FRAMES FMA2 WIDE-BAND-CDMA FOR UMTS

The basic principles of the physical layer of the FRAMES (Future Radio Wideband Multiple Access System) FMA2 (FRAMES Multiple Access) wideba nd CDMA system an described in this paper. The FMA2 is part of the FRA MES dual mode platform designed as UMTS air interface, where the harmo nisation with GSM is also taken into account. The main characteristics features in the FMA2 are the asynchronous network operation and flexi ble layer 1 support for the variable rate transmission needs. This pap er presents also performance results, which allow to conclude that the FMA2 meets UMTS air interface requirements. The FMA2 concept was a ma jor part of the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) wideband CDMA concept group, selected by ETSI as a basis for UMTS air interface for the paired frequency band.