Capacity improvement in CDMA downlink with orthogonal code-hopping multiplexing

Orthogonal code-hopping multiplexing (OCHM) is a statistical multiplexing scheme designed to increase the number of allowable downlink channels in code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. OCHM is expected to compensate for a lack of codewords in future communication systems. In CDMA systems including OCHM, system capacity is limited by the number of codewords and power (or interference), and the maximum system capacity is determined by a stronger limitation between them. Call blockings due to power limitation may occur firstly if downlink channels demand large E_b/I₀ values and a high-channel activity. On the other hand, code limitation may occur prior to power limitation in CDMA. The maximum system capacities determined by both code and power limitations must be known, even in OCHM. However, previous studies on OCHM system capacity focused only on increasing the number of multiplexed users with no consideration of the power limitation. In this paper, the overall system capacity of OCHM considering both code and power limitations was evaluated. For this analysis, the transmission chip energy of base station (BS) and inner/outer-cell interference is mathematically derived in a multicell and multiuser environment. The downlink system capacity for OCHM is larger than for orthogonal code division multiplexing (OCDM) as other cell interference (OCI), mean channel activity, and the required E_b/I₀ value decrease.