Throughput and Coverage Analysis of a Multi-Element Broadband Fixed Wireless Access (BFWA) System in the Presence of Co-Channel Interference

This paper uses a detailed site-specific channel model to analyze the impact of path loss and co-channel interference (CCI) in a multi-base station broadband fixed wireless access (BFWA) network. The base stations are deployed in an urban setting and make use of sectorised multi-element arrays to suppress CCI from other cells/sectors. Customer premises equipment (CPE) is mounted at rooftop level on a number of surrounding buildings. Spatially correlated multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channels are produced for each link using channel data generated from the ray-tracing model. The tool predicts MIMO correlation based on radiowave propagation and antenna array geometries. The paper considers the use of uniform linear arrays (ULA) and Uniform circular arrays (UCA) with a number of different element spacings. The results provide a unique insight into the deployment of multi-element WiMAX networks in an urban setting.