Bit-error rate of TDMA links under cochannel interference in overlaid cellular networks

This paper presents a series of numerical experiments conducted to investigate the error performance of a simulated digital time-division multiple-access (TDMA) radio link between a portable handset and the base station serving it, subject to interference coming from other portable handsets. The experiments take radio channel impairments such as fading, shadowing, and distance loss into account. Analytical expressions for the bit-error probability in uncoded digital radio transmission bursts under interference from nearby analog FM or digital minimum-shift keying (MSK) transmitters are reviewed. Numerical methods are used to extend analytical estimates of symbol error probability of a link with a single interferer, without channel impairments, to the case where the interference is due to a random distribution of transmitters whose signals are subject to fading, shadowing, and distance power loss. Specifically, three links, each based on one of three different modulation methods, MSK, quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) (proposed in the North American Digital Cellular Standard IS-54), and Gaussian MSK (GMSK) [used in the Global Standard for Mobile communications (GSM)] are simulated, and the bit-error rate (BER) results reported. The BER results generated thus indicate the sensitivity of the digital radio link to the user density for a given radio frequency (RF) bandwidth and, where applicable, to fading depth and postmodulation intersymbol interference (ISI) removal method. Possible extensions and applications of the simulation model to the problem of resource sharing between coexisting networks are suggested.