IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 57, NO.
6, NOVEMBER 2008
Two-Layer Spreading CDMA: An Improved Method
for Broadband Uplink Transmission
Xiaoming Peng, Member, IEEE, Khiam-Boon Png, Member, IEEE, Zhongding Lei, Senior Member, IEEE,
Francois Chin, Senior Member, IEEE, and Chi Chung Ko, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper proposes and investigates a novel code-
division multiple-access (CDMA) system. This two-layer spread-
ing CDMA (TLS-CDMA) system can combat multiple-access
interference (MAI) and multipath interference (MPI) simulta-
neously and effectively in a multiuser scenario over frequency-
selective fading channels. Moreover, a two-layer cell-specific
scrambling code is proposed for the TLS-CDMA system in the
uplink transmission to efficiently suppress other-cell interference
(OCI) in a multicell environment. The proposed TLS-CDMA
system allows the two-layer spreading factors to be adapted to the
cell structure, the channel conditions, and the number of active
users to support variable data rate transmission among multiple
users. The superior performance of the TLS-CDMA system over
other uplink transmission systems, such as cyclic prefix CDMA
(CP-CDMA) and multicarrier CDMA (MC-CDMA), is also illus-
trated using performance analysis and simulation results.
Index Terms—Code division multiple access (CDMA), cyclic
prefix CDMA (CP-CDMA), multicarrier CDMA (MC-CDMA),
multipath interference (MPI), multiple-access interference (MAI),
two-layer spreading, uplink transmission.
I. I NTRODUCTION
D IRECT sequence code division multiple access (DS-
CDMA) is an effective wireless access technology for
supporting variable and high data rate transmission services
and has been adopted in third-generation wireless communica-
tions systems [1]. However, the DS-CDMA system may suffer
from severe multipath interference (MPI) and multiple-access
interference (MAI) when the chip rate increases in high data
rate wireless broadband applications. Zhou et al. [2], [3] have
proposed CDMA with chip interleaving to remove MAI over
frequency-selective fading channels. However, MPI and other-
cell interference (OCI) are still not suppressed efficiently.
Multicarrier CDMA (MC-CDMA) [4], [5], which is a combi-
nation of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)
and CDMA, has recently attracted a lot of attention. In MC-
CDMA, the data symbol to be transmitted is spread over
a number of subcarriers so that a frequency-diversity gain
can be attained by using coherent frequency-domain equal-
Manuscript received August 22, 2006; revised October 31, 2007 and January 5,
2008. First published March 3, 2008; current version published November 12,
2008. The review of this paper was coordinated by Dr. K. T. Wong.
X. Peng, K.-B. Png, Z. Lei, and F. Chin are with the Institute for Infocomm
Research (I2 R), Singapore 138632 (e-mail: pengxiaoming@ieee.org).
C. C. Ko is with the National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TVT.2008.919605
0018-9545/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
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3563
ization (FDE) [5]. Furthermore, a time–frequency localized
CDMA (TFL-CDMA) system, which spreads in both time
and frequency domains, has been proposed to reduce MAI
through utilizing the channel correlation in both domains [6].
Similarly, time- and frequency-domain spreading in orthogonal
frequency code division multiplexing has been investigated in
downlink transmission [7], [8]. Another multicarrier multiple-
access scheme, known as OFDM access (OFDMA), divides
subcarriers into different groups to deliver information for
different users [9], [10]. However, multicarrier schemes suffer
from a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) problem and
are sensitive to frequency offset and RF phase noise, which are
not desirable for uplink transmission. UP-OFDMA described
in [10] addresses the issue of the PAPR and has higher band-
width efficiency when the channel length is large but requires
polyphase spreading, which leads to higher computational com-
plexity at the transmitter.
Cyclic prefix CDMA (CP-CDMA), on the other hand, in-
corporates the concept of using cyclic prefix in a CDMA
system and enables the efficient implementation of FDE at
the receiver [11]–[13]. It has the capability to combat severe
multipath fading channel and, as a broadband cellular system,
can support full code usage and high-order modulation [e.g.,
16 quadratic-amplitude modulation (QAM) and 64QAM] in
downlink transmission. Chipwise FDE is required, and all users
are synchronized and share the same channel. However, system
performance may be considerably degraded in typical uplink
transmission, where users are asynchronous and operate under
different channels. To maintain its performance, an efficient
multiuser detection algorithm with high computational com-
plexity is, therefore, required [14].
Recently, cyclic extended block spread CDMA (CEBS-
CDMA), which is a variant of CP-CDMA, has been proposed
to combat MAI more effectively with simplified symbol-wise
FDE at the receiver [15]. Such a block transmission structure
can be seen as a result of performing chip interleaving, as in [2]
and [3]. MAI removal is achieved at the price of not being able
to effectively suppress MPI over the frequency-selective fading
channel.
In this paper, we extend the research in [15] and [16] and
propose a two-layer spreading CDMA (TLS-CDMA) scheme
that places the codewords over the time–frequency grid to
reduce the difference in the scaling of the codewords according
to the channel propagation conditions, such as delay spread
and Doppler spread. As a result, it is capable of combating
MAI and MPI simultaneously and effectively. In addition, two-
layer cell-specific scrambling is also proposed to efficiently
3564 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 57, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2008

Fig. 1. Proposed TLS-CDMA system. (a) Transceiver structure. (b) Packet structure for the spreading and the scrambling in the two layers. (c) Data structure
after the insertion of the cyclic extension and the parallel-to-serial conversion.

suppress OCI and to achieve a frequency reuse factor of 1 in
a multicell environment. Furthermore, the two-layer spreading
factors that are used can be adapted to the cell structure, the
channel propagation conditions, and the number of active users
to support variable data rate transmission among multiple users.
With this, it is possible to flexibly support various radio envi-
ronments, such as a cellular system and a hotspot environment,
by deploying the same air interface. As far as the bandwidth
efficiency is concerned, fully loaded TLS-CDMA has similar
bandwidth efficiency as that for UP-OFDMA. Specifically, as
illustrated in Appendix C, it also has high bandwidth efficiency
in a multipath channel with long delay.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section II
presents the system model, and Section III illustrates the details
of the proposed TLS-CDMA system. Performance analysis is
given in Section IV, and simulation results are discussed in
Section V. Finally, the conclusions are drawn in Section VI.
II. S YSTEM M ODEL
A. Transmitter Structure and Signal Model
Fig. 1(a) shows the transceiver structure of the TLS-CDMA
system. There is a two-layer spreading and scrambling module
at the transmitter. For simplicity of illustration, the spreading
and the scrambling are combined for both the first and second
layers. We assume that there are U active users in the described
system. Let vector su = [su,1 , su,2 , . . . , su,M ] denote a block
of M modulated data symbols for user u, where 1 ≤ u ≤ U .
Let d denote the matrix of the spreading code for the first
layer for implementing spreading of size G1 × G1 , where G1
is the spreading factor. Vector du1 = [du1 ,1 , du1 ,2 , . . . , du1 ,G1 ]
denotes the spreading code in the u1 th row of matrix d, where
1 ≤ u1 ≤ G1 . Similarly, let c denote the matrix of spreading
codes for the second layer for implementing spreading of size
G2 × G2 , where G2 is the spreading factor. Similarly, vector

