Summary Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a wireless communications technology that uses the principle of spread spectrum

communication. The intent of CDMA technology is to provide increased bandwidth in a limited frequency system, but has also other advantages including extended range and more secure communications. In a CDMA system, a narrow band message signal is multiplied by a spreading signal, which is a pseudo-noise code sequence that has a rate much greater than the data rate of the message. CDMA uses these code sequences as a means of distinguishing between individual conversations. All users in the CDMA system use the same carrier frequency and may transmit simultaneously. CDMA is a driving technology behind the rapidly advancing personal communications industry. Because of its greater bandwidth, efficiency, and multiple access capabilities, CDMA is becoming a leading technology for relieving the spectrum congestion caused by the explosion in popularity of cellular mobile phones, fixed wireless telephones, and wireless data terminals. Since becoming an officially recognized digital cellular protocol, CDMA is being rapidly implemented in the wireless communications networks of many large communications corporations. Introduction CDMA stands for "Code Division Multiple Access." It is a form of spread-spectrum, an advanced digital wireless transmission technique. Instead of using frequencies or time slots, as do traditional technologies, it uses mathematical codes to transmit and distinguish between multiple wireless conversations. Its bandwidth is much wider than that required for simple point-to-point communications at the same data rate because it uses noise-like carrier waves to spread the information contained in a signal of interest over a much greater bandwidth. However, because the conversations taking place are distinguished by digital codes, many users can share the same bandwidth simultaneously. The advanced methods used in commercial CDMA technology improve capacity, coverage and voice quality, leading to a new generation of wireless networks. Old-fashioned radio receivers separate stations and channels by filtering in the frequency domain. CDMA receivers, conversely, separate communication channels by a pseudo-random modulation that is applied and removed in the digital domain. Multiple users can therefore occupy the same frequency band. This universal frequency reuse is crucial to CDMA's distinguishing high spectral efficiency. CDMA has gained international acceptance by cellular radio system operators as an upgrade because of its universal frequency reuse and noise-like characteristics. CDMA systems provide operators and subscribers with significant advantages over analog and conventional TDMA-based systems. The main advantages of CDMA are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Increased capacity Improved voice quality, eliminating the audible effects of multipath fading Enhanced privacy and security Improved coverage characteristics, which reduce the number of cell sites Simplified system planning reduces deployment and operating costs Reduced average transmitted power, thus increasing talk time for portable devices Reduced interference to other electronic devices Reduction in the number of calls dropped due to handoff failures Development of a reliable transport mechanism for wireless data communications Coexistence with previous technologies, due to cdma and analog operating in two spectras with no interference

