Darrell,
Thanks for your comments.
<< as for "no WCDMA standard". again, I think it is irrelevant what tag you put on direct spread (ARIB, ETSI, TIA) specifications, be it UMTS or WCDMA. bottom line is that a Wideband CDMA specification standard does exist for the DS mode >>
Perhaps you can help me work through something on this general subject (usage of term Wideband CDMA - WCDMA - W-CDMA).
It is my general impression that as we moved from 3G draft versions to initial standards or specifications the terms WCDMA, or W-CDMA, started to give way to specific nomenclature for the standards and many web sites (including glossaries of acronyms thereon) were reworked accordingly.
My further impression is (but perhaps I am all wet) that WCDMA, or W-CDMA is being used more and more as a generic term and in fact is being used considerably less than, let's say, nine months ago.
For instance, the ITU Press Release "Imt-2000 Radio Interface Specifications Approved In ITU Meeting In Helsinki" dated 5 November 1999 contains this "Technical Note:
>> The radio interfaces shown in the figure are commonly known by the following names: UTRA FDD (WCDMA) for IMT-DS; cdma2000 for IMT-MC; UTRA TDD, and TD-SCDMA for IMT-TC; UWC-136 for IMT-SC; and DECT for IMT-FT. <<
My impression here is that WCDMA is placed in parentheses for a reason, and that reason is that it was the popular generic acronym rather than the standardized term for it's equivalent.
The excerpts below are from ETSI TR 101 458 "Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Future Direction of Standards Work on UMTS/IMT-2000", V3.0.0 dated (2000-05) posted on the ETSI site. It is publicly accessible.
Section 3 (Abbreviations) which states For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply, contains no abbreviations for or definition of W-CDMA or WCDMA.
Section 5 has 2 references to W-CDMA but used in different contexts:
>> 5.5 What are the radio members of the IMT-2000 family?
During 1999 the Operators Harmonization Group (OHG) helped to reach a consensus on how much harmonization and convergence towards a single standard was desirable for IMT-2000. In the case of W-CDMA, it was agreed that there should be a single global standard with three modes of operation which are
(a) Direct Spread (DS)
(b) Multi-Carrier (MC)
(c) TDD
ETSI's TD/CDMA system harmonized with the Chinese TD-SCDMA system are the main candidates for (c) and CDMA 2000 will be the main user of (b).
The terrestrial members of the IMT-2000 family have been defined by the ITU-R Recommendation [9] as:
a) IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread
b) IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-Carrier
c) IMT-2000 CDMA TDD
d) IMT-2000 TDMA Single-Carrier
e) IMT-2000 FDMA/TDMA
The above is the final version of the modified text as approved by the TG 8/1 plenary in Helsinki and then subsequently endorsed by the ITU-R SG8 plenary in Geneva the week afterwards.
In terms of relating the ITU groupings above back to things ETSI members are more familiar with:
* CDMA Direct Spread (DS) is UTRA's W-CDMA system.
* CDMA Multi-Carrier (MC) is the CDMA 2000 system.
* CDMA TDD is the harmonized version of UTRA's TD-CDMA and Chinese TD-SCDMA systems being developed in the 3GPP.
* TDMA Single-Carrier is the American UWC 136 system based on GSM EDGE technology.
* FDMA/TDMA is DECT - this change of title for IMT-2000 Family member e) above, was the final change agreed in the closing plenary at Helsinki.
Hence the ongoing work in ETSI, including 3GPP is covered by IMT-2000 family members a), c) and e) above and the results of ETSI standardization in GSM EDGE have been used in developing family member d) above. <<
Now, if the wording of this is correct of the 1st paragraph of the above is correct, then not only are DS & TDD, flavors (modes) of W-CDMA, but so is MC. Is that correct?
Your comments will be appreciated. TIA.
- Eric - |
