Frequency-Hopping

Spread Spectrum
Presented By:
Eng.Hossam M. Al-Saket
 Outline
• Introduction.
• What is Frequency-Hopping?
• Frequency-Hopping Notes.
• Frequency-Hopping Types.
• System Block Diagram.
• Frequency-Hopping Properties.
• Conclusion.
 Introduction
• Spread spectrum is a means of transmission in which the signal
occupies a bandwidth in excess of the minimum necessary to send
the information.

• Advantages:
 Anti-jamming.
 Anti-interference.
 Low probability of intercept.
 Multiple user random access communications with selective.
 addressing capability.
 High resolution ranging.
 Accurate universal timing.

• One of Spread spectrum types is FREQUENCY HOPPING.

 Frequency-Hopping Definition
• It causes the carrier to hop from frequency to frequency
over a wide band according to a sequence defined by
the PRN.

Dwell Time
Hop Time

Figure 1. Frequency-Hopping.
Frequency-Hopping Pattern
 Frequency-Hopping Notes

• The transmitter and receiver are synchronized to the

same hop sequence.

• It can be used to increase the security of the

transmission and also overcome jamming and signal
fading problems.

• The speed at which the hops are executed depends on

the data rate of the original information.
 Frequency-Hopping Notes
• The bandwidth of a frequency-hopping signal is simply N
times the number of frequency slots available, where N
is the bandwidth of each hop channel.
• The FHSS output is flat over the band of frequencies
used (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Spectrum-analyzer photo of a FHSS signal.

The Effects Of Frequency Hopping
 Frequency-Hopping Types
1- Fast Frequency-Hopping (FFHSS) :
- it is characterized by several hops within each data bit.
• Symbol diversity.
• Very resistant to jamming and interference, often used in
military systems.
• Use non coherent signal detection .
• Usually BFSK or MFSK modulation .
 Frequency-Hopping Types
2 - Slow Frequency-Hopping (SFHSS) :
• Several data symbols on each hop frequency
• Code word diversity with interleaving
• Employ burst error control coding to restore loss of
multiple bits in one hop. (ARQ)
• Less complex
• Coherent data detection is possible.
 SFHSS and FFHSS

• Frequency shifted (hop) every Th seconds

• Duration of signal element is Ts seconds
• Slow FHSS has Th  Ts
• Fast FHSS has Th < Ts
Frequency-Hopping System Transmitter
Frequency-Hopping System Receiver
Slow Frequency Hopping ,MFSK (M=4, k=2)

𝑊𝑑 = 2𝐿 / LT =2𝐿 /𝑇𝑠
𝑊𝑠 = 2𝑘 𝑊𝑑
Fast Frequency Hopping ,MFSK (M=4, k=2)

𝑊𝑑 = 2𝐿 / 𝑇𝑐 =K 2𝐿 /𝐿𝑇
𝑊𝑠 = 2𝑘 𝑊𝑑
 Frequency-Hopping Properties
• 1. Power
• FH reduce the average power spectral density of a
signal.
• FH signal appears to be a narrow band signal with high
spectral density.
• FH systems use FSK, and FSK is less power efficient
and SNR.
• 2. Interference
• Narrowband interference will have severe impact on FH.
• the portion of signal lost may be recovered by spreading
the data energy out in time though forward error coding,
but only if the FEC spans more than one hop time.
 Frequency-Hopping Properties
• 3. Synchronization and Timing
• Difficult to synchronize the receiver to the transmitter because both
the time and frequency need to be in tune.
• The system search procedure allows the mobile station to sit on any
frequency and wait for a signal or beacon. If this is a bad frequency,
it may have to move to another and sit and wait. The system has
many channels to search and it is not feasible to perform the search
in parallel.

• 4. Multipath Effects
• In frequency domain, FHSS operates with narrow band signals
located around different carrier frequencies. If at a specific moment,
the FHSS system is using a carrier frequency significantly faded as
a result of multipath, the FHSS receiver could not get enough
energy to detect the signal.
 Conclusion
• FHSS provides only 3 Mbps capacity links, but it is a
very robust technology, with excellent behavior in harsh
environment characterized by large areas of coverage,
multiple collocated cells, noises, multipath, Bluetoooth
presence, etc. The technology allows easy cellular poin-
to-multipoint deployment, providing excellent reliability.
 References
• Maxim-ic ,”An Introduction to Spread-Spectrum
Communications”, feb. 2003.
• William Stallings, “Data and Computer
Communications”,7th Edition.
• SorinM.SCHWARTZ , “Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum (FHSS)
• vs. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) in
Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and Wireless
LAN (WLAN)”.
• PICKHOLTZ, SCHILLING, MILSTEIN,“Theory of
Spread-Spectrum Communications-A Tutorial”, IEEE
TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOLCOM-
30, No.5, MAY 1982.