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Introduction to CDMA
Prepared by:
Revision 3
Upon successful completion of this unit, the student should be able to describe:
• The definition of CDMA and its theoretical advantages
• The direct sequence modulation technique
• The concept of physical and logical channels
• The concept of call quality, how it is measured, and how it affects system capacity
• The CDMA advantage as provided by the utilization of the RAKE receiver
• The factors affecting the capacity of CDMA systems
• The various handoffs associated with CDMA
• The basic reverse link and forward link processes of a CDMA system
• Some basic concerns associated with engineering a CDMA system
RF Engineering Continuing Education & Training
Introduction to CDMA Neeraj Gift to Saju
Table of Contents
1 DEFINITION OF CDMA ...................................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 CDMA BASICS ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
1.2 CDMA POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY & NOISE ....................................................................................................... 8
1.3 ADVANTAGES OF CDMA.................................................................................................................................... 10
1.3.1 Frequency Reuse ...................................................................................................................................... 10
1.3.2 Coherent Signal Combination .................................................................................................................. 10
1.3.3 User Privacy............................................................................................................................................. 11
1.4 COVERAGE AND CAPACITY LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................... 11
1.5 COMPARISON OF MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES .............................................................................................. 11
1.5.1 FDMA....................................................................................................................................................... 11
1.5.2 TDMA ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
1.5.3 Multiple access: division by code............................................................................................................. 12
2 CDMA SPREAD SPECTRUM TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................... 13
2.1 IS-95 AND IS-95-A CDMA: ............................................................................................................................... 13
2.2 FORWARD AND REVERSE LINKS.......................................................................................................................... 13
2.3 CORRELATION AND ORTHOGONALITY ................................................................................................................ 13
2.4 PN SEQUENCE..................................................................................................................................................... 14
2.5 CHIPS AND CHIP RATE ........................................................................................................................................ 15
2.6 BIT RATE ............................................................................................................................................................ 15
2.7 TRAFFIC FRAME .................................................................................................................................................. 15
2.8 PROCESSING GAIN .............................................................................................................................................. 15
2.9 EB/NT, BER, AND OTHER FIGURES OF MERIT ...................................................................................................... 16
2.10 SUMMARY OF CODES..................................................................................................................................... 16
2.10.1 PN Long Code .......................................................................................................................................... 16
2.10.2 PN Short Codes ........................................................................................................................................ 17
2.10.3 Walsh Codes ............................................................................................................................................. 17
2.11 CDMA CALL QUALITY (EB/NT) ..................................................................................................................... 18
2.12 COHERENT VS. NON-COHERENT DETECTION ................................................................................................. 19
3 CDMA PHYSICAL AND LOGICAL CHANNELS.......................................................................................... 20
3.1 PHYSICAL CHANNEL ........................................................................................................................................... 20
3.2 LOGICAL CHANNEL ............................................................................................................................................. 20
3.2.1 Forward Link (Downlink)......................................................................................................................... 20
3.2.1.1 Pilot ....................................................................................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1.2 Sync Channel ........................................................................................................................................................ 21
3.2.1.3 Paging Channel ..................................................................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1.4 Traffic Channel ..................................................................................................................................................... 21
3.2.1.5 Power Control Sub-Channel.................................................................................................................................. 22
3.2.2 Reverse Link (Uplink)............................................................................................................................... 22
3.2.2.1 Access Channel ..................................................................................................................................................... 23
3.2.2.2 Traffic Channel ..................................................................................................................................................... 23
4 CDMA MODULATION & DEMODULATION ............................................................................................... 24
4.1 TYPES OF SPREAD SPECTRUM MODULATION ...................................................................................................... 24
4.1.1 Frequency Hopping .................................................................................................................................. 24
4.1.2 Direct Sequence........................................................................................................................................ 24
4.2 SPREAD SPECTRUM (CDMA) MODULATION EXAMPLE: ENCODING AND DECODING OF INFORMATION ............. 25
4.2.1 Spread Spectrum Transmit Process.......................................................................................................... 25
4.2.2 Spread Spectrum Receive Process............................................................................................................ 26
4.2.3 Multiple Signal Case ................................................................................................................................ 27
5 THE CDMA ADVANTAGE - THE RAKE RECEIVER AND THE MULTIPATH ENVIRONMENT ..... 29
5.1 A BRIEF REVIEW OF MULTIPATH AND ITS EFFECT ON ANALOG AND DIGITAL TRANSMISSIONS........................... 29
5.2 THE RAKE RECEIVER ........................................................................................................................................ 31
5.3 COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF MULTIPATH ON FDMA, TDMA, AND CDMA. .............................................. 35
5.3.1 FDMA....................................................................................................................................................... 35
5.3.2 TDMA ....................................................................................................................................................... 35
5.3.3 CDMA....................................................................................................................................................... 37
5.3.4 Summary of Multipath Effects .................................................................................................................. 37
5.4 RAKE RECEIVER EXAMPLE: IMPROVEMENT IN CALL QUALITY (EB/NT) ............................................................ 37
6 DYNAMIC POWER CONTROL ....................................................................................................................... 38
6.1 THE “NEAR-FAR” PROBLEM ............................................................................................................................... 39
6.2 REVERSE LINK .................................................................................................................................................... 39
6.2.1 Open-Loop................................................................................................................................................ 39
6.2.2 Closed-Loop ............................................................................................................................................. 39
6.3 FORWARD LINK .................................................................................................................................................. 40
7 CDMA IMPLEMENTATION AND DIGITAL RADIO LINK PROCESSES ............................................... 41
7.1 FORWARD LINK .................................................................................................................................................. 41
7.1.1 Variable Rate Speech Coding................................................................................................................... 42
7.1.2 Channel Coding........................................................................................................................................ 43
7.1.3 Bit Interleaving......................................................................................................................................... 44
7.1.4 Encryption: Long Code Scrambling ........................................................................................................ 44
7.1.4.1 Paging Channel Encryption................................................................................................................................... 45
7.1.4.2 Access Channel Encryption .................................................................................................................................. 46
7.1.4.3 Traffic Channel Encryption................................................................................................................................... 46
7.1.5 Walsh Function Modulation ..................................................................................................................... 46
7.1.5.1 Power Control Signaling Subchannel Modulation ................................................................................................ 46
7.1.5.2 Forward Link Base Station Transmit Power Control ............................................................................................ 47
7.1.6 Quadrature Spreading & Carrier Modulation ......................................................................................... 48
7.2 REVERSE LINK .................................................................................................................................................... 49
7.2.1 Variable Low Bit Rate Speech Coding ..................................................................................................... 50
7.2.2 Channel Coding........................................................................................................................................ 51
7.2.3 Bit Interleaving......................................................................................................................................... 52
7.2.4 64-ary Orthogonal Walsh Symbol Modulation ........................................................................................ 52
7.2.5 Encryption: Long Code Spreading.......................................................................................................... 53
7.2.6 Quadrature Spreading & Carrier Modulation ......................................................................................... 54
7.3 SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM .................................................................................................................................. 55
8 CDMA CAPACITY.............................................................................................................................................. 56
8.1 THE GENERAL CASE ........................................................................................................................................... 56
8.2 ADJUSTMENTS TO THE GENERAL CASE ............................................................................................................... 57
