An application of the expectation-maximization algorithm to interference rejection for direct-sequence spread-spectrum signals

For a direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS-SS) system we pose and solve the problem of maximum-likelihood (ML) sequence estimation in the presence of n arrowband interference, using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. It is seen that the iterative EM algorithm obtains at each iteration an est imate of the interference which is then subtracted from the data before a n ew sequence estimate is produced. Both uncoded and trellis coded systems ar e studied, and the EM-based algorithm is seen to perform well, outperformin g a receiver that uses an optimized notch filter to remove the intereferenc e, especially for large interference levels.