CDMA Structure

 

CDMA:

Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method by which several transmitters are allowed to send information simultaneously over a single communication channel. CDMA is a form of spread-spectrum signaling, since the modulated coded signal has a much higher data bandwidth than the data being communicated.

An analogy to the problem of multiple access is a room (channel) in which people wish to talk to each other simultaneously. To avoid confusion, people could take turns speaking (time division), speak at different pitches (frequency division), or speak in different languages (code division). CDMA is analogous to the last example where people speaking the same language can understand each other, but other languages are perceived as noise and rejected. Similarly, in radio CDMA, each group of users is given a shared code. Many codes occupy the same channel, but only users associated with a particular code can communicate.

CDMA is a spread spectrum multiple access technique. A spread spectrum technique spreads the bandwidth of the data uniformly for the same transmitted power. A spreading code is a pseudo-random code that has a narrow ambiguity function, unlike other narrow pulse codes. In CDMA a locally generated code runs at a much higher rate than the data to be transmitted. Data for transmission is combined via bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) with the faster code. The figure shows how a spread spectrum signal is generated. The data signal with pulse duration of (symbol period) is XOR’ed with the code signal with pulse duration of (chip period). (Note: bandwidth is proportional to where = bit time) Therefore, the bandwidth of the data signal is and the bandwidth of the spread spectrum signal is . Since is much smaller than , the bandwidth of the spread spectrum signal is much larger than the bandwidth of the original signal. The ratio is called the spreading factor or processing gain and determines to a certain extent the upper limit of the total number of users supported simultaneously by a base station.

Spread-spectrum techniques are methods by which a signal (e.g. an electrical, electromagnetic, or acoustic signal) generated with a particular bandwidth are deliberately spread in the frequency domain, resulting in a signal with a wider bandwidth. These techniques are used for a variety of reasons, including the establishment of secure communications, increasing resistance to natural interference, noise and jamming, to prevent detection, and to limit power flux density (e.g. in satellite downlinks).