Chapter 5 Multiple Access Techniques

Introduction
Radio cell: a geographical coverage area in which the services of mobile stations (MSs)
are supported by a single base station (BS)
Forward link (downlink): BS
Reverse link (uplink): MSs

multiples MSs (one to many broadcasting)

BS (many to one multiple access)

Multiple access:

Multiple MSs want to access the common BS simultaneously

If two or more user signals arrive at the BS at the same time, there will be interferences, unless the signals are orthogonal

 

and

  

  if

 
 
 "! 

are orthogonal in

for

#%!'
$ &)(

Question: How can we achieve the orthogonality?

Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)

Time-division multiple access (TDMA)

Code-division multiple access (CDMA)

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-1

5.1 Multiple Access Techniques for Mobile Communications

5.1.1 FDMA

The total bandwidth is divided into nonoverlapping frequency bands (channels)

Each user occupies a channel for the duration of the connection

waste of resources

Narrowband transmission

Strict requirements on RF filters

Forward and reverse links use FDD

Downlink
Frequency
Channel

Uplink
Frequency
Channel

Frequency Split
Figure 1: FDD for duplex operation

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-2

5.1.2 TDMA

Time is partitioned into frames

Each frame consists of

slot

data slots plus a header and a trailer

Each slot is for transmission of one information unit

A user continues to use the same slot in every frame during call connection
waste of resources
Preamble

Slot 1

Trail Bits

Information Message

(((

Slot 2

Sync Bits

Information Data

Trailer

Slot slot

Guard Bits

Figure 2: TDMA Frame Structure

TDMA: wideband TDMA (W-TDMA) and narrowband TDMA (N-TDMA)

W-TDMA: Each user occupies the total frequency bandwidth during its slots
N-TDMA: The total frequency spectrum is divided into frequency subbands (channels); within each frequency channel, TDMA is used.
Both time and frequency
are partitioned.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-3

slot

slot

slot

frame

frame



frame



(a) Wideband TDMA


frequency
subband! 1

 slot

 
 
 
   

subband 2

 


!

++*+

 slot

 
 
 
 
  

subband " ')(





frame

+*+*+







frame



+*+*+

#


 slot

 
 
 
  

+*+*+
"#

$%

frame

$&

(b) Narrowband TDMA

Figure 3: Wideband TDMA and narrowband TDMA

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-4

Forward and reverse links can use either FDD or TDD.

Uplink
Time Slot

Downlink
Time Slot
Time Split

Figure 4: TDD for duplex operation

TDMA systems require strict time synchronization.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-5

5.1.3 CDMA
Spread spectrum: the spectrum of the baseband message signal is spread by a significant
order of magnitude larger than the minimum required bandwidth
Direct-sequence (DS) CDMA: The spread spectrum is achieved by directly multiplying the baseband signal with a high-rate pseudorandom noise (PN) sequence, called the
spreading sequence
Transmitter
Baseband
Signal






 




Modulator


 



Spreading
Signal

Carrier

Channel

Receiver

 


Demodulator

!#"%$ 
& (') 

Decision
Device

,
- ./
*+



Despreading
Signal
Figure 5: Function block diagram of user 0 transmitter and receiver in a DS-CDMA system

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-6

  
is
  
!
     # 

 


where  
       is the # th binary information bit, 
 is the information bit interval,








and

 is the rectangular pulse

  
!       '

 otherwise.

The spreading signal of the  th user is   
and can be represented as

  
!

        !

The information-carrying baseband signal

  
       is the  th chip of the binary PN sequence assigned to user  ,
  is the chip pulse waveform depending on baseband pulse shaping, and  is the
chip interval.
  
!  "

  and BPSK for the passband modulation.

For simplicity, we consider  
Normally,   ! !# , where # is an integer.
Spreading:   
 
with the same psd as that of  
!$ The bandwidth is increased
by # times.
&'98:* -, %&. /
&')(+* -, %&. 
.0/6/217143 35. 
 

where

spreading

 &%  /

despreading

&%  

Figure 6: Illustration of signal power spectral density without and with spreading

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-7

















!






Despreading: 
  
   
 !  

Requirements:

The receiver should generate the same spreading waveform

 

  
;

The locally generated

should accurately synchronized with that in the received
signal
PN code acquisition and tracking

Let denote the number of mobile users in the cell. Assuming that all the  users in
the cell are synchronized in time and have the same received signal power (  ), 
is given by


 

 
!
  


  

 

1
where   
is intercell interference and  
is background white Gaussian noise with
zero mean and two-sided psd   .


MAI (multiple access interference): intracell interference + intercell interference



 
! 7 &   
*  
   



1*  :  
  
   
   
 
(

*

  ,     
   
  (
 

The output of the demodulator at the end of the th chip interval is

ECE 414

 

W. Zhuang

Page 5-8

  
   

( !     ( ( ( 
) is a constant. The demodulator
, can be written as

7


!    
  

