Dual Cell HSDPA

Dual-Cell HSDPA (also known as: Dual-Carrier HSPA or Dual-Cell HSPA) is a wirele
ss broadband standard based on HSPA that is defined in 3GPP UMTS release 8.
Dual Cell (DC-)HSDPA is the natural evolution of HSPA by means of carrier aggreg
ation in the downlink. UMTS licenses are often issued as 10 or 15 MHz paired spe
ctrum allocations. The basic idea of the multicarrier feature is to achieve bett
er resource utilization and spectrum efficiency by means of joint resource alloc
ation and load balancing across the downlink carriers.
An advanced HSPA network can theoretically support up to 28Mbit/s and 42Mbit/s w
ith a single 5 MHz carrier for Rel7 (MIMO with 16QAM) and Rel8 (64-QAM + MIMO),
in good channel condition with low correlation between transmit antennas. An alt
ernative method to double the data rates is to double the bandwidth, i.e. 10 MHz
by using DC-HSPDA. Additionally, some diversity and joint scheduling gains can
also be expected with improved QoS for end users in poor environment conditions
where existing techniques such as MIMO spatial multiplexing cannot be used to i
ncrease data rates. In 3GPP a study item was completed in June 2008. New HSDPA U
E categories 21-24 have been introduced that support DC-HSDPA. DC-HSDPA can supp
ort up to 42Mbit/s, but unlike HSPA, it does not need to rely on MIMO transmissi
on.
From Release 9 onwards it will be possible to use DC-HSDPA in combination with M
IMO used on both carrier. The support of MIMO in combination with DC-HSDPA will
allow operators deploying Release 7 MIMO to benefit from the DC-HSDPA functional
ity as defined in Release 8. While in Release 8 DC-HSPDA can only operate on adj
acent carriers, Release 9 allow that the paired cells can operate on two differe
nt frequency bands.