Background To understand why there is a demand for CDMA, it is necessary to understand the technology that existed prior to its introduction and to know the background behind previous spread-spectrum systems. Spread spectrum communications have been used for encrypting military communication for many years. Its strengths in the military arena lie in its ability to resist enemy jamming and to provide secure communications. It is difficult to interfere with or intercept a CDMA signal because of its use of a spread signal. The great attraction of CDMA technology from the beginning was its inherent ability to boost communications capacity and reuse frequencies to a degree unheard of in narrowband multiple access wireless technology. Its civilian mobile radio application was proposed theoretically in the late 1940's, but its practical application in the market did not take place until 40 years later due to the many technical obstacles that still needed to be overcome. The viability of CDMA technology was dismissed by TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) supporters as a technology that worked fine in theory but would never work in practice. The rapid development of high density digital ICs, however, combined with the realization that regulating all transmitter powers to the lowest level required for a link would achieve optimal multiple access communication, allowed CDMA to materialize as a working technology. In 1991, the promising results of the first field trials demonstrated that CDMA could work as well in practice as it did in theory. Commercial CDMA was introduced, tested, standardized, and initially deployed in less then seven years, a relatively rapid maturation cycle compared to other technologies such as TDMA. The first commercial CDMA service was launched in Hong Kong in 1995, followed by a launch in Korea and Pennsylvania. It has rapidly become the primary choice of carriers in the U.S. Now 11 of the top 14 cellular carriers, 10 of the top 17 PCS carriers, the 2 largest PCS C block bidders and 60% of POPs have selected CDMA for their new digital network. FDMA, TDMA and CDMA FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) are the three basic multiple access schemes. FDMA divides radio channels into a range of radio frequencies and is used in the traditional analog cellular system. With FDMA, only one subscriber is assigned to a channel at a time. Other conversations can access this channel only after the subscriber's call has terminated or after the original call is handed off to a different channel by the system. FDMA cellular standards include AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) and TACS (Total Access Communications System). TDMA is a common multiple access technique employed in digital cellular systems. It divides conventional radio channels into time slots to obtain higher capacity. Its standards include North American Digital Cellular, Global System for GSM (Mobile Communications), and PDC (Personal Digital Cellular). As with FDMA, no other conversations can access an occupied TDMA channel until the channel is vacated. CDMA uses a radically deferent approach. It assigns each subscriber a unique "code" to put multiple users on the same wideband channel at the same time. The codes, called "pseudorandom code sequences", are used by both the mobile station and the base station to distinguish between conversations. The IS-95 CDMA standard was adopted by the TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) and became a digital cellular standard in 1992. The J-STD-008 standard for personal communications services was also accepted by ANSI. CDMA is the first digital technology, which meets the exacting standards of the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association). Depending on the level of mobility of the system, it provides 10 to 20 times the capacity of AMPS, and 4 to 7 times the capacity of TDMA.. CDMA is the only one of the three technologies that can efficiently utilize spectrum allocation and offer service to many subscribers without requiring extensive frequency planning. All CDMA users can share the same frequency channel because their conversations are distinguished only by digital code, while TDMA operators have to coordinate the allocation of channels in each cell in order to avoid interfering with adjacent channels. The average transmitted power required by CDMA is much lower than what is required by analog, FDMA and TDMA technologies.

How Wireless Works Everybody is familiar with wireless communications in some form, whether the introduction has been from the recent cellular explosion, or perhaps the "walkie talkies" we all loved as children. Communicating parties are no longer confined by restrictive telephone cables, rather a convenient forum for dialog transmissions is possible via wireless developments in recent years. The key in effective data transmission is to create a virtual link over the air medium such that communication between the two parties is as though they are connected by a physical wire. Several schemes exist to accomplish this, including spread spectrum communications which will be discussed later. Spread spectrum principles are easier to understand with some prior understanding of basic wireless concepts. When a cellular mobile is switched on it scans the group of control channels to determine the strongest base station signal. Control channels are only involved in setting up a call and moving it to an unused channel. When a telephone call is placed (1), signal is sent to the base station (3). The mobile switching center (MSC) dispatches the request to all base stations in the cellular system. The mobile identification number (MIN), which is the subscriber's telephone number, is then broadcast as a paging message to the forward control channels throughout the cellular system. The mobile receives the page, and identifies itself through the reverse control channel. The base station of the mobile informs the MSC of the "handshake", and the MSC instructs the base station to move the call to an unsed channel (4). All of these events happen within a few seconds which are unnoticeable by the users.

Wireless technology uses individual radio frequencies over and over again by dividing a service area into separate geographic zones called cells. Cells can be as small as an individual building, such as an office, or as large as 20 miles across. Each cell must be equipped with its own radio transmitter/receiver antenna. Because the system operates at such low power, a frequency being used to carry a phone conversation in one cell can be used to carry a conversation in a nearby cell without interference. (This allows much greater capacity than radio systems like Citizens Band (CB) in which all users contend to get their messages on the same limited channels.) When a customer using a wireless phone - car phone or portable - approaches the boundary of one cell, the wireless network senses that the signal is becoming weak and automatically hands off the call to the antenna in the next cell into which the caller is traveling. This process is known as a "handoff". Roaming occurs when subscribers travel beyond their home geographical area. The wireless carrier in the area where they are traveling provides service so they can still make calls.

