FREQUENCY HOPPING CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS FOR MOBILE CELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS

THIS PROPOSAL IS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN A NOVEL FREQUENCY HOPPING CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (FH/CDMA) PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK (PCN). THIS MOBILE CELLULAR COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM, WHICH IS TO BE DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE THE NUMBER OF USERS PER CELL, CAN OPERATE IN A FREQUENCY BAND CONTAINING OTHER USERS. IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE NUMBER OF USERS, SYNCHRONOUS FH/CDMA WILL BE EMPLOYED. FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION AND ERASURE DETECTION AND CORRECTION WILL BE EMPLOYED SINCE INTERFERENCE CAN BE DETECTED. SLOW AND FAST HOPPING WILL BE STUDIED TO OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE IN A MULTIPATH ENVIRONMENT. ALSO, STANDARD HOPPING CODES SUCH AS PN AND GOLD WILL BE COMPARED WITH SOME NEW IDEAS ON HOP CODES SUCH AS REED-SOLOMON HOPPING PATTERNS. THE RESEARCH WE PROPOSE WILL EXTEND OUR PRIOR RESEARCH IN THE DESIGN OF A DIRECT SEQUENCE CDMA CELLULAR SYSTEM, WHICH LED TO THE FCC AWARDING AN EXPERIMENTAL LICENSE TO MILLICOM,INC. TO OPERATE ON A CO-PRIMARY BASIS WITH EXISTING MICROWAVE USERS AND EXPERIMENTALLY DEMONSTRATE THE PRACTICALITY OF SHARED USE. THE GOAL OF THIS STUDY IS A FH/CDMA SYSTEM WHICH COULD BE EMPLOYED IN LIEU OF A DS/CDMA SYSTEM.