FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS OF SPREAD-SPECTRUM ALGORITHMS FOR SAFETY-CRITICAL DATA COMMUNICATION

Abstract

Contrary to cable-based data-transmission systems, which are currently used in aircraft,wireless systems are open to interference and jamming attacks in wireless transmission medium. In this thesis, the problem of interference in wireless transmission medium is addressed by analyzing Spread-Spectrum (SS) algorithms. SS techniques, Frequency Hopping Spread-Spectrum (FHSS) and Direct Sequence Spread-Spectrum (DSSS) are analysed and simulated with MATLAB/Simulink with the given system requirements. Then FHSS algorithm is implemented on a Software- Defined Radio (SDR) by using Xilinx System Generator. A test bench with the Nutaq Perseus Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) is developed to assess the performance of the SS techniques against jamming attacks. Simulation results show that FHSS has a better Bit-Error-Rate (BER) performance than DSSS against jamming attacks. According to the outcome of test bench, it is concluded that FHSS is an applicable technique to improve the performance of wireless data-communication in terms of safety and reliability.