Distributed code assignments for CDMA packet radio networks

Abstract

Code-division multi-access (CDMA) techniques allow many users to transmit simultaneously in the same band without substantial interference by using approximately orthogonal (low cross-correlation) spread-spectrum waveforms. Two-phase algorithms have been devised to assign and reassign spread-spectrum codes to transmitters, to receivers and to pairs of stations in a large dynamic packet radio network in polynomial times. The purpose of the code assignments is to spatially reuse spreading codes to reduce the possibility of packet collisions and to react dynamically to topological changes. These two-phase algorithms minimize the time complexity in the first phase and minimize the number of control packets needed to be exchanged in the second phase. Therefore, they can start the network operation in a short time, then switch to the second phase with the goal of adapting to topological changes. A pairwise code-assignment scheme is proposed to assign codes to edges. Simulations based on well-controlled topologies (sparse topologies) show that the scheme requires much fewer codes than transmitter-based code assignment, while maintaining similar throughput performance. >