Multiple Access

Techniques
D R . K A L PA N A D H A K A
A S S I S TA N T P R O F E S S O R
I N D I A N I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y G U WA H AT I
Contents
 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
 Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)
 Frequency hopped multiple access (FHMA)
 Code division multiple access (CDMA)

 Example of practical cellular radio systems

Multiple Access Techniques:
Introduction
 Allows multiple users to share the allocated radio spectrum in a more
efficient manner to achieve high capacity
 Techniques to access channel includes
 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
 Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)
Duplexing
 Allows subscribers to send information simultaneously to the base
station and while receiving information from the base station
Duplexing methods to share channel resources among different
directions of communication includes
 Time Division Duplexing (TDD)
 Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD)

 FDD is suitable for radio communication systems, whereas TDD is

more suitable for fixed wireless systems or short range portable access
 Duplexing techniques are classified as
 Full-Duplexing
 Half-Duplexing
 Simplex
Duplexing
FDD
 Two bands of frequencies for every user
 Forward band: BS to mobile
 Reverse band: Mobile to BS
 Duplexer needed: Consist of two simplex units
 Frequency separation between forward band and reverse
band is constant

reverse channel forward channel

Frequency separation f
Duplexing
TDD
 Uses time for forward and reverse link
 Multiple users share a single radio channel
 Duplex channels has both forward time slot and reverse time slot
 If time separation between forward and reverse time slot is small, then
transmission and reception of data appears simultaneous
 No duplexer is required
 Can change ratio of uplink and downlink capacity
 Good for internet based traffic and small cell-size network

reverse channel forward channel

t
time seperation
Multiple Access Techniques
FDMA, TDMA, CDMA
Narrowband and wideband
systems
 In narrowband multiple access system, the available
bandwidth is divided into a large number of narrowband
channels.
 Channels are usually operated using FDD
 FDMA and TDMA
 In wideband systems, the transmission bandwidth of a
single channel is large.
 Channels BW larger than the coherence bandwidth of the
channel, thus multipath fading does not vary the received signal
power
 Large number of transmitter transmit on the same channel
 TDMA and CDMA
Narrowband systems
 Narrowband FDMA
 Narrowband TDMA
 FDMA/FDD
 FDMA/TDD
 TDMA/FDD
 TDMA/TDD
FDMA/FDD
forward channel
user 1
reverse channel

... f

forward channel
user n
reverse channel

t
FDMA/TDD
user 1
forward channel reverse channel

... f

user n
forward channel reverse channel

t
TDMA/FDD

forward forward
channel channel
user 1 ... user n f
reverse reverse

channel channel

t
TDMA/TDD
user 1 user n

...
forward reverse forward reverse f
channel channel channel channel

t
Wideband systems
 Wideband TDMA
 CDMA
 TDMA/FDD
 TDMA/TDD
 CDMA/FDD
 CDMA/TDD
CDMA/FDD
user 1
forward channel reverse channel

... code

user n
forward channel reverse channel

f
CDMA/TDD
user 1
forward channel reverse channel

... code

user n
forward channel reverse channel

t
Frequency division multiple
access (FDMA)
 One phone circuit per channel
 Idle time causes wasting of resources
 Simultaneous and continuous transmission after channel
assignment
 Bandwidth of FDMA channels are narrow (30 kHz in
AMPS)
 Usually implemented in narrowband systems
 Symbol time is large compared to the average delay
spread: Low ISI (Little or no equalization required)
FDMA compared to TDMA
 FDMA systems are less complex
Fewer bits for synchronization
 Fewer bits for framing
 Higher cell site system costs
 Duplexer used at base station and subscriber units
 RF filtering in FDMA to minimize adjacent channel
interference
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, ACI
 Intermodulation (IM) frequencies which are
undesired harmonics
Nonlinear Effects in FDMA
(cont.)
 Interference with other channels in the FDMA
system
 Decreases user C/I (Carrier to Interference
protection ratio) - decreases performance
 Interference outside the mobile radio band:
adjacent-channel interference
 RF filters needed - higher costs
Number of channels in a
FDMA system
Example: Advanced Mobile
Phone System
Time Division Multiple
Access
 Time slots
 One user per slot
 Buffer and burst method
 Noncontinuous transmission
 Digital data
 Digital modulation
Features of TDMA
 a single carrier frequency for several users
 transmission in bursts
 low battery consumption
 handoff process much simpler
 FDD : switch instead of duplexer
 very high transmission rate
 high synchronization overhead
 guard slots necessary
Number of channels in a
TDMA system
Example: Global System for
Mobile (GSM)
Efficiency of TDMA
 TDMA Frame Structure
TDMA requires a centralized
control node, whose primary
function is to transmit a
periodic reference burst that
defines a frame and forces a
measure of synchronization of
all the users.