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PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION
TABLE I
CODE SET WITH THE CORRESPONDING CODE INDEX FOR THE
SPREADING IN BOTH LAYERS (G = 8, G1 = 2, G2 = 4)
cu2 = [cu2 ,1 , cu2 ,2 , . . . , cu2 ,G2 ] denotes the spreading code in
the u2 th row of matrix c, where 1 ≤ u2 ≤ G2 .
Let Ind_u = (u1 , u2 ) denote the spreading code index of
user u, where 1 ≤ u1 ≤ G1 and 1 ≤ u2 ≤ G2 , and u1 and u2
are the row indexes of vector du1 in matrix d and vector cu2 in
matrix c, respectively. Total spreading factor G is defined as the
product of the spreading factor in two layers: G = G1 × G2 .
Table I shows the index of user u with the corresponding
index of vectors in respective matrices d and c for an ex-
ample with M = 2, G = 8, G1 = 2, and G2 = 4. Let vectors
K = [K1 , K2 , . . . , KN ] and L = [L1 , L2 , . . . , LG2 ] denote the
first- and the second-layer cell-specific scrambling code, re-
spectively, where N = M × G1 is the length of the first-layer
scrambling, and G2 is the length of the second-layer scram-
bling. For illustrating purposes, we assume that the length of
the first-layer scrambling code is the same as the block length.
The length of the second-layer scrambling code is the same
as the length of the spreading in the second layer.
Fig. 1(b) shows the packet structure before and after spread-
ing and scrambling in the first and second layers for the above
example. Specifically, data vector su is spread and scrambled
in the first layer, followed by spreading and scrambling in the
second layer. The spreading factor in the two layers can be con-
trolled and adapted through a variable spreading factor control
(VSFC) block according to the cell structure, the channel propa-
gation conditions, and the number of active users. For example,
in a hotspot environment, where the user mobility is very low,
a larger spreading factor can be used in the second layer to sup-
port more users. Also, under slow fading, a larger spreading fac-
tor can be used in the second-layer spreading to support more
users, and vice versa. When the number of active users in a
system is small, the VSFC can use a smaller spreading factor for
the second layer and a larger one for the first layer. Using this
adaptation, the system can give the best performance under each
specific environment, given the same total spreading factor.
The chips after spreading and scrambling in the first layer
are arranged into blocks, with each block having N chips.
The spreading and the scrambling in the second layer are then
performed block by block. After spreading and scrambling in
these two layers, the chips are appended with cyclic extension.
Fig. 1(c) shows the chips after inserting cyclic extension in
each block, and this is followed by a row-by-row parallel-
to-serial conversion. The use of cyclic extension removes the
interchip interference that is caused by the delay spread of the
channel. It also maintains the orthogonality among the received
signals, irrespective of the late or early arrival of received
signals from multiple users in the uplink transmission [17].
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3565
In addition, techniques such as the adaptive transmit timing
control scheme can be used to align the time differences among
different users within the cyclic extension [18]. The resulting
chips pass through pulse shaping and RF conversion before
transmitting over a frequency-selective fading channel.
Let au,n denote the nth chip of user u after spreading
and scrambling in the first layer. Also, let Au,n [b] denote the
nth chip of user u for the bth block after spreading and scram-
bling in the second layer. Mathematically, Au,n [b] can be de-
scribed by
Au,n [b] = au,n · cu2 ,b · Lb (1)
where au,n = su,(n−1/G1 )+1 · du1 , mod (n−1,G1 )+1 · Kn ,
su,(n−1/G1 )+1 is the modulated symbol of user u, x is the
largest integer that is smaller than or equal to x, 1 ≤ n ≤ N ,
and 1 ≤ b ≤ G2 . du1 , mod (n−1,G1 )+1 is the spreading code in
the first layer, cu2 ,b is the spreading code in the second layer,
Kn is the cell-specific scrambling code in the first layer, and
Lb is the cell-specific scrambling code in the second layer.
Note that the scrambling in the first layer is done within each
block and that for the second layer is done across each block.
As shown in Fig. 1(c), the TLS-CDMA system adds the cyclic
prefix of Q1 chips at the beginning of each block and the cyclic
postfix of Q2 chips at the end of each block. The resulting
expression for the transmitted waveform defining symbol b
from 1 to G2 , thus, is
 
G2 N +Q1 +Q2
xu (t) = xu,n [b] · ω(t − τ · Tc ) (2)
b=1 n=1
where τ = ((b − 1) · (N + Q1 + Q2 ) + (n − 1)), Tc is the
chip spacing
⎧
⎨ Au,(n+N −Q1 ) [b], 1 ≤ n ≤ Q1
xu,n [b] = Au,(n−Q1 ) [b], Q1 + 1 ≤ n ≤ N + Q1
⎩
Au,n−N −Q1 [b], otherwise
and ω(t) is the rectangular function. If Q1 and Q2 are set to
0, xu,n [b] will be equal to Au,n [b] for 1 ≤ n ≤ N and 1 ≤
b ≤ G2 .
Consider the uplink transmission where each user’s signal
passes through a multipath channel that is characterized by

P
h̃u (t) = αu (p)δ(t − τu,p ) (3)
p=1
where P is the number of paths, αu (p) is the instantaneous
complex path gain of the pth path for the uth user, τu,p is the
time delay of the pth path for the uth user, and δ(t) is the Dirac
delta function.
B. Receiver Structure
In the uplink transmission, the base station asynchronously
receives the data stream from all the users. The signals from
different users would have undergone different propagation
conditions. As shown in Fig. 1(a), after passing the composite
received signal through matched filtering, the cyclic prefix
3566
and postfix are removed. Descrambling and despreading are
performed before the signal is transformed into the frequency
domain through a fast Fourier transform (FFT) block. Due
to the despreading in the second layer before the FFT, the
complexity of the frequency-domain process is reduced by a
factor of G2 (when compared with the chip-rate operation in
the CP-CDMA system) with considerable savings in power.
Thereafter, the data are transformed into the time domain again
through an inverse FFT (IFFT) block to perform despreading in
the first layer before the symbols are recovered.
Assuming that there are U active users, the received signal
r(t) at the base station is given by

U
r(t) = xu (t) ⊗ hu (t) + η(t)
u=1
where η(t) represents the additive white Gaussian noise
(AWGN), ⊗ denotes the convolution, and hu (t) is the combined
impulse response of the transmit chip pulse shaping filter
pt (t) (assumed to be square-root raised cosine), the frequency-
selective fading channel response h̃u (t), and the receive match
filter pr (t). That is
hu (t) = pt (t) ⊗ h̃u (t) ⊗ pr (t).
As shown in Fig. 1, the TLS-CDMA receiver performs matched
filtering followed by chip-rate sampling. The respective cyclic
prefix of Q1 chips and postfix of Q2 chips are discarded in
each block. Let rn [b] denote the remaining chip-spaced samples
corresponding to the nth chips of the bth block, i.e.,

