SEMINAR REPORT

ON

SMART ANTENNAS

Submitted in the partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of degree of

Bachelor of

Engineering In

Electronics and Communication Engineering

Submitted By
Bhivanshu Dogra

96/20

Under the guidance of

Dr. Sanjeev Singh
HOD ECE Department

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering

Mahant Bachittar Singh College of Engineering and Technology, Jammu

2023
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Seminar Report entitled “SMART ANTENNAS” is an authentic
record of my own work carried out as requirement for the award of degree of B.E. (E&C) of
Mahant Bachittar Singh College of Engineering & Technology, Jammu.

Bhivanshu Dogra
96/20

Certified that the above statement made by the student is correct to the best of my
knowledge and belief.

Mrs. Sonika Mahajan Dr.Sanjeev Singh Dr. SanjeevSingh

Seminar Guide Seminar Coordinator HOD ECE Department

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere thanks to my guide Mrs. Sonika Mahajan for her vital support valuable

guidance and for providing me with all facility and guidance for presenting assisting me in times of need

I would also take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Sanjeev Singh Seminar Coordinator

of ECE department for her valuable support and cooperation in the presentation of this report.

Finally, I would like to thank the almighty who gave me all that is required for the successful completion of

my seminar.

Bhivanshu Dogra
96/20
 ABSTRACT
Over the last few years the demand for service provision via the wireless communication bearer
has risen beyond all expectations. At the end of the last century more than 20 million users in the
United States only utilized this technology. At present the number of cellular users is growing
annually by approximately 50 percent in North America, 60 percent in western Europe, 70
percent in Australia and Asia and more than 200 percent in South America.
The proliferation of wireless networks and an increase in the bandwidth required has led to
shortages in the scarcest resource of all, the finite number of radio frequencies that these devices
use. This has increased the cost to obtain the few remaining licenses to use these frequencies and
the related infrastructure costs required to provide these services. In a majority of currently
deployed wireless communication systems, the objective is to sell a product at a fair price (the
product being information transmission). From a technical point of view, information
transmission requires resources in the form of power and bandwidth. Generally, increased
transmission rates require increased power and bandwidth independently of medium. While, on
the one hand, transmission over wired segments of the links can generally be performed
independently for each link (if we ignore the cross-talk in land lines) and, on the other hand,
fibers are excellent at confining most of the useful information (energy) to a small region in
space, wireless transmission is much less efficient. Reliable transmission over relatively short
distances in space requires a large amount of transmitted energy, spread over large regions of
space, only a very small portion of which is actually received by the intended user. Most of the
wasted energy is considered as interference to other potential users of the system.

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 CONTENTS
Page No.
Abstract i
List of Figure iv
List of Abbreviation v
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Objectives and Work Packages 4
1.2 Recent Innovations 5
1.2.1 Remote radio heads 5
1.2.2 Branch diversity 5
1.2.3 Transmit diversity 5
1.2.4 Single antenna interference cancellation 5
1.2.5 Dual antenna interference cancellation 5
1.2.6 Base station antennas with azimuth beam width control 6
Chapter 2 Review of Smart Antennas in Mobile Radio Systems 7
2. Introduction 7
2.1Omnidirectional Antennas 7
2.2 Evolution from Omnidirectional to Smart Antennas 8
2.2.1 Directional Antennas and Sectorized Systems 8
2.2.2 Diversity Systems 8
Chapter 3 Smart Antenna Technology 11
3.1How Do Smart Antenna Systems Work? 12
3.1.1 Listening to the Cell 12
Chapter 4 Types of Smart Antenna Systems 13
4. Introduction 13
4.1.1 Switched Beam Systems 14
4.1.2 Adaptive Array Systems 16
4.2 Basic Working Mechanism 17

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Chapter 5 Comparison Between Switched Beam and Adaptive
Array Systems 19
5.1 Switched beam system 19
5.2 Adaptive array system 19
Chapter 6 Comparing Different Approaches to Smart Antennas 22
6.1 Comparing the technical performance of smart antenna designs 22
Chapter 7 Benefits of Smart Antenna Technology 24
7.1 Reduction in co-channel interference 24
7.2 Range improvement 24
7.3 Increase in capacity 24
7.4 Reduction in transmitted power 24
7.5 Reduction in handoff 24
7.6 Mitigation of multipath effects 24
7.7 Compatibility 25
7.8 Uses of Smart Antenna 25
Chapter 8 Issues in Deploying Smart Antennas in Mobile Radio Networks 26
8.1 The radio frequency environment 26
8.2 Future wireless networks 29
Chapter 9 Conclusion 30
Reference 33

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Fig No Description Page No
Fig 3.1 Phased array 11
Fig 3.2 Adaptive array 12
Fig 4.1 Beam formation for switched beam antenna system 13
Fig 4.2 Beam formation for adaptive array antenna system 14
Fig 4.3 Switched beam coverage pattern 15
Fig 4.4 Block Diagram of Switched Beam system 15
Fig 4.5 Beam formation for adaptive array antenna system 17
Fig 4.6 Block diagram of Adaptive array systems 18
Fig 5.1 Fully Adaptive Spatial Processing, Supporting Two Users on The
Same Conventional Channel Simultaneously in The Same Cell (4) 20
Fig 6.1 Coverage Patterns for Switched Beam and Adaptive Array (4) 23

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 ABBREVIATION
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

SDMA Spatial Division Multiple Access

TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Out Put

WCDMA Wireless Code Division Multiple Access

WLL Wireless Local Loop

GSM Global System of Mobile

TDD Test Driven Development

FDD Feature Driven Development

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Global demand for voice, data and video related services continues to grow faster than the
required infrastructure can be deployed. Despite huge amount of money that has been spent
in attempts to meet the need of the world market, the vast majority of people on Earth still do
not have access to quality communication facilities. The greatest challenge faced by
governments and service providers is the “last-mile” connection, which is the final link
between the individual home or business users and worldwide network. Copper wires,
traditional means of providing this “last-mile” connection is both costly and inadequate to
meet the needs of the bandwidth intensive applications. Coaxial cable and power line
communications all have technical limitations. And fiber optics, while technically superior
and widely used in backbone applications, is extremely expensive to install to every home or
business user. This is why more and more the wireless connection is being seen as an
alternative to quickly and cost effectively meeting the need for flexible broadband links The
universal and spread use of mobile phone service is a testament to the public’s acceptance of
wireless technology. Many of previously non-covered parts of the world now boast of quality
voice service thanks in part to the PCS (Personal Communications Service) or cellular type
wireless systems.
Over the last few years the demand for service provision via the wireless communication
bearer has risen beyond all expectations. At the end of the last century more than 20 million
users in the United States only utilized this technology. At present the number of cellular
users is growing annually by approximately 50 percent in North America, 60 percent in
western Europe, 70 percent in Australia and Asia and more than 200 percent in South
America.
The proliferation of wireless networks and an increase in the bandwidth required has led to
shortages in the scarcest resource of all, the finite number of radio frequencies that these
devices use. This has increased the cost to obtain the few remaining licenses to use these
frequencies and the related infrastructure costs required to provide these services. In a
majority of currently deployed wireless communication systems, the objective is to sell a
product at a fair price (the product being information transmission). From a technical point of
view, information transmission requires resources in the form of power and bandwidth.
Generally, increased transmission rates require increased power and bandwidth independently
of medium. While, on the one hand, transmission over wired segments of the links can

