22 www.rfdesign.

com September 1999

W
i rel ess code di vi si on mul ti pl e ac-
cess (CDMA) networ k s, based
upon the I S-95 standard and protocol
devel oped by Qual comm, are bei ng de-
pl oyed, worl dwi de.
The harsh wi rel ess envi ronment, i n
whi ch these CDMA phones must co-
exi st wi th other mul ti -standard mobi l e
phones, i mpose tough system condi ti ons
on the radi o. These condi ti ons demand
a hi gh performance radi o RF front-end
and DSP back-end. Thi s i s especi al l y
appl i cabl e when tr yi ng to decode the
speech i nfor mati on pr esent i n a r e-
cei ved si gnal wi th a carri er-to-i nterfer-
ence rati on (C/I ) < 0 dB. Thi s arti cl e,
wi l l di scuss the mi ni mum RF standards
for the CDMA cel l ul ar mobi l e stati on
recei ver secti on. Such standards are de-
scri bed i n the TI A/EI A/I S-98-A i nteri m
standard document [1]. Understandi ng
these mi ni mum standards al l ows us to
deri ve mi ni mum measurabl e RF speci -
fi cati ons for the system l evel and bl ock
l evel performance of a CDMA cel l ul ar
radi o front-end.
An Overview of Direct Sequence
Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
The advantage of spr ead spectr um
systems i s that they provi de excel l ent
i mmuni ty to i nter fer ence and al l ow
tr ansmi ssi ons to be hi dden i n back-
ground noi se. I n CDMA systems, whi ch
are based on the DSSS techni que, the
desi r ed i nfor mati on car r i er i s modu-
l ated by a di gi tal code that i s r epr e-
sented by a pseudorandom noi se (PN)
sequence.
The PN code si gnal i s i ndependent of
the data, and i ts data r ate i s much
hi gher than the desi r ed i nfor mati on
data rate. As a resul t, the di gi tal code
si gnal has a bandwi dth much l ar ger
than the mi ni mum bandwi dth requi red
to tr ansmi t the i nfor mati on or the
baseband data for a di gi tal system.
Thi s act of modul ati ng the i nformati on
car r i er by a di gi tal
code wi th a mu ch
l arger data rate wi l l
resul t i n the spread-
i n g of th e car r i er .
Thi s bandwi dth can
be as l ar ge as th e
code s i gn a l ba n d-
wi dth
Th e s p r e a d i n g
wi dth depen ds on
the par ti cul ar type
of mod u l a t i on
empl oyed. Thi s can
be bi ph as e, qu ad-
r i p h a s e , or mi n i -
mum shi ft keyi ng [3,
Di x x on ] . At t h e
r ecei ver , despr ead-
i ng i s accompl i shed
by the cross-correl a-
ti on of the r ecei ved
spread si gnal wi th a
synchroni zed repl i ca
of t h e s p r e a d i n g
code.
I n a CDMA base stati on, and on the
down l i nk (from base stati on to mobi l e
stati on), the i nformati on from di fferent
users i s encoded wi th a di fferent di gi tal
codi ng si gnal or PN sequence.
Si nce these PN sequences ar e or -
thogonal to each other, and occupy the
same bandwi dth, ther e wi l l be mi n-
i mum cr oss-cor r el ati on, and hence,
mi n i mu m i n ter fer en ce. Th i s , ev en
though di fferent users spread si gnal s
are mul ti pl exed on top of each other at
the base stati ons transmi tter secti on.
The basics
I n any CDMA system desi gn, the
most commonl y used quanti ty i n de-
scr i bi ng or speci fyi ng thi s system i s
that of processi ng gai n. (Gp)
Fi gur e 1 shows a bl ock di agr am of
the baseband of a CDMA correl ator or
despreader. A CDMA system devel ops
i t s p r oce s s i n g ga i n t h r ou gh t h e
spreadi ng and despreadi ng operati on of
the i nfor mati on car r i er si gnal . The
CDMA si gnal , after bei ng downcon-
verted to baseband, i s fed to the i nput
of the CDMA cor r el ator al ong wi th
other i nterferi ng si gnal s. When the cor-
r el ator PN sequence matches the PN
s equ en ce embedded i n th e CDMA
si gnal , the desi red i nformati on si gnal
col l apses to i ts ori gi nal unspread band-
wi dth. Any unmatched i nput si gnal s
(recei ver noi se, CW jammi ng si gnal , or
other CDMA si gnal s not code synchro-
ni sed) are spread to a bandwi dth equal
to the PN codi ng sequence bandwi dth.
The di gi tal fi l ter, whi ch fol l ows the
despreader and has bandwi dth equal to
the i nfor mati on bandwi dth onl y, l ets
through onl y a secti on of the spread i n-
ter fer ence si gnal spectr um, but com-
pl etel y sel ects the desi red i nformati on.
As a r esul t, the i nter fer ence l evel at
the cor r el ator output, I
corr_out
i s r e-
duced, compar ed to i nter fer ence l evel
at the cor r el ator i nput, I
corr_in
by the
r ati o of the CDMA system tr ansmi s-
si on bandwi dth BW
RF
to the desi r ed
baseband data i nformati on rate, R
info
.
Al so, the carri er-to-i nterference rati o at
RF systemissues related to CDMA
receiver specifications
Figure 1. CDMA correlator.
A guideto thederivation of theessential RF front-end system level and block level
specificationsfor thereceiver section of a CDMA mobilestation.
Figure 2. Receiver sensivity.
Duplexer
RX
TX
PA
IF
LO
N
TX
N
O LNA
