CHAPTER 8

Multiple Access
Techniques for Wireless
Communications

ultiple access schemes are used to allow

many mobile users to share simultaneously a finite amount of radio spectrum.
The sharing of spectrum is required to achieve high capacity by simultaneously
allocating the available bandwidth (or the available amount of channels) to mul-
tiple users. For high quality communications, this must be done without severe
degradation in the performance of the system.

8.1 Introduction
In wireless communications systems, it is often desirable to allow the sub-
scriber to send simultaneously informetion to the base station while receiving
information from the base station. Fm example, in conventional telephone sys-
tems, it is possible to talk and listen simultaneously, and this effect, called
duplexing, is generally required in wireless telephone 53 stems. Duplexing may
be done using frequency or time domain techniques. Frequency division duplex-
ing (FDD) provides two distinct bands of frequencies for every user. The forward
band provides traffic from the base station to the mobile, and the reverse band
provides traffic from the mobile to the base. In FDD, any duplex channel actually
consists of two simplex channels, and a device called a duplexer is used inside
each subscriber unit and base station to allow simultaneous radio transmission
and reception on the duplex channel pair. The frequency split between the for-
ward and reverse channel is constant thrcntghout the system, regardless of the
particular channel being used. Time division duplexing (TDD) uses time instead
of frequency to provide both a forward and reverse link. If the time split between
the forward and reverse time slot is small, then the transmission and reception
of data appiars simultaneous to the user. Figure 8.1 illustrates FDD and TDD

395

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 396 Ch. 8• Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

techniques. TDD allows communication on a single channel (as opposed to

requiring two simplex or dedicated channels) and simplifies the subscriber
equipment since a duplexer is not required.

Reverse Forward
Channel Channel
4 Frequency split Frequency
(a)

Reverse 1 Forward
Channel j Channel
Time split Time
(b)
Figure 8.1
(a) FDD provides two simplex channels at the same time.
(b) TDD provides two simplex time slots on the same frequency.

There are several trade-otis between FDD and TDD approaches. FDD is
geared toward radio communications systems that provide individual radio fre-
quencies for each user. Because each transceiver simultaneously transmits and
receives radio signals which vary by more than 100 dB, the frequency allocation
used for the forward and reverse channels must be carefully coordinated with
out-of-band users that occupy spectrum between these two bands. Futthermore,
the frequency separation must be coordinated to permit the use of inexpensive
RF technology. TDD enables each transceiver to operate as either a transmitter
or receiver on the same frequency, and eliminates the need for separate forward
and reverse frequency bands. However, there is a time latency due to the fact
that communications is not full duplex in the truest sense.

8.1.1 Introduction to Multiple Access

Frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access
(TDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA) are the three major access
techniques used to share the available bandwidth in a wireless communication
system. These techniques can be grouped as narrowband and wideband systems,
depending upon how the available bandwidth is allocated to the users. The
duplexing technique of a multiple access system is usually described along with
the particular multiple access scheme, as shown in the examples below.
Narrowband Systems — The term narrowband is used to relate the
bandwidth of a single channel to the expected coherence bandwidth of the chan-
nel. In a narrowband multiple access system, the available radio spectrum is

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 Introduction

divided into a large number of narrowband channels. The channels are usually
operated using FDD. To minimize interference between forward and reverse
links on each channel, the frequency split is made as great as possible within the
frequency spectrum, while still allowing inexpensive duplexers and a common
transceiver antenna to be used in each subscriber unit. In narrowband FDMA, a
user is assigned a particular channel which is not shared by other users in the
vicinity, and if FDD is used (that is, each channel has a forward and reverse
link), then the system is called FDMAIFDD. Narrowband TDMA, on the other
hand, allows users to share the same channel but allocates a unique time slot to
each user in a cyclical fashion on the channel, thus separating a small number of
users in time on a single channel. For narrowband TDMA, there generally are a
large number of channels allocated using either FDD or TDD, and each channel
is shared using TDMA. Such systems are called TDMAIFDD or TDMAJTDD
access systems.
Wideband systems — In wideband systems, the transmission bandwidth
of a single channel is much larger than the coherence bandwidth of the channel.
Thus, multipath fading does not greatly affect the received signal within a wide-
band channel, and frequency selective fades occur in only a small fraction of the
signal bandwidth. In wideband multiple access systems, the users are allowed to
transmit in a large part of the spectrum. A large number of transmitters are also
allowed to transmit on the same channel. TDMA allocates time slots to the many
transmitters on the same channel and allows only one transmitter to access the
channel at any instant of time, whereas spread spectrum CDMA allows all of the
transmitters to access the channe] at the same time. TDMA and CDMA systems
may use either FDD or TDD multiplexing techniques.
In addition to FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA, two other multiple access
schemes are used for wireless communications. These are packet radio (PR) and
space division multiple access (SDMA). In this chapter, the above mentioned
multiple access techniques, their performance, and their capacity in digital cellu-
lar systems are discussed. Table 8.1 shows the different multiple access tech-
niques being used in various wireless communications systems.

8.2 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Frequency division multiple access (FDMA) assigns individual channels to
individual users. It can be seen from Figure 8.2 that each user is allocated a
unique frequency band or channel. These channels are assigned on demand to
users who request service. During the period of the call, no other user can share
the same frequency band. In FDD systems, the users are assigned a channel as a
pair of frequencies; one frequency is used for the forward channel, while the
other frequency is used for the reverse channel. The features of FDMA are as fol-
lows:
• The FDMA channel carries only one phone circuit at a time.

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 398 Ch. 8 . Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

Table 8.1 Multiple Access TechnIques Used in Different Wireless Communication Systems

Multiple Access
Cellular System .

Technique

Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) FDMAJFDD

Global System for Mobile (GSM) TDMAIFDD

U.S. Digital Cellular (USDC) TDMAJFDD

Japanese Digital Cellular (JDC) TDMAJFDD

CT2 (Cordless Thlephone) FDMATFDD

Digital European Cordless Thlephone (DECT) FDMAITDD

U.S. Narrowband Spread Spectrum (15-95) CDMAIFDD

• If an FDMA channel is not in use, then it sits idle and cannot be used by
other users to increase or share capacity. It is essentially a wasted resource.
• After the assignment of a voice channel, the base station and the mobile
transmit simultaneously and continuously.
• The bandwidths of FDMA channels are relatively narrow (30 kHz) as each
channel supports only one circuit per carrier That is, FDMA is usually
implemented in narrowband systems.
• The symbol time is large as compared to the average delay spread. This
implies that the amount of intersymbol interference is low and, thus, little or
no equalization is required in FDMA narrowband systems.
• The complexity of FDMA mobile systems is lower when compared to TDMA
systems, though this is changing as digital signal processing methods
improve for TDMA.
• Since FDMA is a continuous transmission scheme, fewer bits are needed for
overhead purposes (such as synchronization and framing bits) as compared
to TDMA.
• FDMA systems have higher cell site system costs as compared to TDMA sys-
tems, because of the single channel per carrier design, and the need to use
costly bandpass filters to eliminate spurious radiation at the base station.
• The FDMA mobile unit uses duplexers since both the transmitter and
receiver operate at the same time. This results in an increase in the cost of
FDMA subscriber zmits and base stations.
• FDMA requires tight RF filtering to minimize adjacent channel interference.

