Overview of the technical basis of Qualcomm's CDMA cellular telephone system design: a view of North American TIA/EIA IS-95

The first North American digital cellular interim standard, based on time division multiple access (TDMA), was adopted in 1989. Immediately thereafter, in 1990, Qualcomm Inc. proposed a spread spectrum digital cellular system, based on code division multiple access (CDMA), which became the second North American interim standard in 1993. The key requirement for the second generation digital cellular system is the achievement of high capacity as compared to the current (first generation) analog FM cellular system, based on frequency division multiple access (FDMA). This paper gives an overview of Qualcomm's CDMA cellular system and its achievement of the second generation cellular system design objectives.<>