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generally be performed independently for each link (if we ignore the cross-talk in land lines)
and, on the other hand, fibers are excellent at confining most of the useful information
(energy) to a small region in space, wireless transmission is much less efficient. Reliable
transmission over relatively short distances in space requires a large amount of transmitted
energy, spread over large regions of space, only a very small portion of which is actually
received by the intended user. Most of the wasted energy is considered as interference to
other potential users of the system.
Somewhat simplistically, the maximum range of such systems is determined by the amount
of power that can be transmitted (and therefore received) and the capacity is determined by
the amount of spectrum (bandwidth) available. For a given amount of power (constrained by
regulation or practical considerations) and a fixed amount of bandwidth (the amount one can
afford to buy) there is a finite (small) amount of capacity (bits/sec/Hz/unit-area, really per
unit-volume) that operators can sell to their customers, and a limited range over which
customers can be served from any given location.
Thus, the two basic problems that arise in such systems are:
1. How to acquire more capacity so that a larger number of customers can be served at
lower costs maintaining the quality at the same time, in areas where demand is large
(spectral efficiency).
2. How to obtain greater coverage areas so as to reduce infrastructure and maintenance
costs in areas where demand is relatively small (coverage).
In areas where demand for service exceeds the supply operators have to offer, the real
game being played is the quest for capacity. Unfortunately, to date a universal
definition of capacity has not evolved. Free to make their own definitions, operators
and consumers have done so. To the consumer, it is quite clear that capacity is
measured in the quality of each link he gets and the number of times he can
successfully get such a link when he wants one. Consumers want the highest possible
quality links at the lowest possible cost. Operators, on the other hand, have their own
definitions of capacity in which great importance is placed on the number of links that
can simultaneously be established.
Since the quality and number of simultaneous links are inversely related in a resource-
constrained environment, operators lean towards providing the lowest possible quality links
to the largest possible number of users. The war wages on: consumers are wanting better
links at lower costs, and operators are continually trying to maximize profitability providing
an increasing number of lower quality links at the highest acceptable cost to the consumer.

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Until the quest for real capacity is successful, the battle between operators and their
consumers over capacity, the precious commodity that operators sell to consumers, will
continue.
There are many situations where coverage, not capacity, is a more important issue. Consider
the rollout of any new service. Prior to initiating the service, capacity is certainly not a
problem -operators have no customers. Until a significant percentage of the service area is
covered, service cannot begin. Clearly, coverage is an important issue during the initial
phases of system deployment.
Consider also that in many instances only an extremely small percentage of the area to be
served is heavily populated. The ability to cover the service area with a minimum amount of
infrastructure investment is clearly an important factor in keeping costs down.
As it is often painfully obvious to operators, the two requirements, increased capacity and
increased range, conflict in most instances. While up to recently used technology can provide
for increased range in some cases and up to a limit increased capacity in other cases, it rarely
can provide both simultaneously.
The International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT2000) and the European Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) are two systems among the others that have
been proposed to take wireless communications into this century. The core objective of both
systems is to take the “personal communications user” into new information society where
mass-market low-cost telecommunications. services will be provided. In order to be
universally accepted, these new networks have to offer mobile access to voice, data and
multimedia facilities in an extensive range of operational environments, as well as
economically supporting service provision in environments conventionally served by other
wired systems. None of the proposals that include improved air interface and modulation
schemes, deployment of smaller radio cells with combinations of different cell types in
hierarchical architectures, and advanced signal processing, fully exploit the multiplicity of
spatial channels that arises because each mobile user occupies a unique spatial location.
Space is truly one of the final frontiers when it comes to new generation wireless
communication systems. Spatially selective transmission and reception of RF energy
promises substantial increases in wireless system capacity, coverage and quality. That this is
certainly the case is attested to by the significant number of companies that have been
recently brought the products based on such concepts to the wireless market place. Filtering
in the space domain can separate spectrally and temporally overlapping signals from multiple
mobile units.

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MA (CDMA). This approach is usually referred to as space-division multiple access (SDMA)

and enables multiple users within the same radio cell to be accommodated on the same
frequency and frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), time-division MA (TDMA) and
code-division time slot Realization of this filtering technique is accomplished using smart
antennas, which are effectively antenna systems capable of modifying its time, frequency and
spatial response. By exploiting the spatial domain via smart antenna systems, the operational
benefits to the network operator can be summarized as follows:
1. Capacity enhancement. SDMA with smart antennas allows for multiple users in a cell
to use the same frequency without interfering with each other since the Base Station
smart antenna beams are sliced to keep different users in separate beams at the same
frequency.
2. Coverage extension. The increase in range is due to a bigger antenna gain with smart
antennas.
3. This would also mean that fewer Base Stations might be used to cover a particular
geographical
1.1 Objectives And Work Packages
The main objective of the project is to demonstrate an improvement of system capacity by
deploying the semi-smart antenna into cellular base stations without introducing substantial
infrastructural modifications.
The work was divided into three work packages (WPs), each led by one of the
participating partners. WP1 aimed to identify the key obstacles in the development of
proposed smart antenna systems and to address the breakthroughs needed to overcome these
obstacles. The study involved a detailed evaluation of the technical, standard and business
issues raised by employing smart antenna systems and suggesting possible solutions.
WP2 involved the study of semi-smart antenna systems and traffic load balancing algorithms.
The study involved development of a novel optimisation algorithm and system level
simulations on 3G UMTS/W-CDMA networks using real topological traffic data. The study
also covered the hardware aspects of this technology and built a prototype system to
demonstrate the feasibility of this technique.
Finally, WP3 studied the regulatory issues and additional benefits of deploying such systems.
The study involved an extensive literature survey and discussions with UK/EC and Chinese
network operators and antenna manufacturers.