U 
P
rn [b] = Au,n−p [b] · hu,p [b] + ηn [b]
u=1 p=1
where hu,p [b] denotes the channel response of the pth path of
user u for the bth received block. Note that hu,p [b] = hu,p when
the channel within the spreading blocks remains the same. As
such, hu,p = hu (pTc ) can be assumed to be zero for p < 0 and
p > P . ηn [b] represents the AWGN component at sample n of
the bth received block.
III. P ROPOSED TLS-CDMA S YSTEM
A. Two-Layer Spreading and Scrambling (at Transmitter)
Mutually orthogonal codes, such as Walsh–Hadamard codes,
can be used for spreading. In order for the codewords to stay
perfectly orthogonal at the TLS-CDMA receiver, the channel
must be flat over both time and frequency grid. A frequency-
selective fading channel will, however, distort the codewords
in the spreading in the first layer, and a time-selective fading
channel will distort the codewords in the spreading in the
second layer. The TLS-CDMA scheme places the codewords
in blocks on the time–frequency grid in such a way that the
difference in the scaling of the codeword chips is reduced
according to channel propagation conditions, such as delay
spread and Doppler spread. CEBS-CDMA, as described in [15],
and CP-CDMA, as described in [11]–[13], are two extreme
cases of TLS-CDMA, where CP-CDMA spreads only in the
first layer, and CEBS-CDMA spreads only in the second layer.
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This is similar to the concept of time and frequency spreading
in the system that is described in [6] and [8]. Specifically,
spreading in the first layer in the TLS-CDMA system is similar
to frequency-domain spreading in the TFL-CDMA system,
and spreading in the second layer is similar to time-domain
spreading. However, there are some fundamental differ-
ences between the proposed TLS-CDMA system and the
TFL-CDMA system. First, TLS-CDMA is a single-carrier
scheme, which is highly suitable for uplink transmission due
to its low PAPR, leading to a simple power amplifier at the
mobile terminal. TFL-CDMA is a multicarrier scheme, which
is not suitable for uplink transmission due to its high PAPR
and sensitivity to RF noises. Second, two-layer cell-specific
(4) scrambling is proposed for TLS-CDMA to suppress OCI in
a multicell environment for uplink transmission. It is known
that the channel variations in the frequency domain are related
to the delay spread of the channel, and the channel variations
in the time domain are related to the coherence time of the
channel. For example, the coherence time of a typical mobile
fading channel with 200-Hz Doppler spread is around 0.9 ms
[19]. This is much larger than the signaling block duration
(typically a few microseconds) in a typical high-speed system.
(5) On the other hand, coherence bandwidth is the reciprocal of the
delay spread of the channel (typically a few microseconds) [19].
For example, the coherence bandwidth of a typical frequency-
selective fading channel with 4.69-μs delay spread is around
210 kHz. This is of the order of subcarrier spacing (typically
20 kHz) in a typical wideband system (5-MHz bandwidth
with 256 subcarriers). Hence, channel variations in the time
domain or across blocks are much less than channel variations
(6) in the frequency domain. Therefore, spreading in the second
layer can be prioritized for multiple users to combat MAI, and
spreading in the first layer can be prioritized to suppress MPI.
The combination of spreading in the first and second layers can
suppress OCI more efficiently in a multicell environment by
taking advantage of the scrambling in the two layers.
The VSFC block shown in Fig. 1(a) adapts the spreading
factors in the two layers according to the cell structure, the
channel propagation conditions, and the number of active users
to achieve a high system capacity in various environments. This
is because the influence of MAI, MPI, and OCI highly depends
on these factors, which affect the achievable system capacity.
Moreover, since TLS-CDMA uses two-layer spreading and
scrambling, it can easily achieve a cell frequency reuse factor
of 1. In addition, flexible multiplexing of different physical
channels, such as data, control, and pilot in the two-layer code
domains can be easily achieved in the TLS-CDMA system.
Since the spreading factors of the two layers can be adapted,
TLS-CDMA is capable of providing seamless system deploy-
ment in various radio environments, such as a cellular system
and an isolated-cell environment, by deploying the same air
interface.
B. Two-Layer Code-Generation
Fig. 2 shows the proposed two-layer tree-structured code-
generation method of an orthogonal variable spreading factor
(OVSF) for the TLS-CDMA system. The basic concept is
PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION
Fig. 2. Proposed two-layer tree structure code-generation method for TLS-CDMA.
similar to the method described in [20]. Code matrix d is for
spreading in the first layer, and code matrix c is for spreading
in the second layer; (du1 , cu2 ) is the code set for user u.
Code-Generation Method: Let cn (2k−1 ) denote the nth row
spreading code of code c for the kth level, where G2 = 2k−1
and n = 1, 2, . . . , 2k−1 . Starting from c1 (1) = 1, a set of 2k−1
spreading codes are generated at the kth level from the left. The
code length of the kth level is 2k−1 and can be used for the
code channels transmitting data at a rate 2k−1 times lower than
the first level. Note that the generated codes of the same level
constitute a set of Walsh functions, and they are orthogonal.
Furthermore, any two codes of different levels are also orthog-
onal, except for the case when one of the two codes is a mother
code of the other. For example, all of c1 (1), c1 (2), and c1 (4)
are mother codes of c3 (8) and so are not orthogonal to c4 (8).
From this observation, if c1 (4) is assigned to a user requesting a
service at two times the data rate, the two codes {c1 (8), c2 (8)}
generated from this code cannot be assigned to other users that
request for a lower rate service. Also, mother code c1 (2) of
c2 (4) cannot be assigned to users that request higher rates (of
course, the use of codes having excessively short code lengths
may also be impractical). Whereas this is a restriction that is
imposed on the tree-structured code assignment for maintaining
orthogonality, the use of c1 (2) is equivalent to the simultaneous
use of four consecutive codes {c1 (8), c2 (8), c3 (8), c4 (8)} in
the case of orthogonal multicode assignment. The same code
generation method is used for code d.
In contrast to the OVSF in the conventional CDMA system,
the two-layer code generation method of the OVSF for the
TLS-CDMA system is different in such a way that each user
has a code set (du1 , cu2 ), and the assignment rule does not
need to be followed simultaneously. For example, if either du1
or cu2 is orthogonal to other users, code set (du1 , cu2 ) will
be orthogonal to these users. Specifically, suppose that user 1
chooses G = G1 × G2 = 4 × 4 and user 2 chooses G = G1 ×
G2 = 4 × 8, and the data rate of user 1 is two times higher than
that of user 2. For spreading in the second layer, code c7 (8) is
selected as the channelization code for user 2, and the parent
code of c7 (8) is c4 (4). To maintain the orthogonality between
users 1 and 2, the code that is selected for user 1 must not
be generated from c4 (4). By selecting one code from ci (4),
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3567
where i = 4 for user 1, e.g., c2 (4), the orthogonality between
users 1 and 2 is maintained. Since code cu2 meets the selection
criterion, it is not necessary for code du1 to simultaneously
follow the same selection criterion. Even the same code can
be selected, e.g., d4 (4). The code sets of users 1 and 2 are still
orthogonal.
With the above selection criterion, two-layer spreading gives
TLS-CDMA more flexibility in selecting orthogonal codes.
Different orthogonal codes, such as the Walsh–Hadamard code,
the orthogonal Gold code, and the Zadoff–Chu code, can be
independently selected for spreading in different layers [21].
However, since spreading in the first layer is prioritized to
suppress MPI, it is recommended to select codes with better
autocorrelation properties, such as the orthogonal Gold code.
Since spreading in the second layer is prioritized to combat
MAI, it is recommended to select codes with better cross-
correlation properties, such as the Walsh–Hadamard code.
C. Two-Layer Descrambling and Despreading (at Receiver)
Fig. 3 illustrates the procedures of descrambling and de-
spreading in the two layers. We assume the presence of a
desired user 1 (U1 ) and an interference user 2 (U2 ) in the
illustration. Assume that user 1 has two multipaths, which are
denoted in Fig. 3 as U1 , P1 and U1 , and P2 with respective
channel responses h11 and h12 . User 2 has only one path
(U2 , P1 ) with channel response h21 . The symbol length M
and the first-layer spreading factor G1 are all set to 2, and the
second-layer spreading factor G2 is set to 4 for a simple illus-
tration. The combined receiver signals with the summarization
of different multipaths and different users are collected within
the block windowing of individual blocks. The parallel-to-
serial conversion, which is equivalent to block deinterleaving,
stacks the spreading chips in the second layer together, e.g.,
Sym#1, . . . , Sym#4.
As mentioned in Section III-B, the spreading in the first
layer is used to suppress MPI, and the scrambling in the first
layer is used to distinguish between different cells. On the other
hand, the spreading in the second layer is used to maintain the
orthogonality between different users, and the scrambling in
the second layer is also used to distinguish between different
3568
Fig. 3. Procedure of the descrambling and the despreading in two layers.
cells. The scrambling in the first and second layers can enhance
the capability of the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme to suppress
OCI by a factor of G1 × G2 . The scrambling codes, such
as Gold codes, exhibit low cross correlation; therefore, cell-
specific scrambling can be used to effectively reduce OCI.
For instance, similar to the assumption that OCI can be well
approximated by the Gaussian noise [3], OCI can be suppressed
by a factor of G1 × G2 for the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme
by performing the two-layer descrambling and despreading.
In addition, the intercode interference (ICI) due to the
second-layer spreading within the cell can also be removed
due to the small channel variations across consecutive blocks.
The orthogonality of the spreading in the second layer is
easily retained by multiplying the combination of a cell-specific
scrambling code and a spreading code in the second layer, i.e.,
c1i Li (i = 1, . . . , 4). For example, consider ICI of sym#1 of
user 1. Each chip has a common part of h21 × s21 d21 K1 . As the
codes are orthogonal and L2i is a constant, the resulting ICI part
gives G 2 2
i c1i c2i Li = 0. Due to the beauty of the spreading in
the second layer or block spreading, ICI is removed completely.
Moreover, the descrambling and the despreading in this layer
also suppress OCI by a factor of G2 in a multicell environment.
After descrambling and despreading in the second layer,
the chips are transformed into the frequency domain. FDE is
used for further processing due to its lower complexity over
conventional time-domain equalization [11], [22]. As seen in
Fig. 3, the four chips [s11 d12 K2 s12 d11 K3 s12 d12 K4 s11 d11 K1 ]
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of U1 P1 are a cyclic shifted version of the four chips
[s11 d11 K1 s11 d12 K2 s12 d11 K3 s12 d12 K4 ] of U1 P2 . It is known
that with cyclic prefix, the cyclic-shifted version of the trans-
mitted symbol caused by the multipath can be equalized and
recovered by FDE because the shift in the time domain can be
recovered by a phase rotation in the frequency domain [22].
Thereafter, the four chips are transformed into the frequency
domain through the FFT block. The FFT and FDE operations
are simpler than the chip-rate operation in the CP-CDMA
system by a factor of G2 . This amounts to a considerable
savings of power in the frequency-domain signal processing.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the convolution of the symbol
sequence with a channel impulse response is equivalent to
the multiplication of the transform of the signal with channel
transfer function h1 in the frequency domain, e.g., FFT(h1 ) ×
FFT([s11 d11 K1 s11 d12 K2 s12 d11 K3 s12 d12 K4 ]). The weight
W1 of FDE can be estimated with the help of pilot symbols.
Different single tap equalizers based on zero forcing (ZF) and
MMSE estimation can be considered to equalize the channel
distortion [5]. ZF is able to completely equalize the channel but
has strong noise enhancement. For the MMSE, there is still a
small residual channel distortion across the chips. This residual
channel distortion will destroy the code orthogonality among
the spreading code in the first layer. This observation indicates
that spreading in the first layer should not be prioritized for mul-
tiple access but for MPI suppression. The remaining M × G1
chips are multiplied with the combination of first-layer
PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION 3569

