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Cellular Telephone Basics: IX. Code Division Multiple Access: IS-95 Archives

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About Private Line Private Line covers what has occurred, is occurring, and will ocurr in telecommunications. Since communication technology constantly changes , you can expect new content posted regularly. C onsider this site an authoritative resource . Its moderators have successful careers in the telecommunications industry. Utilize the content and send comments. As a site about communicating, conversation is encouraged. Writers Thomas Farely Tom has produced privateline.com since 1995. He is now a freelance technology writer who contributes regularly to the site. His knowledge of telecommunications has served, most notably, the American Heritage Invention and Technology Magazine and The History C hannel. His interview on Alexander Graham Bell will air on the History C hannel the end of 2006. Ken Schmidt Ken is a licensed attorney who has worked in the tower industry for seven years. He has managed the development of broadcast towers nationwide and developed and built cell towers. He has been quoted in newspapers and magazines on issues regarding cell towers and has spoke at industry and non-industry conferences on cell tower related issues. He is recognized as an expert on cell tower leases and due diligence processes for tower acquisitions.

Cellular Telephone Basics

JANUARY 01, 2006

Code Division Multiple Access: IS-95

Code Division Multiple Access has many variants as well. InterDigital (external link), for example, produces a broadband CDMA system called B-CDMA that is different from Qualcomm's (external link) narrowband CDMA system. In the coming years wideband may dominate. But narrowband CDMA right now is dominant in the United States, used with the operating system IS-95. I should repeat here what I wrote at the start of this article. I know some of this is advanced and sounds like gibberish, but bear with me or skip ahead two paragraphs: Systems built on time division multiplexing will gradually be replaced with other access technologies. CDMA is the future of digital cellular radio. Time division systems are now being regarded as legacy technologies, older methods that must be accommodated in the future, but ones which are not the future itself. (Time division duplexing, as used in cordless telephone schemes: DECT and Personal Handy Phone systems might have a place but this still isn't clear.) Right now all digital cellular radio systems are second generation, prioritizing on voice traffic, circuit switching, and slow data transfer speeds. 3G, while still delivering voice, will emphasize data, packet switching, and high speed access. Over the years, in stages hard to follow, often with 2G and 3G techniques co-existing, TDMA based GSM and AT&T's IS-136 cellular service will be replaced with a wideband CDMA system, the much hoped for Universal Mobile Telephone System (external link). Strangely, IS-136 will first be replaced by GSM before going to UMTS. Technologies like EDGE and GPRS(Nokia white paper) will extend the life of these present TDMA systems but eventually new infrastructure and new spectrum will allow CDMA/UMTS development. The present CDMA system, IS-95, which Qualcomm supports and the Sprint PCS network uses, is narrowband CDMA. In the Ericsson/Qualcomm view of the future, IS-95 will also go to wideband CDMA. Excellent writing on this transition period from 2G to 3G and beyond is in this printable .pdf file, a chapter from The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications by Andy Dornan. Many good charts. (454K, 21 pages in .pdf) Ordering information for the above title is here (external link to Amazon.com) Whew! Where we were we? Back to code division multiple access. A CDMA system assigns a specific digital code to each user or mobile on the system. It then encodes each bit of information transmitted from each user. These codes are so specific that dozens of users can transmit simultaneously on the same frequency without interference to each other, indeed, there is no need for adjacent cell sites to use different frequencies as in AMPS and TDMA. Every cell site can transmit on every frequency available to the wireline or non-wireline carrier. CDMA is less prone to interference than AMPS or TDMA. That's because the specificity of the coded signals helps a CDMA system treat other radio signals and interference as irrelevant noise. Some of the details of CDMA are also interesting. Before we get to them, let's stop here and review, because it is hard to think of the big picture, the overall subject of cellular radio, when we get involved in details.

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ARTICLE INDEX
I. Intr oduction II. Cellular Histor y III. Cell Sector Ter minology IV . Basic Theor y and Oper ation IX. Code Division Multiple Access: IS-95 A. Befor e We Begin: A Cellular Radio Review B. Back to the CDMA Discussion C. Summar y of CDMA D. A differ ent way to shar e a channel E. Synchr onization F. What Ever y Radio System Must Consider G. CDMA Benefits H. Call Pr ocessing: A Few Details V . Cellular fr equency and channel discussion V I. Channel Names and Functions V II. AMPS Call Pr ocessing A. Registr ation B. Pages: Getting a call C. The SAT, Dial Tone, and Blank and Bur st D. Or igination: Making a call E. Pr ecall V alidation V III. AMPS and Digital Systems compar ed X. Appendix A. AMPS Call Pr ocessing Diagr am B. Land Mobile or IMTS C. Ear ly Bell System Over view of Amps D. Link to Pr ofessor R.C. Levine's ar ticle XI. Additional Assistance A. Q&A: Cell Tower Capacity

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