High Speed Packet Access which is abbreviated as HSPA is the unification of two mobile telephony protocols, one is High Speed Downlink Packet Access abbreviated as HSDPA and the other is High Speed Uplink Packet Access which is abbreviated as HSUPA. The purpose of this combination is to improve the working of existing WCDMA i.e. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access protocols. It is the most recognized mobile broadband technology and this terminology is being used when HSDPA as well as HSUPA are brought together. In 115 countries there are over 265 commercial networks with HSDPA, 77 of which have been upgraded to HSPA. It is expected that sooner or later all of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System will be upgraded to the technology of HSPA. Before proceeding to its working and other features, let us have a look on the definitions of HSDPA and HSUPA.
HSDPA:
High Speed Downlink Packet Access which is an important member of HSPA and also offered3.5G, 3G+ or Turbo 3G allows the networking for transferring the UMTs Data packets at great speed and good capacity 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 are the current HSDPA deployments support downlink speeds.
HSUPA
High-Speed Uplink Packet Access is also the part of HSPA family and has up-link speed of 5.6 Mbit/s. Nokia gave it name HSUPA but 3GPP uses name Enhanced Uplink (EUL) Instead. The technical purpose is to increase capacity, reduce delay and throughput, and in a way advance the working of uplink dedicated transport channels.
How HSPA works?
HSPA works in a way that it increases the peak data rates and its capacity. It increases up to 12 Mbit/s in the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s in the uplink. The capacity in the downlink is five times more as compared to the downlink which is twice and the plus point is the reduction in the production cost per unit compared to the WCDMA protocols. There are numerous ways in which it increases peak data rates and capacities and they are:
- Shared Channel Transmission resulting in efficient use of WCDMA available code and power resources.
- A shorter Transmission Time Interval abbreviated as TTI which minimizes round trip time and the tracking of fast channel variation become better.
- In order to maximize channel use and enabling the base station Link Adaptation is utilized.
- The other way to increase peak data rates is Fast Scheduling which helps users in prioritizing there favorable channel conditions.
- Capacity also increases by Fast retransmission and Soft Combining.
- 16QAM i.e. Quadrature Amplitude Modulation produces higher bit-rates.
With a help of software upgrade to the existing 3G networks, many of the HSPA rollouts can be obtained which will result in giving HSPA a head start over Wimax. The easy-to-use feature of HSPA enabled devices which are more than 1000 in number is raising its sales and is accepted by many.
Advantages – features of HSPA:
Some of the benefits reaped by the Operators and Customers due to HSPA are:
The overhead costs of the operators are reduced as they make more efficient use of the spectrum that has three times more capacity than UMTS. On the Other Hand as the HSPA is backward compatible with UMTS, EDGE and GPRS, this feature helps the customers which move to any place not upgraded by it. It will provide fast packet data connections in those areas. One more plus point is that in order to meet more advance wireless needs of the customers it gives carrier, an efficient mobile broadband technology that can evolve to HSPA+.
Future Perception
HSPA is bringing a remarking evolution worldwide being affordable, providing coverage anywhere one goes, and bringing volumes in economy of scale and with its immense connectivity features. Evolved HSPA is already here. In near future this devastating technology will rock the world.