Evolution of WCDMA high speed packet access and broadcast services

This paper addresses the latest approaches for improving the data rates and spectral efficiency of the high speed packet access (HSPA) mode of wideband CDMA (WCDMA). The improvements are due to advances in modulation techniques, interference suppression, and broadcast channel reception relative to previously standardized approaches. The new modulation techniques include 2x2 MIMO and 64QAM on the downlink, and 16QAM on the uplink. Interference suppression has been augmented to more accurately model multiple sources of interference. Broadcast channel reception has been restructured for the case of multimedia services. A single frequency network option has been added to allow for macro-diversity to enable comprehensive coverage with interference suppression. We discuss all these advances and evaluate the respective performance impacts based on system and/or link simulations.