Coverage estimation of uplink 64 QAM signal up to 20 MHz bandwidth based on field trial results: coverage issue of broadband uplink signal

In this paper, we report on a mobile broadband wireless access (MBWA) system field trial with Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (FLASH-OFDM). This paper describes coverage estimates of an uplink 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal under the condition of constant terminal output power when the signal bandwidth is up to 20 MHz. The estimates are based on the field trial results of 16 QAM and 1.28 MHz bandwidth. The estimation results show that wider signal bandwidth yields narrower coverage area. When the signal bandwidths are 10 MHz and 20 MHz, the coverage areas of 64 QAM are significantly shrunk to only 8% and 4% of the field trial area, respectively. One solution to the above coverage issue is a heterogeneous wireless network such as a combination of MBWA and wireless local area network (WLAN).