What is CDMA, TDMA, FDMA?
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is a channel access method used in various radio communication technologies. CDMA employs spread-spectrum technology and a unique coding scheme, where each transmitter is assigned a specific code. This approach enables multiple users to share and access the same physical channel simultaneously. In contrast, other methods like Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) allocate access based on time slots, while Frequency-Division Multiple Access (FDMA) allocates access based on distinct frequency bands.
An analogy to the challenge of multiple access is to imagine a room (representing a communication channel) where people want to communicate with each other. To prevent confusion, people can adopt different strategies: they can take turns speaking (time division), speak at different pitches (frequency division), or speak in different directions (spatial division). In the case of CDMA, they would choose to speak in different languages. People speaking the same language can understand each other, but those speaking different languages cannot. Similarly, in radio CDMA, each group of users is assigned a shared code. Many codes coexist within the same channel, but only users associated with a specific code can comprehend each other’s transmissions.
In essence, CDMA enables efficient and simultaneous communication among multiple users by assigning unique codes to each user group, ensuring that they can communicate without interference from other groups sharing the same channel.