A spread-spectrum evaluation testbed

A hybrid approach to spread-spectrum-system evaluation is presented. Hardware is used to generate signals of interest with appropriate signal environments and a very flexible computer simulation system to model the receiver functions. The software package chosen is the Block Oriented Simulation System (BOSS). The benefits of using software simulations mixed with hardware-generated signals are numerous, including realizing the effects of A/D (analog/digital) converters on the digital signal processing chain. External inputs to the system are easily combined by using hardware to accurately simulate the desired signal environment. Actual design time and cost can be reduced because less computer simulation time is required and complex receiver architectures are implemented with BOSS. There is, therefore, a high potential to greatly reduce the research and development time spent on systems analysis. Some of these advantages are demonstrated by an analysis of the performance of a synchronization method for direct sequence systems