Lecture 1

Communications Systems
Mobile Cellular Communications Systems
 Prof. Masoud Alghoniemy
◼ EE building, 4th floor
◼ Office hours: before lecture at the office and by appointment
◼ E-mail: alghoniemy@alexu.edu.eg

 Textbook: wireless Communications: Principles and Practice

 Author: Rappaport T. S.
 Publisher: Pearson Education

 Course tone:
◼ Easy problems
◼ Understand the concepts

2
Course Outline

 Introduction

 The Cellular Concept - system design fundamentals

 Wireless Channels

3
Lecture Outline

 Introduction

 Cellular Telephone Systems

 System Capacity

 Channel Assignment Strategies

 Handoff Strategies

 Co-channel Interference

4
I. Introduction

 Examples of mobile communication systems

◼ Garage door openers
◼ Remote controllers
◼ Cordless phones
◼ Hand-held walkie-talkie
◼ Pagers “beepers”
◼ Cellular phones

 Nowadays: mobile → cellular

 Cost, complexity, performance and type of services are

vastly different

5
 Wireless systems definitions
 Base station (BS): a fixed station used for radio communication with
mobile station and located at the center/ or on the edge of a coverage
region.

 Mobile station (MS): mobile user’s unit

 Control channel (CC): radio channel used for transmission of call

setup, request, initiation, and other control purposes.

 Forward channel (FC): radio channel used for transmission from the
BS to the mobile unit. (Downlink/ FL)

 Reverse channel (RC): radio channel used for transmission from the
mobile unit to the BS. (Uplink/ RL)

 Full Duplex systems: allow simultaneous two-way communication

(transmission and reception) (FDD/TDD) 6
Wireless systems definitions
 Half-duplex systems: at any given time, the user can only either
transmit or receive information using the same radio channel.

 Simplex systems: communication is only possible in one direction

(e.g., paging systems without acknowledgment)

 Handoff: the process of transferring a mobile station (unit) from one

base station/ channel to another.

 Base Station Controller (BSC): manages the radio network functions

and interfaces between the MSCs and BSs

 Mobile Switching Center (MSC): switching center which coordinates

the routing of calls in a large service area.

 Transceiver: a device capable of simultaneously transmitting and

receiving radio signals 7
MS, BS, BSC, MSC, and PSTN

Home phone
PSTN

MSC … MSC

BSC … BSC BSC … BSC

… … … …

BS MS BS MS BS MS BS MS BS MS BS MS BS MS BS MS

8
 II. Cellular Telephone Systems
 Provides a wireless connection to the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN) for any user location within the radio range of the system

 Large geographic coverage area

 Efficient use of limited frequency spectrum

 High user mobility,

sophisticated handoff mechanisms

 High system capacity

Large number of simultaneous users
◼ obtained by limiting coverage of each base station to small area (cell)
◼ frequency spectrum can be reused by other non-adjacent cells in network

9
 Cellular Telephone Systems

 Base station (BS)

◼ serves mobile users in each cell
◼ bridge between mobile unit and BSC/MSC
◼ connected to MSC via phone line or Line of Sight (LOS) microwave link

 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

◼ connects cellular system to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
◼ controls base stations. “cellular network brain”
 call initiation/setup
 base station handoffs
 controlling power levels in mobile units
 billing information
 roaming user ID and verification
◼ Typically handles 5000 simultaneous calls supporting 100,000 cellular
subscribers (at most 5% of subscribers are assumed to be active at anyone time)

10
Common Air Interface (CAI)

◼ Communication between the BS and the mobiles

◼ Standard mechanism used by all mobiles.
◼ Defines 4 different channels to be used by a mobile unit
 Forward/reverse voice channels - FVC/RVC
◼ Full Duplex communication
 Forward/reverse control channels - FCC/RCC
◼ call initiation & setup
◼ makes up to 5% of total number of available channels
▪ One cell contains 10 to 60 voice channels and only 1 to 3
control channel pairs (F+R)