By Wal i d Y. Al i -Ahmad, Ph.D.
standards
BW
RF
BW
RF
I
CW
R
INFO
System noise
Information-
modulated carrier
Information-
modulated carrier
Spread CW
carrier interfacer
Digital
filtering
CW interference-
related noise
CDMA signal
Carrier
1.2288 Mcps
PN source
Filtered output
24 www.rfdesign.com September 1999
cor r el ator output, (C/ I )
corr_out
, i s i n-
creased, compared to, (C/I )
corr_in
at the
correl ator i nput, by the rati o of BW
RF
to
BW
I I NFO
. Hence, thi s rati o i s cal l ed pro-
cessi ng gai n (Gp) and i s gi ven as: (1)
Where: (2)
and: (3)
Si nce the correl ator output, after fi l -
teri ng, and the carri er and i nterference
have the same bandwi dth, we can wri te
the fol l owi ng: (4)
I t fol l ows that: (5)
E
b
/N
t
i s defi ned as the rati o of aver-
age ener gy per i nfor mati on bi t to the
effecti ve noi se power densi ty at the cor-
rel ator output. The noi se power densi ty
actual l y consi sts of both thermal noi se
and i nter fer ence fr om other jammi ng
sour ces. Wi th spr ead spectr um sys-
tems, i nterference i s transformed i nto
noi se i n the despreader. The term jam-
mi n g mar gi n (M
j
) i s u s ed, wh i ch
expr esses the capabi l i ty of a CDMA
system to per for m i n the pr esence of
jammi ng i nter fer ence.
M
j
tak es i nto account
the requi red E
b
/N
t
for a
par ti cul ar modul ati on
and codi ng scheme uti -
l i zed i n the system, and
a l l ow s f or s y s t e m
i mpl ementati on l osses
(Lsys), [3]: (6)
F u r t h e mor e , i t i s
i mpor tan t to di s cu s s
the reacti on of a di rect
sequence spr ead spec-
tr um system to a si n-
gl e - f r e q u e n cy CW
i nterference.
At fi r s t gl ance, we
mi ght consi der that a
CDMA system woul d
be mos t a f f ect ed by
other CDMA i nter fer -
ence. However, i n most
cases, thi s i s not true. I t
i s onl y true when there
i s h i gh cor r e l a t i on
between the i nterferi ng
CDMA si gnal and the
desi r ed CDMA si gnal .
Thi s i s because that the
wi der the bandwi dth of
the i nput i nter fer ence,
the wi der the si gnal at
the despreader output.
As a resul t, the i nterfer-
ence power densi ty at
the correl ator output i s
l ower . Ther efor e, l ess
power fal l s i n the corre-
l ator output di gi tal fi l -
ter , a n d l es s en s th e
e f f e ct of t h e CDMA
i nterferi ng si gnal on the system perfor-
mance. Consequentl y, we can pr edi ct
that the most effecti ve i nterference to a
CDMA system i s a narrow band si gnal ,
s u ch as a CW s i n gl e ton e. Th i s i s
because the power densi ty i n the corre-
l ator output, from a CW carri er, i s hi gh-
er than from wi de band si gnal s.
The CDMA equation
The r emai nder of thi s ar ti cl e wi l l
concentr ate on der i vati ons on the r e-
cei v er per for man ce r el ated to th e
For war d tr affi c channel . Thi s i s be-
cause one traffi c channel transports a
si ngl e user traffi c i nformati on, mai nl y
the encoded speech i nformati on.
The for war d CDMA channel , fr om
the base stati on to the mobi l e stati on,
contai ns one or mor e code channel s.
These ar e tr ansmi tted on the same
CDMA fr equ en cy as s i gn men t an d
share a common pi l ot PN code phase or
offset, r el ated to base stati on or cel l
sector assi gnment. These code channel s
consi st of a pi l ot channel , up to one
Sync channel , up to seven pagi ng chan-
nel s, and up to 63 tr affi c channel s.
Even though these channel s share the
same base stati on pi l ot PN code offset,
they ar e di sti ngui shed at the mobi l e
stati on recei ver by a set of 64 bi nary or-
thogonal PN codes based on Wal sh
functi ons.
The ful l speech i nfor mati on r ate,
R
I NFO,
at the output of the mobi l e sta-
ti on vocoder i s 9600 bps. The speech i n-
for mati on tr ansmi tted i s convol uti on-
al l y encoded to provi de the capabi l i ty of
error detecti on and correcti on at the re-
cei ver. I t i s al so i nterl eaved to combat
fast fadi ng, and scrambl ed for pri vacy.
Next, the encoded, i nter l eaved, and
scr ambl ed symbol s of a si ngl e user
traffi c channel are bi nary phase shi ft
keyi ng (BPSK) modul ated by an as-
si gned orthogonal Wal sh code and then
quadrature phase shi ft keyi ng (QPSK)
modul ated by a pai r of base stati on PN
codes. The fi nal data r ate of a si ngl e
user traffi c channel i s equal to the chi p-
pi ng rate of 1.2288 Mcps. At the output
of a base stati on/sector transmi tter, al l
traffi c channel s al ong wi th pi l ot, sync,
and pagi ng channel s ar e mul ti pl exed
on top of each other, and assi gned the
same r adi o channel fr equency. The
power i n each user s tr affi c channel
represents a fracti on of the total power
of the for war d CDMA channel . After
bei ng bandl i mi ted by a di gi tal fi l ter ,
the 3 dB bandwi dth, BW
RF
, of a CDMA
carri er or forward channel i s 1.23 MHz.
M G L
E
N
j p sys
b
t
= +

