WCDMA 6-sector Deployment - Case Study of a Real Installed UMTS-FDD Network

Higher order sectorization is a promising technology to increase the capacity of cellular networks without the need for building additional sites. It is important to evaluate system performance in realistic non-homogenous deployment and traffic scenarios. A case study of a real network deployment has been undertaken to determine the capacity and coverage performance of the network when a limited set of sites are upgraded to 6-sectors sites. This in comparison to a homogenous and regular hexagonal scenario where a full network migration is performed. It is shown that the performance gain shown in homogenous deployments is maintained in a real network