Current Cellular Standards The cellular solution, originally designed by Bell Telephone laboratories in the 1970's makes use of multiple fixed stations. Each station, located in what is termed a "cell" services subscriber stations within a limited geographical area. Cellular companies are each granted 25 Mhz of the spectral division in the 800-900 MHz region, each split between the two directions of communications. Typical analog systems such as AMPS employ FDMA schemes that divide the spectral allocations into uniform frequency channels in the range of 25-30 kHz wide. Applying simple algebra shows the approximate number of channels to be around 416. This number, although appearing somewhat large, is rather small with respect to data communications. Different types of cellular systems employ various methods of "multiple access" methods, meaning that multiple, simultaneous users can be supported. These users share a common pool of radio channels and can gain access to any channel. Just as each telephone call is granted a specific line for discourse, each subscriber is assigned a unique channel to propagate data transmission. Only one subscriber at a time is assigned to each channel; no other conversations can access it until the call is completed. These channels are a limited resource of cellular companies, as are the number of phone lines are for Ma Bell. Solutions to achieve greater capacity are central to cellular principles. Spectral allocations are limited for each cell, due in part to regulatory agencies limiting the bandwidth in order for communication companies to create highly efficient solutions. This spectral efficiency is measured in Erlangs per unit service area, per MHz. Quite simply, this dimensionless unit of telephone traffic intensity, known as the Erlang blocking probability (typically 0.05), is equal to calling rate multiplied by the average call length. This shows the capacity for a channel to be completely occupied for some given time frame, with higher values representing higher channel usage. Due to the explosive growth of the cellular industry exceeding initial predictions of analysts, subscribers in many urban cities often experience "blocking" with the trend increasing as the number of wireless LAN's and personal cellular radios continue to grow. Anyone who has tried to make a call and has been prevented or "blocked" will understand this concept. One in six Los Angeles subscribers experience blocking during peak hours. Many subscribers also experience "dropped calls" when leaving one cell and moving into another when the new cell can't allocate a carrier channel to the mobile. Consequently this leads to poor customer relations which forces the cellular providers to arrive at solutions that achieve high spectral efficiency to increase cell capacity. Central to the cellular concept is frequency reuse, which is critically dependent upon the fact that the carrier wave power decays with increasing distance. With this information, and some physics (which we won't get into), a cellular division of frequency channels can be implemented. It's the same rationale when traveling long distances; your favorite radio show on a familiar frequency is not the same in each city. The channel is allocated to another radio station far enough apart where signals won't interfere with each other. By reusing channels in multiple cells, the system can grow without geographical limits.

Here each cell represents an allocation of channels where no adjacent cells share common frequencies, with a typical maximum subscriber load at about 350 users. This idealized depiction is a hypothetical representation

of true cellular systems that is good for modeling, but unfortunately not substantial enough for real world implementations of cellular technology. Spreading the Spectrum Spread spectrum multiple access transmits the entire signal over a bandwidth that is much greater than that required for standard narrow band transmissions in order to gain signal-to-noise (S/N) performance. In channels with narrowband noise, increasing the transmitted signal bandwidth results in an increased probability that the received information will be correct. Because each signal is a compilation of many smaller signals at the fundamental frequency and its harmonics, increasing the frequency results in a more accurate reconstruction of the original signal. The effective drawback of narrowband data communications is the limitation of bandwidth; thus signals must be transmitted with enough power so the corruption by gaussian noise isn't as effective and the probability that the data received is correct will remain low. This means that the effective SNR must be high enough so that the receiver can recover the transmitted code without error. From a system viewpoint, the performance increase for very wideband systems is referred to as "process gain". This term is used to describe the received signal fidelity gained at the cost of bandwidth. Errors introduced by a noisy channel can be reduced to any desired level without sacrificing the rate of information transfer using Claude Shannon's equation describing channel capacity: C =Wlog2(1+S/N) where C = Channel capacity in bits per second, W = Bandwidth, S/N = Energy per bit/Noise power. The benefits of increasing bandwidth become more clear. The S/N ratio may be decreased without decreasing the bit error rate. This means that the signal may be spread over a large bandwidth with smaller spectral power levels and still achieve the required data rate. If the total signal power is interpreted as the area under the spectral density curve, then signals with equivalent total power may have either a large signal power concentrated in a small bandwidth or a small signal power spread over a large bandwidth.