8.2.1 Sectorization Gain .................................................................................................................................... 57
8.2.2 Voice Activity Factor ................................................................................................................................ 58
8.2.3 Frequency Reuse Efficiency (IADJ.) ........................................................................................................... 58
8.3 DEFINITION OF POLE POINT ................................................................................................................................ 58
8.4 THE POLE POINT EQUATION................................................................................................................................ 59
9 CDMA HANDOFF ............................................................................................................................................... 60
9.1 HANDOFF TERMINOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 60
9.1.1 Introduction to TADD, TDROP & TCOMP ........................................................................................................ 60
9.1.2 Handoff Candidate Classification ............................................................................................................ 61
9.2 TYPES OF HANDOFFS .......................................................................................................................................... 61
9.2.1 Soft Handoff.............................................................................................................................................. 62
9.2.1.1 Forward Link......................................................................................................................................................... 62
List of Figures
FIGURE 1-1: COMPARISON OF INFORMATION AND TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH ................................................................. 9
FIGURE 1-2: NOISE IN NARROW BAND AND SPREAD SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS ............................................ 9
FIGURE 1-1: COMPARISON OF MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES ....................................................................................... 12
FIGURE 2-1: AUTOCORRELATION OF PSEUDO-NOISE BIT SEQUENCE.................................................................................. 14
FIGURE 2-2 FOUR-STAGE SHIFT REGISTER: GENERATION OF PN SEQUENCE ..................................................................... 15
FIGURE 2-1: SUMMARY OF SEQUENCES USED IN CDMA SPREAD SPECTRUM ................................................................... 18
FIGURE 2-1: EXAMPLE OF FER TO EB/NT RELATION: DIFFERENT FOR FORWARD AND REVERSE LINK .................. 19
FIGURE 3-1: FORWARD LINK CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTS .................................................................................................... 20
FIGURE 3-2: REVERSE LINK CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTS ...................................................................................................... 22
FIGURE 4-1: SPREAD SPECTURM TRANSMIT PROCESS ...................................................................................................... 25
FIGURE 4-2: SPREAD SPECTRUM RECEIVE PROCESS ......................................................................................................... 26
FIGURE 5-1: DESTRUCTIVE INTERFERENCE DUE TO MULTIPATH ...................................................................................... 30
FIGURE 5-1: SINGLE TRANSMITTER WITH MULTIPATH ..................................................................................................... 31
FIGURE 5-2: TYPICAL SINGLE TRANSMITTER BAND-LIMITED CHANNEL IMPULSE RESPONSE WITH FIVE DISCRETE
MULTIPATH COMPONENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 32
FIGURE 5-3: COHERENT COMBINATION OF THREE STRONGEST MULTIPATH COMPONENTS FROM A SINGLE TRANSMITTER
................................................................................................................................................................................ 33
FIGURE 5-4: MULTIPLE TRANSMITTERS WITH MULTIPATH ............................................................................................... 34
FIGURE 5-5: TYPICAL MULTIPLE TRANSMITTER BAND-LIMITED CHANNEL IMPULSE RESPONSE WITH DISCRETE
MULTIPATH COMPONENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 34
FIGURE 5-6: COHERENT COMBINATION OF THREE STRONGEST COMPONENTS OF A TYPICAL MULTIPLE TRANSMITTER
BAND-LIMITED CHANNEL IMPULSE RESPONSE WITH DISCRETE MULTIPATH COMPONENTS .................................... 35
FIGURE 5-1: TIME DISPERSION ......................................................................................................................................... 36
FIGURE 7-1: CDMA DIGITAL RADIO FORWARD LINK PROCESS ....................................................................................... 42
FIGURE 7-2: FORWARD LINK SPEECH PROCESSING AT THE NETWORK SIDE ...................................................................... 43
FIGURE 7-3: CHANNEL CODING PROCESS ......................................................................................................................... 44
FIGURE 7-4: BIT INTERLEAVING ....................................................................................................................................... 44
FIGURE 7-5: FORWARD LINK SCRAMBLING FOR TRAFFIC AND PAGING CHANNELS .......................................................... 45
FIGURE 7-6: POWER CONTROL SIGNALING SUBCHANNEL ................................................................................................ 47
FIGURE 7-7: FORWARD LINK BASE STATION TRANSMIT POWER CONTROL ...................................................................... 48
FIGURE 7-8: FORWARD LINK QUADRATURE SPREADING AND CARRIER MODULATION .................................................... 49
FIGURE 7-1: CDMA REVERSE LINK RADIO PROCESS ....................................................................................................... 50
FIGURE 7-2: SPEECH PROCESSING AT MOBILE SIDE ......................................................................................................... 51
FIGURE 7-3: REVERSE LINK CHANNEL CODING PROCESS ................................................................................................. 52
FIGURE 7-4: REVERSE LINK BIT INTERLEAVING ............................................................................................................... 52
FIGURE 7-5: REVERSE LINK TRAFFIC CHANNEL SPREADING, POWER CONTROL GROUP GATING, AND ENCRYPTION ....... 54
FIGURE 7-6: REVERSE LINK QUADRATURE SPREADING AND CARRIER MODULATION ...................................................... 55
FIGURE 7-1: CDMA FORWARD LINK (BASE TO MOBILE) PHYSICAL LAYER .................................................................... 55
FIGURE 7-2: CDMA REVERSE LINK (MOBILE TO BASE) PHYSICAL LAYER ...................................................................... 56
FIGURE 9-1: MOBILE UNIT TRANSITIONS INTO A REGION DEFINED BY TWO PILOT CHANNELS GREATER THAN T_ADD
(SOFT HAND-OFF).................................................................................................................................................... 64
FIGURE 9-2: MOBILE UNIT TRANSITIONS INTO A REGION DEFINED BY FOUR OR MORE PILOT CHANNELS GREATER THAN
T_ADD ................................................................................................................................................................... 65
FIGURE 9-3: MOBILE UNIT TRANSITIONS THROUGH A REGION DEFINED BY TWO PREVAILING PILOTS GREATER THAN
T_ADD. .................................................................................................................................................................. 66
FIGURE 11-1: TYPICAL CDMA SYSTEM PARAMETERS ..................................................................................................... 74
FIGURE 11-1: COMPARISON OF COVERAGE DUE TO CHANGE IN TRAFFIC (5% TO 80% OF THEORETICAL CAPACITY) ........ 75
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 4-1: SUMMARY OF FREQUENCY HOPPING QUALITIES ........................................................................................... 24
TABLE 4-2: SUMMARY OF DIRECT SEQUENCE SPREAD SPECTRUM QUALITIES ................................................................. 25
TABLE 5-1: CALL QUALITY DB TO LINEAR CONVERSION TABLE ..................................................................................... 38
TABLE 6-1: FORWARD LINK TCE ATTENUATION LEVEL VS. VOICE CODING RATE .......................................................... 40
TABLE 6-2: BASE STATION NOMINAL CHANNEL POWER ALLOCATIONS .......................................................................... 40
TABLE 7-1: BASE STATION TRANSMIT POWER VS. DATA RATE........................................................................................ 48
TABLE 7-2: I AND Q BITS AND CORRESPONDING PHASE MODULATION STATE ................................................................. 49
TABLE 7-1: I AND Q BITS AND CORRESPONDING PHASE MODULATION STATE ................................................................. 54
TABLE 9-1: PILOT SEARCH PARAMETERS ......................................................................................................................... 61
TABLE 11-1: RECEIVER SENSITIVITY FOR DIFFERENT CDMA CHANNEL TYPES ............................................................... 70
TABLE 11-2: SIMPLIFIED EXAMPLE OF IS-95 CDMA LINK BUDGET FOR IN-VEHICLE COVERAGE ................................... 71
TABLE 11-1: SUMMARY OF PARAMETERS USED TO CALCULATE NOMINAL CELL RADIUS, AND CALCULATED CELL RADIUS
FOR EACH AREA TYPE AND ANTENNA CONFIGURATION OF A TYPICAL SYSTEM AT 50% LOADING. ........................... 73
TABLE 11-1: TYPICAL DELAY SPREAD VALUES FOR DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT TYPES .................................................. 76
LIST OF EQUATIONS
EQUATION 2-1: DEFINITION OF CORRELATION ................................................................................................................. 14
EQUATION 2-1: PROCESS GAIN ....................................................................................................................................... 16
EQUATION 2-1: FRAME ERROR RATE ............................................................................................................................... 18
EQUATION 5-1: ∆ PATH LENGTH ...................................................................................................................................... 32
EQUATION 5-1: CALL QUALITY DB TO LINEAR CONVERSION........................................................................................... 38
EQUATION 8-1: CAPACITY EQUATION (GENERAL FORM) ............................................................................................. 57
EQUATION 8-1: POLE POINT EQUATION............................................................................................................................ 59
EQUATION 11-1: CALCULATION OF NOMINAL CELL RADII ............................................................................................... 73
1 Definition of CDMA
Cellular and Personal Communications Services (PCS) face an ever-increasing number of users
sharing a limited amount of spectrum. In order to accommodate this increasing demand for
communication services, providers must increase system capacity without degrading the quality of
service to an unacceptable level. One approach for meeting increased subscriber demand is the use
of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). CDMA is a digital spread spectrum technology that
has been used for military and satellite communications for several decades. CDMA, as it applies
to the land mobile telephone environment, is new and is most easily defined or explained by
comparison with more familiar technologies and simple example. Section 1 addresses some basic
characteristics and parameters associated with and unique to CDMA.
τ t n
τ f
τ t n
τ f
The thermal noise encountered in a narrow band communication system is typically considered to
be constant (for a given temperature) over frequency. This level of background noise power
contained in a given bandwidth is called the noise floor. In the case of narrow band
communications, concentrating the transmitting energy in a narrow frequency band provides a
received RF signal that is above the noise floor. Having the signal sufficiently above the noise floor
is critical to being able to detect and receive (demodulate) the narrow band signal. This is measured
as ratio of the desired signal energy per bit (Eb) to total system noise (Nt). For spread spectrum
systems, the transmitted energy is spread over such a wide bandwidth that the received signal
density may be below the noise floor – yet it is still recoverable knowing the correct spreading
sequence (code). This is illustrated in Figure 1-2.
-60
RSL
-80
Pwr
(dBm) Wide Band
-100 Noise Floor
(1.23 MHz)
-120
Narrow Band
Noise Floor
-140 (30 kHz)
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
Distance
Figure 1-2: Noise in Narrow Band and Spread Spectrum Communication Systems
Unique Features
The following is a list of features that differentiate CDMA from analog cellular telephone (AMPS).
These features will be explained in later sections.
• Spread Spectrum Modulation – Narrow band information is transmitted
over a wide band RF channel.
• N=1 Frequency Reuse – Multiple users (in adjacent cells) operate on the
same frequency.