Nonlinear Effects in FDMA — In a FDMA system, many channels share

the same antenna at the base station. The power amplifiers or the power combin-
ers, when operated at or near saturation for maximum power efficiency, are non-
linear. The nonlinearities cause signal spreading in the frequency domain and
generate intermodulation (IM) frequencies. IM is undesired RF radiation which
can interfere with other channels in the FDMA systems, Spreading of the spec-

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 Introduction 399

trum results in adjacent-channel interference. Intermodulation is the generation

of undesirable harmonics. Harmonics generated outside the mobile radio band
cause interference to adjacent services, while those present inside the band
cause interference to other users in the mobile system [Yac93].

Example 8.1
Find the intermodulation frequencies generated if a base station transmits two
carrier frequencies at 1930 MHz and 1932 MHz that are amplified by a satu-
rated clipping amplifier. If the mobile radio band is allocated from 1920 MHz to
1940 MHz, designate the lM frequencies that lie inside and outside the band.

Solution to Example 8.1

Intermodulation distortion products occur at frequencies mf1 + nf2 for all inte-
ger values of m and n, i.e., <m, n Some of the possible intermodulation
frequencies that are produced by a nonlinear device are
(2n + 1)[i - 2nf2, (2n + 2)fi - (2n + 1)12, (2n + -2n12,
(2n + 2)12- (2n + etc. for n = 0, 1, 2
Table E8.1 lists several intermodulation product terms.

Table E 8.1: Entermodulation Products

n=0 n=1 n=2 n=3
1930 1926 1922 1918
1928 1924 1920 1916
1932 1936 1940 1944*
1934 1938 1942* 1946*

The frequencies in the table marked with an asterisk (*) are the frequencies
that lie outside the mobile radio band.

The first U.S. analog cellular system, the Advanced Mobile Phone System
(AMPS), is based on FDMAIFDD. A single user occupies a single channel while
the call is in progress, and the single channel is actually two simplex channels
which are frequency duplexed with a 45 MHz split. When a call is completed, or
when a handoff occurs, the channel is vacated so that another mobile subscriber
may use it. Multiple or simultaneous users are accommodated in AMPS by giv-
ing each user a unique channel. Voice signals are sent on the forward channel
from the base station to mobile unit, and on the reverse channel from the mobile
unit to the base station. In AMPS, analog narrowband frequency modulation
(NBFM) is used to modulate the carrier. The number of channels that can be
simultaneously supported in a FDMA system is given by
=
N (8.1)

where B guard is the guard band allocated at

the edge of the allocated spectrum, and is the channel bandwidth.

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 400 Cli. 8 • Multiple Access Teclrniques for Wireless Communications

Code

Frequency

Ti me
Figure 8.2
FDMA where different channels are assigned different frequency bands.

Example 8.2
B guard is 10 kHz, and is 30 kHz, find the number of
channels available in an FDMA system.

Solution to Example 8.2

The number of channels available in the FDMA system is given as

N = I2.5x I06—2(IOx lOs)

= 416
JOx
In the U.S., each cellular carrier is allocated 416 channels.

8.3 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

division multiple access (TDMA) systems divide the radio spectrum
into time slots, and in each slot only one user is allowed to either transmit or
receive. It can be seen from Figure 8.3 that each user occupies a cyclically repeat-
ing time slot, so a channel may be thought of as particular time slot that reoccurs
every frame, where N time slots comprise a frame. TDMA systems transmit data
in a buffer-and-burst method, thus the transmission for any user is noncontinu-
ous. This implies that, unlike in FDMA systems which accommodate analog FM,
digital data and digital modulation must be used with TDMA. The transmission
from various users is interlaced into a repeating frame structure as shown in
Figure 8.4. It can be seen that a frame consists of a number of slots. Each frame
is made up of a preamble, an infonnation message, and tail bits. In TDMAITDD,
half of the time slots in the frame information message would be used for

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 Time Division Multiple Access (TOMA) 401

the forward link channels and half would be used for reverse link channels. In
TDMAIFDD systems, an identical or similar frame structure would be used
solely for either forward or reverse transmission, but the carrier frequencies
would be different for the forward and reverse links. In general, TDMAJFDD sys-
tems intentionally induce several time slots of delay between the forward and
reverse time slots of a particular user, so that duplexers are not required in the
subscriber unit.

Code

Frequency

Ti inc

Figure 8.3
TDMA scheme where each channel occupies a cyclically repeating time slot.

In a TDMA frame, the preamble contains the address and synchronization

information that both the base station and the subscribers use to identify each
other. Guard times are utilized to allow synchronization of the receivers between
different slots and frames. Different TDMA wireless standards have different
TDMA frame structures, and some are described in Chapter 10. The features of
TDMA include the following:
• TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users, where each user
makes use of nonoverlapping time slots. The number of time slots per frame
depends on several factors, such as modulation technique, available band-
width, etc.
• Data transmission for users of a TDMA system is not continuous, but occurs
in bursts. This results in low battery consumption, since the subscriber
transmitter can be turned off when not in use (which is most of the time).
• Because of discontinuous transmissions in TDMA, the handoff process is
much simpler for a subscriber unit, since it is able to listen for other base
stations during idle time slots. An enhanced link control, such as that pro-
vided by mobile assisted handoff (MAHO) can be carried out by a subscriber

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 402 Ch. 8 Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

by listening on an idle slot in the TDMA frame.

• TDMA uses different time slots for transmission and reception, thus duplex-
ers are not required. Even if FDD is used, a switch rather than a duplexer
inside the subscriber unit is all that is required to switch between transmit-
ter and receiver using TDMA.
• Adaptive equalization is usually necessary in TDMA systems, since the
transmission rates are generally very high as compared to FDMA channels.
• In TDMA, the guard time should be minimized. If the transmitted signal at
the edges of a time slot are suppressed sharply in order to shorten the guard
time, the transmitted spectrum will expand and cause interference to adja-
cent channels.
• High synchronization overhead is required in TDMA systems because of
burst transmissions. TDMA transmissions are slotted, and this requires the
receivers to be synchronized for each data burst. In addition, guard slots are
necessary to separate users, and this results in the TDMA systems having
larger overheads as compared to FDMA.
• TDMA has an advantage in that it is possible to allocate different numbers of
time slots per frame to different users. Thus bandwidth can be supplied on
demand to different users by concatenating or reassigning time slots based
on priority.

* One IDMA Frame +

Figure 8.4
TDMA frame structure.