E
N
C
I
G
b
t
in
p =


( / ) _ C I
E R
N R
E
N
corr out
b INFO
t INFO
b
t
= =

( / ) ( / ) _ _ C I C I G corr out corr in p =

I
I
G
corr out
corr in
p
_
_
=
Gp
BW
R
RF
INFO
=
Figure 4. Cross-modulation phenomena.
TX
leakage
TX
leakage
LNA
Figure 5. Half
-
IF mixer spurious product.
2x2 product
Wanted
signal
LO
f
LO
f
1
f
RF
RF IF
Wanted
signal
Half-IF
Figure 3. Reciprocal mixing phenomena.
Wanted
signal
Offset
Offset
Wanted
signal
Wanted
signal
Wanted
signal
LO signal
LO
interference
RF IF
Single
tone jammer
Single
tone jammer
Single
tone jammer
Cross-modulation
interference
Single
tone jammer
o
I
N
f
RF
-f
IF
/2
26 www.rfdesign.com September 1999
I n th e cas e of a for war d CDMA
channel i nci dent on the mobi l e stati on
thr ough a si ngl e-path, we can defi ne
the recei ved spectral power of the for-
ward channel . Thi s i s measured at the
mobi l e stati ons antenna connector and
i s defi ned at 1.23 MHz (BW
RF
) as .
The transmi tted power spectral densi ty
of the for war d CDMA channel , mea-
sured at the base stati on antenna con-
nector, i s defi ned as I
or.
Therefore, si nce
a si ngl e tr affi c channel power r epr e-
sents a fr acti on of a for war d CDMA
channel power, the rati o of the average
tr ansmi t ener gy per PN chi p for the
for war d tr affi c channel to the total
transmi t forward channel power spec-
tral densi ty can be wri tten as:
Recal l th at at th e r ecei v er s de-
spreader output, the i nterference effect
of CW car r i er s and other wi deband
jammi ng si gnal s i s equi val ent to that of
a band-l i mi ted whi te noi se sour ce.
Hence, we can denote I
oc
as the power
spectral densi ty of a band-l i mi ted whi te
Gaussi an noi se sour ce si mul ati ng r e-
cei ver thermal noi se, CW jammi ng si g-
nal s, and other CDMA i nterferi ng si g-
nal s. Note that CDMA traffi c channel s
i n the same cel l are not consi dered as
wi deband i nter fer i ng si gnal s. Thi s i s
due to thei r PN Wal sh codes, theoreti -
cal l y, bei ng orthogonal to each other.
The recei ved forward CDMA channel
at the mobi l e stati on antenna i s fi l -
ter ed, ampl i fi ed, downconver ted, and
demodul ated i n the r ecei ver anal og
front-end. After cl ock recovery through
the pi l ot channel and fr ame synchr o-
ni zati on through the sync. channel , the
assi gned forward traffi c channel to the
user or mobi l e stati on i s decoded i n the
r ecei ver modem secti on.
Based on equati on (5), we
can wri te:
Note that:
i s defi ned as the rati o of average energy
per i n for mati on bi t i n th e Tr affi c
channel to the effecti ve noi se power
densi ty at the correl ator output. From
previ ous defi ni ti ons, the recei ved si ngl e
user for war d tr affi c channel power
spectral densi ty i s cal cul ated as:
As a r es u l t, th e r ecei v er CDMA
equ ati on for a s i n gl e u s er for war d
traffi c channel can be wri tten as:
I t fol l ows that: (7)
CDMA receiver sensitivity
and dynamic range
I n the I S-98-A i nteri m standard, the
RF r ecei ver sensi ti vi ty of the CDMA
cel l ul ar mobi l e stati on i s defi ned at the
mobi l e stati on antenna connector (see
Tabl e 1). I t i s equal to the mi ni mum re-
cei ved forward CDMA channel power,
, at whi ch the recei ver's frame error
rate (FER) does not exceed 0.5%. I n a
CDMA system, a fr ame has a basi c
ti mi ng i nterval of 20 ms. and consi sts of
the i nformati on on the traffi c channel
(voi ce or data), the access channel , and
the pagi ng channel . The i nfor mati on
l i nk between base stati on and mobi l e
stati on i s establ i shed on a fr ame-by-
frame basi s. Therefore, the CDMA mo-
bi l e stati on r ecei ver per for mance i s
eval uated on the basi s of FERs.
Test 1 speci fi es the mi ni mum r e-
qui red sensi ti vi ty for the recei ved for-
ward CDMA channel as equal to 104
dBm. As di scussed i n previ ous secti on,
the rati o:
speci fi es the power l evel of a si ngl e-
bear er tr affi c channel r el ati ve to the
total power l evel of the forward CDMA
channel , i n whi ch the traffi c channel i s
embedded. From Test 1 speci fi cati ons,
we can deduce that the mi ni mum r e-
qui red recei ver sensi ti vi ty for a si ngl e-
bearer traffi c channel i s:
whi ch i s equal to 119.6 dBm (cal cu-
l ati ng i n dB). For such sensi ti vi ty, the
recei ver FER wi l l be 0.5%. I n order to
use the CDMA equati on (equati on 7),
we need to fi nd the correspondi ng:
i n or der to achi eve a FER 0.5%. I n
the recei ver sensi ti vi ty case, there are
two sour ces of i nter fer ence that ar e
pur el y whi te Gaussi an noi se, the r e-
cei ver 's i nput r efer r ed ther mal noi se
power spectr al densi ty N
o
, and the
transmi tter's thermal noi se power spec-
tr al densi ty i n the r ecei ve fr equency
band, N
TX
(see Fi gur e 2). N
o
i s deter -
mi ned by the r ecei ver 's noi se fi gur e
(NF), and N
TX
i s deter mi ned by the
amount of transmi tter's output thermal
noi se l eaki ng to the mobi l e stati on re-
cei ver 's i nput thr ough the dupl exer .
The I S-98-A standard speci fi es that the
mi ni mum:
that i s requi red for a 0.5% FER shoul d
be 4.5 dB, assumi ng a ful l speech i n-
formati on rate of 9600 bps, usi ng BPSK
data modul ati on (Tabl e 9.3.3.3-1 i n [1]).
A typi cal PA output ther mal noi se
power spectr al densi ty i n the r ecei ve
f r e qu e n cy ba n d i s -135 d Bm/H z .
Assumi ng a mi ni mum -43 dB attenua-
ti on through the dupl exer from TX to
antenna i nput i n the recei ve band, N
TX
can be cal cul ated as -178 dBm/Hz at
the mobi l e stati on antenna connector.
I f we add 2 dB of mar gi n to the r e-
qui red:
thi s i mpr oves the mi ni mum r equi r ed
recei ver sensi ti vi ty from 104 dBm to
106 dBm. Usi ng CDMA equati on (7)
Traffic
E
N
b
t
Traffic
E
N
b
t
Traffic
E
N
b
t
I
Traffic
or
E
I
c
or
Traffic E
I
c
or

