Traffic models and blocking probabilities for two-fold and three-fold SDMA communication systems

Spectrum efficiency is a constant challenge in the design of wireless networks. Space-division-multiple-access (SDMA) is a promising approach to achieve higher spectral efficiency which reuses bandwidth via multiplexing signals based on their spatial signature. Several different studies have shown that SDMA can effectively improve system capacity in a mobile environment. In this paper, we present a new Markov chain traffic model for a duplicate-at-last (DL) approach [IEE Proceedings on Communication 146 (1999) 303] in two-fold and three-fold SDMA systems. Simplified blocking probability formulations for two-fold and three-fold SDMA are also derived. Simulations based on a common method of spatial separation check for channel allocation in SDMA are presented to evaluate the probability of successfully creating two-fold and three-fold SDMA channels. The simulation, as well as analytical, results indicate that the SDMA system can reduce the blocking probability of the calls and result in more traffic loading than a traditional cellular system. The results also show that our simplified approaches not only can reduce the computational complexity, but can also accurate approximate two-fold and three-fold SDMA performance.