7   
  

 

1
*
, 




!
      
 
    
       


!


Over each chip interval,

output as a function of time,

*

where

 

is due to the intercell interference and additive background noise.

After despreading, we have

  
 
!


   


1
*





  
  
  
   


(


To suppress the interference and noise, the next step in the receiver is to integrate the
despread signal over each information symbol (bit) interval over which the desired signal
component is a constant. The output of the integrator at the end of the th symbol is

 



 *


*

* , /
     7  
    


  /   
 
  !
1 
where
* , /

 !    /    
   ! 
is the autocorrelation of the spreading signal  
over the symbol interval and
* , /

 !    /   
  
    !    ( ( ( 

is the crosscorelation between the spreading signals   
and   
over the symbol
 

 

interval.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-9

  
 !    ( ( ( 


If all the spread signals
,
, are orthogonal in the symbol interval,
then there is no intracell interference in the recovered baseband signal.



The effect of the intercell interference and background noise on the signal detection is
given by the last term , which is

* , /

 !   /   

 
  (
 

   



In the frequency domain, the integrator is a lowpass filter with bandwidth approximately
equal to
. The LPF lets the desired signal component  *
go through without
distortion and greatly reduces the interference and noise power. The despreading process
significantly improves the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) value.
The spread spectrum system performance is measured by the processing gain,
fined as the SINR improvement achieved by despreading, i.e.,

! 

ECE 414

SINR after despreading

SINR before despreading

W. Zhuang

 , de-

!  !  ! #(


Page 5-10

*,

psd of

++*+

+*+*+

user 1
user 2
user 3

+*++

user
intercell interference plus noise

(:* , * ,

psd of


user 1

++*+

+*+*+

+*++

user 2
user 3
user
intercell interference plus noise

0


psd after LPF

user 1

++*user
+ 2
user 3

user
intercell interference plus noise

Figure 7: Illustration of signal power spectral density before and after despreading

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-11

Transmission performance:
AWGN channel with two-sided noise psd

For the signal component

each other.

 
 

 

in the absence of MAI

 
, the effects of spreading and despreading cancel

 

  
!  

For the additive white Gaussian noise

, because
or
likely,
is still white Gaussian noise with the same statistics.

equally

!$

The probability of transmission bit error is the same as that in the AWGN channel
without spread spectrum. For example, if BPSK is used, the BER for the DS-CDMA
user with coherent detection is


 !
 
(



ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-12

AWGN channel with two-sided noise psd

 

in the presence of MAI

MAI will increase transmission error rate if the spreading sequences are not orthogonal.

MAI can be approximated as a Gaussian process when the number of mobile users
is large.
With a large spread spectrum bandwidth
mately uniform over the bandwidth.

, the psd of the interference is approxi-

!$

The effect of the MAI on the transmission performance can be treated in the same
way as the additive white Gaussian noise and the BER is

where 

ECE 414

 !
  


  

is the two-sided psd of the MAI over the spread spectrum bandwidth.

W. Zhuang

Page 5-13

Advantages of CDMA:

universal frequency reuse

diversity and the use of Rake receiver

soft capacity

better transmission accuracy

soft handoff

utilization of source activity factor

facilitating multimedia traffic

Drawbacks of CDMA:

strict power control required

data rate limitation especially with a large processing gain

high complexity of transceivers (high chip rate, spread waveform synchronization,
Rake receiver, power control, etc.)

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-14

5.2 Spectral Efficiency

The overall spectral efficiency depends on

channel spacing in kHz

frequency reuse factor

cell size in km

!$

multiple access scheme

The spectral efficiency

!

sys

access

Total number of channels available for data in system

Channel/MHz
(system bandwidth)(total coverage area)

where the total number of channels for data = total number of channels - total number of
control channels, taking into account frequency reuse. Or,

!

Total traffic carried by the system

Erlang/MHz
(system bandwidth)(total coverage area)

Techniques used to enhance the spectrum utilization:

source coding (data compression to reduce the source rate)

channel assignment

bandwidth reduction (modulation, detection, channel coding)

choice of multiple access method

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-15

5.2.1 FDMA Systems

Spectral efficiency of FDMA ( 

Channel
1



(((

Channel
2

Channel

 
 

Total frequency bandwith

for uplink or downlink

Figure 8: Channel spacing and guard bands in FDMA uplink or downlink

The number of channels,

, that can be simultaneously supported is


 




be the number of data

Let
be the number of allocated control channels and
channels in the system. Then the total number of available channels is