Ior
Traffic
E
N
Traffic
G
I
I
b
t
p
oc
or
=

E
I
c
or
Traffic
E
N
Traffic
I
I
G
b
t
or
oc
p =

E
I
c
or
C
TrafficE
I
I in
c
or
or =
Traffic E
N
b
t
Traffic C
I
G
in
p
E
N
b
t
=


Traffic Ec
or I

Ior
Parameter Units Test 1 Test 2
dBm/1.23MHz -104 -25
dB -15.6
Traffic E
I
c
or

Ior
Table 1. Minimum requirements for receiver rensitivity and dynamic range.
Figure 6. Third-order intermodulation products in a receiver.
Wanted
signal
Wanted
signal
IM3
interferer
LO
RF IF
2f
2
-
f
1
-f
LO
2f
1
-
f
2
-f
LO
f
2
-
f
LO
f
1
-
f
LO
f
RF
f
1
f
2
28 www.rfdesign.com September 1999
i n dB, we can wri te: (8)
Knowi ng that:
6.5 dB
and:
= -15.6 dB
and:
and: = 104 dBm, we deduce fr om
(8) that 105 dBm (i n 1.23MHz).
Si nce we know that thi s equi val ent
whi te noi se i nterference source, I
oc,
con-
si sts of r ecei ver 's ther mal noi se and
transmi tter's thermal noi se i n the re-
cei ve band, we can wr i te, i n l i near
form: (9)
We deduce that N
o
shoul d not exceed
166.2 dBm/Hz. We know that the re-
cei ver ther mal noi se power spectr al
densi ty (i n 1 Hz BW) can be wri tten, i n
l i near for m, as N
o
=K

