Improvement of data throughput in wireless packet systems with link adaptation and efficient frequency reuse

Wireless broadband access networks are expected to employ packet access with high peak-bandwidth demands. This will impose a significant challenge for frequency reuse, especially for the case of ubiquitous services deployed in a wide area. In this paper, we present simulation results and give insights to the EDGE (enhanced data-rate for GSM evolution) system with low reuse factor (1/3). This system employs link adaptation between a number of modulation and coding schemes as a means for providing several hundred kb/s peak rates in a macro-cellular environment, when combined with multi-slot operation and under favorable channel conditions, and it provides lower rates under different conditions. We also introduce a simple but effective slot-reassignment method for improving packet data throughput. The technique is applicable for any packet-based frequency-reuse wireless systems. It is shown that high peak-rates achieved by link adaptation can provide high throughput, but the user QoS (quality of service) is strongly impacted by the tight frequency reuse. Our proposed method can significantly improve the QoS.