W-CDMA (UMTS)

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It has been suggested that this article be merged into Universal Mobile Telecomm
unications System. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2014.
W-CDMA or WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), along with UMTS-FDD, U
TRA-FDD, or IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread is an air interface standard found in 3G
mobile telecommunications networks. It supports conventional cellular voice, te
xt and MMS services, but can also carry data at high speeds, allowing mobile ope
rators to deliver higher bandwidth applications including streaming and broadban
d Internet access.[1]
W-CDMA is the basis of Japan's NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service and the most-commonly u
sed member of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family and s
ometimes used as a synonym for UMTS.[2] It uses the DS-CDMA channel access metho
d and the FDD duplexing method to achieve higher speeds and support more users c
ompared to most previously used time division multiple access (TDMA) and time di
vision duplex (TDD) schemes.
While not an evolutionary upgrade on the airside, it uses the same core network
as the 2G GSM networks deployed worldwide, allowing dual mode mobile operation a
long with GSM/EDGE; a feature it shares with other members of the UMTS family.
Contents [hide]
1 Development
1.1 Rationale for W-CDMA
2 Deployment
3 See also
4 References
4.1 Documentation
Development[edit]
In the late 1990s, W-CDMA was developed by NTT DoCoMo as the air interface for t
heir 3G network FOMA. Later NTT DoCoMo submitted the specification to the Intern
ational Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a candidate for the international 3G st
andard known as IMT-2000. The ITU eventually accepted W-CDMA as part of the IMT2000 family of 3G standards, as an alternative to CDMA2000, EDGE, and the short
range DECT system. Later, W-CDMA was selected as an air interface for UMTS.
As NTT DoCoMo did not wait for the finalisation of the 3G Release 99 specificati
on, their network was initially incompatible with UMTS.[3] However, this has bee
n resolved by NTT DoCoMo updating their network.
Code Division Multiple Access communication networks have been developed by a nu
mber of companies over the years, but development of cell-phone networks based o
n CDMA (prior to W-CDMA) was dominated by Qualcomm. Qualcomm was the first compa
ny to succeed in developing a practical and cost-effective CDMA implementation f
or consumer cell phones and its early IS-95 air interface standard has evolved i
nto the current CDMA2000 (IS-856/IS-2000) standard. Qualcomm created an experime
ntal wideband CDMA system called CDMA2000 3x which unified the W-CDMA (3GPP) and
CDMA2000 (3GPP2) network technologies into a single design for a worldwide stan
dard air interface. Compatibility with CDMA2000 would have beneficially enabled
roaming on existing networks beyond Japan, since Qualcomm CDMA2000 networks are
widely deployed, especially in the Americas, with coverage in 58 countries as of
2006. However, divergent requirements resulted in the W-CDMA standard being ret
ained and deployed globally. W-CDMA has then become the dominant technology with
457 commercial networks in 178 countries as of April 2012.[4] Several cdma2000
operators have even converted their networks to W-CDMA for international roaming
compatibility and smooth upgrade path to LTE.

Despite incompatibility with existing air-interface standards, late introduction

and the high upgrade cost of deploying an all-new transmitter technology, W-CDM
A has become the dominant standard.
Rationale for W-CDMA[edit]
W-CDMA transmits on a pair of 5 MHz-wide radio channels, while CDMA2000 transmit
s on one or several pairs of 1.25 MHz radio channels. Though W-CDMA does use a d
irect sequence CDMA transmission technique like CDMA2000, W-CDMA is not simply a
wideband version of CDMA2000. The W-CDMA system is a new design by NTT DoCoMo,
and it differs in many aspects from CDMA2000. From an engineering point of view,
W-CDMA provides a different balance of trade-offs between cost, capacity, perfo
rmance, and density[citation needed]; it also promises to achieve a benefit of r
educed cost for video phone handsets. W-CDMA may also be better suited for deplo
yment in the very dense cities of Europe and Asia. However, hurdles remain, and
cross-licensing of patents between Qualcomm and W-CDMA vendors has not eliminate
d possible patent issues due to the features of W-CDMA which remain covered by Q
ualcomm patents.[5]
W-CDMA has been developed into a complete set of specifications, a detailed prot
ocol that defines how a mobile phone communicates with the tower, how signals ar
e modulated, how datagrams are structured, and system interfaces are specified a
llowing free competition on technology elements.
Deployment[edit]
The world's first commercial W-CDMA service, FOMA, was launched by NTT DoCoMo in
Japan in 2001.
Elsewhere, W-CDMA deployments are usually marketed under the UMTS brand. See the
main UMTS article for more information.
W-CDMA has also been adapted for use in satellite communications on the U.S. Mob
ile User Objective System using geosynchronous satellites in place of cell tower
s.
See also[edit]
CDMA
Cellular Frequencies
DECT
Evolution-Data Optimized/CDMA2000
FOMA
GSM/EDGE
HSPA
HSDPA
PN sequences
Spectral efficiency comparison table
UMTS
UMTS frequency bands
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "What is 3G/WCDMA?". GSMA.com. Retrieved 2014-06-24.
Jump up ^ 3GPP notes that there currently existed many different names for the sa
me system (eg FOMA, W-CDMA, UMTS, etc) ; 3GPP. "Draft summary minutes, decisions a
nd actions from 3GPP Organizational Partners Meeting#6, Tokyo, 9 October 2001" (
PDF). p. 7.
Jump up ^ Hsiao-Hwa Chen (2007), The Next Generation CDMA Technologies, John Wil
ey and Sons, pp. 105 106, ISBN 978-0-470-02294-8
Jump up ^ GSM Association HSPA Market update April 2012
Jump up ^ Qualcomm says it doesn't need Nokia patents
Documentation[edit]
3GPP specification series 25 Radio aspects of 3G, including UMTS
TS 25.201 Description Describes basic differences between FDD and TDD.

TS 25.211 Physical channels and mapping of transport channels onto physical chan
nels (FDD)
TS 25.212 Multiplexing and channel coding (FDD)
TS 25.213 Spreading and modulation (FDD)
TS 25.214 Physical layer procedures (FDD)
TS 25.215 Physical layer - Measurements (FDD)
[show] v t e
Cellular network standards
[show] v t e
Telecommunications
Categories: Mobile telecommunications
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