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07ddec159 CDMA Concepts
07ddec159 CDMA Concepts
ON
CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS
BY:
JAGDISH S.SHETE 07DDEC159
AT
BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD.
DEHRADUN
ON
BY:
JAGDISH S.SHETE 07DDEC159
AT
BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LTD.
DEHRADUN
2 INTRODUCTION OF CDMA 8
3 BIRTH OF CDMA 8
4 HISTORY OF CDMA 8
6 CDMA PRINCIPLE 10
7 CDMA MODULATION 11
8 CDMA FOR CELLULAR 11
A NETWORK STRUCTURE DESIGNED FOR
9 12
PACKETIZED COMMUNICATION
10.1 THE MOBILE STATION (MS) 12
10.2 THE RADIO ACCESS NETWORK (RAN) 13
10.3 THE BASE STATION TRANSCEIVER SUBSYSTEM 14
10.4 THE BASE STATION CONTROLLER (BSC) 14
10.5 MOBILE SWITCHING CENTER (MSC) 14
10.6 THE PACKET CONTROL FUNCTION (PCF) 14
10.7 OPERATION AND ADMINISTRATION (OAM) 14
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I Would Like To Express My Gratitude To MR. ARVIND KUMAR,
DGM(CMTS), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd , Dehradun For Allowing Me To
Take Up This Course On IP-2(Internship Program 2) And Providing Me With All
The Facilities Required For Completing This Course.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BSNL
BSNL formed in October, 2000, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (known as BSNL, India
Communications Corporation Limited) is a state-owned telecommunication company in
India. BSNL is the sixth largest cellular service provider, with over 57.22 million customers as
of December 2009 and the largest land line telephone provider in India. Its headquarters are
at Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Harish Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath , New Delhi. It has the
status of Mini Ratna , a status assigned to reputed public sector companies in India.
BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure that
provides convergent services like voice, data and video through the same Backbone and
Broadband Access Network. At present there are 0.6 million Data One broadband.
The company has vast experience in Planning, Installation, network integration and
Maintenance of Switching & Transmission Networks and also has a world class ISO9000
certifiedtelecomTrainingInstitute.
Scaling new heights of success, the present turnover of BSNL is more than Rs.351,820
million (US $ 8 billion) with net profit to the tune of Rs.99,390 million (US $ 2.26 billion) for
last financial year. The infrastructure asset on telephone alone is worth about Rs.630,000
million (US $ 14.37 billion).
BSNL (then known as Department of Telecom) had been a near monopoly during the
socialist period of the Indian economy. During this period, BSNL was the only telecom
service provider in the country (MTNL was present only in Mumbai and New Delhi). During
this period BSNL operated as a typical state-run organization, inefficient, slow, bureaucratic,
and heavily unionized. As a result subscribers had to wait for as long as five years to get a
telephone connection.
The corporation tasted competition for the first time after the liberalization of Indian
economy in 1991. Faced with stiff competition from the private telecom service providers,
BSNL has subsequently tried to increase efficiencies itself. DoT veterans, however, put the
onus for the sorry state of affairs on the Government policies, where in all state-owned
service providers were required to function as mediums for achieving egalitarian growth
across all segments of the society. The corporation (then DoT), however, failed miserably to
achieve this and India languished among the most poorly connected countries in the world.
BSNL was born in 2000 after the corporatization of DoT. The efficiency of the company has
since improved. However, the performance level is nowhere near the private players. The
corporation remains heavily unionized and is comparatively slow in decision making and
BSNL has been providing connections in both urban and rural areas. Pre-activated Mobile
connections are available at many places across India. BSNL has also unveiled cost-effective
broadband internet access plans (DataOne) targeted at homes and small businesses. At
present BSNL enjoys around 60% of market share of ISP services.
2007 has been declared as "Year of Broadband" in India and BSNL is in the process of
providing 5 million Broadband connectivity by the end of 2007. BSNL has upgraded existing
Dataone (Broadband) connections for a speed of up to 2 M bit/s without any extra cost. This
2 M bit/s broadband service is being provided by BSNL at a cost of just US$ 11.7 per month
(as of 21/07/2008 and at a limit of 2.5GB monthly limit with 0200-0800 hrs as no charge
period).
