Chapter 2

The Cellular Concept

 Introduction to Cellular Systems
Solves the problem of spectral congestion and user capacity.
Offer very high capacity in a limited spectrum.

Consists of many low power transmitter each providing coverage to

only a small portion of service area.

Near by base station are assigned different groups of channels, so that

the interference between base station is minimized.

Reuse of radio channel in different cells.

 2.2 Frequency Reuse
Each cellular base station is allocated a group of radio channels within
a small geographic area called a cell.

Neighboring cells are assigned different channel groups.

Base station antennas are designed to achieve the desired coverage

within the particular cell.
 2.2 Frequency Reuse
The design process of selecting and allocating channel groups for all
the cellular channel groups for all the cellular base station within a
system is called frequency reuse or frequency planning.

Hexagonal cell shape has been universally adopted for easy analysis of
cellular system.

The actual radio coverage of a cell is known as footprint.

 2.2 Frequency Reuse
Base station transmitters are placed at
(i) centre of the cell Centre excited cells
(ii) On three of the six cell vertices Edge or Corner excited cells

For centre excited cell Omnidirectional antennas are used

For Corner excited cell Sectored directional antenna are used.
 Consider a cellular system which has a total of S duplex channels.
Each cell is allocated a group of k channels, k S .
The S channels are divided among N cells.
The total number of available radio channels
S kN
The N cells which use the complete set of channels is called cluster.
The cluster can be repeated M times within the system. The total
number of channels, C, is used as a measure of capacity
C MkN MS
The capacity is directly proportional to the number of replication M.
The cluster size, N, is typically equal to 4, 7, or 12.
Small N is desirable to maximize capacity.
The frequency reuse factor is given by 1 / N
 Hexagonal geometry has
exactly six equidistance neighbors
the lines joining the centers of any cell and each of its neighbors are
separated by multiples of 60 degrees.
Only certain cluster sizes and cell layout are possible.
The number of cells per cluster, N, can only have values which satisfy
N i 2 ij j 2

Co-channel neighbors of a particular cell, ex, i=3 and j=2.

 2.3 Channel Assignment Strategies
Frequency reuse scheme
increases capacity
minimize interference
Channel assignment strategy
fixed channel assignment
dynamic channel assignment
Fixed channel assignment
each cell is allocated a predetermined set of voice channel
any new call attempt can only be served by the unused channels
the call will be blocked if all channels in that cell are occupied
Dynamic channel assignment
channels are not allocated to cells permanently.
allocate channels based on request.
reduce the likelihood of blocking, increase capacity.
 2.4 Handoff Strategies
When a mobile moves into a different cell while a conversation is in
progress, the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new channel
belonging to the new base station.
Handoff operation
identifying a new base station
re-allocating the voice and control channels with the new base station.
Handoff Threshold
Minimum usable signal for acceptable voice quality (-90dBm to
-100dBm) Pr ,handoff Pr ,minimum usable
Handoff margin cannot be too large or too
small.

If is too large, unnecessary handoffs burden the MSC
If is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete handoff
before a call is lost.
 Handoff must ensure that the drop in the measured signal is not due to
momentary fading and that the mobile is actually moving away from
the serving base station.
Running average measurement of signal strength should be optimized
so that unnecessary handoffs are avoided.
Depends on the speed at which the vehicle is moving.
Steep short term average -> the hand off should be made quickly
The speed can be estimated from the statistics of the received short-term
fading signal at the base station
Dwell time: the time over which a call may be maintained within a cell
without handoff.
Dwell time depends on
propagation
interference
distance
speed
 Handoff measurement
In first generation analog cellular systems, signal strength measurements
are made by the base station and supervised by the MSC.
In second generation systems (TDMA), handoff decisions are mobile
assisted, called mobile assisted handoff (MAHO)
Intersystem handoff: If a mobile moves from one cellular system to a
different cellular system controlled by a different MSC.
Handoff requests is much important than handling a new call.
 Practical Handoff Consideration

