SPMA: A Centralized Macrocellular Approach for Enhancing System Capacity of Future Smart Networks

To cope with the gigantic capacity demand of future networks, the research towards the Fifth Generation (5G) of mobile networks is currently ongoing in full swing. In the first part of this paper, it focuses on the possible gains of selecting an optimum antenna downtilting, suitable antenna beamwidth and highlights the gain of using higher order sectorization in optimizing the network capacity of traditional cellular networks. It highlights the limitations of available solutions in meeting the target of 1000 times more capacity with reference to the 4G network. In the second part of the paper, an innovative concept of Single Path Multiple Access (SPMA) for macrocellular environment is discussed, which can significantly improve the system capacity by aggressively reusing the available spectrum. The essence of SPMA is to avoid interference and reuse the frequency spectrum by employing narrow needle beams. Comprehensive 3D ray tracing simulations were done using real world building and site data to compare the performance of traditional solutions and SPMA. The obtained results indicate that antenna downtilting, optimum beamwidth and higher order sectorization enhances the system capacity, but with only small margin. However, the revolutionary concept of SPMA improved the system capacity by substantial margin.