252 | Wireless Communications 8.2 I] FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) refers to sharing the available radio specium by asi specific frequency channels to subscribers either on a permanent basis or on a temporary basis. The gat tiation between the carrer frequencies of the forward channels (also called downlink-communicaton bey the cell-site and mobile subscribers) and reverse channels (also called uplink-communication between mobile subscribers and the cell-site) is an important design parameter related to FDMA technique. e If the forward channels and reverse channels use die, Frequency channels carrier frequencies that are sufficiently spaced, the duplexing scheme is referred to as FDD. The FDDD technique is mostly <8 — tion systems designed for rad ir =a in macrocellular communica ‘ radio wt Channel #.N | Subscrbert EI erage of several kilometres. The base station dynamically ting a different carrier frequency to each active mobile subscriber order to adjust and maintain the transmission and reception fe. -—— t quencies, a frequency synthesiser is used at the base station anj Channel #1 ||_Subserber# 1] time the mobile station. The concept of FDMA is shown in Fig, §,1 In FDMA, the available radio spectrum is divided intoa set of concer ee tinuous frequency channels labeled 1 through N, and the frequny channels are assigned to individual mobile Ch1jCh2}Ch3jch4]---|CAN| crequency on a continuous-time basis for the duration of a cal, Channel #2 |[ Subscriber # 2 aa! FDMA bandwidth structure is illustrated in Fig. 8.2. Total allocated frequency band Fig. 8.3 shows the basic structure of a FDMA Fig.8.2. | FOMA bandwidth structure system, consisting of a cell-site (CS) and many mobile subscribers. There is a pair of simplex channels for the communication wireless link between Wireless medium the CS and the mobile subscribers. The paired chan- nel is called forward channel (downlink) and reverse lel f f channel (uplink). A forward channel is used to transfer i data from the cell-site to the mobile subscriber and a h reverse channel is used to transfer data from the mobile subscriber to the cell-site. Different frequency channels : are assigned to different mobile subscribers. Each ks yy fe ty pair of communicating mobile subscribers is assigned different frequency channels to enable full duplex 8 ] communication, FDMA has been widely adopted in all first-generation analog cellular systems for handheld and vehicle-installed mobile subscribers, A duplex spacing is used between the forward and reverse channels. The structure of forvar and reverse channels in FDMA is shown in Fig. 8.4. The frequency bandwidth allocated to each mobile subscriber is called the subband B.. If there are N channels in a FDMA system, the total bandwidth B, is equal to N x B.. A guard band W,, is used to minimise adjacent channel interference between two adjacent channels, as shown in Fig, 8.5. To ensure acceptable signal quality performance, it is important that each frequency channel signal be ke9! confined to the assigned channel bandwidth. Otherwise, there may be adjacent channel interference which can degrade signal quality. In both forward and reverse channels, the signal transmitted must be kept confined Within its assigned channel bandwidth, and the out-of-band signal energy causes negligible interference 0 Reverse channels Forward channels (Uplink) (Downlink) Fig.8.3 |The basic structure of an FDMA system‘Multiple Access Techniques | ad yt, ty Frequen Reverse channels +=! Forward channels “my Duplex : spacing Fig.8.4 [The structure of forward and reverse channels in FOMA Guard Band ‘Subban id Wy Bo aie —+ cht Cha Ch3 Cha ChN ~ Frequency Total bandwidth B= Nx Bo Fig.8.5 | Guard band in FOMA channels subscribers using adjacent channels. In order to minimise adjacent channel interference, two design measures are usually considered: — The power spectral density of the modulated signal is controlled so that the power radiated into the adjacent band is at least 60 to 80 dB below that in the desired band. This requirement can be achieved with the use of highly selective filters in the system design. — Usually, it is extremely difficult to achieve the desired filter characteristic so as not to cause adjacent channel interference. Guard bands are inserted as buffer frequency zones in adjacent channels. Ifa