Abstract

A spread spectrum communication system having a correlation receiver for decoding an information signal transmitted on a pseudo-noise (PN) carrier. The receiver synchronizes to the transmitted signal by performing a continuous sequence of correlations until a correlation output exceeding a predetermined threshold level is detected. Thereafter, the receiver performs a plurality of correlations during a sampling interval which is timed to occur at approximately the time when high subsequent correlation output signals are likely to appear. After enhancement through adaptive filter processing, the correlation outputs generated during each sampling interval are accumulated (integrated and the summed output present at the end of the sampling interval is representative of the transmitted data message (a binary bit). The adaptive filter develops and stores weighting values representing the expected signal strength of the correlation outputs and the actual correlation outputs are multiplied by the weighting values. Received signal energy representing atmospheric and specular multipath signal components are detected and channeled to the accumulator along with the main signal component. The accumulator thus realigns the multipath signals with the main signal, resulting in a significant increase in processing gain. An audio version of the system is also disclosed.