Korea Telecom IMT-2000 Testbed Based on Wideband

CDMA Technologies

Yong-Ho Kim, June-Chul Roh, Hyun-Myung Pyo, and Myung-Sang Yoon

Wireless Communications Research Lab., Korea Telecom
17 Woomyun-dong Seocho-gu, Seoul, 137-792, Korea
Phone: +82-2-526-6267 Fax.: +82-2-526-5568 e-mail: yhokim@wireless.kotel.co.kr

Abstract: This paper introduces the research and development activities of the IMT-
2000 testbed by Wireless Communications Research Laboratory (WCRL), Korea
Telecom (KT), which have been performed since last year. Wideband CDMA (W-
CDMA) with 8.192 Mcps chip rate is adopted as an air interface transmission
technology and multiple access scheme in the first phase testbed. Maximum data rate of
128 kbps can be supported. The purpose of the first phase testbed system is to develop
core technologies such as W-CDMA modems, networks, protocols, and application
services. Based on the experiences and results obtained from the first phase system, we
will accommodate the forthcoming IMT-2000 standards in developing the second phase
system. W-CDMA modems, mobile station (MS), base station (BS), base station
controller (BSC), and mobile switching system (MSC) have been developed in the first
phase in corporation with industrial partners of KT’s.

1. Introduction
In Korea, five major digital cellular and PCS operators are providing successful digital mobile
telecommunication services nation-widely. Digital cellular systems are operated in 800 MHz radio
frequency band and on the other hand PCS services in 1.8 GHz. Both the systems adopted IS-95 as the
common air interface (CAI) specification. The current digital cellular systems are optimised to provide
the low rate voice-oriented service. Therefore, these systems have some difficulties to accommodate the
emerging wireless communication services which require high data rates, enhanced quality of service
(QoS), and various traffic types such as voice services, wireless packet data services and wireless
multimedia communication services. In addition, there are also other requirements on the third
generation systems. A set of common air interface specifications will be defined on the world-wide basis
and easy network deployment and operation are very important issues in standardising the third
generation mobile communications. In technical point of view on the air interface, W-CDMA is
considered as a key candidate technology which satisfies many requirements of the third generation
mobile systems. W-CDMA technology has strong resistance to multipath propagation and interference
[1], and there are many research activities on W-CDMA modem development world-widely.

In this paper, we introduce the activities and some results of the development of W-CDMA modem and
ASIC design, services, and network systems, which were performed in WCRL since last year
considering the requirements on the third generation mobile communication systems. In order to develop
core technologies which are required in developing W-CDMA system, we have worked on two internal
air interface specifications. One is based on the inter-cell synchronous W-CDMA and the other on the
inter-cell asynchronous W-CDMA. These two air interface specifications are being implemented in the
first and second testbed systems. Both systems are designed to accommodate chip rates of 4.192, 8.192,
16.384 Mcps (chip per second) corresponding to RF bandwidths of 5, 10, 20 MHz, respectively. The
first phase tested uses a chip rate of 8.192 Mcps and that accepts the services which need up to 144
kbps data rate (2B+D in narrow band ISDN service). Both systems have their own advantages and
disadvantages relative to each other. The two internal air specifications are somewhat different from the

Reprinted from Proc. ACTS Mobile Communications Summit 1998, Rhodes, Greece, June 1998.
official IMT-2000 proposals in Korea, namely TTA (Telecommunication Technology Association, a
standardisation organisation under the Korean government) proposal 1 and TTA proposal 2.

For the first phase testbed we have designed an inter-cell synchronous W-CDMA system that has a chip
rate of 8.192 Mcps and that supports wireless communication services of up to 144 kbps. The services
to be provided in this system are 32 kbps ADPCM voice service, 128 kbps H.261 video service,
wireless Internet access, and UIM application service. Also we consider the wireless ATM network. In
parallel to the first phase system, we have been evaluating the performance of the inter-cell
asynchronous system and designing modems, services and network. The purpose of developing the
IMT-2000 testbeds is to evaluate KT air interface specifications, to develop W-CDMA modem
technology, application services and ATM network systems, and to feedback the results to national
standardisation body.

In the following, Section 2 introduces the overview of the KT IMT-2000 testbed system architecture,
networks and services aspects, and also the air interface specifications under being developed. Design
and implementation of the W-CDMA modem, and channel card architecture will be given in Section 3.
Finally, Section 4 summaries the main results and gives future development scope and plan.