NF
RX
(10). I f
we wri te equati on 10 i n dB, we can al so
sol ve for recei ver noi se fi gure (NF
RX
) as:
As, for the requi red sensi ti vi ty, we cal -
cul ated that N
o
-166.2 dBm/Hz. As a
resul t, the requi red CDMA mobi l e sta-
ti on r ecei v er n oi s e fi gu r e (NFRX)
shoul d not exceed 7.8 dB i n or der to
meet the mi ni mum r equi r ed sensi -
ti vi ty, speci fi ed i n test 1 of tabl e 1, wi th
2 dB of margi n.
Test 2 of Tabl e 1 speci fi es the hi gh
end of the CDMA r ecei ver mi ni mum
dynami c range, (FER 0.5%), as mea-
sur ed at the mobi l e stati on antenna
connector. I n the actual mobi l e stati on
des i gn , th e r ecei v er i s des i gn ed to
h an dl e a r ecei v ed for war d CDMA
channel power l evel hi gher than the one
speci fi ed i n the standards document.
Test 1 and Test 2 defi nes a mi ni mum
dynami c range of 81 dB (-104 dBm -25
dBm). Si nce the i nformati on data i n a
CDMA system i s bi -phase modul ated,
the r esul tant modul ated si gnal enve-
l ope i s non-constant (a typi cal peak-to-
aver age r ati o for a for war d CDMA
channel i s 10dB). As a resul t, for proper
recei ved si gnal detecti on and demodu-
l ati on , th e mobi l e s tati on r ecei v er
shoul d stay l i near under the al l owabl e
r ecei ved si gnal i nput power r ange. A
typi cal CDMA mobi l e stati on recei ver,
desi gned for a 90 dB dynami c r ange,
wi l l have a gai n control of over 90 dB.
I n a typi cal CDMA recei ver desi gn, the
mi xer i nput 1-dB compressi on poi nt i s
the mai n system l i mi ter , fr om a l i n-
eari ty poi nt of vi ew, for hi gh l evel re-
cei ved si gnal s (-30 dbm to -20 dBm).
I n order to resol ve thi s probl em and
for pr acti cal mi xer desi gn, the fr ont-
end LNA needs to have ei ther a l i near
gai n contr ol over 15 dB of r ange or a
l ow-gai n mode wi th a gai n r educti on
between 15 dB to 20 dB step.
CDMA receiver single tone
desensitization
As defi ned i n the I S-98-A standard,
the si ngl e tone desensi ti zati on i s a
measure of the recei ver's abi l i ty to re-
cei ve a CDMA si gnal , at i ts assi gned
channel frequency, i n the presence of a
si ngl e tone spaced at a gi ven offset fre-
quency fr om the CDMA si gnal center
frequency (Tabl e 2).
Under the condi ti ons set i n Tabl e 2,
the r ecei ver (FER) shoul d not exceed
1%. The I S-98-A standard speci fi es that
at the recei ver's correl ator output, the
mi ni mum
that i s requi red for a 1% FER shoul d be
4.3 dB, assumi ng a ful l speech i nfor-
mati on rate of 9600 bps and usi ng BPSK
data modul ati on (Tabl e 9.3.3.3-1 i n [1]).
As was done for the recei ver sensi -
ti vi ty case, a 1.5 dB margi n i s added to
the requi red:
for opti mum recei ver performance.
Usi ng test parameters speci fi ed i n
tabl e I I and knowi ng that
5.8 dB, we can use equati on (8) to cal -
cul ate the al l owabl e I
oc
. Thi s represents
the power i n 1.23MHz of a band-l i mi ted
whi te noi se source si mul ati ng i nterfer-
ence at mobi l e stati on antenna con-
nector. The equi val ent whi te noi se i n-
ter fer ence sour ce, I
oc
consi sts of the
recei ver's thermal noi se (N
o
), the trans-
mi tter's thermal noi se i n the recei ver
band (N
TX
), and the equi val ent i n-band
i nter fer ence component due to the
si ngl e-tone jammer (I
st
). Hence, we can
w r i t e , i n l i n e a r f or m,
I
oc
=I
s t
+(N
o
+N
TX
)l BW
RF
(11). Th e r e-
sul ti ng I
oc
shoul d be 101.3 dBm (i n
1.23MHz BWRF). N
o
i s set by the re-
cei ver noi se fi gur e for r ecei ved l ow
CDMA si gnal l evel s.
I f we choose NF
RX
equal to 7.8 dB as
cal cul ated previ ousl y, thi s sets N
o
to -
166.2 dBm/Hz (equati on 10). N
TX
i s
equal to -178 dBm/Hz, as defi ned i n
pr evi ous secti on. Fr om equati on (11),
w e d e d u ce t h a t I
s t
- 1 0 3 . 7
dBm/1.23MHz.
Note that I
st
i s the equi val ent i nter-
ference l evel referred to the recei ver's
i nput due to si ngl e-tone jammer . The
si ngl e-tone i nter fer er nor mal l y comes
fr om near by anal og cel l ul ar base sta-
ti on s , wh i ch tr an s mi t n ar r owban d
AMPS si gnal s (30kHz BW, compared to
CDMA si gnal s wi th 1230k Hz BW).
I nsi de the mobi l e stati on recei ver front-
end, the si ngl e-tone jammer generates
two i nter fer i ng components, whose
l evel s add up to I
st
, when r efer r ed to
the recei ver's i nput,
As seen i n fi gure 3, the fi rst i nterfer-
ence component caused by the si ngl e-
tone jammer resul ts from the reci procal
mi xi ng phenomena. I t i s denoted by
I
RMXG
. I t occur s when the for war d r e-
cei ved CDMA channel si gnal suffer s
from i nterference due to recei ver UHF
VCO phase noi se (
N
) mi xi ng wi th the
si ngl e tone jammer and getti ng down-
converted to I F. Thi s noi se i s defi ned at
th e fr equ en cy offs et, equ al to th e
wanted si gnal to si ngl e tone jammer
frequency separati on [4].
The second i nter fer ence component
caused by the si ngl e-tone jammer r e-
sul ts fr om the cr oss-modul ati on phe-
nomena (Fi gur e 4); i t i s denoted by
I
XMOD
. I t occurs when the envel ope mod-
u l ati on of th e tr an s mi t TX power
l eak age, fr om th e power ampl i fi er
ou tpu t to th e r ecei v er L NA i n pu t
through dupl exer i sol ati on, gets cross-
modul ated on the si ngl e-tone jammer i n
the recei ver's front-end 3rd-order non-
l i neari ti es. The probl em occurs mai nl y
i n the fr ont-end l ow noi se ampl i fi er
(LNA), assumi ng that the BPF that fol -
l ows the LNA fi l ters out the TX l eakage
si gnal . Cr oss-modul ati on i n the LNA
wi l l generate an i n-band i nterference to
the r ecei ved for war d CDMA channel
si gnal , at the LNA output [4,5].
Tabl e 2 cal l s for a frequency offset of
900k H z be t we e n t h e s i n gl e t on e
j ammer fr equ en cy an d th e CDMA
si gnal center fr equency. A ul tr a hi gh
Traffic
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NF dB N K T N dBm Hz RX o o o ( )= - ( )= - - ( ) 10 174 log /

