System design aspects of CDMA personal communications services

The commercial success of personal communications services (PCS) will rely on PCS network operators´ ability to provide high quality wireless communications cost effectively. For an initial PCS system deployment, the challenge to CDMA PCS network operators will be coverage efficiency in low traffic density areas and spectrum efficiency in high traffic density areas. The IS-95 based direct sequence code division multiple access (CDMA) technology by virtue of its unique characteristics allows dynamic and flexible system tradeoff amongst call quality, coverage and capacity to realize the PCS objectives. Design of a CDMA system differs from that of a conventional channelized cellular system in many respects. Proper system design and good engineering practices are required to maximize CDMA advantages. In this paper, we will describe the CDMA PCS design tradeoffs and identify some of the primary parameters that have the most impact on system design. A sample system design for a typical urban/suburban environment is provided to demonstrate the significance of the design parameters on system performance