INTRODUCTION

As compared to a HRPD cell, an extended cell is characterized by increased radio path loss between the base station and a user terminal, increased radio path delay between the base station and a user terminal, a larger geographical cell coverage area and highly overlapping coverage with another extended cell. Extended cell HRPD (or xHRPD) is considered as an enhancement to the HRPD standards [2] and [3].

An example of xHRPD application is serving as a component of integrated satellite terrestrial network. The terrestrial network component (e.g., a HRPD cellular network) provides economical and high quality services to areas of high user densities yet its coverage area is geographically limited. On the other hand, the satellite network component, using xHRPD, provides a much broader coverage area and can be used to complement the limited coverage offered by the terrestrial network. This integrated system can provide "anywhere" and "anytime" type of coverage and allows handsets and data cards with the same form factor as the current commercial (cellular) devices to operate in either satellite or terrestrial mode. Another potential application of xHRPD is to provide access to telemetry devices located in remote areas.