Severe frequency-selective fading, encountered in a broadband wireless mobile communication, significantly degrades the bit error rate (BER) performance of direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signal transmission with rake combining. In this paper, frequency-domain pre-equalization transmission, called pre-FDE transmission, is presented for orthogonal multicode DSSS signal transmission. It is confirmed by the computer simulation that pre-FDE transmission can achieve a BER performance almost identical to that attainable by FDE reception.

Joint frequency-domain equalization (FDE) and antenna diversity combining is applied to the reception of multi-rate DS-CDMA signals to achieve the frequency diversity effect while suppressing inter-path interference (IPI) resulting from the asynchronism of different propagation paths. At a receiver, fast Fourier transform (FFT) is applied for FDE and then inverse FFT (IFFT) is used to obtain a frequency-domain equalized DS-CDMA chip sequence for the succeeding despreading operation. An arbitrary spreading factor SF can be used for the given value of FFT window size; an extreme case is the nonspread SC system with SF=1. This property allows a flexible design of multi-rate DS-CDMA systems. Three types of FDE are considered; minimum mean square error (MMSE) equalization, maximal-ratio combining (MRC) equalization and zero-forcing (ZF) equalization. Matched filter bound analysis for achievable BER performance is presented. The improvement in the BER performance in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel is evaluated by computer simulation. First, we consider the single-user case and compare the BER performances achievable with MMSE, MRC and ZF equalizations. How the fading rate and the spreading factor affect the BER performance is also evaluated. Furthermore, the BER performance comparison between FDE and rake combining is presented for various values of SF and also performance comparison between DS-CDMA and SC signal transmissions, both using FDE, is presented. Finally, we extend our evaluation to the multi-user case. Both downlink and uplink are considered and how the BER performances of downlink and uplink differ is discussed.

While CDMA systems are proven to be excellent solutions for cellular communications, they suffer from severe multi-path interferences and are hard to support high-data-rate transmissions over frequency-selective fading channels. This letter introduces a novel downlink transmission method for next generation mobile communication systems. The proposed method can provide significantly improved performance in a hot-spot area while maintaining the backward compatibility with the 3rd generation CDMA systems.

OFDM, MC-CDMA and DS-CDMA are being researched vigorously as the prospective signaling technique for the next generation mobile communications systems, which will be characterized by the broadband packet technology. With packet transmissions, hybrid ARQ (HARQ) will be inevitable for error control. HARQ with rate compatible punctured turbo (RCPT) codes is one of the promising techniques. Data rate equivalent to the OFDM system can be attained with MC-CDMA and DS-CDMA by assigning all the available codes to the same user resulting in what is commonly referred to as multicode MC-CDMA and multicode DS-CDMA. A rake receiver is used for receiving the DS-CDMA signals. However, recently minimum mean square error frequency-domain equalization (MMSE-FDE) has been proposed for the reception of DS-CDMA signals. In this paper, we introduce RCPT HARQ to DS-CDMA with MMSE-FDE and compare its throughput performance with OFDM, multicode MC-CDMA and multicode DS-CDMA with rake combining. MMSE weight for packet combining is introduced and the soft value generation for turbo coding in MC-CDMA and DS-CDMA with MMSE-FDE is presented. The throughput is theoretically evaluated for the uncoded case. For RCPT-HARQ, the comparison is done by computer simulations. It is found that the throughput of HARQ using DS-CDMA with MMSE-FDE is the same as or better than using MC-CDMA. However, with higher level modulation, type I HARQ using OFDM is better than using either MC-CDMA or DS-CDMA; for type II HARQ without redundancy in the first transmission, however, MC-CDMA and DS-CDMA gives a higher throughput.

Recently, multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) has been attracting much attention for the broadband wireless access in the next generation mobile communications systems. In the case of uplink transmissions, the orthogonality among users' signals is lost since each user's signal goes through different fading channel and hence, multi-access interference (MAI) is produced, thereby significantly degrading the transmission performance compared to the downlink case. The use of frequency-domain equalization at the receiver cannot sufficiently suppress the MAI. In this paper, we propose frequency-domain pre-equalization transmit diversity (FPTD), which employs pre-equalization using multiple transmit antennas with transmit power constraint, in order to transform a frequency-selective channel seen at a receiver close to the frequency-nonselective channel. We theoretically analyze the bit error rate (BER) performance achievable with the proposed FPTD and the analysis is confirmed by computer simulation.

In the Multi Carrier (MC)-CDMA system, the frequency diversity gain is obtained by its being spread in the frequency domain. The frequency interleaving technique can improve the frequency diversity gain. In this paper, the bit error rate (BER) performance in the MC-CDMA system which adopts the frequency interleaving scheme in the frequency selective fading channel is evaluated by computer simulation. In this simulation, orthogonal restoration combining (ORC) and minimum mean square error combining (MMSEC) are considered as frequency equalization combining techniques. This paper shows that BER performance with the frequency interleaver is better than without it in various environments.

In this Letter, a frequency-domain pre-rake transmission is presented for a direct sequence spread spectrum with time division duplex (DSSS/TDD) system under a frequency-selective fading channel. The mathematical relationship between frequency-domain and time-domain pre-rake transmissions is discussed. It is confirmed by the computer simulation that, similar to the time-domain pre-rake transmission, frequency-domain pre-rake transmission can improve the bit error rate (BER) performance. The frequency-domain pre-rake transmission shows only slight performance degradation compared to the frequency-domain rake reception for large SF.

In downlink MC-CDMA, orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes can be used to allow multirate communications while maintaining the orthogonality among the users with different data rates. In this paper, we point out that simple selection of the OVSF codes results in degraded performance. We show that this happens because simple code selection results in power concentration over certain consecutive subcarriers; severe power loss in the received signal occurs when these subcarriers experience a deep fade in a frequency selective fading channel. In addition, we show two effective techniques to avoid the performance degradation: random code selection and frequency interleaving; which technique provides a better performance depends on modulation level, code multiplexing order, and presence of channel coding.

