Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The

CDMA 2000

Of the 2G systems, only cdmaOne is already based on CDMA. This gives it a head start in the race to 3G, as operators are able to upgrade their existing networks with new software or modulation rather than by building a new radio system. These upgrades are collectively known as cdma2000, and all are backward compatible with existing IS-95 systems.

Until mid-2000, the upgrade path for cdmaOne seemed clear. The end result was supposed to be a system named cdma2000 3XMC, so called because it combines three channels together, resulting in a wider band. Unfortunately, this system was not compatible with the form of W-CDMA favored by Europe and Japan, though its specifications are almost identical. The difference is the chip rate, the frequency ...