Comparison of Antenna Arrays in a 3-D Multiuser Multicell Network

A three-dimensional (3D) multi-cell multi-user system model along with spatial array processing are presented and studied in this paper. Most of the radio propagation in the literature has been studied and modeled in a two dimensional plane. The 3D propagation channel modeling has drawn attentions recently. This is due to the fact that, in some scenarios, the assumption of small elevation domain angular spread does not hold. With multiple antenna elements displaced in a 3D space, e.g., uniform linear array (ULA) or uniform planar array (UPA), the base station (BS) is capable of forming beams in vertical domain. This is particularly interesting for the interference limited scenario, since the 3D array processing provides another degree of freedom to transmit signal and eliminate the interference. Using the 3D multicell channel model, the impact of elevation domain angular spread and antenna analog beam pattern on the base station antenna design, digital beamforming and power control are studied.