Performance of WCDMA Networks with Space-Time Block Coding and Multiuser Detection

The goal of the study presented in this paper is to investigate the performance of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system with the wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) air interface. Link level simulations were conducted in a network topology with one tier of cells around the central cell, and the performance of the system was evaluated in terms of tolerable bit error rate (BER) per user. It is assumed that both the base stations (BSs) and the mobile stations (MSs) can employ antenna arrays (AAs). Moreover, each antenna element of the BSs is equipped with RAKE receivers. Simulation scenarios included various space-time block coding (STBC) configurations as well as multiuser detection (MUD) techniques at the receiver. Results are presented and discussed, where the performance of the MUD techniques is evaluated in conjunction with the overall network configuration, such as the number of antenna elements per BS or MS and the number of RAKE fingers per antenna BS.