This thesis addresses handoff issues in a WCDMA system with space-time block coded transmit antenna diversity. Soft handoff has traditionally been used in CDMA systems because of its ability to provide an improved link performance due to the inherent macro diversity. Next generation systems will incorporate transmit diversity schemes employing several transmit antennas at the base station. These schemes have been shown to improve downlink transmission performance especially capacity and quality. This research investigates the possibility that the diversity obtained through soft handoff can be compensated for by the diversity obtained in a transmit diversity system with hard handoff. We analyze the system for two performance measures, namely, the probability of bit error and the outage probability, in order to determine whether the improvement in link performance, as a result of transmit diversity in a system with hard handoffs obviates the need for soft handoffs.
