mlseq

Pseudorandom binary maximum length sequences

Since R2024a

Syntax

S = mlseq(N)

S = mlseq(N,k)

S = mlseq(N,k,IS)

[S,C] = mlseq(___)

Description

S = mlseq(N) generates a pseudorandom, binary and antipodal, maximum-length sequence (MLS) S of length-N (also called an m-sequence). The sidelobe levels of the periodic autocorrelation function (PACF) of an MLS are constant and equal to -1.

S = mlseq(N,k) also specifies which primitive polynomials k in a Galois field GF(2ⁿ) to use. For each allowable sequence length N, the total number T of primitive polynomials in GF(2ⁿ) is given in the table Polynomial indices.

S = mlseq(N,k,IS) also specifies the initial state of the recursion IS.

[S,C] = mlseq(___) also returns the coefficients C of the primitive polynomials in GF(2ⁿ) used to generate the sequences S.

Examples

Generate Length-63 MLS Sequence

Generate a length-63 maximum length sequence (MLS). Plot one period of the periodic autocorrelation function (PACF) to show that the PACF of an MLS has a constant sidelobe level of -1.

N = 63;
S = mlseq(N);

Compute one period of the PACF.

pacf = xcorr(S,[S;S;S],2*N);
pacf = pacf(1:2*N+1);
lag = -N:N;

Plot the periodic autocorrelation function,

plot(lag,pacf)
grid on
xlabel('Lag')
ylabel('PACF')
title({'Periodic Autocorrelation Function', ...
    sprintf('of Maximum Length Sequence (N=%d)',N)});
hold on
plot([-N N],[-1 -1],'r')
legend('PACF','-1 level')
hold off

Create Two MLS Code Waveforms

Generate two phase-coded waveforms based on m-sequences of length N = 127. Show their ambiguity and crossambiguity functions. The chip width is $1\mu \sec$ and the modulation period is N times the chip width.

N = 127;
S = mlseq(N,[1 2]);

Set the chip width (tau) and the modulation period (T).

tau = 1e-6; 
T = tau*N;

Create a custom phase coded waveform object. Set the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) equal to the inverse of the modulation period and set the sampling rate to 10 times the inverse chip width. Initialize the waveform with the first code.

fs = 10/tau;    % Sample rate
pmwaveform = phased.PhaseCodedWaveform('SampleRate',fs,'Code','Custom',...
    'CustomCode',S(:,1),'ChipWidth',tau,'PRF',1/T);

Generate samples of the first waveform.

x1 = pmwaveform();

Generate samples of the second waveform.

release(pmwaveform);
pmwaveform.CustomCode = S(:,2);
x2 = pmwaveform();

Plot the ambiguity and cross-ambiguity functions.

tiledlayout(3, 1)

nexttile
ambgfun(x1,fs,1/T,'Cut','Doppler');
title('Ambiguity Function of the First Waveform')

nexttile
ambgfun(x2,fs,1/T,'Cut','Doppler');
title('Ambiguity Function of the Second Waveform')

nexttile
ambgfun(x1,x2,fs,[1 1]/T,'Cut','Doppler');
title('Cross Ambiguity Function')

Input Arguments

N — Sequence length

positive integer (default)

Sequence length, specified as a positive integer. N must be an integer such that N=2ⁿ-1, where n is a positive integer. Allowable values for N are [7 15 31 63 127 255 511 1023 2047 4095 8191].

Example: 1023

Data Types: double

k — Polynomial indices

positive integer (default) | length-M vector of positive integers

Polynomial indices, specified as a positive integer or length-M vector of positive integers specifying the indices of primitive polynomials in GF(2ⁿ). Polynomial indices range from 1 to T where T is given in this table as a function of sequence length N or sequence index n.

Polynomial indices

N	7	15	31	63	127	255	511	2023	2047	4095	8191
n	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
T	2	2	6	6	18	16	48	60	176	144	630

Data Types: double

IS — Initial state of sequences

1 | scalar | length-M vector of positive integers

Initial state of sequences, specified as a scalar or a length-M vector of positive integers from 1 to N. If both k and IS are specified as vectors they must have the same length.

Output Arguments

S — Maximum-length sequence

length-N column vector

Maximum-length sequence, returned as a length-N column vector. The returned sequence is antipodal. Sequence elements can only take values of 1 and -1. If the input argument k is a scalar, the output S is a length-N column vector. If k is a length-M vector, the output S is an Nby-M matrix with columns corresponding to different sequences indexed by k.

C — Primitive polynomial coefficients

real-valued length-n+1 column vector | real-valued (n+1)-by-M matrix

Primitive polynomial coefficients, returned as a real-valued length-n+1 column vector or real-valued (n+1)-by-M matrix. The rows of C correspond to the terms of the polynomials in the order of ascending power. If k is specified as a vector, the columns of C correspond to the different polynomials indexed by k.

The function assigns an index of 1 to the polynomial whose coefficients C, when viewed as a sequence of bits (with the LSB corresponding to the power of 0), form the smallest integer. The index of T is assigned to the polynomial whose coefficients form the largest integer.

• If the input k is a scalar, the output S is a column vector of length N.

• If k is a length-M vector, the output argument S is an N-by-M matrix with columns corresponding to the different sequences indexed by k.

Algorithms

An MLS can be generated using a linear-feedback shift register. The taps of the register are set according to the non-zero coefficients of a primitive polynomial over Galois field GF(2ⁿ). A primitive polynomial in GF(2ⁿ) has a form

$$m(x)=x^n+c_n{x}^{n-1}+c_{n-1}{x}^{n-2}+\mathrm{...}+c_1$$

where c_i is a length-n vector of coefficients. The entries of c_i can either be 0 or 1 and can be interpreted as an integer in a binary form (MSB corresponds to the power of n-1). An MLS can then be generated using the recursion relation:

$$s_i=\mathrm{mod}(-c_n{s}_{i-1}-c_{n-1}{s}_{i-2}-\mathrm{...}-c_1{s}_{i-n},2)$$

The first n elements of the sequence

$$(s_1,s_2,\mathrm{...},s_n)$$

can be supplied as an initial condition in order to initiate the recursion. Choosing different initial conditions will result in different final sequences that are cyclic shifts of each other. There are total N=2ⁿ-1 possible initial conditions. The initial conditions can be represented as binary integers from 1 to N with the LSB corresponding to s₁. The final step in generating the sequence to replacing the "0" entries with "-1". For a given n there can be multiple primitive polynomials in GF(2ⁿ) resulting in different sequences. By default, the function returns a sequence having the lowest autocorrelation sidelobes.

References

[1] Levanon, N. and E. Mozeson. Radar Signals. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004.

[2] Haderer, Heinz, Reinhard Feger, and Andreas Stelzer. "A comparison of phase-coded CW radar modulation schemes for integrated radar sensors" in 2014 44th European Microwave Conference, pp. 1896-1899. IEEE, 2014.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation
Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Version History

Introduced in R2024a