Multiple-access capability of frequency-hopped spread-spectrum revisited: an analysis of the effect of unequal power levels

A method for the evaluation of the probability of error of uncoded asynchronous frequency-hopped spread-spectrum multiple-access communications is presented. For systems with binary FSK modulation this method provides an accurate approximation and a tight upper bound to the bit error probability; for systems with M-ary FSK modulation, it provides tight upper bounds to the symbol error probability. The method enables the computationally efficient averaging of the error probability with respect to the delays, phase angles, and data streams of the different users. It relies on the integration of the product of the characteristic function of the envelope of the branch of the BFSK demodulator, which carries the desired signal, and of the derivative of the characteristic function of the envelope of the other branch. For sufficient frequency separation between the BFSK tones, the method can achieve any desirable accuracy. Moreover, the computational effort required for its evaluation grows linearly with the number of interfering users. In the M-ary case, tight upper bounds based on the union bound and the results of the binary case are derived. The method allows the effect of unequal power levels on other-user interference in FH/SSMA systems to be quantified accurately for the first time. The results indicate that the FH/SSMA systems suffer from the near-far problem, although less seriously than direct-sequence SSMA systems