Repeaters for CDMA systems

The recent worldwide telecommunication deregulation has intensified the wireless competition all around the world. In the United States, PCS spectrum auctions sponsored by the FCC have created a new group of wireless operators who are aggressively building networks to launch services. Considering the large amounts of capital committed to winning the licenses, in addition to roughly the same amount needed for building infrastructure, these new entrants could benefit from cost saving opportunities. The existing cellular operators, on the other hand, need to significantly reduce their operation cost so as to effectively compete with the new entrants. The major avenues for cost saving appear to be network hardware reduction, reduction in real estate requirements, and decrease in the number of personnel needed for infrastructure build-out and maintenance. Additionally, time to market will be a critical factor. A solution for coverage expansion to minimize capital, real estate, turn-up time and personnel requirements is urgently sought. For both cellular and PCS service providers, use of repeaters as a means to the "last mile" connection could offer an answer to these problems. In this paper, we specifically focus on the use of repeaters in the IS-95 CDMA systems. While both analog networks and European GSM systems have been employing "off-the-air" repeaters for years, repeaters have not been deployed in CDMA systems until very recently.