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1.2 Recent Innovations

As well as the techniques described above, further methods for the improvement of capacity,
coverage and spectral utilisation are currently being implemented in mobile radio networks.
1.2.1 Remote radio heads
A further level of intelligent control can be introduced into a network by using the concept of
a distributed base station. In this a single network interface controls a set of transceivers
which – instead of being co-located and combined into a single antenna – are physically
separated and feed separate antennas. This technique is in an early stage of adoption but the
agreement on a standard interface (CPRI) indicates that its importance is widely recognised
in the industry. CPRI is an initiative driven by Ericsson, Huawei, NEC, Nortel and Siemens
whose purpose is to define a publicly available specification for the interface between the
radio equipment control and the radio equipment.
1.2.2 Branch diversity
The replacement of two existing space diversity antennas by two dual-polar antennas offers
the possibility of further increasing receive system performance by using a 4-branch
configuration – this is a simple substitution and leaves the visual profile of the base antennas
almost unchanged.
1.2.3 Transmit diversity
Transmit diversity is now standardised within 3GPP for UMTS and is in course of being
implemented. This is an open-loop technique that improves the performance of the downlink
– especially important when downlink data rates are high and high-level modulation is used
(as with HSDPA). It makes further use of the existing diversity pairs of base station antennas,
so no additional antennas are needed.
1.2.4 Single antenna interference cancellation
Single antenna interference cancellation (SAIC) is a new method by which a mobile increases
the downlink reliability by a technique of demodulating both wanted and unwanted signals
and increasing the available data rate by software processing. It has been standardised by
3GPP.
1.2.5 Dual antenna interference cancellation
Dual antenna interference cancellation (DAIC) is a proposed technique for the improvement
of downlink performance in which the mobile terminal is provided with two antennas and
performs interference cancellation by processing two RF signals.

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1.2.6 Base station antennas with azimuth beamwidth control

Base station antennas with remotely adjustable azimuth beamwidth and beam pointing
direction are under development by antenna manufacturers. These may be seen as providing a
simpler version of the control provided by the current semi-smart proposal and such antennas
could be incorporated into the current proposal.

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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF SMART ANTENNAS IN MOBILE RADIO SYSTEMS
2. Introduction
This provides an overview of the state of research and investigations into smart antennas and
their potential utility in commercial mobile radio networks. The information is derived from
published technical papers, discussions with mobile radio operators worldwide and
experience of the design of antenna systems for mobile radio base stations over the past 15
years.
As there are many hundreds of papers that were consulted in order to complete this study, it is
not practical to refer to them all here in the text. Instead, the general conclusions are
presented with key paper references.
2.1Omnidirectional Antennas
Since the early days of wireless communications, there has been the simple dipole antenna,
which radiates and receives equally well in all directions (direction here being referred to
azimuth). To find its users, this single-element design broadcasts omnidirectionally in a
pattern resembling ripples radiation outward in a pool of water. While adequate for simple
RF environments where no specific knowledge of the users’ whereabouts is either available
or needed, this unfocused approach scatters signals, reaching desired users with only a small
percentage of the overall energy sent out into the environment . Given this limitation,
omnidirectional strategies attempt to overcome environmental challenges by simply boosting
the power level of the signals broadcast. In a setting of numerous users (and interferers), this
makes a bad situation worse in that the signals that miss the intended user become
interference for those in the same or adjoining cells. In uplink applications (user to base
station), omnidirectional antennas offer no preferential gain for the signals of served users. In
other words, users have to shout over competing signal energy. Also, this single-element
approach cannot selectively reject signals interfering with those of served users and has no
spatial multipath mitigation or equalization capabilities. Therefore, omnidirectional strategies
directly and adversely impact spectral efficiency, limiting frequency reuse.
These limitations of broadcast antenna technology regarding the quality, capacity, and
geographic coverage of wireless systems prompted an evolution in the fundamental design
and role of the antenna in a wireless system.

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2.2 Evolution from Omnidirectional to Smart Antennas

An antenna in a telecommunications system is the port through which radio frequency (RF)
energy is coupled from the transmitter to the outside world for transmission purposes, and in
reverse, to the receiver from the outside world for reception purposes . To date, antennas have
been the most neglected of all the components in personal communications systems. Yet, the
manner in which radio frequency energy is distributed into and collected from space has a
profound influence upon the efficient use of spectrum, the cost of establishing new personal
communications networks and the service quality provided by those networks. The goal of
the next several sections is to answer to the question “Why to use anything more than a single
omnidirectional (no preferable direction) antenna at a base station?” by describing, in order of
increasing benefits, the principal schemes for antennas deployed at base stations.
2.2.1 Directional Antennas and Sectorized Systems
A single antenna can also be constructed to have certain fixed preferential transmission and
reception directions. Sectorized antenna system take a traditional cellular area and subdivide
it into sectors that are covered using directional antennas looking out from the same base
station location. Operationally, each sector is treated as a different cell in the system, the
range of which can be greater than in the omni directional case, since power can be focused
to a smaller area. This is commonly referred to as antenna element gain. Additionally,
sectorized antenna systems increase the possible reuse of a frequency channel in such cellular
systems by reducing potential interference across the original cell. As many as six sectors
have been used in practical service, while more recently up to 16 sectors have been deployed
However, since each sector uses a different frequency to reduce cochannel interference,
handoffs (handovers) between sectors are required. Narrower sectors give better performance
of the system, but this would result in to many handoffs.
While sectorized antenna systems multiply the use of channels, they do not overcome the
major disadvantages of standard omnidirectional antennas such as filtering of unwanted
interference signals from adjacent cells.
2.2.2 Diversity Systems
Wireless communication systems are limited in performance and capacity by three major
impairments. The first of these is multipath fading, which is caused by multiple paths that the
transmitted signal can take to the receive antenna. The signals from these paths add with
different phases, resulting in a received signal amplitude and phase that vary with antenna
location, direction and polarization as well as with time (with movement in the environment).
The second impairment is delay spread, which is the difference in propagation delays among

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the multiple paths. When the delay spread exceeds about 10 percent of the symbol duration,
significant intersymbol interference can occur, which limits the maximum data rate. The third
impairment is co-channel interference.
Cellular systems divide the available frequency channels into channel sets, using one channel
set per cell, with frequency reuse (e.g. most TDMA systems use a frequency reuse factor of .
This results in co-channel interference, which increases as the number of channel sets
decreases (i.e. as the capacity of each cell increases). In TDMA systems, the co-channel
interference is predominantly from one or two other users, while in CDMA systems there are
typically many strong interferers both within the cell and from adjacent cells. For a given
level of co-channel interference (channel sets), capacity can be increased by shrinking the cell
size, but at the cost of additional base stations. We define the diversity gain (which is possible
only with multipath fading) as the reduction in the required average output signal-to-noise
ratio for a given BER with fading.
There are three different ways to provide low correlation (diversity gain): spatial, polarization
and angle diversity.
For spatial diversity, the antennas are separated far enough for low fading correlation. The
required separation depends on the angular spread, which is the angle over which the signal
arrives at the receive antennas. With handsets, which are generally surrounded by other
objects, the angular spread is typically 3600, and quarter-wavelength spacing of the antennas
is sufficient.
For outdoor systems with high base station antennas, located above the clutter, the angular
spread may be only a few degrees (although it can be much higher in urban areas), and a
horizontal separation of 10-20 wavelengths is required, making the size of the antenna array
an issue.
For polarization diversity, two orthogonal polarizations are used (they are often ±450). These
orthogonal polarizations have low correlation, and the antennas can have a small profile.
However, polarization diversity can only double the diversity, and for high base station
antennas, the horizontal polarization can be 6−10 dB weaker than the vertical polarization,
which reduces the diversity gain. For angle diversity, adjacent narrow beams are used. The
antenna profile is small, and the adjacent beams usually have low fading correlation.
However, with small angular spread, when the received signal is mainly arriving on one
beam, the adjacent beams can have received signal levels more than 10 dB weaker than the
strongest beam, resulting in small diversity gain.