Efficiency of TDMA — The efficiency of a TDMA system is a measure of

the percentage of transmitted data that contains information as opposed to pro-
viding overhead for the access scheme. The frame efficiency, is the percentage
of bits per frame which contain transmitted data. Note that the transmitted data
may include source and channel coding bits, so the raw end-user efficiency of a
system is generally less than The frame efficiency can be found as follows.
The number of overhead bits per frame is [Zie92},

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 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) 403

= Nrbr+Ntbp+Ntbg+Nrbg (8.2)
where, Nr is the number of reference bursts per frame, N, is the n,umber of traf-
fic bursts per frame, br is the number of overhead bits per reference burst, is
the number of overhead bits per preamble in each slot, and bg is the number of
equivalent bits in each guard time interval. The total number of bits per frame,
bT, is
= l'f 1? (8.3)
where Tf is the frame duration, and R is the channel bit rate. The frame effi-
ciency is thus given as

(8.4)

Number of channels in TDMA system — The number of TDMA channel

slots that can be provided in a TDMA system is found by multiplying the number
of TDMA slots per channel by the number of channels available and is given by
N = in — 2Bguard)
(8.5)

where m is the maximum number of TDMA users supported on each radio chan-
nel. Note that two guard bands, one at the low end of the allocated frequency
band and one at the high end, are required to ensure that users at the edge of the
band do not "bleed over" into an adjacent radio service.
Example 8.3
Consider Global System for Mobile, which is a TDMAJFDD system that uses 25
MHz for the forward link, which is broken into radio channels of 200 kHz. IfS
speech channels are supported on a single radio channel, and if no guard band
is assumed, find the number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated
in GSM.

Solution to Example 8.3

The number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in GSM is given
as
N 25MHz
— 1000
— (200 kl-{z)/8
Thus, GSM can accommodate 1000 simultaneous users.

Example 8.4
If GSM uses a frame structure where each frame consists of S time slots, and
each time slot contains 156.25 bits, and data is transmitted at 270.833 kbps in
the channel, find (a) the time duration of a bit, (b) the time duration of a slot,
(c) the time duration of a frame, and (d) how long must a user occupying a sin-
gle time slot must wait between two simultaneous transmissions.

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 404 Cli. 8 . Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

Solution to Example 8.4

(a) The time duration of a bit, Tb = 3.692
= 270.833 kbps
(b) The time duration of a slot, = 156.25 x Tb = 0.577 ms.

(c) The time duration of a frame, T1, = 8 x = 4.615 ms.

(d) A user has to wait 4.615 ms, the arrival time of a new frame, for its next
transmission.

Example 8.5
If a normal GSM time slot consists of 6 trailing bits, 8.25 guard bits, 26 train-
ing bits, and 2 traffic bursts of 58 bits of data, find the frame efficiency.

Solution to Example 8.5

A time slot has 6 + 8.25 + 26 + 2(58) = 156.25 bits.
A frame has 8x 156.25 = 1250 bits/frame.
The number of overhead bits per frame is given by
boH = 8(6) + 8(8.25) ÷ 8(26) = 322 bits
Thus, the frame efficiency
x tOO = 74.24%

8.4 Spread Spectrum Multiple Access

Spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) uses signals which have a trans-
mission bandwidth that is several orders of magnitude greater than the mini-
mum required RF bandwidth. A pseudo-noise (PN) sequence (discussed in
Chapter 5) converts a narrowband signal to a wideband noise-like signal before
transmission. SSMA also provides immunity to multipath interference and
robust multiple access capability. 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, spread spectrum sys-
tems become bandwidth efficient in a muthple user environment. It is exactly
this situation that is of interest to wireless system designers. There are two main
types of spread spectrum multiple access techniques; frequency hopped multiple
access (FH) and direct sequence multiple access (DS). Direct sequence multiple
access is also called code division multiple access (CDMA).

8.4.1 Frequency Flopped Multiple Access (FHMA)

Frequency hopped multiple access (FHMA) is a digital multiple access sys-
tem in which the carrier frequencies of the individual users are varied in a pseu-
dorandom fashion within a wideband channel. The digital data is broken into
uniform sized bursts which are transmitted on different carrier frequencies. The

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 Spread Spectrum Multiple Access 405

instantaneous bandwidth of any one transmission burst is much smaller than

the total spread bandwidth. The pseudorandom change of the carrier frequencies
of the user randomizes the occupancy of a specific channel at any given time,
thereby allowing for multiple access over a wide range of frequencies. In the FR
receiver, a locally generated PN code is used to synchronize the receivers instan-
taneous frequency with that of the transmitter. At any given point in time, a fre-
quency hopped signal only occupies a single, relatively narrow channel since
narrowband FM or FSK is used. The difference between FHMA and a traditional
FDMA system is that the frequency hopped signal changes channels at rapid
intervals. If the rate of change of the carrier frequency is greater than the sym-
bol rate then the system is referred to as a fast frequency hopping system. If the
channel changes at a rate less than or equal to the symbol rate, it is called slow
frequency hopping, A fast frequency hopper may thus be thought of as an FDMA
system which employs frequency diversity. FHMA systems often employ energy
efficient constant envelope modulation. Inexpensive receivers may be built to
provide noncoherent detection of FHMA. This implies that linearity is not an
issue, and the power of multiple users at the receiver does not degrade FHMA
performance.
A frequency hopped system provides a level of security, especially when a
large number of channels are used, since an unintended (or an intercepting)
receiver that does not know the pseudorandom sequence of frequency slots must
retune rapidly to search for the signal it wishes to intercept. In addition, the FR
signal is somewhat immune to fading, since error control coding and interleaving
can be used to protect the frequency hopped signal against deep fades which may
occasionally occur during the hopping sequence. Error control coding and inter-
leaving can also be combined to guard against Erasures which can occur when
two or more users transmit on the same channel at the same time.

8.4.2 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

In code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, the narrowband message
signal is multiplied by a very large bandwidth signal called the spreading signal.
The spreading signal is a pseudo-noise code sequence that has a chip rate which
is orders of magnitudes greater than the data rate of the message. All users in a
CDMA system, as seen from Figure 8.5, use the same carrier frequency and may
transmit simultaneously. Each user has its own pseudorandom codeword which
is approximately orthogonal to all other codewords. The receiver performs a time
correlation operation to detect only the specific desired codeword. All other code-
words appear as noise due to decorrelation. For detection of the message signal,
the receiver needs to know the codeword used by the transmitter. Each user
operates independently with rio knowledge of the other users.
In CDMA, the power of multiple users at a receiver determines the noise
floor after decorrelation. If the power of each user within a cell is not controlled

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 406 Ch. 8 - Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

Code

Channel I

Channel 2
Channel 3

Frequency

Time
Figure 8.5
CDMA in which each channel is assigned a unique PN code which is orthogona' to PN codes used by
other users.