• Code Division Access – Each user and base station is associated with a
unique code rather than a frequency or time slot.
• Coherent Multiple Transmission (CMT) – Multiple base stations
simultaneously transmit to a given mobile user.
• Coherent Multiple Reception (CMR) – mobile units coherently combine
multipath components and signals from multiple base stations.
• Dynamic Power Control – Forward and reverse link transmit power is
controlled to the minimum required to achieve the link.
• Variable Rate Speech Encoding – Voice is encoded at a slower rate when
the user is not speaking in order to minimize transmitted power and system
interference.
1.5.1 FDMA
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) is used in conventional analog cellular systems (e.g.
AMPS, NMT). The FDMA process assigns discrete frequencies (i.e. channels) to individual users.
It is considered multiple access in that a number of users can simultaneously use the system
providing there is sufficient spectrum to accommodate each user. Accordingly, the capacity of this
system is limited by the amount of available spectrum.
1.5.2 TDMA
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is employed in digital communication systems. TDMA is
used in cellular systems such as Digital-AMPS and GSM. It is considered multiple access in that a
number of encoded messages can be transmitted over time on a common carrier frequency. TDMA
assigns discrete time slots on a common carrier frequency to each user. During the time slot
designated for a specific user, digital information is burst out using the entire allocated RF channel.
Information is recovered by the receiver which decodes information only in its designated time slot.
As the number of users increases, the transmission bit rate and associated bandwidth increases.
Hence, TDMA is also limited by the amount of available spectrum.
Note that TDMA may be coupled with FDMA to further increase system capacity. Each channel in
an FDMA system may be time-division multiplexed between several users.
Code
...
e
e e Tim
...
Tim Tim
Us
e
U Us r 4
Us ser 2 er 3
e Us
er 1 Us r1 e
Us ser 2 3 Use er 3 Us r 2
U ser 4 Use r 2 er 1
A
Ba lloca U ser r1
ndw ted
idth
U
CDMA air interface for PCS applications is described in Interim Standard 95-A (IS-95-A). The
basic CDMA process is the same in both standards. Note however that IS-95-A specifies a
maximum data rate of 14.4 kbps where as IS-95 specifies a maximum rate of 9.6 kbps.
1
Term cdmaOne has been adopted by CDG as a designator for CDMA technology based on IS-95 and accompanying
standards.
The correlation of two sequences can be determined by multiplying the received signals and
summing them over time. Correlation of two bit sequences is defined by
1 L
R AB (n) = ⋅ ∑ A(k ) ⋅ B (k + n)
L k =1
Where:
2.4 PN Sequence
The Pseudo-Noise (PN) Sequence (periodic and noise like) is fundamental to all direct sequence
spread spectrum systems. The PN sequence is a finite length binary sequence (code) that exhibits
properties similar to those of an infinite length random sequence. A good PN sequence is such that
the number of 1's versus the number of 0's (or -1's) are equal. The correlation of a PN sequence
with itself results in only 1 peak. It is illustrated in Figure 2-1, for any offset other than zero PN
sequence is totally uncorrelated with itself. This property is the foundation for finding the desired
code among all other PN codes.
RAA(n)
1
-L -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 L
0 time [Tc]
-1/L
1 2 3 4
0001
1000
1100
1110
1111
0111
1011
0101
MAXIMUM LENTGH OF 1010
SEQUENCE: 2 4-1=15 1101
0110
0011
1001
0100
0010
Rc
Process Gain =
Rb
Rc = 1.2288 Mcps,
Rb = 9.6 kbps (max), resulting in
Process Gain = 128 or 21.07 dB.
The generation of a Long Code is governed by Long Code Mask. A long code mask is a 42 bit
code which define the initial values used by the long code generator. Knowledge of this long code
mask allows the base station or mobile user to generate the same PN Long Code. Generating the
same long code (synchronized in time) at both end of the link allows information to be encrypted
and decrypted.
A unique and private, long code mask (thus, PN long code) is assigned to each CDMA user. This
code is referred to as a “user mask”. The user mask is exchanged between the mobile and the
serving cell(s)/sector(s), which allows user traffic data to be encrypted on both the forward and
reverse links.
A different long code mask is used to generate the long code for encryption and decryption of
Access and Paging information – more on this later.
242 - 1 bits
215 bits
64 chip offsets
PN short codes: PN-i(t) = PN-0 (t - i x 64Tc) used to identify
base station/sector
to the mobile
64 bits
The “rate X ” term refers to the specific rate at which voice information is being encoded by the
variable rate vocoder.
System performance is typically characterized by plotting Frame Error Rate vs. Received signal
Eb/Nt. These plots are known as “waterfall curves” due to their shape. These are similar to Bit
Error Rate (BER) curves for other digital communication systems. An example plot of this type is
shown in Figure 2-1 for different modulation types. Specific CDMA performance curves are not
shown as they are specific to vendor hardware. CDMA systems require a Frame Error Rate of less
than 1% for acceptable call quality. This roughly corresponds to a Bit Error Rate (BER) of 10-3 .
10 -3
10 -4
10 -5
10 -6
-3 -1 1 3 5 7 9 11
Average Despread Eb/Nt
Figure 2-1: Example of FER to Eb/Nt relation: different for Forward and Reverse Link
Non-coherent reception implies detection of only the magnitude of received signals. The phase of
the incoming signals is not known. As there is no pilot sequence transmitted on the reverse link,
this type of receiver must be used. CDMA systems are therefore considered to be reverse link
limited with regards to call quality.
It is important to note that signals on the forward link are identified by Walsh codes, however, signals
on the reverse link are identified by Long Codes.
Pilot
Chan
Sync
Chan
Paging
Ch 1 ...
up to
Paging
Ch 7
Traf
Ch 1 ... Traf
Ch n ...
up to
Traf
Ch 24
Traf
Ch 25 ...
up to
Traf
Ch 55
W0 W32 W1 W7 W8 W31 W33 W63
Traffic Overhead
Data Control Bits
3.2.1.1 Pilot
The Pilot Channel allows a mobile station to acquire the timing of the Forward Traffic Channel -
user information. It provides a phase reference for coherent demodulation and provides a means for
signal strength comparisons between base stations, which is used to determine when to handoff. It
consists of the unmodulated final spreading sequences (PN short codes). The Pilot signal is
transmitted continuously on Walsh 0 by each CDMA base station at the transmitter (cell/sector)
level.
Page channel messaging to each user takes place in an 80 ms “slot”. The 80 ms slots are grouped
into cycles of 2048 slots (cycle duration 163.84 s) referred to as maximum slot cycles. The base
station can limit the maximum slot cycle used by the mobile. The mobile randomly picks a “slot
cycle index” and informs the base station of its choice when it registers. The mobile now only
monitors the Page channel during its assigned 80 ms slot defined by:
where: SLOT_CYCLE_INDEX is {0 … 7}
That is to say… for a slot cycle index of 5, the mobile “powers up” and monitors the Page channel
for 80 ms once every 1.28 x 25 = 40.96 seconds. This process of periodic monitoring allows
considerable power savings by the mobile unit.
Access
Ch 1
... Access
Ch n
Traf
Ch 1
................. Traf
Ch 55
up to
Addressed by Long Codes
User Data
and/or
Control
Advantages Disadvantages
• Can be programmed to avoid portions • Not useful for location and velocity
of the spectrum measurements
Advantages Disadvantages
• Better noise & anti-jam performance • Requires wide band channel with little
than frequency hopping for a fixed phase distortion
transmission bandwidth.
RF Signal
S(t)C1(t)Cos(ωct)
Where:
S(t) = Desired information signal as a function of time (digital signal).
C1(t) = CDMA PN code as a function of time (comprised of a known binary
pattern).
Cos(ωct) = Desired RF carrier frequency.
S(t)*C1(t)*Cos(ωct) = Transmitted RF signal.
Cos(ωct) C1(t)
[S(t)*C1(t)*Cos(ωct)]*Cos(ωct) = [S(t)*C1(t)*Cos(ωct)]*Cos(ωct)
= 1/2*[S(t)*C1(t)] + 1/2[S(t)*C1(t)*Cos(2ωct)] → LPF
= 1/2*[S(t)*C1(t)]
1/2*[S(t)*C1(t)] *C1(t) = 1/2*[S(t)] → after integration over the information period
Where:
[S(t)*C1(t)*Cos(ωct)] = Received RF signal
LPF = Low Pass Filter with bandwidth equal to the spread bandwidth (W)
S(t) = Signal as a function of time (Digital)
C1(t) = PN code as a function of time (comprised of pseudo random binary
sequence)
Cos(ωct) = Desired RF carrier frequency.
C1(t)*C1(t) = 1 when the codes are aligned in time because of correlation properties of
the PN codes.
Question: What is the processing gain of the spread spectrum signal in this example?
Hint: Rc/Rb
S1 S2
C1 C2
Encoded Information
S1*C1 S2*C2
C1 C2
5.1 A Brief review of Multipath and its effect on Analog and Digital
Transmissions.
