An assessment of alternative wireless access technologies for PCS applications

The results of studies on three important wireless access technology issues in the personal communications services (PCS) arena are described. They are signal duplexing, multiplexing on the downlink, and channel frequency assignment. Each of these issues was addressed through the comparison of two competing technologies. In the area of duplexing, frequency division duplexing (FDD) was compared to time division duplexing (TDD) with the result that FDD is preferred if appropriate spectrum is available. Multiplexing on the downlink examined time division multiplexing (TDM) versus a burst downlink (TDMA). TDM is preferred for the wide-area local-exchange environment, but in certain indoor, office applications, TDMA may prove advantageous. The two methods of frequency channel assignment investigated are quasi-state autonomous frequency assignment (QSAFA) and dynamic channel assignment (DCA). QSFA is generally preferred, although indoor, multitenent environments with low port loading may benefit from the use of DCA. These analyses assume that the system uses time-division multiple access (TDMA)