HSDPA Radio Capacity Improvement with Advanced Devices

This paper studies the impact of HSPA equipments and devices evolution, from 3GPP R5 to R7 ones, on the capacity of a real macro-cell network. A simulation method has been developed. It combines drive test measurements, link-level simulations, and a statistical capacity model, which provides a reliable estimate of the network radio capacity. Different receiver schemes are simulated: linear receivers such as Rake/MMSE and a non-linear receiver using Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC). Simulation results show that the network capacity is higher with high HSDPA devices category. In particular, a significant capacity gain is achieved with MIMO combined with advanced receivers.