Effect of baseband clipping in wideband CDMA system

In a WCDMA system the downlink signal has typically a high peak to average ratio (PAR). In order to achieve a good efficiency in the power amplifier the PAR must be reduced i.e. the signal must be clipped. A mathematical model for signal quality metrics error vector magnitude and peak code domain error as a function of the clipping ratio is derived and tested through simulations in the case of baseband clipping. The model can be used for adjusting the clipping level in a WCDMA base station so that the downlink signal still fulfils the specifications.