On the 20th of March, 2009, BSNL advertised the launch of BlackBerry services across its
Telecom circles in India. The corporation has also launched 3G services in select cities across
the country. Presently, BSNL and MTNL are the only players to provide 3G services, as the
Government is still in the process of auctioning the 3G spectrum to private players.
BSNL has also launched a Entertainment Portal called BSNL Hungama Portal from where
subscribers could download contents like music, music videos for free and also download or
play various games online. Only Tamil, Kannada, Telugu & Hindi are provided at present.
Hopes are there that the database could be expanded. BSNL charges a fixed monthly
subscription fee for this function.
INTRODUCTION(CDMA)
Code Division Multiple Access technology emerged as an alternative to the GSM cellular
BIRTH OF CDMA
At World War II
CDMA is a military technology first used during World War II by the English allies to foil
German attempts at jamming transmissions. The allies decided to transmit over several
frequencies, instead of one, making it difficult for the Germans to pick up the complete
signal.
HISTORY OF CDMA
Somewhere close to the Second World War, Hollywood actress-turned-inventor, Hedy
Lamarr and co-inventor George Antheil, co-patented a way for controlling torpedoes by
sending signals over multiple radio frequencies using random patterns. They called this
“frequency hopping”.
After some hue and cry, the US Navy discarded their work as architecturally unfeasible. In
1957, Sylvania Electronic System Division, in Buffalo, New York , took up the same idea.
After the expiry of the inventor’s patent, they used the same technology to secure
communications for the US military.
In the mid-80s, the US military declassified what is now called CDMA technology, a
technique based on spread-spectrum technology, for use in wireless communication. The
spread-spectrum technology works by digitizing multiple conversations, attaching a
code(known only to the sender and receiver), and then breaking the signals into bits and
reassembling them.
Qualcomm, which patented CDMA, and other telecommunication companies, were
attrached to the technology because it enabled many simultaneous conversations, rather
than the limited stop-and-go transmissions of analogue technology and the previous digital
option.
NETWORK OPERATORS:
• An 8X to 10X increase in voice capacity increase compared to analog AMPS systems
• Simplified network planning, with the same frequency used in every sector of every cell
The early 2G CDMA infrastructure proved its effectiveness in delivering high-quality, low-
loss voice traffic to subscribers. But it didn’t take long for mobile users to begin asking for
basic data services, such as Internet and Intranet services, multimedia applications or high-
speed business transactions, to supplement the voice services on their handsets. The
TIA/EIA IS-95A standard answered this demand with its definition of the wideband 1.25 MHz
CDMA channels, power control, call processing, hand-offs and registration techniques for
system operation. TIA/EIA IS-95A brought true circuit-switched data services to CDMA
subscribers; however, these were limited to a maximum speed of 14.4 Kbps per user.
A second round of revisions to the original specification produced the TIA/EIA IS-95B
standard.This new development gave subscribers packet-switched data services at speeds
up to 64 Kbps per subscriber in addition to the existing voice services. With this increased
data rate, TIA/EIA IS- 95B-compliant networks qualify as 2.5G CDMA technology.
CDMA2000 Takes the Next Step
The transition to 3G networks, still underway, began with a profusion of newly proposed
standards. Some were designed to build on GSM infrastructures and others emerged
directly from CDMA technology. Ultimately the ITU took a position on the matter, defining
an IMT-2000 standard that encompassed five different radio interfaces including
CDMA2000. Note that all of the IMT-2000 protocols use spread-spectrum techniques, which
has implications about network installation, operation and maintenance.
The ITU defines a 3G network as one that delivers, among other capabilities, improved
system
CDMA PRINCIPLE
If we change our communication topology from point-to-point to point-to-multipoint, we
have hanged the communication environment from single-link to a multiple-access link. The
multiple-access scheme in a spread-spectrum system is termed code-division multiple-
access (CDMA).