such that they do not appear equal at the base station receiver, then the near-far
problem occurs.
The near-far problem occurs when many mobile users share the same chan-
nel. In general, the strongest received mobile signal will capture the demodula-
tor at a 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. lb combat the near-far prob-
lem, power control is used in most CDMA implementations. Power control is pro-
vided by each base station in a cellular system and assures that each mobile
within the base station coverage area provides the same signal level to the base
station receiver. This solves the problem of a nearby subscriber overpowering the
base station receiver and drowning out the signals of far away subscribers.
Power control is implemented at the base station by rapidly sampling the radio
signal strength indicator (RSSI) levels of each mobile and then sending a power
change command over the forward radio link. Despite the use of power control
within each cell, out-of-cell mobiles provide interference which is not under the
control of the receiving base station. The features of CDMA including the follow-
ing:
Many users of a CDMA system share the same frequency. Either TDD or
FDD may be used.
Unlike TDMA or FDMA, CDMA has a soft capacity limit. Increasing the

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 Spread Spectrum Multiple Access 407

number of users in a CIJMA system raises the noise floor in a linear manner.
Thus, there is no absolute limit on the number of users in CDMA. Rather,
the system performance gradually degrades for all users as the number of
users is increased, and improves as the number of users is decreased.
Multipath fading may be substantially reduced because the signal is spread
over a large spectrum. If the spread spectrum bandwidth is greater than the
coherence bandwidth of the channel, the inherent frequency diversity will
mitigate the effects of small-scale fading.
• Channel data rates are very high in CDMA systems. Consequently, the sym-
bol (chip) duration is very short and usually much less than the channel
delay spread. Since PN sequences have low autocorrelation, multipath which
is delayed by more than a chip will appear as noise. A RAKE receiver can be
used to improve reception by collecting time delayed versions of the required
signal.
• Since CDMA uses co-channel cells, it can use macroscopic spatial diversity to
provide soft handoff. Soft handoff is performed by the MSC, which can simul-
taneously monitor a particular user from two or more base stations. The
MSC may chose the best version of the signal at any time without switching
frequencies.
• Self-jamming is a problem in CDMA system. Self-jamming arises from the
fact that the spreading sequences of different users are not exactly orthogo-
nal, hence in the despreading of a particular PN code, non-zero contributions
to the receiver decision statistic for a desired user arise from the transmis-
sions of other users in the system.
• The near-far problem occurs at a CDMA receiver if an undesired user has a
high detected power as compared to the desired user.

8.4.3 Hybrid Spread Spectrum Techniques

In addition to the frequency hopped and direct sequence, spread spectrum
multiple access techniques, there are certain other hybrid combinations that pro-
vide certain advantages. These hybrid techniques are described below.
Hybrid FDMAJCDMA (FCDMA) — This technique can be used as an
alternative to the DS-CDMA techniques discussed above. Figure 8.6 shows the
spectrum of this hybrid scheme. The available wideband spectrum is divided into
a number of subspectras with smaller bandwidths. Each of these smaller sub-
channels becomes a narrowband CDMA system having processing gain lower
than the original CDMA system. This hybrid system has an advantage in that
the required bandwidth need not be contiguàus and different users can be allot-
ted different subspectrum bandwidths depending on their requirements. The
capacity of this FDMA/CDMA technique is calculated as the sum of the capaci-
ties of a system operating in the subspectra [Eng9S].

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 408 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

mm
Figure 8.6
Wideband CDMA

Spectrum of Narrowband CDMA

Spectrum of wideband CDMA compared to the spectrum of a hybrid, frequency division, direct se-
quence multiple access.

Hybrid Direct Sequence/Frequency Hopped Multiple Access (DS1

FHMA) — This technique consists of a direct sequence modulated signal whose
center frequency is made to hop periodically in a pseudorandom fashion. Figure
8.7 shows the frequency spectrum of such a signal [Dix94]. Direct sequence, fre-
quency hopped systems have an advantage in that they avoid the near-far effect.
However, frequency hopped CDMA systems are not adaptable to the soft handoff
process since it is difficult to synchronize the frequency hopped base station
receiver to the multiple hopped signals.

Burst transmission
in this channel
/ / Alternate channels
thatmay be used for other

/
bursts

Figure 8.7
Frequency spectrum of a hybrid FEUDS system.

Time Division CDMA (TCDMA) — In a TCDMA (also called TDMA/

CDMA) system, different spreading codes are assigned to different cells. Within
each cell, only one user per cell is allotted a particular time slot. Thus at any
time, only one CDMA user is transmitting in each cell. When a handoff takes
place, the spreading code of the user is changed to that of the new cell. Using

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 Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) 409

TCDMA has an advantage in that it avoids the near-far effect since only one user
transmits at a time within a cell.
Time Division Frequency Hopping (TDFH) — This multiple access
technique has an advantage in severe multipath or when severe co-channel
interference occurs. The subscriber can hop to a new frequency at the start of a
new TDMA frame, thus avoiding a severe fade or erasure event on a particular
channel. This technique has been adopted for the GSM standard, where the hop-
ping sequence is predefined and the subscriber is allowed to hop only on certain
frequencies which are assigned to a cell. This scheme also avoids co-channel
interference problems between neighboring cells if two interfering base station
transmitters are made to transmit on different frequencies at different times.
The use of TDFH can increase the capacity of GSM by several fold [Gud92].
Chapter 10 describes the GSM standard in more detail.

8.5 Space Division Mu!tiple Access (SDMA)

division multiple access (SDMA) controls the radiated energy for
Space
each user in space. It can be seen from Figure 8.8 that SDMA serves different
users by using spot beam antennas. These different areas covered by the
antenna beam may be served by the same frequency (in a TDMA or CDMA sys-
tern) or different frequencies (in an FDMA system). Sectorized antennas may be
thought of as a primitive application of SDMA. In the future, adaptive antennas
will likely be used to simultaneously steer energy in the direction of many users

a
at once and appear to be best suited for TDMA and CDMA base station architec-
tures.

Figure 8.8
a
A spatially filtered base station antenna serving different users by using spot beams.

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 410 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

The reverse link presents the most difficulty in cellular systems for several
reasons [Lib94b]. First, the base station has complete control over the power of
all the transmitted signals on the forward link. However, because of thfTerent
radio propagation paths between each user and the base station, the transmitted
power from each subscriber unit must be dynamically controlled to prevent any
single user from driving up the interference level for all other users. Second,
transmit power is limited by battery consumption at the subscriber unit, there-
fore there are limits on the degree to which power may be controlled on the
reverse link. If the base station antenna is made to spatially filter each desired
user so that more energy is detected from each subscriber, then the reverse link
for each user is improved and less power is required.
Adaptive antennas used at the base station (and eventually at the sub-
scriber units) promise to mitigate some of the problems on the reverse link. In
the limiting case of infinitesimal beamwidth and infinitely fast tracking ability,
adaptive antennas implement optimal SDMA, thereby providing a unique chan-
nel that is free from the interference of all other users in the cell. With SDMA,
all users within the system would be able to communicate at the same time
using the same channel. In addition, a perfect adaptive antenna system would be
able to track individual multipath components for each user and combine them
in an optimal manner to collect all of the available signal energy from each user.
The perfect adaptive antenna system is not feasible since it requires infinitely
large antennas. However, section 8.7.2 illustrates what gains might be achieved
using reasonably sized arrays with moderate directivities.

