Statistical characterization of the performance of smart antenna systems in W-CDMA mixed-services scenarios [3G mobile communications]

In this paper, we analyze the performance of smart antennas (SA) in typical user scenarios such as mixed-set and hot spot environments. In particular, we compare the results obtained with switched-beam and fully adaptive antennas with respect to a conventional sectored antenna. The scope of this contribution is two-fold: first, we compare the performance obtained with several SA solutions with different complexity, from switched-beam antennas to adaptive arrays controlled by different beamforming algorithms. Second, we analyse the results from a complexity vs. performance trade-off perspective. Through extensive link-level simulations, we show that final performance depends on the spatial user distribution and the individual demanded service. In addition, we analyse not only average values but also cumulative distribution functions for speech and data users in different scenarios. Finally, it is important to emphasize that link-level simulation results can be transferred to system level simulations for use in the planning phase in order to calculate the coverage and capacity increase that can be achieved with SAs in a multiple cell scenario.