Each access to a common channel needs some form of orthogonality. For frequency-division
multiple-access (FDMA), we achieve orthogonality in the frequency domain by selecting
nonoverlapping unique frequency bands to each user. We achieve orthogonality in the time
domain by selection nonoverlapping unique time segments to each user; this process is
referred to as time-division multiple-access (TDMA). The spread-spectrum form of multiple
access exploits the orthogonality in the code domain and is termed code-division multiple-
access (CDMA).
The multiuser environment in the spread-spectrum case is set up for each user in assigning
each user a unique spreading sequence out of a family of orthogonal sequences. Each user
in a CDMA network occupies the same channel bandwidth.
A CDMA system is clearly not a collision avoidance system like FDMA and TDMA. The
opposite is true and explains the differences in the behavior of CDMA systems compared to
FDMA and TDMA. In general, the collisions at the channel is a disadvantage of CDMA system
and can be mitigated by careful selection of the sequence and power control that is close to
perfect.
CDMA MODULATION
Both the Forward and Reverse Traffic Channels use a similar control structure consisting of
20 millisecond frames. For the system, frames can be sent at either 14400, 9600, 7200,
4800, 3600, 2400, 1800, or 1200 bps.
• Improved call quality: CDMA will provide better and more consistent sound as
compared to AMPS. Cellular telephone systems using CDMA should be able to
provide higher quality sound and phone calls than systems based on other
technologies.
• Simplified system planning: Engineers will no longer have to perform the detailed
frequency planning which is necessary in analog and TDMA systems.
• Enhanced privacy: Increased privacy over other cellular systems, both analog and
digital, is inherent in CDMA technology.
• Increased talk time and standby time for portables: Because of precise power control
and other system characteristics, CDMA subscriber units normally transmit at only a
fraction of the power of analog and TDMA phones
The RAN has a number of responsibilities that impact the network’s delivery of packet
services in particular. The RAN must map the mobile client identifier reference to a unique
link layer identifier used to communicate with the PDSN, validate the mobile station for
access service, and maintain the established transmission links.
The Base Station Controller (BSC): routes voice- and circuit-switched data messages
between the cell sites and the MSC. It also bears responsibility for mobility management: it
controls and directs handoffs from one cell site to another as needed. It connects to each
MTX using channelized T1 lines for voice and circuit switched data; and to un-channelized T1
lines for signalling and control messages to the PDSN using the 10BaseT Ethernet protocol.
The Packet Control Function (PCF) :routes IP packet data between the mobile
station within the cell sites and the Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN). During packet data
sessions, it will assign available supplemental channels as needed to comply with the
services requested by the mobile and paid for by the subscribers.
Home location register (HLR): The HLR database is used for storage and management of
subscriptions. The home location register stores permanent data about subscribers,
including a subscriber's service profile, location information, and activity status.
Visitor location register (VLR): The VLR database contains temporary information about
subscribers that is needed by the mobile services switching center (MSC) in order to service
visiting subscribers. When a mobile station roams into a new mobile services switching
center (MSC) area, the visitor location register (VLR) connected to that MSC will request
data about the mobile station from the HLR, reducing the need for interrogation of the
home location register (HLR).
Authentication center (AC): The AC provides authentication and encryption parameters that
verify the user's identity and ensure the confidentiality of each call. The authentication
center (AUC) also protects network operators from fraud.
Operation and administration (OAM): The OAM is the functional entity from which
the network operator monitors and controls the system. The purpose of operation and
support system is to offer support for centralized, regional, and local operational and
maintenance activities that are required for a CDMA network.
The PCF maintains a “reachable” state for between the RN and the mobile station, ensuring
a consistent link for packets; buffers packets arriving from the PDSN when radio resources
are not in place or insufficient to support the flow from the PDSN; and relays packets
between the MS and the PDSN.
A number of Spread spectrum RF signals thus generated share the same frequency
spectrum and thus the entire bandwidth available in the band is used by each of the users
using same frequency at the same time.
