An assessment of cell size versus receiver complexity using measured propagation data

The subject of the paper is an investigation to establish the minimum receiver complexity required when employing cells of different sizes. This was accomplished by using a GSM radio link simulation tool in conjunction with real channel data obtained by France Telecom´s CNET in the centre of Paris, which was classified in terms of the distance between transmitter and receiver. The paper evaluates the trade-off between cell size and receiver complexity by simulating the performance of five alternative equalisers. In addition, the preprocessing operations necessary to import real channel sounding data into a radio link simulation are described in detail. It was found that when using a fixed height rooftop antenna, a simple 2 state receiver equaliser would only be acceptable if used in conjunction with additional multipath countermeasures. In terms of the current GSM system, the study shows that a 4 state equaliser can be used within about 1.2 km of the base station. Beyond this range, the standard GSM receiver is needed to provide the required performance