Multiple antennas in cellular CDMA systems: transmission, detection, and spectral efficiency

Providing wireless high-speed packet data services for Web browsing and streaming multimedia applications will be a key feature in future code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. We study down-link CDMA schemes for providing such services using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver. We propose a generalization of the point-to-point narrowband Bell Labs layered space-time (BLAST) system to a wideband multiple access system which simultaneously supports multiple users through code spreading. We discuss transmission options for achieving transmit diversity and spatial separation and introduce a generalization of the vertical BLAST detector for CDMA signals. Using link level simulations, we determine the bit-error rates versus signal-to-interference ratio of the various transmitter options. We then describe a novel technique for determining the system spectral efficiency (measured in bits per second per Hertz per cell sector) by incorporating the link level results with system level outage simulations. Using four antennas at the transmitter and eight antennas at each receiver, the system can support multiple receivers at 16 times the voice rate, resulting in a system spectral efficiency an order magnitude higher than a conventional single-antenna voice system.