Impact of HSDPA implementation on UMTS capacity and cell coverage

The goal of this work is to analyse how UMTS behaves when HSDPA is implemented. A theoretical model was developed, calculating network capacity, for a sector of a cell, focusing on the analysis of parameters, such as the number of served users, throughput, and cell radius. Two scenarios were assessed with different users’ distribution. Two analyses are done: one until the network saturates, and another for a percentage of rejected users of 5 %. For the latter, one verifies that the limitative factor is the spreading factor, obtaining a maximum number of simultaneous users of approximately 33 for a service distribution profile based on voice, and 24 for one based on data services. An analysis of the global traffic processed by the Node B is also done, obtaining 350 MB/h as a maximum for a heavy data profile, and 140 MB/h for a service profile based on voice.