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Three antenna diversity options with four antenna elements for a 1200 sectorized system
shows spatial diversity with approximately seven wavelengths (7λ) spacing between elements
(3.3 m at 1900 MHz). A typical antenna element has an 18 dBi gain with a 650 horizontal and
80 vertical beamwidths. two dual polarization antennas, where the antennas can be either
closely spaced (λ/2) to provide both angle and polarization diversity in a small profile, or
widely spaced (7λ) to provide both spatial and polarization diversity. The antenna elements
shown are 450 slant polarization antennas, which are also commonly used, rather than
vertically and horizontally polarized antennas. Finally shows a closely spaced (λ/2) vertically
polarized array, which provides angle diversity in a small profile. polarization diversity with
angular and spatial diversity; (c) angular diversity.
Diversity offers an improvement in the effective strength of the received signal by using one
of the following two methods:
Switched diversity: Assuming that at least one antenna will be in a favorable location at a
given moment, this system continually switches between antennas (connects each of the
receiving channels to the best serving antenna) so as always to use the element with the
highest signal power.
Diversity combining : This approach corrects the phase error in two multipath signals and
effectively combines the power of both signals to produce gain. Other diversity systems, such
as maximal ratio combining systems, combine outputs of all the antennas to maximize the
ratio of combined received signal energy to noise.
The diversity antennas merely switch operation from one working element to the other.
Although this approach mitigates severe multipath fading, its use of one element at a time
offers no uplink gain improvement over any other single-element approach. The diversity
systems can be useful in environments where fading is the dominant mechanism for signal
degradation.
In environments with significant interference, however, the simple strategies of locking onto
the strongest signal or extracting maximum signal power from the antennas are clearly
inappropriate and can result in crystal-clear reception of an interferer at the expense of the
desired signal.
The need to transmit to numerous users more efficiently without compounding the
interference problem led to the next step of the evolution antenna systems that intelligently
integrate the simultaneous operation of diversity antenna elements.

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CHAPTER 3
SMART ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
In mobile communication systems, capacity and performance are usually limited by two
major impairments. They are multipath and co-channel interference [5]. Multipath is a
condition which arises when a transmitted signal undergoes reflection from various obstacles
in the propagation environment. This gives rise to multiple signals arriving from different
directions. Since the multipath signals follow different paths, they have different phases when
they are arrive at the receiver. The result is degradation in signal quality when they are
combined at the receiver due to the phase mismatch. Co-channel interference is the
interference between two signals that operate at the same frequency. In cellular
communication the interference is usually caused by a signal from a different cell occupying
the same frequency band.
Smart antenna is one of the most promising technologies that will enable a higher capacity in
wireless networks by effectively reducing multipath and co-channel interference. This is
achieved by focusing the radiation only in the desired direction and adjusting itself to
changing traffic conditions or signal environments. Smart antennas employ a set of radiating
elements arranged in the form of an array. The signals from these elements are combined to
form a movable or switchable beam pattern that follows the desired user. In a Smart antenna
system the arrays by themselves are not smart, it is the digital signal processing that makes
them smart. The process of combining the signals and then focusing the radiation in a
particular direction is often referred to as digital beamforming . This term will be extensively
used in the following sections.

Fig 3.1 Phased array

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Fig 3.2 Adaptive array

The early smart antenna systems were designed for use in military applications to suppress
interfering or jamming signals from the enemy . Since interference suppression was a feature
in this system, this technology was borrowed to apply to personal wireless communications
where interference was limiting the number of users that a network could handle. It is a major
challenge to apply smart antenna technology to personal wireless communications since the
traffic is denser. Also, the time available for complex computations is limited. However, the
advent of powerful, low-cost, digital processing components and the development of
software-based techniques has made smart antenna systems a practical reality for cellular
communications systems
3.1How Do Smart Antenna Systems Work?
Traditional switched beam and adaptive array systems enable a base station to customize the
beams they generate for each remote user effectively by means of internal feedback control.
Generally speaking, each approach forms a main lobe toward individual users and attempts to
reject interference or noise from outside of the main lobe.
3.1.1 Listening to the Cell
It is assumed here that a smart antenna is only employed at the base station and not at the
handset or subscriber unit. Such remote radio terminals transmit using omni directional
antennas, leaving it to the base station to selectively separate the desired signals from
interference selectively.
The task of transmitting in a spatially selective manner is the major basis for differentiating
between switched beam and adaptive array systems. As described below, switched beam
systems communicate with users by changing between preset directional patterns, largely on
the basis of signal strength. In comparison, adaptive arrays attempt to understand the RF
environment more comprehensively and transmit more selectively.

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CHAPTER 4
TYPES OF SMART ANTENNA SYSTEMS
4. Introduction
There are basically two approaches to implement antennas that dynamically change their
antenna pattern to mitigate interference and multipath affects while increasing coverage and
range. They are
1. Switched beam
2. Adaptive Arrays
The Switched beam approach is simpler compared to the fully adaptive approach. It provides
a considerable increase in network capacity when compared to traditional omnidirectional
antenna systems or sector-based systems. In this approach, an antenna array generates
overlapping beams that cover the surrounding area as shown in figure 4.3. When an incoming
signal is detected, the base station determines the beam that is best aligned in the signal-of-
interest direction and then switches to that beam to communicate with the user.

Fig 4.1 Beam formation for switched beam antenna system

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The Adaptive array system is the “smarter” of the two approaches. This system tracks the
mobile user continuously by steering the main beam towards the user and at the same time
forming nulls in the directions of the interfering signal as shown in figure. Like switched
beam systems, they also incorporate arrays. Typically, the received signal from each of the
spatially distributed antenna elements is multiplied by a weight. The weights are complex in
nature and adjust the amplitude and phase. These signals are combined to yield the array
output. These complex weights are computed by a complicated adaptive algorithm, which is
pre-programmed into the digital signal-processing unit that manages the signal radiated by
the base station.

Fig. 4.2 Beam formation for adaptive array antenna system

4.1.1 Switched Beam Systems

This type of adaptive technique actually does not steer or scan the beam in the direction of
the desired signal. Switched beam employs an antenna array which radiates several
overlapping fixed beams covering a designated angular area. It subdivides the sector into
many narrow beams. Each beam can be treated as an individual sector serving an individual
user or a group of users. Consider a traditional cellular area shown below in figure that is

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divided into three sectors with 120° angular width, with each sector served by six directional
narrow beams. The spatially separated directional beams leads to increase in the possible
reuse of a frequency channel by reducing potential interference and also increases the range.
These antennas do not have a uniform gain in all directions but when compared to a
conventional antenna system they have increased gain in preferred directions. The Switched
beam antenna has a switching mechanism that enables it to select and then switch the right
beam which gives the best reception for a mobile user under consideration. The selection is
usually based on maximum received power for that user. Note that same beam can be used
both for uplink and downlink communication.