(

The spectral efficiency of FDMA is defined as




ECE 414

bandwidth available for data

system bandwidth

W. Zhuang

(

Page 5-16

Example 5.1 Spectral efficiency of FDMA

In the AMPS system, the system bandwidth is 12.5 MHz, the channel spacing is 30 kHz,
and the edge guard spacing is 10 kHz. The number of channels allocated for control
signaling is 21. Find
a) the number of channels available for message transmission, and
b) the spectral efficiency of FDMA.
Solution:


We have

! (

MHz,

! 

a) the number of available channels is


 


!  (

! 




kHz, and



kHz. Therefore,

 !


channels, and

b) the spectral efficiency of this FDMA system is



ECE 414

!   
 ( 
   
!  (
 (


W. Zhuang

Page 5-17

System spectral efficiency

%

The number of available channels per cluster is given by

 

%

%



% 

The total number of channels available for data traffic per cluster is

 









% 



% 

The total number of channels available for data traffic per cell is






%


 !









 

which is also the cell capacity, , defined as the maximum number of mobile stations
that can be served at one time in each cell.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-18

!$
!

!$

number of data channels per cluster

system bandwidth times area of the cluster








)


%





!
channel/MHz/ (


 

  )  channel/MHz/ 
!   
%

7

!$









(



where the second term on the right-hand side accounts for the overhead in FDMA.
Let

%

%


be the trunk (system) efficiency. The total traffic carried in a cluster, in Erlang, is





.

!$





 
%

Erlang/MHz/ 



  

Erlang/MHz/

 
 


where the second term on the right-hand side is due to the overhead in FDMA.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-19

Example 5.2 System spectral efficiency in channel/MHz/km

Suppose a cellular system in which the one-way bandwidth of the system is 12.5 MHz,
the channel spacing is 30 kHz, and the
guard band at each boundary of the spectrum




is 10 kHz. If i) the cell area is 6
, ii) the frequency reuse factor (cluster size) is 7,
and iii) 21 of the available channels are used to handle control signaling, calculate the
following.
a) The total number of available channels per cluster;
b) The number of available data channels per cluster;
c) The number of available data channels per cell;
d) The system spectral efficiency in units of channel/MHz/

Solution:
We allocate all of the available frequencies to one cluster and these frequencies or channels are distributed evenly among the cells in the cluster.

%

a) The total number of available channels in the cluster is


 





!  (

 
%

 ( 

 (  
!
(

b) The number of available data channels per cluster is












!
 


 !  (

%  !  % 
 !   ! (


d) The overall spectral efficiency
of the system is



!
%   !   (   !  (
channel/MHz/ (



c) The number of available data channels per cell is



ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-20

5.2.2 TDMA Systems

W-TDMA:
Let

 !

 !

the time duration for the preamble

the time duration for the trailer
the frame duration
the number of information data symbols in each slot
the total number of symbols in each slot.

# !
#
!
Then, we have

! 




N-TDMA:



 

#(
#


Preamble





Preamble

Preamble

slot

Trailer





channel





slot

Trailer

channel 2

slot

Trailer

channel 1

Figure 9: Narrowband TDMA format

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-21

The spectral efficiency of narrowband TDMA is then given by

'








! 

 

Cell capacity of TDMA Systems

The maximum number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated without frequency reuse is

where


!

*
 

slot



for W-TDMA
for N-TDMA.

With frequency reuse, all the

channels can be allocated to a single cell cluster. Then,
the cell capacity, , in a TDMA system with frequency reuse factor is

!

Taking into account of the source activity factor

ECE 414

slot

W. Zhuang

slot

, we have

user/cell

Page 5-22

System spectral efficiency

Let 
denote the modulation efficiency,

the bit rate of each mobile source. The
effective number of users, effective, that can be supported per cell is

effective



Taking into account of the overhead necessary for TDMA, the effective number should
be modified to




 





effective

The overall spectral efficiency of the system in bit/unit time/unit bandwidth/cell, , can
be expressed as

!
!

ECE 414

effective



#
#

W. Zhuang

 

bit/s/Hz/cell

Page 5-23

Example 5.3 Spectral efficiency of the IS-54 system

Consider IS-54 (updated as IS-136), which is a synchronous N-TDMA/FDD system that
uses a one way bandwidth of 25 MHz for the forward (or reverse) channel. The system
bandwidth is divided into radio channels of 30 kHz, each supporting transmission at rate

 kHz are used. A single radio channel supports
16.2 kbps. Guard bands with
3 speech channels. The frame duration is 40 ms, consisting of 6 time slots. The slot
ms. Each slot consists of 324 bits, among which 260 bits
duration is then 40/6
are for information data and the remaining 64 bits are overhead for access control. The
speech codec rate is 7.95 kbps, which corresponds to a gross bit rate of 13.0 kbps with
channel encoding. If the frequency reuse factor is 7, find

! 