2. Air Interface Specification, Testbed System Architecture, and Services

In the following, we briefly introduce the air interface specification for the inter-cell synchronous system
and the scope of services and network in the first phase. The W-CDMA system uses a chip rate of
8.192 Mcps and requires 10 MHz bandwidth in around 2 GHz band. Frequency division duplex (FDD)
is adopted. The forward link (BS to MS) is composed of Pilot, Sync., Paging, Signalling, and Traffic
channels in which the orthogonality is maintained by using orthogonal Walsh functions. Data on each
channel except the Pilot is encoded by convolutional code of rate r = 1/2 and constraint length K = 7,
and QPSK modulated. Coded data are repeated and interleaved to match a basic symbol rate of 64 ksps
(symbol per second). The data in inphase and quadrature channels are spread by short inphase and
quadrature PN sequences, respectively. BSs in the system are identified by time offsets of short PN
codes. The forward link structure is similar to that of IS-95 with some differences like the chip rate, the
period of short PN codes, use of outband signalling scheme, and some others. In the reverse link, we
adopt the coherent demodulation by using continuous pilot from MS to BS. The reverse link channels
are Pilot, Access, Signalling, and Traffic channels. The orthogonality between the channels from a MS
is maintained by using the orthogonal Walsh functions. The channels from different mobile stations are
addressed by long codes with different time offsets. To support the data rates greater than 128 kbps,
multi-code scheme is applied to the both links. A service requiring 128 kbps needs two 64 ksps
orthogonal code channels. We consider orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes to support
high data rate services, which will be implemented in the second phase. Table 1 shows the summary of
air interface specification.

The first phase testbed system is configured with one BS, one base station controller (BSC), and one
ATM switch. BSC and ATM switch are connected with ATM link. The BS has a RF transceiver
module, an analog interface, timing and clock generation functions, and three channel cards which
process baseband signal processing and control functions related with W-CDMA modem. Only one BS
is implemented. Therefore, soft hand-over procedure can not be tested. One industrial partner of KT’s
has developed mobile terminals which could provide voice, video, and wireless Internet service over the
KT IMT-2000 testbed. Five mobile terminals were prepared. Two terminals for voice services, two
multimedia terminals for video applications, and one for wireless Internet service. BSC has the routing
and PPP functions for the Internet service. Figure 1 and 2 show the overall system and BS architecture
of the testbed, respectively.
 Table 1. CAI specifications of KT IMT-2000 Testbed

Items Phase 1 Phase 2

Multiple Access Wideband DS-CDMA Wideband DS-CDMA

Duplex FDD FDD

PN Chip Rate (Mcps) 1.024/4.096/8.192/16.384 1.024/4.096/8.192/16.384
Carrier Spacing (MHz) 1.25/5/10/20 1.25/5/10/20

Frame Length (ms) 16 10

Channel Coding Convolutional coding (R=1/2, K=7) Convolutional coding (R=1/2, K=9) &
opt. Reed-Solomon (RS) code
Channel Structure FL: Pilot/Sync/Paging/Traffic/Signalling FL: Pilot/Sync/Paging/Traffic/Signalling
RL: Pilot/Access/Traffic/Signalling RL: Pilot/Access/Traffic/Signalling
Spreading Codes Short PN code Short Gold code
Long PN Code Long PN Code
Signalling Outband Parallel Signalling Outband Parallel Signalling

Orthogonal Code Walsh Walsh

Inter-cell Synchronization Synchronous Asynchronous

Data mod./ PN Spreading FL & RL: QPSK/QPSK FL & RL: QPSK/QPSK

Detection FL & RL: Pilot Channel Coherent Detection FL & RL: Pilot Channel Coherent Detection
Multirate Concept Multi-code Variable spreading factor and/or multi-code
(Note: Subject to change)

H LR

STM 1 BSC

ATM STM 1 E1
S w itch
PC

BS
WIS

C o n s o le

IN T E R N E T M S

Figure 1. Overall system architecture of the KT IMT-2000 testbed (phase 1).

