This research examined the theory and application of using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), or discrete multi-tone (DMT), frequency domain equalization (FEQ) with two communications systems that inherently possess unused carrier frequencies, or null-tones, in their respective transmission frequencies. The fundamental DMT-FEQ property relies on null-tones to equalize a non-ideal channel and mitigate the effects of interchannel interference (ICI), intersymbol interference (ISI), and noise. The two communications systems investigated were a Hadamard encoded code division multiple access (CDMA) communications system with up to 32 synchronous users and a transform domain communications system (TDCS) with only one user. Both communications systems were simulated while operating with real channel data corrupted by noise. Simulation results showed that the Hadamard encoded CDMA system worked well with DMT-FEQ only when the Hadamard code set was used to construct a transmission signal that obeyed DMT-FEQ null-tone conditions in conjunction with a vector estimation method. Simulation results also showed that a TDCS using traditional pseudo-random phase component, and traditional spectral mask with consecutive null-tones, did not work well with DMT-FEQ. Modifications to the TDCS model revealed that a TDCS with a conjugate-symmetric phase component in conjunction with a modified spectral mask with consecutive null-tones and forced null-tones provided acceptable results when equalizing with DMT-FEQ. The DMT-FEQ may be suitable for covert applications, such as TDCS, when modifications to TDCS’ phase component and forced null-tones in its spectral mask are made
