Old standard, new use [CDMA for ad hoc networking

Abstract

The article considers whether CDMA, the old cellular standard, is ready to take on the fresh waves of ad hoc networking. Wireless ad hoc networks are truly wireless: unlike other so-called wireless technologies - such as cellular or wireless local area networks (WLANs) - they do not rely on a wired infrastructure at any point on their configurations. Instead, pure radio waves are used to link all devices belonging to the network. This particular characteristic sets ad hot networks apart from their cellular or WLAN counterparts, both of which work by forming 'cells' or 'hotspots' around wired nodes known as base stations or access points, respectively. The current ad hoc mode in IEEE 802.11 uses carrier sense multiple access (CSMA), which was simply adopted from wired Ethernet (IEEE 802.2 and 802.3). CDMA's reduced delay, reduced overhead and increased interference robustness over CSMA make it a very attractive for ad hoc networking. However, there are several design issues that have to be resolved and the article indicates possible solutions to them.