1. (15 points) Spread spectrum.

(a) What are the main benefits of a spread spectrum system?

Answer:
(3 points) robust against interference
(3 points) inherent security (if the spreading code is unknown, it is very difficult to tap the transmission)

(b) How can spreading be achieved?

Answer:
The spreading can be achieved by two different ways.
(3 points)Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS): The DSSS system take a user bit stream and perform an (XOR) with
a so-called chipping sequence. For each user bit with duration tb , a chip sequence with a smaller duration tc for each chip.
Generally the chipping sequence is generated properly it appears as random noise. The bandwidth of the resulting signal is
determined by the spreading factor s = tb /tc . That is, the orignal signal is spreaded by s times.
(3 points) Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS): The FHSS system splits the total available bandwidth into many
channels of smaller bandwidth plus guard spaces between the channels. Transmitter and receiver stay on one of these channels
for a certain time and then hop to another channel. The pattern of channel usage is called the hopping sequence. The time
spent on a channel with a certain frequency is called the dwell time. FHSS comes in two variants, slow and fast hopping. In
the slow hopping, the transmitter uses one frequency for several bit periods. The fast hopping systems, on the other hand, ask
the transmitter to change the frequency several times during the transmission of a single bit. The slow hopping systems are
typically cheaper and have relaxed tolerances. But they ar not as immune to narrowband interference as fast hopping systems.

(c) How can DSSS systems benefit from multi-path propagation?

(3 points) DSSS systems typically use rake receivers that recombine signals travelling along the different paths. Recombina-
tion results in a stronger signal compared to the strongest signal only.

2. (20 points) Cellular systems.

(a) What are the main reasons for using cellular systems?
Answer:
(4 points) Higher capacity, higher number of the users: cellular systems can reuse spectrum according to certain patterns.
Each cell can support a maximum number of users.
(4 points) Support user localisation and location based services: Less transmission power needed. Smaller cells also allow
for less transmission power ( thus less radiation). The mobile systems can enjoy longer runtime.

(b) How is SDM typically realized and combined with FDM?

Answer:
(6 points) Typically each cell holds a certain number of frequency bands. Neighboring cells are not allowed to use the same
frequencies.

(c) How does DCA influence the frequencies available in other cells? Answer:
(6 points) Whether or not DCA depends on the current load. It can react upon sudden increase in traffic by borrowing capac-
ity from other cells. However the ”borrowed” frequency must then be blocked in neighboring cells.

3. (15 points) Cell breathing.

(a) What limits the number of simultaneous users in a TDM/FDM system compared to a CDM system?
Answer:
(7 points) FDM/TDM system have a hard upper limit of simultaneous users. The system assigns a certain time-slot at a
certain frequency to a user. If all time-slots at all frequencies are occupied no more users can be accepted. Compared to
this ”hard capacity” a CDM system has a so-called ”soft-capacity”. The signal-to-noise-ratio typically limits the number of
simultaneous users.

(b) What happens to the transmission quality of connections if the load gets higher in a cell, i.e., how does an additional user
influence the other users in the cell, for both TDM/FDM and CDM systems?
Answer:
(8 points) The system can always accept an additional user. However, the noise level may then increase above a certain
 threshold where transmission is impossible. In TDM/FDM systems additional users, if accepted, do not influence other users
as users are separated in time and frequency( well, there is some interference; however,this can be neglected in this context).
In CDM systems, each additional user decreases transmission quality of all other users.

4. (20 points) Near/far effect and medium access control.

(a) How does the near/far effect influence TDMA systems?
Answer:
(6 points) As long as a station can receive a signal and the signal arrives at the right time to hit the right time-slot it does not
matter in TDMA systems if terminals are far or near.

(b) What happens in CDMA systems with respect to the near/far effect?
Answer:
(6 points) The signal could drown others as the signals are not separated in times.

(c) What are the countermeasures in TDMA systems, what about CDMA systems?
Answer:
(4 points) In TDMA systems,terminals adapt transmission power and send signals in advance depending on the distance to
the receiver.
(4 points) In CDMA systems, terminals in CDMA systems have to adapt their transmission power very often so that all signal
received, e.g., at a base station, have almost the same strength.

5. (20 points) Reservation schemes.

(a) What are the benefits of the reservation schemes?
Answer:
(6 points) After reservation of the medium succeeded no more collisions can occur( if the system is error free ). Reservation
schemes can also guarantee bandwidth, delay and maximum jitter. Thus, during the transmission nothing can happen.

(b) How are collisions avoided during data transmission, why is the probability of collisions lower compared to classical ALOHA?
Answer:
(8 points) Compared to classical Aloha the collision probability is lower because the contention period is kept short com-
pared to the contention-free period where transmission take place.

(c) What are the drawbacks of the reservation schemes?

Answer:
(6 points) A disadvantage of reservation schemes is the latency for data transmission. Before terminals can start transmission
they have to reserve the medium. This wastes time in case of a very lightly loaded medium.
6. (10 points) How can MACA still fail in case of hidden/exposed terminals? Think of mobile stations and changing transmission
characteristics.
Answer:
(5 points) Use the example of F igure3.10 in the textbook. If the mobile station C move into the transmission range of B after the
transmission of CTS. If C send signal to B. the hidden terminal happens.

(5 points) Use the example of F igure3.10 in the textbook. At the beginning, the mobile station C is in the detection range
of A. So C received the CTS from the A. But after a while C is moving out of the detection range of the A. It still consider there is
no permission to send signal. So the exposed terminal happens.