Optimal Allocation of Reverse Link Resources in a Multi-Carrier CDMA Network

The third generation of wireless networks such as 1xEV-DO, 1xEV-DV and HSPA were designed to support high speed data services. The CDMA versions (1xEV-DO and 1xEV-DV) uses a 1.25 MHz bandwidth while the WCDMA version uses a 5 MHz bandwidth. Recent standardization work on 1xEV-DO revision B has been focused on the efficient use of multiple carriers to increase the peak and average rates available to users. In the reverse direction this allows the access terminal (AT) to simultaneously use multiple reverse links for its applications. Each of these reverse links has an associated cost for its maintenance (pilot, signaling etc.). Two extreme strategies for allocating reverse link resources are: (a) have each AT use the minimum number of reverse links necessary to support its desired rate and (b) have each AT use all available reverse links and maintain the same rate on each of them with the resultant total rate equal to the desired rate. In this paper we investigate the trade-offs between these two approaches and show that, in general, minimizing the number of reverse links that an AT uses is the more efficient strategy