Multipath, as it is referred to in RF engineering, is the result of reflections and scattering of radio
waves off of buildings, water towers, mountains, etc. Multipath will exist anywhere the incident
wave and one or more reflected and/or defracted waves can reach the receiver as shown in Figure
5-1
Multipath, in effect, creates “multiple versions” of the transmitted signal which arrive at the
receiver at different times. These “multiple versions” of the transmitted signal are known as
multipath components. The arrival of multipath components results in destructive interference due
to the superposition of the various waves. The received signal for a given frequency will be the
sum of all the multipath components. When the components arrive perfectly in phase, the overall
Received Signal Level (RSL) will be stronger than any of the individual components. When they
arrive out of phase, as a result of the reflective/defractive process, the overall RSL is less than the
strongest individual component.
Lets consider a single transmitted wave that is scattered such that the receiver detects the
transmitted wave and three multipath components of differing magnitudes and relative phase angles
from the incident wave. Mathematically these waves are given as:
f(t)Incident (Direct) Wave = 2.0 sin (ωt )
f(t)Multipath 1 = 1.5 sin (ωt + 90o)
f(t)Multipath 2 = 1.0 sin (ωt + 180o)
f(t)Multipath 3 = 0.5 sin (ωt + 270o)
The figure below provides a graphic representation of the incident waveform, multipath waveforms
and the resultant waveform. Notice that magnitude of the resultant waveform is less than the
incident waveform as a result of the superpositioning of the multipaths on the incident wave.
2.50
2.00
1.50
Relative Amplitude
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
0
-0.50 Multipath 3
-1.00 Resultant Wave
-1.50
-2.00
-2.50
Tim e
Destructive (and constructive) interference due to the arrival of equal amplitude and random phase
multipath components is referred to as Rayleigh Fading. The significance or degree that Rayleigh
Fading affects system operation is determined by the surrounding environment. If we assume four
(4) different land classifications based on the concentration and size of structures in a given area
and designate them in decreasing concentration as Dense Urban, Urban, Suburban, Rural. In
general we would expect to see the greatest effects of Rayleigh fading in the Dense Urban
environment and the least in a Rural Environment. This is due to the greater concentration of
scattering structures in a Dense Urban Environment than in rural areas
To explain the conceptual processes of the RAKE receiver, consider the forward link scenario in
Figure 5-1below in which a mobile unit (in the car), is being served by the nearby base stations
designated BSA.
θ1
Direct wave
θ 1= θ 2
A typical band-limited channel impulse response for the above scenario would be composed of
multipath components from BSA arriving at MU1 at different points in time as shown below in
Figure 5-2. The spikes indicate discernible multipath signals. The surrounding envelope is caused
by smaller multipath components, scattering, and background noise.
A2
| h(t) |
A4
A1
A5
A3
t
Figure 5-2: Typical Single Transmitter Band-Limited Channel Impulse Response with Five
Discrete Multipath Components
The time delay between the received components is related to the different distances traveled by the
various components as they propagate from BSA to MU1. The difference in path length between
two signals can be found by multiplying the time difference between the received signals by the
speed of light.
In the time domain, these multipath components differ in amplitude and time shift. In the frequency
domain, these differences correspond to differences in amplitude and phase. In IS-95 CDMA, the
function of the RAKE receiver is to align up to a maximum of three multipath components in time
by selectively adjusting the phase of the multipath components so that they are all equal. When
correctly adjusted and put in a summing device the result is the coherent addition of the multipath
signals as shown in Figure 5-3. This figure shows the magnitude of the received and combined
signals, however the phase information of the signals is also maintained.
Magnitude of Coherently
Combined Multipath
| h(t) |
A1
Received Signals
A2
A2
A4
A1
A5 A4
A3
t
Figure 5-3: Coherent Combination of Three Strongest Multipath Components from a Single
Transmitter
It is important to note that the only means of adjusting these components is by having a reference
that is also transmitted by BSA along with the traffic information. All IS-95 CDMA base stations
within a given system continuously transmit a pseudorandom (PN) binary (short) code for the
purpose of synchronization and timing (Pilot Channel). Synchronization to the pilot signal allows
the RAKE receiver to operate in an efficient manner.
Each base station starts the PN short code at a unique time which is offset from the system
reference (which is maintained by GPS time). The PN offset makes it appear to a mobile that each
base station is transmitting a unique code because of the correlation properties of the PN sequence.
Note that the PN Code has properties such that when the received PN short code and the PN short
code generated by the mobile unit are aligned in time, a correlation peak occurs. When they are not
aligned, the correlation between the codes is noise.
The RAKE receiver provides for the coherent combination of multipath components from a single
base station and multiple cells/sectors jointly in a CDMA Handoff scenario (see Section 9). In IS-
95 CDMA, the RAKE receiver is limited to resolving and combining a maximum of three multipath
components from either a single transmitter, multiple transmitters, or a combination of both. The
limit of resolution in time of the received signals may be as small as ½ of a chip. The maximum
number of signals considered is defined in the system specification and results from the fact that
there is very little added benefit from using more than three components. Typically the RAKE
receiver processes the three strongest three signal components, however, the precise determination
of which signals will be process depends on the handoff type, desired traffic flow, and relevant
thresholds seat at each serving cell/sector.
Consider the forward link scenario given below in which a mobile unit, MU1, is being served by
three base stations designated BSA, BSB, BSC. The lines from the base stations indicate multipath
that could exist for the geometry indicated.
BSB
MU1
BSA
BSC
A typical band-limited channel impulse response for the above scenario could be composed of
multipath components from serving base stations BSA, BSB, BSC and arriving at MU1 at different
points in time as shown below.
A3
|h(t)| C2
B2
A1
B1 C3
C1
A2 C4
time
Figure 5-5: Typical Multiple Transmitter Band-Limited Channel Impulse Response with
Discrete Multipath Components
Given that the RAKE receiver MU1 has knowledge that BSA, BSB, and BSC are all serving base
stations (See Section 9 for details on joint handoffs), the receiver performs the following functions:
Received Multipaths
A3 B2
Relative C2
Power B2
A1
B1 C3
C1
A2 C4
A3
time
5.3.1 FDMA
The quality of service provided by a Frequency-Division Multiple-Access System is a function of
the received signal level and proper frequency planning. Assuming no frequency reuse or the
assignment of adjacent channels within the system, the problem becomes one dimensional as a
function of signal strength. In FDMA, the carrier wave is subjected to the multipath fading
(Rayleigh fading) as discussed above. The human ear is an excellent discriminator of echoes, noise,
fading. Multipath may greatly impact voice quality.
5.3.2 TDMA
Multipath in a digital system adversely effects the performance in two ways that must be
compensated for in the design and implementation of the hardware. First, multipath fading of the
carrier wave results in reduced signal strength. The reduction in signal strength results in increased
bit error rate as Eb/Nt falls below what is required for acceptable call quality.
The second effect of multipath, the time delay in arrival over which multipath components arrive
(delay spread), can be large enough to create Inter Symbol Interference (ISI). This effect is known
as time dispersion. ISI may result in false 1’s when a zero is sent or visa versa. This effect is
illustrated in Figure 5-1.
1 0 1 0
1
1
1
TDMA systems use a variety of techniques to compensate for the effects of multipath fading and
time dispersion including
* Reduced transmitted bit rate to increase Eb/Nt,
* Encoding the digital signal to allow detection / correction of bit errors,
* Use of an equalizer to compensate for time delays, and
* Frequency hopping to combat frequency selective Rayleigh fading.
The following sections expand on the application of channel coding and equalization to combat the
effects of multipath fading.
Channel Coding
Channel coding (encoding of the binary signal) is the process of modifying the bit structure of the
original information so that there is redundancy and increased predictability of the transmitted
digital signal. The receiver knows the encoding process so that it can be reversed. Several coding
schemes exist and may be used alone or in some combination. Some common channel coding
schemes are block coding, convolution coding, and interleaving. A detailed discussion of these
schemes is beyond the scope of this document.
5.3.2.1.1 Equalization
The equalizer creates a model of the transmission channel and calculates the most probable
transmitted sequence. This is accomplished by transmitting a known bit pattern with good
correlation properties, called a training sequence. The equalizer compares the received training
sequence with the standard and makes the appropriate adjustments in its bit recognition algorithm.
This process repeats itself with every frame of data transmitted (on the order of tens of
milliseconds).
5.3.3 CDMA
CDMA is a digital technology that is subject to all of the multipath phenomena that TDMA is
subjected to but, because of the properties of spread spectrum and the use of the RAKE receiver, it
is less susceptible to the adverse effects of multipath. Specifically, degradation of system
performance due to frequency selective Rayleigh fading is reduced because the signal energy is
spread over 1.25 MHz as opposed to 200 kHz for GSM TDMA or 30 kHz channels for AMPS
TDMA. In effect spread spectrum is a form of frequency diversity. Also, by coherently combining
multipath components, the effects of time dispersion and destructive interference are reduced by
aligning the three strongest multipath components in time and combining for a net positive sum
greater than any individual component. Note that the time alignment occurs in a maximal sense
when there is some prior knowledge of phase.