 The frame so-defined is divided into time slots, and each

user is assigned a Time Slot in which to transmit its
information.
TDMA Frame Structure
(cont.)
TDMA: Guard Times
 Since there are significant delays between users,
each user receives the reference burst with a
different phase, and its traffic burst is transmitted
with a correspondingly different phase within the
time slot.
 There is therefore a need for guard times to take
account of this uncertainty.
TDMA: Guard Times (cont.)
 Each Time Slot is therefore longer than the period
needed for the actual traffic burst, thereby avoiding
the overlap of traffic burst even in the presence of
these propagation delays.
 One TDMA Frame

Preamble Information Trail Bits

Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 … Slot N

Guard Sync Control

Bits Bits Bits Information CRC

One TDMA Slot

A Frame repeats in time
TDMA: Preamble
 Since each traffic burst is transmitted
independently with an uncertain phase relative to
the reference burst, there is a need for a preamble
at the beginning of each traffic burst.
 The preamble allows the receiver to acquire on
top of the coarse synchronization provided by the
reference burst a fine estimate of timing and carrier
phase.
TDMA: Preamble (cont.)
Efficiency of TDMA
Efficiency of TDMA (cont.)
Spread Spectrum Multiple
Access (SSMA)
 Uses signals with transmission bandwidth several
orders of magnitude greater than the minimum
required RF bandwidth
 Provides immunity to multipath interference and
robust multiple access capability
 Bandwidth efficient in multi-user environment
 SSMA techniques
 Frequency hopped (FH) multiple access
 Direct sequence (DS) multiple access (also
known as code division multiple access (CDMA))
FHMA
 Carrier frequencies of individual users are varied in a
pseudorandom fashion within a wideband channel
 Data of each user is broken into uniform size bursts that
are transmitted on different channels at different time
instants based on their pseudo-noise (PN) code sequence
 In the FH receiver, a locally generated PN code is used to
synchronize the receiver’s instantaneous frequency with that
of the transmitter
 At any given point of time, a FH signal only occupies a
single, relatively narrow channel since narrowband FM or
FSK is used
FHMA (cont.)
 FHMA changes channels at rapid intervals
 Fast frequency hopping system: Rate of change of the
carrier frequency is greater than the symbol rate
 Slow frequency hopping system: Rate of change of the
carrier frequency is less than or equal to the symbol rate
 FHMA provides inherent security, and guard against
erasures through error control coding and interleaving
 Used in : Bluetooth and HomeRF for power efficiency
and low cost implementation
 CDMA
• The narrowband message signal is multiplied by a
very large bandwidth signal called spreading signal
• The spreading signal has a pseudo-noise code
sequence that has a chip rate which is orders of
magnitudes greater than the data rates of the message
• All users use the same carrier frequency and can
transmit simultaneously
• Each user has its own pseudorandom codeword that is
orthogonal to the others
• The receivers need to know the codeword of the
corresponding sender
 CDMA
• Power control is used to combat the near-far problem
• Near-far problem:
– When many mobile users share the same channel, the
strongest received mobile signal will capture the
demodulator at a base station. Thus a nearby subscriber
could overpower the base-station receiver by drowning out
the signals of far away subscribers.
Space Division Multiple Access

• Controls radiated energy for each user in space

• Using spot beam antennas
• Base station tracks user when moving
• Cover areas with same frequency:
• In TDMA or CDMA systems
• Cover areas with different frequency:
• In FDMA systems
Space Division Multiple Access

• Primitive applications are

“Sectorized antennas”

• In future adaptive
antennas simultaneously
steer energy in the
direction of many users at
once
 Reverse link problems
• Different propagation path between user and
base station
• Dynamic control of transmitting power from
each user to the base station required
• Limits by battery consumption of subscriber
units
• Possible solution is a filter for each user
 Solution by SDMA systems

• Adaptive antennas promise to mitigate reverse

link problems
• Limiting case of infinitesimal beamwidth
• Limiting case of infinitely fast track ability
• Thereby unique channel that is free from
interference
• All user communicate at same time using the
same channel
 Disadvantage of SDMA

