Capacity in downlink WCDMA hexagonal and sectorized scenarios using soft handover techniques with SIR-based power control and SSDT

In this paper, downlink performance of WCDMA hexagonal and sectorized systems during soft handover mode is analyzed. Signal to interference ratio (SIR) power control techniques are modeled and used in the simulations. The study is focused on finding the optimum soft handover margin in terms of maximum system capacity under E_b/N₀ quality requirements. The capacity and resources allocated (number of codes required) using site selection diversity transmission power control (SSDT) is compared to usual soft handover techniques.