Architectural design of a code division multiple access cellular system

A design of the code-division multiple access (CDMA) cellular system architecture is presented. The base station architecture is based on a universal platform that can support CDMA and other cellular standards such as AMPS and TDMA in the same base station. The mobile switching center (MSC) architecture is enhanced to support the various CDMA system features such as soft handoff and variable bit rate vocoding. In particular, the digital cellular switch (DCS) at the MSC provides a frame relay packet switching interface to the base station. It is shown that such a packet switching interface can support more voice channels that the conventional DS0/DS1 circuit switching interface and is an essential element in achieving the soft handoff capability