Network Performance of Node-B Switched, Beamforming and Dual Antenna User Equipment in, WCDMA

We analyse the downlink (DL) cell throughput for a WCDMA system using switched beamforming (SBF) with 4-element antenna array at the base station (node-B) and dual antenna (2Rx) user equipment (UE). We investigate the performance as a function of the penetration rate of 2Rx UEs. The performance assessment is conducted with dynamic system simulations, which are supplemented with simple theoretical analysis. Code blocking (CB) occurs when a UE is denied access in the cell due to lack of a DL channelisation code under the primary scrambling code for that cell. When the code-blocking problem is circumvented, it is observed from the simulation results that at 100% penetration rate of 2Rx UEs, the combined feature offers more than the multiplicative gain in the capacity improvement. The numerical result obtained from the theoretical analysis complements the simulation results. The SBF-2Rx code-unrestricted (CU) capacity gain is 327% compared to a 3-sector single directional antenna transmission at the node-B and single antenna reception at the UE