EFFECTS OF DIVERSITY, POWER-CONTROL, AND BANDWIDTH ON THE CAPACITY OF MICROCELLULAR CDMA SYSTEMS

We evaluate the capacity and bandwidth efficiency of microcellular CDMA systems. Power control, multipath diversity, system bandwidth, and path loss exponent are seen to have major impact on the capacity. The CDMA system considered uses convolutional codes, orthogonal signaling, multipath/antenna diversity with noncoherent combining, and fast closed-loop power control on the uplink (portable-to-base) direction. On the downlink (base-to-portable), convolutional codes, BPSK modulation with pilot-signal-assisted coherent reception, and multipath diversity are employed. Both fast and slow power control are considered for the downlink. The capacity of the CDMA system is evaluated in a multicell environment taking into account shadow fading, path loss, fast fading, and closed-loop power control. Fast power control on the downlink increases the capacity significantly. Capacity is also significantly impacted by the path loss exponent. Narrowband CDMA (system bandwidth of 1.25 MHz) requires artificial multipath generation on the downlink to achieve adequate capacity. For smaller path loss exponents, which are more likely in microcellular environments, artificial multipath diversity of an order of as high as 4 may be needed. Wideband CDMA systems (10 MHz bandwidth) achieve greater efficiencies in terms of capacity per MHz.