A CDMA spread spectrum signal is created by modulating the radio frequency signal with a spreading sequence (a code consisting of a series of binary pulses) known as a pseudo-noise (PN) digital signal because they make the signal appear wide band and "noise like". The PN code runs at a higher rate than the RF signal and determines the actual transmission bandwidth. Messages can also be cryptographically encoded to any level of secrecy desired with direct sequencing as the entire transmitted/received message is purely digital.

An SS receiver uses a locally generated replica pseudo noise code and a receiver correlator to separate only the desired coded information from all possible signals. A SS correlator can be thought of as a specially matched filter -- it responds only to signals that are encoded with a pseudo noise code that matches its own code. Thus an SS correlator (SS signal demodulator) can be "tuned" to different codes simply by changing its local code. This correlator does not respond to man made, natural or artificial noise or interference. It responds only to SS signals with identical matched signal characteristics and encoded with the identical pseudo noise code. Many spread spectrum radios can share the same frequency band, provided that each system uses a unique spreading code to reduce interference between the different radios. Because only the receiver with the identical code can despread the signal to recover the signal, SS radios can tolerate a high level of interference unlike conventional radios, providing much greater capacity increase in frequency reuse. SSMA is not very bandwidth efficient when used by a single user. However, since many users can share the same spread spectrum bandwidth without interfering with one another, SS systems become bandwidth efficient in multiple user environments. This reason makes SS communication an ideal choice for metropolitan areas with large blocking rates. Frequency reuse is universal, that is, multiple users utilize each CDMA carrier frequency. The reuse pattern is now...

The spread of energy over a wide band, or lower spectral power density, makes SS signals less likely to interfere with narrow band communications, because the spreaded signal power is near that of gaussian noise levels. Narrow band communications, conversely, cause little to no interference to SS systems because the correlation receiver effectively integrates over a very wide bandwidth to recover an SS signal. The correlator then "spreads" out a narrow band interferer over the receiver's total detection bandwidth.

Spread Spectrum: down to the bits CDMA technology focuses primarily on the "direct sequence" method of spread spectrum. Direct sequence is spread spectrum technique in which the bandwidth of a signal is increased by artificially increasing the bit data rate. This is done by breaking each bit into a number of sub-bits called "chips". Assuming this number is 10, each bit of the original signal would be divided up into 10 separate bits, or "chips." This results in an increase in the data rate by 10. By increasing the data rate by 10, we also increase the bandwidth by 10. The signal is divided up into smaller bits by multiplying it by a Pseudo-Noise code, PN-code. A PN-code is a sequence of high data rate bits ("chips") ranging from -1 to 1 (polar) or 0 to 1 (non-polar). When referring to the number of "chips" used, we mean the number of small data bits in the PN-code per single bit of the original signal. Simply by multiplying the original modulated signal by this high data rate PN-code will result in dividing the signal into smaller bits, and hence, increase its bandwidth. This process is

shown in the figure below.

The greater number of "chips" used results in a wider bandwidth proportional to the number of "chips". The basic operation of the transmitter and receiver for spread spectrum will now be described briefly. Let's assume there are two transmitters (refer to the figure below) with two different messages to be transmitted. We should keep in mind that each transmitter can be thought of as separate cell phones. The messages M1(t) and M2(t) first go through a modulator to modulate the message at a higher carrier frequency. For spread spectrum, all messages are modulated on the same carrier frequency. The output for each of the modulators is S1(t) and S2(t). After the modulator, each signal is multiplied by its own unique Pseudo-Noise code, C1(t) and C2(t). These are the high data rate bit patterns which spreads the signal's bandwidth. For this example, we will assume the range values for the PN-code is -1 and 1. After spreading the bandwidth, each signal is transmitted. Because many signals can be transmitted from different transmitters at the same time, we represent these transmissions by simply summing their spectrums.

