W-CDMAstandsforWidebandCodeDivisionMultipleAccess
Itsanairinterfacestandardfoundin3Gmobile
telecommunicationsnetworksdesignedfor“always-on”packet-
basedwirelessservice,sothatcomputersentertainmentdevices
andtelephonesmayallsharethesamewirelessnetworkandbe
connectedtotheinternet,anytimeanywhere.
ItwasadoptedasastandardbytheITUunderthename"IMT-
2000directspread."
ItisthetechnologyusedintheUniversalMobile
TelecommunicationsSystem(UMTS)andisalsoknownasUMTS-
FDD.
ItutilizestheDS-CDMAchannelaccessmethodandtheFDD
duplexingmethodtoachievehigherspeedsandsupportmore
userscomparedtomosttimedivisionmultipleaccess(TDMA)
schemesusedtoday.
DevelopedbyNTTDoCoMoastheairinterfacefortheir3G
networkFOMAinthelate1990s.
NTTDoCoMosubmittedthespecificationtotheInternational
TelecommunicationUnion(ITU)asacandidateforthe
international3GstandardknownasIMT-2000whicheventually
acceptedW-CDMAaspartoftheIMT-2000familyof3G
standards.
Later,W-CDMAwasselectedastheairinterfaceforUMTS,the
3GsuccessortoGSM.
February1999-NokiaclaimedtohavemadethefirstWCDMAcall
intheworldthroughthePSTNattheNokiatestnetworkin
FinlandusingaWCDMAterminal,WCDMAbasestation
subsystemandNokiaGSMMobilewithswitchingcenters
connectedtothePSTN.
April2001-EricssonandVodafoneUKclaimedtohavemadethe
world'sfirstWCDMAvoicecallovercommercialnetwork.
October2001-NTTDoCoMolaunchedthefirstcommercial
WCDMA3Gmobilenetwork.
Supportofhighdataratetransmission:384Kbpswithwidearea
coverageand2Mbpsorhigherwithlocalcoverage.
Minimumbandwidthof5MHzeachforreverse-link(uplink)and
forward-link(downlink).
Chippingfrequencyof3.84Mchips/sec.
SupportbothFrequencyDivisionDuplex(FDD)andTimeDivision
Duplex(TDD).
QPSKModulationisusedforbothreverseandforward-link
frequencies.
BasedonDirectSequenceCDMA(DS-CDMA)techniquewithframe
durationof10ms.
Multiuserdetectionandsmartantennascanbeusedtoincrease
capacityandcoverage.
AdaptivepowercontrolbasedonSIR(Signal-to-InterferenceRatio).
Multipletypesofhandoff(orhandover)betweendifferentcells
includingsofthandoff,softerhandoffandhardhandoff.