large number of mobile subscribers can operate satisfactorily within the allocated radio spectrum then the multiple-access system is said to be highly spectrally efficient. In general, the spectral efficiency in FDMA systems depends on how closely the individual channels (frequency subbands) can be assigned. There are several factors that limit the adjacent channel spacing, the most important of which is adjacent channel interference (ACI). The impact of ACI is illustrated in Example 8.1. (EXAMPLE S.1) "J!" impact of Clin FDMA system” (a) What isthe difference between the received signal strength of two mobile subscribers located at 10 mand 1 km away from a cell-site in an open area? (6) Explain the effects of shadow fading on the difference in the received signal strength of two mobile subscribers obtained in part a). (0 What would be the impact ifthe two mobile subscribers were operating in two adjacent channels? Assume ‘out-of-band radiation that is 40 d8 below the main lobe. (d) Suggest the measure taken to overcome this problem in FDMA cellular systems. (a) To determine difference in received signal strengths of mobile subscribers Distance of MSI from the cell-site, r= 10m (given) Distance of MS2 from the cell-site, 1 km or 1000 m_ (given) Operating environment = Open area254 | Wireless Communications Step 1. Inan open area environment, free-space propagation conditions exist The value of propagation path-loss exponent, y= Step 2. In free-space propagation, the received signal strength decays at t ‘he rate of 20 dB per decade of distance, Step3. The difference between the received signal strength of two mobile subscribers located at r, ang ,, AP, =20l09 (h/ 1)” Therefore, AP, = 20 log (1000/10)? Hence, AP,=80dB (6) Theeffects of shadow fading a 5 In addition to the decrease in the received signal strength value with distance, the multi-path and shadow fading due to the near-far problem because of large difference in the distances of two mobile subscribers, in radio channels cause received signal fluctuations of the order of typically 20 dB. | Therefore, the difference in the received signal levels from these two mobile subscribers may exceed even 100 dB. (6) Impact of operation in adjacent channels Out-of-band radiation below the main lobe= 40 dB (given) It implies that out-of-band radiations may exceed the signal strength of the desired signal by almost (100 dB - 40 dB =) 60 dB (d) The measure taken to overcome the problem in FDMA cellular systems To handle the near—far problem in FDMA cellular systems, the following different measures may be adopted in the system. — Channel assignment should be done in such a way so that the frequencies in each cell are grouped as far apart as possible from each other. — Guard bands should be included in the frequency channel to further reduce adjacent channel interference. This, however, has the effect of reducing the overall spectrum efficiency. — The transmitter power of the mobile subscribers should be controlled so as not to cause interference to other transmissions in the cell. Inan FDMA system, many channels share the same transmitting antenna at the base station. The transmit- ter RF power amplifiers or the transmitter multichannel power combiners are nonlinear devices when operated at or near saturation signal levels for maximum power efficiency. The nonlinearities cause spreading of the signal in the frequency domain and generate intermodulation frequencies which are undesirable harmonics. Harmonic frequencies generated within the operating frequency band cause interference to other subscrib- ers active in the same wireless system at that time. Harmonic frequencies generated outside the operational frequency band cause interference to other wireless services operating in those adjacent bands. The first-generation analog cellular communication systems use FOMA/FDD technique, with speech signals being transmitted over the forward or reverse channels using frequency modulation scheme. The data control functions are performed digitally by means of frequency-shift keying modulation scheme for data transmission. A useful feature of FDMA systems is that the radio transmission takes place over a narrow” channel of bandwidth (B/N) Hz for each mobile subscriber. Due to narrowband transmissions, flat fading may be experienced by the signal. EXAMPLE82" |” FDMA/FDD in’ AMPS Mustrate the concept of FOMA/FOD system commonly used in First Generation (16) analog cellular communication systems such as AMPS.