Akinsola JET

Department of Computer Science

Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria

email: akinsolajet@gmail.com
What is WCDMA?
Wideband Code-Division Multiple-Access (W-CDMA) is a leading technology for the development and
continued implementation of third-generation (3G) cellular systems and networks [3] . WCDMA is a
packet-based successor to the second-generation GSM standard [8] , and gets its name from the fact that it
is a direct spread technology, which means that it will spread its transmissions over a wide, 5MHz carrier
[1] . When WCDMA was accepted as a standard, it was adopted under the name IMT-2000 direct spread
[1] . WCDMA is a technology with the ability to handle the load of wideband digital radio
communications from capacity-demanding applications such as Internet digital radio communications,
video, and other forms of multimedia [5] .
In 2000 and 2001, the network licenses for WCDMA were mostly awarded [8] . The concept of a
WCDMA network is appealing to network service providers because it supplies different users with the
ability to simultaneously transmit across the network at different data rates [3] .
As mentioned above, the initial WCDMA cellular systems were envisioned to be 5MHz, and as further
research and development of WCDMA cellular systems continues, future systems are projected to
possibly be up to 20 MHz. Increasing the bandwidth as large as possible, is what allows the hope of
successfully being able to overlay fixed-service microwave systems [2] . The motivation of WCDMA was
the given desire for greater information rate transfer for multimedia, and enhanced robustness. Seeking
this preferred functionality of WCDMA systems as they continue to be implemented, developed, and
enhanced, there are a few key factors that help to advance WCDMA in the 3G cellular systems. One key
attribute is how the large wideband has the ability to resolve mulitpath components, and through the use
of a rake receiver, combine the signals of each component [2] . Another key factor is WCDMA's ability to
spread data with different spreading factors. Codes of Orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes
are what WCDMA uses to meet the needs of the variable-rate users. Such OVSF codes maintain
orthogonality regardless of which codes are used only if the codes are chosen by set rules in the code
generation tree [12] . Orthogonality factors can greatly differ in a WCDMA network depending on the
radio environment. When a WCDMA network or system is analyzed, it is the orthogonal factor, network
capacity, interference level in the coverage area of each site, antenna characteristics, number of sectors
per network, horizontal bandwidth, and front-to-back end ratios that are studied [6] .
Technical Summary
This list is provided from the UTMS website [3].
Frequency band: 1920 MHz -1980 MHz and 2110 MHz - 2170 MHz (Frequency Division Duplex) UL
and DL
Minimum frequency band required: ~ 2x5MHz
Frequency re-use: 1
Carrier Spacing: 4.4MHz - 5.2 MHz
Maximum number of (voice) channels on 2x5MHz: ~196 (spreading factor 256 UL, AMR 7.95kbps) /
~98 (spreading factor 128 UL, AMR 12.2kbps)
Voice coding: AMR codecs (4.75 kHz - 12.2 kHz, GSM EFR=12.2 kHz) and SID (1.8 kHz)
Channel coding: Convolutional coding, Turbo code for high rate data

Duplexer needed (190MHz separation), Asymmetric connection supported

Receiver: Rake
Data type: Packet and circuit switch
Modulation: QPSK
Pulse shaping: Root raised cosine, roll-off = 0.22
Chip rate: 3.84 Mcps
Channel raster: 200 kHz
Maximum user data rate (Physical channel): ~ 2.3Mbps (spreading factor 4, parallel codes (3 DL / 6
UL), 1/2 rate coding), but interference limited.
Maximum user data rate (Offered): 384 kbps (year 2002), higher rates ( ~ 2 Mbps) in the near future.
HSPDA will offer data speeds up to 8-10 Mbps (and 20 Mbps for MIMO systems)
Channel bit rate: 5.76Mbps
Frame length: 10ms (38400 chips)
Number of slots / frame: 15
Number of chips / slot: 2560 chips
Handovers: Soft, Softer, (interfrequency: Hard)
Power control period: Time slot = 1500 Hz rate
Mobile peak power: Power class 1: +33 dBm (+1dB/-3dB) = 2W; class 2 +27 dBm, class 3 +24 dBm,
class 4 +21 dBm
Number of unique base station identification codes: 512 / frequency
Physical layer spreading factors: 4 ... 256 UL, 4 ... 512 DL
What are the strong points of WCDMA?
The strong points, also known as selling points, of WCDMA technology are high bandwidth/transmission
speed, plus improvements on 2 and 2.5G GSM/GPRS networks like better speech quality, more capacity,
no frequency planning as such, etc. Also the uplink and downlink capabilities are quite significant. Peak
downlink throughput can be very high (compared to GPRS), with peaks of up to 370KB/s at the
application level (e.g. FTP) in a good coverage area. Uplink, though, can best be described as stable,
rather than high. Uplink throughput shows to be around 45 to almost 60Kb/s (FTP) [9] . The main feature
of a cellular system is a basic speech call, and with WCDMA speech quality, once a call has been set up,
is typically very good [9] . Also, with the amount of bandwidth available for WCDMA, each channel is
able to support between 170 to 175 users [6] .
Overall, the main strong point of WCDMA, the demand for capacity, which new and faster mobile data
services require, is met with the enhanced use of spectrum in combination with cost-efficient networking
solutions. WCDMA allows a mobile device operator to evolve from a GSM network to a WCDMA
network while protecting investments by simply re-using the GSM core network [5] . Meeting such
capacity demands is possible due to the optimization of the WCDMA network by choosing antennas that
have the appropriate beamwidth for each cell site configuration in a given environment.
What are the weak points of WCDMA?
Given the advantages of WCDMA, there prove to be some serious restrictions. The reaction time between
the air interface and the GI interface can be low (i.e. 150mS). The dropped call rate of regular speech calls
on WCDMA systems is about 15%, which is considered to be very high. In defense of this large
percentage of dropped calls, when a speech call is made on a terminal that is not in a position to find a
GSM cell to hand the call over to, this edge of WCDMA' drop rate accounts for a large portion of the
15% [9].

