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Exercises: CDMA
I. EXERCISE 1
On a band-limited radio-frequency channel (available bandwidth 33 MHz) K compressed video signals, each one
characterized by a bit-rate of 256 Kb/s, are transmitted in DS/CDMA modality. The channel is supposed AWGN
with two-sided power spectral density of the white added noise equal to 1.52 10
18
W/Hz. The transmission
power is computed on the basis of an average single-user bit-error-rate equal to 10
9
. This error-rate value is given
in order to provide the top quality of the decoded videos. The upper BER threshold acceptable in order to achieve a
satisfactory quality of the decoded videos equals to 10
7
. The employed modulation is a BPSK with raised cosine
waveforms (roll-off: 50%). The spreading sequences are Gold sequences with length N (to be computed). Under
these hypothesis, it is required to:
1) Compute the maximum value of N coping with the system bandwidth constraints and the RF bandwidth
occupied by the DS/CDMA signal;
2) Considering the value of N computed at point 1), please compute: i) the maximum value of K allowed by the
bandwidth and radio resources (i.e.: spreading code) availability, and ii) the maximum value of K allowing an
acceptable quality provided by a BER less than 10
6
.
A. Solution 1)
We have a clear constraint on the bandwidth that is limited to 33 MHz. The signal bandwidth is also limited,
because we use a RSC waveform. Being the modulation a BPSK one, we have:
B
SS
= r
c
(1 +), r
c
= N r
b
(1)
r
c
(1 +) < 33 10
6
Hz( = 0.5) (2)
N r
b
<
33 10
6
1.5
= 22.6
baud
s
(3)
N =
_
22 10
6
256 10
3
_
=
_
22000
256
_
= 85.9 = 85 (4)
We must keep the lower value achievable by a LFSR generator (Gold generator): N = 2
r
1 85, r 6.
So: N
max
= 2
6
1 = 64 1 = 63. For this value of N, we have: B
SS
= 63 256 10
3
1.5 = 24.2 MHz.
B. Solution 2)
i) The maximum value of N is 63. The set of radio resources available for multiple access are N + 2 = 65
Gold codes. Theoretically, 65 users distinguished by their own PN code may transmit in CDMA modality over the
assigned bandwidth.
May 6, 2012 DRAFT
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ii) The performance analysis should consider the BER of the DS/CDMA system. We can resort to an approximate
expression:
P
b,CDMA
= Q
_
_
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
_

1
2
_
(5)
that is valid ONLY for BPSK modulation.
How much is it
_
E
b
N0
_
?
This parameter is constrained. In fact:
P
b,singleuser
= Q
_
_
2E
b
N
0
_
10
9
(6)
so that:
_
2E
b
N0
= 6,
2E
b
N0
= 36, to have top quality.
P
b,CDMA
= 10
6
(7)
to have acceptable quality. We accept a quality degradation due to MUI.
So:
_
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
_

1
2
4.75 (8)
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
0.0443 (9)
K 1
3N
+ 0.014 0.0443 (10)
K 1
3 63
0.0303 (11)
K 1 0.0303 63 3 (12)
K 1 +0.0303 63 3 = 6 (13)
so K
max
= 6.
Only 6 users can transmit the video streams at acceptable QoS. Multi-user detection is clearly needed in such a
case.
May 6, 2012 DRAFT
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II. EXERCISE 2
Let us consider an asynchronous multi-user DS/CDMA transmission. Each user transmits at a data rate of 115
Kb/s. The transmission is performed over a bandwidth of 30 MHz, using m-sequences for signal spreading. The
assigned transmission power equals to 10 W, whereas the one-sided power spectral density of Gaussian noise is
5 10
14
W/Hz. Lets suppose to employ a BPSK modulation with rectangular waveforms. Under these hypothesis,
it is asked to:
1) Compute the maximum allowable shift register length for the PN sequence generation supposing to cope with
the system bandwidth and implementation constraints (lets assume that only the main lobe of the spectrum
be comprised inside the assigned bandwidth);
2) Compute the maximum number of users allowable in order to achieve a probability of error lower than 10
5
.
Under the hypothesis, whose validity has been assumed for 1) and 2), lets suppose to employ a pure FDMA
multiple access with a guard bandwidth of 25 KHz. The bandwidth assigned for the multi-user transmission is the
same assigned for 1) and 2). Also signal power and PSD of the AWGN noise remain unchanged. Under these new
hypothesis, you are requested to:
3) Compute the maximum number of users that can be supported by the FDMA system for the assigned bit-rate
value;
4) Compare in qualitative way the performances that could be obtained by the two systems under the hypothesis
of real multipath channels.
A. Solution 1)
Assuming the usual hypothesis about bandwidth occupation of a BPSK-modulated signal, with rectangular
waveforms (see e.g. Carlsons book):
B
SS

= N r
b
30 10
6
Hz (14)
Lets compute the bandwidth/bit rate ratio:
B
SS
r
b
= 260.89 (15)
that represents the theoretical bandwidth expansion. The real processing gain approaching such a value of the
bandwidth expansion is: N
max
= 2
r
1 = 255 for r = 8 bits. Therefore: r
max
= 8 bits.
B. Solution 2)
We have:
P
b,CDMA
= Q
_
_
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
_

1
2
_
(16)
P
b,CDMA
= 10
5
(17)
May 6, 2012 DRAFT
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So:
Q
_
_
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
_

1
2
_
10
5
(18)
_
K 1
3N
+
N
0
2E
b
_

1
2
4.25 (19)
K 1
3 255
+
5 10
14
2 10
6

r
b
..
115 10
3
. .
511510
11
210
6
=0.0029
0.0553 (20)
Therefore:
K1
3255
+0.0029 0.0553, K1 3 255 (0.0553 0.0029). We get: K1 40, so K
max
= 41.
C. Solution 3)
In the FDMA multiple access the bandwidth is subdivided into slots, each one separated by a guard band, as
shown in Fig. 1:

USER K+1 USER K
25 kHz
Fig. 1. FDMA multiple access
Lets suppose to insert the guard bandwidth to ALL users. The available bandwidth will be subdivided into K
slots, where: K(B
guard
+ B
user
) 30 MHz. The value B
guard
= 25 kHz is assigned. We have: B
user
= 115
kHz, due to BPSK modulation of the streams of each user, so that: K 140 kHz 30 MHz, K
_
30000
140
_
,
K
max
= 214.
D. Solution 4)
Apparently, FDMA is more efcient than DS/CDMA. If we consider an AWGN channel, this is true. The guard
bandwidth is large enough to keep low adjacent channel interference, so the performance in terms of BER may be
better.
But everything changes on the multipath fading channel. Frequency-selective channel may severely impair some
users, killing their signal (we can assume at-fading over each slot). DS/CDMA may better combat multipath
thanks to the RAKE receiver. Multi-user detection may be suggestible, but it is feasible.
May 6, 2012 DRAFT