Simplified matched filter receiver designs for spread spectrum communications applications

The design of receiver architectures for use in direct sequence spread spectrum systems is reviewed. As it is difficult to construct the long matched filters for these systems, the authors propose a programmable receiver architecture which achieves the required high processing gain while, at the same time, simplifying the filter hardware requirements. Results are presented for a prototype receiver, based on digital signal processing (DSP) components, which can be reprogrammed for serial, serial-parallel or fully parallel operation while offering minimal degradation from theoretical performance.