I N N BW oc o TX RF = + ( )

Ior
G
BW
R
M cps
p
RF
INFO
= = = ( )= 10 10
12288
9600
10 128 211 log log
.
log .
bps
dB
TrafficE
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or

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R
I I
RF
INFO
or oc
E
N
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I
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= + + - 10log
30 www.rfdesign.com September 1999
frequency (UHF) vol tage control l ed os-
ci l l ator (VCO) used for CDMA mobi l e
stati on radi os has a typi cal phase noi se
of -137 dBc/Hz at 900 kHz offset. The
r eci pr ocal mi xi ng i nter fer ence compo-
nent I
RMXG
, referred to recei ver i nput i s
I
RMXG
=P
st
+

(12), wher e

i s the
i ntegr ated phase noi se, i n dBc, over
1.23MHz cen ter ed at 900 k Hz [ 4] .
Assumi ng that the VCO phase noi se
fol l ows a typi cal 1/f
2
characteri sti c over
the 285 kHz to 1515 kHz frequency off-
sets (outsi de the PLL l oop BW), we can
deduce by i ntegrati on that

= -75.6
dBc. We know that P
st
i s equal to -30
dBm at the r ecei ver i nput, ther efor e
I
RMXG
= 105.6 dBm (i n 1.23 MHz).
Fr om pr ev i ou s di s cu s s i on , we al s o
know that the referred i nput i nterfer-
ence due to si ngl e tone jammer, I
st
, con-
si sts of the r eci pr ocal mi xi ng compo-
nent I
RMXG
and the cr oss-modul ati on
component I
XMOD
(i n l i near for m, I
st
=
I
RMXG
+ I
XMOD
). Havi ng cal cul ated previ -
ousl y that I
RMXG
= 105.6 dBm/1.23
MHz and I st 103.7 dBm/1.23MHz,
w e con cl u d e t h a t I
s t
1 0 8 . 2
dBm/1.23MHz (r efer r enced to the r e-
cei ver i nput).
The cross-modul ati on phenomena i n
CDMA systems has been si mul ated i n
[6], and an equati on has been gener -
ated i n order to esti mate the cross-mod-
ul ati on pr oduct i n cel l ul ar and PCS
CDMA systems.
For a cel l ul ar CDMA system and as-
sumi ng that al l cross-modul ati on hap-
pens i n the LNA, we can cal cul ate that
the cr oss-modul ati on component r e-
ferred to LNA i nput as: (13)
P
TX
i s the transmi t l eakage power l evel
at LNA i nput and I I P
3_LNA
i s the LNA
3
rd
order i nput i ntercept poi nt. As we
can see from thi s equati on, i t i s si mi l ar
to the 3rd order i ntermodul ati on prod-
ucts equati on wi th the -3 dB factor at
the end. Thi s i s due to the fact that hal f
of the cross-modul ati on products occur
i n-band and the other hal f occurs out-
of-band.
I n CDMA systems, the power ampl i -
fi er output power i s +28 dBm when the
mobi l e stati on i s recei vi ng cl ose prox-
i mi ty CDMA si gnal s. A typi cal RX-TX
dupl exer i sol ati on i s -58 dB, resul ti ng i n
a P
TX
at the LNA i nput of -30 dBm. The
si ngl e tone jammer l evel at LNA i nput,
P
st_LNA
, i s equal to -33 dBm, assumi ng a
typi cal -3 dB dupl exer i nser ti on l oss.
Al so, as cal cul ated ear l i er , the cr oss-
modul ati on product l evel , when referred
to LNA i nput, I
XMOD_LNA
, shoul d not ex-
ceed -111.2 dBm/1.23MHz i n order for
the recei ver to meet the requi red perfor-
mance at correl ator output:
5.8 dB. We then deduce, fr om the
l ast equati on, that the LNA 3
r d
or der
i nput i ntercept, I I P
3_LNA
+7.6 dBm.
CDMA receiver desensitization to
-IF spurious response
I n some CDMA systems, especi al l y
i n the PCS, band where the recei vers
RF b a n d w i d t h i s 6 0 MH z w i d e ,
choosi ng a l ow I F r ecei ver fr equency
ca n r e s u l t i n t h e -I F s p u r i ou s
pr obl em. Thi s occur s when a si ngl e
tone jammer, whi ch i s l yi ng i nsi de the
r ecei ver RF bandwi dth, i s hal fway i n
the fr equency between the desi r ed
CDMA si gnal and the UHF l ocal osci l -
l ator (see Fi gur e 5). The si ngl e tone
jammer wi l l be down-converted to I F i n
th e (2x 2) mi x er s pu r i ou s pr odu ct,
whi ch acts as an i n-band i nterferer to
the wanted si gnal at the I F output [4,
Razavi ].
I n thi s case the equi val ent whi te
noi se i nterference source, I
oc
, consi sts of
recei ver's thermal noi se (N
o
), transmi t-
ter's thermal noi se i n the recei ver band
(N
TX
), and equi val ent i n-band i nterfer-
ence component due to -I F spuri ous
mi xer pr oduct (I
st
). Thi s i s val i d be-
