CDMA

Agenda
 Multiple access techniques
 History of CDMA
 CDMA standards
 Spread Spectrum
 CDMA technology
 Fr equ enc y Divi sio n M ulti pl e
Acces s
Fr eq ue ncy Di vi si on
 Each Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
subscriber is using the same medium (air) for
communicating, but they are assigned a specific frequency
channel. While they are using the frequency channel, no
one else in that cell or neighboring cell can use the
frequency channel.

FD MA Co cktai l Par ty (an al ogy)

 One couple have continuous access to the room. But, no
one else can use the room while they are in it.
 Tim e Divi si on M ulti pl e
Acces s

Time Di vi si on
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) subscribers share a
common frequency channel, but use the channel only for
a short time. They are each given a time slot and allowed
to transmit during that time slot only. When all of the
available time slots in a given frequency are used the next
user must be assigned to a time slot on another
frequency.

TDMA Co ck ta il Pa rty (an al ogy)

 Subscribers have access to the same room, but only a pair
of them can use the room for a short time. Then they
must leave and another couple enters. Throughout the
evening, the subscribers rotate usage of the room.
 Code D iv isio n M ultip le
Acces s

Co de D ivi sio n
 Code Division Multiple Access subscribers share a common
channel (frequency).
 Al l use rs are on the same frequ en cy at the sa me
time , they are divided however by codes.

CD MA C ockt ai l P art y (ana logy )

 All subscribers are in the same room together. They can
be all talking at the same time. They can be grouped
together or standing across the room from each other.
 Unlike the other two multiple access systems, they do not
have to leave the room!
 HISTORY
 Spread-spectrum (SS) communications
technology was first described on paper by an
actress and a musician!
 In 1941, Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and
pianist George Antheil described a secure radio
link to control torpedos and received U.S. patent
#2.292.387.
 It was not taken seriously at that time by the U.S.
Army and was forgotten until the 1980s, then
came alive, and has become increasingly popular
for applications that involve radio links in hostile
environments.
 CDMA
 All CDMA users occupy the same frequency at the
same time! Frequency and time are not used as
discriminators
 CDMA operates by using CODING to discriminate
between users
 CDMA interference comes mainly from nearby
users
 Each user is a small voice in a roaring crowd --but
with a uniquely recoverable code.
 Introd uct ion to C DMA
 Code Di vis ion Mul tip le Ac cess (CDMA ) is a
radically new concept in wireless communications.

 It has gained widespread international acceptance

by cellular radio system operators as an upgrade
that will dramatically increase both their system
capacity and the service quality.

