Novel Channel and Polarization Assignment Schemes for 2–11 GHz Fixed–Broadband Wireless Access Networks

Abstract

The scarcity of available spectrum in the 2---11 GHz frequency range and the continuously increasing number of users that require broadband communication services suggest that emerging fixed-broadband wireless access (F-BWA) networks will be deployed with aggressive frequency re-use to cope with capacity demands. In this context, co-channel interference may arise in high levels compromising the system's capacity and robust operation. Interference is further increased when limited directionality terminal antennas are employed to support non line-of-sight operation and in the case where an adaptive-time division duplex is selected for efficient radio resource management in asymmetric and time-varying traffic conditions. In this paper frequency channel assignment (CA) and antenna polarization assignment (PA) are considered as a means of mitigating interference. Two novel CA schemes that consider the distinct characteristics of F-BWA are proposed; the rotated-interleaved channel assignment and the non-uniform channel assignment. According to statistical interference simulation analysis the proposed schemes are more efficient in suppressing interference, achieving higher capacity compared to existing schemes while incurring no further complexity. In addition, instead of exploiting the performance of CA and PA schemes independently a framework for a joint CA-PA consideration is presented, where for a particular CA scheme an optimized PA pattern is developed. Results show that this approach improves the CA-PA interoperability increasing the overall performance. The efficiency of the proposed schemes is investigated for both FDD and adaptive-TDD schemes and is verified for various sectorization, frequency re-use and terminal antenna directivity configurations to ensure compatibility with different deployment scenarios.