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

Concatenated coding is shown to improve the multiple access capability of a frequency hopped spread spectrum multiple access (FH SSMA) packet radio. Closed form expressions for the number of simultaneous users and system throughput are developed. The influence of the concatenated coding parameters on the system performance is evaluated. The multiple access capability of a FH SSMA system with concatenated coding is found to be superior to that of an FH SSMA system with Reed-Solomon codes. An added advantage is that decoders become simpler due to two levels of encoding and decoding performed with concatenated coding.<<ETX>>