Spread-Time Code-Division Multiple Access

An alternative code-division multiple-access (CDMA) scheme to spread spectrum (SS), called spread time (ST) is proposed for bandlimited multiple-access channels. ST-CDMA can be considered the time-frequency dual of SS-CDMA. In ST-CDMA pseudorandom (FN) sequences are assigned to each user, and the Fourier transform of the transmitted pulse for a given user is determined by modulating the phase of the desired transmitted spectrum by the user's PN-sequence. The transmitted data for a particular user can be recovered by sampling the output of a filter matched to the user's pulse. Implementations are described in which surface acoustic wave devices are used to perform the matched filtering or Fourier transformation. Averaged signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SIR) and spectral efficiency are computed for both asynchronous ST and direct-sequence SS-CDMA systems, assuming an arbitrary channel transfer function H(f), which is the same between all pairs of users. The results are the same for SS and ST provided that the magnitude of the Fourier transform of the chip shape in the SS system is the same as the magnitude of the Fourier transform of the ST pulse shape. The main advantage of the ST technique is the flexibility with which the transmitted spectrum can be selected. We derive the transmitted spectrum that maximizes the SIR subject to an average power constraint.