8.6 Packet Radio

In packet radio (PR) access techniques, many subscribers attempt to access
a single channel in an uncoordinated (or minimally coordinated) manner. Trans-
mission is done by using bursts of data. Collisions from the simultaneous trans-
missions of multiple transmitters are detected at the base station receiver, in
which case an ACK or NACK signal is broadcast by the base station to alert the
desired user (and all other users) of received transmission. The ACK signal indi-
cates an acknowledgment of a received burst from a particular user by the base
station, and a NACK (negative acknowledgment) indicates that the previous
burst was not received correctly by the base station. By using ACK and NACK
signals, a PR system employs perfect feedback, even though traffic delay due to
collisions may be high.
Packet radio multiple access is very easy to implement but has low spectral
efficiency and may induce delays. The subscribers use a contention technique to
transmit on a common channel. ALOHA protocols, developed foY early satellite
systems, are the best examples of contention techniques. ALOHA allows each
subscriber to transmit whenever they have data to send, The transmitting sub-
scribers listen to the acknowledgment feedback to determine if transmission has

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 Packet Radio 411

been successful or not. If a collision occurs, the subscriber waits a random

amount of time, and then retransmits the packet. The advantage of packet con-
tention techniques is the ability to serve a large number of subscribers with vir-
tually no overhead. The performance of contention techniques can be evaluated
by the throughput (T), which is defined as the average number of messages suc-
cessfully transmitted per unit time, and the average deky (D) experienced by a
typical message burst.

86.1 Packet Radio Protocols

In order to determine the throughput, it is important to determine the vul-
nerable period, which is defined as the time interval during which the pack-
ets are susceptible to collisions with transmissions from other users. Figure 8.9
shows the vulnerable period for a packet using ALOHA ETan8l]. The Packet A
will suffer a collision if other terminals transmit packets during the period t1 to
+ 2 t. Even if only a small portion of packet A sustains a collision, the interfer-
ence may render the message useless.

Transmitter Packet B Packet C

Transmitter 2 i
Packet A

I
I

I I
I I

I
I I I

4 I

One packet time (t) I

1
Vulnerable Period (2t)

time

Packet A will collide with packets B and C because of overlap in transmission time.
Figure 8.9
Vulnerable period for a packet using the ALOHA protocol.

'lb study packet radio protocols, it is assumed that all packets sent by all
users have a constant packet length and fixed, channel data rate, and all other
users may generate new packets at random time intervals. Furthermore, it is

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 412 Ch. 8• Multiple Access Techniques for Wreless Communications

assumed that packet transmissions occur with a Poisson distribution having a

mean arrival rate of X packets per second. If t is the packet duration in seconds,
then the traffic occupancy or throughput R of a packet radio network is given by
R= (8.6)
In equation (8.6), R is the normalized channel traffic (measured in
Erlangs) due to arriving and buffered packets, and is a relative measure of the
channel utilization. If R> 1, then the packets generated by the userä exceed the
maximum transmission rate of the channel [Tan8l]. Thus, to obtain a reasonable
throughput, the rate at which new packets are generated must lie within
0 cR c I. Under conditions of normal loading, the throughput 7' is the same as
the total offered load, L. The load L is the sum of the newly generated packets
and the retransmitted packets that suffered collisions in previous transmissions.
The normalized throughput is always less than or equal to unity and may be
thought of as the fraction of time (fraction of an Erlang) a channel is utilized.
The nonnalized throughput is given as the total offered load times the probabil-
ity of successful transmission, i.e.
7' = RPr[no collision] = XtPr[no collision] (8.7)
where Pr [no collision] is the probability of a user making a successful packet
transmission. The probability that n packets are generated by the user popula-
tion during a given packet duration interval is assumed to be Poisson distributed
and is given as
= RVR
Pr(n) (8.8)
A packet is assumed successfully transmitted if there are no other packets
transmitted during the given packet time interval, The probability that zero
packets are generated (i.e., no collision) during this interval is given by
Pr(0) = (8.9)
Based on the type of access, contention protocols are categorized as random
access, scheduled access, and hybrid access. In random acc-ess, there is no coordi-
nation among the users and the messages are transmitted from the users as they
arrive at the transmitter. Scheduled access is based on a coordinated access of
users on the channel, and the users transmit messages within allotted slots or
time intervals. Hybrid access is a combination of random access and scheduled
access.
8.6.1.1 Pure ALOHA
The pure ALOHA protocol is a random access protocol used for data trans-
fer. A user accesses a channel as soon as a message is ready to be transmitted.
After a transmission, the user waits for an acknowledgment on either the same
channel or a separate feedback channel. In case of collisions, (i.e., when a NACK

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 Packet Radio 413

is received), the terminal waits for a random period of time and retransmits the
message. As the number of users increase, a greater delay occurs because the
probability of collision increases.
For the ALOHA protocol, the vulnerable period is double the packet dura-
tion (see Figure 8.9). Thus, the probability of no collision during the interval of
2-c is found by evaluating Pr (n) given as

Pr(n) = at n = 0 (8.10)
One may evaluate the mean of equation (8.10) to determine the average
number of packets sent during 2t (This is useful in determining the average
offered traffic). The probability of no collision is Pr (0) = The throughput
of the ALOHA protocol is found by using Equation (8.7) as
T= Re_ZR (8.11)
8.6.1.2 Slotted ALOHA
In slotted ALOHA, time is divided into equal time slots of length greater
than the packet duration t. The subscribers each have synchronized clocks and
transmit a message only at the beginning of a new time slot, thus resulting in a
discrete distribution of packets. This prevents partial collisions, where one
packet collides with a portion of another As the number of users increase, a
greater delay will occur due to complete collisions and the resulting repeated
transmissions of those packets originally lost. The number of slots which a trans-
mitter waits prior to retransmitting also determines the delay characteristics of
the traffic. The vulnerable period for slotted ALOHA is only one packet duration,
since partial collisions are prevented through synchronization. The probability
that no other packets will be generated during the vulnerable period is The
throughput for the case of slotted ALOHA is thus given by
T = Re_R (8.12)
Figure 8.10 illustrates how ALOHA and slotted ALOHA systems trade-off
throughput for delay.

Example 8.6
Determine the maximum throughput that can be achieved using ALOHA and
slotted ALOHA protocols.

Solution to Example 8.6

The rate of arrival which maximizes the throughput for ALOHA is found by
taking the derivative of Equation (8.11) and equating it to zero.
dl' -ZR
—2Re
—2R
0

Rmax = Ii2

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 414 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

Maximum throughput achieved by using the ALOHA protocol is found by sub-

stituting Rmax in Equation (8.11), and this value can be seen as the maximum
throughput in Figure 8.10
T= = 0.1839

Thus the best traffic utilization one can hope for using ALOHA is 0.184
Erlangs.
The maximum throughput for slotted ALOHA is found by taking the derivative
of Equation (8.12) and equating it to zero.
dl' -R
—Re
-B
0

Rmax = I
Maximum throughput is found by substituting Rmax in equation (8.12), and
this value can be seen as the maximum throughput in Figure 8.10.
T = e' = 0.3679
Notice that slotted ALOHA provides a maximum channel utilization of 0.368
Erlangs, double that of ALOHA.

