Power-control-based Band Allocation in Multiband CDMA

Multiband CDMA is useful for constructing DSCDMA (CDMA) systems over a non-contiguous spectrum. The method by which users are assigned to their respective frequency bands, termed ‘band allocation’, is an important part of assuring good performance in multiband CDMA systems. This paper proposes a novel approach to band allocation based on the transmission power as it is adjusted by power control. We investigate one such power-control-based algorithm that makes use of quality-based power control to switch users to another band when they reach the maximum transmission power. This algorithm is shown to provide a significant increase in capacity for high QoS requirements when compared with both wideband CDMA systems and other proposed band allocation algorithms for multiband CDMA. The capacity gain provided by the investigated algorithm substantiates our claim that power-control-based algorithms are a viable option for band allocation in multiband CDMA.