 2
scrambling and spreading code d1 K after it is transformed into where ηn = G b=1 ηn [b] · cl2 ,b · Lb represents AWGN with the
the time domain. The descrambling and the despreading in the same variance σn2 as that of ηn . From (9), it is observed that
first layer are able to further suppress OCI by a factor of G1 in MAI from the spreading in the second layer is completely
a multicell environment and, of course, suppress MPI as well. removed after the descrambling and the despreading in the
Overall, the capability of the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme to second layer without incurring any complex multiuser detection
suppressing OCI is G1 × G2 in a multicell environment. technique.
In the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme, the spreading in the From the above analysis, it can be seen that the TLS-CDMA
second layer is prioritized for multiple users to combat MAI, system becomes a conventional CP-CDMA system with a
and the spreading in the first layer is prioritized to suppress cyclic prefix after the descrambling and the despreading in the
MPI. After the despreading in the second layer is performed, second layer. Thus, the received data after the FFT for the
MAI is removed. The channel equalization corresponds to a kth subcarrier is given by
deconvolution process, which, if performed in the frequency
domain, reduces to a division (complex multiplication) oper- 
N
(n−1)(k−1)
ation. The structure of FDE consists of an FFT, a one-tape Rk = en · e−j2π N

equalizer, and an IFFT block. Then, FDE equalizes the signal n=1
in the time domain after a frequency-domain process. Without
MAI after the despreading in the second layer, MPI can be 
U
= Ψu,k Hu,k + Nk (10)
subsequently suppressed by performing the despreading in the
u=1
first layer, much like the case for a conventional rake receiver. u2 =l2

The spreading codes can be selected with good autocorrelation

properties. for 1 ≤ k ≤ N , where Ψu,k , Hu,k , and Nk are the frequency-
Assume that the lth user with code set l = (l1 , l2 ) is despread domain transformation of the signal au,n , the channel impulse
at the receiver, where l1 is the index from code matrix d, and response for user u, and the AWGN noise, respectively. They
l2 is the index from code matrix c. After descrambling and de- are given by
spreading in the second layer, the chip sequence en is given by

N
(n−1)(k−1)

G2 Rk = en · e−j2π N

en = rn [b] · cl2 ,b · Lb n=1

b=1

G2 U 
P 
N
(n−1)(k−1)
= au,n−p · hu,p [b] · cl2 ,b · Lb Ψu,k = au,n · e−j2π N

b=1 u=1 p=1 n=1


G2
+ ηn [b] · cl2 ,b · Lb . (7) 
P
(p−1)(k−1)

b=1
Hu,k = hu,p · e−j2π N

p=1
Assuming that the channel variation across consecutive
blocks in the second layer is negligible, we can replace hu,p [b] 
N
(n−1)(k−1)
with hu,p . Therefore, (7) can be rewritten as Nk = ηn · e−j2π N . (11)
n=1

U 
P 
G2
en = au,n−p · hu,p · cl2 ,b · cl2 ,b · Lb · Lb For channels with large delay spread, FDE is computation-
u=1
u2 =l2
p=1 b=1 ally simpler than the corresponding time-domain equalization

U 
P 
G2 [22]. Let Wl,k denote the equalization weight of user l. The
+ au,n−p · hu,p · cu2 ,b · cl2 ,b · Lb · Lb subcarrier component R̂l,k after equalization is given by
u=1 p=1 b=1
u2 =l2


G2 R̂l,k = Wl,k · Rk
+ ηn [b] · cl2 ,b · Lb . (8)
b=1 
U
= Wl,k Ψu,k · Hu,k + Wl,k · Nk . (12)
If Lb · Lb = constant, (8) can be further simplified as u=1
u2 =l2
follows:

U 
P Under the ZF criterion
en = au,n−p · hu,p + ηn
∗
u=1 p=1 Hl.k
u2 =l2 Wl,k = . (13)
|Hu,k |2

U
= au,n ⊗ hu + ηn (9) This leads to an intersymbol-interference (ISI)-free situation
u=1
u2 =l2 at the equalizer output. Under the MMSE criterion, the weight

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3570 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 57, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2008

to minimize the combined effect of ISI and Gaussian noise is descrambling and despreading in the first layer. The chips of
given by user l after IFFT transformation are given by

1 
∗ N
Hl,k (m−1)(k−1)
Wl,k = (14) rl,m = R̂l,k · ej2π N

U 2 N
|Hu,k |2 + G1 σσn2 k=1
u=1 s

1  
u2 =l2 N U
= Wl,k · Hu,k · au,m
N
where σn2 is the variance of ηn , and σs2 is the variance u=1
k=1
u2 =l2
of su,n .
1   
N U N
(m−n)(k−1)
+ Wl,k · Hu,k au,n · ej2π N
N u=1 n=1
D. Complexity Analysis k=1
u2 =l2 n=m

