Capacity analysis in CDMA distributed antenna systems

In this letter, the effect of maximal ratio combining (MRC)-based macrodiversity on the reverse-link and forward-link capacity in code division multiple access (CDMA)-distributed antenna systems is analyzed. The concept of virtual cell is illustrated, and the analytical outage probability expressions are derived. The present investigation shows that on the reverse link, the interference can be suppressed greatly with macrodiversity, which leads to a significant increase in capacity. However, on the forward-link, it is proven that if simulcasting is used in CDMA-distributed antenna systems, the forward-link capacity cannot increase with macrodiversity whatever power allocation scheme is adopted. Based on the analysis of the cause of capacity loss, a new transmission scheme is further presented and the optimal power allocation scheme is derived. It is shown that, in this case, the forward-link capacity increases rapidly with the number of involved distributed antennas.