Radio network design and multiple access for airport surface traffic automation

A radio communications network design supporting airport surface traffic automation (ASTA) using global positioning system (GPS) data is considered. The emphasis is on spectrally efficient channel access schemes taking into account traffic characteristics. The bandwidth requirements of two time-domain-based multiple access schemes and code division multiple access (CDMA) are analyzed. In the case of CDMA, both a single base station and multiple base stations are considered. It is shown that the use of multiple base stations can significantly improve the total system capacity for a fixed bandwidth. To obtain specific results, it is assumed that the CDMA system employs convolutional forward error correction and operates in a Rayleigh fading channel.