‘Multiple Access Techniques | 255 n In FDMA/FDD systems, forward and reverse ch: sotutio Ae and reverse channels use different carrier frequencies, and a $9 subchannel pat is assigned toa subscriber during the communication session. “fig. 8.6 shows the FDMA/FDD system in first generation analog | Time monly used in g analog f€ coftar systems. Atthe receiving end, the mobile [= ey one caiMfiters the designated channel out of the |B wpposite signal received. D fe advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) WU - . od ‘on FDMAEDD. As shown in Fig. 8.7, ho & fh fe fy fe Frequency the AMPS system allocates 30 kHz of channel Fig.8.6 [| FDMA/FDD concept 1 gwidth foreach uplink (824 MHi2-849 MHz) ae Hr downlink (869 MHz-894 MHz) frequency 824 Miz 49 MHz anc a Frequency and. . on To bagome of the salient features of the FDMA/ “PCvum are gi Channet ADD system concept are given here, fiaooal SORHE _ During the call, a mobile subscriber occupies DOWNLINK two simplex channels, one each on the uplink — grequengy [Link] 894 Miz and downlink, for full-duplex communi- — postum’ _ enon Channel = The two simplex channels are spaced by hain, 30 KHZ fixed duplex spacing. For example, duplex . : spacing in AMPS is (869 MHz~824 MHz = Fig.8.7 {| FOMA/FDDin AMPS 45 MHz). — When a call is terminated, or when hand-off occurs, the occupied cliannels are released which can be used by other mobile subscribers in the system. ~ Multiple or simultaneous mobile subscribers are accommodated in AMPS by allocating each calling or called mobile subscriber a dedicated channel. — Voice signals are sent on the forward channel from the base station to the mobile user, and on the reverse channel from the mobile user to the base station. — In AMPS, analog narrowband frequency modulation technique is used to modulate the carrier. The number of channels, N that can be simultaneously supported in an FDMA system is given by N= (B,-2B)/B, (8.1) where B, is the total spectrum allocation, B, is the guard band allocated at the edge of the allocated spectrum band, and B. is the channel bandwidth. Band B, may be specified in terms of simplex bandwidths where it is understood that there are symmetric frequency allocations for the forward band and reverse band. i PLES.3 | _ Number of channel : AUSAMPS analog cellular system i allocated 12.5 M2 for each simplex [Link] guard band ateither end ofthe allocated ‘Spectrum is 10 kHz, and the channel bandwidth is 30 kHz, find the number of channels available in an FDMA system. Solution Allocated spectrum, B, Allocated guard band, By Channel bandwidth, B. 2.5 MHz (given) OkHz (given) OkHz (given)256, Wireless Communications The number of channels available in the FDMA system is given as N=(@,-2B,)/B, Or, N=[(12.5 x 10°—2(10 x 10°)]/(30 x 10°) Or, N=416 Hence, the number of channels available i A cellular system operators allocated a total spectrum of 5. the FDMA technique, with each simplex channel occupying 25 calls possible in the system. 1 an FDMA system is 416 channels [GiNuinberof simultaneous lr MHz for deployment of an analog cellular system based ie bandwidth Compute the number of simultane” Solution Total spectrum allocated = 5 MHz (given) Channel bandwidth = 25 kHz (given) Step 1. To determine number of simplex channels . Number of simplex channels = Total spectrum allocated / Channel bandwidth Number of simplex channels = 5 MHz /25 kHz = 200 Step 2. To determine number of duplex channels ‘Number of simplex channels in a duplex channel = 2 Therefore, number of duplex channels = 200 /2 = 100 Step 3. To compute the number of simultaneous calls Hence, in a given analog cellular FDMA system, 100 full-duplex communication links can be established simultaneously as each link requires two simplex channels (one for uplink and another for downlink) or ons duplex channel. , Therefore, the number of simultaneous calls = 100 calls The FDMA channel carries only one dedicated communication link at a time. After the assignment of a voice channel, the base station and the mobile subscriber transmit simultaneously and continuously. Ifthe assigned channel is not in use then it remains idle and cannot be used by other mobile subscribers. This is clearly