EVALUATION OF CDMA SYSTEM CAPACITY

WE DISCUSS A SPECIFIC, INNOVATIVE DIRECT-SEQUENCE PSEUDO-NOISE (DS/PN) CODE-DIVISION MULTIPLE-ACCESS (CDMA) MOBILE SATELLITE (MSAT) SYSTEM. PROPONENTS OF CDMA CLAIM THAT INCREASED SYSTEM CAPACITY, REDUCED MOBILE TERMINAL COST, INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN SERVICE OFFERINGS, INTERFERENCE SUPRESSION, AND INCREASED MSAT OPERATOR PROFITABILITY ARE ACHIEVABLE. DETRACTORS CLAIM THAT THE REQUIRED MOBILE TERMINAL SOPHISTICATION IS TOO COSTLY, THAT THE SYSTEM CAPACITY IS NOT INCREASED (RELATIVE TO FDMA), AND THAT THE EXISTING TECHNOLOGY BASE IS IMMATURE. TO DATE THERE HAS BEEN NO AUTHORITATIVE ANALYSIS EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF CDMA. WE PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR EVALUATING SYSTEM CAPACITY. IN ADDITION, WE PRESENT PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS RESULTS FOR THE CAPACITY OF OUR BASELINE DS/PN CDMA MSAT SYSTEM UNDER SOME SIMPLIFIED ASSUMPTIONS.