In figure 10.1 it has been tried to explain that how the base band signal of 9.6 Kbps is spread
using a Pseudo-random Noise (PN) source to occupy entire bandwidth of 1.25 Mhz. At the
receiving end this signal will have interference from signals of other users of the same cell,
users of different cells and interference from other noise sources. All these signals get
combined with the desired signal but using a correct PN code the original data can be
reproduced back. CDMA channel in the trans and receive direction is a FDD (Frequency
Division Duplexing) channel. The salient features of a typical CDMA system are as follows:
s Coverage: 5 Km with hand held telephones and approx. 20 Km with fixed units.
The different types of codes used for identification of traffic channels and users
identification etc as follows:
In CDMA the traffic channels are separated by uinique “Walsh” code. All such codes are
orthogonal to each other. The individual subscriber can start communication using one of
these codes. These codes are traffic channel codes and are used for orthogonal spreading of
the information in the entire bandwidth. Orthogonality provides nearly perfect isolation
between the multiple signals transmitted by the base station.
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 1
0 0 1 1
0 1 1 0
Short Code :
The short pseudo random noise (PN) sequence is based on 2 15 characteristic polynomial.
This short code differentiates the cells & the sectors in a cell. It also consists of codes for I &
Q channel feeding the modulator.
Advantages
CDMA wireless access provides the following unique advantages:
Larger Capacity :
let us discuss this issue with the help of Shannon’s Theorem. It states that the channel
capacity is related to product of available band width and S/N ratio.
C = W log 2 (1+S/N)
It is clear that even if we improve S/N to a great extent the advantage that we are expected
to get in terms of channel capacity will not be proportionally increased. But instead if we
increase the bandwidth (W), we can achieve more channel capacity even at a lower S/N.
That forms the basis of CDMA approach, wherein increased channel capacity is obtained by
increasing both W & S/N. The S/N can be increased by devising proper power control
methods.
The objective of open loop power control in the reverse link (Mobile to Base) is that the
mobile station should adjust its transmit power according to the changes in its received
power from the base. Open loop power control attempts to ensure that the received signal
strength at the base station from different mobile stations, irrespective of their distances
from the base site, should be same.
In Closed loop power control in reverse link, the base satation provides rapid corrections to
the mobile stations’ open loop estimates to maintain optimum transmit power by the
mobile stations. The base station measures the received signal strength from the mobile
connected to it and compares it with a threshold value and a decision is taken by the base
every 1.25 ms to either increase or decrease the power of the mobile.
In forward link power control (Base to Mobile) the cell (base) adjusts its power in the
forward link for each subscriber, in response to measurements provided by the mobile
station so as to provide more power to the mobile who is relatively far away from the base
or is in a location experiencing more difficult environment.
These power control methods attempt to have an environment which permits high quality
communication (good S/N) and at the same time the interference to other mobile stations
sharing the same CDMA channel is minimum. Thus more numbers of mobile station are able
to use the system without degradation in the performance. Apart from the capacity
advantage thus gained power control extends the life of the battery used in portables and
minimizes the concern of ill effects of RF radiation on the human body.
No Frequency Planning :
A CDMA system requires no frequency planning as the adjacent cells use the same common
frequency. A typical cellular system (with a repetition rate of 7) and a CDMA system is
shown in the following figures which clearly indicates that in a CDMA network no frequency
planning is required.
CDMA has a vastly improved performance as it employs all the three diversity techniques in
the form of the following:
Capacity Considerations
Let us discuss a typical CDMA wireless in local loop system consisting of a single base station
located at the telephone exchange itself, serving a single “cell”. In order to increase the
number of subscribers served the cell is further divided into “sectors”. These sectors are
served by directional antennas.
The capacity of a cellular system is claimed to be 20-40 active lines per sector per 1.25 MHz
for a single CDMA Radio Channel. In WLL environment assuming an average busy hour
traffic of 0.1 Erlang, 400 subscribers can be served per sector over a single 1.25 MHz
channel.
Capacity can further be increased if we use another frequency on the same base station
covering the same geographical area (overlapping cell). Thus in 10 Mhz in the bandwidth we
BSNL |JAGDISH S SHETE 07DDEC159 20
can utilize 5 MHz of bandwidth in the forward link and 5 Mhz in the reverse link. Hence if we
have 4 RF carriers in 5 Mhz bandwidth, the network can support 12000 (5x400x6)
subscribers per cell. A typical CDMA wireless in local loop system is depicted in the above
figure10.4.