  ( 

a) the number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in each cell cluster,
b) the cell capacity,
c) the spectral efficiency

'




of TDMA, and

d) the overall spectral efficiency.

Solution:
Given:



 MHz 
kHz
 kHz
kbps

! 
!

   kHz

!! (

!


 ms
!
slot

 ms

!  ms
#  !    bits
#
!  
bits
!! (  kbps    kHz !  (  
 ! 



ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-24

a) The number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated is


 







 user/cell cluster



 
! 



b) The cell capacity of the synchronous TDMA system is



slot

! 

 

c) The spectral efficiency of the N-TDMA is

'


 !






! 

d) The overall spectral efficiency is



!  ( 

 (   

ECE 414

bit/s/Hz/cell

#




   


(  

#

user/cell

 







 

 ( (

W. Zhuang

Page 5-25

5.2.3 DS-CDMA Systems

Cell capacity

Consider the uplink (from MSs to the BS) with accurate power control. The signal-tointerference ratio,  , is given by


!$


 !
   (




 !


 (

Candidate cell
Tier-1 interference cells
Tier-2 interference cells

Figure 10: Interfering neighbors in hexagonal array

Let
is the total intracell and intercell interference (on the average) normalized to the
total intracell disturbance

!               

Then the total interference power, including both intracell and intercell interference, is


ECE 414

! 





(

W. Zhuang

Page 5-26

The SINR can then be expressed as

Define

! 

! 


  (







as the frequency reuse efficiency factor.

 !




!$



! 






! 



 
 (


  

(

Consider source activity factor ( ), cell sectors ( ) with directive antennas, and imper
fect power control ( ):

!$
!$




!$

The SINR is now










!    

!     


! 



, from which we get



! 

With the capacity degradation factor





! 



   

ECE 414

 



 

(

due to imperfect power control, we have



   

From the required BER, we can obtain the required

capacity is

! 



  

W. Zhuang

  



value,

  



, then the cell

(

Page 5-27

System utilization

     








! 
  



The system utilization is defined as the number of users,

 


under the constraint that
.

 , that can be supported



  
  
(

with

Spectral efficiency of DS-CDMA systems

!
or

!






!     




 

bit/s/Hz

where
is the constant bit rate (in units of bit/s/user) when a user is in an on state and


is the one-way system bandwidth in Hz.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-28

Example 5.4 Capacity and utilization of CDMA system

Consider a DS-CDMA system where the one-way system bandwidth is 25 MHz. Suppose the data rate per user is 8 kbps. Assume perfect power control, one sector antenna,
and persistent transmissions.

  

a) Calculate the
 specification required to support a maximum number of 250
users/cell if the signal-to-background noise ratio is 26 dB and the frequency reuse
efficiency is 0.9.

  

b) If the actual operating value of

 is 12 dB, calculate the system utilization for
the parameter values specified in part a).
Solution:

    specification can be written

 (
  
!
 


 ! 
  !       !    ,
It is given that 
= 26 dB or 400, !  ( ,


!

and
 . Substituting these values in the above equation for     
yields
    
!   (  
  ( 0

(  or   ( dB (


   
b) The utilization can be expressed as



 !  
  
  with    
  ( dB (
If the actual operating value of     is 12 dB, or 15.85, then the system utilization
is
   
 )   (
 !    (
  (


a) With the assumptions given in the problem, the

as





ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-29

Example 5.5 Spectral Efficiency of DS-CDMA

Consider the CDMA system in Example 5.4, with the same assumptions about parameter
values.

  

a) If the actual operating value of

CDMA system.

is 12 dB, find the spectral efficiency for this

b) Suppose the actual operating value of

ciency.

  

is now 11 dB, find the spectral effi-

  

c) Discuss the impact of operating at a lower value of

 in terms of spectral efficiency and system utilization. What would be the benefit, if any, to the service
provider?
Solution

   ! 

 dB, the number of users that can be supported was 178 (Example
a) For

5.4), and the system capacity is 250. Therefore, the spectral efficiency is

!  0  !  ( 

! 

or

b) If the value of

    !  (    

bit/s/Hz

    is now 11 dB or 12.59, the system utilization is

     
(
 !    ( 
 
( 


Therefore, the spectral efficiency is


   !  (     bit/s/Hz(
c) A reduction in the operating value of     from 12 dB to 11 dB is accompanied
or



0  !  ( 

 

by an increase in spectral efficiency from 71.2% to 89.6%. With a 1-dB decrease in

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-30

    , the system utilization is increased from 178 to 224 users. This is significant
from the revenue point of view for the service provider.
With the system operating at     ! 2 dB, which is 0.5 dB above the QoS
requirement, the resultant BER would be acceptable for the system users.

ECE 414

W. Zhuang

Page 5-31