The evolution of IS-136 TDMA for third-generation wireless services

A number of factors have motivated most spectrum owners to make plans to de ploy upbanded second-generation cellular technologies for use in the PCS ba nds in the United States. However. the second-generation cellular technolog ies will need to be enhanced to provide third-generation services. There is interest in using the PCS and cellular spectra to broaden the market of us ers and the range of use of wireless beyond where it stands today, and beyo nd the primary applications that drove the development of the technologies being deployed. There is also interest in new technologies to improve the p erformance of cellular and PCS services, reduce the cost, and improve avail ability. This article considers evolutionary changes to IS-136 TDMA to enab le it to provide a variety of PCS concepts. These evolutionary changes are presented in the form of options that would 1) provide high-quality voice s ervice for indoor and pedestrian systems such as cellular office systems an d personal base stations; 2) support enhanced-bit-rate packet wireless data access to the Internet as well as circuit data access; 3) provide smart an tenna technology to improve coverage, quality, and capacity; 4) automatical ly assign frequencies for operation and provide for dynamic channel reconfi guration; 5) support microcellular arrangements to provide low-cost and hig h-capacity service in dense areas; and 6) support a future high-speed packe t data access mode through a wideband system that is complementary to IS-13 6 TDMA and supports single-terminal operation.