 RF ACC CC CSCI

SHW
70MHz
SHW T/S, DTI
RX_M_I/Q
DEMOD A/D W-CDMA VITERBI Interface
LNA MODEM Decoder
RX_M_IF
BPF
1890MHz
TX_I/Q
MOD
PLL E1
E1 Link
D/A
CPU BLOCK RNC
PLL CPU BLOCK
MC68032
MC68302
HPA MC68360
BPF
2115MHz TX_IF
SYS_CLK
90MHz
G_BUS EVEN_SEC SC_BUS CLOCK G_BUS
CRC
Interface Interface Generator Interface
Front-End UDC

PLL 8KHz
Control 4.096MHz
G_BUS

BTSC TFC

OVCXO G_BUS CLOCK

G_BUS Interface
RS-232C MASTER
10M Receiver
Interface

TFC : Time & Frequency Card

CLOCK CPU BLOCK BTSC : Basestation Transceiver
Distributor MC68302
Ethernet SC_BUS Subsystem Controller
SLAVE
Interface ACC : Analog Common Card
Workstation HPA : High Power Amplifier
UDC : Up/Down Converter
VCXO
D/A CC : Channel Card
32.768M
CSCI : Cell Site Controller Interface
CPU BLOCK RNC : Radio Network Controller
MC68360

SC_BUS

Figure 2. Base station architecture of the KT IMT-2000 testbed (phase 1).

3. W-CDMA modem Design and Implementation

Generation and reliable reception of direct sequence spread spectrum CDMA signals in multipath fading
channels and cellular environments are very challenging issues in providing wireless multimedia
communication services over the forthcoming third generation systems. The transmitter section of the
W-CDMA modem has the functions of convolutional encoding, block interleaving, spreading by short
PN sequence, pulse-shaping filtering, and signal combining before D/A conversion. Furthermore, other
miscellaneous functions such as CPU interface, code generation, and reference timing generation are
also provided. 48-tap equi-ripple FIR filter is used as the PN pulse-shaping filter. One ASIC can
support three orthogonal code channels in parallel. Each channel is designed to configure the user
traffic, the control or the pilot channel. The user traffic channel interfaces with E1, and the control and
signalling channel with CPU. Transmitter section of the base station modem ASIC is shown in Figure
3.

W TX_TIM IN G _ A D V

W F R A M E _O F F

W TX_INT_ST

C lo c k C o n tro l
RESET/
C o d e c C o n t rol Short P N
C H IP 4 X TX_INT
PP80MS/ Sync Offset W SHORT_CODE_LOAD Sequence
G e n e rator

W L O N G _C O D E _ S T A T E W M IS C _ C T R L
ALE
CS/ R e g ister 4 2 - B it
RD/ C o n tro l
WR/ W L O N G _C O D E _ M A S K Long Code
W D A IS Y _ C H A IN _C T R L
G e n e rator
W L O N G _C O D E _ C T R L
W SUMMER_CTRL
FSC Input
C o n tro l
W alsh
DCL W W ALSH_SEQ
G e n e rator
W G A IN

Encoder Interleaver
C o n tro l C o n tro l
I- c h
I- c h .
F IR
IN T _ R A M
F ilter +
DATA Input_RAM ENCODER + TX_I_ D A T A
D a ta fro m D a ta fro m
o ther ch. o ther chip

Q-ch + TX_Q _D A T A
Q-ch.
F IR +
IN T _ R A M
F ilter

Figure 3. Transmitter section of the KT W-CDMA base station modem ASIC.

The receiver section of the modem requires very complicated signal processing functions and controls.
First, a mobile station searches the PN code with an offset which distinguishes the base station. As an
initial acquisition scheme, we use the double-dwell serial search algorithm [2]. The searcher finds a set
of PN indexes and their energies. Searcher operation can be controlled by programming related
parameters such as the number of hypotheses of PN code phases, the coherent integration time, and the
threshold value. The PN code phases determined by the searcher are assigned to the multi-finger which
have the functions of the PN code time tracking [2-3] and lock detection on the assigned paths. The
time-tracking loop bandwidth can be controlled by CPU programming. The outputs from multi-finger
are combined with maximal ratio combining method. In the mobile station, automatic frequency control
(AFC) function is essential to compensate the frequency offset. The AFC loop estimates the frequency
error from the unmodulated pilot carrier [3-4] and outputs this error to the analog interface with pulse
density modulation (PDM) format. Before Viterbi decoder, the combined signal should be adapted to the
bit width of the Viterbi decoder input. We use a commercial Viterbi decoder chipset [5] in our testbed
system. An automatic gain control (AGC) loop and a DC offset compensation block are also
implemented in the W-CDMA modem. Figure 4 shows the functional architecture of finger of the base
station modem ASIC.

