Wireless Communication and

Mobile Computing

The Cellular Concept

Ref Book:
Chapter 2, Wireless Communications by Theodore S. Rappaport, and
Chapter 5, Cellular Concept, Introduction to Wireless and Mobile Systems, DP Agarwal
 Cellular Concept
• The cellular concept is a system-level idea which calls for replacing a single,
high power transmitter(large cell) with many low power transmitters(small
cells).
• Each providing coverage to only a small portion of the service area.

• Each base station is allocated a

portion of the total number of the
channels available to the entire
system, and nearby base stations are
assigned different groups of
channels.

• Neighboring base stations are

assigned different groups of
channels so that the interference
between base stations is minimized.
 What is Cell
• Cell
- a small geographical area with a group of radio channels allocated to it.
- served by a single base station or a cluster of base stations.

Areas divided into cells

• Each served by its own antenna

• Served by base station consisting of transmitter, receiver, and control

unit

• Band of frequencies allocated

• Cells set up such that antennas of all neighbors are equidistant

 Frequency Reuse
• base station antennas are designed to achieve the desired coverage within
the cell.

• Limiting the coverage area to within the boundary of the cell, the same
group of channels may be used to cover different cells that are separated
from one another by a distance large enough to keep interference levels
within tolerable limits.

• the design process of selecting and allocating channel groups for all of the
cellular base stations within the system - frequency reuse.
Coverage
Patterns
 Frequency Reuse:Cell shape
• The hexagonal cell shape is conceptual and is a simplistic model of the
radio coverage since the hexagon permits easy and manageable analysis of
a cellular system.
• The actual coverage of the cell is known as the footprint and is determined
by measurement or propagation prediction models.
• Choose a circle to represent the coverage are of the base station, adjacent
circle cannot be overlaid upon a map without leaving gaps or creating
overlapping region.
• Three choice of shape which cover an entire region and with equal area: a
square, an equilateral triangle and a hexagon.
• A cell must be designed to serve the weakest mobile within the footprint
and these are typically located at the edge of the cell.
• For a given distance between the center of the a polygon and its farthest
perimeter points, the hexagon has the largest area of the three and closely
approximately a circular radiation pattern.
Coverage Patterns
Illustration of the concept of cellular frequency
reuse
 Frequency Reuse: mathematical
• Consider a cellular system which has a total of S duplex channels available
for use.

• If each cell is allocated a group of k channels (k<S) and if the S channels

are divided among N cells into unique and disjoint channel groups which
each have the same number of channels.

• The total number of the available radio channels can be expressed as

S = kN
 Frequency Reuse: mathematical
• The N cells which collectively use the complete set of the available
frequencies is called cluster.

• If the cluster is replicated M times, the total number of duplex channels, C

can be used as a measure of capacity as

C = MkN = MS

The capacity of a cellular system is directly proportional to the

number of times a cluster is replicated in a fixed service area.
 Frequency Reuse: mathematical
• The factor N is called cluster size and typically equal to 4, 7 and 12.
• If the cluster size N is reduced while the cell size is kept constant, more
clusters are required to cover a given area. Hence more capacity is
achieved.
• Large cluster size indicate that the ratio between the cell radius and
distance between co-channels is small.
• Conversely, small cluster size indicates that co-channel cells are located
much closer together.
• The value of N is a function of how much interference a mobile or base
station can tolerate.
• The small possible value of N desirable in order to maximize capacity over
a given area.
Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular
system
19-cell reuse example (N=19, i=3, j =2)

• To find the nearest co-channel neighboring of a

particular cell, on must do the following:

(1)Move i cells along any chain of hexagon and

then

(2) turn 60 degree counter-clockwise and move j

cells.
3-cell reuse pattern (i=1,j=1)
4-cell reuse pattern (i=2,j=0)
7-cell reuse pattern (i=2,j=1)
12-cell reuse pattern (i=2,j=2)
19-cell reuse pattern (i=3,j=2)
You can also refer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUqu7ryRr4
Time: 3:06
Geometry of Hexagons (Cont’d)
• D = minimum distance between centers of cells
that use the same band of frequencies (called co-
channels)
• R = radius of a cell
d = distance between centers of adjacent cells (d =
R√3)
• N = number of cells in repetitious pattern
(Cluster) Reuse factor
• Each cell in pattern uses unique band of
frequencies
Relationship between Q and N
Cell Clusters
Reuse coordinates Number of Normalised
cells in re- reuse
use pattern distance
i j N SQRT(N)
1 0 1 1
1 1 3 1.732
1 2 7 2.646
2 2 12 3.464
1 3 13 3.606
2 3 19 4.359
1 4 21 4.583