Fig. 4.3 Switched beam coverage pattern

A typical switched beam system for a base station would consists of multiple arrays with
each array covering a certain sector in the cell. Consider a switched beam forming system
shown in figure. It consists of a phase shifting network, which forms multiple beams looking
in certain directions. The RF switch actuates the right beam in the desired direction. The
selection of the right beam is made by the control logic. The control logic is governed by an
algorithm which scans all the beams and selects the one receiving the strongest signal based
on a measurement made by the detector.

Fig 4.4 Block Diagram of Switched Beam system

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This technique is simple in operation but is not suitable for high interference areas. Let us
consider a scenario where User 1 who is at the side-edge of the beam which he is being
served by. If a second user were at the direction of the null then there would be no
interference but if the second user moves into the same area of the beam as the first user he
could cause interference to the first user. Therefore, switched beam systems are best suited
for a little or zero-interference environment.
In case of a multipath signal there is a chance that the system would switch the beam to the
indirect path signal rather than the direct path signal coming from the user. This leads to the
ambiguity in the perception of the direction of the received signal, thus, switched beam
systems are only used for the reception of signals. Since these antennas have a non-uniform
gain between Phase Shifting N/W RF Switch or Control Log.
The beams the mobile user when moving away from the edge of the beam is likely to suffer
from a call loss before he is handed of to the next beam because there is no beam serving that
area. Also, these systems lead to frequent hand-offs when the mobile user is actively moving
from the area of one beam to another. Therefore these intra-cell hand-offs have to be
controlled. Switched beam systems cannot reduce multipath interference components with a
direction of arrival close to that of the desired signal. Despite of all these disadvantages, the
switched beam approach is less complicated (compared to the completely adaptive systems)
and provides a significant range extension, increase in capacity, and a considerable
interference rejection when the desired user is at the center of the beam. Also, it less
expensive and can be easily implemented in older systems.
4.1.2 Adaptive Array Systems
From the previous discussion it was quite apparent that switched beam systems offer limited
performance enhancement when compared to conventional antenna systems in wireless
communication. However, greater performance improvements can be achieved by
implementing advanced signal processing techniques to process the information obtained by
the antenna arrays. Unlike switched beam systems, the adaptive array systems are really
smart because they are able to dynamically react to the changing RF environment. They have
a multitude of radiation patterns compared to fixed finite patterns in switched beam systems
to adapt to the ever-changing RF environment. An Adaptive array, like a switched beam
system uses antenna arrays but it is controlled by signal processing. This signal processing
steers the radiation beam towards a desired mobile user, follows the user as he moves, and at

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the same time minimizes interference arising from other users by introducing nulls in their
directions. This is illustrated in a simple diagram shown below in figure

Fig 4.5 Beam formation for adaptive array antenna system

The adaptive array systems are really intelligent in the true sense and can actually be referred
to as smart antennas. The smartness in these systems comes from the intelligent digital
processor that is incorporated in the system. The processing is mainly governed by complex
computationally intensive algorithms.
4.2 Basic Working Mechanism
A smart antenna system can perform the following functions: first the direction of arrival of
all the incoming signals including the interfering signals and the multipath signals are
estimated using the Direction of Arrival algorithms. Secondly, the desired user signal is
identified and separated from the rest of the unwanted incoming signals. Lastly a beam is
steered in the direction of the desired signal and the user is tracked as he moves while placing
nulls at interfering signal directions by constantly updating the complex weights.
As discussed previously in the section of phased arrays it is quite evident that the direction of
radiation of the main beam in an array depends upon the phase difference between the
elements of the array. Therefore, it is possible to continuously steer the main beam in any
direction by adjusting the progressive phase difference β between the elements. The same
concept forms the basis in adaptive array systems in which the phase is adjusted to achieve
maximum radiation in the desired direction. To have a better understanding of how an
adaptive array system works, let us consider a typical adaptive digital beam forming network
shown below

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Fig.4.6 Block diagram of Adaptive array systems

In a beam forming network typically the signals incident at the individual elements are
combined intelligently to form a single desired beam formed output. Before the incoming
signals are weighted they are brought down to baseband or intermediate frequencies (IF’s).
The receivers provided at the output of each element perform the necessary frequency down
conversion. Adaptive antenna array systems use digital signal processors (DSP’s) to weight
the incoming signal. Therefore, it is required that the down-converted signal be converted
into digital format before they are processed by the DSP. Analog-to-digital converters
(ADC’s) are provided for this purpose. For accurate performance, they are required to
provide accurate translation of the RF signal from the analog to the digital domain. The
digital signal processor forms the heart of the system, which accepts the IF signal in digital
format and the processing of the digital data is driven by software. The processor interprets
the incoming data information, determines the complex weights (amplification and phase
information) and multiplies the weights to each element output to optimize the array pattern.
The optimization is based on a particular criterion, which minimizes the contribution from
noise and interference while producing maximum beam gain at the desired direction. There
are several algorithms based on different criteria for updating and computing the optimum
weights.

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CHAPTER 5
COMPARISON BETWEEN SWITCHED BEAM AND ADAPTIVE
ARRAY SYSTEMS
5.1 Switched beam system
1. It uses multiple fixed directional beams with narrow beam widths.
2. The required phase shifts are provided by simple fixed phase shifting networks like
the butler matrix.
3. They do not require complex algorithms; simple algorithms are used for beam
selection.
4. It requires only moderate interaction between mobile unit and base station as
compared to adaptive array system.
5. Since low technology is used it has lesser cost and complexity.
6. Integration into existing cellular system is easy and cheap.
7. It provides significant increase in coverage and capacity compared conventional
antenna based systems.
8. Since multiple narrow beams are used, frequent intra-cell hand-offs between beams
have to be handled as mobile moves from one beam to another.
9. It cannot distinguish between direct signal and interfering and/or multipath signals,
this leading to undesired enhancement of the interfering signal more than the desired
signal.
10. Since there is no null steering involved; Switched beam systems offers limited co-
channel interference suppression as compared to the adaptive array system.
5.2 Adaptive array system
1. A complete adaptive system; steers the beam towards desired signal-of-interest
and places nulls at the interfering signal directions.
2. It requires implementation of DSP technology.
3. It requires complicated adaptive algorithms to steer the beam and the nulls.
4. It has better interference rejection capability compared to Switched beam systems.
5. It is not easy to implement in existing systems, i.e. upgradation is difficult and
expensive.
6. Since continuous steering of the beam is required as the mobile moves; high
interaction between mobile unit and base station is required.
7. Since the beam continuously follows the user; intra-cell hand-offs are less.

