Extended-TDMA a high capacity evolution of US digital cellular

The analog cellular systems of many major metropolitan areas are nearing saturation. Capacity relief could be provided by cell splitting and microcells, but current technology and real estate prices make this prohibitively expensive. IS-54, the time division multiple access (TDMA) cellular standard developed by the Telecommunication Industry Association offers temporary relief by increasing, by a factor of three, the number of calls handled by each radio channel. Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA), proposed by Hughes Network Systems, increases capacity by combing digital speech interpolation with low bit rate speech coding, thus enabling cellular systems to serve dense, in-building applications. The paper describes E-TDMA operational principles, computes the call handling capability of each radio channel, and explains the advantages of standards-based evolution to high capacity digital cellular