Jointly optimized rate and outer loop power control with single- and multi-user detection

We propose a technique for enhancing the achievable spectral efficiency of multiuser direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS-CDMA) fading channels in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and multiple access interference (MAI). The proposed scheme involves the joint optimization of outer loop power control (OLPC) and rate control using variable spreading factors (VSFs). The optimality is in the sense of average spectral efficiency maximization. The optimum outer loop target signal-to-noise ratio (SNR-target) and the corresponding spreading factor are derived jointly, in terms of the number of active users. Along with transmit power adaptation in the inner loop, this leads to maximized average spectral efficiency. Total and truncated channel inversion strategies are used in the inner loop. The average spectral efficiency of the joint optimization scheme is derived for the conventional matched-filter and the multiuser decorrelating detectors. Average transmit power and instantaneous bit error rate (BER) constraints are considered and the performance is evaluated over Nakagami-m flat-fading channels. In low SNRs, the proposed scheme can provide a considerable gain in bits/s/Hz for either of the detectors, compared to a VSF-assisted system that does not exploit OLPC and thus the optimum SNR-target.