Frequency-hopping spread spectrum

Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of transmitting radio signals by rapidly changing the carrier frequency among many frequencies occupying a large spectral band. The changes are controlled by a code known to both transmitter and receiver. FHSS is used to avoid interference, to prevent eavesdropping, and to enable code-division multiple access (CDMA) communications.

The frequency band is divided into smaller sub-bands. Signals rapidly change ("hop") their carrier frequencies among the center frequencies of these sub-bands in a determined order. Interference at a specific frequency will affect the signal only during a short interval.

FHSS offers four main advantages over a fixed-frequency transmission:

Spread-spectrum signals are highly resistant to deliberate jamming unless the adversary has knowledge of the frequency-hopping pattern. Military radios generate the frequency-hopping pattern under the control of a secret Transmission Security Key (TRANSEC) that the sender and receiver share in advance. This key is generated by devices such as the KY-57 Speech Security Equipment. United States military radios that use frequency hopping include the JTIDS/MIDS family, the HAVE QUICK Aeronautical Mobile communications system, and the SINCGARS Combat Net Radio, Link-16.

In the US, since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amended rules to allow FHSS systems in the unregulated 2.4 GHz band, many consumer devices in that band have employed various FHSS modes. eFCC CFR 47 part 15.247 covers the regulations in the US for 902–928 MHz, 2400–2483.5 MHz, and 5725–5850 MHz bands, and the requirements for frequency hopping.

Some walkie-talkies that employ FHSS technology have been developed for unlicensed use on the 900 MHz band. FHSS technology is also used in many hobby transmitters and receivers used for radio-controlled model cars, airplanes, and drones. A type of multiple access is achieved allowing hundreds of transmitter/receiver pairs to be operated simultaneously on the same band, in contrast to previous FM or AM radio-controlled systems that had limited simultaneous channels.

The overall bandwidth required for frequency hopping is much wider than that required to transmit the same information using only one carrier frequency. But because transmission occurs only on a small portion of this bandwidth at any given time, the instantaneous interference bandwidth is really the same. ^{[citation needed]} While providing no extra protection against wideband thermal noise, the frequency-hopping approach reduces the degradation caused by narrowband interference sources. ^{[citation needed]}

One of the challenges of frequency-hopping systems is to synchronize the transmitter and receiver. One approach is to have a guarantee that the transmitter will use all the channels in a fixed period of time. ^{[citation needed]} The receiver can then find the transmitter by picking a random channel and listening for valid data on that channel. The transmitter's data is identified by a special sequence of data that is unlikely to occur over the segment of data for this channel, and the segment can also have a checksum for integrity checking and further identification. The transmitter and receiver can use fixed tables of frequency-hopping patterns, so that once synchronized they can maintain communication by following the table.