0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Throughput (7)
Figure 8.10
Trade-off between throughput and delay for ALOHA and slotted ALOHA packet radio protocols.

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 Packet Radio 415

8.6.2 Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) Protocols

ALOHA protocols do not listen to the channel before transmission, and
therefore do not exploit information about the other users. By listening to the
channel before engaging in transmission, greater efficiencies may be achieved.
CSMA protocols are based on the fact that each terminal on the network is able
to monitor the status of the channel before transmitting information. If the chan
nel is idle (i.e., no carrier is detected), then the user is allowed to transmit a
packet based on a particular algorithm which is common to all transmitters on
the network.
In CSMA protocols, detection delay and propagation delay are two impor-
tant parameters. Detection delay is a function of the receiver hardware and is
the time required for a terminal to sense whether or not the channel is idle.
Propagation delay is a relative measure of how fast it takes for a packet to travel
from a base station to a mobile terminal. With a small detection time, a terminal
detects a free channel quite rapidly, and small propagation delay means that a
packet is transmitted through the channel in a small interval of time relative to
the packet duration.
Propagation delay is important, since just after a user begins sending a
packet, another user may be ready to send and may be sensing the channel at
the same time. If the transmitting packet has not reached the user who is poised
to send, the latter user will sense an idle channel and will also send its packet,
resulting in a collision between the two packets. Propagation delay impacts the
performance of CSMA protocols. If is the propagation time in secqnds, Rb is
the channel bit rate, and m is the expected number of bits in a data packet
[Tan8l], [Ber92], then the propagation delay td (in packet transmission units)
can be expressed as

td = (8.13)

There exist several variations of the CSMA strategy [K1e75], [Thb75]:

1-persistent CSMA — The terminal listens to the channel and waits for
transmission until it finds the channel idle. As soon as the channel is idle,
the terminal transmits its message with probability one.
• non-persistent .CSMA — In this type of CSMA stratea after receiving a
negative acknowledgment the terminal waits a random time before retrans-
mission of the packet. This is popular for wireless LAN applications, where
the packet transmission interval is much greater than the propagation delay
to the farthermost user.
• p-persistent CSMA — p-persistent CSMA is applied to slotted channels.
When a channel is found to be idle, the packet is transmitted in the first
available slot with probabilityp or in the next slot with probability i-p.
• CS.MAJCD — In CSMA with collision detection (CD), a user monitors its
transmission for collisions. If two or more terminals start a transmission at

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 416 CIt 8 Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

the same time, collision is detected, and the transmission is immediately

aborted in midstream. This is handled by a user having both a transmitter
and receiver which is able to support listen-while-talk operation. For a single
radio channel, this is done by interrupting the transmission in order to sense
the channel. For duplex systems, a full duplex transceiver is used [LamSOJ.
Data sense multiple access (DSMA) — DSMA is a special type of CSMA
that relies on successfully demodulating a forward control channel before
broadcasting data back on a reverse channel. Each user attempts to detect a
busy-idle message which is interspersed on the forward control channel.
When the busy-idle message indicates that no users are transmitting on the
reverse channel, a user is free to send a packet. This technique is used in the
cellular digital packet data (CDPD) cellular network described in Chapter 9.

8.6.3 Reservation Protocols

8.6.3.1 Reservation ALOHA
Reservation ALOHA is a packet access scheme based on time division mul-
tiplexing. In this protocol, certain packet slots are assigned with priority, and it
is possible for users to reserve slots for the transmission of packets. Slots can be
permanently reserved or can be reserved on request. For high traffic conditions,
reservations on request offers better throughput. In one type of reservation
ALOHA, the terminal making a successful transmission reserves a slot perma-
nently until its transmission is complete, although very large duration transmis-
sions may be interrupted. Another scheme allows a user to transmit a request on
a subslot which is reserved in each frame. If the transmission is successful (i.e,
no collisions are detected), the terminal is allocated the next regular slot in the
frame for data transmission ETan8ll.
8.6.3.2 Packet Reservation Multiple Access (PRMA)
PRMA uses a discrete packet time technique similar to reservation ALOHA
and combines the cyclical frame structure of TDMA in a manner that allows each
TDMA time slot to carry either voice or data, where voice is given priority. PRMA
was proposed in [Goo89] as a means of integrating bursty data and human
speech. PRMA defines a frame structure, much like is used in TDMA systems.
Within each frame, there are a fixed number of time slots which may be desig-
nated as either "itserved" or "available", depending on the traffic as determined
by the controlling base station. PRMA is discussed in Chapter 9.

8.6.4 Capture Effect in Packet Radio

Packet radio multiple access techniques are based on contention within a
channel. When used with FM or spread spectrum modulation, it is possible for
the strongest user to successfully capture the intended receiver, even when many
other users are also transmitting. Often, the closest transmitter is able to cap-
ture a receiver because of the small propagation path loss. This is called the

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 Capacity of Systems 417

near-tbr effect. The capture effect offers both advantages and disadvantages in
practical systems. Because a particular transmitter may capture an intended
receiver, many packets may survive despite collision on the channel. However, a
strong transmitter may make it impossible for the receiver to detect a much
weaker transmitter which is attempting to communicate to the same receiver.
This problem is known as the hidden transmitter problem.
A useful parameter in analyzing the capture effects in packet radio proto-
cols is the minimum power ratio of an arriving packet, relative to the other col-
liding packets, such that it is received. This ratio is called the capture ratio, and
is dependent upon the receiver and the modulation used.
In summary, packet radio techniques support mobile transmitters sending
bursty traffic in the form of data packets using random access. Ideal channel
throughput can be increased if terminals synchronize their packet transmissions
into common time slots, such that the risk of partial packet overlap is avoided.
With high traffic loads, both unslotted and slotted ALOHA protocols become inef-
ficient, since the contention between all transmitted packets exposes most of the
offered traffic to collisions, and thus results ih multiple retransmissions and
increased delays. To reduce this situation CSMA can be used where the trans-
mitter first listens either to the common radio channel or to a separate dedicated
acknowledgment control channel from the base station. In a real world mobile
system, the CSMA protocols may fail to detect ongoing radio transmissions of
packets subject to deep fading on the reverse channel path. Utilization of an
ALOHA channel can be improved by deliberately introducing differences
between the transmit powers of multiple users competing for the base station
receiver. The Table 8.2 below shows the multiple access techniques which should
be used for different types of traffic conditions.
Table 8.2 Mufliple Access Techniques for Different Traffic Types
Type of Traffic Multip!e Access Technique
Bursty, short messages Contention protocols
Bursty, long messages, large number of Reservation Protocols
users
Bursty, long messages, small number of Reservation protocols with fixed
users TDMA reservation channel
Stream or deterministic (voice) FDMA, TDMA. CDMA