 It has likewise been chosen for deployment by

the majority of the United States Personal
Communications System spectrum auctions.
 Introd uct ion to C DMA
 CDMA is a form of spread-spectrum, a family of
digital communication techniques that have been
used in military applications for many years.
 The core principle of spread spectrum is the use of
noise-like carrier waves, and, as the name implies,
bandwidths much wider than that required for
simple point-to-point communication at the same
data rate.
 Originally there were two motivations: either to
resist enemy efforts to jam the communications
(anti-jam, or AJ), or to hide the fact that
communication was even taking place, sometimes
called low probability of intercept (LPI).
 Thr ee Types of Sp read
Spectr um Co mmu nicati ons
There are three ways to spread the bandwidth of the signal:
 Frequ ency ho ppin g: The signal is rapidly switched
between different frequencies within the hopping
bandwidth pseudo-randomly, and the receiver knows
before hand where to find the signal at any given time.
 Time ho ppin g: The signal is transmitted in short bursts
pseudo-randomly, and the receiver knows beforehand
when to expect the burst.
 Dire ct seque nce : The digital data is directly coded at a
much higher frequency. The code is generated pseudo-
randomly, the receiver knows how to generate the same
code, and correlates the received signal with that code to
extract the data.
Ty pes of CD MA
 Fr eq uen cy- Ho pp in g
 Each user’s narrowband signal hops among discrete
frequencies, and the receiver follows in sequence
 Fr eq uen cy- Ho pp in gSpr ea d
Spect rum(F HSS )CDMA is NOT currently used in
wireless systems, although used by the military
Ty pes of CD MA
 Dir ect Seque nce
 narrowband input from a user is coded (“spread”) by
a user-unique code, then transmitted.
 transmitted signal is received; receiver knows,
applies user’s code, recovers users’data.
 Dir ect Seque nce Sprea d Spe ctr um( DSSS )CDMA
is the method used in IS-95 commercial systems
 The use of CDMA for civilian mobile radio
applications is novel. It was proposed theoretically
in the late 1940's, but the practical application in
the civilian marketplace did not take place until 40
years later.
 Commercial applications became possible because
of the availability of very low cost, high density
digital integrated circuits, which reduce the size,
weight, and cost of the subscriber stations to an
acceptably low level.
 CDMA changes the nature of the subscriber
station from a predominately analog device to a
predominately digital device.
 Multiple users occupy the same frequency band.
 Each user's signal is spread over the entire
bandwidth by a uni que s prea di ng code .
 At the receiver, that same unique code is used to
recover the signal.
 Features of CDMA
 Dramatically improving the telephone traffic capacity
 Dramatically improving the voice quality and eliminating
the audible effects of multipath fading
 Reducing the incidence of dropped calls due to handoff
failures
 Providing reliable transport mechanism for data
communications, such as facsimile and internet traffic
 Reducing the number of sites needed to support any
given amount of traffic
 Simplifying site selection
 Reducing deployment and operating costs because fewer
cell sites are needed
 Reducing average transmitted power
 Reducing interference to other electronic devices
CDMA

Technology Family
 2G - cdmaOne
 cdmaOne describes a complete wireless
system based on the TIA/EIA IS-95 CDMA
standard, including IS-95A and IS-95B
revisions.
 It represents the end-to-end wireless
system and all the necessary specifications
that govern its operation.
 IS -95A: The f irs t C DM A
cel lu lar stan dar d
 TIA/EIA IS-95 (Telecommunications Industry
Association / Electronic Industries Association
Interim Standard - 95) was first published in
July 1993.
 The IS-95A revision was published in May 1995
and is the basis for many of the commercial 2G
CDMA systems around the world.
 In addition to voice services, IS-95A provide
circuit-switched data connections at 14.4 kbps.
 IS-95A was first deployed in September 1995
by Hutchison (HK).
 IS- 95B: 2.5G
 IS-95B systems offer 64 kbps packet-switched
data, in addition to voice services.
 Due to the data speeds IS-95B is capable of
reaching, it is categorized as a 2.5G technology.
 cdmaOne IS-95B was first deployed in September
1999 in Korea and has since been adopted by
operators in Japan and Peru
 2G - cd ma On e A dv antages
 When implemented in a cellular network, cdmaOne
technology offers numerous benefits to the cellular
operators and their subscribers.
 Capacity increases of 8 to 10 times that of an AMPS
analog system and 4 to 5 times that of a GSM system
 Improved call quality, with better and more
consistent sound as compared to AMPS systems
 Simplified system planning through the use of the
same frequency in every sector of every cell
 Enhanced privacy
 Improved coverage characteristics, allowing for the
possibility of fewer cell sites
 Increased talk time for portables
 Bandwidth on demand
CDMA

