CDMA soft handoff analysis in the presence of power control error and shadowing correlation

Soft handoff has a special importance to power controlled code division multiple access (CDMA) systems. We introduce a new analytical model for CDMA soft handoff with emphasis on interference statistics at a system level. The relationship between soft handoff and power control is further explored by integrating power control error and shadowing correlation into the model. A new forward link model is also devised to study the effects of soft handoff on forward link performance. It is observed that the performance degradation due to power control error increases with increase in soft handoff region and higher shadowing correlation lowers the interference contribution from nonhandoff mobile stations (MS). It is also found that, unlike the reverse link, the forward performance depends on both given soft handoff setting and system load.