1 
Compared with the conventional CP-CDMA [11] and N
(m−1)(k−1)
DS-CDMA [1], the incremental complexity incurred at the + Wl,k · Nk · ej2π N . (15)
N
transmitter for the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme performs k=1
the spreading and the scrambling in the second layer and The first term represents the desired signal component, the
adds an associated function block of the VSFC to adapt the second term represents ICI owing to MPI and MAI, and the
spreading factor in two layers. Since the spreading in the third term represents the noise component. Note that ICI is
second layer is mainly for multiuser allocation, the spreading the sum of the interference from one’s own spreading code
factor is relatively small because it is related to the number (self-interference) and from other spreading codes (other code
of active users. The small spreading factor would only cause a interference).
minimal increment in the complexity to perform the spreading. After the IFFT operation, the received chips are descrambled
Furthermore, the spreading and the scrambling in the second and despread using the lth user’s first-layer scrambling code
layer are performed block by block, which makes it easy for and spreading code Km · dl1 . Without loss of generality, the
implementation. For instance, assume that M symbols are received zth symbol of user l after the despreading and the
transmitted. For CP-CDMA and DS-CDMA, the spreading descrambling is, thus, given by
factor is G. To make a fair comparison, the corresponding total
spreading factor, which is the product of the spreading factor 
zG1
in two layers for the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme, is G. It s̃l,z = rl,m · d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1 Km
∗

is equal to G = G1 × G2 . Then, the incremental complexity m=(z−1)G1 +1

is minimal for performing the spreading in the second layer
1 
N
in a block-by-block (block size is M × G1 ) manner with a = sl,z · Wl,k · Hl,k + ΦICI (z) + Φnoise (z) (16)
spreading factor of G2 . N
k=1
In addition, the incremental complexity for the VSFC block
to adapt the spreading factor in two layers is negligible be- where the first term represents the desired data symbol compo-
cause it only involves some control functions. Of course, bear nent, and the second and third terms are the respective ICI and
in mind that the above analysis only provides a very rough noise. Thus, ΦICI and Φnoise are given by
indication of complexity and that the actual implementation
complexity will depend on the specific hardware architectures 1 
zG1
ΦICI (z) = d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1 · Km
∗
and other factors. The main point of the complexity analysis N
m=(z−1)G1 +1
is that the proposed TLS-CDMA scheme appears promising
for battery-powered mobile devices in terms of implementation 
N  
N
(m−n)(k−1)

complexity. × Wl,k · Hu,k au,n · ej2π N

k=1 u=1 n=1

u2 =l2 n=m

IV. P ERFORMANCE A NALYSIS FOR THE P ROPOSED (17)

TLS-CDMA S YSTEM 1 
zG1
Φnoise (z) = d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1 · Km
∗
In this section, we will first theoretically derive the con- N
m=(z−1)G1 +1
ditional bit error rate (BER) based on using the Gaussian
approximation of ICI. We will then numerically evaluate the 
N
(m−1)(k−1)

theoretical average BER performance. × Wl,k · Nk · e−j2π N . (18)

k=1

From (16), despreader output ΦICI is a random variable.

A. Conditional BER
Since the resultant orthogonal signal after scrambling is
Referring to Fig. 1, the equalized signals are converted pseudorandom, the ICI term can be approximately modeled as
into the time domain using an IFFT operation followed by zero-mean complex-valued Gaussian noise. As a sequel, the

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PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION 3571

sum of ICI and noise can be treated as new zero-mean complex- B. BER Lower Bound
valued Gaussian noise. The variance of the sum is given by
It can be observed from (22) and (24) that γ(SNR, {Hl,k })
1   achieves a maximum value as the effect of ICI is can-
2
σΦ = E |Φ|2 = σΦ
2 2
+ σΦ (19) celled. Thus
2 ICI noise

 N 2
where the symbol Φ signifies ICI and AWGN noise, and 2   
2 σσ2s  N1 Wl,k Hl,k 
1  
n
k=1
γmax (SNR, {Hl,k }) = . (26)
2
σΦ = E |ΦICI |2 
N
2 |W |
ICI 1 2
⎡  2 ⎤ N l,k
k=1
σs2  ⎣ 1  
U N N

= |Wl,k Hu,k | −
2
 Wl,k Hu,k  ⎦ When Wl,k = Hl,k ∗
or with maximum ratio combining equal-
2N u=1 N 
k=1 k=1 ization, (26) can be further simplified to become
u2 =l2

(20)
σs2 1 
N
1   γmax (SNR, {Hl,k }) = 2 |Hl,k |2 . (27)
2
σΦ = E |Φnoise |2 σn2 N
k=1
noise
2
 
σn2 1 
N An equivalent expression can be obtained from (11), i.e.,
= |Wl,k |2
(21)
2 N
σs2 1 
k=1 P
γmax (SNR, {Hl,k }) = 2 |hl,k |2 . (28)
for the given set of {Hl,k and Wl,k ; k = 1, . . . , N }. Therefore, σn2 N p=1
we have
P
⎡  2 ⎤ Denoting the pdf of β = |hl,p |2 by p(β), the average
2  U N  N  p=1
σ ⎣ 1   BER is lower bounded by
2
σΦ = s |Wl,k Hu,k |2 −  Wl,k Hu,k  ⎦
2N u=1 N   
k=1 k=1 ∞
u2 =l2
1 1 σs2
  Pb,lower (SNR) = erfc β p(β)dβ. (29)
1  2 2N σn2
N
σ2
+ n |Wl,k |2 . (22) 0
2 N
k=1
V. S IMULATION R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSIONS
Without loss of generality, assume that the data modulation
is quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK). Due to the ICI term In this section, theoretical and simulated performance of
being circularly symmetric, the conditional BER for the given the TLS-CDMA system is evaluated and compared with the
set of {Hl,k ; k = 1, . . . , N } or, equivalently, the given set of CP-CDMA, MC-CDMA, and CEBS-CDMA systems. In the
path gains {hp ; p = 1, . . . , P } can be expressed as [19], [23] simulation, the length of the cyclic prefix is larger than the max-
  imum delay spread of the channel, and the length of the postfix
1 1 is larger than the time arrival difference among users. The chan-
Pb = erfc γ (SNR, {Hl,k }) (23)
2 4 nel model of a 24-path Rayleigh fading channel, as described
in [24], is used, and perfect channel estimation is assumed. The
√ ∞ total spreading factor G and the total number of active users
where erfc[x] = (2/ π) x exp(−t2 )dt is the complementary
error function, and γ(SNR, {Hl,k }) is the conditional signal-to- are 256 and 64, respectively. For TLS-CDMA, G = (G1 , G2 )
interference-plus-noise ratio, which is defined by is adapted from (256, 1) to (4, 64) according to the number
of active users, the cell structure, and the channel propagation
 2
 
N  conditions. For CP-CDMA and MC-CDMA, G = (G1 , G2 ) =
σs2  N1 Wl,k Hl,k  (256, 1). For CEBS-CDMA, G = (G1 , G2 ) = (1, 256).
k=1
γ (SNR, {Hl,k }) = 2 . (24) Fig. 4 shows the theoretical and simulated results of the TLS-
σΦ
CDMA system. We consider two sets of two-layer spreading
The theoretical average BER can be numerically evaluated factors for single and multiple users. The first one is to set a
by averaging (24) over {Hl,k ; k = 1, . . . , N }, or fixed G, i.e., G = (G1 , G2 ) = (4, 64), for both cases. The sec-
ond one is to adapt G for different cases, i.e., G = (G1 , G2 ) =
   