wastage of spectrum resource. The utilisation of a channel during free time is essential tc increase system capacity. FDMA is usually implemented in narrowband systems. The bandwidths of FDMA channels are relatively narrow (for example, 30 KHz in AMPS) as each channel supports only one communication link per carte The symbol time of a narrowband signal is large as compared to the average delay spread. This implies thatthe amount of intersymbol interference is also low. So there may not be any requirement to implement equalisation in FDMA narrowband systems which is certainly an advantage. a 7 — The complexity of FDMA wireless commu oO alt FEL EEEEEEEERR nication systems is lower as compared to that of Cable television is transmitted using FDMA | TDMA systems. Due to continuous transmission over coaxial cable. Each analog television | in FDMA systems, fewer bits for synchronisy- signal utilises 6 MHz of the 500 MHizband- | tion‘and framing are needed for overhead pur width of the cable, poses as compared to TDMA. FDMA require tight RF filtering to minimise adjacent chan” interference. Therefore, there is a need to use costly bandpass filters to eliminate spurious radiations base stations. The FDMA mobile subscriber equipment uses RF duplexers since both the transmitter © receiver operate at the same time using a common antenna, This results in an increase in the cost of!bse Ih super el site system costs hig jt aqeeified jnto time uiilises among & uency fear major advantage of the TDMA is the gesibity ofits digital format which ean be buff- ered and multiplexed efficiently, and assignments gftime-slots among multiple subscribers which are readily adaptable to provide different access rates. With TDMA, a basé-station controller assigns time slots to subscribers for the requested service, and an ‘Multiple Access Techniques | 27 siber units and base stations. Because of the single channel per carrier design, FDMA systems have -rime-division multiple access (TDMA) technique refers to allowing a number of subscribers to access a channel bandwidth on a time-shared basis. TDMA systems divide the carrier channel bandwidth slots, and in cach time slot only one subscriber is allowed to cither transmit or receive. TDMA the digital technology with more efficient and complex strategies of sharing the available spectrum number of subscribers simultaneously. In TDMA systems, number of subscribers share the same and by taking their assigned turns in time for transmission or reception. Facts to Know!) Ifa user has no data to transmit during the assigned time slot, the frequency channel remains idle in TDMA. assigned time slot is held by a subscriber until it releases it. The receiver synchronises to the incoming TDMA signal frame, and extracts the time slot designated for that subscriber. Therefore, the most critical feature of DMA operation is time synchronisation. In TDMA, one ‘carrier channel is used by several subscribers, and each subscriber is served in a round-robin method. The cell-site assigns different time slots to different subscribers. number of time slots in a TDMA frame. Each subscriber occupies acyclically repeating time slot which reoccurs in every frame peri- odically. The transmission in a TDMA system for any subscriber is ‘noncontinuous and data is transmitted in a buffer-and-burst method. The splitting of a single carrier channel into several time slots and | distribution of time slots among multiple subscribers is shown in Fig. 8.8. ATDMA system niay operate in either of two modes: ~ TDMA/FDD mode The forward and reverse channel frequencies differ. . — TDMA/TDD mode The forward and reverse channel frequencies are same. InTDMA/EDD systems, the carrier frequencies are different but frame structures are same for the forward and reverse channels. In general, TDMA/ FDD systems intentionally induce delay of several time slots between the forward and reverse time __ Slots for a particular subscriber. This avoids the need of duplexers in the subscriber unit, The illustration _ ot forward and reverse channels in a TDMA/FDD _ stem employing the similar frame and time slot _ Stuctire is given in Fig, 8.9. Frequency Let there be N t Ta fa 3) | a ( a ao = A ‘Time slot 12 we N 8 | Theconcept of TDMA t }_ Frame) Frame 1 Frame slg]-[Z]sla]-[Zls/9] |= = Time (a) Forward channel slots. t Frame, Frame, Frame, |._—eme