Linearize the respective Eb/Nt measurements so as to allow for coherent combination by using
Equation 5-1.
⎡ ⎛E ⎞ ⎤
⎢ 0.1×⎜⎜ b ⎟ ⎥
⎟
⎣⎢ ⎝ Nt ⎠ dB ⎦⎥
LinearValu e = 10
The linearized values for each of the multipath components are 3.16, 2.00, 1.58 respectively.
Assuming perfect phase alignment and zero processing losses, the combined value for all of the
components is 6.74 which corresponds to a calculated Eb/Nt of 8.29 dB which provides the desired
level of call quality.
Additional examples can be made up and solved using Equation 5-1 or Table 5-1 for the
linearization of Eb/Nt.
Conceptually, the near-far problem is overcome in CDMA systems by making the base station
receive all signals of equal strength. For a static system, the reverse link transmit powers would be
selectively optimization so that an individual base station receives equal power from all subscribers.
Overcoming “near-far” in the mobile environment requires that the reverse link transmit power for
all subscribers be continuously adjusted. The rate and degree of adjustment should be commiserate
with the maximum anticipated rate and magnitude of change in required power to maintain a
constant RSL at the base station. This is accomplished through the implementation of dynamic
power control.
6.2.1 Open-Loop
Open loop power control involves only the mobile unit. Open-loop control sets the sum of the
transmit (Access Channel) and receive (Pilot Channel) powers (in dBm) to a constant, nominally
-73 dBm. A reduction in received signal power from the base station results in increased transmit
power from the mobile unit. For example, if the received pilot power from the base station is -85
dBm, the open-loop transmit power setting would be (-73) - (-85 dBm) = 12 dBm. This process is
used for reverse link transmissions made on the access channel prior to setting up a user call. Note
that access attempts are made at successively higher power levels until a response is received from
the base station or a maximum threshold is reached. Once a user call is initiated, closed-loop power
control takes effect.
6.2.2 Closed-Loop
Close-loop power control is used to allow the power from the mobile unit to deviate from the
nominal as set by open-loop control. The base station monitors the power received from each
mobile station and commands each mobile unit to raise or lower its power by a fixed step
(nominally 1 dB) to keep the received signal at the minimum acceptable level. Acceptable signal is
defined by < 1% FER. This process is repeated 800 times per second, or every 1.25 ms. This is
accomplished by dividing each 20 ms traffic frame into 16 power control groups. Each power
control group is preceded by a power control bit. Mobile units support a dynamic range of about
80 dB and can be controlled to transmit as little as -60 dBm.
Table 6-1 lists the attenuation levels for the available Vocoder rates.
Table 6-1: Forward Link TCE Attenuation Level vs. Voice Coding Rate
Vocoder Data Rate (Rb) kbps Attenuation Level
Rate (per IS-95) (dB)
1 9.6 0
½ 4.8 3
¼ 2.4 6
1/8 1.2 9
In addition, the available base station transmit power is divided among the pilot, sync, paging, and
traffic channels in use. Table 6-2 lists the nominal power allocations. These allocations are not
dynamic with time but may be adjusted on a per transmitter basis as necessary by the operator.
The forward and reverse links are broken into functional blocks and a qualitative description of
each block is provided. The digital processing for the forward link and reverse link are not
identical. Pilot signals on the forward link allow more robust detection techniques to be
implemented (e.g. coherent demodulation). A pilot signal is not transmitted on the reverse link,
requiring the use of non-coherent detection at the base station. This necessitates 2 to 3 dB higher
Eb/Nt at the base station receiver than at the mobile unit.
Downlink
Channel Channel
Speech/Channel
Coding Decoding
Processing
Bit Bit
Interleaving Deinterleaving
Encryption: Decryption:
Long Code Long Code
Scrambling Descrambling
Walsh Walsh
Function Function
Modulation Demodulation
Quadrature
Quadrature
Spreading and
Despreading
Multiplexing
Quadrature Quadrature
Carrier Carrier
Modulation Demodulation
RF
Channel
The following sections describe the forward link processing with respect to the transmit side.
Reception of the signal at the mobile unit employs coherent detection using the base station pilot
signal and is essentially the reverse of the described transmit process.
Variable Rate
64 kbps 8-bit µ-law to 104 kbps CELP 1 to 1/8
13-bit uniform Speech
Digital Speech transcoder uniform Encoder
Input From
Land Line
The CELP speech encoder produces a variable output data rate based on speech activity. The
encoder generates one frame (a.k.a. packet, a.k.a. block) every 20 ms. The coded data frame is at
one of the following data rates:
• Rate 1: 171 bits / packet (8.55 kbps)
• Rate 1 2 : 80 bits / packet (4.0 kbps)
• Rate 1 4 : 40 bits / packet (2.0 kbps)
• Rate 1 8 : 16 bits / packet (0.8 kbps)
The advantage of using lower bit rates when there is little or no speech activity is that it allows the
transmit power to be decreased while maintaining a constant Eb/Nt. A reduction in transmit power
decreases the level of interference imposed on other users of the system.
The resulting traffic frame is fed to a convolutional coder of rate ½ with a constraint length of 9.
This coder uses an 8 bit shift register and outputs 2 bits for every input bit. Convolutional coding
provides channel bit error detection and correction capability. For data rates below 9.6 kbps (Rate 1
+ overhead), output bits are repeated to bring the number of bits in a 20 ms block to 384 for a
constant output rate of 19.2 kbps. Remember that the user data (voice information) is still input to
the system at a variable rate – the change to 19.2 kbps represents a change in sampling rate. This
channel coding process is illustrated below in Figure 7-3.
MM = 0 No Signaling
MM = 1 Signaling present
Block Interleaver
Data on these channels is encrypted by modulating it with a PN sequence with a length of 242 - 1
chips at a chip rate of 1.2288 Mbps. This PN sequence is referred to as a Long Code. All long
codes are generated using a 42 bit Long Code Mask. The long code mask is used in conjunction
with a 42 bit state vector of a PN sequence generator to generate a long code. In the case of the
forward link, the long code is converted to 19.2 kbps by keeping and holding the first chip of every
64 long code chips. This is used to encrypt the interleaved bits using a modulo 2 addition. This
process is illustrated for the forward link in Figure 7-5. At the receiver, the encrypted signal is
operated on by the inverse process, using the same long code mask to generate the equivalent long
code and thus, reproduce the original forward link / reverse link coded data streams.
Figure 7-5: Forward Link Scrambling for Traffic and Paging Channels
Knowledge of a specific long code mask allows the user (and base station) to encrypt or decrypt
the information associated with that mask. Masks for the Paging, Access, and traffic channels are
based on the knowledge of different information.
Conversely, a “0” power control bit requests the mobile to increase its power by 1 dB. This
signaling format allows the mobile unit output power to be changed 800 times per second.
1/64 long
code Walsh Function
Forward Traffic Wi
Scrambled Interleaved
Output Bits Replace 2
19.2 kbps consecutive input 19.2 kbps 1.2288 Mbps
bits by one power
control bit every To Quadrature
Spreading &
1.25 ms Carrier
Modulation
Power Control
Bits
800 bps
Forward link transmit power control accomplished using a Variable Attenuator which is
implemented immediately following Walsh function modulation as shown in Figure 7-8. The
transmit power attenuation level vs. Voice encoding data rate is given in Table 7-1. Reducing
transmit power in this manner reduces the interference introduced into the system.
1 9.6 0
4.8 3
12
2.4
14 6
1.2
18 9
Where: i = 0, 1, 2, … 511
t = Time
Tc = Chip Period = 1/1.2288 MHz = 814 ns
This means that including the zero offset sequence, PN-I-0(t) and PN-Q-0(t), there are 512
possible time offset indices, i, to identify cells. There are referred to as “PN Offsets”. Each PN
Offset is 64 chips long. The assignment of PN offsets to specific base stations is known as PN
Offset Planning. This is discussed further in Section 11. The offset I and Q channels are
quadrature modulated with the RF carrier (cos (ωc t) and sin (ωc t)), summed, and transmitted as
illustrated in Figure 7-8
PN-I-i(t)
I
LPF Σ
Uplink
Channel Channel
Speech/Channel
Coding Decoding
Processing
Bit Bit
Interleaving Deinterleaving
64ary 64ary
Orthogonal Orthogonal
Walsh Symbol Walsh Symbol
Modulation Demodulation
Encryption: Decryption:
Long Code Long Code
Spreading Despreading
Demultiplexing
Quadrature
and Quadrature
Spreading
Despreading
Quadrature Quadrature
Carrier Carrier
Modulation Demodulation
The following sections describe the reverse link processing with respect to the transmit side.
Unlike the forward link process, no pilot channel is transmitted. The lack of an reverse link pilot
signal dictates the use of non-coherent detection of the signal at the base station. For this reason the
base station requires 2 to 3 dB higher Eb/Nt at its receiver that at the mobile unit receiver.