◼ MSC broadcasts call request from PSTN over all Forward Control
Channels (FCC) of all base stations – to find a mobile user

11
 The old days!
 Large coverage area
✓ Single Tx, high power, and tall tower
✓ Low cost
✓ Very good coverage
 Small number of users
 Poor spectrum utilization
 No frequency reuse

 Example: Bell mobile system in NY city in 1970

 Could only support 12 simultaneous calls over a thousand square miles

 A breakthrough was made by introducing the cellular concept

◼ Offered very high capacity in a limited spectrum allocation

12
 Nowadays: The Cellular Concept
 A fixed number of channels is allowed to serve an arbitrarily large
number of subscribers by reusing the channels throughout the region

 Small coverage areas called “cells”

 Cells labeled with the same letter use the same group of channels
(frequencies).

 No two adjacent cells

should use the same frequency

✓ Many base stations,

lower power, and shorter towers

13
Cell Shape

 Hexagonal cell shape is conceptual and is assumed for planning

 permits easy and manageable analysis → circles leave gaps
 Has the largest area for a given distance between the center to
the furthest point
 actual cell “footprint” is amorphous (no specific shape)
◼ Is determined by field measurements where BS
successfully serves mobile units

𝑹 𝑹 𝑹

𝑹
Ideal cell used cell shape Not used cell shape actual cell

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 Base Station Antenna
 Base station antennas designed to cover specific cell area
 cell center → omni-directional antenna (360° coverage)
 not necessarily in the exact center (can be up to R/4 from the
ideal location)

Sectored antenna

Omni antenna

15
 Formation of a Cluster 𝑁=3

 Cell Cluster: group of N-cells

using complete set of the available
channels

 𝑵: cluster size

 Cells in a cluster should be assigned

a different set of channels/
frequencies

 Cells in neighboring clusters can

reuse the same set of frequencies in
the same spatial pattern

𝑁=4
16
 Each cell is allocated 𝒌, a percentage (%) of the total number of
available channels, 𝑺. (frequencies)
◼ If the total number of available channels is 𝑆. Then, each cell is
assigned k ≒ S / N channels

 Nearby (adjacent) cells assigned different channel groups

◼ to prevent interference between neighboring base stations and mobile
users

 Same frequency channels may be reused

by cells at a “reasonable” distance away
◼ reused many times as long as
interference between same channel
(co-channel) cells is < acceptable level

𝑁=3
17
 Frequency reuse factor
 Frequency reuse factor = 1 / N
◼ each frequency is reused every N cells

Spectrum utilization of 1/𝑁 within each cell

Each cell uses 1/N of the available channels (spectrum)

 N cells/cluster

𝑁=7

18
 Formation of a Cluster

 Due to the hexagonal structure of the cells, cluster size 𝑁 is not

arbitrary

 Cluster size 𝑁 can only take values 3, 4, 7, 12, 13, 19, and 27, etc.
according to the formula 𝑁 = 𝒊𝟐 + 𝒊𝒋 + 𝒋𝟐 , where 𝑖, 𝑗 are integers ≥ 0
.
𝒊 𝒋 Cluster size 𝑵

1 1 3
2 0 4
1 2 7 typical values for the cluster size N
2 2 12
3 2 19
3 3 27
4 3 37
Formation of a Cluster

 To find the nearest co-channel neighbors of a particular cell

◼ (1) Move i cells along any chain of hexagons
◼ (2) turn 60 degrees and move left j cells.