W Fn_CTL R C O M B IN E _ S T A T U S
F inger C o n tro l
W F IN G E R _ S E L R LOCK_STATUS
&
C lock
W Fn_ASSIG N
G eneration
W F n _ P O S ITIO N W F n _ L O C K _ IN IT_EN E R G Y W IN _ L O C K _ T H R E S H

W OUT_LOCK_THRESH

W alsh
W W A L S H _ IN D E X
G enerator
RSSI LOCK
RSSI Calculation C o m p a rator
Accum ulator

W LONG_CODE_STATE
Long PN
G enerator
W LONG_CODE_MASK

Channel Estimation

W SHORT_CODE_STATE_Q
S h o rt P N
G enerator
W SHORT_CODE_STATE_I F IF O

DEMOD SYM_DATA
P N C ross- arm
C o rrelato r

P N C ross- arm
ACC E n e rgy
early C o rrelato r
RXI +
on
Tim e Tracking
D e c im ator
Loop
la te
RXQ -
P N C ross- arm
ACC E n e rgy
C o rrelato r

Figure 4. Finger of the KT W-CDMA base station modem ASIC.

In developing the W-CDMA modem ASIC, we started by designing the transmitter and receiver
algorithms and simulating the algorithms by using C-programming language. Also we have performed
integer simulations. With the integer simulation results, we designed the ASIC architecture considering
the control functions, and then we defined the register set and related operations and functions. MS and
BS ASIC have been developed using a 0.5 µm CMOS CBIC VLSI technology. By this time we are
integrating and testing the whole system and services

The channel card is designed to support two base station modem ASICs which are controlled
independently by two Motorola MC68360 microprocessors [6]. Each modem can support three
orthogonal code channels, which can be configured to support data rates of 8, 16, 32, and 64 kbps
independently. Filtered outputs from two modems are combined digitally before D/A conversion.

Now we have completed the testing of the modem functions and channel card operations. Figure 5
shows the PN waveform and its spectrum after D/A converter and lowpass filtering.
 Figure 5. Waveform and spectrum of the Pilot signal after D/A converter.

4. Conclusions and Further Works

In this paper, we introduced the current status and some results of a IMT-2000 testbed developed by
KT since last year. Architecture of the demonstration system and services are simple but we have
confirmed the functions and operations of the W-CDMA modem ASIC and the channel card. Filtering
and signal combining from three code channels in an ASIC is well behaved. Also spreading by short
pilot PN sequence, interleaving, encoding operation, and timing phase alignment of the transmitting
signal to the reference system time were tested and confirmed. Search operation is controllable by
programming searcher parameters and we have tested the time tracking loop and lock detection of the
finger. Soft-limit to the deinterleaver output is well adapted to the commercial Viterbi decoder chipset.
Now we are verifying the total integration of systems and services. Protocol procedures, signalling
functions, and call processing functions have been tested. We will finalise the development and test of
the first phase demonstration system by end of July of this year.

We will extend our experience and core technologies obtained from the first phase to the second phase
demonstration system. The forthcoming IMT-2000 standards shall be considered and reflected in
performing the second year project. Soft hand-off mechanism and power control function shall be
incorporated to the second phase system. Modem functions will be enhanced to accommodate higher
data rate services.

Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the corporation with our industrial partners, Hanwha Telecom Co. and Seodu Inchip
Inc. in developing this demonstration system.

References
[1] J. G. Proakis, Digital Communications 3rd ed. McGraw Hill, New York, 1995.
[2] M. K. Simon, J. K. Omura, R. A. Scholtz and B. K. Levitt, Spread Spectrum Communications
Handbook. McGraw Hill, New York, 1994.
[3] W. C. Lindsey, “A Survey of Digital Phase-Locked Loop,” Proc. IEEE, vol. 69, pp. 410-431, 1981.
[4] F. M. Gardner, “Characteristics of Frequency-Tracking Loops,” IEEE Trans. Commun., pp. 226-
240, Feb. 1985.
[5] STEL-2040A: Convolutional Encoder and Viterbi Decoder chip manual, Stanford Telecom.
[6] MC68360 micro-processor chip manual, Motorola.