In is 95a, in the forward link pilot, sync, paging and traffic channels exist whereas in reverse
link access and traffic channel are available. All overhead information is carried on the
paging channel. During conversation or in dedicated mode the signaling info is exchanged by
either fully or partially clearing the traffic. CDMA2000 technology defines new physical and
logical channels for the transport of user data and signaling information.
A physical channel is a communication path between the mobile and the base station,
described in terms of the digital coding and rf characteristics.
A logical channel is a communication path within the protocol layers of either the base
station or the mobile. Information is grouped onto a logical channel based on criteria such
as these:
The information on a logical channel is ultimately carried on one or more physical channels.
Mappings are defined between physical and logical channels. These mappings may be
permanent or may be defined only for the duration of a call.
(e.g) the forward common signaling channel (f-csch) carries information that may
Ultimately be mapped onto the forward sync channel (f-synch), the forward paging channel
(f-pch), and the forward broadcast control channel (f-bcch).
A hyphen is used after the first letter. Logical channel names are differentiated by:
A radio configuration (rc) defines the following characteristics of a forward or reverse traffic
channel, viz rate set, spreading rate channel coding (turbo or convolutional), channel coding
rate, modulation (qpsk or bpsk)and transmit diversity allowed.
– rc1 and rc2 correspond to is-95 a/b rate set 1 and rate set 2 respectively
The forward pilot, sync, and paging channels are compatible with tia/eia-95a/b. In radio
configurations 1 and 2, the fundamental and supplemental channels are backward
compatible. In these configurations, the maximum number of supplemental channels is
seven, which allows the transmission rate to reach up to 115.2 kbps.
As in tia/eia-95a/b, the power control sub channel is associated with the fundamental
channel for radio configurations 1 and 2.
Forward fundamental channel – this channel is used for the transmission of user and
signaling information to a specific mobile during a call. Each forward traffic channel
may contain one forward fundamental channel.
Forward dedicated control channel – this channel is used for transmission of user
and signaling information to a specific mobile during a call. Each forward traffic
channel may contain one forward dedicated control channel.
Forward supplemental channel (valid for radio configurations 3 thro 9) this channel is
used for the transmission of user information to a specific mobile during a call. This is
typically used for high-speed data applications. Each forward traffic channel may
contain up to two supplemental channels.
Power control subchannel – this subchannel is typically associated with the
fundamental channel, but if the f-fch is not used for a given call, then it is associated
with the dedicated control channel (f-dcch).
All of the CDMA2000 dedicated channels can be established using the tia/eia paging
(f-pch) and access (r-ach) channels.
The access channel and reverse supplemental channel are retained for backward
compatibility with tia/eia-95a/b. For radio configurations 1 and 2, the channel structure for
the reverse fundamental channel and reverse supplemental channel is the same as the
channel structure of rate set 1 and rate set 2 used in tia/eia-95a/b.
Reverse link common channels are used by multiple mobiles primarily for a brief exchange
of information between a mobile and a base station. The reverse link common channels are:
Reverse link dedicated channels are assigned to a single mobile for the duration of a call.
The reverse link dedicated channels include:
The reverse pilot channel is used with both Common and Dedicated Channels.
CDMA2000 can multiplex data from multiple sources (e.g., signaling, voice, and data) onto
one or more Physical Channels. Data can be multiplexed in one or two Supplemental
Channels.
A successful call set-up scenario is illustrated in Figure 2. This standard message sequence
chart outlines a series of steps, summarized in items 1-12 to follow. Note that this
explanation bypasses the radio reception/transmission activities of the BTS, concentrating
instead on the protocol functions that begin with the Origination dialogue between the
mobile and the BSC.
1. To register for packet data services, the mobile sends an Origination Message over the
Access Channel to the BSS
2. The BS acknowledges the receipt of the Origination Message, returning a Base Station
Ack Order to the mobile
3. The BS constructs a CM Service Request message and sends the message to the MSC.
4. The MSC sends an Assignment Request message to the BSS requesting assignment of
radio resources. No terrestrial circuit between the MSC and the BS is assigned to the
packet data call.
