A Comparison Between Synchronous CDMA and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access

The growth of broadband Internet access has paved the way for the development of many new technologies. As the cost of implementing broadband access soars, the best alternative will be to use fixed wireless for these services. This thesis addresses the possibility of 3rd Generation (3G) mobile cellular wireless systems as the basis for fixed broadband wireless service. Two of the 3G technologies aimed at providing fixed broadband wireless access are Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

This thesis aims to provide a preliminary study on using TD-SCDMA and OFDM for broadband wireless systems. Currently, there is not enough theory and information to establish the feasibility of using either of these technologies for broadband wireless access. First, the basic features and background on synchronous CDMA and OFDM are presented for the reader to better understand these technologies. Then, an example TD-SCDMA system is described, and some analytical and experimental results are presented. Finally, TD-SCDMA's technologies, along with this system's attributes, are compared analytically to that of Vector OFDM (VOFDM).