Indoor radio communications using time-division multiple access with cyclical slow frequency hopping and coding

The authors describe and analyze a flexible, robust, multichannel time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) radio communications system that is ideally suited for portable as well as mobile indoor use. It uses noncoherent signaling and incorporates slow cyclical frequency hopping and burst-error-correcting coding to provide low-error communications at aggregate rates of several megabits per second without the need for antenna diversity or adaptive equalization. The system can be implemented in a small building using a centralized architecture or in a large building using a distributed antenna system. The TDMA protocol allows the various users the flexibility of choosing their own desired rates of data communications. Moreover, the capability of using different levels of coding gives the users the option of selecting their own error performance. The ability to combat interference is one of the salient features of this system.<>