5. The BS and the mobile perform radio resource set-up procedures.
The PCF recognizes that no A10 connection associated with this mobile is available and
selects a PDSN for this data call.
6. The PCF sends an A11-Registration Request message to the selected PDSN.
7. The A11-Registration Request is validated and the PDSN accepts the connection by
returning an A11-Registration Reply message.
Both the PDSN and the PCF create a binding record for the A10 connection.
8. After the radio link and A10 connection are set-up, the BS sends an Assignment
Complete message to the MSC
9. The mobile and the PDSN establish the link layer (PPP) connection and then perform the
Both the PDSN and the PCF update the A10 connection binding record.
This necessarily complex process can be the source of some problems that affect service and
quality. A rigorous monitoring scheme involving simultaneous observation of the A1
interface and the A10/A11 interface is the best way to detect and correct errors early. Here,
a multi-interface call-trace application is especially productive, since it can trace and group
all of the procedures related to the activity of each single subscriber in a CDMA network,
even as the procedures evolve over multiple interfaces.
Within the call set-up process, an error in any element or procedural step can inhibit the
remaining steps. For example, suppose that the MSC does not respond to the CM Service
Request message (Step 3 in Figure 2) sent by the BSC/PCF over the A1 interface. This is
sometimes caused by internal MSC problems. If this prevents the CM Service Request from
reaching completion, the BSC/PCF cannot assign radio resources to the mobile station, in
turn preventing establishment of the connection. The user finds it impossible to make a data
call—a service for which he or she has paid a premium.
Before a specific timer expires, the PCF sends periodically A11-Registration Request
message(Step 11) to refresh the registration for the A10 connection. For a validated A11-
Registration Request, the PDSN returns an A11-Registration Reply message (Step 12). Here
again, internal problems in the PDSN can cause it to respond late or not at all. As a result the
process of establishing or maintaining the connection cannot continue. The user is once
again unable to make a data call.
In both cases, a protocol analyzer connected to the A1 and A10/A11 interfaces can help
track down the problem. The call trace application can distinguish the origin of messages
and detect any failure to respond. This makes it easy to pinpoint the MSC and the PDSN,
respectively in these examples.
Duplication of IP traffic
PDSN configuration problems can give rise to other types of problems in addition to tunnel
loops.One common issue is associating the PDSN´s logical IP addresses with more than one
physical MAC address. When this occurs, more than one hardware card has the same IP
address. All traffic sent to that IP address goes to two different hardware entities and
receives responses from both. This effectively doubles the amount of IP traffic associated
with that single IP address on that segment. Once again, protocol filtering capabilities are
required for effective troubleshooting. A protocol analyzer should capture IP packets
travelling to a specific IP destination address via the P-H interface. Browsing through the
data and using filtering to successively narrow down the inquiry, the nature of the problem
(the duplicated address) soon becomes apparent.
FEATURES OF CDMA
CDMA and WiLL
For many years now, India has been a GSM subscriber. In 1999, when MTNL decided to
provide the CDMA-based WiLL(Wireless in Local Loop) service in India, quite a few eyebrows
were raised. The biggest reason why mobile operators opposed the entry of WiLL is that it is
uncertain to allow mobility in the local loop.
CDMA is restricted to a short distance charging area(SDCA). Currently, there are 2600 SDCAs
within the country. A CDMA-based phone can thus ‘roam’ only within its SDCA. This is NOT a
technological restriction.
In India, Reliance Infocom and Tata Indicom use CDMA technology to provide WiLL services.
In remote rural areas, where installing cables is difficult as well as expensive, CDMA-based
WiLL networks can be deployed quickly.
rd
3G (3 Generation)
rd rd
3G, as it is popularly called, refers to the 3 generation of wireless networks. The 3
generation provides higher frequency bands (of 2Ghz and more) and a bandwidth of around
5 MHz. The Bandwidth and frequency is matched by speeds of 384 Kbps in a mobile
environment.
