What is TDMA?
| Technology: | TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) |
| Purpose: | Digital cellular telephone systems |
| Frequency: | 800MHz, 1,900MHz |
| Range: | Coverage area of host network |
| Speed: | 64Kbps to 120Kbps |
| Devices: | TDMA cellular phones |
| Compatibility: | Not compatible with GSM, CDMA networks |
| Time Division Multiple Access |
|
A method allowing multiple carriers to share a single satellite transponder or range of frequencies. The earth stations transmit sequentially in unique time slots at the same carrier frequency, so that only a single station transmits at any given time. A technology used in digital cellular telephone communication to divide each cellular channel into a number of time slots in order to increase the amount of data that can be carried. This technology is called multiplexing. TDMA is used by Digital-American Mobile Phone Service (D-AMPS), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC). TDMA is implemented within each of these systems differently. An alternative multiplexing scheme to TDMA is code division multiple access (CDMA), which takes the entire allocated frequency range for a given service and multiplexes information for all users across the spectrum range at the same time. The TDMA standard was first specified in Interim Standard 54 (IS-54). The U.S. uses IS-136 for TDMA for both the cellular (850 MHz) and PCS (1900 MHz) spectrums. TDMA is also used for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT). |
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