The Technology
CDM A Sy stem Blo ck D ia gr am

Steps in Generating a CDMA Signal

1. Voice is digitized.
2. Digitized voice is vocoded.
3. Digital signal is encoded and interleaver.
4. Encoded signals are spread (channelized).
5. The digital signal converted and
transmitted as a radio signal.
 CDMA is a form of Direct Sequence Spread
Spectrum communications. In general,
Spread Spectrum communications is
distinguished by three key elements:
 1. The signal occupies a bandwidth much
greater than that which is necessary to send
the information. This results in many benefits,
such as immunity to interference and jamming
and multi-user access.
 2. The bandwidth is spread by means of a code which is
independent of the data.
 3. The receiver synchronizes to the code to recover the
data. The use of an independent code and synchronous
reception allows multiple users to access the same
frequency band at the same time.
 In order to protect the signal, the code used is pseudo-
random. It appears random, but is actually deterministic,
so that the receiver can reconstruct the code for
synchronous detection. This pseudo-random code is also
called pseudo-noise (PN).
Signal transmission consists of the following
steps:
 1. A pseudo-random code is generated,

different for each channel and each

successive connection.
 2. The Information data modulates the

pseudo-random code (the Information data is

“spread”).
 3. The resulting signal modulates a carrier.

 4. The modulated carrier is amplified and

broadcast.
Signal reception consists of the following steps:
1. The carrier is received and amplified.
2. The received signal is mixed with a local
carrier to recover the spread digital signal.
3. A pseudo-random code is generated,
matching the anticipated signal.
4. The receiver acquires the received code and
phase locks its own code to it.
5. The received signal is correlated with the
generated code, extracting the Information
data.
 Gen erati ng Pseu do -Ran do m
Codes
 For each channel the base station generates a
unique code that changes for every connection.
 The base station adds together all the coded
transmissions for every subscriber.
 The subscriber unit correctly generates its own
matching code and uses it to extract the
appropriate signals. Note that each subscriber uses
several independent channels.
 In order for all this to occur, the pseudo-random
code must have the following properties:
 1. It must be deterministic. The subscriber station must
be able to independently generate the code that
matches the base station code.
 2. It must appear random to a listener without prior
knowledge of the code
 3. The cross-correlation between any two codes must
be small
 4. The code must have a long period (i.e. a long time
before the code repeats itself).
Code Correlation
 In this context, correlation has a specific
mathematical meaning. In general the
correlation function has these properties:
 It equals 1 if the two codes are identical
 It equals 0 of the two codes have nothing in
common
 Intermediate values indicate how much the
codes have in common. The more they have
in common, the harder it is for the receiver to
extract the appropriate signal.
 There are two correlation functions:
 Cross-Correlation: The correlation of two different
codes. As we’ve said, this should be as small as
possible.
 Auto-Correlation: The correlation of a code with a
time-delayed version of itself. In order to reject
multi-path interference, this function should equal
0 for any time delay other than zero.
 The receiver uses cross-correlation to
separate the appropriate signal from signals
meant for other receivers, and auto-
correlation to reject multi-path interference.
Pseudo-Nois e Sp re adin g
Freq uen cy Sp rea din g
Ps eudo-No ise Sp read in g
 Some terminology related to the pseudo-
random code:
 Chipping Frequency (fc): the bit rate of the PN
code.
 Information rate (fi): the bit rate of the digital
data.
 Chip: One bit of the PN code.
 Epoch: The length of time before the code starts
repeating itself (the period of the code. The epoch
is on the order of several seconds).
Processing Gain
 An important concept
relating to the bandwidth
is the processing gain
(Gp). This is a theoretical
system gain that reflects
the relative advantage
that frequency spreading
provides. The processing
gain is equal to the ratio
of the chipping frequency
to the data frequency
 There are two major benefits from high
processing gain:
 Interference rejection: the ability of the system to
reject interference is directly proportional to Gp.
 System capacity: the capacity of the system is
directly proportional to Gp.
 So the higher the PN code bit rate (the wider
the CDMA bandwidth), the better the system
performance.
Tran smitt in g D ata
 The resultant coded signal next modulates an
RF carrier for transmission using Quadrature
Phase Shift Keying (QPSK). QPSK uses four
different states to encode each symbol. The
four states are phase shifts of the carrier
spaced 90_ apart. By convention, the phase
shifts are 45, 135, 225, and 315 degrees.
Since there are four possible states used to
encode binary information, each state
represents two bits (00,10,11,01). This two
bit “word” is called a symbol.