Time-division multiple access (TDMA) is a

channel access method In telecommunications and computer networks, a channel access method or multiple access method allows more than two terminals connected to the same transmission medium to transmit over it and to share its capacity. Examples of shared physical m ...

for

shared-medium network In telecommunication, a shared medium is a transmission medium, medium or channel (communications), channel of information transfer that serves more than one user at the same time. In order for most channels to function correctly, no more than on ...

s. It allows several users to share the same

frequency channel In broadcasting, a channel or frequency channel is a designated radio frequency (or, equivalently, wavelength), assigned by a competent frequency assignment authority for the operation of a particular radio station, television station or televis ...

by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium (e.g. radio frequency channel) while using only a part of its channel capacity. Dynamic TDMA is a TDMA variant that dynamically reserves a variable number of time slots in each frame to variable bit-rate data streams, based on the traffic demand of each data stream. TDMA is used in the digital 2G cellular systems such as

Global System for Mobile Communications The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as ...

(GSM),

IS-136 IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation ( 2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), and a further development of the North American 1G mobile system Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was once prevalent throughout the America ...

Personal Digital Cellular Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) was a 2G mobile telecommunications standard used exclusively in Japan. After a peak of nearly 80 million subscribers to PDC, it had 46 million subscribers in December 2005, and was slowly phased out in favor of 3 ...

(PDC) and iDEN, and in the

Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications Digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (Digital European cordless telecommunications), usually known by the acronym DECT, is a standard primarily used for creating cordless telephone systems. It originated in Europe, where it is the common ...

(DECT) standard for portable phones. TDMA was first used in

satellite communication A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

systems by

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

in its

Westar 3 Westar was a fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. There were seven Westar satellites in all, with five of them launched and operating under the Westar ...

communications satellite in 1979. It is now used extensively in satellite communications,

combat-net radio In telecommunication, a combat-net radio (CNR) is a radio operating in a network that (a) provides a half-duplex circuit and (b) uses either a single radio frequency or a discrete set of radio frequencies when in a frequency hopping mode. CNRs ...

systems, and

passive optical network A passive optical network (PON) is a fiber-optic telecommunications technology for delivering broadband network access to end-customers. Its architecture implements a point-to-multipoint topology in which a single optical fiber serves multiple e ...

(PON) networks for upstream traffic from premises to the operator. TDMA is a type of time-division multiplexing (TDM), with the special point that instead of having one

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

connected to one receiver, there are multiple transmitters. In the case of the ''

uplink In a telecommunications network, a link is a communication channel that connects two or more devices for the purpose of data transmission. The link may be a dedicated physical link or a virtual circuit that uses one or more physical links or sha ...

'' from a

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

to a base station this becomes particularly difficult because the mobile phone can move around and vary the ''timing advance'' required to make its transmission match the gap in transmission from its peers.

Characteristics

* Shares single carrier frequency with multiple users * Non-continuous transmission makes handoff simpler * Slots can be assigned on demand in dynamic TDMA * Less stringent power control than

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

due to reduced intra cell interference * Higher synchronization overhead than CDMA * Advanced equalization may be necessary for high data rates if the channel is "frequency selective" and creates

Intersymbol interference In telecommunication, intersymbol interference (ISI) is a form of distortion of a signal in which one symbol interferes with subsequent symbols. This is an unwanted phenomenon as the previous symbols have a similar effect as noise, thus making ...

* Cell breathing (borrowing resources from adjacent cells) is more complicated than in CDMA * Frequency/slot allocation complexity * Pulsating power envelope:

interference Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to: Communications * Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message * Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extr ...

with other devices

In mobile phone systems

2G systems

Most 2G cellular systems, with the notable exception of

IS-95 Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) was the first ever CDMA-based digital cellular technology. It was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95 release published in 1995. The ...

, are based on TDMA.

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

D-AMPS IS-54 and IS-136 are second-generation ( 2G) mobile phone systems, known as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), and a further development of the North American 1G mobile system Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS). It was once prevalent throughout the America ...

, PDC, iDEN, and PHS are examples of TDMA cellular systems. In the GSM system, the synchronization of the mobile phones is achieved by sending timing advance commands from the base station which instructs the mobile phone to transmit earlier and by how much. This compensates for the propagation delay resulting from the light speed velocity of radio waves. The mobile phone is not allowed to transmit for its entire time slot, but there is a guard interval at the end of each time slot. As the transmission moves into the guard period, the mobile network adjusts the timing advance to synchronize the transmission. Initial synchronization of a phone requires even more care. Before a mobile transmits there is no way to actually know the offset required. For this reason, an entire time slot has to be dedicated to mobiles attempting to contact the network; this is known as the random-access channel (RACH) in GSM. The mobile attempts to broadcast at the beginning of the time slot, as received from the network. If the mobile is located next to the base station, there will be no time delay and this will succeed. If, however, the mobile phone is at just less than 35 km from the base station, the time delay will mean the mobile's broadcast arrives at the very end of the time slot. In that case, the mobile will be instructed to broadcast its messages starting nearly a whole time slot earlier than would be expected otherwise. Finally, if the mobile is beyond the 35 km cell range in GSM, then the RACH will arrive in a neighbouring time slot and be ignored. It is this feature, rather than limitations of power, that limits the range of a GSM cell to 35 km when no special extension techniques are used. By changing the synchronization between the uplink and downlink at the base station, however, this limitation can be overcome.

