Channel Characterization and HSDPA Bit Rate Prediction of a Dense City Network

In radio network simulations, the channel model is one of the key inputs and it has a large impact on the network performance, especially for HSDPA. When evaluating the benefits of different features in system simulations it is therefore important that the chosen channel model is a good approximation of the radio environment of the evaluated type of area. In this paper an assessment of the radio channel characteristics in a densely planned European city center is presented. Live traffic measurements are compared to "real network" simulations results using a range of different channel models. The results show that the 3GPP Typical Urban channel model does not reproduce the measured performance from the dense urban environment in a good way; only half the capacity compared to what was calculated from the measurements was achieved. Instead, ITU Pedestrian A models the environment in a better way.