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8. It provides better coverage and increased capacity because of improved

interference rejection as compared to the Switched beam system.
9. It can either reject multipath components or add them by correcting the delays to
enhance the signal quality.
Relative Benefits/Tradeoffs of Switched Beam and Adaptive Array Systems
Integration: Switched beam systems are traditionally designed to retrofit widely deployed
cellular systems. It has been commonly implemented as an add-on or appliqué technology
that intelligently addresses the needs of mature networks. In comparison, adaptive array
systems have been deployed with a more fully integrated approach that offers less hardware
redundancy than switched beam systems but requires new build-out.
Range Coverage: Switched beam systems can increase base station range from 20 to 200
percent over conventional sectored cells, depending on environmental circumstances and the
hardware/software used. The added coverage can save an operator substantial infrastructure
costs and means lower prices for consumers.
Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA): Among the most sophisticated utilizations of
smart antenna technology is SDMA, which employs advanced processing techniques to, in
effect, locate and track fixed or mobile terminals, adaptively steering transmission signals
toward users and away from interferers. This adaptive array technology achieves superior
levels of interference suppression, making possible more efficient reuse of frequencies than
the standard fixed hexagonal reuse patterns. In essence, the scheme can adapt the frequency
allocations to where the most users are located.

Fig 5.1 Fully Adaptive Spatial Processing, Supporting Two Users On The Same Conventional Channel Simultaneously In The
Same Cell (4)

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Comparison of Different Smart Antenna Technologies and the Way Ahead: The current
status of smart antennas was reviewed and it was concluded that there has been very limited
implementation of the technology despite its potential benefits in spectral efficiency. In this
chapter we compare various forms of smart antenna technology available to the wireless
communication network designer. We seek to obtain a clear view of the advantages offered
by them by examining the claims in the literature and by responses obtained from
interviewing key players in the industry. We also suggest a possible way for wireless
networks to advance and discuss briefly how the semi-smart antenna technology can bring
the desired gain in spectrum efficiency.
Finally, we examine some regulatory hurdles that Ofcom may wish to consider when
licensing future spectrum and allow rapid deployment of the technology in the UK with its
associated spectrum advantages.

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CHAPTER 6
COMPARING DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO SMART ANTENNAS
6.1 Comparing the technical performance of smart antenna designs
An objective of the work in this project has been to provide clear statements about the
increase in capacity and spectrum utilization that can be provided by the adoption of smart
antenna techniques. However, in attempting to assess the benefits of different algorithms and
physical systems and to compare the work of different authors, it is apparent that the wide
range of claims made by them are based on comparisons between different parameters of
antennas operating in scenarios which cannot be easily related to one another. There are
unfortunately no accepted standards of comparison and no standard system models that
provide any common context for the making of clear and direct comparisons. This dilutes the
value of results and makes it difficult to see the value of potentially useful advances.
The variables which make comparison difficult include:
1. Work in systems using different signal formats – GSM (TDMA-FDD), WCDMA
(FDD), TD-SCDMA (TDD). Wireless LAN and other TDD systems;
2. Studies using signals with different modulation schemes (G-MSK, CDMA, OFDM
and high-order QAM systems;
3. The adoption of a wide range of signal scenarios, numbers of multipath components,
their angular and delay spread, the number and disposition of interferers;
4. Studies comparing capacity, but with insufficient clarity about what is being
measured;
5. Studies making no consideration of the effect of deploying smart antennas at
adjoining base stations;
6. Studies comparing C/I ratios, but making different starting assumptions and in the
case of CDMA making different assumptions about own-cell and adjacent-cell
interferers;
7. Studies assuming perfect power control and those with either no power control or no
description of the assumptions made by the author;
8. Comparison of smart antennas with a variety of conventional antennas which do not
reflect current real practice, and with no clear factors by which the different
comparisons can be related. Examples include comparisons with single
omnidirectional base station antennas and with sector antennas of undefined azimuth
beam width;

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9. Studies making no reference to the sensitivity of the conclusions to the angular, delay
and Doppler spreads of the signals, or to the effects of noise or interference.
Many studies only describe a few of the parameters of the scenario that is modelled, leaving
the reader to assume the state of others. A study such as the present one, in which a wide
variety of real parameters have been included, and which may represent the real environment
quite closely, cannot be properly compared with other models in simple idealised scenarios.
The effectiveness of a smart antenna depends critically on the assumed signal format,
modulation scheme, physical environment (which gives rise to the spreads in angle, time and
frequency) and the noise and interference present. When these variables are taken in
conjunction with the wide range of control algorithms and arrangements of physical hardware
(as well as the many conventional or hypothetical systems with which they are compared) the
result is that out of many hundred papers consulted there are very few which come to
conclusions that can be assembled into any coherent picture.
Adaptive Antenna Approach
Figure below illustrates the relative coverage area for conventional sectorized, switched
beam, and adaptive antenna systems. Both types of smart antenna systems provide significant
gains over conventional sectored systems. The low level of interference on the left represents
a new wireless system with lower penetration levels. The significant level of interference on
the right represents either a wireless system with more users or one using more aggressive
frequency reuse patterns. In this scenario, the interference rejection capability of the adaptive
system provides significantly more coverage than either the conventional or switched beam
system.

Fig 6.1 Coverage Patterns for Switched Beam and Adaptive Array (4)

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CHAPTER 7
BENEFITS OF SMART ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
Following are the benefits of smart antenna technology
7.1 Reduction in co-channel interference
Smart antennas has a property of spatial filtering to focus radiated energy in the form of
narrow beams only in the direction of the desired mobile user and no other direction. In
addition they also have nulls in their radiation pattern in the direction of other mobile users in
the vicinity. Therefore there is often negligible co-channel interference.
7.2 Range improvement
Since smart antennas employs collection of individual elements in the form of an array they
give rise to narrow beam with increased gain when compared to conventional antennas using
the same power. The increase in gain leads to increase in range and the coverage of the
system. Therefore fewer base stations are required to cover a given area.
7.3 Increase in capacity
Smart antennas enable reduction in co-channel interference, which leads to increase in the
frequency reuse factor. That is smart antennas allow more users to use the same frequency
spectrum at the same time bringing about tremendous increase in capacity.
7.4 Reduction in transmitted power
Ordinary antennas radiate energy in all directions leading to a waste of power. Comparatively
smart antennas radiate energy only in the desired direction. Therefore less power is required
for radiation at the base station. Reduction in transmitted power also implies reduction in
interference towards other users.
7.5 Reduction in handoff
To improve the capacity in a crowded cellular network, congested cells are further broken
into micro cells to enable increase in the frequency reuse factor. This results in frequent
handoffs, as the cell size is smaller. Using smart antennas at the base station, there is no need
to split the cells since the capacity is increased by using independent spot beams. Therefore,
handoffs occur rarely, only when two beams using the same frequency cross each other.
7.6 Mitigation of multipath effects
Smart antennas can either reject multipath components as interference, thus mitigating its
effects in terms of fading or it can use the multipath components and add them constructively
to enhance system performance.

