Chaotic communications with correlator receivers: theory and performance limits

This paper provides a review of the principles of chaotic digital communications using correlator receivers. Modulation schemes using one and two chaotic basis functions, as well as coherent and noncoherent correlation receivers, are discussed. The performance of differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) in multipath channels is characterized. Results are presented for DCSK with multiuser capability and multiple bits per symbol

Chaos-Based Communication Systems

The attractive properties of chaos signal that is generated from dynamic systems motivate the researchers to explore the advantage of using this signal type as a carrier in different communication systems. In this chapter, different types of digital chaos–based communication system are discussed; in particular, digital communications where reference signal and its modulated version are transmitted together. This type is called differential coherent systems. Brief surveys on the recently developed systems are presented

The role of synchronization in digital communications using chaos - part III: performance bounds for correlation receivers

For pt. II, see ibid., vol. 45, p. 1129-40 (1998). In a digital communications system, data is transmitted from one location to another by mapping bit sequences to symbols, and symbols to sample functions of analog waveforms. The analog waveform passes through a bandlimited (possibly time-varying) analog channel, where the signal is distorted and noise is added. In a typical conventional system, the analog sample functions sent through the channel are weighted sums of one or more sinusoids, called basis functions; in a chaotic communications system, the sample functions are segments of chaotic waveforms. This three-part paper shows in a tutorial manner how the theory of conventional telecommunications systems can be applied to chaotic modulation schemes. In addition, it discusses the latest results in the field of chaotic communications. In Part III, examples are given of chaotic communications schemes with and without synchronization, and the performance of correlator-based systems is evaluated in the context of noisy, bandlimited channel

Ultra-wideband Spread Spectrum Communications using Software Defined Radio and Surface Acoustic Wave Correlators

Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication technology offers inherent advantages such as the ability to coexist with previously allocated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) frequencies, simple transceiver architecture, and high performance in noisy environments. Spread spectrum techniques offer additional improvements beyond the conventional pulse-based UWB communications. This dissertation implements a multiple-access UWB communication system using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) correlator receiver with orthogonal frequency coding and software defined radio (SDR) base station transmitter. Orthogonal frequency coding (OFC) and pseudorandom noise (PN) coding provide a means for spreading of the UWB data. The use of orthogonal frequency coding (OFC) increases the correlator processing gain (PG) beyond that of code division multiple access (CDMA); providing added code diversity, improved pulse ambiguity, and superior performance in noisy environments. Use of SAW correlators reduces the complexity and power requirements of the receiver architecture by eliminating many of the components needed and reducing the signal processing and timing requirements necessary for digital matched filtering of the complex spreading signal. The OFC receiver correlator code sequence is hard-coded in the device due to the physical SAW implementation. The use of modern SDR forms a dynamic base station architecture which is able to programmatically generate a digitally modulated transmit signal. An embedded Xilinx Zynq ™ system on chip (SoC) technology was used to implement the SDR system; taking advantage of recent advances in digital-to-analog converter (DAC) sampling rates. SDR waveform samples are generated in baseband in-phase and quadrature (I & Q) pairs and upconverted to a 491.52 MHz operational frequency. The development of the OFC SAW correlator ultimately used in the receiver is presented along with a variety of advanced SAW correlator device embodiments. Each SAW correlator device was fabricated on lithium niobate (LiNbO3) with fractional bandwidths in excess of 20%. The SAW correlator device presented for use in system was implemented with a center frequency of 491.52 MHz; matching SDR transmit frequency. Parasitic electromagnetic feedthrough becomes problematic in the packaged SAW correlator after packaging and fixturing due to the wide bandwidths and high operational frequency. The techniques for reduction of parasitic feedthrough are discussed with before and after results showing approximately 10:1 improvement. Correlation and demodulation results are presented using the SAW correlator receiver under operation in an UWB communication system. Bipolar phase shift keying (BPSK) techniques demonstrate OFC modulation and demodulation for a test binary bit sequence. Matched OFC code reception is compared to a mismatched, or cross-correlated, sequence after correlation and demodulation. Finally, the signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR) performance results for the SAW correlator under corruption of a wideband noise source are presented

FPGA implementation of LDPC soft-decision decoders based DCSK for spread spectrum applications

Spread spectrum (SS) communications have attracted interest because of their channel attenuation immunity and low intercept potential. Apart from some extra features such as basic transceiver structures, chaotic communication would be the analog alternative to digital SS systems. Differential chaos shift keying (DCSK) systems, non-periodic and random characteristics among chaos carriers as well as their interaction with soft data are designed based on low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes in this brief. Because of simple structure, and glorious ability to correct errors. Using the Xilinx kintex7 FPGA development kit, we investigate the hardware performance and resource requirement tendencies of the DCSK communication system based on LDPC decoding algorithms (Prob. Domain, Log Domain and Min-Sum) over AWGN channel. The results indicate that the proposed system model has substantial improvements in the performance of the bit error rate (BER) and the real-time process. The Min-Sum decoder has relatively fewer FPGA resources than the other decoders. The implemented system will achieve 10-4 BER efficiency with 5 dB associate Eb/No as a coding gain

The role of synchronization in digital communications using chaos - part I: fundamentals of digital communications.

