We evaluate system capacities for multicellular systems with different multiple access strategies. The interference from another cell sharing the same frequency is calculated, and the total interference arising from the frequency reuse pattern is evaluated. A simple analytical model for the inter-cell interference is developed, which is in good agreement with numerical experiments. Irrespective of the multiple access strategy, capacity becomes interference limited. When comparing TDMA and CDMA in the uplink, there is a crossover in capacity. At low SNR CDMA is preferable, at high SNR TDMA performs better.
Andreas Peter Burg, Adrian Schumacher, Ruben Merz