MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES

Multiple access is a technique whereby many subscribers or local stations can share the use
of a communication channel at the same time or nearly so, despite the fact that there
individual transmissions may originate from widely different locations. Stated in another
way, a multiple-access technique permits the communication resources of the channel to
be shared by a large number of users seeking to communicate with each other.
Differences between Multiplexing and Multiple Access
 Multiple access refers to the remote sharing of a communication channel such as a
satellite or radio channel by users in highly dispersed locations. On the other hand,
multiplexing refers to the sharing of a channel such as a telephone channel by users
confined to a local site.
 In a multiplexed system, user requirements are ordinarily fixed. In contrast, in a
multiple-access system user requirements can change dynamically with time, in
which case provisions are necessary for dynamic channel allocation.

Types of multiple access techniques:

1) Frequency division multiple-access (FDMA)
2) Time division multiple-access (TDMA)
3) Code division multiple-access (CDMA)
4) Space Division Multiple access (SDMA)
 SDMA

Frequency division multiple-access (FDMA): The subbands of frequencies are allocated

to different users on a continuous time basis. In order to avoid interference between the
adjacent channel bands, guard bands are used as buffer zones. Guard bands are also
necessary to separate users with ideal filters.

Time division multiple-access (TDMA): Each user is allocated the full spectral
occupancy of the channel but only for a short duration of time called time slot. Guard times
are also inserted between assigned timeslots to avoid interference.

Code division multiple-access (CDMA): In CDMA, the same bandwidth is occupied by

all the users, however they are all assigned separate codes, which differentiates them from
each other.

Space Division Multiple access (SDMA): SDMA serves different users by using spot
beam antenna. These areas may be served by the same frequency or different frequencies.
However for limited co-channel interference it is required that the cells be sufficiently
separated. This limits the number of cells a region can be divided into and hence limits the
frequency re-use factor.
 Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Techniques

Narrow-band and Spread-spectrum Signals:

Both the Narrow band and Spread spectrum signals can be understood easily by observing
their frequency spectrum as shown in the following figures.

Narrow-band Signals
The Narrow-band signals have the signal strength concentrated as shown in the following
frequency spectrum figure.
Following are some of its features −
 Band of signals occupy a narrow range of frequencies.
 Power density is high.
 Spread of energy is low and concentrated.

Though the features are good, these signals are prone to interference.

Spread Spectrum Signals

The spread spectrum signals have the signal strength distributed as shown in the following
frequency spectrum figure.

Following are some of its features −

 Band of signals occupy a wide range of frequencies.
 Power density is very low.
 Energy is wide spread.

With these features, the spread spectrum signals are highly resistant to interference or
jamming. Since multiple users can share the same spread spectrum bandwidth without
interfering with one another, these can be called as multiple access techniques.

The main advantage of spread spectrum communication technique is to prevent

“interference” whether it is intentional or unintentional. The signals modulated with these
techniques are hard to interfere and cannot be jammed. An intruder with no official access
is never allowed to crack them. Hence, these techniques are used for military purposes.
These spread spectrum signals transmit at low power density and has a wide spread of
signals.

Pseudo-Noise Sequence
A coded sequence of 1s and 0s with certain auto-correlation properties, called as Pseudo-
Noise coding sequence is used in spread spectrum techniques. It is a maximum-length
sequence, which is a type of cyclic code.

Spread Spectrum Techniques:

1. A signal that occupies a bandwidth of B, is spread out to occupy a bandwidth of B ss

2. All signals are spread to occupy the same bandwidth Bss
3. Signals are spread with different codes so that they can be separated at the receivers.
4. Signals can be spread in the frequency domain or in the time domain.
FHSS and DSSS / CDMA:
Spread spectrum multiple access techniques uses signals which have a transmission
bandwidth of a magnitude greater than the minimum required RF bandwidth.

These are of two types.

 Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum FHSS
 Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum DSSS

Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum FHSS:

This is frequency hopping technique, where the users are made to change the frequencies
of usage, from one to another in a specified time interval, hence called as frequency
hopping. For example, a frequency was allotted to sender 1 for a particular period of time.
Now, after a while, sender 1 hops to the other frequency and sender 2 uses the first
frequency, which was previously used by sender 1. This is called as frequency reuse.

The frequencies of the data are hopped from one to another in order to provide a secure
transmission. The amount of time spent on each frequency hop is called as Dwell time.

