Downlink performance and capacity of distributed antenna systems based on realistic channel model

Recent academic studies of distributed antenna system (DAS) using a frequency-flat fading channel model show that DAS outperforms standard systems, where the base-station (BS) antenna elements are centralized at one location. In this paper the performance of a DAS under time-varying frequency-selective fading based on a realistic channel model is investigated. Specifically, we show that if we shift the hexagonal cellular layout in the conventional system and use sectorized antennas instead of omnidirectional antennas at each BS, the performance in terms of outage probability and outage capacity will improve by a large extent without a need for additional BS towers. The results show that with the same total transmit power and bandwidth DAS can reduce the inter-cell interference (ICI) in a multicell environment and improve the outage capacity especially near the cell boundary.