cause the desi red CDMA si gnal i s onl y
3 dB above the mi ni mum recei ver sen-
si ti vi ty l evel . I f we fol l ow the same cal -
cul ati on methodol ogy used i n the pre-
vi ous secti on (for cross-modul ati on and
reci procal mi xi ng) and assume a 1 dB
margi n for:
5.3 dB), we can deduce that I
st
-102.9 dBm/1.23MHz. Note that I
st
i s
the equi val ent i nter fer ence l evel r e-
fer r ed to the r ecei ver 's i nput due to
si ngl e-tone jammer.
A typi cal cascaded gai n between an-
tenna connector to mi xer i nput i s equal
7 dB. As a resul t, the si ngl e-tone l evel at
mi xer i nput P
st_MXR
i s equal to -23 dBm.
Al so, the requi red equi val ent -I F spu-
ri ous product l evel at the mi xer i nput i s
-95.9 dBm/1.23MHz. Hence, i n the
mi xer, we need a (2x2) spuri ous product
suppressi on
-I F
73 dBc. I n an acti ve
mi xer, the (2x2) spuri ous product sup-
pressi on can be rel ated the 2nd order i n-
tercept poi nt of the mi xer (I I P
2_MXR
). We
can cal cul ate the requi red mi xer I I P
2_MXR
wi th the fol l owi ng equati on:
=I I P
2_MXR
+50 dBm [7].
CDMA receiver intermodulation
spurious response attenuation
The i ntermodul ati on response atten-
uati on i s a measur e of a r ecei ver 's
abi l i ty to recei ve a CDMA si gnal on i ts
assi gned channel frequency i n the pres-
ence of two i nterferi ng CW tones. These
tone ar e separ ated fr om the assi gned
channel frequency and from each other
such that the 3r d-or der i nter modul a-
ti on product of the two i nterferi ng CW
tones, whi ch occur s i n the r ecei ver 's
odd order non-l i neari ti es, produces an
i n-band i nter fer i ng si gnal to the de-
si red CDMA si gnal (Fi gure 6). I S-98-A
standar d cal l s for thr ee test cases of
di ffer ent two-tone l evel s and desi r ed
CDMA si gnal l evel , under whi ch the re-
cei ver FER shoul d not exceed 1%. I t i s
val i d to assume that i n al l these test
cases that the recei ver 3rd-order non-
l i neari ty i s the most domi nant source of
3r d-or der i nter modul ati on pr oducts
[4,7].
Thi s arti cl e wi l l onl y deri ve the re-
qui r ed r ecei ver 3r d or der i nput (I I P
3
)
for the smal l two-tone l evel and l arge
two-tone l evel cases. The reader i s en-
couraged to fol l ow the same cal cul ati on
methodol ogy to deri ve the recei ver I I P
3
for the medi um two-tone l evel case.
I n both test cases, the two-tone fre-
quency separati on i s 800 kHz and the
cl osest CW i nter fer i ng tone i s ei ther
900 kHz above or 900 kHz bel ow the
CDMA si gnal center frequency. As a re-
sul t, the 3r d-or der i nter modul ati on
pr oduct wi l l be i n the desi r ed CDMA
IIP =P + 2_M XR st_M XR 1/2-IF
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I dBm P P IIP XM OD LNA TX st LNA LNA _ _ _ ( )= + - - 2 2 3 3
Parameter Units Test 1 Test 2
Tone offset from Carrier kHz -900 +900
Tone Power (Pst) dBm -30
dBm/1.23MHz -101
dB -15.6
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Table 2. Minimum requirements for single tone desensitization.
32 www.rfdesign.com September 1999
si gnal band, ei ther 100 kHz above or
100 kHz bel ow the si gnal center fr e-
quency, respecti vel y.
I n the smal l two-tone l evel 's case, the
equi val ent whi te noi se i nter fer ence
source consi sts of the recei ver's thermal
noi se (N
o
), the tr ansmi tter 's ther mal
noi se i n the r ecei ver band (N
TX
), and
equi val ent i n-band i nterference compo-
nent due to 3rd-order i ntermodul ati on
product (I
I M3
). I f we fol l ow the same cal -
cul ati on methodol ogy used i n the pre-
vi ous secti on (for cross-modul ati on and
reci procal mi xi ng) and assume a 1.5 dB
margi n for requi red
5.8 dB, we can cal cu l ate th at I
oc
s h ou l d n ot ex ceed -101.3 dBm (i n
1.23MHz BWRF). We can wr i te, i n
l i near form: (14)
I n the smal l two-tone l evel case, the
CDMA desi red si gnal l evel i s onl y 3 dB
above the mi ni mum recei ver sensi ti vi ty
l evel . Hence, we can assume that N
o
i s
set by the recei ver noi se fi gure. I f we
choose N
FRX
equal to 7.8 dB, thi s sets N
o
to -166.2 dBm/Hz (equati on 10). N
TX
i s
equal to -178 dBm/Hz, al so as defi ned
i n the previ ous secti on. From equasi on
