TheS-95 forward and reverse Channels

Forward Channel: The IS-95 forward Channel structure consists of four types of logical Channels -
pilot Channel, synchronization Channel, paging Channel, and forward traffic Channels. Each forward
carrier Channel contains one pilot, one synchronization Channel, up to seven paging Channels, and
a number of forward traffic Channels.
Some of the traffic Channels are designated as fundamental data Channel, supplementary data
Channel and mobile power control sub-Channel, depending on the nature of signaling and traffic
data carried by them.

Fig1. IS-95 Forward Channel structure

The pilot Channel (Channel 0):It is an un-modulated Channel that is spread by the Walsh-
HadamardcodeW_0. It is a continuous signal on a single Channel. This Channel allows the mobile
phone to acquire timing information, provides phase reference for the demodulation process, and
provides a means for signal strength comparison for the purpose of hand-off determination. The pilot
Channel consists of all logical zeros.
The sync Channel (Channel 32):It has low-rate data that is convolutionally encoded and interleaved
before being spread by the Walsh-HadamardcodeW_32, it is used with the pilot Channel to acquire
initial time synchronization. It is a 1200-bps Channel used by the mobile user to obtain identification
information about the system (system time, long-code state, protocol revision, etc.).
Fig2. Processing of IS-95 Forward Channels
The paging Channel (Channels 1 to 7): It has low rate data that is also encoded and interleaved.
Prior to being spread, the paging data is randomized with a scrambler that is specific to the mobile
user for which the page is intended. The data is then spread by Walsh-Hadamard code W_1-W_7
(for up to 7 paging Channels). The paging Channel provides system information and instructions to
the MSs. It may contain messages for one or more mobile users at the same time. When the MS is
to receive a call, it will receive a page from BS on an assigned paging Channel. There is no power
control for the paging Channel on a per-frame basis.
The forward traffic Channel (Channels 8 to 31 and 33 to 63): It is FEC encoded and interleaved
and then scrambled with a sequence that is specific to the intended mobile user, the signaling and
control bits are multiplexed with the forward traffic Channel which is meant for adjusting the power of
the mobile transmitter. The traffic Channel is then spread with an assigned Walsh-Hadamard
sequence that is orthogonal to all other Walsh-Hadamard codes. The forward Channel supports 55
traffic Channels. The traffic Channel supports data rates of up to 9600 bps in RSI and up to 14,400
bps in RS2.
All the forward logical Channels use the same bandwidth. The Walsh code is used to distinguish
among the different Channels which are the 64 orthogonal 64-bits codes derived from 64x64 Walsh
matrixes. To transfer the power-control information from the cell-site to the mobile user, power-
control bits are multiplexed with the traffic bits at a rate of 800 Hz.
The signals from each forward logical Channel (pilot, sync, paging and traffic) are modulo-2 added to
I and Q PN short-code sequences. Then I and Q spread signals are baseband filtered.
Fig3. Basic spreading procedure on the forward Channels in IS-95
Reverse Channel:The CDMA reverse Channel is fundamentally different from the forward Channel.
The reverse link supports up to 32 access Channels and up to 62 traffic Channels. The CDMA
reverse Channel employs OQPSK rather than the QPSK digital modulation scheme used in the
forward Channel.

Fig4. IS-95 Reverse Channel structure

An access Channel is meant for signaling and control information, on which mobile users
communicate short messages such as information on registration, call originations, and responses to
pages, or providing other data to the cell-site. The system includes many of these reverse Channel
random-access Channels. All the mobile users accessing a system share the same frequency
assignment. When any mobile user places a call, it uses the access Channel to inform the serving
base station. The access Channel is also used to respond to a page received from the base station.

Fig5. Access Channel processing in IS-95

Reverse traffic Channels carry the user speech or data. It is similar to the forward traffic Channel,
and is intended to transfer dedicated user data. The reverse traffic Channel supports variable-data-
rate operation. There are two sets of traffic-Channel data rates.

Fig6. CDMA Reverse traffic Channel processing

The modulation and scrambling of the chip sequence are very similar to their use in the forward
Channel, except for the use of offset-QPSK modulation. The near-constant envelope properties of
offset-QPSK make transmission more efficient for a power-limited mobile user. This is because
power control is more important on uplink than the downlink, in IS-95.

IS-95 forward link

The IS-95 forward link uses a form of modulation known as Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK).
This allows two bits per symbol to be transmitted and is therefore an efficient method of transmitting
the data.

The IS-95 forward link consists of a number of elements. There is the pilot channel and other further
channels each with their own functions. The pilot channel corresponds to the control channel in GSM
and enables the mobile to estimate the path loss and as a result of this to set its power level
accordingly. In addition to this there are other channels for paging, speech, data etc. The speech is
encoded using a voice encoder. Error correction is then applied to this data to enable it to be carried
even under poor conditions. This brings the data rate up to 19.2 kbps. The next stage in the generation
of the signal is to multiple the data by a Walsh code - the form of orthogonal code used to spread the
signal when generating the CDMA signal itself. As this is a 64 bit code, this multiplies the data rate by
64 to bring the overall data rate to 1.228 Mbps. This signal is then transmitted.