Mouthpiece
The CELP speech encoder produces a variable output data rate based on speech activity. The coder
generates one frame, or packet, every 20 ms. The available output rates are:
• Rate 1: 171 bits / packet (8.55 kbps)
• Rate 1 2 : 80 bits / packet (4.0 kbps)
• Rate 1 4 : 40 bits / packet (2.0 kbps)
• Rate 1 8 : 16 bits / packet (0.8 kbps)
As with the forward link, the advantage of using lower bit rates when there is little or no speech
activity is that it limits the amount of extraneous information transmitted. Decreasing the bit rate
allows the transmit power to be reduced while maintaining a constant Eb/Nt resulting in less
interference imposed on other users of the system.
The resulting traffic frame is fed to a convolutional coder of Rate 1/3 with a constraint length of 9.
This coder uses an 8 bit shift register and outputs 3 bits for every input bit. Convolutional coding
provides channel bit error detection and correction capability. For data rates below 9.6 kbps (Rate 1
+ overhead), output bits are repeated to bring the number of bits in a 20 ms block to 576 for a
constant output rate of 28.8 kbps. Remember that the user data (voice information) is still input to
the system at a variable rate – the change to 19.2 kbps represents a change in sampling rate. This
channel coding process is illustrated below in Figure 7-3.
MM = 0 No Signaling
MM = 1 Signaling present
bit, binary number has decimal equivalent ranging from 0 to 63. The selected Walsh Code becomes
the “modulation symbol” representing 6 binary bits. Note that on the reverse link Walsh functions
Do Not designate channels.
In summary, the input 20 ms frame of data consists of 576 bits. This frame gets converted
(“modulated”) to 96 Walsh functions. Each group of 6 Walsh functions is called a “power control
group”.
As it turns out, several of the power control groups are repeated bits when the traffic frame rate is
less than Rate 1 (9.6 kbps). The power control groups with repeated bits are removed by gating off
their transmissions with a data burst randomizer. The long code is used by the data burst
randomizer to determine which power control groups are to be gated off. The gating of repeated
bits decreases the self interference to all mobiles transmitting on the same CDMA RF carrier
frequency. The resulting output of the data burst randomizer is still at 307.2 kbps and is then
encrypted. This process is illustrated in Figure 7-5.
On the reverse link, The 64-ary modulated symbol at 307.2 kbps is modulated with the long code at
1.2288 Mbps. The output stream is encrypted (as well as spread) data at 1.2288 Mbps with 4 chips
for each 64-ary data bit within the symbol. This process is illustrated for the reverse link Traffic
Channel in Figure 7-5. At the receiver, the reverse link data is identified by the long code used
to encrypt it -- not a Walsh Function. The received signal is operated on by the inverse process,
using the same long code mask to generate the equivalent long code and thus, reproduce the original
forward link / reverse link coded data streams.
Figure 7-5: Reverse Link Traffic Channel Spreading, Power Control Group Gating, and
Encryption
Note that the Access Channel and the Traffic Channel are modulated with different long codes
generated with different Long Code Masks. Knowledge of a specific long code mask allows the
user (and base station) to encrypt or decrypt the information associated with that mask. Masks for
the Paging, Access, and Traffic channels are based on the knowledge of different information.
These masks are discussed in Section 7.1.4.
PN-I-0(t)
I
LPF
RF
1.2288 Mbps 1.2288 cos ωct
from long PN-Q-0(t) Mbps Σ
sin ωct
code
spreading
(encryption) 1/2 PN Chip Q
LPF
Delay = 406.9 ns
INTERLEAVER
1.2288 Mbps
I SHORT
ENCODER
20msec
CODE
blocks
WALSH
COVER
1.2288
1/2
RATE
Mbps
FIR I
9.6 19.2 19.2 19.2
kbps kbps kbps kbps
VOCODED
SPEECH
DATA
LONG
FIR
Q
CODE
1.2288
Mbps 1.2288 Mbps
1.2288 Mbps
64-ary I SHORT
CONVOLUTIONAL
Modulator CODE
20msec ENCODER 1 to 64 Walsh
blocks Rate 1/3 INTERLEAVER
Codes
307.2
kbps
1.2288
Mbps
FIR I
9.6 28.8 28.8
kbps kbps 1/2 Chip
kbps
Delay
VOCODED
SPEECH
1/2 FIR Q
DATA
LONG
CODE 1.2288
Mbps 1.2288 Mbps
Q SHORT
CODE
8 CDMA Capacity
CDMA technology offers a significant capacity advantage over other multiple access systems. The
capacity of FDMA and TDMA systems is limited by the finite amount of spectrum allocated to
cellular and PCS services with the corresponding frequency reuse requirements. CDMA is
different in that many users operate on a single wideband RF carrier. This carrier frequency may be
reused by the adjacent cell (N=1 reuse). CDMA capacity is only interference limited, therefore any
reduction in interference converts directly and linearly into an increase in capacity. Interference is
introduced from several sources including:
• Co-cell mobile users,
• Adjacent cell mobile users,
• Adjacent cell base stations, as well as
• Thermal and spurious noise.
CDMA employs several techniques to reduce these interference sources including:
• Suppressing or squelching transmissions during quiet periods of each speaker.
• Using sectored base station antennas.
• Dynamic power control to keep transmit levels to the minimum required to close the
link.
W R η
N = 1+ −
Eb N 0 S
Where:
W= Spread Spectrum bandwidth (Hz)
R= Information bit rate (Hz)
Eb = Energy per bit (J)
No = System (thermal) noise energy (J)
N= Number of users
S= Received power of user signals at the base station (Watts)
(not including serving signal)
η= Received background noise level at the base station (Watts)
W/R is known as the processing gain and the value of Eb/No is the value required for adequate
performance of the receiver. For the case of digital voice, this implies a Frame Error Rate of 1% or
better which corresponds to a BER of 10-3 or less.
We can see that the number of users (i.e. TECs that may be assigned) is proportional to the system
processing gain and inversely proportional to the required Eb/No (or Eb/Nt as the case may be). In
addition, capacity is reduced by the inverse of the per user signal-to-noise ratio in the total system
spread bandwidth.
This factor is stated as a fraction of the noise experienced nominally by the cell under
consideration. A typical value for IADJ is given as 0.66. This value implies that a cell located in the
center of a seven cell cluster is subject to a noise floor that is 160% of that which would be
observed if a cell is operating in total isolation.
As the number of users (TCEs) increases on the single CDMA RF carrier, the call we wish to
decode becomes a smaller and smaller fraction of the total transmitter power, and the total
transmitter power will increase to provide an adequate signal for each active call (TCE). At large
distances, Nt is significantly above that which was observed with only one active call, and the cell's
maximum range is gradually reduced. The available fixed processing gain of the system is less
effective in eliminating the transmitter-produced portion of Nt because of the correlated effect of
multiple users.
At some point, the increasing number of active calls (TCEs) becomes large enough that No no
longer matters. The noise resulting from Sync, Paging, Pilot, and the other active calls overwhelm
the processing gain, and the desired call can no longer be decoded, at any range, regardless of how
high the transmit power is raised. In other words, the cell jams itself with its own co-channel (i.e.
co-frequency) transmissions. This number of users at which this condition occurs is known as the
Pole Point.
(W Rb )
#ofTCEs at Pole Point = 1 +
(1 + I ADJ )(VAF )( Eb N t )( Gs )
where:
W = The Spread Bandwidth in Chips/sec = 1.2288 x 106 for IS-95 derivatives,
Rb = The Information Bit Rate = 14.4 x 103 bps (IS-95-A), (9.6 kbps for IS-95)
IADJ = The additional interference contributed by adjacent cells = 0.6,
VAF = Voice Activity Factor = 0.5,
Eb/Nt = Minimum Eb/Nt required (after despreading) to provide specified voice quality,
Gs = Sectorization Gain
= 1 for omni cells
= 1.18 (that is 3/2.55) for 3-sector cells
To explain these variables further,
• The spread bandwidth (W) is the actual number of chips transmitted on the RF channel after the
data signal is spread by a direct sequence technique, as it is in IS-95 and PCS derivatives.
• The information bit rate (Rb) is the channel information bit rate, including both the voice
channel and system overhead bits to support a single voice channel
• The additional interference contributed by adjacent cells (IADJ) is an adjustment factor that has
been stated by equipment vendors to be the nominal amount of extra system-generated noise
contributed by adjacent cells. This is stated as a fraction of the noise generated by the cell
under consideration. In other words, 0.6 means that Nt (neglecting the No component) is 160%
of that which would be observed if a cell is operating in total isolation. This factor is a function
of cell loading, propagation characteristics, and voice activity factor.
• The voice activity factor (VAF) is the fraction of the time that a person is actually speaking (and
transmitting full-rate data) during an average conversation. If a person spends 50% of the time
talking, VAF=0.5.
• Minimum Eb/Nt is the Eb/Nt required to maintain a 1% frame error rate, that which has been
specified as the minimum acceptable to maintain call quality. This is normally expressed as a
linear energy ratio, not in dB.
For the assumptions stated previously, the # of TCEs at Pole Point = 19.09, or 19 when truncated to
the next lower integer
It is important to note that pole point is expressed per sector, not per cell.