Will CDMA be the path towards 3G” The world seems to be divided on this. While the
standard choosen by Reliance-CDMA2000 1x-is the 3G avatar of CDMA, the restrictions
imposed by the TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) doesn’t let it explore the 3G
realms. Plus, some Wide CDMA supporters(W-CDMA) aren’t helping the situation by
claiming CDMA 1x is not 3G. Third-generation applications includes WCDMA, 1x and High
Data Rate (HDR).
The Basics
Let’s begin by learning what these two acronyms stand for. TDMA stands for "Time Division
Multiple Access", while CDMA stands for "Code Division Multiple Access". Three of the four
words in each acronym are identical, since each technology essentially achieves the same
goal, but by using different methods. Each strives to better utilize the radio spectrum by
allowing multiple users to share the same physical channel. You heard that right. More than
one person can carry on a conversation on the same frequency without causing
interference. This is the magic of digital technology.
Where the two competing technologies differ is in the manner in which users share the
common resource. TDMA does it by chopping up the channel into sequential time slices.
Each user of the channel takes turns transmitting and receiving in a round-robin fashion. In
reality, only one person is actually using the channel at any given moment, but he only uses
it for short bursts. He then gives up the channel momentarily to allow the other users to
have their turn. This is very similar to how a computer with just one processor can seem to
run multiple applications simultaneously.
CDMA on he hand really does let everyone transmit at the same time. Conventional wisdom
would lead you to believe that this is simply not possible. Using conventional modulation
techniques, it most certainly is impossible. What makes CDMA work is a special type of
digital modulation called "Spread Spectrum". This form of modulation takes the user's
stream of bits and splatters them across a very wide channel in a pseudo-random fashion.
The "pseudo" part is very important here, since the receiver must be able to undo the
randomization in order to collect the bits together in a coherent order. If you are still having
trouble understanding the differences though, perhaps this analogy will help you. This my
own version of an excellent analogy provided by Qualcomm:
Imagine a room full of people, all trying to carry on one-on-one conversations. In VDMA
each couple takes turns talking. They keep their turns short by saying only one sentence at a
time. As there is never more than one person speaking in the room at any given moment, no
one has to worry about being heard over the background din. In CDMA, each couple talk at
the same time, but they all use a different language. Because none of the listeners
understand any language other than that of the individual to whom they are listening, the
background din doesn't cause any real problems.
Voice Encoding
At this point many people confuse two distinctly different issues involved in the
transmission of digital audio. The first is the WAY in which the stream of bits is delivered
from one end to the other. This part of the "air interface" is what makes one technology
different from another. The second is the compression algorithm used to squeeze the audio
into as small a stream of bits as possible.
This latter component is known at the "Voice Coder", or Vocoder for short. Another term
commonly used is CODEC, which is a similar word to modem. It combines the terms "COder"
and "DECoder". Although each technology has chosen their own unique CODECs, there is no
Spectral Efficiency
Channel capacity in a TDMA system is fixed and indisputable. Each channel carries a finite
number of "slots", and you can never accommodate a new caller once each of those slots is
filled. Spectral efficiency varies from one technology to another, but computing a precise
number is still a contentious issue. For example, GSM provides 8 slots in a channel 200 kHz
wide, while IS-136 provides 3 slots in a channel only 30 kHz wide. GSM therefore consumes
25 kHz per user, while IS-136 consumes only 10 kHz per user.
One would be sorely tempted to proclaim that IS-136 has 2.5 times the capacity of GSM. In a
one-cell system this is certainly true, but once we start deploying multiple cells and channel
reuse, the situation becomes more complex. Due to GSM's better error management and
frequency hopping, the interference of a co-channel site is greatly reduced. This allows
frequencies to be reused at closer range without a degradation in the overall quality of the
service.
Capacity is measured in "calls per cell per MHz". An IS-136 system using N=7 reuse (this
means you have 7 different sets of frequencies to spread out around town) the figure is 7.0.
In GSM we get figures of 5.0 for N=4 and 6.6 for N=3. It was hoped that IS-136 could use
tighter reuse than N=7, but its inability to cope with interference made this impossible.
