On the Impact of Coarse Synchronization on the Performance of Broadcast/Multicast Single Frequency Network Operation in WCDMA

Abstract—We evaluate the system-level performance and potential capacity gain of MBSFN (Multicast/Broadcast Single Frequency Network) operation in Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and compare it to conventional Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) with macro-diversity combining. MBSFN operation has recently been discussed in the standardization bodies of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as an enhancement to MBMS. It aims to mitigate the cell-edge problem of multicast/broadcast applications, which are typically dimensioned for a predefined coverage. In WCDMA as considered here, MBSFN operation refers to the use of a single common scrambling code and the same set of spreading codes to simultaneously broadcast bit identical MBMS data in a number of cells that form an MBMS cluster. Since inter-cell interference is drastically reduced by this concept (given a downlink resource exclusively reserved for MBMS traffic), it has the potential of considerably increasing the spectral...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: VTC
• Authors: Christoph A. Jotten, Christian Sgraja, Josef J. Blanz
• Keywords: Bit Identical Mbms, Communications, MBMS, MBMS Cluster, VTC 2008