Characterization of TDMA and W-CDMA Performance based on their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Mobile Wireless Communication presents the users with seamless communication where possible. TDMA is the Multiple Access Scheme used in GSM while 3G system uses W-CDMA. The former is designed majorly for voice and a little of data. Due to the increased in number of phone users and the services enjoyed by the users, subscribers have demanded for non-voice services, mobile extensions to fixed-line services and richer mobile content. This has caused the network operators to develop 3G system with the goal of providing a network infrastructure that can support a much broader range of services than existing systems. This paper presents a characterization of the two wireless systems performance based on their key performance indicators (KPIs). This Characterization was carried out around their TCH Availability, Call Drop Rate, Call Set-up Success Rate (CSSR), Handover Rate, and TCH Traffic. From the collected data, the two systems were analyzed and the analysis shown that W-CDMA provides a network infrastructure that can support a much broader range of services than existing systems (GSM) because the main forces behind development of the third generation systems (3G) have been driven by the second generation systems’ low performance data services, incompatible service in different parts of the world, and lack of capacity.