Two other major weaknesses are found in the coding schemes that WCDMA relies on to separate users
and services, and the fact that WCDMA networks are based on circuit switched systems. Some of the
coding schemes are prone to interfere with other, and the systems inability to handle IP-based data (bursty
and unpredictable) due to circuit connections often restricts the possible number of additional users that a
WCDMA network could serve [13] .
The overall capacity of the WCDMA can also be greatly limited to the number of self-induced
interference. Self-induced interference is the disruption of the orthoganality of the codes by the multipath
in the network. This multipath is rather damaging to the orthoganality of the WCDMA channel. Given the
importance of orthoganality in a WCDMA network and the possible degredation of channels, another
contributor to consider in the loss of capacity is the radiation from the antennas in a backward direction
[6].
Who are the users of WCDMA?
In September 2004, the UTMS Forum determined that there were 10 million WCDMA users worldwide.
Since the beginning of 2005, the UTMS Forum noted that more than 16 million people worldwide owned
3G phones based on the WCMDA standard. WCDMA is dominating the European market, and is being
widely used in Asia and the Americas [8] . With more than 100 phones and PC cards from a variety of
vendors that a user can choose from as a wireless device with WCDMA capabilities, it is no wonder that
the market continues to grow [8] . In time, the needs for which WCDMA was deployed will be fully met.
The attraction of users to WCDMA will increase as maturity of the technology as it develops by address
it's service and Quality of Service (QoS) weaknesses.
Most users of WCDMA well be cellular service customers. One must also take into account that even cell
phone manufacturers and the infrastructures involved in purchasing licenses and developing live networks
could also be considered as users of the 3G technology [7,9] .
Who are the manufacturers of WCDMA?
Manufacturers of WCDMA can be split into two categories the 3G wireless infrastructure companies
that have the rights to develop WCDMA networks, and the companies the produce wireless devices to use
the services provided by the network [7,9] .
Infrastructure companies

Nortel
Siemens
Nokia
Ericsson
Alcatel
and others

Wireless Device Manufacturers

LG
Motorola
Nokia
Sony-Ericsson
Samsung

NEC

What are the future uses of WCDMA?

Future goals for future WCDMA systems and networks tend to combat the weaknesses in service(s)
detailed above. The need to allow for high speed data transmission over packet switched wireless
networks, instead of the current circuit switched systems. It has been considered that this coversion of
data into standard IP packets from circuit switched packets could be easily done by taking one quarter of a
WCDMA spectrum and installing a flash-OFDM router. The use of the flash-OFDM router would allow
wireless access without the need for middle layer protocols, applications, and devices because it would be
compatible with any local area network [13] .
Plans to use matched filtering technology with WCDMA would also yield great benefits, such as
decreased acquisition time, and increased battery life of wireless devices. It also allows for easy
identification of the multipath components [2] .
Another enhancement possible for WCDMA would be the use of signal processing techniques on the
uplink. Supressing multiple access interference on an uplink would greatly benefit the ability to maintain
high enough transfer data rates to ensure the best possible quality connection for multimendia transfers
over the network (i.e. video transfer) [2] .
References:
[7]Arbi, Zatni. Some 3G WCDMA cellphones for now. [Online] Available
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailfeatures.asp?fileid=20050425.S03&irec=2 , April 23, 2005 .
[12]Barberis, Marc. Designing W-CDMA Mobile Communication Systems. [Online] Available
http://www.commsdesign.com/main/1999/02/9902feat1.htm , April 26,2005 .
[8]Blau, John. 3G WCDMA has more than 16 million users worldwide. [Online] Available
http://www.nwfusion.com/cgi-bin/mailto/x.cgi , April 23, 2005 .
[5]Ericsson. WCDMA. [Online] Available
http://www.ericsson.com/technology/tech_articles/WCDMA.shtml , April 23, 2005 .
[6]International Engineering Consortium. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA).
[Online] Available http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/wcdma/ , April 23, 2005 .
[2]Milstein, Laurence B. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access. [Online] Available
http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~jandrews/ee381k/EE381KTA/wcdma_milstein.pdf , April 26, 2005 .
[11]Qualcomm. Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Announces First Generation of WCDMA Power
Amplifier Modules. [Online] Available http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net/articles/news/5/2/33/1 ,
April 26, 2005 .
[4]Qualcomm. WCDMA (UTMS). [Online] Available
http://www.qualcomm.com/technology/wcdma.html , April 23, 2005 .

[10]Qualcomm. WCDMA (UTMS) 3G Solutions. [Online] Available

http://www.cdmatech.com/solutions/wcdma_umts_3g_solutions.jsp?A=3&L1=manufacturers&L2=wcdm
a_umts_3g_solutions , April 23, 2005 .
[1]Spread Spectrum Scene. WCDMA Stuff. [Online] Available http://sss-mag.com/w-cdmal.html , April
26, 2005
[13]Tulloch, James. Improving 3G: Speed Thrills. [Online] Available
http://www.ipwireless.com/pdfs/mobile_communications_0204.pdf , April 23, 2005 .
[3]UMTS. WCDMA (UMTS). [Online] Available http://www.umtsworld.com/technology/wcdma.htm ,
April 23,2005 .
[9]Wu, Raymond. WCDMA Networks The Beauty (and Other) Spots. [Online] Available
http://bbriefings.com/pdf/744/wire041_ascom_tech.pdf
http://web.mst.edu/~mobildat/WCDMA/index.html