Introduction to WCDMA explains the fundamental components, basic operation, services, and terminology used for UMTS code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. This book explains the basic components, technologies used, and operation of UMTS WCDMA systems. You will discover why mobile telephone service providers have upgraded from 2nd generation digital systems to more efficient and feature rich 3rd generation system. You will also discover how 3rd generation systems are gradually evolving into 4th generation ultra broadband multimedia systems. This book starts with the system components and basic services that the WCDMA system can provide. You will learn that the key types of WCDMA devices include external radio modems, wireless PCMCIA cards, embedded radio modules, single mode and dual mode mobile telephones. You will then discover the different types of available services such as multiple types of voice services, data services, messaging services, and position location services. Explained are the physical and logical radio channel structures of the WCDMA systems along with the basic frame and slot structures. Described are the fundamental capabilities and operation of the WCDMA radio channel including channel coding, modulation types, adaptive multi-rate speech coding, precise power control, and soft handoff. You will learn how each WCDMA radio channel has channel codes and that some are these are used for signaling (control channels) and others are used for user traffic (voice and data). Because the needs of voice and data communication are different, you will discover that the WCDMA system essentially separates circuit switched (primarily voice) and packet switched (primarily data) services. Described are key functional sections of a WCDMA network components and how they communicate with each other. You will learn how and why WCDMA is evolving into 4th generation ultra broadband systems using spatial division multiple access (SDMA) technology. Some of the most important topics featured in this book are: . How WCDMA systems operate . WCDMA voice, data, and multimedia services . The types of WCDMA products and their uses . The WCDMA radio channel structure . The different types of physical and logical channels . WCDMA network components . Speech coding, power control, and soft handoff . Network components and their connections . How WCDMA technology is evolving into ultra broadband multi-media systems