Forward link capacity in multi-service cellular CDMA systems with soft handoff in the presence of path loss and lognormal shadowing

In this paper, we present an analytical framework to estimate the forward link capacity in multi-service cellular CDMA systems. In our analytical framework, a mobile performs the practical base station (BS) selection criterion that the mobile always connects to the largest received power BS. The Gaussian approximation and the lognormal approximation are used in evaluating the resulting signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) at the mobile. Based on the comparison of the simulation result and the results obtained using these two approximate methods, we propose an approximation selection method focusing on the different requirements from different services and combining the advantages of the two approximations. With the practical BS selection criterion and the proposed approximation selection method, the forward link capacity is estimated in a more accurate way