It is also possible to show that the accuracy of the closed loop power control plays a part in the pole
point, as it affects the ratio of the desired signal's power to the total noise. The pole point equation
shown above assumes that perfect power control is maintained. At this time, the specifications is
for ±2.5dB which results in a 20% reduction in the available maximum number of TCEs2.
9 CDMA Handoff
A CDMA cellular network handles mobile unit call processing transitions more subtly than the
other technologies used for mobile communications networks. CDMA Handoffs require that the
mobile unit maintain an ongoing list of possible base station sites that it may use for Handoffs as it
travels through the system. CDMA offers the unique feature of allowing mobile users to process
signals from multiple (up to 3) base stations simultaneously. The terminology and various types of
Handoffs associated with CDMA are described below.
2
Reference Robert Padovani, “Reverse Link Performance of IS-95 Based Cellular Systems,” IEEE Personal
Communications, Third Quarter 1994
TDROP is the value of the Pilot signal strength, Ec/Nt, in dB received by the mobile unit at which the
mobile will drop the cell/sector as a possible contributor to the call processing activities. Values
provided by vendors are typically on the order of -17 dB. Note that the received pilot strength must
fall below TDROP for some specified length of time before the cell/sector is dropped in order to keep
from “toggling” the cell on and off. This length of time (T_TDROP) is an addressable parameter
with values ranging from 0.1 to 319 seconds.
Note that both TADD and TDROP are assigned on a per transmitter (i.e. per cell or sector) basis. These
terms need not be the same for every cell in the system.
T_COMP is the Active Set versus Candidate Set comparison threshold. Mobile Stations transmit a
Pilot Strength Measurement Message when the strength of a pilot in the Candidate Set exceeds that
of a pilot in the Active Set by this margin. The base station shall set this field to the threshold
Candidate Set pilot to Active Set pilot ratio, in units of 0.5 dB.
The mobile station typically initiates soft Handoffs. The mobile station continuously searches for
pilots to detect the presence of other CDMA signals that have the same carrier frequency and
measures the strength of the pilots. When the mobile station detects a pilot of sufficient strength
that is not associated with the serving cell, it sends a message to the serving base station. The
cellular network decides which neighbor base stations can be involved in a Handoff and selects an
idle Walsh function associated with the selected site, effectively selecting a traffic channel. The
selected site is given the mobile’s long code mask. The serving base station is directed to send the
mobile a message to initiate Soft Handoff. The simultaneous communication with the two base
stations is handled differently on the forward link and reverse link.
users in soft handoff with the with all the base stations (max. of three) with pilots signals exceeding
TADD. Indeed; resources (TCEs) are allocated on the ability to allocate them rather than the need to
allocate them. Go figure. In short:
• Handoffs are based solely on Pilot Strength – not call quality
• If a mobile station can be into a soft handoff – it will
9.4.1 Example 1
Figure 9-1 walks through the processes associated with two Pilot Channels greater than T_ADD. It is
easily extended to the case of three Pilot Channels greater than T_ADD.
Mobile Station Base Station
(User conversation using A) (User conversation using A)
• Pilot B strength exceeds T_ADD
• Sends Pilot Strength Measurement ⇒ Reverse Traffic ⇒ • A receives Pilot Strength
Message Channel Measurement Message
• B begins transmitting traffic on the
Forward Traffic Channel and
acquires the Reverse Traffic
Channel
• Receives Handoff Direction ⇐ Forward Traffic ⇐ • A and B send Handoff Direction
Message Channel Message to use A and B
• Acquires B; begins using Active
Set (A,B)
• Sends Handoff Completion ⇒ Reverse Traffic ⇒ • A and B receive Handoff
Message Channel Completion Message
Figure 9-1: Mobile Unit transitions into a region defined by two Pilot Channels greater than
T_ADD (Soft Hand-off)
9.4.2 Example 2
IS-95 permits up to three Pilots to be assigned to the Active Set. There will be situations in which a
fourth Pilot Channel is greater than T_ADD. IS-95 deals with this situation by favoring the prevailing
Pilot Channels greater than T_ADD through the use of T_COMP. T_COMP compares the value of the
incoming pilot to the weakest Pilot in the Active Set and will demote promote the incoming Pilot if
its Ec/Io value exceeds the active pilot by some specified margin and demotes the weaker Pilot to
the Candidate Set. A simplified example is given in Figure 9-2 where base station C is the weakest
Active Pilot.
Figure 9-2: Mobile Unit transitions into a region defined by four or more Pilot Channels
greater than T_ADD
9.4.3 Example 3
Figure 9-3 illustrates the basic processes associated with a transition involving two Pilots. This is
easily extended to handle three Pilots
In these situations, we have assumed that system access was not limited by available traffic
resources. It is clear that the hand off process will be initiated as a result of Pilot Channel Ec/Io
with no reference to call quality. The operating parameters that are directly affected by Eb/Nt are
measured by the mobile unit and the base station to be used for statistical processes only.
The mobile then demodulates the sync channel which is always transmitted on Walsh 32. The Sync
Channel provides master clock information by sending the state of the 42 bit shift register, which
generates the long (242 chips) code, 320 ms in the future. The long code, generated in conjunction
with a private user mask, is used for encryption and decryption. The mobile then starts listening to
the paging channel and waits for a page directed to its phone number.
gets a Walsh (traffic channel) assignment. The assignment is sent to the mobile by the first base
station. The land link is connected to both base stations. The mobile coherently combines the
signals from both base stations using the two pilot signals as coherent phase (time) references. On
the reverse link, the MSC examines the signals from each base station and the best 20 ms frame is
selected based on the Frame Error Rate.
At this point, closed-loop power control is conducted by both base stations. In this case, the mobile
will increase its power only if both stations request it. However if any one serving base station
requests a decrease, the mobile will decrease its power. As the signal from the first base station
degrades (drops below the TDROP threshold), the mobile will ask that the Soft Handoff be
terminated. The mobile sends a drop request for the first cell and the MSC then discontinues its
transmission and reception from that cell.
1. The coverage provided by CDMA system is not static. As the loading on a given
base station changes, the coverage provided by that base station changes
inversely. Otherwise stated; just because you have great RF coverage doesn’t
guarantee good signal.
2. Holes in coverage may result when there is either insufficient or abundant levels
of RF. System coverage is measured as the ratio of desired signal to all other
signals and that the ratio can be unacceptable regardless of the absolute quantity.
3. CDMA systems allow for the non-symmetrical simultaneous processing of a call
by multiple base stations. The energy in the forward link is summed to a greater
strength than the individual components. The reverse link employs the shotgun
effect in that multiple base stations will receive the transmitted signal and the
probability that the signal will be acceptable for at least one of them is greatly
increased.
4. Traffic engineering in a CDMA system requires that in addition to all of the
factors associated with engineering a FDMA or TDMA system, the element of
time also be introduced. PN Offset Planning for a CDMA system requires the
careful assignment of 512 available time offsets to the cells/sectors in a system.
A RF signal propagating through wireless medium arrives at the receiver distorted as a result of
different propagation paths. These paths are caused by a scattering, reflection and diffraction from
either a natural or man made structure existing over the propagation area. In addition, the received
signal reaches the receiver significantly attenuated due to the propagation loss phenomena. In
theoretical modeling of the propagation loss we can determine two separate loss mechanisms.
The first one is the signal level decay due to the dispersion of the energy in space, absorption of the
ground and foliage and effects of the ground reflection. This phenomenon defines mean power path
loss. In addition to mean power path loss, existing terrain features as well as large man made
structures impose additional variations of the signal commonly referred to as slow or long-term
fading. The statistical distribution of the long-term fading has been studied extensively and it can
be modeled as additional loss having normal zero mean normal distribution in the logarithmic
domain. For that reason the long-term fading is frequently called log normal fading.
Multipath propagation causes large signal strength variations over distances comparable with signal
wavelength. These large variations are commonly termed short term or fast fading. Due to the fast
fading, the envelope of the received signal has a statistical distribution that is often model by
Rayleigh density function [1].
Theoretical analyses described above, assumes a signal bandwidth which is relatively small in
comparison to the RF carrier frequency. In comparison to other cellular standards, IS-95 CDMA
has a considerably larger bandwidth. Study of the path loss characteristic for the wide-band signals
presented in [2] demonstrated that, provided the power spectrum density of the signal is
approximately flat, narrow-band path loss estimation are of sufficient accuracy as long as the
bandwidth of the signal is smaller than 66% of the carrier frequency. For the case of cellular IS-95
based CDMA systems this is certainly the case. In addition, due to its wide-band nature CDMA
signal has an inherent multipath fading resistance and for that reason fast fading is not as
pronounced as in the case of narrow-band signals.
Two most popular macroscopic propagation models are Lee’s Propagation Model and Hata-
Okumura Propagation Model. As it is shown in [3], Lee’s Model is valid for 1900 MHz band, too.
Although Hata-model is developed for frequencies from 150 and 1500 MHz, there is a separate
version for 1500 to 2000 MHz band called COST-231.