At the receiver end, the incoming signal is the spread spectrum signal. In order for a receiver to extract a single message, it must multiply the incoming signal by the correct PN-code. Because we chose the PN-code to range from -1 to 1, this technique of multiplying by the PN-code works perfectly. Since the original signal at the transmitter end was multiplied by the PN-code, and again multiplied by the same PN-code at the

receiver end, we effectively canceled out the PN-code for that particular message. The figure below helps illustrate how the PN-code is eliminated.

By eliminating the PN-code, we eliminate the spread spectrum effects for that particular message signal. The receiver circuit that does this is called a correlator, and it collapses the spread signal back down to just the original narrow bandwidth centered at the modulated carrier frequency. The resulting signal is then passed through a bandpass filter (BPF) centered at the carrier frequency. This operation selects only the desired signal while rejecting all surrounding frequencies due to other messages in the spread spectrum. This rejection is known as the processing gain of the despreading correlation process. Lastly, the desired signal is demodulated to eliminate the carrier frequency. Processing gain is a direct consequence of the direct sequence radio signal spreading and despreading process. It refers to the increase in signal-to-noise ratio that results from this process, and is required for successful data communications. Processing gain increases as the number of chips per data bit increases, and this can be manipulated by the system designer to get the desired effect.

The Near-Far Problem CDMA has not been previously implemented due to its "Near-Far Problem." Let's assume there are two users, one near the base and one far from the base.

The propagation path loss difference between these extreme users may be many tens of dB. In general, the strongest received mobile signal will capture the demodulator at the base station. In CDMA, stronger received signal levels raise the noise floor at the base station demodulators for the weaker signals, thereby decreasing the probability that weaker signals will be received.

To help eliminate the "Near-Far Problem", CDMA uses power control. The base station rapidly samples the radio signal strength indicator levels of each mobile and then sends a power change command over the forward radio link. This sampling is done 800 times per second and can be adjusted in 84 steps of 1 dB. The purpose of this is so that the received powers from all users are roughly equal. This solves the problem of a nearby subscriber overpowering the base station receiver and drowning out the signals of far away subscribers. An extra benefit is extended battery life. That is, when a mobile unit is close to a base station, its power output is lower. In other words, the mobile unit transmits only at the power necessary to maintain connection. Soft Handoff Mentioned previously were methods of current cellular technology that uses the "hard handoff" method when mobiles are changing cells. Because each mobile is on a limited channel within a specific cell, the transmitting base station must try to allocate a new channel to a new mobile. The problem arises when the mobile is active and also changing cells. At the very least, the person will here some static or a glitch of some sort because the transmission had to be placed on a new carrier wave. This is relatively acceptable, except in cases when there are no more channels available to any mobile. In this case the call is just dropped. Since the bandwidth in CDMA schemes is common to all users, channel allocation is not required. As shown in the animation, the current cell of the mobile is responsible for all transmissions. As the mobile nears the boundary of a neighboring cell, it receives transmissions from both cells. The mobile will receive some message from one cell, and some from the other until it has moved into one or the other cells. This is known as a "soft handoff" because the user never experiences any glitch and certainly never a dropped call.

