Base station antennas have up till now been omni directional or sectored. This can be regarded as a "waste" of power as most of it will be radiated in other directions than toward the user. The idea of smart antennas is to use base station antenna patterns that are not fixed, but adapt to the current radio conditions. Smart antennas will lead to a much more efficient use of the power and spectrum, increasing the useful received power as well as reducing interference. A smart antenna system combines multiple antenna elements with a signal-processing capability to optimise its radiation and/or reception pattern automatically in response to the signal environment.
Smart antennas are a current topic of interest in wireless communications for the capacity enhancement, range extension and performance improvement which they potentially offer.
For the Wideband CDMA systems soon to be used for 3 rd generation mobile networks, the interference reductions smart antennas can provide will directly result in increased available bit-rate and capacity for the end user. This is beneficial both in terms of increased perceived quality of service and in financial terms for the operator, who will potentially be able to offer enhanced, high bit-rate services.
Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) techniques discussed in this informative resource will significantly increase the bandwidth efficiency of wireless data transmission systems.
Provides a previously unavailable comprehensive text covering the practical implementation and planning of radio networks constructed either partly or wholly using smart antennas
Includes an accompanying website featuring a web-enabled radio network planning tool which provides network simulation of smart antennas
Enables the reader to perform a number of different scenarios where conventional antennas are replaced by their smart counterparts
Examines the cost-benefit tradeoffs implied by smart antenna substitution
Investigates state-of the art- techniques such as MIMOs (multiple-input,multiple-output)
This superbly written resource will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of all research and design engineers and network planners as well as postgraduate researchers and academics in the field.