Due to the different processing schemes for six channel types defined by IS-95 standard, link
budget analysis must be examined separately for each channel type. Usually, analysis starts with
reverse link calculations using the expected traffic load as a main input parameter. The result is
maximal allowable path loss. Next step combines previously calculated maximal path loss and
receiver sensitivity to obtain the appropriate power allocation for each of the forward link channels.
This is illustrated in Table 11-2, which uses pre-calculated receiver sensitivity (see Table 11-1).
Detailed explanation of all aspects of link budget is given in ‘Unit C2: Intermediate CDMA Planing
and Design Issues’.
Table 11-2: Simplified Example of IS-95 CDMA Link Budget for In-Vehicle Coverage
Human/Head Loss -3 -3 -3 -3 -3
In vehicle loss -8 -8 -8 -8 -8
Interference Margin -4 -8 -4 -4 -4
(60% loading)
present configuration of the cell sites are known, the Link Budget is modified to accommodate the
cell specific capabilities. The cell parameters, nominal or otherwise, can be loosely translated into a
circular cell coverage area that meets the coverage minimum criteria for a balanced path. The edge
of the coverage circle is referred to as the nominal cell radii. The nominal cell radii shown in Table
11-1 refers to the expected cell radii for an assumed loading percentage, the propagation model
type, the nominal values for the propagation model, and the signal level which corresponds to a
desired area coverage reliability.
Establishing the conditions necessary for Nominal Cell Radii Calculations requires knowledge of
statistics and propagation modeling which is provided in SAFCO’s “Introduction to Statistics,
Propagation Modeling, and the WIZARD® propagation Model” course and is not provided here.
The section below does, however, provide the process for the calculation once the conditions are
established.
• Based on a required signal level for a given performance level, a nominal cell radius can be
computed. The term nominal is used because the calculation process itself assumes a
homogenous terrain type with no effective antenna height gain. However, because we have
assumed a standard deviation in our link calculations the use of a prediction model to show
the desired coverage bands will in fact illustrate the desired coverage reliability we wish to
show.
• The steps to be followed in computing a nominal cell radius for coverage purposes as well
as required coverage bands.
1. Determine the application of the prediction model to the area type. Determine the
standard deviation that can be expected for a model that is optimized for the area where
the model will be used.
2. Determine a nominal cell configuration to be used (antenna radiation centerline, antenna
gain) as well as path loss slope and 1 mile intercept values,
3. Compute required area and boundary coverage reliability numbers and corresponding
Fade Margin,
4. Calculate a balanced path maximum path loss for the area type, application (in-building,
in-vehicle, and outdoors), and class of mobile or portable. Ensure all factors in the
reverse link and forward link have been accurately accounted for.
5. From the balanced path calculations, ensure that the TX power from the BS (we predict
the DL) is only large enough to represent a balanced path (what you display on screen
will in fact allow the mobile unit. The TX Power (dBm) maximum for a balanced path -
maximum path loss from link budget = received signal level (dBm) for the coverage type
desired.
6. Using the antenna height, slope, 1 mile intercept, and the Lee model for the area type
calculate the maximum cell size for a homogenous area of the type specified. The
propagation model will adjust the predictions as the terrain profile is traversed with
point by point adjustments.
Example:
Assume the following parameters based on maintaining a balanced path with a 90%
coverage reliability for the area type and link budget parameters assumed in a relatively flat
standard suburban area type.
Parameter Nominal
Value
Minimum Received Signal Level at cell edge for a balance path (RSL) -100.9 dBm
Reference ERP Power (PTX Ref) 100 Watts
Actual ERP Power from Link Budget (PTX ) 8 Watts
Reference Transmit Antenna Height (HTX Ref) 150’
Actual Transmit Antenna Height from Nominal Cell Configuration (HTX) 131’
One mile intercept as referenced to 50 dBm transmit power (P1 mile) -75 dBm
Decay Slope (dB/decade) 38.4 dB/decade
⎛ P ⎞ ⎛ ⎞
PL = RSL − P1mile − 10 ⋅ log⎜ tx ⎟ − 15 ⋅ log⎜ H tx ⎟ (equation 1)
⎜P ⎟ ⎜H ⎟
⎝ tx , ref ⎠ ⎝ tx , ref ⎠
PL
Rnominal = 10 DecaySlope
(equation 2)
Substituting these values results in a calculated nominal cell radius of 2.322 miles.
Table 11-1: Summary of Parameters used to calculate nominal cell radius, and calculated cell
radius for each area type and antenna configuration of a typical system at 50% loading.
Antenna Signal
Height TCE MAX Level at Nominal Cell
Service meters TX ERP Boundary Radius
Area Type Offering (feet) (dBm) (dBm) miles (km)
DU IB 30 (98.4) 36.94 -99.08 1.07 (1.71)
U IB 40 (131.2) 36.44 -101.06 1.60 (2.56)
S IB 40 (131.2) 38.94 -101.06 2.33 (3.73)
R IB / IV 75 (246) 37.44 -105.06 5.80 (9.28)
DU OD 30 (98.4) 36.94 -113.26 2.21(3.54)
U OD 40 (131.2) 36.44 -113.26 3.13 (5.01)
S OD 40 (131.2) 38.94 -113.26 4.85 (7.76)
R OD 75 (246) 37.44 -113.26 10.44 (16.70)
Figure 11-1: Comparison of Coverage due to change in traffic (5% to 80% of theoretical
capacity)
To efficiently track pilot signals, the mobile station categorizes the received signals into four sets:
active set, candidate set, neighboring set, and the remaining set. The active set contains pilot PN
offsets associated with the current base station(s) (or sectors) supporting an on-going call. The
candidate set contains the pilot PN offsets associated with all base stations (sectors) likely to be
candidates for soft Handoff. The neighbor set contains all pilot PN offsets for base stations close to
the mobile station. The remaining set contains all pilot PN offsets not included in the other three
sets.
PN offsets are selected based upon the relative time delay (signal travel time at the speed of light)
between sites and exact served areas of those sites. The development of a PN offset plan depends
upon exact information on final site locations. There are 512 PN offsets available to allocate to
cells / sectors. Each PN offset is 64 chips. This ‘separation’ between pilots may be increased by
parameter PN-increment (i.e. if PN-increment is 2, separation between pilots is 128 chips and the
total number of pilots is 256).
In the mobile radio environment the signal transmitted from a BS and arriving at a mobile unit will
be from different paths as a result of the multipath reflection phenomenon. Since each path has a
different path length, the time of arrival for each path is different. This means that, for an impulse
transmitted from the BS, by the time the impulse is received at the MS it is no longer an impulse but
rather a pulse with a spread width which is referred to as the delay spread. Measured data indicates
that the mean delay spread value is different for different kinds of environments. This fact is
intuitive because of the increasing amount of multipath reflectors that are present in different
environments. The table below illustrates some representative numbers:
Table 11-1: Typical Delay Spread Values for Different Environment Types
Expected Range of Delay
Environment Spread (micro-seconds)
Heavy Mountains 1 - 100
Dense Urban 6 - 10
Urban 4-6
Suburban 2-4
Rural .2 - 2
In the above table a delay spread value of 6 microseconds means that a very narrow pulse (i.e. .1µ
seconds) is transmitted, that the effective pulse width of the received signal is 6µ seconds. The
delay spread number normally, in most situations, refers to the width where the received signal
energy drops to 10 dB below the peak value of energy received. In practice, a single transmitted
pulse will result in a delay spread number which is extremely large, however, only a fraction of the
time is energy received which is usable, and this usable energy is normally defined to be within 10
dB of the peak.
The actual distribution of received pulses versus time will in most cases be a function of the
environment. In some regions an exponential decay versus time is appropriate, in others, a normal
distribution versus time may be appropriate. In the PN offset planning algorithm it is assumed that
the delay spread is symmetric about the center of the specified delay spread number. This means
that the delay spread distribution is more normal than exponential.
11.7 PN Interference
Since all pilot signals in a system are time-shifted versions of the same bit-sequence (short code), a
pilot from any sector can appear to belong to any other sector. When receiver can not distinguish
pilots from different sectors, demodulation is erroneous and it is known as PN interference. There
are three types of PN interference:
• Handoff confusion – interference to a neighbor set pilot (i.e. due to time delay, strong pilot
appear to be a strong neighbor list pilot: unnecessary handoff occurs)
Generally, if RAKE Search Window is too small, multipath components will not be received (and
post-processed). In the other hand, if the RAKE Search Window is too big, receiver might be
confused by strong components of nearby pilots. This issue will be covered in ‘Intermediate
CDMA Planning and Design’ class.
REFERENCES:
[1] Rappaport, T.S., Wireless Communications, Principles and Practices, Prentice Hall, 1996.
[2] Lee, W. C. Y., Overview of the Cellular CDMA, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology,
Vol. 40, No.2, May 1991.
[3] Evans, G., Joslin, B., Vinson, L. and Foose, B., Optimization and Application of the W. C. Y.
Lee Propagation Model in the 1900 MHz Frequency Band, in proceedings of IEEE 47th Annual
International Vehicular Technology Conference, Phoenix, AZ, May 1997.