since D = SQRT(N)
Co–channel Cell Location

◼ Method of locating co–channel cells

◼ Example for N=19, i=3, j=2
If a total of 33 MHz of bandwidth is allocated to a particular FDD(Frequency
Division Duplex) cellular telephone system which uses two 25 kHz simplex
channels to provide full duplex voice and control channels, compute the
number of channels available per cell if a system uses
(a) 4-cell reuse (b) 7-cell reuse and (c) 12-cell reuse.
If a total of 33 MHz of bandwidth is allocated to a particular FDD(Frequency
Division Duplex) cellular telephone system which uses two 25 kHz simplex
channels to provide full duplex voice and control channels, compute the
number of channels available per cell if a system uses
(a) 4-cell reuse (b) 7-cell reuse and (c) 12-cell reuse.

Total bandwidth = 33 MHz

Channel bandwidth = 25 kHz * 2 simplex channels = 50 kHz / duplex channel
Total available channels = 33,000/50 = 660 channels
(a) For N=4
total number of channel per cell = 660/4 ≈ 165 channels.
(b) For N=7
total number of channel per cell = 660/7 ≈ 95 channels.
(c) For N=12
total number of channel per cell = 660/12 ≈ 55 channels.
If 1 MHz of the allocated spectrum is dedicated to control channels, determine an equitable
distribution of control channel and voice channels in each cell for each of the three system
If 1 MHz of the allocated spectrum is dedicated to control channels, determine an equitable
distribution of control channel and voice channels in each cell for each of the three system

Total no. of control channels (from 1 MHz spectrum) = 1000/50 = 20 control channels out of the 660 channels.
The 660 channels must be evenly distributed to each cell within the cluster. In practice, only the 640 voice
channels would be allocated, since the control channels are allocated separately as 1 per cell.
(a) N = 4, we can use 5 control channels and 160 voice channels per cell. But in practice, each cell needs 1
control channel, so 1 control channel and 160 voice channel per cell.

(b) N = 7, 4-cells with 3 control channel and 92 voice channels, 2-cells with 3 control channels and 90 voice
channel and 1-cell with 2 control channel and 92 voice channel, how ever in practice, each cell would have 1-
control channel, so 2-cells would have 91 voice channel and 3-cells would have 92 voice channels.

(c) N = 12, we can have 8-cells with 2 control channel and 53 voice channel and 4-cells with 1 control channel
and 54 voice channels. how ever in practice, each cell would have 1-control channel, so 8-cells with 53 voice
channels and 4-cells with 54 voice channels.
 Channel Assignment
• The objectives of increasing capacity and minimizing interference
• Two type of channel assignment schemes :

Fixed channel assignment

• Each cell is allocated a predetermined set of voice channels.

• Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused channels
in that particular cell.
• If all channels in that cell are occupied, the call is blocked.
• In Borrowing scheme, a cell is allowed to borrow channel from
neighboring cell. The mobile switching center(MSC) supervise such
borrowing procedures.
 Channel Assignment
Dynamic channel assignment
• Voice channel are not allocated to different cells permanently.
• Each time a call request is made, the serving base station requests a
channel from the MSC.
• The MSC then allocates a channel to the requested cell following an
algorithm that takes into account
– the likelihood of future blocking within the cell,
– the frequency of the use(the reuse distance of the channel) etc.

• The MSC allocates a given frequency if that frequency is not presently in

use in the cell or any other cell which falls within the minimum restricted
distance of frequency reuse.
 Channel Assignment
Dynamic channel assignment
• It requires MSC to collect real-time data on channel occupancy, traffic
distribution and RSSI of all channels.
• This increases storage and computaional load on the system
• However, it provides increase channel utilization and decreased call blocking.
 Handoff Strategies
• Definition: A mobile user moves to a different cell while conversation is in
progress, MSC transfers the call to a new BS.
– Identify new BS
– New Voice and control channels to be allocated
– Hand-off Procedure Animation
 Handoff Strategies

– Handoff must be performed:

• Successfully
• Infrequently
• To achieve this, designers must specify optimum signal level at which
handoff initiates.
•Once a signal level is specified as minimum usable for acceptable voice
quality, handoff is done.
 Handoff Strategies

• In practice, a slightly stronger signal level is used as a threshold.

