Hardware Implementation of an Efficient Correlator for Interleaved Complementary Sets of Sequences

Some sensor systems are characterized by multiple simultaneous aperiodic emissions, with low signal-to-noise ratio and asynchronous detection. In these systems, complementary sets of sequences can be used to encode emissions, due to their suitable auto-correlation and cross-correlation properties. The transmission of a complemen- tary set can be accomplished by interleaving the sequences of the set, generating a macro-sequence which is easily transmitted by a BPSK modulation. The detection of the macrosequence can be performed by means of efficient correlation algorithms with a notably decreased computational load and hardware complexity. This work presents a new hardware design in configurable logic of an efficient correlator for macrosequences generated from complementary sets of sequences. A generic implementation has been achieved, so the configuration can be changed according to the requirements of the ap- plication. The developed correlator has been tested in an ultrasonic pulse compression system in which real-time is needed. However, it is applicable in any multi-sensor or communication system where the goal is to make simultaneous emissions from different independent sources, minimizing mutual interference.