EKT 450

Mobile Communication System

Chapter 4: Multiple Access Techniques
Dr. Azremi Abdullah Al-Hadi
School of Computer and Communication Engineering
azremi@unimap.edu.my

Introduction
Multiple access schemes are used to allow
many users to share simultaneously a finite
amount of radio spectrum.
Sharing of spectrum is required to increase
capacity
For high quality communication this sharing of
spectrum should not degrade performance of
the system

high performance
duplexing generally required
frequency domain
time domain
2

Duplexing
What is Duplexing ? - to talk and listen
simultaneously.
Classification of communication systems according
to their connectivity:
o Simplex
A

o Half-duplex
A

o Duplex
3

Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD)

Two bands of frequencies for every user
o Forward band (for traffic from Base station
to mobile unit)
o Reverse band (for traffic from mobile unit
to Base station)
Duplexer needed.
Frequency separation between forward band
and reverse band is constant throughout the
system.
reverse channel

forward channel

frequency separation/split

f
4

Time Division Duplexing (TDD)

Uses different time slots for forward and
reverse link :
o Forward time slot
o Reverse time slot
No duplexer is required (a simple switch can
be used)
Communication is not full-duplex
reverse channel

forward channel

time separation/split

f
5

FDD versus TDD

FDD
o Provides individual radio frequencies to each
user hence, transceiver should work on two
frequency bands
o Frequency allocation must be carefully
coordinated with Out-of-band users
o Duplexer needed

TDD
o Single frequency hence simple transceiver
o Duplexer not needed, a switch can do the job
o There is time latency, communication is not fullduplex
6

Multiple Access Techniques

Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)

Time division multiple access (TDMA)
Code division multiple access (CDMA)
Space division multiple access (SDMA)

Grouped as:
o Narrowband systems
o Wideband systems

Narrowband System
Bandwidth of the signal is narrow compared
with the coherence bandwidth of the channel.
In narrowband systems available radio
spectrum is divided into large number of
narrowband channels usually FDD (large
frequency split):
o Narrowband FDMA
o Narrowband TDMA

Narrowband System
Narrowband FDMA:
o a user is assigned a particular channel which is
not shared by other users.
o if FDD is used then each channel has a forward
and reverse link (called FDMA/FDD)
Narrowband TDMA:
o Allows users to share the same channel but
allocates a unique time slot to each user
FDMA/FDD
FDMA/TDD
TDMA/FDD
TDMA/TDD

Logical Separation FDMA / FDD

user 1

forward channel
reverse channel
...

user n

forward channel
reverse channel
t
10

Logical Separation FDMA / TDD

user 1
forward channel reverse channel
...

user n
forward channel reverse channel
t
11

Logical Separation TDMA / FDD

forward

forward

channel

channel
... user n

user 1
reverse

reverse

channel

channel

t
12

Logical Separation TDMA / TDD

user 1

user n

forward reverse ... forward reverse

channel channel

channel channel

t
13

Wideband System
The transmission BW of a single channel is
much larger than the coherence bandwidth of
the channel.
Users are allowed to transmit in a large part
of the spectrum.
Large number of transmitters on one
channel.
TDMA techniques allocates time slots to
different transmitters.
CDMA techniques allows the transmitters to
access the channel at the same time.
14

Wideband System
TDMA/FDD
TDMA/TDD
CDMA/FDD
CDMA/TDD

15

Logical Separation CDMA / FDD

user 1
forward channel reverse channel
...

code

user n
forward channel reverse channel
f
16

Logical Separation CDMA / TDD

user 1
forward channel reverse channel
...

code

user n
forward channel reverse channel
t
17

Multiple Access Techniques

FDMA

power

power

TDMA

power

CDMA

18

Multiple Access Techniques in use

Cellular System

Multiple Access
Techniques

Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS)

FDMA/FDD

Global System for Mobile (GSM)

TDMA/FDD

US Digital Cellular (USDC)

TDMA/FDD

Digital European Cordless Telephone (DECT)

FDMA/TDD

US Narrowband Spread Spectrum (IS-95)

CDMA/FDD

19

Frequency Division Multiple Access

(FDMA)
One phone circuit per channel
Idle time causes wasting of resources
Simultaneously and continuously
transmitting
Usually implemented in narrowband systems
Complexity of FDMA mobile systems is
lower compared to TDMA
FDMA uses duplexers
For example: AMPS is a FDMA system
with bandwidth of 30 kHz
20

Nonlinear Effects in FDMA

Many channels - same antenna

For maximum power efficiency operate near
saturation
Near saturation power amplifiers are nonlinear
Nonlinearities causes signal spreading
Intermodulation frequencies
IM are undesired harmonics
Interference with other channels in the FDMA
system
Interference outside the mobile radio band:
adjacent-channel interference
RF filters needed - higher costs
21

Time Division Multiple Access

(TDMA)
Time slots
One user per slot
Buffer and burst method
Non-continuous transmission
Advantage:
o Total bandwidth is utilized
Disadvantage:
o Strict Burst Timing is required at the
earth station

22

Repeating Frame Structure

One TDMA Frame
Preamble

Slot 1

Information Message

Slot 2

Trail Bits

Slot 3

Sync. Bits

Information Data

Trail Bits

Slot N

Guard Bits

The frame is cyclically repeated over time.