3G systems

Although most major 3G systems are primarily based upon

, time-division duplexing (TDD), packet scheduling (dynamic TDMA) and packet oriented multiple access schemes are available in 3G form, combined with CDMA to take advantage of the benefits of both technologies. While the most popular form of the

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

3G system uses CDMA and

frequency-division duplex A duplex communication system is a point-to-point system composed of two or more connected parties or devices that can communicate with one another in both directions. Duplex systems are employed in many communications networks, either to allow ...

ing (FDD) instead of TDMA, TDMA is combined with CDMA and time-division duplexing in two standard UMTS UTRA.

In wired networks

The

ITU-T The ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is one of the three sectors (divisions or units) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is responsible for coordinating standards for telecommunications and Information Comm ...

G.hn standard, which provides high-speed local area networking over existing home wiring (power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables) is based on a TDMA scheme. In G.hn, a "master" device allocates "Contention-Free Transmission Opportunities" (CFTXOP) to other "slave" devices in the network. Only one device can use a CFTXOP at a time, thus avoiding collisions. FlexRay protocol which is also a wired network used for

safety-critical A safety-critical system (SCS) or life-critical system is a system whose failure or malfunction may result in one (or more) of the following outcomes: * death or serious injury to people * loss or severe damage to equipment/property * environme ...

communication in modern cars, uses the TDMA method for data transmission control.

Comparison with other multiple-access schemes

In radio systems, TDMA is usually used alongside

frequency-division multiple access Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) is a channel access method used in some multiple-access protocols. FDMA allows multiple users to send data through a single communication channel, such as a coaxial cable or microwave beam, by dividing ...

(FDMA) and frequency-division duplex (FDD); the combination is referred to as FDMA/TDMA/FDD. This is the case in both GSM and IS-136 for example. Exceptions to this include the

DECT Digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (Digital European cordless telecommunications), usually known by the acronym DECT, is a standard primarily used for creating cordless telephone systems. It originated in Europe, where it is the common ...

and

Personal Handy-phone System The Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), also marketed as the Personal Communication Telephone (PCT) in Thailand, and the Personal Access System (PAS) and commercially branded as ''Xiaolingtong'' () in Mainland China, was a mobile network system o ...

(PHS) micro-cellular systems, UMTS-TDD UMTS variant, and China's

TD-SCDMA The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

, which use time-division duplexing, where different time slots are allocated for the base station and handsets on the same frequency. A major advantage of TDMA is that the radio part of the mobile only needs to listen and broadcast for its own time slot. For the rest of the time, the mobile can carry out measurements on the network, detecting surrounding transmitters on different frequencies. This allows safe inter frequency

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transfe ...

s, something which is difficult in CDMA systems, not supported at all in

and supported through complex system additions in

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

(UMTS). This in turn allows for co-existence of

microcell A microcell is a cell in a mobile phone network served by a low power cellular base station (tower), covering a limited area such as a mall, a hotel, or a transportation hub. A microcell is usually larger than a picocell, though the distinction ...

layers with

macrocell A macrocell or macrosite is a cell in a mobile phone network that provides radio coverage served by a high power cell site (tower, antenna or mast). Generally, macrocells provide coverage larger than microcell. The antennas for macrocells are mo ...

layers. CDMA, by comparison, supports "soft hand-off" which allows a mobile phone to be in communication with up to 6 base stations simultaneously, a type of "same-frequency handover". The incoming packets are compared for quality, and the best one is selected. CDMA's "cell breathing" characteristic, where a terminal on the boundary of two congested cells will be unable to receive a clear signal, can often negate this advantage during peak periods. A disadvantage of TDMA systems is that they create

at a frequency which is directly connected to the time slot length. This is the buzz which can sometimes be heard if a TDMA phone is left next to a radio or speakers. Another disadvantage is that the "dead time" between time slots limits the potential bandwidth of a TDMA channel. These are implemented in part because of the difficulty in ensuring that different terminals transmit at exactly the times required. Handsets that are moving will need to constantly adjust their timings to ensure their transmission is received at precisely the right time, because as they move further from the base station, their signal will take longer to arrive. This also means that the major TDMA systems have hard limits on cell sizes in terms of range, though in practice the power levels required to receive and transmit over distances greater than the supported range would be mostly impractical anyway.

Dynamic TDMA

In dynamic time-division multiple access (dynamic TDMA), a

scheduling algorithm In computing, scheduling is the action of assigning ''resources'' to perform ''tasks''. The ''resources'' may be processors, network links or expansion cards. The ''tasks'' may be threads, processes or data flows. The scheduling activity is ca ...

dynamically reserves a variable number of time slots in each frame to variable bit-rate data streams, based on the traffic demand of each data stream. Dynamic TDMA is used in * HIPERLAN/2 broadband radio access network. * IEEE 802.16a WiMax *

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

* Military Radios /

Tactical Data Link A tactical data link (TDL) uses a data link standard in order to provide communication via radio waves or cable used by NATO nations. All military C3 systems use standardized TDL to transmit, relay and receive tactical data. Multi-TDL network ...

G.hn * Simulation of TDMA / DTMA links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Time-Division Multiple Access Radio resource management Media access control