Evolution of cdma2000 cellular networks: multicarrier EV-DO

The evolution of cdma2000 1xEV-DO systems to multicarrier EV-DO (supported by 1xEV-DO Revision B) is discussed in this article. Multicarrier EV-DO offers a backward-compatible upgrade to leverage existing 1xEV-DO networks and terminals. It allows a software upgrade to multicarrier EV-DO using 1xEV-DO Revision A base station hardware. Multicarrier operation achieves higher efficiencies relative to single-carrier by exploiting channel frequency selectivity, improved transmit efficiencies on the reverse link, and adaptive load balancing across carriers. Multicarrier EV-DO enables very high-speed download, high-resolution video telephony, and improved user experience with concurrent applications. The sources of higher efficiency are discussed in detail in this article. It also enables hybrid frequency reuse deployment scenarios that enable spectrally efficient operation and significant improvement in edge coverage performance with hardware-efficient implementations. The evolved wider bandwidth systems (up to 20 MHz) based on multicarrier EV-DO offer operators a cost-effective solution that competes favorably with other technologies.