What is CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)?

One of the most important concepts to any cellular telephone system is that of "multiple access", meaning that multiple, simultaneous users can be supported. In other words, a large number of users share a common pool of radio channels and any user can gain access to any channel (each user is not always assigned to the same channel). A channel can be thought of as merely a portion of the limited radio resource which is temporarily allocated for a specific purpose, such as someone's phone call.
A multiple access method is a definition of how the radio spectrum is divided into channels and how channels are allocated to the many users of the system.

Current Cellular Standards

Different types of cellular systems employ various methods of multiple access. The traditional analog cellular systems, such as those based on the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) and Total Access
Communications System (TACS) standards, use Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). FDMA channels are defined by a range of radio frequencies, usually expressed in a number of kilohertz (kHz), out of the radio spectrum. For example, AMPS systems use 30 kHz "slices" of spectrum for each channel. Narrowband AMPS (NAMPS) requires only 10 kHz per channel. TACS channels are 25 kHz wide.
With FDMA, only one subscriber at a time is assigned to a channel. No other conversations can access this channel until the subscriber's call is finished, or until that original call is handed off to a different channel by the system. A common multiple access method employed in new digital cellular systems is the Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA). TDMA digital standards include
North American Digital Cellular (know by its standard number IS-54), Global
System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and
Personal Digital Cellular (PDC). TDMA systems commonly start with a slice of spectrum, referred to as one "carrier". Each carrier is then divided into time slots. Only one subscriber at a time is assigned to each time slot, or channel. No other conversations can access this channel until the subscriber's call is finished, or until that original call is handed off to a different channel by the system. For example, IS-54 systems, designed to coexist with
AMPS systems, divide 30 kHz of spectrum into three channels. PDC divides 25 kHz slices of spectrum into three channels.
GSM systems create 8 time-division channels in 200 kHz wide carriers.

The CDMA Cellular Standard

With CDMA, unique digital codes, rather than separate RF frequencies or channels, are used to differentiate subscribers. The codes are shared by both the mobile station (cellular phone) and the base station, and are called "pseudo-Random Code
Sequences." All users share the same range of radio spectrum. For cellular telephony, CDMA is a digital multiple access technique specified by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) as
"IS-95." In March 1992, the TIA established the
TR-45.5 subcommittee with the charter of developing a spread-spectrum digital cellular standard. In July of 1993, the TIA gave its approval of the CDMA IS-95 standard. IS-95 systems divide the radio spectrum into carriers which are 1,250 kHz (1.25
MHz) wide. One of the unique aspects of CDMA is that while there are certainly limits to the number of phone calls that can be handled by a carrier, this is not a fixed number. Rather, the capacity of the system will be dependent on a number of different factors. This will be discussed in later sections.

CDMA Technology

Though CDMA's application in cellular telephony is relatively new, it is not a new technology. CDMA has been used in many military applications, such as anti-jamming (because of the spread signal, it is difficult to jam or interfere with a CDMA signal), ranging (measuring the distance of the transmission to know when it will be received), and secure communications (the spread spectrum signal is very hard to detect).

Spread Spectrum

CDMA is a "spread spectrum" technology, which means that it spreads the information contained in a particular signal of interest over a much greater bandwidth than the original signal. A CDMA call starts with a standard rate of 9600 bits per second (9.6 kilobits per second). This is then spread to a transmitted rate of about
1.23 Megabits per second. Spreading means that digital codes are applied to the data bits associated with users in a cell. These data bits are transmitted along with the signals of all the other users in that cell. When the signal is received, the codes are removed from the desired signal, separating the users and returning the call to a rate of 9600 bps. Traditional uses of spread spectrum are in military operations. Because of the wide bandwidth of a spread spectrum signal, it is very difficult to jam, difficult to interfere with, and difficult to identify. This is in contrast to technologies using a narrower bandwidth of frequencies. Since a wideband spread spectrum signal is very hard to detect, it appears as nothing more than a slight rise in the "noise floor" or interference level. With other technologies, the power of the signal is concentrated in a narrower band, which makes it easier to detect. Increased privacy is inherent in CDMA technology. CDMA phone calls will be secure from the casual eavesdropper since, unlike an analog conversation, a simple radio receiver will not be able to pick individual digital conversations out of the overall RF radiation in a frequency band.

Synchronization

In the final stages of the encoding of the radio link from the base station to the mobile, CDMA adds a special "pseudo-random code" to the signal that repeats itself after a finite amount of time. Base stations in the system distinguish themselves from each other by transmitting different portions of the code at a given time. In other words, the base stations transmit time offset versions of the same pseudo-random code. In order to assure that the time offsets used remain unique from each other, CDMA stations must remain synchronized to a common time reference. The Global Positioning
System (GPS) provides this precise common time reference. GPS is a satellite based, radio navigation system capable of providing a practical and affordable means of determining continuous position, velocity, and time to an unlimited number of users.

"The Balancing Act"

CDMA cell coverage is dependent upon the way the system is designed. In fact, three primary system characteristics-Coverage,
Quality, and Capacity-must be balanced off of each other to arrive at the desired level of system performance. In a CDMA system these three characteristics are tightly inter-related. Even higher capacity might be achieved through some degree of degradation in coverage and/or quality. Since these parameters are all intertwined, operators cannot have the best of all worlds: three times wider coverage, 40 times capacity, and "CD" quality sound. For example, the 13 kbps vocoder provides better sound quality, but reduces system capacity as compared to an 8 kbps vocoder.

CDMA Benefits

When implemented in a cellular telephone system, CDMA technology offers numerous benefits to the cellular operators and their subscribers. The following is an overview of the benefits of CDMA.
1.Capacity increases of 8 to 10 times that of an AMPS analog system and 4 to 5 times that of a GSM system 2.Improved call quality, with better and more consistent sound as compared to AMPS systems 3.Simplified system planning through the use of the same frequency in every sector of every cell
4.Enhanced privacy 5.Improved coverage characteristics, allowing for the possibility of fewer cell sites 6.Increased talk time for portables 7.Bandwidth on demand

Click below for more information about:

Spread Spectrum Techniques
Spreading Codes
Power Control
Handoff
Forward CDMA Channel
Frequency Plans
Walsh Functions
Short Code
Reverse CDMA Channel
Long Code
Long Code Mask
Reverse Spreading
Linear Feedback Shift Registers
System Time
Forward Spreading
Coverage-Capacity Tradeoff in the Reverse Link
Spreading Bandwidth
Optimum Bandwidth for CDMA