Commercial Applications

The technical advantages associated with the usage of CDMA technology has led to a rapid development of the technology from its conception to use in full-service telecommunications networks. Despite the claims from advocates of existing technology that CDMA was a theory that looked good on paper but could never be refined enough to be applied, the technology was researched and pursued. By 1991, Qualcomm Corporation had demonstrated its first example of CDMA technology in a rather promising field trial. By proving that the technology could in fact be applied, Qualcomm effectively started the CDMA bandwagon. The next year saw CDMA's acceptance by the Telecommunications Industry Association and ANSI as an official digital cellular technology. By the year 1995, the first commercial CDMA network was installed in Hong Kong - making CDMA's maturation period less than five years, a significantly shorter time period than for most other communications standards. Since the installation of the first network in Hong Kong, the major telecommunications corporations have been feverishly staking their claims in the future CDMA market, especially in the United States. 1996 saw FCC auctions for the frequency ranges used by CDMA networks, and several companies have been trying to capture the most profitable regions of the country for their coverage. Several pockets of CDMA coverage were established in the United States in late 1996, and 1997 and 1998 promise to be the years of major construction for the infrastructure. Sprint claims that the CDMA network will become the "replacement for current cellular technology," and many companies are working on making that statement reality. Technology enthusiasts and those who live in the center of the initial CDMA coverage areas will probably take advantage of the services during this first year of service, but it will probably be at least 1998 before it becomes widespread enough to gain widespread public acceptance.

The widespread acceptance of the network is likely to be accelerated nearly as much by the change in the typical conventions of cellular service as by the improved quality due to the new technology. The highly competitive market has caused companies to place more importance on what consumers see as a barrier to using cellular and wireless networks. Consumers will be attracted to the new networks by the promise of increased call quality, range, privacy, and all of the other benefits of CDMA technology, but may likely be convinced by the changes that have been made from the way cellular service has typically been billed. One of the major problems that consumers report with existing cellular service is the ambiguity related to billing. Aside from being expensive, it is often unpredictable what any particular call will cost. Roaming fees and long distance fees vary in every location and it is impossible to tell ahead of time what the rates for any one call will be. The trend with the new CDMA networks is to establish a defined "local calling area" and bill any minutes outside of that area at a constant amount of money per minute, typically 50 or 60 cents. Also, users of the networks will be able to query their account balance at any time from their phones, configure the network to notify them when a certain balance is exceeded, and program the phones to stop working after a maximum balance has been reached. Other subtle differences, such as not charging for airtime if a call cannot be completed, are changes in policy that are likely to affect the purchasing decisions of consumers. Current cellular service providers cover only relatively small geographic areas, which leads to billing nightmares if a phone serviced by one company is used in an area serviced by another. While the phone can still be used, the "foreign" company bills the original service provider who in turn bills the customer, with unpredictable rates and fees. Sprint's Personal Communications Services (PCS) division currently plans to operate a network that will cover the entire nation. Sprint currently hold licenses to operate this network in 33 metropolitan areas, plans to add coverage for 59 more cities in 1997, and fill in the remaining areas in the years to follow. Their own estimates place the potential coverage area between 190 and 260 million people. Such a nationwide network would alleviate many of the difficulties currently associated with using cellular technology outside of one's own local coverage area.

Wireless Local Loop

CDMA's primary commercial application will definitely be with cellular wireless phones and pagers, but there are also some other uses of the technology being applied commercially. Wireless local loop technology is a way for a local cluster of telephones to be installed in areas that would normally require expensive or disrupting physical wire installation. The basic idea is that a central CDMA hub is installed where the phone lines come into an area, be it an office building, apartment complex, or even a subdivision The hub interfaces with the standard phone lines coming into such an area, and then CDMA-compatible phones are installed in each office or apartment - wherever a wired phone would normally have to be installed. The phones are not designed to be battery-powered portables; they get their power from standard 110V sources, but because they are not tied to a phone jack, they can be moved to different areas easily. This is especially important for preexisting structures where adding more phone lines would be a problem. Wireless local loop can also be applied in the other direction. If a location does not have wired telephone service but has access to CDMA cellular coverage, a building's standard wired phones can be connected to a wireless local loop hub that allows many phones to share a predetermined number of CDMA cellular transceivers. The service is almost transparent in that the users' phone act as if they were connected to a physical phone line except when all the transceivers in the wireless local loop hub are in use.