• Normally taken between -90 dBm and -100 dBm.
• The margin ∆= 𝑃𝑟(ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑓𝑓_𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑) − 𝑃𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛 can not be too large or too
small.
• If ∆ is too large, unnecessary handoff, burden on MSC.
• If ∆ is too small, insuffiecient time to complete a handoff before a call is
lost due to weak signal.
• ∆ should be chosen carefully to meet conflicting requirements.
Handoff Strategies
 Handoff Strategies

• Call Drops
– Excessive delay by MSC due to high load
– ∆ is set too small for handoff time
– No channels are available on any of nearby BS.
• When to handoff:
• Mobile is actually moving away from serving BS.
• To ensure this:
• BS monitors the signal level for certain period of time.
• The period depend depends on the vehicle speed.
➢ If pedesrian, then monitoring for long time.
➢ If vehicle, then monitoring for short time.
• If slope of average received signal level is steep, handoff is made quickly.
 Types of Handoffs
classified into two categories:
– Hard handoff
– Soft handoff

Hard handoff :
– essentially a “break before make” connection.
– one in which the channel in the source cell is released and only then the
channel in the target cell is engaged.
– Thus the connection to the source is broken before or 'as' the
connection to the target is made
– Hard handoff is primarily used in FDMA and TDMA
 Types of Handoffs
Soft Handoff:
– a mechanism in which the device gets connected with two or more base
stations at the same time.
– At least one of the links is kept when radio signals are added or
removed to the Base Station.
– Soft Handoff adopted the ‘make before break’ policy.
– This technique is a form of mobile-assisted handover, for IS-
95/CDMA2000 CDMA cell phones continuously make power
measurements of a list of neighbouring cell sites,
– and determine whether or not to request or end soft handover with the
cell sectors on the list.
 Handoff Strategies
Handover can also be classified on the basis of handover techniques used. Broadly they

can be classified into three types:

• Network controlled handover

• Mobile phone assisted handover

• Mobile controlled handover

 Network-controlled Handoff
• used in the generation of analog cellular system (1G)
• signal strength measurements are made by the base stations and
supervised by the MSC.
• Each BS constantly monitors the signal strength of all its reverse channels
to determine relative location of each mobile user.
• locator receiver (a spare receiver) is used to scan and determine signal
strengths of mobile users which are in neighboring cells
• locator receiver is controlled by MSC and measure the strength of mobile
users in neighboring cells which appears to in need of handoff and reports
all RSSI values to the MSC.
• Based on the locator receiver signal strength information from each base
station, the MSC decides if a handoff is necessary or not.
 Mobile Phone Assisted Handoff
Used in Second generation system (2G)
• handoff decisions are mobile assisted.
– every mobile station measures the received power from surrounding
base stations.
– reports the results of these measurement to the serving base station.
– handoff initiated when the received power from the base station of the
neighboring cell begin exceed the power received from the current base
station by a certain level or for a certain period of time.
– The MS makes measurements and the network makes the decision.
• The MAHO method enables the call to be handled over between base
stations at a much faster rate than in first generation analog system since
handoff measurements are made by each mobile station.
• MSC no longer constantly monitors RSSI.
• More suitable for microcellular where HO is frequent.
 Mobile Phone Assisted Handoff
• Control Authority: network infrastructure, including base stations and
possibly a central controller, has a significant role in managing and
coordinating the handoff process.
• Advantages: allows for more centralized control, which can lead to better
optimization of network resources and improved coordination between
base stations.
 Mobile Controlled Handoff
• each MS is completely in control of the handoff process.
• This type of handoff has a short reaction time (on the order of 0.1 second).
• MS measures the signal strengths from surrounding BSs and interference
levels on all channels.
• A handoff can be initiated if the signal strength of the serving BS is lower
than that of another BS by a certain threshold

