Legacy 2G and 3G TDMA and CDMA

Optional Wireless Module 5: Legacy 2G and 3G TDMA and CDMA

These sections started off their lives in Wireless Module 3, as they were one after another in turn the latest and greatest mobile communication technology.  Now in the dustbin of history.  


Recommended reading for anyone who wants to know: 

 • what "GSM" really means: a 2G TDMA technology, 

 • what CDMA is and how it works

 • the idea of spread spectrum

 • about the 2G and 3G standards wars of the 2000s


Optional Wireless Module 5

Detailed Outline

5 Legacy 2G and 3G: TDMA and CDMA

5.1 Second Generation: Digital

...... 5.1.1 Spectrum

...... 5.1.2 Incompatible Spectrum-Sharing Technologies

...... 5.1.3 CDMA: IS-95

...... 5.1.4 TDMA: IS-136

...... 5.1.5 GSM

5.2 TDMA (IS-136) Time-Division Multiple Access

...... 5.2.1 TDMA

...... 5.2.2 IS-136 and D-AMPS

...... 5.2.3 Capacity Increase

...... 5.2.4 Inefficiency

5.3 TDMA (GSM)

...... 5.3.1 Spectrum-Sharing Method

...... 5.3.2 Inefficiency

...... 5.3.3 Data, GPRS and EDGE

...... 5.3.4 Terminology: Misuse of the Term “GSM Phone”

5.4 CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access

...... 5.4.1 Carriers

...... 5.4.2 Codes

...... 5.4.3 Forward Error Correction

...... 5.4.4 Variable-Rate Coding

...... 5.4.5 Packetized Voice and Data

...... 5.4.6 Qualcomm, IS-95A and IS-95B

5.5 Spread Spectrum

...... 5.5.1 Chips and Chipping Rate

...... 5.5.2 Spreading

...... 5.5.3 Direct Sequence vs. Frequency Hopping

...... 5.5.4 Error Correction

...... 5.5.5 Rake Filters and Multipath

5.6 CDMA Operation and Patents

...... 5.6.1 Communication via Multiple Base Stations

...... 5.6.2 Multipath

...... 5.6.3 Soft Handoffs

...... 5.6.4 Walsh Codes and Pseudonoise

...... 5.6.5 Base Station Identification, Short Codes and Timing

...... 5.6.6 Power Control

...... 5.6.7 Qualcomm

5.7 3G: CDMA 1X, UMTS and HSPA

...... 5.7.1 IMT-2000

...... 5.7.2 1X

...... 5.7.3 Data-Optimized Carriers

...... 5.7.4 Capitulation