In-building Coverage
Now let's deal with another issue involving CDMA and TDMA. In-building coverage is
something that many people talk about, but few people properly understand. Although
CDMA has a slight edge in this department, due to a marginally greater tolerance for weak
signals, all the technologies fair about the same. This is because the few dB advantage
CDMA has is often "used up" when the provider detunes the sites to take advantage of this
process gain.
Buildings come in many configurations, but the most important aspect to their construction
is the materials used. Steel frame buildings, or those with metal siding, shield their interiors
more thoroughly than building made of wood. Large window openings allow signals to
penetrate more deeply into buildings, so malls with glass roofs will generally provide better
service than fully enclosed ones. More important than the type of building however, is the
proximity of the nearest site. When a site is located just outside a building, it can penetrate
just about any building material. When a site is much further away however, the signals
have a much harder time of getting past the walls of a structure when it comes to distance,
remember that signals are subject to the "distance squared law". This means that signals
decrease by the square of the distance. A site at 0.25 kilometers away will have 4 times the
signal strength of a site at 0.50 kilometers away, and 16 times that of a site 1.0 kilometers
away. Distance squared however, is the rate of signal reduction in free space.
Recent studies have shown that terrestrial communications are usually subject to rates as
high as "Distance cubed", or even "Distance to the 4th". If the latter is true, then a site 1.0
kilometers away will actually be 256 times weaker than a site 0.25 kilometers away.
In-building penetration is therefore less a technology issue than it is an implementation
issue. Service providers who have sites close to the buildings you commonly visit will
inevitably look better those who don't. Never use someone else's in-building experiences
unless you expect to go in the same buildings as they do. You cannot make useful
generalizations about in-building coverage based upon one person's experience.
CDMA does however have one peculiarity concerning in-building penetration that does not
affect TDMA. When the number of users on a channel goes up, the general level of signal
pollution goes up in tandem. To compensate for this the CDMA system directs each phone
to transmit with slightly more power. However, if a phone is already at its limit (such as
might be the case inside a building) it cannot do anything to "keep up with the pack". This
condition is known as "the shrinking coverage phenomenon" or "site breathing". During
slow periods of the day you might find coverage inside a specific building quite good. During
rush hour however, you might find it exceedingly poor (or non-existent).
ADVANTAGES OF CDMA
♦No SIM card is required.
♦Improved call quality: CDMA provides better and more consistent sound quality than
systems based on other technologies.
♦Enhanced privacy when compared to systems using other technologies.
♦Increased talk time and standby time for mobiles.
♦They are difficult to intercept for an unauthorized person.
♦They are easily hidden. For an unauthorized person, it is difficult to ever detect their
presence in many cases.
♦They are resistant to jamming.
♦Capacity increases of 8 to 10 times that of an AMPS Analog system, and 4 to 5 times GSM ,
because of CDMA’s unique spread spectrum technology.
♦Many users can share the same carrier frequency, and without time-sharing. This means
that mobile phone service providers can handle more customers on a CDMA network than
on a GSM network.
♦Improved call quality, with better and more consistent sound , CDMA systems use precise
power control—that is, the base station sends commands to every mobile phone currently
involved in a call, turning down the power on the nearby ones, and increasing the power of
those further away. The result is a nice, even noise level across the carrier, with lower
overall power levels and no spiky interference.
♦In this civilized atmosphere, each station can easily pick out its own coded data frames,
decode them and deliver a clean end result. Dropped calls are minimized by CDMA's unique
ability to keep every sector of every cell on the same frequency, so handoffs are "soft" as
DISADVANTAGES
Collision :
In general, the collisions at the channel is a disadvantage of CDMA system and can be
mitigated by careful selection of the sequence and power control that is close to perfect.
Roaming :
Since most countries have chosen the GSM standard, “roaming” on CDMA is limited.
M-commerce :
A CDMA doesn’t have a SIM card, which makes m-commerce difficult.
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BSNL |JAGDISH S SHETE 07DDEC159 40
Books Being Referred:-
6.Multiple Access” IEEE Trans. On Commun., vol 43, pp. 2139-2148, June 1995.
7.COMPUTER NETWORKS, 3rd Ed. - By Andrew S. Tanenbaum