• Control Authority: The control and execution of the handoff process are
mostly managed by the mobile device.
• Advantages: Mobile-controlled handoff can be quicker in responding to
changes in signal conditions, as the decision-making process is
decentralized.
 Intersystem handoff
• If a mobile moves from one cellular system to a different system controlled
by a different MSC, an intersystem handoff becomes necessary.
• an intersystem handoff is triggered when a mobile signal becomes weak in
a given cell and the MSC cannot find another cell within its system to
which it can transfer the call in progress
• Issues to be addressed:
– A local call becomes a long distance call(Roaming)
– Compatibility between two MSCs must be determined
– different systems have different policies and methods for managing handoff
requests.
 Prioritizing handoff
– Different systems have different policies and methods for managing
handoff requests.
– Some systems handle handoff requests in the same way they handle
originating calls.
– from the user's point of view, Call termination in middle of conversation is
more annoying than being blocked on a new call attempt.
– To improve the quality of service as perceived by the users, various
methods have been devised to prioritize handoff requests over call initiation
requests when allocating voice channels.

– Two methods of handoff prioritizing:

• Guard Channel Concept
• Queueing of handoff requests
Guard Channel Concept:
• A fraction of available channels is reserved exclusively for handoff
requests.
• disadvantage: total carried traffic is reduced, as fewer channels are
allocated to originating calls

Queueing of handoff requests:

• Another method to decrease probability of forced termination due to lack of
available channels.
• Tradeoff between decrease in probability of forced termination and total
carried traffic.
• Possible due to time interval elapsed when the signal level drops below to
threshold and the time the call is terminated due to insufficient signal level.
• The delay time and queue size are determined from the traffic pattern of
the particular service area.
• Queueing does not guarantee zero probability of call termination since a a
large delay will cause the signal level to drop.
 Practical Handoff considerations

• Several problems arise to design a system for a wide range of mobile

velocities.
• High-speed vehicles pass through a cell in a matter of seconds.
• whereas pedestrian users may never need a handoff during a call
• Particularly with the addition of microcells to provide capacity, the MSC can
quickly become burdened if high-speed users are constantly being passed between
very small cells.
• Several Schemes are proposed to handle high-speed and low-speed users
simultaneously.
•Install additional channel and BS at the same location of an existing cell
(umbrella cell approach)
 The Umbrella Cell Approach
• possible to provide “large” and “small” cells which are co-located at a single
location by using different antenna heights and different power levels.
• This technique is called the umbrella cell approach and is used to provide
large area coverage to high-speed users while providing small area coverage
to users travelling at low speeds.
• This approach ensures that the number of
handoff is minimized for high-speed users.
• Speed of the each user may be estimated by
the base station or MSC to evaluate how rapidly
RSSI changes over time.
• If a high-speed user in the large umbrella cell is approaching the base
station, and its velocity is rapidly decreasing, the base station may decide to
hand the user into the co-located microcell, without MSC intervention.
 Cell Dragging Problem
• Another practical handoff problem in microcell systems
• Results from pedestrian users provide a very strong signal to the base
station.
• Occurs in an urban environment when there is an LOS path between the
subscriber and the base station.
• As the user moves away from the base station at a very slow speed, the
Average signal strength does not decay rapidly.
• Even when the user has travelled well beyond the desired range of the
cell, the RSSI may be above the handoff threshold and thus handoff is not
made.
• This creates potential interference since a user has travelled deep within a
neighbouring cell.
• This problem can solved by adjusting handoff threshold and radio
coverage parameters carefully.
 Hand-off Process
• In 1G,
– typical time to make handoff when the signal drops below the threshold
is 10 sec.
– this requires that the value ∆ be on the order of 6 dB to 12 dB.
• In 2G such as GSM,
• MAHO determines the best handoff candidate and requires only 1 or 2
seconds.
• ∆ is usually between 0 dB and 6 dB in modern cellular systems
• The faster handoff process supports a much greater range of options for
handling high-speed and low-speed users.
• Also, provides the MSC with substantial time to "rescue" a call that
requires handoff.
 Hand-off Process
• Another feature of newer cellular systems - ability to make handoff
decisions based on a wide range of metrics other than signal strength.
• cochannel and adjacent channel interference levels may be measured at the
base station or the mobile, and this information may be used with
conventional signal strength data to provide a multi-dimensional algorithm
for determining when a handoff is needed.
 Hand-off Process
• CDMA Spread spectrum cellular System provides a unique handoff capability that
cannot be provided with other wireless systems.
• Unlike channelized wireless systems that assign different radio channels during a
handoff (called a hard handoff), spread spectrum mobiles share the same channel in
every cell.
• Thus, the term handoff does not mean a physical change in the assigned channel,
but rather that a different base station handles the radio communication task.
• By simultaneously evaluating the received signals from a single subscriber at
several neighbouring base stations, the MSC may actually decide which version of
the user's signal is best at any moment in time.
• This technique exploits macroscopic space diversity provided by the different
physical locations of the base stations.
• allows the MSC to make a "soft" decision as to which version of the user's signal to
pass along to the PSTN at any instance.
• ability to select between the instantaneous received signals from a variety of base
stations is called soft handoff
 Situations for triggering Handoff (Self
Study)
• If a subscriber who is in a call or a data session moves out of coverage of
one cell and enters the coverage area of another cell, a handoff is triggered
for a continuum of service. The tasks that were being performed by the first
cell are delineated by the latter cell.