8.7 Capacity of Cellular Systems

Channel capacity for a radio system can be defined as the maximum num-
ber of channels or users that can be provided in a fixed frequency band. Radio
capacity is a parameter which measures spectrum efficiency of a wireless sys-
tem. This parameter is determined by the required carrier-to-interference ratio
(C/I) and the channel bandwidth

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 418 Ch. 8- Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

In a cellular system the interference at a base station receiver will come

from the subscriber units in the surrounding cells. This is called reverse channel
interference. For a particular subscriber unit, the desired base station will pro-
vide the desired forward channel while the surrounding co-channel base stations
will provide the forward channel interference. Considering the forward channel
interference problem, let D be the distance between two co-channel cells and R
be the cell radius. Then the minimum ratio of D7R that is required to provide a
tolerable level of co-channel interference is called the co-channel reuse ratio and
is given by [Lee89aJ
D
(8J4)
The radio propagation characteristics determine the carrier-to-interference
ratio (C /1) at a given location, and models presented in Chapter 3 and Appendix
B are used to find sensible C/I values. As shown in Figure 8.11, the M closest
co-channel cells may be considered as first order interference in which case C/I
is given by

mobile user on the

of a cell

Figure 8.11
Illustration of forward channel interference for a cluster size ofN = 4. Shown here are four co-channel
base stations which interfere with the serving base station. The distance from the serving base sta-
tion to the user is D0, and interferers are a distance from the user.

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 ____

Capacity of Cellular Systems 419

c (815)
M

where n0 is the path loss exponent in the desired cell, D0 is the distance from
the desired base station to the mobile, Dk is the distance of the k th cell from the
mobile, and is the path loss exponent to the k th interfering base station. If
only the six closest interfering cells are considered, and all are approximately at
the same distance D and have similar path loss exponents equal to that in the
desired cell, then C/I is given by

C
—= (8.16)

Now, if it is assumed that maximum interference occurs when the mobile is

at the cell edge D0 = R, and if the C/I for each user is required to be greater
than some minimum (C/I) mm' which is the minimum carrier-to-interference
ratio that still provides acceptable signal quality at the receiver, then the follow-
ing equation must hold for acceptable performance:

(8.17)
6D Inn,,
Thus, from Equation (8.14), the co-channel reuse factor is
)I/fl
= (6(c) (8.18)
I
The radio capacity of a cellular system is defined as
B
radio channels/cell (8.19)
= C

where m is the radio capacity metric, is the totai allocated spectrum for the
system, is the channel bandwidth, and N is the number of cells in a fre-
quency reuse pattern. As shown in Chapter 2, N is related to the co-channel
reuse factor Q by
4' = (8.20)
From Equations (8.18), (8.19), and (8.20), the radio capacity is given as

m (8.21)
=
=

As shown by Lee [Lee89aI, when n = 4, the radio capacity is given by

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 _______

420 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

B
m= radio channels/cell (8.22)
RI Zfl

In order to provide the same voice quality, (C/I) mm may be lower in a dig-
ital systems when compared to an analog system. the minimum
required C/I is about 12 dB for narrowband digital systems and 18 dB for nar-
rowband analog FM systems, although exact values are determined by subjec-
tive listening tests in real-world propagation conditions. Each digital wireless
standard has a different (C/I) mm' and in order to compare different systems,
an equivalent C/I must be used. If and m are kept constant in Equation
(8.22), then it is clear that B0 and (C/I) nun are related by
C C
(8.23)
(r)eq =

where B0 is the bandwidth of a particular system, (C/I) mEn is the tolerable

value for the same system, B0 is the channel bandwidth for a different system,
and (C/I) eq is the minimum C/I value for the different system when compared
to the for a particular system. Notice that for a constant number of
users per radio channel, the same voice quality will be maintained in a different
system if (C/I)mjn increases by a factor of four when the bandwidth i- halved.
Equation (8.22) indicates that maximum radio capacity occurs when (C/I)
and B0 are minimized, yet equation (8.23) shows that (C/I)mjn and B0 are
inversely related.

Example 8.7
Evaluate four different cellular radio standards, and choose the one with the
maximum radio capacity.
System AB0 =30 kHz, (C/I)mjn = 18 dB
System B:80 =25 kHz, (C/I)mmn = 14 dB
System CB0 =12.5 kHz, (C/I)mmn = 12 dB
System D:B0 =6.25 kHz, = 9 dB

Solution to Example 8.7

Consider each system for 6.25 kllz bandwidth, and use equation (8.23)
System A; B0 = 6.25 kHz, (CII) eq = + 20 log (6.25/30) = 4.375 dB
System B; B0 = 6.25 kHz, (CII) eq = 14 + 2Olog (6.25/25) = 1.96 dB
System C; B0 = 6.25 kHz, (CII) eq = 12 + 2Olog (6.25/12.5) = 6 dB
System D; B0 =6.25 kHz, (C/I)eq = 9 + 20 log (6.25/6.25) = 9 dB
Based on comparison, the smallest value should be selected for maxi-
mum capacity in Equation (8.22). System B offers the best capacity.

In a digital cellular system, C/I can be expressed as

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 ____

Capacity of Cellular Systems 421

c —
ER
b b_ ER
CC (824
I - I
where is channel bit rate, Eb is the energy per bit, is the rate of the chan-
nel code and is the energy per code symbol. From equations (8.23) and (8.24),
the ratio of C/I to (C/I) eq is given as
c ECRC
=
(8.25)
= ECRC'
(i)eq
The relationship between RC and is always linear, and if the interfer-
ence level I is the same in the mobile environment for two different digital sys-
tems, then equation (8.25) can be rewritten as
=
(8.26)

Equation (8.26) shows that if is reduced by half, then the energy code symbol
increases eight times. This gives the relationship between Eb/No and BC in a
digital cellular system.
A comparison can now be made between the spectrum efficiency for FDMA
and TDMA. In FDMA, is divided into M channels, each with bandwidth BC.
Therefore, the radio capacity for FDMA is given by
B
m (8.27)
/2(C

Consider the case where a multichannel FDMA system occupies the same
spectrum as a single channel TUMA system with multiple time slots. The carrier
and interference terms for the first access technique (in this case FDMA) can be
written as, C = EbB,,, I = whereas the second access technique (in this
case TDMA) has carrier and interference terms represented by C' =
1' = where Rb and Rb' are the radio transmission rates of two digital sys-
tems, E,, is the energy per bit, and 4 represents the interference power per
Hertz. The terms C' and r are the parameters for the TDMA channels, and the
terms C and I apply to the FDMA channels.
Erainple 8.8
Consider an FDMA system with three channels, each having a bandwidth of 10
kHz and a transmission rate of 10 kbps. A TDMA system has three time slots,
channel bandwidth of 30 kHz, and a transmission rate of 30 kbps.
For the TDMA scheme, the received carrier-to-interference ratio for a single
user is measw-ed for 1/3 of the time the channel is in use. For example, C/f
can be measured in 333.3 ms in one secondS Thus C/I' is given by

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 422 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

E bits
G'=ER= b b
= 3RE
b b
= 3C (E.&8.1)

1.' = = 1o30 kI-lz = 31

It can be seen that the received carder-to-interference ratio for a user in this
TDMA system C/f is the same as C/I for a user in the FDMA system. There-
fore, for this example, FDMA and IDMA have the same radio capacity and
consequently the same spectrum efficiency. However, the required peak power
for TDMA is lOlogk higher than FDMA, where k is the number of time slots
in a TDMA system of equal bandwidth.

