Capacity Evaluation of Fixed Beams in a WCDMA System using channel estimation based on P-CPICH

A fixed multi-beam system that uses the Primary-Common PIlot CHannel (P-CPICH) as a phase reference for channel estimation and demodulation in WCDMA is evaluated in a dynamic radio network simulator. The impact of the angular spread on the downlink system performance is analyzed. Furthermore, a scrambling code allocation strategy and an adaptive load-dependent power tuning algorithm for the P-CPICH are proposed. Extensive simulation studies are carried out to evaluate the capacity gains of 3 sector sites where each site is equipped with 1, 2 or 4 beams in a typical urban radio channel. Moreover an alternative antenna configuration consisting of 6 sector sites where each sector is equipped with 2 beams is evaluated.