• Each cell has a pre-defined capacity, i.e. it can handle only a specific
number of subscribers. If the number of users using a particular cell reaches
its maximum capacity, then a handoff occurs. Some of the calls are
transferred to adjoining cells, provided that the subscriber is in the
overlapping coverage area of both cells.
 Situations for triggering Handoff (Self
Study)

• Cells are often subdivided into microcells. A handoff may occur when there
is a transfer of duties from the large cell to the smaller cell and vice versa.
For example, a travelling user is moving within the jurisdiction of a large
cell. If the traveller stops, then the jurisdiction is transferred to a microcell
to relieve the load on the large cell.

• Handoffs may also occur when there is an interference of calls using the
same frequency for communication.
 Interference
• major limiting factor in the performance of cellular radio systems.
• A mobile can receive an unwanted signal from another mobile in the same
cell, a call in progress in a neighbouring cell, or another base station
operating in the same frequency band.
• Interference on voice channels causes cross-talk, where the subscriber hears
interference in the background due to an undesired transmission.
• On control channels, interference leads to missed and blocked calls due to
errors in the digital signalling.
• Interference is more severe in urban areas, due to the greater RF noise
floor, and a large number of base stations and mobiles.
• Interference has been recognized as a major bottleneck in increasing
capacity and is often responsible for dropped calls.
• Two types of interference
– Co-channel interference
– Adjacent channel interference.
 Co-channel Interference
• The cells that use the same set of frequencies in a given coverage area are
called co-channel cells.

• The interference between signals from co-channel cells is called co-

channel interference.
• Unlike thermal noise which can be overcome by increasing the signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR), co-channel interference cannot be combated by simply
increasing the carrier power of a transmitter
• because an increase in carrier transmits power increases the interference to
neighbouring co-channel cells.

• To reduce the co-channel interference, the co-channel must be physically

separated by a minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due to
propagation.
 Co-channel Interference and system capacity
• Let i0 be the number of co-channel interfering cells. The signal-to-
interference ratio (S/I) for a mobile receiver which monitor the forward
channel can expressed as

• Where S is the desired signal power from the base station and Ii is the
interference power caused by the ith interfering co-channel cell base
station.
 Co-channel Interference and system capacity
• The average received power Pr at distance d from the transmitting
antenna is given by
 Co-channel Interference and system capacity
• From equation (2) and (3) , the S/I for mobile can be written as
 Co-channel Interference and system capacity
• When the size of each cell is approximately the same, and the base stations transmit
the same power,
The co-channel interference ratio is independent of the transmitted power.
– it is a function of the radius of the cell(R) and the distance between centers of
the nearest co-channel (D).
• We have seen by using hexagonal geometry, The co-channel reuse ratio Q is related
to cluster size N as

• Small vale of Q provide larger capacity since the cluster size is small
where as large value of Q improves the transmission quality due to a
smaller level of co-channel interference.
Co-channel Interference and system capacity
Co-channel Interference and system capacity
Co-Channel Interferance Derivation
(Hand-written)
 Co-channel Interference and
system capacity
• For N=7, the co-channel reuse ratio Q is 4.6 and the worst case
S/I is approximated as 49.56 (17 dB) using equation (8) where
as exact solution by equation (5) is 17.8.
• Hence for 7-cell cluster, the S/I ratio slightly less than 18 dB for
the worst case.

