WIRELESS CATV NETWORK ACCESS FOR PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS USING SIMULCASTING

Existing cable television (CATV) networks are proposed as a means to i nterconnect wireless terminals to terrestrial networks and services. D iscrete antennas, each controlled by a remote antenna driver (RAD), ar e separated by 250 m along a cable to provide wireless access. RAD's t ransceive as a group on any active channel, and are controlled by a re mote antenna signal processor (RASP) which interconnects to the public switched telephone network, or other broad-band network. Simulcast in terference caused by transmissions involving the RAD's is analyzed. It is determined that communication is feasible, even in the simulcast i nterference zone, provided the time delay difference caused by differe nces in path length traveled by simulcast signals with comparable powe r levels is a small fraction of the signal pulse duration. Emphasis he re is on the CT2 air interface with its 72 kb/s baud rate. The possibl e effects of cable transmission delay on the time-division duplex (TDD ) transmission algorithm are considered. Some discussion involving com munications through walls or around obstructions is included.