (5)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9502992A GB2298110B (en) 1995-02-16 1995-02-16 Apparatus for providing code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
PCT/GB1996/000747 WO1997036381A1 (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
CA002250074A CA2250074C (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
CN96180312.6A CN1220061A (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in direct sequence spread spectrum receiver
BR9612584-5A BR9612584A (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for tracking code in a direct sequence diffuse spectrum receiver

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2250074A1 CA2250074A1 (en) 1997-10-02
CA2250074C true CA2250074C (en) 2003-02-18

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CA002250074A Expired - Fee Related CA2250074C (en) 1995-02-16 1996-03-28 Apparatus for code tracking in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver

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CN (1) CN1220061A (en)
BR (1) BR9612584A (en)
CA (1) CA2250074C (en)
GB (1) GB2298110B (en)

Families Citing this family (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6590872B1 (en) * 1997-12-12 2003-07-08 Thomson Licensing S.A. Receiver with parallel correlator for acquisition of spread spectrum digital transmission
DE19839018C2 (en) * 1998-08-27 2002-04-04 Infineon Technologies Ag Tracking procedure and arrangement for carrying out the procedure
GB2345421B (en) * 1998-12-23 2004-05-26 Symbionics Limted A direct-sequence spread-sprectrum receiver
DE10251322B4 (en) * 2002-11-04 2006-10-26 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale Early-late correlation to timing error correction in data communication receivers

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Publication number Publication date
CN1220061A (en) 1999-06-16
GB9502992D0 (en) 1995-04-05
GB2298110A (en) 1996-08-21
CA2250074A1 (en) 1997-10-02
BR9612584A (en) 1999-12-28
GB2298110B (en) 1999-06-23

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