• To design a cellular system for proper performance in the worst

case, it would be necessary to increase the next largest size
that is 12 ( i=i=2).
If a signal-to-interference ratio of 15dB is required for satisfactory forward channel
performance of a cellular system, what is the frequency reuse factor and cluster size
that should be used for maximum capacity if the path loss exponent is (a) n = 4, (b)
n=3 ? Assume that there are six co-channel cells in the fist tier, and all of them are at
the same distance from the mobile. Use suitable approximations.
 Adjacent Channel Interference
• Interference resulting from signal which are adjacent in frequency to the desired
signal is called adjacent channel interference.
• It is results from imperfect receiver filter which allow nearby frequency to leak into
the passband.

• By keeping the frequency separation between each channel in a given cell as large
as possible, the adjacent channel interference can be reduce.

• If the frequency reuse factor is large, the separation between channel at the base
station may not be sufficient to keep the adjacent channel interference level within
tolerable limits.
 Improving capacity in cellular
Systems
There are many techniques that have been proposed to reduce interference:
1. Cell Splitting
2. Cell Sectoring
 Cell Splitting
• Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell into smaller cells, each
with its own base station and a corresponding reduction in antenna height and
transmitter power.

• Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system since it increases the
number of times that channels are reused.

• Cell splitting allows a system to grow by replacing

large cells with smaller cells, while not upsetting the
channel allocation scheme required to maintain the
minimum co-channel reuse ratio Q between
co-channel cells.

• New G base station was placed half ways between

two larger stations G utilizing same set of channel
to preserve frequency reuse plan
 Cell Splitting
• If the radius of new cells are R/2, R is the radius of the original cells.
• The transmit power of the new cells can be reduce to preserve the
frequency reuse plan can be calculated as

• Pr is the receive power at the cell boundary.

𝑃𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 ∝ 𝑃𝑡1 𝑅−𝑛

and

−𝑛
𝑃𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦 ∝ 𝑃𝑡2 𝑅/2

Where Pt1 and Pt2 are the transmit powers of larger and smaller cell stations and
n is the pathloss exponent. If n=4

Pt2 = Pt1 / 16
The transmit power must be reduced by 12 dB = 10 log(16) in order to fill in the
original coverage area with microcells, while maintaining the S/I requirements
In the figure, Assume each base station uses 60 channels, regardless of cell size. If each original
cell has a radius of 1 km and each microcells has a radius of 0.5 km. finds the number of channels
contained in a 3 km by 3 km square centered around base station A under the following
conditions:
(a) without use of microcells (b) the lettered microcells as shown figure are used (c) if all the
original base stations are replaced by microcells.
Assume cells on the edge of the square to be contained within the square.

(a) 5 base stations are covered in 3 km by 3 km area. Since radius

of cell is 1 km. We need to cover 1.5 km towards the right,
left, top and bottom of A. so the total number of channel = 5
x 60 = 300 channels.
(b) base station A is surrounded by six microcells . Therefore
total no of base stations in the square area under study equal
to 5 + 6 = 11. so total no of channels = 11 x 60 = 660 channels.
(c) There are total 17 base stations. Total no of channels = 17 x
60 = 1020 channel.

There is 3.4 times increase in capacity compared to case (a).

 Cell Sectoring
• Cell splitting achieves capacity improvement by essentially rescaling the system.
By decreasing the cell radius R and keeping the co-channel reuse ratio D/R
unchanged, cell splitting increases the number of' channels per unit area.
• another way to increase capacity is to keep the cell radius unchanged and seek
methods to decrease the D/R ratio.
• The technique for decreasing co-channel interference and thus increasing system
performance by using directional antennas is called sectoring.
• By using directional antennas, a given cell will receive interference and transmit
with only a fraction of the available co-channel cells.
• A cell normally portioned into three 120 degree sectors or 60 degree sectors.
 Sectoring
• Assuming 7-cells reuse, for 120o, the number of interferers in the first tire is reduced
from 6 to 2. this is because only 2 of the 6 co-channels cells receive interference
with a particular sectored channel group.
• Sectoring improves S/I.
• It increases the number of handoffs.
 Sectoring
• advantages of sectoring are that it requires coverage of a smaller area by each antenna and hence lower power is required in
transmitting radio signals.
• It also helps in decreasing interference between co-channels. It is also observed that the spectrum efficiency of the overall
system is enhanced.

• The co-channel interference for cells using directional antennas can also be computed. The worst case for the three-sector
directional antenna.