Similar to direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA), site diversity can be applied to a multicarrier-CDMA (MC-CDMA) cellular system to improve the bit error rate (BER) performance for a user with weak received signal power, thus resulting in an increased link capacity. In this paper, the downlink site diversity reception using frequency-domain equalization based on minimum mean square error (MMSE) is considered for a MC-CDMA cellular system. A set of active base stations to be involved in the site diversity operation is determined based on the received signal power measurement by a mobile station. Downlink capacity with site diversity is evaluated by computer simulation. The impacts of path loss exponent and shadowing loss standard deviation on the site diversity effect are discussed. Furthermore, the performance improvement by antenna diversity reception is discussed.

To improve the DS-CDMA signal transmission performance in a frequency-selective fading channel, the frequency-domain equalization (FDE) can be applied, in which simple one-tap equalization is carried out on each subcarrier component obtained by fast Fourier transform (FFT). Equalization weights for joint FDE and antenna diversity combining based on maximal ratio combining (MRC), zero-forcing (ZF), and minimum mean square error (MMSE) are derived. The conditional bit error rate (BER) is derived for the given set of channel gains in a frequency-selective multipath fading channel. The theoretical average BER performance is evaluated by Monte-Carlo numerical computation method using the derived conditional BER and is confirmed by computer simulation. Performance comparison between DS- and multi-carrier (MC)-CDMA both using FDE is also presented.

In a severe frequency-selective fading channel, the bit error rate (BER) performance of orthogonal multicode DS-CDMA is severely degraded since the orthogonality property of spreading codes is partially lost. The frequency-selectivity of a fading channel can be exploited by using frequency-domain equalization to improve the BER performance. Further performance improvement can be obtained by using transmit diversity. In this paper, joint transmit diversity and frequency-domain equalization is presented for the reception of orthogonal multicode DS-CDMA signals in a frequency-selective fading channel. As for transmit diversity, delay transmit diversity (DTD) and frequency-domain space-time transmit diversity (STTD) are considered. The achievable BER performance of multicode DS-CDMA in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel is evaluated by computer simulation. It is shown that the frequency-domain STTD significantly improves the BER performance irrespective of the degree of the channel frequency-selectivity while DTD is useful only for a weak frequency-selective channel.

Orthogonal multicode direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) has the flexibility in offering various data rate services. However, in a frequency-selective fading channel, the bit error rate (BER) performance is severely degraded since the othogonality among spreading codes is partially lost. In this paper, we apply frequency-domain equalization and antenna diversity combining, used in multi-carrier CDMA (MC-CDMA), to orthogonal multicode DS-CDMA in order to restore the code othogonality while achieving frequency and antenna diversity effect. It is found by computer simulations that the joint use of frequency-domain equalization and antenna diversity combining can significantly improve the BER performance of orthogonal multicode DS-CDMA in a frequency-selective fading channel.

The joint use of frequency-domain equalization and antenna diversity is presented for single-carrier (SC) transmission in a frequency-selective fading channel. Frequency-domain equalization techniques using minimum mean square error (MMSE), orthogonal restoration combining (ORC) and maximum ratio combining (MRC), those used in multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA), are considered. As antenna diversity techniques, receive diversity and delay transmit diversity (DTD) are considered. Bit error rate (BER) performance achievable with the joint use of frequency-domain equalization and antenna diversity is evaluated by computer simulation.

For the reception of MC-CDMA signals in a frequency-selective fading channel, frequency-domain equalization is necessary before despreading. In this paper, joint antenna diversity combining and one-tap frequency-domain equalization is considered (simply referred to as the joint antenna diversity & equalization, in this paper). A receiver structure for joint antenna diversity & equalization is presented and the unified weights based on minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion are found in the presence of multi-users with different spreading factors and transmit powers. For comparison, antenna diversity combining after despreading using MMSE combining (MMSEC) is also considered. The achievable bit error rate (BER) performances with joint antenna diversity & equalization and with antenna diversity after MMSEC despreading in a frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel are evaluated by computer simulations and compared.

Frequency-domain representation of the well-known time-domain rake combining for the antenna diversity reception of DS-CDMA signals is derived. Two receiver structures using frequency-domain rake combining are presented. Frequency-domain rake combining can alleviate the complexity problem of the time-domain rake arising from too many paths in a severe frequency selective fading channel at the cost of guard interval insertion. The results shown in this paper show a possibility that a DS-CDMA approach still remain to be promising for broadband wireless access technique.

In OFDM-CDMA down link (base-to-mobile) transmissions, each user's transmit data symbol is spread over a number of orthogonal sub-carriers using an orthogonal spreading sequence defined in the frequency-domain. The radio propagation channel is characterized by a frequency- and time-selective multipath fading channel (which is called a doubly selective multipath fading channel in this paper). Frequency-domain equalization is necessary at the receiver to restore orthogonality among different users. This requires accurate estimation of the time varying transfer function of the multipath channel. Furthermore, the noise enhancement due to orthogonality restoration degrades transmission performance. In this paper, pilot-aided threshold detection combining (TDC) is presented that can effectively suppress the noise enhancement. If the estimated channel gain is smaller than the detection threshold, it is replaced with the detection threshold in the frequency equalization. There exists an optimal threshold that can minimize the bit error rate (BER) for a given received Eb/N0. The average BER performance of OFDM-CDMA down link transmissions using the TDC is evaluated by computer simulations. It is found that TDC using optimum detection threshold can significantly reduce the BER floor and outperforms DS-CDMA with ideal rake combining.