Performance analysis of instantaneous frequency-based interference excision techniques in spread spectrum communications

Jammers characterized by their instantaneous frequencies can be effectively mitigated in direct sequence spread spectrum communications by using open-loop adaptive excision filters. The primary requirement for these filters is that they must possess a notch in tune with the jammer instantaneous frequency (IF) to annihilate the interference power at every time sample. The interference time-varying frequency can be obtained using existing IF estimators, including quadratic time-frequency distribution methods. Without focusing on any specific estimator, we develop expressions for the receiver performance using a general class of multiple-zero FIR excision filters and show the dependence of the bit error rate (BER) on the filter order and its group delay. The effect of inaccuracies in the jammer instantaneous frequency information on the receiver performance is considered and evaluated as a function of the filter notch bandwidth. The latter is defined by the filter zero multiplicity, which is shown to be an important factor in the analysis of the correlator signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).