Performance of ultrawideband SSMA using time hopping and M-ary PPM

Wireless spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) using time hopping and block waveform encoded (M-ary) pulse position modulated (PPM) signals is analyzed. For different M-ary PPM signal designs, the multiple-access performance in free-space propagation conditions is analyzed in terms of the number of users supported by the system for a given bit error rate, signal-to-noise ratio, bit transmission rate, and number of signals in the M-ary set. Processing gain and number of simultaneous users are described in terms of system parameters. Tradeoffs between performance and receiver complexity are discussed. Upper bounds on both the maximum number of users and the total combined bit transmission rate are investigated. This analysis is applied to ultrawideband impulse radio modulation. In this modulation, the communications waveforms are practically realized using subnanosecond impulse technology. A numerical example is given that shows that impulse radio modulation is theoretically able to provide multiple-access communications with a combined transmission capacity of hundreds of megabits per second at bit error rates in the range 10(-4) to 10(-7) using receivers of moderate complexity.