Intelligent antenna solutions for UMTS: algorithms and simulation results

This article outlines the development of intelligent antenna (IA) solutions for UMTS, a third-generation W-CDMA system. Since the selection of an antenna configuration paired with realizable uplink/downlink algorithms that can satisfy all operating environments is a broad task, this article focus is on cost-effective antenna arrays for macrocells. Algorithms that exploit the antenna configurations and act at both the physical and MAC layers are highlighted and supported by simulation results. Two solutions stand out for UMTS: a universal beamforming algorithm that unifies user-specific and fixed beamforming under one framework, and multibeam scheduling (MBS) that significantly increases downlink packet data throughput using the concept of code reuse in conjunction with beamforming. The article summarizes the critical issues that were faced in the development of an IA solution capable of delivering the theoretically promised benefits to end users.