Multicell uplink spectral efficiency of coded DS-CDMA with random signatures

A simple multicell uplink communication model is suggested and analyzed for optimally coded randomly spread direct sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA). The model adheres to Wyner´s (1994) infinite linear cell-array model, according to which only adjacent-cell interference is present, and characterized by a single parameter 0⩽α⩽1. The discussion is confined to asymptotic analysis where both the number of users and the processing gain go to infinity, while their ratio goes to some finite constant. Single cell-site processing is assumed and four multiuser detection strategies are considered: the matched-filter detector, “optimum” detection with adjacent-cell interference treated as Gaussian noise, the linear minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector and a detector that performs MMSE-based successive interference cancellation for intracell users with linear MMSE processing of adjacent-cell interference. Spectral efficiency is evaluated under three power allocation policies: equal received powers (for all users), equal rates, and a maximal spectral efficiency policy. Comparative results demonstrate how performance is affected by the introduction of intercell interference, and what is the penalty associated with the randomly spread coded DS-CDMA strategy. Finally, the effect of intercell time-sharing protocols as suggested by Shamai and Wyner (1997) is also examined, and a significant system performance enhancement is observed