A new family of optical code sequences for use in spread-spectrum fiber-optic local area networks

The problem of the algebraic construction of a particular family of optical codes for use in code-division multiple-access (CDMA) fiber-optic local area networks (LANs) is treated. The conditions that the code families have to satisfy when used in such systems are reviewed. The new codes are called quadratic congruence codes, and the construction of the corresponding sequences is based on the number-theoretic concept of quadratic congruences. It is shown that p-1 codes exist for every odd prime p and can serve as many as p-1 different users in the CDMA fiber-optic system. The codes belong to the family of optical orthogonal codes, their auto- and cross-correlation properties are established, and their performance is compared to that of the previous optical codes. Examples of the codes and examples of their auto- and cross-correlation functions are given