Cell search in frequency division : duplex WCDMA networks.

Abstract

Wireless radio access technologies have been progressively evolving to meet the high data rate demands of consumers. The deployment and success of voice-based second generation networks were enabled through the use of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Interim Standard Code Division Multiple Access (lS-95 CDMA) networks. The rise of the high data rate third generation communication systems is realised by two potential wireless radio access networks, the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and the CDMA2000. These networks are based on the use of various types of codes to initiate, sustain and terminate the communication links. Moreover, different codes are used to separate the transmitting base stations. This dissertation focuses on base station identification aspects of the Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) WCDMA networks. Notwithstanding the ease of deployment of these networks, their asynchronous nature presents serious challenges to the designer of the receiver. One of the challenges is the identification of the base station identity by the receiver, a process called Cell Search. The receiver algorithms must therefore be robust to the hostile radio channel conditions, Doppler frequency shifts and the detrimental effects of carrier frequency offsets. The dissertation begins by discussing the structure and the generation of WCDMA base station data along with an examination of the effects of the carrier frequency offset. The various cell searching algorithms proposed in the literature are then discussed and a new algorithm that exploits the correlation length structure is proposed and the simulation results are presented. Another design challenge presented by WCDMA networks is the estimation of carrier frequency offset at the receiver. Carrier frequency offsets arise due to crystal oscillator inaccuracies at the receiver and their effect is realised when the voltage controlled oscillator at the receiver is not oscillating at the same carrier frequency as that of the transmitter. This leads to a decrease in the receiver acquisition performance. The carrier frequency offset has to be estimated and corrected before the decoding process can commence. There are different approaches in the literature to estimate and correct these offsets. The final part of the dissertation investigates the FFT based carrier frequency estimation techniques and presents a new method that reduces the estimation error.