1 1 (4, 64) for multiple users (64 users) and G = (G1 , G2 ) =
Pb (SNR) = · · · erfc γ (SNR, {Hl,k }) (256, 1) for a single user. The theoretical BER performance of
2 4
the TLS-CDMA system is based on (26). From Fig. 4(a), using
 MMSE equalization is much better than using ZF equalization
· p ({Hl,k }) dHl,k (25)
k
for single and multiple users. This is because the MMSE
can effectively equalize the channel and suppress the noise
where p({Hl,k }) is the joint probability density function (pdf) simultaneously. It is also observed that the BER performance
of {Hl,k ; k = 1, . . . , N }. of all these equalization techniques does not degrade when

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3572
Fig. 4. BER performance of the TLS-CDMA system (QPSK). (a) Fixed G.
(b) Adaptive G.
the number of active users increases. This indicates that code
orthogonality among multiple users in the second layer can be
maintained due to the virtue of block spreading. This agrees
with the conclusion in Section IV that the spreading in the
second layer is prioritized for multiple users, and the spreading
in the first layer is prioritized to combat MPI. On the other
hand, when an adaptive G is used, Fig. 4(b) shows that the the-
oretical BER performance of the single-user case is improved
significantly compared with that of the multiple-user case when
the MMSE is used. This is because the TLS-CDMA system
takes advantage of adapting a larger spreading factor in the first
layer to achieve better MPI suppression for the single-user case.
Specifically, to achieve a BER of 10−4 , the required Eb /N0
for the single-user case is 4 dB, which is less than that for the
case of 64 users. The simulated BER performance, as shown
in Fig. 4, is very close to the theoretical BER performance
for both fixed and adaptive G, respectively. This validates our
theoretical results. We also include the corresponding lower-
bounded BER performance for comparison purposes, assuming
a single user without ICI with a spreading factor of 256. For
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 57, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2008
Fig. 5. BER performance of the TLS-CDMA system (QAM).
the fixed G case, as shown in Fig. 4(a), the single-user BER
performance is worse than the lower bound due to the residual
MPI when a fixed spreading factor is used in the first layer.
However, with adaptive G, as shown in Fig. 4(b), the single-
user BER performance approaches the lower bound when the
MMSE is used because a higher diversity effect is achieved due
to a larger spreading factor in the first layer. As such, the effect
of MPI for the single-user case is negligible. This indicates the
advantage of using adaptive over fixed G for TLS-CDMA.
In Fig. 5, we show the BER performance of the TLS-CDMA
system with multilevel modulation, including 16QAM and
64QAM, as a function of Eb /N0 . Similarly, single and multiple
users with fixed and adaptive G are considered. It is observed
that the MMSE performs better than ZF due to its noise suppres-
sion capability. Also, the BER performance of multiple users
under 16QAM and 64QAM is almost identical to that of the
single-user case for fixed G. When adaptive G is used, the BER
performance for the single-user case is much better than that
for multiple users due to the same reason as presented above.
Specifically, to achieve a 10−4 BER, the required Eb /N0 for
the single-user case is less than the one for the case of 64 users
at 5.5 and 6.5 dB for 16QAM and 64QAM, respectively, when
the MMSE is used. This means that the TLS-CDMA system
has the flexibility and the advantage of adapting the spreading
factor to the number of active users when adaptive G is used.
Fig. 6(a) shows the BER performance at Eb /N0 = 10 dB
as a function of the number of active users for the
TLS-CDMA, CP-CDMA, MC-CDMA, and CEBS-CDMA sys-
tems. The velocity of all users is 3 km/h. The signal-to-
OCI ratio (Es /I0 ) is 6 dB in a multicell environment. For
MC-CDMA, the spreading factor G is (256, 1), and the corre-
sponding FFT size is 512 with the MMSE used at the receiver.
It is noted that the maximum number of active users used in the
simulation is set to 64 when Eb /N0 = 10 dB in the following
simulations to achieve the required BER (usually < 10−3 ).
However, the number of active users can be increased to obtain
the same BER performance when Eb /N0 is set to a higher
value. It is seen that the BER performance of the CP-CDMA
and MC-CDMA systems degrades when the number of active
PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION
Fig. 6. BER performance comparison among TLS-CDMA, CP-CDMA,
MC-CDMA, and CEBS-CDMA systems. (a) V = 3 km/h. (b) V = 60 km/h.
users increases, whereas the BER performance of the CEBS-
CDMA system remains almost the same. However, when the
number of active users is less than 32, the performance of the
CEBS-CDMA system is worse than those of the CP-CDMA
and MC-CDMA systems. This is because under this situation,
MAI is less severe, and MPI dominates the BER performance
compared with MAI. Thus, the CP-CDMA and MC-CDMA
systems outperform CEBS-CDMA due to their stronger MPI
suppression capabilities by using a larger spreading factor in
the frequency domain. When the number of active users is more
than 32, MAI becomes more severe, and subsequently, MAI
dominates the BER performance compared with MPI. Thus,
the CEBS-CDMA system performs better than CP-CDMA and
MC-CDMA due to its strong capability to preserve code or-
thogonality among multiple users. In essence, the TLS-CDMA
system is a generalized form of CP-CDMA and CEBS-CDMA
systems. By taking the respective advantage of spreading in
the second layer to combat MAI and spreading in the first
layer to suppress MPI, the TLS-CDMA system is capable of
adapting (G1 , G2 ) to (256, 1), (128, 2), (64, 4), (32, 8), (16, 16),
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3573
(8, 32), and (4, 64) according to the number of active users
of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. The results show that the TLS-
CDMA system is effective to combat MAI and suppress MPI
simultaneously according to the number of active users using
a different combination of two-layer spreading and achieves
better BER performance than both CP-CDMA and CEBS-
CDMA. However, it is also seen that the BER performance of
the TLS-CDMA system is worse than that of the MC-CDMA
system for a small number of active users because MC-CDMA
has a stronger MPI suppression capability. Unfortunately, MC-
CDMA is not suitable for uplink transmission due to its high
PAPR value.
In Fig. 6(b), the BER performance of TLS-CDMA, CP-
CDMA, MC-CDMA, and CEBS-CDMA systems at Eb /N0 =
10 dB is compared when the velocity is 60 km/h. The same
trend as Fig. 6(a) is observed, with TLS-CDMA achiev-
ing better performance than CP-CDMA and CEBS-CDMA.
However, some other more specific performance differences
can also be seen. For example, compared with Fig. 6(a), the
BER performance of CEBS-CDMA degrades when the velocity
is increased. This is because the code orthogonality in the
second layer is destroyed due to the high-mobility users, and
this subsequently enhances MAI. This means that the CEBS-
CDMA system becomes less robust against MAI when user
mobility becomes high. By adapting the two-layer spreading
factors according to the number of active users in the TLS-
CDMA systems, it is noted that the performance degradation
of the TLS-CDMA system due to the high-mobility user is
minimized. This shows the advantage of adapting the two-
layer spreading factor for the TLS-CDMA system according to
channel propagation conditions, such as Doppler spread.
In Fig. 7(a), the BER performance is evaluated as a function
of the data rate per user Rb at a velocity of 3 km/h. We set
Eb /N0 = 15 dB and the number of active users to 32 in the
simulation. To achieve the respective Rb of 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, and
3.2 Mb/s, TLS-CDMA employs the spreading factor of (8, 32),
(4, 32), (2, 32), and (1, 32), both CP-CDMA and MC-CDMA
employ the spreading factor of (256, 1), (128, 1), (64, 1), and
(32, 1), and CEBS-CDMA employs the spreading factor of
(1, 256), (1, 128), (1, 64), and (1, 32) accordingly. From
Fig. 7(a), the TLS-CDMA system achieves the best BER per-
formance among the four systems at a velocity of 3 km/h. It is
seen that the BER performance of TLS-CDMA degrades when
Rb increases. This is because the spreading gain that is achieved
in the first layer becomes less when Rb increases. When Rb
reaches 3.2 Mb/s (the highest data rate), the BER performance
of TLS-CDMA is the same as the one for CEBS-CDMA
because both systems use the spreading factor of G = (1, 32).
When Rb is less than 3.2 Mb/s, TLS-CDMA can achieve better
performance than CEBS-CDMA because it can exploit further
frequency diversity in the first layer with a larger spreading
factor. Similarly, when Rb increases, the BER performance for
both CP-CDMA and MC-CDMA is significantly degraded be-
cause a smaller spreading factor causes significantly increased
MAI for the same amount of supported users. Compared with
Fig. 6, it is found that CEBS-CDMA performs better than
CP-CDMA and MC-CDMA because MAI dominates the BER
performance for the later schemes.
3574 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 57, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 2008