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 Frequency reuse

 As frequency reuse↑ → more base stations with less power → number

of possible simultaneous users↑ → number of subscribers ↑→ but
system cost ↑ (more towers)

 The cellular concept allows all mobiles to be manufactured to use the

same set of frequencies

Frequency reuse permits a fixed number of channels to serve

a large number of users by reusing channels in a coverage area

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 III. System Capacity
𝒌
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦
𝟏 2 𝟑 𝑵

 S : total number of duplex channels available for use in a given area

(cluster); determined by:
◼ Total amount of allocated spectrum & channel BW

 k : number of channels allocated to each cell (k < S)

 N : cluster size → number of cells forming a cluster

 S=kN

22
 System Capacity
 M : number of times a cluster is replicated over a geographic coverage area
equals to the number of frequency reuse
 System Capacity (C) = Total number of Duplex Channels
“ in a specified area even if reused ”
C=MS=MkN
(assuming exactly MN cells will cover the area)

✓ If cluster size (𝑁 ↓) is reduced while cell size 𝐢𝐬 kept constant → frequency reuse
(𝑀 ↑) must increase to cover the whole area → capacity (𝐶 ↑)

 As (𝑀 ↑) & (𝑁 ↓) → interference from co-channel cells ↑

The smallest possible value of N is desirable to maximize system capacity.

◼ The actual value of N is determined by how much interference a BS or MU

can tolerate.
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 Example

 FDD cellular system has a BW of 33 MHz. Each user uses two 25 kHz
simplex channels to provide full-duplex channel. Compute the number of
available channels/cell in the following cases:
(a) 𝑵 = 𝟒 cell reuse (b) 𝑵 = 𝟕 cell reuse (c) 𝑵 = 𝟏𝟐 cell reuse

Solution:
User’s duplex channel bandwidth = 25 𝑘𝐻𝑧 × 2 = 50 𝑘𝐻𝑧

33000
Total number of available channels = total BW/user BW = = 𝟔𝟔𝟎 channels
50

660
(a) For 𝑁 = 4 , Number of available channels per cell, 𝑘 = = 165 channels
4
660
(b) For 𝑁 = 7, the number of available channels per cell, 𝑘 = = 95 channels
7
660
(c) For 𝑁 = 12, the number of available channels per cell, 𝑘 = = 55 channels
12
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 If 1MHz of the allocated spectrum is dedicated to control channels.
Determine an equitable distribution of control and voice channels in each
cell for
(a) 𝑵 = 𝟒 cell reuse (b) 𝑵 = 𝟕 cell reuse (c) 𝑵 = 𝟏𝟐 cell reuse

1𝑀𝐻𝑧 1000
Solution: Total number of control channels = = = 𝟐𝟎 channels
50𝑘𝐻𝑧 50
total umber of voice channels = 660 − 20 = 𝟔𝟒𝟎 channels
In practice, each cell is allocated one control channel (1 CC)

𝑵 Control channels/ cell Voice channels/ cell

4 1 CC/ cell (4 out of 20) 4 cells: 640/4=160 VC/ cell
7 1 CC/ cell (7 out of 20) 4 cells: 91 VC/ cell
3 cells: 92 VC/ cell
12 1 CC/ cell (12 out of 20) 8 cells: 53 VC/cell
4 cells: 54 VC/cell
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 IV. Channel Assignment Strategies “frequency planning”
 Design process of selecting & allocating channel groups of cellular base
stations

 Two competing/conflicting objectives:

1. maximize frequency reuse 𝑴 ↑, 𝑵 ↓ in specified area to maximize
capacity (C)
 Requires more reuse of channel frequencies

2. minimize interference between cells

 Requires less reuse of channel frequencies 𝑴 ↓

Recall: smaller N → greater frequency reuse → larger capacity (C) → higher

interference

26
 IV. Channel Assignment Strategies “frequency planning”

 Two main strategies for channel assignment:

◼ A-Fixed channel assignment

◼ B-Dynamic channel assignment

 Impacts the performance of the system

27
A-Fixed Channel Assignment
𝒌
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦
𝟏 2 𝟑 𝑵

𝑺
◼ Each cell is permanently allocated a pre-determined set of
voice channels
 calls within a cell are only served by unused cell channels
 all channels used → blocked call → no service

