On the generation of side information for frequency hopping multiple access in Rice fading

In the framework of wideband wireless local area networks (WWLAN), spread spectrum techniques are a viable solution for uncoordinated multi-user communications. Here, frequency hopping is considered for its less stringent power control requirements with respect to direct sequence. In particular, the generation of side information to allow errors-and-erasures decoding of Reed-Solomon codes in frequency hopping multiple access communications is addressed. Symbols are erased following a Bayesian decision rule (BDR). New expressions are given for the erasure decision function in Rice fading conditions for both synchronous and asynchronous hopping. The performance sensitivity with respect to the Rice factor is studied, and compared to that of the ratio-threshold test (RTT). It is found that while BDR a's more robust than RTT for the synchronous case, the opposite seems to hold in the asynchronous case.