Performance analysis of slotted W-CDMA random access channel for the satellite component of UMTS

The random access channel (RACH) is an uplink transport channel defined in UMTS for initial channel access to the network as well as for sending short data bursts. This paper proposes a modification to the satellite-UMTS RACH so as to increase access slot availability, and it is shown that this enhancement has a better system performance than that of the current European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) proposal.