Capacity of Digital Cellular TDMA — In practice, TDMA systems

improve capacity by a factor of 3 to 6 times as compared to analog cellular radio
systems. Powerful error control and speech coding enable better link perfor-
mance in high interference environments. By exploiting speech activity, some
TDMA systems are able to better utilize each radio channel. Mobile assisted
handoff (MAHO) allows subscribers to monitor the neighboring base stations,
and the best base station choice may be made by each subscriber. MAHO allows
the deployment of densely packed microcells, thus giving substantial capacity
gains in a system. TDMA also makes it possible to introduce adaptive channel
allocation (ACA). ACA eliminates system planning since it is not required to
plan frequencies for cells. Various proposed standards such as the GSM, U.S dig-
ital cellular (USDC), and Pacific Digital Cellular (PDC) have adopted digital
TDMA for high capacity. Table 8.3 compares analog FM based AMPS to other
digital TDMA based cellular systems.
Table 8.3 ComparIson of AMPS With Digital TDMA Based Cellular Systems (Ra191J
Parameter AMPS GSM USOC PDC

Bandwidth (MHz) 25 25 25 25
Voice Channels 833 1000 2500 3000
Frequency Reuse (Cluster sizes) 7 4 or 3 7 or 4 7 or 4
Channels/Site 119 250 or 333 357 or 625 429 or 750
Traffic (Erlangs/sq. km) 11.9 27.7 or 40 41 or 74.8 50 or 90.8
Capacity Gain 1.0 2.3 or 3.4 3.5 or 6.3 4.2 or 7.6

8.7.1 CapacIty of Cellular CDMA

The capacity of CDMA systems is interference limited, while it is band-
width limited in FDMA and TDMA. Therefore, any reduction in the interference
will cause a linear increase in the capacity of CDMA. Put another way, in a
CDMA system, the link performance for each user increases as the number of
users decreases. A straightforward way to reduce interference is to use multisec-
torized antennas, which results in spatial isolation of users. The directional
antennas receive signals from only a fraction of the current users, thus leading

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 Capacity of Cellular Systems 423

to the reduction of interference. Another way of increasing CDMA capacity is to

operate in a discontinuous transmission mode (DTX), where advantage is taken
of the intermittent nature of speech. In DTX, the transmitter is turned off during
the periods of silence in speech. It has been observed that voice signals have a
duty factor of about 3/8 in landline networks [Bra68], and 1/2 for mobile systems,
where background noise and vibration can trigger voice activity detectors. Thus,
the average capacity of a CDMA system can be increased by a factor inversely
proportional to the duty factor. While TDMA and FDMA reuse frequencies
depending on the isolation between cells provided by the path loss in terrestrial
radio propagation, CDMA can reuse the entire spectrum for all cells, and this
results in an increase of capacity by a large percentage over the normal fre-
quency reuse factor.
For evaluating the capacity of CDMA system, first consider a single cell sys-
tem [Gi1911. The cellular network consists of a large number of mobile users com-
municating with a base station (In a multiple cell system, all the base stations
are interconnected by the mobile switching center). The cell-site transmitter con-
sists of a linear combiner which adds the spread signals of the inthvidual users
and also uses a weighting factor for each signal for forward link power control
purposes. For a single cell system under consideration, these weighting factors
can be assumed to be equal. A pilot signal is also included in the cell-site trans-
mitter and is used by each mobile to set its own power control for the reverse
link. For a single-cell system with power control, all the signals on the reverse
channel are received at the same power level at the base station.
Let the number of users be N. Then, each demodulator at the cell site
receives a composite waveform containing the desired signal of power S and
(N — I) interfering users, each of which has power, S. Thus, the signal-to-noise
ratio is [Gil9lJ,

SNR (&28)
= (N-I)S = (N- I)
In addition to SNR, bit energy-to-noise ratio is an important parameter in
communication systems. It is obtained by dividing the signal power by the base-
band information bit rate, R, and the interference power by the total RF band-
width, W. The SNR at the base station receiver can be represented in terms of
E5/N0 given by
E,,- S/R - W/R 829
N0 - (N-I)(S/W) - N-I (

Equation (8.29) does not take into account the background thermal noise,
in the spread bandwidth. To take this noise into consideration, E6/N0 can be
represented as

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 424 Ch. 8. Multiple Access Techniques for Wireless Communications

— W/R
(830)
(N—1)+(1/S)
The number of users that can access the system is thus given as

N= (8.31)

where W/R is called the processing gain. The background noise determines the
cell radius for a given transmitter power.
In order to achieve an increase in capacity, the interference due to other
users should be reduced. This can be done by decreasing the denominator of
equations (8.28) or (8.29). The first technique for reducing interference is
anterma sectorization. As an example, a cell site with three antennas, each hav-
ing a beam width of 1200, has interference N0' which is one-third of the interfer-
ence received by an onini-directional antenna. This increases the capacity by a
factor of 3 since three times as many users may now be served within a sector
while matching the performance of the omni-directional antenna system. Look-
ing at it another way, the same number of users in an omni-directional cell may
now be served in 1/3rd the area. The second technique involves the monitoring of
voice activity such that each transmitter is switched off during periods of no
voice activity. Voice activity is denoted by a factor a, and the interference term in
equation (8.29) becomes (N3 — 1) a, where N3 is the number of users per sector.
With the use of these two techniques, the new average value of Eb/No' within a
sector is given as
— WI.!?
(8 32)
(N3—I)a+(rj/S)
When the number of users is large and the system is interference limited
rather than noise limited, the number of users can be shown to be

N3 = +! W/R (8.33)
I
aE6
N0'
If the voice activity factor is assumed to hate a value of 3/8, and three sectors per
cell site are used, Equation (8.33) demonstrates that the SNR increases by a fac-
tor of 8, which leads to an 8 fold increase in the number of users compared to an
omni-directional antenna system with no voice activity detection.
CDMA Power Control — In CDMA, the system capacity is maximized if
each mobile transmitter power level is controlled so that its signal arrives at the
cell site with the minimum required signal-to-interference ratio [Sa191]. If the
signal powers of all mobile transmitters within an area covered by a cell site are
controlled, then the total signal power received at the cell site from all mobiles
will be equal to the average received power times the number of mobiles operat-

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