ee E/S Ble Zislg 2 = =|__time (b) Reverse channel slots Fig.8.9 |] Structure of forward and reverse channels inaTOMA/FDD system258 | Wireless Communications number of time slots. These time slots are allocateg for In TDMA. cartier chante ie fon, Te number of distnet consecutive timeslots cay ae subscriber to transmit and receive information. TI ins N Meda fay before these time slots are repeated. Each frame of the Taal eee time stots Fa . equal duration. Information data is transferred and received in the The tani rate for a digital TDMA channel is typically WV times higher than ena a ingle channe bi wise structure of each time slot is different in different types of TDMA sy: ». Typically, the bits Containg in each time slot ofa TDMA frame are divided into two major functional groups: perform the functions which assist the receiver in pefonyy Signalling and Control Data Bits These bits a " rate. Specifically, the synchronisation bit 4 ili i satis ime error Fé some auxiliary functions such as synchronisation and frame ¢ . h in a time slot enable the receiver to recover sinusoidal carrier essential for coherent detection. The frame error bits are used to estimate the unknown, i Frequency, forr response of the wireless channel, which is Ree LTOMA frame, | TOMA frame ;_ TOMA frame: for decoding the received signal. is |S f--|E |= [e f--]2| = |e bE Traffic Data Bits These bits represent digitsey Fe speech bits or any other forms of information bearing data bits. Fig. 8.10 shows a typical frame structure of T ‘Conirel”—Userdata TDMA. The guard time between the time slos Guard time helps in minimising the interference due to propa- Fig.8.10 [Typical frame structure of TOMA gation delays along different radio paths in the wire- ” less channel. ital data encoding and digital-modulation schemes are used with TDMA. The transmission from various subscribers is interlaced into a uniformly repeating TDMA frame structure. As shown in Fig. 8.11, a TDMA frame consists of a preamble, an information data field, and tail bits. The information data field of a frame consists of a number of time slots. In a TDMA frame, the preamble contains the address and synchronisation data that is used by both the base station and the subscribers to identify each other. Tail bits and guard bits allow synchronisation of the receivers between different time slots and frames. Various TDMA-based cellular standards such as USDC. GSM have different TDMA frame structures. In a TDMA system, the communication channels essentially consist of many time slots, which makes it Possible for one frequency carrier channel to be efficiently utilised by many mobile subscribers. Each mobile subscriber utilises a different time slot. The basic structure of a TDMA system is shown in Fig. 8.12. The number of mobile subscribers can communicate with the base station simultaneously on designated time slots Preamble Information data Tail bits [ts Ts #2 | TSH3 a 1s#N| [ Tailbits | Syne bits User data bits Guard bits ] Fig.8.11 TOMA frame and time slot (TS) structure‘Multiple Access Techniques | ass Frequency, f Timo Slot Frequency, f° bey fe] fl ffglms ui BL bves cs 4 "t “en Frame | Frame } | Frame | Frame Forward channels Reverse channels, (Downlink) (Uplink) Fig.8.12 | Thebasic structure ofa TOMA system of TDMA frame on the forward and reverse channels. However, the system capacity is limited by the number of time slots per carrier channel and the number of carrier channels allocated to the system. The features that distinguish TDMA systems from FDMA systems can be broadly classified in two categories: - In TDMA each subscriber has access to the total bandwidth B, of the carrier channel, whereas in FDMA each subscriber is assigned only a fraction of the channel bandwidth, that is, B.