Frequency error correction device of a spread-spectrum communication

Abstract

A frequency correction device for a spread-spectrum communication receiver requiring no high-accuracy, high-stable VCO as a local signal oscillator. It includes a quasi-coherent quadrature detector detecting an intermediate frequency signal using a local signal from a fixed frequency local oscillator, a correlation detector producing a despread signal by demodulating the output of the detector, a clock signal generating portion generating a pair of clock signals whose frequency is deviated a little with respect to a clock signal for driving the correlation detector. The pair of clock signals are used to drive two correlation detectors, and the amplitude of the outputs of the correlation detectors are squared, and then subtracted, thereby generating a correlation output error signal. Since the correlation output error signal has one to one correspondence with the frequency difference between the chip frequency of the spread spectrum signal outputted from the quasi-coherent quadrature detector and the frequency of the clock signal, a frequency correction signal can be generated by converting the correlation output error signal into the frequency error. The frequency difference between despread signal and the clock signal, which arises from the difference between the center frequency of a received signal and the local signal, can be corrected by correcting the frequency of the despread signal by the frequency correction signal.