Analytic forward link performance of pilot-aided coherent DS-CDMA under correlated Rician fading

This paper presents a methodology for analyzing the forward link performance of a pilot-aided coherent DS-CDMA system under correlated Rician fading. In the forward link of a CDMA system, orthogonal modulation is usually used to minimize the self-interference. To maintain the orthogonality and reduce the receiver complexity, a common pilot channel (shared by all users) is employed to provide the reference for coherent demodulation. A tradeoff shows that a higher pilot ratio yields good channel estimates but takes away some capacity from traffic users, while a lower pilot ratio results in poorer channel estimates and leads to higher traffic power per user. This paper derives the analytical error performance, which includes (1) imperfect channel estimation by the pilot channel, (2) a very general channel model where correlations between paths as well as Rician fading are considered, and (3) interference patterns due to multiple paths and the surrounding base stations' transmissions. This paper also considers self-interference due to the loss of orthogonality caused by pulse shaping.