Performance of a direct-sequence spread-spectrum system with RAKE reception in a multipath fading environment

Abstract

The probability of error is determined for a coherent direct-sequence spread-spectrum system with RAKE reception operating in a specular multipath fading environment. The model that is utilized contains a large number of paths divided into groups across the signalling interval. The RAKE is able to lock onto the direct path (delay 0) and one path from each of a subset of the other groups. Approximations are made to the probability of error using the characteristic function method. The effects of the processing gain of the system and the number of branches in the RAKE receiver on the probability of error are explored. Comparisons are made with the error probability obtained using the standard Gaussian approximation for the interference.<>