8/1/2016

WhatsTheDifferenceBetweenFDDAndTDD?

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WhatsTheDifferenceBetweenFDDAndTDD?
ElectronicDesign
LouFrenzel

LouFrenzel
Mon,2012073011:33

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Duplexingistheprocessofachievingtwowaycommunicationsoveracommunicationschannel.Ittakestwo
forms:halfduplexandfullduplex(Fig.1).

1.Therearetwomodesofduplexoperation:(a)halfduplexand(b)fullduplex.
Inhalfduplex,thetwocommunicatingpartiestaketurnstransmittingoverasharedchannel.Twoway
radiosworkthisway.Asonepartytalks,theotherlistens.SpeakingpartiesoftensayOvertoindicatethat
theyrefinishedanditstimefortheotherpartytospeak.Innetworking,asinglecableissharedasthetwo
computerscommunicatingtaketurnssendingandreceivingdata.
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Fullduplexreferstosimultaneoustwowaycommunications.Thetwocommunicatingstationscansendand
receiveatthesametime.Landlinetelephonesandcellphonesworkthisway.Someformsofnetworking
permitsimultaneoustransmitandreceiveoperationstooccur.Thisisthemoredesirableformofduplexing,
butitismorecomplexandexpensivethanhalfduplexing.Therearetwobasicformsoffullduplexing:
frequencydivisionduplex(FDD)andtimedivisionduplex(TDD)(seethetable).

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FrequencyDivisionDuplex
FDDrequirestwoseparatecommunicationschannels.Innetworking,therearetwocables.Fullduplex
EthernetusestwotwistedpairsinsidetheCAT5cableforsimultaneoussendandreceiveoperations.
Wirelesssystemsneedtwoseparatefrequencybandsorchannels(Fig.2).Asufficientamountofguardband
separatesthetwobandssothetransmitterandreceiverdontinterferewithoneanother.Goodfilteringor
duplexersandpossiblyshieldingareamusttoensurethetransmitterdoesnotdesensitizetheadjacent
receiver.

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WhatsTheDifferenceBetweenFDDAndTDD?

2.FDDrequirestwosymmetricalsegmentsofspectrumfortheuplinkanddownlinkchannels.
Inacellphonewithatransmitterandreceiveroperatingsimultaneouslywithinsuchcloseproximity,the
receivermustfilteroutasmuchofthetransmittersignalaspossible.Thegreaterthespectrumseparation,
themoreeffectivethefilters.
FDDuseslotsoffrequencyspectrum,though,generallyatleasttwicethespectrumneededbyTDD.In
addition,theremustbeadequatespectrumseparationbetweenthetransmitandreceivechannels.Theseso
calledguardbandsarentuseable,sotheyrewasteful.Giventhescarcityandexpenseofspectrum,theseare
realdisadvantages.
However,FDDisverywidelyusedincellulartelephonesystems,suchasthewidelyusedGSMsystem.In
somesystemsthe25MHzbandfrom869to894MHzisusedasthedownlink(DL)spectrumfromthecell
sitetowertothehandset,andthe25MHzbandfrom824to849MHzisusedastheuplink(UL)spectrum
fromthehandsettocellsite.
AnotherdisadvantagewithFDDisthedifficultyofusingspecialantennatechniqueslikemultipleinput
multipleoutput(MIMO)andbeamforming.ThesetechnologiesareacorepartofthenewLongTerm
Evolution(LTE)4Gcellphonestrategiesforincreasingdatarates.Itisdifficulttomakeantennabandwidths
broadenoughtocoverbothsetsofspectrum.Morecomplexdynamictuningcircuitryisrequired.
FDDalsoworksonacablewheretransmitandreceivechannelsaregivendifferentpartsofthecable
spectrum,asincableTVsystems.Again,filtersareusedtokeepthechannelsseparate.

TimeDivisionDuplex
TDDusesasinglefrequencybandforbothtransmitandreceive.Thenitsharesthatbandbyassigning
alternatingtimeslotstotransmitandreceiveoperations(Fig.3).Theinformationtobetransmitted
whetheritsvoice,video,orcomputerdataisinserialbinaryformat.Eachtimeslotmaybe1bytelongor
couldbeaframeofmultiplebytes.

3.TDDalternatesthetransmissionandreceptionofstationdataovertime.Timeslotsmaybevariablein
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length.
Becauseofthehighspeednatureofthedata,thecommunicatingpartiescannottellthatthetransmissions
areintermittent.Thetransmissionsareconcurrentratherthansimultaneous.Fordigitalvoiceconverted
backtoanalog,noonecantellitisntfullduplex.
InsomeTDDsystems,thealternatingtimeslotsareofthesamedurationorhaveequalDLandULtimes.
However,thesystemdoesnthavetobe50/50symmetrical.Thesystemcanbeasymmetricalasrequired.
Forinstance,inInternetaccess,downloadtimesareusuallymuchlongerthanuploadtimessomoreor
fewerframetimeslotsareassignedasneeded.SomeTDDformatsofferdynamicbandwidthallocation
wheretimeslotnumbersordurationsarechangedontheflyasrequired.
TherealadvantageofTDDisthatitonlyneedsasinglechanneloffrequencyspectrum.Furthermore,no
spectrumwastefulguardbandsorchannelseparationsareneeded.Thedownsideisthatsuccessful
implementationofTDDneedsaveryprecisetimingandsynchronizationsystematboththetransmitterand
receivertomakesuretimeslotsdontoverlaporotherwiseinterferewithoneanother.
TimingisoftensynchedtopreciseGPSderivedatomicclockstandards.Guardtimesarealsoneeded
betweentimeslotstopreventoverlap.Thistimeisgenerallyequaltothesendreceiveturnaroundtime
(transmitreceiveswitchingtime)andanytransmissiondelays(latency)overthecommunicationspath.

ApplicationExamples
MostcellphonesystemsuseFDD.ThenewerLTEand4GsystemsuseFDD.CableTVsystemsarefully
FDD.
MostwirelessdatatransmissionsareTDD.WiMAXandWiFiuseTDD.SodoesBluetoothwhenpiconets
aredeployed.ZigBeeisTDD.MostdigitalcordlesstelephonesuseTDD.Becauseofthespectrumshortage
andexpense,TDDisalsobeingadoptedinsomecellularsystems,suchasChinasTDSCDMAandTDLTE
systems.OtherTDLTEcellularsystemsareexpectedtobedeployedwherespectrumshortagesoccur.

Conclusion
TDDappearstobethebetteroverallchoice,butFDDisfarmorewidelyimplementedbecauseofprior
frequencyspectrumassignmentsandearliertechnologies.FDDwillcontinuetodominatethecellular
businessfornow.Yetasspectrumbecomesmorecostlyandscarce,TDDwillbecomemorewidelyadopted
asspectrumisreallocatedandrepurposed.

References
1. Moonblink
2. NetkromTechnologies
3. RadioElectronics
4. Frenzel,L.E.,PrinciplesofElectronicsCommunicationsSystems,3rdedition,McGrawHill,2008,
http://www.amazon.com/PrinciplesElectronicCommunicationpublished
Education/dp/B008DMCPU0.
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