◼ Several variations:
 MSC allows cell to borrow a VC (that is to say, FVC/RVC
pair) from an adjacent cell
 donor cell must have an available VC to donate

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B-Dynamic Channel Assignment

◼ Channels are NOT allocated permanently

◼ All the available channels in the market are accessible to all

cells

◼ Call request → goes to serving base station → goes to MSC

◼ MSC allocates channels “on the fly”

 allocation strategy considers:
◼ likelihood of future call blocking in the cell
◼ reuse distance (interference potential with other cells that
are using the same frequency)

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Dynamic Channel Assignment

 Advantage: reduces call blocking (that is to say, it increases the

trunking capacity), and increases voice quality

 Disadvantage: increased storage & computational load @ MSC

more than the fixed channel assignment.

◼ Requires: real-time data from entire network related to:

 channel occupancy
 traffic distribution
 Radio Signal Strength Indications (RSSI's) from all channels

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 V. Handoff Strategies

 Handoff: when a mobile unit moves from one cell to another

while a call is in progress, the MSC must transfer (handoff) the
call to a new channel belonging to a new base station
◼ new voice and control channel frequencies
◼ very important task → often given higher priority than new call
 It is worse to drop an in-progress call than to deny a new one

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Signal Strength
Signal strength
(in dB)

Cell i Cell j
-60 -60
-70 -70
-80 -80
-90
-90 -100
-100

Select cell i on left of boundary Select cell j on right of boundary

Ideal boundary
32
Typical Cell Shape

Signal strength
(in dB)

Cell i Cell j

-60
-70
-60
-80
-70
-90
-80
-90 -100
-100 Signal strength contours indicating actual cell tiling.
This happens because of terrain, presence of obstacles
and signal attenuation in the atmosphere.
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Handoff Region
Signal strength Signal strength
due to BSi due to BSj

Pi(x) Pj(x)

Pmin
BSi MS BSj
X1 X3 X5 Xth X4 X2
◼ lowest acceptable voice quality → Minimum usable signal level
◼ call is dropped if below this level
◼ specified by system designers
◼ typical values → -90 to -100 dBm (𝒅𝑩𝒎 = 𝒅𝑩 + 𝟑𝟎)
34
 choose a (handoff threshold) > (minimum useable signal level)
◼ So, there is time to switch channels before level becomes too low
as mobile moves away from base station and toward another base station

35
 Handoff Margin △
△ = Phandoff threshold - Pminimum usable signal dB
◼ carefully selected
◼ △ too large → unnecessary handoff → MSC loaded
◼ △ too small → not enough time to transfer → call dropped!

 A dropped handoff can be caused by two factors:

◼ not enough time to perform handoff
 delay by MSC in assigning handoff
 high traffic conditions and high computational load on
MSC can cause excessive delay by the MSC
◼ no channels available in the new cell

36
Handoff Decision

◼ signal level decreases due to:

 signal fading → don’t handoff
✓ mobile moving away from base station → initiate handoff

◼ must monitor received signal strength (RSS) over a period of time

“use moving average filter” to avoid wrong handoff decision.

◼ time allowed to complete handoff depends on mobile speed

 large negative received signal strength (RSS) slope → high speed →
quick handoff

◼ statistics of the fading signal are important in making appropriate

handoff decisions

37
Handoff in 1st Generation Cellular

 1st Generation Cellular (Analog FM → AMPS)

◼ Received signal strength (RSS) of RVC measured at base
station & monitored by MSC
◼ A spare Rx in base station (locator Rx) monitors RSS of
RVC's in neighboring cells
 Tells Mobile Switching Center (MSC) about these mobiles and
their channels
◼ Locator Rx can see if signal to this base station is significantly
better than to the host base station
◼ MSC monitors RSS from all base stations & decides on
handoff
◼ Disadvantage: MSC is loaded

38
 Handoff in 2nd Generation Cellular

 2nd Generation Cellular w/ digital TDMA (GSM, IS-136)

