Capacity Analysis in Downlink WCDMA Systems Using Soft Handover Techniques With SIR-Based Power Control and Site Selection Diversity Transmission

This work analyzes the downlink performance of a WCDMA system with site selection diversity transmission power control (SSDT) during soft handover mode. Signal to interference ratio (SIR) power control techniques are modeled and used in the simulations of this analysis. The study is focused on finding the optimum soft handover margin in terms of maximum system capacity under energy-per-bit to noise spectral density ratio (Eb/N0) quality requirements. The results of this analysis show an increase in user capacity of about 15 -20 % for optimum soft handover margins of 5 – 5.5 dB. Nevertheless, the resources required (number of scrambling codes) by base station increase faster than the number of active users in terms of soft handover margin up to soft handover margin values of approximately 9.5 dB.