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7.7 Compatibility
Smart antenna technology can be applied to various multiple access techniques such as
TDMA, FDMA, and CDMA. It is compatible with almost any modulation method and
bandwidth or frequency band.
Who can use smart antennas
1. Smart antenna technology can significantly improve wireless system performance and
economics for a range of potential users.
2. It enables operators of PCS, cellular, and wireless local loop (WLL) networks to
realize significant increases in signal quality, capacity, and coverage.
7.8 Uses Of Smart Antenna
1. Phased arrays are mainly being studied for point-to-point wireless systems, e.g., for
wireless local loops.
2. Adaptive arrays are being considered on cellular terminals where local scattering
causes wide angular spread.
3. In the TDMA system ANSI-136 adaptive antenna algorithms have been widely
deployed.

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CHAPTER 8
ISSUES IN DEPLOYING SMART ANTENNAS IN MOBILE RADIO
NETWORKS
Any smart antenna system proposed for use in existing networks must show Significant
advantages in terms of cost, performance and environmental acceptability relative to
established current practice and the new techniques now being introduced.
There is little doubt that smart antennas would be adopted if the potential advantages claimed
for them could be realised in practice with no corresponding disadvantages. The commercial
and practical realities that influence the possible adoption of smart antennas in mobile radio
systems relate to:
1. The nature of the radio environment;
2. The selection of transmission standards;
3. The relative practicability and costs of other available techniques that can be adopted
to increase the coverage and capacity of networks;
4. Environmental considerations – size and visual profile;
5. Practical concerns about complex outdoor electronics systems;
6. Business and cost issues;
7. Regulatory concerns.
These considerations interact with one another and it is difficult to place them in a clear order
of priority. A mobile device with which communication is established is known as a mobile
station (MS) in a GSM system and a user equipment (UE) in UMTS terminology. A base
station is known as a base transceiver station (BTS) in GSM and a Node-B in UMTS. To
avoid duplication the UMTS (IMT-2000, 3G) terms will generally be used in abbreviations in
the discussion below. Many of the comments relate to both systems and specific comments
are made where a generally comparable situation does not exist between them.
The radio frequency environment issue will be addressed in this section. Other issues will be
discussed separately in later sections.
8.1 The radio frequency environment
Mobile radio networks operate in a complex radio environment and the techniques which can
be used for antennas – especially smart antennas – are strongly determined by the imperfect
and highly variable character of that environment.

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Path loss between the mobile and the base station: In an ideal environment there would be a
smooth relationship between the signal strength at any point and the distance between the
point and the base station. In practice this relationship is often very chaotic.
Three distinct mechanisms are usually identified as being responsible for this chaotic
relationship:
1. Distance-dependent path loss;
2. Shadowing by terrain features and buildings (seen as slow fading by a moving user);
3. Multipath fading (seen as fast fading by a moving user).
Distance-dependent loss :Distance-dependent loss is sometimes called spreading loss and is
addressed by choosing an appropriate spacing between base stations and the provision of
enough RF power, receiver sensitivity and antenna gain to provide coverage of the terrain
round the base station. If we include the loss that occurs beyond line-of-sight propagation,
then we can reduce the transmission loss and increase the coverage of the base station by
increasing the antenna height. The disadvantage is that we will probably increase the level of
signals received in adjacent cells, impairing frequency re-use and reducing the spectral
efficiency of the network.
The typical dependence of propagation loss on distance d in the mobile radio environment is
usually assumed to be proportional to about d3.8. Even in a city built on level terrain this
severely limits the distance to which coverage can be extended from a base station even by
using a very directional high-gain antenna.
Shadowing : Shadowing is the obstruction of some parts of the intended coverage area by
terrain features or major fixed structures. It can be reduced to some extent by careful choice
of the base station location, but apart from raising the base station antenna there is little that
can be done to overcome it. Severe shadowing loss may make it necessary to fill a coverage
hole with an additional cell or microcell.
Multipath fading :Multipath fading is caused by the arrival at the base station of signals from
a mobile which have travelled by different paths, having been reflected from a scattering
objects such as buildings, cars and terrain features. The UE is typically within 2m of the
ground and these scatterers are typically close to the UE, so at the base station the direct and
scattered signals arrive with a small angular spread. To reduce the effect of multipath fading
it has been standard practice for many years for the base station to receive two samples of the
incoming signal, either at two spatially separate locations, or in two orthogonal polarisations
[10]. In the case of spatial diversity the separation between the antennas at the base station

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effectively defines the angle within which signals will be separately resolved and can cause
independent (uncorrelated) fading at the position of the antennas.
In the case of polarisation diversity the correlation of the signals received at the base station
does not depend on the spatial separation of the scatterers, but on the different polarisation
characteristics of scattered signals.
The adoption of smart antenna techniques does not necessarily remove the effects of
multipath fading [11]. If a smart antenna is situated in a position of temporarily low net signal
it cannot produce a satisfactory output. Either the elements of the smart antenna must be
sufficiently spaced to make it unlikely that fading across the array is correlated – that is to say
that the width of the array must be sufficient to allow the resolution of the separate multipath
components – or dual-polar operation must be adopted in accordance with present base
station practice. Both techniques require additional hardware and processing and substantially
increase the cost of the system.
Doppler spread : The signals from moving users are characterised by frequency shifts caused
by the familiar Doppler effect. In a multi-path environment the signals transmitted by
different paths from a moving mobile will experience different Doppler shifts and the total
frequency span between the significant signal components is known as the Doppler spread.
(A user travelling away from the base station towards a significant scatterer will present the
base station with a direct signal having a negative Doppler shift; but depending on the
relative direction of scatters it may be associated with reflected signals with a positive shift.)
Processing signals with different Doppler shifts consumes a significant amount of time: smart
antennas which act as narrow filters in the frequency domain or change characteristics too
quickly may be unable to cope with the Doppler spread from a fast moving user.
Co-channel interference : In general any signal will be received together with signals from
other users sharing the same frequency. In a CDMA system the other users (both singly or
together) will contribute to a raised noise level determined by the spreading gain, but in other
systems a single interfering signal will more directly impair the ability of the receiver to
correctly demodulate the wanted signal.
Dynamic range : The power level transmitted by each mobile is dynamically controlled by
the base station to ensure that signals from different mobiles arrive with almost the same
signal power. It would therefore seem that there is no significant problem of a smart antenna
being required to process signals with a wide dynamic range. The minimum received signal
level will be that from a mobile located at the margin of the cell, having a signal level which
can – by only a small margin – be decoded against thermal noise in the base station receive

