CDMA Systems

BY-BHARGAVRAM(17)
CHOKALINGAM(18)
DHANUSHYA(20)
DHARMAKRISHNAN(21)

How does CDMA work?

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Each bit (zero or one) is spread into N smaller

pulses/chips (a series of zeros and ones).

The receiver which knows the spread pattern (code)
will be able to recover the original bits.
Other receivers which do not know the code will only
get small ripples (noise).

Advantages of CDMA over TDMA

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Can easily handle both voice and data.

May have larger capacity when data are

transmitted.
Is more robust against frequency selective fading
and ISI due to multipath propagation.
Uses soft handoff that improves quality.
Uses elaborated power control that saves battery
life for MS.
Provides better privacy.

Disadvantages of CDMA
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DSSS is more complex than techniques used in

TDMA/FDMA.
Power control in CDMA is more complicated.
The bandwidth obtained by each user is limited
due to spread spectrum. (The signal will occupy a
large bandwidth but the actual spectrum is only a
fraction of it. It is fine for voice and low data speed
applications but not for 4G.)

Handle both voice and data

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More flexible format. Multimedia applications require both

voice and data support, but data and voice communications

have very different characteristics. Voice can tolerate
errors, but not delays nor interruptions, and data are the
opposite.
TDMA/FDMA systems were designed for voice, each user is
given a fixed channel, which is good for voice, but not
efficient for data.
With CDMA users are separated by codes. Data
transmission does not occupy a fixed bandwidth, as in
TDMA/FDMA. Both voice and data can be transmitted
efficiently.

Larger capacity
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Potentially larger capacity (more users can communicate

simultaneously)

In TDMA/FDMA, each user needs a separate channel. Thus the capacity is

determined by the number of channels, i.e., the number of frequencies and time
slots available.
In CDMA, users are separated by different codes. The number of available codes
in CDMA far exceeds the number of cannels in TDMA/FDMA. Thus it has a
potential to handle a large number of users.

In reality the capacity is restricted by the interference (noise) generated

by users. Increasing the number of users will gradually reduce the

quality (larger noise). (You can compare CDMA with 802.11).
If users dont use the medium all the time (e.g., they are just reading email), CDMA will allow much more users to communicate
simultaneously. In other words, CDMA will use the resource (the radio
spectrum) more efficiently.

Robust against fading

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Provides larger spread spectrum, thus more robust

against noise bursts and multipath frequency

selective fading
GSM bandwidth = 200 kHz
IS-95 bandwidth = 1.25 MHz
W-CDMA (3G) bandwidth = 10MHz

Use of RAKE receiver

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RAKE receiver can use the signals from different

paths to get one stronger signal. Signals from

different paths arrive at the receiver at different
time instances. Longer paths create longer delays.
The RAKE receiver is designed to combine those
signals to get one strong signal.

RAKE receiver
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Multipath reception in CDMA

Chip rate: 1.25 Mcps, symbol rate: 4,800 Sps

Can resolve multipath components 1/1.25 Mcps = 800 ms
apart.
A multipath spread of up to 1/4800 bps = 2.08 ms cannot
cause ISI.

Soft handoff
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In TDMA when a MS moves from the coverage

area of one BS to that of another, handoff takes

place, and the user may experience bad reception
and hear several clicks.
In CDMA, since two adjacent cells may use the
same frequency, a MS at the edge of the coverage
area of one BS may communicate simultaneously
with two or more BSs. It selects the BS that
provides the best signal. The transition from one
BS to another (handoff) is not abrupt, as in TDMA,
and provides better quality.

Better power control

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CDMAs capacity is determined by the total noise generated

by users.
Power control is essential because if there were no power
control the MS that were very close to the BS would
generate very strong signal and thus very large interference.
Good power control reduces the power emitted by an MS
that is close to the BS. Thus the noise levels generated by
all MSs will be comparable.
This in turn reduces power consumption of an MS, and low
power consumption is an important feature for mobile
devices.

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