We consider a communication channel corrupted by thermal noise and by an unknown and arbitrary interference of bounded energy. For this channel, we derive a simple upper bound to the worst-case error probability suffered by a direct sequence (DS) communication system with error-correction coding, pseudorandom interleaving, and a correlation receiver. This bound is exponentially tight as the block length of the error correcting code becomes large. Numerical examples are given that illustrate the dependence of the bound on the choice of error correcting code, the type of interleaving used, and the relative energy of the Gaussian noise and arbitrary interference.

A determinate state convolutional code is formed from a conventional convolutional code by pruning away some of the possible state transitions in the decoding trellis. This staged power transfer proves to be an extremely efficient way of enhancing the performance of a concatenated coding system. The authors analyze the decoding complexity and free distances of these new codes, determine some important statistical properties of the decoder output, and provide simulation results for performance at the low signal-to-noise ratios where a real communications system would operate. Several concise, practical examples are presented.>

Communication over a waveform channel corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise, and by an unknown and arbitrary interfering signal of bounded power is considered. For this channel, the authors derive an upper bound to the worst case error probability of direct-sequence spread spectrum communication with a correlation receiver, and also a lower bound applicable to any binary signaling technique and any receiver. By comparing these two bounds, it is shown that, if a small error probability is required, then no other binary signaling scheme or receiver can substantially improve upon the performance of direct-sequence with a correlation receiver for the same power and bandwidth.>

Coherent communication over a waveform channel corrupted by thermal noise and by an unknown and arbitrary interfering signal of bounded power is considered. For a fixed encoder, a random modulator/demodulator (modem) and detector are derived. They asymptotically minimize the worst-case error probability as the blocklength of the encoder becomes large. This optimal modem is independent of the encoder, and the optimal detector is the standard correlation receiver. A simple upper bound to the performance of any encoder when used with the optimal modem and detector is presented. These results provide a benchmark with which the performance of spread-spectrum modems and robust detection rules can be compared.>