Multiple access interference as spatially colored noise

A model is introduced for WCDMA systems using antenna arrays that extends the white noise description of uniformly distributed interferers to a colored noise description of clustered interferers. A derivation of the model in a spatiotemporally correlated channel is presented. Comparison to simulations with multiple explicitly modulated interferers shows bit error rate curves agreeing to within half a dB. This provides a framework for analyzing nonuniformly distributed users and greatly reduces the simulation time required to model hundreds of interferers in a WCDMA system, especially when beamforming is involved.