= B, /N. - In TDMA, each subscriber accesses the channel for only a fraction of the time that it is in use and on a periodic regular and orderly basis, with the overall channel transmission data rate being N times the subscriber's required data rate. Whereas in FDMA, each subscriber accesses the channel on a continuous-time basis. The total number of TDMA time slots that can be provided ina TDMA system is determined by multiplying the number of time slots per carrier channel by the number of channels available and is given by N= Im x (Bt— 2Bg)]/Be (8.2) where N is the total number of TDMA time slots ina TDMA system mis the number of time slots per carrier channel or the maximum number of TDMA subscribers supported ‘on each carrier channel B, is the total allocated spectrum bandwidth in Hz 8, is the carrier channel bandwidth in Hz B, is the guard bandwidth in Hz ‘Two guard bands, one at the lower end and another at the higher end of the allocated frequency band, are required to ensure that subscribers operating at the edges of the allocated frequency band do not interfere with other wireless communication service operating in an adjacent frequency band. jeous subscribers in GSM. [BaMPLeSs TnI Consider Global System for Mobile, which is a TOMA/FDD system that uses 25 MHz band for the forward link, which is {divided into radio channels of 200 kHz each. f8 speech channels (time slots) are supported on a single radio channel, find the number of simultaneous subscribers that can be accommodated in GSM, assuming no guard band. Solution The allocated spectrum, B, = 25 MHz = 25 x 10°Hz (given) The channel bandwidth, B. = 200 kHz = 200 x 10°Hz (given)TIVES BRN \ 260 | Wireless Communications Number of speech channels, m = 8 per radio channel The guard bandwidth, B, : / ‘The number of simultaneous efibsribers that can be accommodated in the GSM system is given s N=[m x (B, — 2B,)]/B, Or, N= [8 x (25 x 10°—2 x 0}/(200 x 10°) : | Or, N=[8 x (25 x 10°)] /(200 x 10°) = 1000 subscribers ‘1 Hence, the GSM system can accommodate 1000 simultaneous subscribers, Ifboth forward and reverse channels use the same frequency band but they use alternating time stoi ing same frame for full duplex communication, the system is referred to as TDMA/TDD system. In ths gga 50% of the time slots in the frame are used for the forward channels and the other $0% of the time soa the frame are used for reverse channels. Most of the RF components can be shared between the forward an the reverse channels because only one frequency carrier is rieeded for full duplex operation. The recipe of the forward and reverse channels also allows for simultaneous synchronisation as well as exact open jor, power control. TDD techniques are used in systems where minimum interference, low system complexity) low-power consumption are of utmost importance. Thus TDD based systems are quite often used in local are micro- or pico- cellular systems. The structure of forward and reverse channels in a TDMA/TDD system ig shown in Fig. 8.13. In TDMA/TDD based communication system, a simple RF switch is used in the subscriber equipment for use ofa single antenna for transmitting and receiving. The common antenna can be connected to the transi. ter when a data burst is required to be transmitted (thus disconnecting the receiver from the antenna) and tp the receiver for the received signal at another time. An RF switch is different from duplexer which is used in TDMAVFDD based communication system. An RF duplexer is a device with the same functionality as thatof an RF switch but is based on RF filter technique. 8.3.1 Salient Features of TDMA Technique ® (@) Several subscribers share a single carrier frequency by using non-overlapping time slots. The numberof time slots per frame depends upon several factors such as available bandwidth and digital-modulation scheme used. The transmission data rate is quite high as compared to that of in FDMA. (®) The available bandwidth can be utilised on demand by different subscribers as more than one time slot per frame can be allocated to them. Thus, bandwidth can be supplied to different subscribers ea demand by concatenating or reassigning time slots as per assigned priority. (©) Data transmission is bursty and hence not continuous in time domain. This implies that a subseriter transmitter can be turned off when not in use, thereby saving battery power. (@) A Significant part of the voice call consists of quiet time, when neither the calling nor the called subscriber is speaking. Special signal-processing techniques can be employed to fill the quiet times with data or other voice calls. This leads to considerable improvement in the channel efliciency. Frequency /, f" TDMA frame i TDMA frame ‘ stamens | | F] &] [1 Forward ' Reverso ' Forward ' Reverso ' channel channel channot channol Fig.8.13 || Structure of forward and reverse channels in a TDMA/TOD system Fe a] fs Ey Ae] ] | » Time slots __