Cyclic-prefix CDMA: an improved transmission method for broadband DS-CDMA cellular systems

This paper describes a novel type of single-carrier DS-CDMA system that combines the use of OFDM-style cyclic prefixes with frequency-domain equalization, for use on the forward link of broadband CDMA cellular systems. The proposed method is referred to as CP-CDMA. The combination of cyclic prefixes and MMSE frequency-domain equalization solves many of the performance and complexity problems that arise in CDMA receivers when techniques such as multi-level modulation and full code usage are employed. Simulation results are presented for a 20 MHz system with multi-level modulation and these results are compared to the performance of a conventional CDMA system with either a RAKE receiver or a time-domain equalizer. Results indicate that CP-CDMA provides significantly improved performance, yet has lower complexity than the time-domain equalized system.