Performance of frequency-hopped spread spectrum multiple-access packet radio with concatenated codes

Error correction coding for a slow frequency-hopped spread spectrum system using concatenated Reed-Solomon and Bose-Chowdary-Hocquenhem codes is analyzed. The system capacity in terms of the maximum number of simultaneous users is found to be similar to that of a system which uses Reed-Solomon error correction code with symbol erasures. However, the normalized throughput is found to be poorer in the concatenated coding case because of the nonavailability of the high-rate Bose-Chowdary-Hocquenhem codes with sufficient error correction capability. A complexity-performance trade-off is possible using concatenated codes.