Performance Comparison of Downlink Capacity Improvement Schemes: Orthogonal Code-Hopping Multiplexing Versus Multiple Scrambling Codes

In this paper, we compare the performance of two downlink capacity-improvement schemes based on orthogonal code-hopping multiplexing (OCHM) and multiple scrambling codes (MSCs). Both OCHM and MSC systems have been proposed to overcome a code-limitation problem in a code division multiple access (CDMA) downlink. We mathematically analyze the user capacity in a general form, considering various factors such as user activity, spreading factor, amount of transmission symbol energy that is allocated to common control channels, amount of outer-cell interference, orthogonality factor, and sectorization factor. Numerical examples show that the capacity gain of the OCHM-based system increases as the other-cell interference decreases and the channel activity decreases. Thus, the OCHM-based system is a more effective scheme than the MSC-based system, considering that a code-limited situation more frequently occurs in the case of low other-cell interference and low channel activity. However, the OCHM-based system is more sensitive to the orthogonality factor.