CDMA Smart Antenna Performance

Abstract

Applications of smart antenna technology to CDMA networks include both high-mobility cellular/PCS as well as fixed-terminal and low-mobility wireless local hop deployments. Smart antennas are emerging as an integral element of the new wideband CDMA standards for third generation mobile telephone systems across North America, Europe and Asia. This paper proposes a realizable architecture that applies smart antennas to current TIA/IS-95 CDMA networks; the approach employs a noninvasive applique technique designed to address many of the fundamental performance limitations that exist with current CDMA networks. The design integrates naturally with existing smart antenna architectures for analog AMPS service. Computer simulations are used to examine improvements in capacity and performance employing the fixed-beam technology. The non-traditional roles phased-array antenna deployments can play in traffic load balancing, handoff management and network-wide interference control are explored.