Performance analysis of an MC-CDMA system with antenna array in a fading channel

The MC-CDMA (multi-carrier code division multiple access) technique is known to be appropriate for high data-rate wireless communications such as mobile multimedia communication due to its robustness to multipath fading and its capability of handling high data rates with a simple onetap equalizer. In this paper, the performance of an MC-CDMA system employing antenna array at the base station in a fading channel is presented. Following the discussion of optimal beamformer not requiring explicit DOA (direction of arrival) or training signals, it is shown that the interference from other users within a cell can be significantly reduced for both reverse link (mobile to base station) and forward link (base station to mobile) using an MC-CDMA with antenna array, thus increasing the system’s user-capacity. Computer simulations that demonstrate user-capacity improvement of the proposed approach are discussed. key words: MC-CDMA, DS-CDMA, antenna array, beam-