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chain. In busy conditions a higher signal level will be needed, as the threshold will be raised
by external noise and interference.
In practice, the highest receive signal levels may be caused by mobiles situated close to the
base station but connected to other neighbouring cells. This mobile may be transmitting at
maximum power on a channel adjacent to that used by the nearby base station with a limited
channel filtering. This is a classic ‘near/far’ situation, and the resulting dynamic range must
be handled by the whole receive chain without any consequent desensitization or rise in
receiver noise.
A further consideration arises when the base stations of two or more networks are closely co-
located. In this situation the strong interfering signal is on the base station transmit frequency,
but the powerful incoming signal must neither disrupt the control algorithms, nor give rise to
intermodulation products generated either by the antenna system or by the transmitters.
Noise:As with all receiving systems the sensitivity and throughput of the system is limited by
noise. This is not just a threshold effect – the data rate that can be obtained is directly
proportional to the available signal-to-noise ratio.
8.2 Future wireless networks
Many discussions of possible future technologies for wireless networks assume the adoption
of multiple antenna techniques, both at the UE and the base station. The advantages of such a
system are indisputable. They include:
1. Increased capacity and spectral efficiency through the use of SDMA and/or STBC /
MIMO techniques;
2. Increased reliability of communication in poor channel conditions through the use of
multiple-branch diversity;
3. Reduced power requirements – because the same effective radiated power requires
less RF input power when multiple antennas are used. This advantage is multiplied by
a large factor, because multi-channel power amplifiers are notoriously inefficient, so
the required mains power and power used for air conditioning are all reduced by a
large factor compared with the reduction in RF power allowed by the improved
system.
One problem with MIMO technology is getting sufficient decoupling between the antennas at
the UE so each antenna provides uncorrelated signal samples. At present the technique is
better suited to larger devices (laptops) than for small hand-held devices (mobiles). (This
limitation can be overcome by cooperative transmission between base stations or the use of
remote RF heads.)

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CHAPTER 9

CONCLUSION
The use of smart antennas is not purely a radio transmission issue. It also influences network
services such as handover and connection setup. A smart antenna is a digital wireless
communications antenna system that takes advantage of diversity effect at the source
(transmitter), the destination (receiver), or both.
A variety of studies have been conducted on developing and evaluating a semi-smart antenna
technique, in the context of assessing the current smart-antenna technology and the associated
spectrum efficiency gains, and addressing some of key technical and regulatory issues.
Having accomplished the project, we can draw the following conclusions.
We have studied the current state-of-the-art of smart antenna technology in general. The
information is derived from published technical papers and reports, discussions with mobile
radio operators worldwide and experience of the design of antenna systems for mobile radio
base stations. All of this was with the aim of understanding where the technology is and
where we think it may be heading.
There is little doubt that the adoption of smart-antenna techniques can increase the utility of
radio communications, providing enhanced data rates and improved coverage and spectral
utilisation. However, it is argued that the administrative and financial environment of the
industry and the current technical standards adopted in the mobile radio industry may not
provide the most promising environment for the adoption of these techniques. It has been
shown that a wide variety of techniques for the enhancement of the reliability of coverage
and increase in network capacity have been applied and will continue to be developed in both
GSM and W-CDMA systems. Nevertheless, it is promising to learn that the smart antenna
techniques in SCDMA systems are currently in service in small scale networks in China
(mostly rural and suburban environments).
The Chinese 3G standard TD-SCDMA has been engineered to enable the use of smart
antennas in the network, although the implementation of the networks using this air interface
continues to be delayed.
It is also suggested that the financial and environmental constraints to the adoption of
enhanced techniques could be resolved to the benefit of the community at large by the
adoption of a different model for the ownership and operation of services for future networks.
Combined with the specific choice of technical standards that can make best use of the

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techniques of multiple antennas, this could lead to a significant advance in network

engineering.
Extensive simulation studies have been conducted of network level performance of
semismart antenna systems. A novel optimisation technique has been developed in parallel
with extending the system level of simulation into the aspects of heterogeneous demand,
differentiated services, non-uniform topography and comparisons with the antenna down
tilting. The performance simulation of the semi-smart antenna system for heterogeneous
demands has indicated a significant decrease of blocking and dropping rates, i.e. an increase
of the capacity, both in the uplink and downlink.
The analysis on the support different classes of customers and services has given encouraging
results showing that the differentiation is achieved between all three classes while still
achieving increased capacity and lower blocking rates. Results obtained from simulating
different scenarios in a real topographic environment have revealed that very similar and
even better performance can be achieved. The ooperative down tilting technique has been
shown to achieve only a fraction of the improvement of network performance (around 20% as
opposed to 80% for a full semi-smart network). Preliminary simulation work has indicated
that the semi-smart antenna technique has true potential to support efficient networks where
there can be little conventional network planning.
A novel cylindrically-conformal antenna array has been designed and tested. The new design
is simple, robust, light and small in size (low profile), and most importantly, operates
efficiently in providing dynamic radiation coverage in the azimuth plane. Synthesis and
hardware control codes have been developed to operate with the semi-smart antenna
prototype for real-time control pattern control. The study has been further extended to verify
the concept of down-tilting as means of amplitude control. In this part of the study, extensive
electromagnetic modelling has been carried out on linear arrays.
Also, a brief review has been given of non-mechanical phase shifting solutions – a key
component in smart antennas – and the potential technologies which might be used in the
future to replace the current mechanical methods.
In comparison with conventional smart antenna or other antenna approaches, the semismart
antenna technology has proven to be of much lower complexity and has minimal impact on
the cellular system architecture. The work has not found any reasons why the semi-smart
approach should not offer major benefits in spectrum efficiency over other methods and
possibly at lower cost as detailed in Chapter 6. Assessments conducted on some important

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technical, business, standard and regulatory issues when employing the smart antenna
technology in general have also shown in favour of the semi-smart antenna technology.
In summary, the work has further proven that the semi-smart antenna approach has enormous
advantages and potential for civilian cellular radio systems and could offer a viable migration
path from the current network deployments to the full smart antenna scenario. Further work
will therefore be directed to exploiting this potential by working with the industry to
standardise the semi-smart concept and system interfaces further.

MAHANT BACHITTAR SINGH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY 32

 SMART ANTENNA

Reference
[1]. “Smart Antenna Systems Tutorial”, The International Engineering Consortium,
http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/smart_ant/
[2]. 2. Lehne, P.H. and Pettersen M., “An Overview of Smart Antenna Technology
for Mobile Communications Systems”, IEE Communications Surveys, Fourth
Quarter 1999, vol. 2, no. 4, http://www.comsoc.org/livepubs/ surveys/
public/4q99issue/pdf/Lehne.pdf
[3]. Schüttengruber, W., Molisch A.F. and Bonek E., “Smart Antennas for Mobile
CommunicationsTutorial”,http://www.nt.tuwien.ac.at/mobile/research/smart_antennas
_tutorial/index.en.html
[4]. “Smart Antennas Tutorial,” http://viterbi.ece.iisc.ernet.in/prem/SmartAnt/
[5]. “Smart Antennas – A Non-technical Introduction”, SYMENA Software &
Consulting GmbH, http://www.symena.com/Smart Antennas - A Nontechnical
Introduction - SYMENA.pdf

MAHANT BACHITTAR SINGH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY 33