AL-AZHAR UNIVERCITY

Comparing between
CDMA and OFDM

REPRESENTED BY :
Rashad Mohammed Tawfiq Musmar 20161147

SUPERVISED BY :
Dr. Tamer abo Al-Foul
CDMA & OFDM
Both OFDM and OFDMA are used in many modern wireless systems including
AC-MIMO Radio, 802.11ac and 4G/LTE. CDMA is widely used in 3G
networks. Here we give a comparison between OFDM and CDMA is often
necessary to choose the correct system.

Both CDMA and OFDM have their own advantages and disadvantages and
therefore an OFDM CDMA comparison can be beneficial.

When undertaking an OFDM CDMA comparison, it is necessary to take a look

at all the advantages and disadvantages. Often the OFDM CDMA choice will not
be easy, but many systems these days are tending to opt for the OFDM
solution over the CDMA solution.

OFDM, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a form of signal

waveform or modulation that provides some significant advantages for data
links.
Accordingly, OFDM, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is used for
many of the latest wide bandwidth and high data rate wireless systems
including Wi-Fi, cellular telecommunications and many more.
The fact that OFDM uses a large number of carriers, each carrying low bit rate
data, means that it is very resilient to selective fading, interference, and
multipath effects, as well providing a high degree of spectral efficiency.
Early systems using OFDM found the processing required for the signal format
was relatively high, but with advances in technology, OFDM presents few
problems in terms of the processing required.
OFDM advantages and disadvantages:

OFDM ADVANTAGES OFDM DISADVANTAGES

 OFDMA can easily adapt to
severe channel conditions
without the need for complex
channel equalization
 OFDM is sensitive to Doppler
algorithms being employed.
shift – frequency errors offset
 It is robust when combatting
the receiver and if not
narrow-band co-channel
corrected the orthogonality
interference. As only some of
between the carriers is
the channels will be affected,
degraded.
not all data is lost and error
 Sensitive to frequency timing
coding can combat this.
issues.
 Intersymbol interference, ISI is
 Possesses a high peak to
less of a problem with OFDM
average power ratio – this
because low data rates are
requires the use of linear
carried by each carrier.
power amplifiers which are
 Provides high levels of
less efficient than non-linear
spectral efficiency.
ones and this results in higher
 Relatively insensitive to timing
battery consumption.
errors
 The cyclic prefix used causes a
 Allows single frequency
lowering of the overall
networks to be used –
spectral efficiency.
particularly important for
broadcasters where this
facility gives a significant
improvement in spectral
usage.

CDMA Code Division Multiple Access system is very different from time
and frequency multiplexing. In this system, a user has access to the whole
bandwidth for the entire duration. The basic principle is that different CDMA
codes are used to distinguish among the different users.
Techniques generally used are direct sequence spread spectrum modulation
(DS-CDMA), frequency hopping or mixed CDMA detection (JDCDMA). Here, a
signal is generated which extends over a wide bandwidth.
 A code called spreading code is used to perform this action. Using a group of
codes, which are orthogonal to each other, it is possible to select a signal with
a given code in the presence of many other signals with different orthogonal
codes.
CDMA advantages and disadvantages:

CDMA ADVANTAGES CDMA DISADVANTAGES

 CDMA requires a tight power

control, as it suffers from
near-far effect. In other
words, a user near the base
station transmitting with the
same power will drown the  The code length must be
signal latter. All signals must carefully selected. A large code
have more or less equal length can induce delay or may
power at the receiver cause interference.

 Rake receivers can be used to  Time synchronization is

improve signal reception. required.
Delayed versions of time(a  Gradual transfer increases the
chip or later) of the signal use of radio resources and may
(multipath signals) can be reduce capacity.
collected and used to make
decisions at the bit level.  As the sum of the power
received and transmitted from
 Flexible transfer may be a base station needs constant
used. Mobile base stations tight power control. This can
can switch without changing result in several handovers.
operator. Two base stations
receive mobile signal and the
mobile receives signals from
the two base stations.
 Transmission Burst −
reduces interference.
OFDM CDMA comparison:

OFDM ADVANTAGES CDMA ADVANTAGES

 OFDM can combat multipath
interference with greater
robustness and less
complexity. Equalization can
be undertaken on a carrier
by carrier basis.
 OFDMA can achieve higher
spectral efficiency with
MIMO than CDMA using a
RAKE receiver.
 Cell breathing does not
occur as additional users
connect to the base station.
 Can be used to provide a
single frequency network.
 It is relatively easy to
aggregate spectrum.
 It can be scaled according to
the requirements relatively
easily
 Not as complicated to
implement as OFDM based
systems
 As CDMA has a wide bandwidth,
it is difficult to equalize the
overall spectrum – significant
levels of processing would be
needed for this as it consists of a
continuous signal and not
discrete carriers.
 Not as easy to aggregate
spectrum as for OFDM

While both CDMA and OFMD have advantages, many of the systems being
implemented now are erring towards the use of OFDM.

With the increase in processing power, it is possible to generate and

demodulate OFDM signals with relative ease.

As increasing bandwidths are needed, OFDM is being used as it is relatively

easy to scale and lends itself to the high data rates being required for many
applications.