14, we deduce that
I
I M3
-103.7 dBm/1.23MHz, referrenced
to the r ecei ver s i nput. Knowi ng that
P
st1
=P
st2
=-43 dBm, the 3
r d
-or der i nter -
modul ati on spuri ous response attenua-
ti on
I M3
60.7 dB. The recei ver i nput
I P3 i s cal cul ated wi th the fol l owi ng
equati on: (15)
The requi red recei ver I nput I P3 shoul d
be -12.7 dBm, for the smal l two-tone
l evel case.
I n the l arge two-tone l evel 's case, the
equi val ent whi te noi se i nter fer ence
source i s total l y di ctated by the equi va-
l ent i n-band i nter fer ence component
du e to 3r d-or der i n ter modu l ati on
product (I
I M3
). Thi s i s because the de-
si red CDMA si gnal l evel i s 25 dB above
the mi ni mum recei ver sensi ti vi ty l evel .
Si mi l a r l y , i f we a s s u me a 1.5 dB
margi n for
5.8 dB,
we can cal cul ate that I
I M3
, whi ch i s
equal to I
oc
, shoul d not exceed -79.3
dBm/1.23MHz, referred to the recei ver
i n p u t ( 79 d Bm i n th i s ca s e).
Knowi ng that P
st1
= P
st2
= -21 dBm, the
3
rd
-order i ntermodul ati on spuri ous re-
sponse attenuati on
I M3
58.3 dB. The
requi red recei ver i nput, I P3 shoul d ex-
ceed +8.15 dBm, for the l arge two-
tone l evel case.
The previ ous two-tone l evel test cases
i ndi cate that the CDMA recei ver needs
to have a mi ni mum of two di fferent l i n-
ear i ty modes. As di scussed i n the r e-
cei ver dynami c r ange secti on, thi s i s
achi eved by usi ng ei ther a stepped gai n
LNA or a vari abl e gai n LNA.
Summary
A thorough understandi ng of system
l evel and bl ock l evel speci fi cati ons,
based on the I S-98-A CDMA standard,
i s essenti al for desi gni ng a hi gh perfor-
mance CDMA mobi l e stati on recei ver.
RF system i ssues rel ated to CDMA
recei vers, l i ke reci procal mi xi ng, cross-
modul ati on, and -I F spur i ous r e-
sponse need to be consi der ed i n any
CDMA recei ver's system desi gn.
I t i s hoped that the r eader wi l l be
abl e to appl y the theory and concepts
devel oped i n thi s arti cl e, to ai d them i n
effi ci entl y devel opi ng practi cal systems.
References
1 . Re comme n d e d Mi n i mu m
Performance Standards for Dual -Mode
Wi deband Spr ead Spectr um Cel l ul ar
Mobi l e Stati ons , TI A/ EI A/ I S-98-A
I nterimStandard, Jul y 1996.
2 . Re comme n d e d Mi n i mu m
Per for mance Requi r ements for 1.8 to
2.0GHz Code Di vi si on Mul ti pl e Access
Per sonal Stati ons, TI A/ EI A/ J -STD-
018I nterimStandard.
3. R. Di xon, Spr ead Spectr um
Systems with Commercial Applications;
John Wi l ey & Sons, I nc., 1994.
4. B. Razavi , RF Microelectronics,
Prenti ce Hal l , 1998.
5. R. G. Meyer et al ., Cross <modu-
l a t i on a n d I n t e r mod u l a t i on i n
Ampl i fi ers at Hi gh Frequenci es, I EEE
J ournal of Solid-StateCircuits, vol . SC-
7, No. 1, pp. 16-23, February 1972.
6. R. Moh i n dr a , Pa r t 1: Cr os s
Modu l a ti on a n d L i n ea r i za ti on i n
CDMA Mobi l e Phone Tr anscei ver s,
Wi r el ess Symposi um/ Por tabl e by
Desi gn Conference Di gest, San Jose,
Cal i forni a, Spri ng 1999.
7. P. Vi zmul l er , RF Design Guide,
Norwood, MA; Artech House, 1995.

Ior
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IIP dBm Pst
IM
( )= +
3
2
I I N N BW oc IM o TX RF = + + ( ) 3
Traffic
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t
Parameter Units Test 1 Test 2
Tone 1 offset from Carrier kHz -900 +900
Tone 1 Power (Pst1) dBm -43
Tone 2 offset from Carrier kHz -1700 +1700
Tone Power (Pst2) dBm -43
dBm/1.23MHz -101
dB -15.6
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Table 3. Minimum requirements for intermodulation spurious response attenuation (Small two-tone
level).
Parameter Units Test 1 Test 2
Tone 1 offset from Carrier kHz -900 +900
Tone 1 Power (Pst1) dBm -21
Tone 2 offset from Carrier kHz -1700 +1700
Tone Power (Pst2) dBm -21
dBm/1.23MHz -79
dB -15.6
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Table 4. Minimum requirements for intermodulation spurious response attenuation
(Large two-tone level).
About the author
Wal i d Y. Al i -Achmad, Ph.D, works
for Maxi m i n Sunnyval e, CA. He can
be reached at 408-737-7600 or by e-
ma i l a t wal i d_al i -ahmad
@ccmail.mxim.com