as Doppler spread. Overall, the above results show that the

TLS-CDMA system is capable of simultaneously supporting a
large number of high data rate users, even with high mobility
by adapting the spreading factor in two layers.

VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, a TLS-CDMA system has been proposed
to combat MAI and MPI simultaneously and effectively for
multiuser scenarios over frequency-selective fading channels.
With flexible adaptation of the two-layer spreading factors, the
proposed TLS-CDMA system is able to support variable data
rates among multiple users according to the cell structure, the
channel propagation conditions, and the number of active users.
Combined with a two-layer cell-specific scrambling code, the
TLS-CDMA system can achieve a frequency reuse factor of
1 and efficiently suppress OCI in a multicell environment.
The performance analysis and simulation results show that the
TLS-CDMA system outperforms the CP-CDMA, MC-CDMA,
and CEBS-CDMA systems. Due to its robust performance and
lower PAPR value, it is a promising candidate in the uplink
transmission for future mobile communication systems. In ad-
dition, we would like to address some impairment issues more
thoroughly, such as subchip timing offset, channel estimation
with pilot design, etc., in future work.

A PPENDIX A
According to (17)

1 
zG1
ΦICI (z) = d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1
N
m=(z−1)G1 +1
⎧
⎪
⎨ N  U
∗
· Km × Wl,k
⎪
⎩ k=1 u=1
u2 =l2

Fig. 7. BER performance comparison among TLS-CDMA, CP-CDMA, ⎛ ⎞⎫

⎪
⎬
MC-CDMA, and CEBS-CDMA systems on the effect of the data rate per user.
⎜ 
N
(m−n)(k−1) ⎟
(a) V = 3 km/h. (b) V = 60 km/h. · ⎝Hu,k au,n · ej2π N
⎠ .
n=1
⎪
⎭
n=m
Fig. 7(b) shows the BER performance as a function of Rb
at a velocity of 60 km/h. The same trend as Fig. 7(a) can Equation (20) is derived as given in (30), shown at the bottom
be observed. The TLS-CDMA system achieves the best BER of the next page.
performance among the four systems for high-mobility users. ∗ 
G1 ∗
Since E(Km Km  ) = δ(m − m ), m=1 du (m)dl (m) =
Compared with Fig. 7(a), it is found that the BER performance ∗  ∗
δ(u − l), and E(du (m)Km du (m )Km ) = δ(m − m ) 
of the TLS-CDMA, CP-CDMA, and MC-CDMA systems re-
mains almost unchanged. However, the BER performance of 1 
zG1 
U 
U 
N 
N
2
the CEBS-CDMA system is degraded due to the fast-fading σΦ =
ICI
2N 2 u =1
channel that destroys the code orthogonality among multiple m=(z−1)G1 +1 u=1 k=1 k =1
u2 =l2 u =l
2 2
users. More specifically, at the data rate of 0.4 Mb/s, the spread- ∗ ∗
ing factor that is used for CEBS-CDMA is (1, 256), whereas × Wl,k · Wl,k  · Hu,k · Hu ,k 

at the data rate of 0.8 Mb/s, the spreading factor that is used ⎡
⎢
N
is (1, 128). At V = 60 km/h, the usage of a larger spreading (m−n)(k−1)
·E⎣ au,n · ej2π N
factor causes increased MAI due to the fast-fading channel,
n=1
leading to worse performance. When the spreading factor for n=m

CEBS-CDMA decreases from 128 to 32, it is observed that ⎛ ⎞⎤

the BER performance remains almost the same, which means ⎜ 
N
(m−n )(k −1) ⎟⎥
that by adapting the spreading factor, the TLS-CDMA system ·⎝ a∗u ,n · e−j2π N
⎠⎦ . (31)
n =1
becomes less sensitive to channel propagation conditions, such n =m

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PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION 3575

However Equation (21) is derived as follows:

 
E au,n · a∗u ,n 1  
!
2
σΦ = E |Φnoise |2
noise
2
= E Su," n−1 #+1 · du, mod (n−1,G1 )+1 · Kn ⎡⎧
G1 1 ⎨ 
zG1
$ = E ⎣ d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1
2N 2 ⎩
·S ∗  " n −1 # · d∗u , mod (n −1,G1 )+1 · Kn∗ m=(z−1)G1 +1
⎫
u, G +1
1

= σs2 δ(n 
− n ) · δ(u − u ). 
(32) 
N
(m−n)(k−1)
⎬
∗
· Km × Wl,k ej2π n
⎭
Also k=1
⎧

zG1 
U 
N 
N ⎨ 
zG1
1 ∗ × d∗l1 , mod (m −1,G1 )+1
2
σΦ = Wl,k · Wl,k 
⎩
ICI
2N 2 m =(z−1)G1 +1
m=(z−1)G1 +1 u=1 k=1 k =1
⎫∗ ⎤
u2 =l2


N
(k−k )(m−n) 
N
(m −n)(k −1)
⎬
∗
· Hu,k · Hu,k  · σs
2
e j2π N
∗
· Km ×
j2π
Wl,k e N ⎦.
⎭
n=1 k =1
n=m


zG1 
U 
N 
N (35)
1 ∗
= Wl,k · Wl,k  G1
2N 2 ∗  ∗
u=1 k=1 k =1 Since E(Km Km  ) = δ(m − m ), m=1 du (m)dl (m) =
m=(z−1)G1 +1
∗  ∗ 
δ(u − l), and E(du (m)Km du (m )Km ) = δ(m − m )
u2 =l2
 

N
(k−k )(m−n)
∗
· Hu,k · Hu,k  · σs2 ej2π N −1 
zG1 
N 
K
1 ∗
n=1 2
σΦ = Wl,k · Wl,k 
(33)
noise
2N 2
m=(z−1)G1 +1 k=1 k =1

N (k−k )(m−n) (m−1)(k−1) (m−1)(k −1)

and n=1 ej2π N = N · δ(k − k  ). Hence · ej2π N · e−j2π N · E [Nk · Nk∗ ] . (36)
⎡ N 2 ⎤ 
2 U 
N    As ej2π((m−1)(k−1)/N ) · e−j2π((m−1)(k −1)/N ) =
σs ⎣ 1   ⎦ j2π((m−1)(k−k )/N )
2
σΦ = |W H
l,k u,k |2
−  W l,k u,k 
H . e = N δ(k − k  ), ej2π((m−1)(k−1)/N ) ·
ICI
2N u=1 N  −j2π((m−1)(k −1)/N ) ∗
u2 =l2
k=1 k=1 e E[Nk · Nk ] = N σn . Hence
2

