Performance Comparison between Distributed Antenna and Microcellular Systems

The microcellular system and distributed antenna

system (DAS) are two promising systems for future high data rate

wireless communications, since both systems can reduce the radio

transmission distance between the transmitter and the receiver.

This paper aims to compare the average spectrum efficiency and

the cell edge spectrum efficiency between the two cellular systems

in the downlink transmission. In order to achieve high spectrum

efficiency, frequency reuse and/or spatial diversity are exploited

in these two systems. The performances between the two cellular

systems are theoretically compared in a network topology with

seven macrocells, each of which has seven hexagonal sectors (or

microcells). Moreover, the approach of antenna unit selection in

the DAS for spatial diversity is presented. Numerical results show

that the average spectrum efficiency per sector and the cell edge

spectrum efficiency in the microcellular system are better than

those in the DAS without frequency reuse. However, when the

frequency reuse is considered in the DAS, the DAS outperforms

the microcellular system in both of the average and cell edge

spectrum efficiencies.