The main steps of FHSS are as follows:

i. The frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) technique uses M different carrier
frequencies that are modulated by the source signal.
ii. At one moment, the signal modulates one carrier frequency; at the next moment, the
signal modulates another carrier frequency.
iii. Although the modulation is done using one carrier frequency at a time, M frequencies
are used in the long run.
iv. The bandwidth occupied by a source after spreading is BFHSS >> B.
v. A pseudorandom code generator, called pseudorandom noise (PN), creates a k-bit
pattern for every hopping period Th.
vi. The frequency table uses the pattern to find the frequency to be used for this hopping
period and passes it to the frequency synthesizer.
vii. The frequency synthesizer creates a carrier signal of that frequency, and the source
signal modulates the carrier signal.

For Example:
 Suppose we have decided to have eight hopping frequencies.
 This is extremely low for real applications and is just for illustration.
 In this case, M is 8 and k is 3.
 The pseudorandom code generator will create eight different 3-bit patterns.
 These are mapped to eight different frequencies in the frequency table.
 The pattern for this station is 101, 111, 001, 000, 010, 011, 100. Note that the
pattern is pseudorandom; it is repeated after eight hoppings. This means that at
hopping period 1, the pattern is 101. The frequency selected is 700 kHz; the
source signal modulates this carrier frequency.
  The second k-bit pattern selected is 111, which selects the 900 kHz carrier; the
eighth pattern is 100, and the frequency is 600 kHz. After eight hoppings, the
pattern repeats, starting from 101 again.

Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum DSSS:

In direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique, we replace each data bit with n
bits using a spreading code. In other words, each bit is assigned a code of n bits, called
chips, where the chip rate is n times that of the data bit.

Whenever a user wants to send data using this DSSS technique, each and every bit of the
user data is multiplied by a secret code, called as chipping code. This chipping code is
nothing but the spreading code which is multiplied with the original message and
transmitted. The receiver uses the same code to retrieve the original message.
For Example:
1. Let us consider the sequence used in a wireless LAN, the famous Barker sequence,
where n is 11.
2. We assume that the original signal and the chips in the chip generator use polar NRZ
encoding.
3. Figure shows the chips and the result of multiplying the original data by the chips to get
the spread signal.
4. The spreading code is 11 chips having the pattern 10110111000 (in this case).
5. If the original signal rate is N, the rate of the spread signal is 11N.
6. This means that the required bandwidth for the spread signal is 11 times larger than the
bandwidth of the original signal.
7. The spread signal can provide privacy if the intruder does not know the code.
8. It can also provide immunity against interference if each station uses a different code.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA):

Suppose we have four stations; each has a sequence of chips which we designate as A, B,
C and D.

We follow the below rules for encoding:

1. If a station needs to send a 0 bit, it sends a -1;
2. If it needs to send a 1 bit, it sends a +1.
3. When a station is idle, it sends no signal, which is represented by a 0.
We assume that stations 1 and 2 are sending a 0 bit and channel 4 is sending a 1 bit and
station 3 is silent.

The steps in the multiplexer are as follows:

1. The multiplexer receives one encoded number from each station (-1,-1, 0 and +1).
2. The encoded number sent by station 1 is multiplied by each chip in sequence ‘A’.
A new sequence is the result (-1,-1,-1,-1). Likewise, the encoded number sent by
station 2 is multiplies by each chip in sequence B. The same is for the remaining
numbers. The result is four new sequences.
3. All first chips are added, as are all second, third and fourth chips. The result is one
new sequence.
4. The sequence is transmitted through the link.

The steps of demultiplexer are as follows:

1. The demultiplexer receives the sequence sent across the link.
2. It multiplies the sequence by the code for each receiver. The multiplication is done
chip by chip.
3. The chips in each sequence are added. The result is always +4, -4 or 0.
4. The result of step 3 is divided by 4 to get -1, +1 0r 0.
5. The number in step 4 is decoded to 0, 1 or silence by the receiver.
Advantages of Spread Spectrum

Following are the advantages of spread spectrum −

 Cross-talk elimination
 Better output with data integrity
 Reduced effect of multipath fading
 Better security
 Reduction in noise
 Co-existence with other systems
 Longer operative distances
 Hard to detect
 Not easy to demodulate/decode
 Difficult to jam the signals

Comparison between FHSS and DSSS/CDMA

Both the spread spectrum techniques are popular for their characteristics. To have a clear
understanding, let us take a look at their comparisons.
FHSS DSSS / CDMA

Multiple frequencies are used Single frequency is used

Hard to find the user’s frequency at any User frequency, once allotted is always the
instant of time same

Frequency reuse is allowed Frequency reuse is not allowed

Sender has to wait if the spectrum is busy

Sender need not wait

Power strength of the signal is high Power strength of the signal is low

Stronger and penetrates through the

It is weaker compared to FHSS
obstacles

It is never affected by interference It can be affected by interference

It is cheaper It is expensive

This is the commonly used technique This technique is not frequently used