23

Features of TDMA
A single carrier frequency for several users
Transmission in bursts
Handoff process much simpler (can listen
when idle)
Low battery consumption
Bandwidth can be supplied on demand
Compared to FDD : Switch instead of
duplexer
High synchronization overhead
Example: GSM

24

FDMA versus TDMA

Fewer bits for synchronization
Fewer bits for framing
Higher costs for duplexer used in base
station and subscriber units
FDMA requires RF filtering to minimize
adjacent channel interference

25

Spread Spectrum Multiple Access

(SSMA)

Spread Spectrum Multiple Access (SSMA) uses

signals have transmission BW that is several orders
of magnitude greater than the minimum required
BW.
A Pseudo-noise sequence converts a narrow band
signal to a wideband noise-like signal before
transmission.
SSMA not BW efficient when used by a single user.
Many users can share the same BW without
interfering with one another
Type of SSMA techniques:
Frequency hoped multiple access (FHMA).
Direct sequence multiple access (DS) or Code
division multiple access (CDMA).

26

Pseudo-Noise (PN) Sequence

PN code sets can be generated from linear
feedback shift registers.
Shift Register
Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3
Register
Output

Clock

Modulo 2 adder

27

Frequency Hopped Multiple Access

(FHMA)
It is digital multiple access system.
Carrier frequencies of individual users varied in
pseudorandom fashion with in a wideband channel.
Digital data broken into uniform sized bursts which are
transmitted on different carriers.
Instantaneous BW of any one transmission burst is
much smaller than the total spread BW.
Locally generated PN code is used to synchronize the
receiver frequency with that of transmitter.
Erasures can occur when two or more users transmit on
the same channel at the same time
FH(Frequency hopped) signal is immune to fading so
error control coding can be combined to guard against
erasures.
28

Code Division Multiple Access

(CDMA)
Narrowband signals is multiplied by a very large bandwidth
signal called the spreading signal.
The spreading signal is pseudo noise code sequence that has a
chip rate which is orders of magnitudes greater than data rate
of the message.
All users use the same carrier frequency and transmit
simultaneously.
Each user has its own pseudo random code word which is
approximately orthogonal to other codewords.
Receiver performs time co-relation.
All other codewords appear as noise.
Receiver needs to know the code word used by transmitter.
Many users same frequency, TDD or FDD.
Soft capacity(capacity increases linearly)
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Self-jamming

CDMA Basic Concept

TSymbol

Signal Spreading

S(f)

Data
f

TChip

Data
Spreading
Code

Received
Signal

Spreading
Code

S(f)

Transmitted
Signal

Signal Spreading: Transmission bandwidth significantly

exceeds information bandwidth
Each User is assigned a unique spreading Code.
Processing Gain: Number of chips per data symbol.
Processing gain reflects the ratio between the transmission
30
and information bandwidths.

CDMA Basic Concept

Signal De-Spreading
Received
Signal
Spreading
Code
Spreading
Code at Tx

De-Spread
Signal

S(f)

Received
Signal

f
TChip

TChip

Spreading
Code at Rx
TSymbol

De-Spread
Signal

S(f)

Signal De-Spreading: Multiplying the received signal by the

spreading code
De-spreading of the received signal with the same spreading
code that was used for spreading restores the original data

CDMA Basic Concept

Signal De-Spreading
Received
Signal
Spreading
Code
Spreading
Code at Tx

De-Spread
Signal

S(f)

Received
Signal

TChip

Spreading
Code at Rx
TSymbol

De-Spread
Signal

S(f)
f

Signal De-Spreading: Multiplying the received signal by the

spreading code
De-spreading of the received signal with a different spreading
code than that was used for spreading does not restore the
original data and maintains bandwidth characteristics of
spread signal

CDMA Basic Concept

Symbol Detection: De-spreading using the same spreading
code that was used for spreading
TSymbol

De-Spread
Signal T

Symbol

4 -4 -4

Symbol Detection: De-spreading using a different spreading

code than that used for spreading
TSymbol

De-Spread
Signal T

Symbol

CDMA Operation
Transmitter for User 1
m1(t)

m1(t)c1(t)

Wireless
Channel

Receiver for User 1

m1(t)+
m2(t)c1(t)c2(t)

m1(t)+e1(t)

TSymbol

m1(t)

m1(t)c1(t)+
m2(t)c2(t)

c1(t)

Transmitter for User 2

m2(t)

m2(t)c2(t)

c1(t)

Receiver for User 2

m2(t)+
m1(t)c1(t)c2(t)
TSymbol

c2(t)

m2(t)+e2(t)
m2(t)

Important Note:
The value of ei(t) depends on the cross
correlation properties between c1 & c2
ei(t)=0 if c1 & c2 are orthogonal

c2(t)
mi(t):
ci(t):
ei(t):
mi(t):

Information Message of User i

Spreading code of user i
Interference sensed at receiver of user I
Message detected at receiver

CDMA in Military Application

The CDMA concept has been introduced as
early as 1970s in military applications to
elude jamming signals
Spectral
density

Jamming
signal

Spectral
density

signal

signal

De-spreading
frequency
35

frequency

CDMA in Wireless Communication

BW= BS

BW= GBS

BW= GBS

BW= BS

Data
Symbol

Symbol
Detection

Spreading Code
Signal Spreading

36

Interference

Spreading Code

Communication
Channel

Signal De-spreading

Spreading Code Requirements

Good CDMA spreading codes should be characterized by
relatively low cross-correlation properties to minimize
multiple access interference (MAI).
Good CDMA spreading codes should be characterized by
low autocorrelation properties to minimize inter-symbol
interference due to multi-path channels
Ideally it is desirable to have both correlation functions
to approach zero

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Example: Correlation Matrix of 31-bit

PN Sequence
30
5

25
20

10
15
15

10
5

20

0
25
-5
30

-10
5

10

15

20

25

30
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