• Perfect adaptive antenna system requires

infinitely large number of antenna
 Polarization Division multiple Access
(PDMA)

• Separate antennas are used

• Each antenna with different polarization
• Followed by separate receivers
 SDMA and PDMA in satellites

• INTELSAT IVA
• SDMA dual-beam
receive antenna
• simultaneously access
from two different
regions of the earth
 SDMA and PDMA in satellites

• COMSTAR 1
• PDMA
• separate antennas
• simultaneously
access from same
region
 SDMA and PDMA in satellites

• INTELSAT V
• PDMA and SDMA
• two hemispheric
coverages by SDMA
• two smaller beam
zones by PDMA
• orthogonal polarization
 Example of practical cellular
radio systems
Cellular System Multiple Access Technique
AMPS FDMA/FDD
GSM TDMA/FDD
USDC (IS-54 and IS-136) TDMA/FDD
PDC TDMA/FDD
CT2 Cordless Phone FDMA/TDD
DECT Cordless Phone FDMA/TDD
US IS-95 CDMA/FDD
W-CDMA CDMA/FDD
CDMA/TDD
cdma2000 CDMA/FDD
CDMA/TDD
 Packet Radio
• In Packet Radio (PR) access techniques, many
subscribers attempt to access a single channel in an
uncoordinated manner
• Collisions from simultaneous transmissions from
multiple transmitters are detected at the base station
receiver, in which case an ACK or NACK signal is
broadcasted by the base station to alert the user
• PR subscribers use a contention technique to transmit
on a common channel
 Packet Radio Protocols
• Contention protocols:
• Random Access: there is no coordination among the
users and the messages are transmitted from the users as
they arrive at the transmitter.
• Scheduled Access: based on a coordinated access of
users on the channel and the users transmit messages
within allotted slots or time intervals.
• Hybird Access: a combination of random access and
scheduled access.
• ALOHA protocols: pure and slotted
 Pure ALOHA
• The pure ALOHA protocol is random access protocol
used for data transfer and a user accesses a channel as
soon as a message is ready to be transmitted.
• After a transmission, the user waits for an
acknowledgment on either the same channel or a
separate feedback channel.
• In case of collisions, the terminal waits for a random
period of time and retransmits the message.
 Slotted ALOHA
• In slotted ALOHA, time is divided into equal time
slots of length greater than the packet duration .
• The subscribers each have synchronized clocks and
transmit a message only at the beginning of a new
time slot.
• The vulnerable period of slotted ALOHA is only one
packet duration, since partial collisions are prevented
through synchronization.
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access Protocols
(CSMA)
• In CSMA protocols, each terminal on the
network is able to monitor the status of the
channel before transmitting information
• Variations:
– 1-persistent CSMA
– non-persistent CSMA
– p-persistent CSMA
– CSMA/CD
 1-persistent CSMA
• The protocol:
– Listens before transmits
– If channel busy, waits until channel idle
– If channel idle, transmits
– If collision occurs, waits a random amount of time and
starts all over again
• It is called 1-persistent because the station transmits
with a probability of 1 whenever it finds the channel
idle.
 non-persistent CSMA
• Sense channel when want to transmit a packet,
– If channel is idle, then transmit the packet immediately.
– If busy, run back-off algorithm immediately to wait a
random time and then re-sense the channel again.
• Problem with non-persistent CSMA is that when the
channel becomes idle from busy, there may be no one
of waiting stations beginning the transmission, thus
waste channel bandwidth
 p-persistent CSMA
• Sense channel when want to transmit a packet,
– if channel is busy, then persist sensing the channel until the
channel becomes idle.
– If the channel is idle, transmit the packet with probability
of p, and wait, with probability of 1-p, additional
propagation delay tprop and then re-sense again
 CSMA-CD
• When the transmitting station detects a collision, it
stops its transmission immediately, Not transmit the
entire frame which is already in collision.
• When a station wants to transmit a packet, it senses
channel
– if it is busy, use one of above three algorithms (i.e., 1-
persistent, non-persistent, and p-persistent schemes).
– The transmitter senses the channel during transmission.
– If a collision occurred and was sensed, transmitter stops its
left transmission of the current frame; moreover, a short
jamming signal is transmitted to ensure other stations that a
collision has occurred and backoff algorithm is used to
schedule a future re-sensing time.
65
Capacity of Cellular Systems