◼ Mobile Assisted Handoffs (MAHO)
 important advancement
 The mobile measures the RSS of the FCC’s from adjacent
base stations & reports back to serving base station
 if Rx power from new base station > Rx power from serving
(current) base station by pre-determined margin for a long
enough time period → handoff initiated by MSC
Signal strength Signal strength
due to BSi due to BSj

Pi(x) Pj(x)

E
Pmin
BSi X X3 MS X5 Xth X4 X2BSj
1
39
Advantages of MAHO

◼ MSC no longer monitors RSS of all channels

 reduces computational load considerably
 enables much more rapid and efficient handoffs
 imperceptible to users

40
Typical Handoff Parameters

 Analog cellular (1st generation)

 threshold margin △ ≈ 6 to 12 dB
 total time to complete handoff ≈ 8 to 10 sec

 Digital cellular (2nd generation) (MAHO)

 lower necessary threshold margin △ ≈ 0 to 6 dB
 total time to complete handoff ≈ 1 to 2 sec

41
Intersystem Handoff

 A mobile may move into a different system controlled by a

different MSC
◼ Called an intersystem handoff
◼ May happen when the MSC cannot find another cell with
the same system to transfer the call in-progress.

 What issues would be involved here?

◼ Local call → long distance call (higher cost)
◼ Compatibility issues between the two systems
◼ Handoff request may be blocked by the new system

42
 Prioritizing Handoffs ‘reduce drop-offs’

 Issue: Perceived Grade of Service (GOS) – service quality as

viewed by users
 “quality” is measured in terms of dropped or blocked calls (not
voice quality)
 assign higher priority to handoff vs. new call request
 a dropped call (forced termination) is more annoying than an
occasional blocked call

 Solution 1: Guard Channels preserved for handoffs

◼ Percentage (%) of total available cell channels exclusively set
aside for handoff requests
◼ issue: makes fewer channels available for new call requests
◼ a good strategy is dynamic channel allocation (not fixed)
 adjust number of guard channels as needed by demand
 So, channels are not wasted in cells with low traffic
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 Prioritizing Handoffs ‘reduce drop-offs’
 Solution 2: Queuing Handoff Requests

◼ To decrease the probability of forced termination of a call.

◼ Trade-off between decreasing the probability of forced
termination and total carried traffic.
◼ Possible because of time delay between handoff threshold and
minimum usable signal level can be used to place a blocked
handoff request in a queue
◼ a handoff request can "keep trying" during that time period,
instead of having a single block/no block decision
◼ prioritize requests based on mobile speed and traffic pattern
◼ calls will still be dropped if time period expires

44
 Practical Handoff Considerations

 Problems occur because of large variations of users' velocities

◼ pedestrian vs. high-speed vehicle user
 High-speed vehicles crosse the cell in a matter of seconds
→ too many handoff requests
 Pedestrians may never need handoffs.

 The introduction of Small and/or micro-cells → larger number of

handoffs

◼ Results in MSC becomes burdened when high speed users are passed
between very small cells

 Another difficulty is the inability of the service provides to obtain new

cell cites → cell is congested → more handoffs
45
 Solution: Umbrella Cells
 Use different antenna heights and Tx power levels, at the same
tower, to provide large and small cell coverage
 multiple antennas & Tx can be co-located at single location if
necessary (saves on obtaining new tower licenses)
◼ large area coverage (large cell) → high speed traffic → fewer handoffs
◼ small area coverage (small cell) → low speed traffic
◼ example areas: interstate highway passing thru urban center, office
park, or nearby shopping mall

46
 Cell Dragging Problem

 Results from pedestrian users (low speed) with line of sight to base
station (very strong signal) usually in urban areas
 Strong signal changing slowly
 user moves into the area of an adjacent cell without handoff
 causes interference with adjacent cells and other cells
 Remember: handoffs help all users, not just the one which is
handed off.
 If this mobile is closer to a reused channel → interference for
the other user using the same frequency
 So, this mobile needs to hand off anyway, so other users benefit
because that mobile stays far away from them.