(34)  
σn2 1 
N
2
σΦnoise = |Wl,k | .
2
(37)
2 N
A PPENDIX B k=1

According to (18)


zG1 A PPENDIX C
1
Φnoise (z) = d∗l1 , mod (m−1,G1 )+1 · ∗
Km Fully loaded TLS-CDMA has similar bandwidth efficiency
N
m=(z−1)G1 +1
as that for UP-OFDMA, and hence, it also has high bandwidth

N
(m−1)(k−1)
efficiency in a channel with long delay.
× Wl,k · Nk · e−j2π N . According to [10], with each user transmitting M symbols
k=1 over N + Q chips, N = U × M being the IFFT size or total

1  
2
σΦ = E |ΦICI |2
ICI
2
⎡⎧ ⎡ ⎛ ⎞⎤⎫
⎪
⎨ ⎪
⎬
1 ⎢ 
zG1
⎢ ∗ N  U
⎜ N
(m−n)(k−1) ⎟⎥
∗
= E ⎣ d · ⎣K W l,k · ⎝H u,k au,n · ej2π N
⎠⎦
2N 2 ⎪ ⎩m=(z−1)G1 +1
l 1, mod (m−1,G1 )+1 m
⎪
⎭
k=1 u=1 n=1
u2 =l2 n=m

⎧ ⎡ ⎛ ⎞⎤⎫∗ ⎤
⎪
⎨ 
zG1 
N 
U 
N ⎪
⎬
⎢ ∗ ⎜ (m−n )(k −1) ⎟⎥ ⎥
× d∗l1, mod · ⎣Km  Wl,k · ⎝Hu ,k au ,n · ej2π N
⎠⎦ ⎦
⎪
⎩m =(z−1)G1 +1 (m −1,G1 )+1 ⎪
⎭
k =1 u =1 n =1
u2 =l2 n =m

(30)

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3576
number of subcarriers, U being the maximum number of users,
and Q being the channel length, the maximum bandwidth
efficiency of UP-OFDMA is
N 1
η1 = = Q
. (38)
N +Q 1+ N
Similarly, for fully loaded TLS-CDMA, with each user trans-
mitting M symbols over N + Q chips per block [or over G2 ×
(N + Q) per consecutive G2 blocks], N = G1 × M being the
block size, G1 being the spreading factor in the first layer, and
Q being the channel length, the maximum bandwidth efficiency
of TLS-CDMA is
G2 × N 1 [21] B. M. Popovic, “Generalized chirp-like polyphase sequences with op-
η2 = = .
G2 × N + G2 × Q Q
1+ N
Comparing (38) with (39), we see that the bandwidth effi-
ciency of UP-OFDMA is the same as that of TLS-CDMA.
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Xiaoming Peng (M’01) received the B.Eng. degree
in electrical engineering from Beijing University
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing, China, in
1994, the M.Eng. degree from Nanyang Technolog-
ical University, Singapore, in 2001, and the Ph.D.
degree from the National University of Singapore
in 2007.
From 1994 to 1996, he was with Elec & Eltek,
where he worked on hardware and firmware devel-
opment. From 1996 to 1999, he was with Thomson
R&D Center (formerly GE) on wireless communica-
tion systems. Since March 2001, he has been with the Institute for Infocomm
Research (I2 R), Singapore, where he is currently a Project Manager. He has
authored over 50 papers in various prestigious journals and conferences and
has 15 pending patents. He is also one of the authors of the WiMedia UWB
PHY specification (ISO/IEC 26907) and the IEEE 802.15.4a Low Rate UWB
PHY specification. His research interests include wireless communications
and signal processing for ultrawideband (UWB) and next-generation wireless
systems (4G), covering turbo-coded modulation, hybrid ARQ, OFDM, CDMA,
and multiple-access schemes.
Dr. Peng served as a Member of the Technical Program Committee of the
2007 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband.
Khiam-Boon Png (M’05) received the B.Eng. and
M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering in 2003 and
2005, respectively, from the National University of
Singapore, Singapore, where he is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree in wireless communications.
Since 2005, he has been with the Institute for
Infocomm Research (I2 R), Singapore, where he
is currently a Research Officer. His main research
interests include mobile wireless communication
systems, signal processing implementation for ultra-
wideband (UWB), and OFDM systems.
PENG et al.: TWO-LAYER SPREADING CDMA: IMPROVED METHOD FOR BROADBAND UPLINK TRANSMISSION 3577

Zhongding Lei (M’00–SM’04) received the B.Sc. Chi Chung Ko (M’82–SM’93) received the B.Sc.
(Honor) degree in applied mathematics and the and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Beijing the Loughborough University of Technology,
Jiaotong University, Beijing, China, in 1991 and Leicestershire, U.K.
1997, respectively, and the M.Eng. degree in electri- He is currently a Professor with the Department
cal engineering from Tong Ji University, Shanghai, of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National
China, in 1994. University of Singapore, Singapore. He has authored
From 1997 to 1999, he was a Postdoctoral Fel- over 250 technical publications. He is an Editor for
low with the Department of Electrical and Com- the EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications
puter Engineering, National University of Singapore, and Networking, as well as the Electronics and
Singapore. Since 1999, he has been with the Institute Telecommunications Research Institute Journal. His
for Infocomm Research, Singapore, where he is currently a Project Manager. current research interests include digital signal processing, adaptive arrays,
He has been involved in several industrial/core projects on next-generation communications, and networks.
wireless systems (4G) and wireless regional/local/personal area networks. He Dr. Ko has served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
has authored over 70 papers in refereed journals or conferences. He is the holder SIGNAL PROCESSING and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND
of two patents and has several pending patents. His research interests include PROPAGATION.
4G, cognitive radio, MIMO, UWB radio technology, and smart antennas.
Dr. Lei was the recipient of the 2005 and 2007 Institution Engineering
of Singapore Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards. He is the PHY
Technical Editor for the IEEE 802.22 WPAN standard. He served as the
Panel Chair at the 2007 International Conference on Communications and
Networking in China and the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Cognitive
Radio Oriented Wireless Networks and Communications. He has also served on
the Technical Program Committee of the IEEE International Conference on
Communications/Wireless Communications and Networking Conference/
Global Communications Conference/Vehicular Technology Conference/
International Conference on Ultra-Wideband and the Institution of Electrical
Engineers.

Francois Chin (SM’04) received the Ph.D. degree in

electrical engineering from the National University
of Singapore, Singapore.
Since 1995, he has been with the Institute for Info-
comm Research, Singapore, which is a government-
funded research institute, where he is currently a
Program Manager, leading a group of R&D teams
in future broadband wireless access technologies.
His research focus includes signal processing tech-
niques for wireless communication system capac-
ity enhancement, network optimization, and system
design/performance evaluation for future communication systems, including
beyond 3G cellular systems and ultra-wideband (UWB)-based, high-speed,
short-range radio networks. He is actively contributing to various standard-
ization activities/efforts, including 3GPP Long-Term Evolution, WiMedia Al-
liance for UWB Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs), IEEE 802.15.3a
UWB Alternate PHY for High Rates, IEEE 802.15.4a UWB Alternate PHY
for Low-Rate Low-Power WPANs, and IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area
Networks. He has authored over 170 papers in well-known international jour-
nals and technical conferences and over 50 technical documents in wireless-
communication-related standards. He has 30 pending patents.
Dr. Chin was a corecipient of the 50th IEEE Vehicular Technology and
Communications Conference (1999, Fall) Best Paper Award. He was the
recipient of the 2005 and 2007 Institution Engineering of Singapore Prestigious
Engineering Achievement Awards for his contribution to the IEEE 802.15.4b
and IEEE 802.22 standards, respectively. He is a member of the Radio Standard
Technical Committee, Infocomm Development Authority (Singapore).

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