• channel capacity: maximum number of users

in a fixed frequency band
• radio capacity : value for spectrum efficiency
• reverse channel interference
• forward channel interference
• How determine the radio capacity?
Co-Channel Reuse Ratio Q

Q=D/R

• Q … co-channel reuse ratio

• D … distance between two co-channel cells
• R … cell radius
Forward channel interference

• cluster size of 4
• D0 … distance
serving station
to user
• DK … distance
co-channel base
station to user
Carrier-to-interference ratio C/I
• M closest co-channels cells cause first order
interference
-n0
C D0
= M -nk
I DK
k=1

• n0 … path loss exponent in the desired cell

• nk … path loss exponent to the interfering
base station
Carrier-to-interference ratio C/I

• Assumption:
• just the 6 closest stations interfere
• all these stations have the same distance D
• all have similar path loss exponents to n0
-n0
C D0
= -n0
I 6×D
Worst Case Performance

• maximum interference at D0 = R
• (C/I)min for acceptable signal quality
• following equation must hold:

-n0
1/6 × (R/D) >
= (C/I)min
Co-Channel reuse ratio Q

1/n0
Q = D/R = (6×(C/I)min)

• D … distance of the 6 closest interfering

base stations
• R … cell radius
• (C/I)min … minimum carrier-to-interference
ratio
• n … path loss exponent
Radio Capacity, m

Bt
m= radio channels/cell
Bc × N

• Bt … total allocated spectrum for the system

• Bc … channel bandwidth
• N … number of cells in a complete frequency
reuse cluster
Radio Capacity m

• N is related to the co-channel factor Q by:

1/2
Q = (3 N)

Bt Bt
m= = 6 C 2/n0
Bc (Q²/3) Bc ( 3 n0/2
( )min)
I
Radio Capacity, m for n0 = 4

Bt
m=
Bc 2/3 (C/I)min

• m … number of radio channels per cell

• (C/I)min lower in digital systems compared to
analog systems
• lower (C/I)min imply more capacity
• exact values in real world conditions measured
Compare different Systems

• each digital wireless standard has different

(C/I)min
• to compare them an equivalent (C/I) needed
• keep total spectrum allocation Bt and
number of radio channels per cell m
constant to get (C/I)eq :
Compare different Systems

C Bc 2
( )eq = ( )min ( )
I
C
I Bc’
• Bc … bandwidth of a particular system
• (C/I)min … tolerable value for the same system
• Bc’ … channel bandwidth for a different system
• (C/I)eq … minimum C/I value for the different system
C/I in digital cellular systems

C Eb Rb Ec Rc
= =
I I I

• Rb … channel bit rate

• Eb … energy per bit
• Rc … rate of the channel code
• Ec … energy per code symbol
C/I in digital cellular systems

• combine last two equations:

(C/I) (Ec Rc)/I B c’

= =( )²
(C/I)eq (Ec’ Rc’)/I’ Bc

• The sign ’ marks compared system

parameters
C/I in digital cellular systems

• Relationship between Rc and Bc is always

linear (Rc/Rc’ = Bc/Bc’ )
• assume that level I is the same for two
different systems ( I’ = I ) :

Ec = ( Bc’ )³
Ec’ Bc
Compare C/I between FDMA and TDMA

• Assume that multichannel FDMA system

occupies same spectrum as a TDMA system
• FDMA : C = Eb Rb ; I = I0 * Bc
• TDMA : C’ = Eb’ Rb’ ; I’ = I0 ’ * Bc’
• Eb … Energy per bit
• I0 … interference power per Hertz
• Rb … channel bit rate
• Bc … channel bandwidth
 Example
• A FDMA system has 3 channels, each with a
bandwidth of 10kHz and a transmission rate of
10 kbps.
• A TDMA system has 3 time slots, a channel
bandwidth of 30kHz and a transmission rate of
30 kbps.
• What’s the received carrier-to-interference
ratio for a user ?
Example

• In TDMA system C’/I’ be measured in

C’ = Eb×Rb’ = (Eb×3×104 bits) = 3×Rb×Eb=3×C
I’ = I0×Bc’ = I0×30kHz = 3×I

• In this example FDMA and TDMA have the

same radio capacity (C/I leads to m)
 Example
• Peak power of TDMA is 10logk higher then in
FDMA ( k … time slots)
• In practice TDMA have a 3-6 times better
capacity
References
[1] T. S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice
(2nd edition), Pearson Education, 2010.