 Solution: careful adjustment of handoff thresholds and radio coverage

parameters.
47
Soft vs. Hard Handoffs

◼ Hard handoff: different radio channels are assigned when

moving from cell to cell
 all analog (AMPS) & digital TDMA systems (IS-136, GSM,
etc.)

48
 Soft vs. Hard Handoffs

 Soft handoff: SPREAD SPECTRUM users share the same

frequency in every cell. (CDMA systems (IS-95))
◼ Does not mean a physical change in the assigned channels, rather a
different BS handles the radio communication task.
◼ The MSC simultaneously monitors reverse link signal at several base
stations
◼ MSC dynamically decides which signal is best and then listens to that
one
◼ MSC passes data from that base station on to the PSTN
 This choice of best signal can keep changing.
 Mobile user does nothing for handoffs except just transmit, MSC
does all the work
 Advantage unique to CDMA systems
 As long as, there are enough codes available.
49
 VI. Interference and System Capacity
 Interference is the limiting factor in performance of all cellular radio
systems
 Interference affects:
◼ voice channels: cross-talk
◼ control channels: missed or blocked calls

 Sources of interference:
◼ Another mobile in the same cell
◼ A call in-progress in a neighboring cell
◼ Other BS operating in the same frequency band
◼ Any non-cellular system leaking energy into the cellular band

 Two major types of system-generated interference:

1) Co-Channel Interference (CCI)
2) Adjacent Channel Interference (ACI)

50
Co-channel Interference (CCI)- Forward Link

 Cause: Frequency Reuse

◼ Many cells in a given coverage area use the same set of channel
frequencies to increase system capacity (C)
◼ Co-channel cells → cells that share the same set of frequencies
◼ Both VC & CC traffic in co-channel cells is an interfering source
to mobiles in several different cells

RL: UPLINK

FL: DOWNLINK

51
Possible Solutions?

 1) Increase base station Tx power: to improve radio signal

reception?
 this will also increase interference from co-channel cells by the
same amount
 if all cell sizes, transmit powers, and coverage patterns are
almost the same → co-channel interference is independent of
Tx power
 no improvement

✓ 2) Physically separate: co-channel cells by some minimum

distance to provide sufficient isolation due to propagation of
radio signals?
✓ but if you increase the distance between co-channel cells (D),
you also need to increase cell radius (R) to maintain the same
frequency reuse pattern
52
 Co-channel Reuse Ratio (Q)
 co-channel interference depends on:
◼ R : cell radius
◼ D : distance to base station of nearest co-channel cell
✓ if (D / R) ↑ then spatial separation relative to cell coverage area ↑
◼ improved isolation from co-channel R Cluster
RF energy and reduces CCI
 Q=D/R: F7 F2
co-channel reuse ratio for hexagonal geometry
F6 F1
F1 F3
(i,j) N 𝑸
𝐷 F5 F4 F7 F2
𝑄= = 3𝑁 (1,1) 3 3
𝑅
(1,2) 7 4.58 F6 F1
F1 F3
(2,2) 12 6
F5 F4
(1,3) 13 6.24

53
 Quality vs. Capacity

 Fundamental tradeoff in cellular system design:

◼ 𝑄 = 𝐷/𝑅 = 3𝑁

✓ small 𝑄 = 3𝑁 → small cluster size (N)→ more frequency reuse

→ larger system capacity (𝐶) → GREAT

✓ large 𝑄 = 𝐷/𝑅 → large cell separation (D/R)→ decreased co-channel

interference (CCI) → improved transmission quality → GREAT

◼ Tradeoff: Capacity vs. Voice Quality

The higher the capacity for a given geographic area, the poorer the
quality and vice-versa. (makes sense!!)
54