In a digital communications system, data is transmitted from one location to another by mapping bit sequences to symbols, and symbols to sample functions of analog waveforms. The analog waveform passes through a bandlimited (possibly time-varying) analog channel, where the signal is distorted and noise is added. In a conventional system the analog sample functions sent through the channel are weighted sums of one or more sinusoids; in a chaotic communications system, the sample functions are segments of chaotic waveforms. At the receiver, the symbol may be recovered by means of coherent detection, where all possible sample functions are known, or by noncoherent detection, where one or more characteristics of the sample functions are estimated. In a coherent receiver, synchronization is the most commonly used technique for recovering the sample functions from the received waveform. These sample functions are then used as reference signals for a correlator. Synchronization-based receivers have advantages over noncoherent ones in terms of noise performance and bandwidth efficiency. These advantages are lost if synchronization cannot be maintained, for example, under poor propagation conditions. In these circumstances, communication without synchronization may be preferable. The main aim of this paper is to provide a unified approach for the analysis and comparison of conventional and chaotic communications systems. In Part I, the operation of sinusoidal communications techniques is surveyed in order to clarify the role of synchronization and to classify possible demodulation methods for chaotic communication

Techniques in secure chaos communication

In today's climate of increased criminal attacks on the privacy of personal or confidential data over digital communication systems, a more secure physical communication link is required. Chaotic signals which have bifurcation behavior (depending on some initial condition) can readily be exploited to enhance the security of communication systems. A chaotic generator produces disordered sequences that provide very good auto- and cross- correlation properties similar to those of random white noise. This would be an important feature in multiple access environments. These sequences are used to scramble data in spread spectrum systems as they can produce low co-channel interference, hence improve the system capacity and performance. The chaotic signal can be created from only a single mathematical relationship and is neither restricted in length nor is repetitive/ cyclic. On the other hand, with the progress in digital signal processing and digital hardware, there has been an increased interest in using adaptive algorithms to improve the performance of digital systems. Adaptive algorithms provide the system with the ability to self-adjust its coefficients according to the signal condition, and can be used with linear or non-linear systems; hence, they might find application in chaos communication. There has been a lot of literature that proposed the use of LMS adaptive algorithm in the communication arena for a variety of applications such as (but not limited to): channel estimation, channel equalization, demodulation, de-noising, and beamforming. In this thesis, we conducted a study on the application of chaos theory in communication systems as well as the application of adaptive algorithms in chaos communication. The First Part of the thesis tackled the application of chaos theory in com- munication. We examined different types of communication techniques utilizing chaos theory. In particular, we considered chaos shift keying (CSK) and mod- ified kind of logistic map. Then, we applied space-time processing and eigen- beamforming technique to enhance the performance of chaos communication. Following on, we conducted a study on CSK and Chaos-CDMA in conjunction with multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as OFDM (FFT/ IFFT) and wavelet-OFDM. In the Second Part of the thesis, we tried to apply adaptivity to chaos com- munication. Initially, we presented a study of multi-user detection utilizing an adaptive algorithm in a chaotic CDMA multi-user environment, followed by a study of adaptive beamforming and modified weight-vector adaptive beam- forming over CSK communication. At last, a study of modified time-varying adaptive filtering is presented and a conventional adaptive filtering technique is applied in chaotic signal environment. Twelve papers have been published during the PhD candidature, include two journal papers and ten refereed conference papers

Analysis and improvement of GNSS navigation message demodulation performance in urban environments

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are increasingly present in our everyday life. Further operational needs are emerging, mainly in urban environments. In these obstructed environments, the signal emitted by the satellite is severely degraded due to the many obstacles. Consequently, the data demodulation and the user position calculation are difficult. GNSS signals being initially designed in an open environment context, their demodulation performance is thus generally studied in the associated AWGN propagation channel model. But nowadays, GNSS signals are also used in degraded environments. It is thus essential to provide and study their demodulation performance in urban propagation channel models. It is in this context that this PhD thesis is related, the final goal being to improve GNSS signals demodulation performance in urban areas, proposing a new signal. In order to be able to provide and study GNSS signals demodulation performance in urban environments, a simulation tool has been developed in this PhD thesis context: SiGMeP for ‘Simulator for GNSS Message Performance'. It allows simulating the entire emission/reception GNSS signal chain in urban environment. Existing and modernized signals demodulation performance has thus been computed with SiGMeP in urban environments. In order to represent this demodulation performance faithfully to reality, a new methodology adapted to urban channels is proposed in this dissertation. Then, to improve GNSS signals demodulation performance in urban environments, the research axis of this thesis has focused on the ‘Channel Coding' aspect. In order to decode the transmitted useful information, the receiver computes a detection function at the decoder input. But the detection function used in classic receivers corresponds to an AWGN propagation channel. This dissertation thus proposes an advanced detection function which is adapting to the propagation channel where the user is moving. This advanced detection function computation considerably improves demodulation performance, just in modifying the receiver part of the system. Finally, in order to design a new signal with better demodulation performance in urban environments than one of existing and future signals, a new LDPC channel code has been optimized for a CSK modulation. Indeed, the CSK modulation is a promising modulation in the spread spectrum signals world, which permits to free from limitation sin terms of data rate implied by current GNSS signals modulations