Different type of users

High speed users need frequent handoff during a call.
Low speed users may never need a handoff during a call.
Microcells to provide capacity, the MSC can become burdened if high
speed users are constantly being passed between very small cells.
Minimize handoff intervention
handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed and low speed users.
Large and small cells can be located at a single location (umbrella cell)
different antenna height
different power level
Cell dragging problem: pedestrian users provide a very strong signal
to the base station
The user may travel deep within a neighboring cell
 Handoff for first generation analog cellular systems
10 secs handoff time
is in the order of 6 dB to 12 dB
Handoff for second generation cellular systems, e.g., GSM
1 to 2 seconds handoff time
mobile assists handoff
is in the order of 0 dB to 6 dB
Handoff decisions based on signal strength, co-channel interference, and
adjacent channel interference.
IS-95 CDMA spread spectrum cellular system
Mobiles share the channel in every cell.
No physical change of channel during handoff
MSC decides the base station with the best receiving signal as the service
station

 2.5 Interference and System Capacity

Sources of interference
another mobile in the same cell
a call in progress in the neighboring cell
other base stations operating in the same frequency band
noncellular system leaks energy into the cellular frequency band
Two major cellular interference
co-channel interference
adjacent channel interference
 2.5.1 Co-channel Interference and System
Capacity
Frequency reuse - there are several cells that use the same set of
frequencies
co-channel cells
co-channel interference
To reduce co-channel interference, co-channel cell must be separated
by a minimum distance.
When the size of the cell is approximately the same
co-channel interference is independent of the transmitted power
co-channel interference is a function of
R: Radius of the cell
D: distance to the center of the nearest co-channel cell
Increasing the ratio Q=D/R, the interference is reduced.
Q is called the co-channel reuse ratio
 For a hexagonal geometry
D
Q 3N
R

A small value of Q provides large capacity

A large value of Q improves the transmission quality - smaller level of
co-channel interference
A tradeoff must be made between these two objectives
 Let i0 be the number of co-channel interfering cells. The signal-to-
interference ratio (SIR) for a mobile receiver can be expressed as
S S
i0
I
I
i 1
i

S: the desired signal power

I i : interference power caused by the ith interfering co-channel cell
base station
The average received power at a distance d from the transmitting
antenna is approximated by
n
d close-in reference point
Pr P0
d0 d0
or
d P0 :measued power

Pr (dBm) P0 (dBm) 10n log TX

d0
n is the path loss exponent which ranges between 2 and 4.
 When the transmission power of each base station is equal, SIR for a
mobile can be approximated as
S Rn
i0
I
i
D
i 1
n

Consider only the first layer of interfering cells

S ( D / R)n

3N n

i0 6
I i0 i0

Example: AMPS requires that SIR be

greater than 18dB
N should be at least 6.49 for n=4.
Minimum cluster size is 7
 For hexagonal geometry with 7-cell cluster, with the mobile unit being
at the cell boundary, the signal-to-interference ratio for the worst case
can be approximated as

S R 4

I 2( D R ) 4 ( D R / 2 ) 4 ( D R / 2 ) 4 ( D R ) 4 D 4
 2.5.2 Adjacent Channel Interference
Adjacent channel interference: interference from adjacent in frequency
to the desired signal.
Imperfect receiver filters allow nearby frequencies to leak into the
passband
Performance degrade seriously due to near-far effect.
receiving filter
response

signal on adjacent channel signal on adjacent channel

desired signal

FILTER
interference
interference desired signal
 Adjacent channel interference can be minimized through careful
filtering and channel assignment.
Keep the frequency separation between each channel in a given cell as
large as possible
A channel separation greater than six is needed to bring the adjacent
channel interference to an acceptable level.
 2.5.3 Power Control for Reducing
Interference
Ensure each mobile transmits the smallest power necessary to
maintain a good quality link on the reverse channel
long battery life
increase SIR
solve the near-far problem
 2.6 Trunking and Grade of Service
Erlangs: One Erlangs represents the amount of traffic density carried
by a channel that is completely occupied.
Ex: A radio channel that is occupied for 30 minutes during an hour carries
0.5 Erlangs of traffic.
Grade of Service (GOS): The likelihood that a call is blocked.
Each user generates a traffic intensity of Au Erlangs given by
Au H
H: average duration of a call.
: average number of call requests per unit time
For a system containing U users and an unspecified number of
channels, the total offered traffic intensity A, is given by
A UAu
For C channel trunking system, the traffic intensity, Ac is given as
Ac UAu / C
2.7 Improving Capacity in Cellular Systems
Methods for improving capacity in cellular systems
Cell Splitting: subdividing a congested cell into smaller cells.
Sectoring: directional antennas to control the interference and frequency
reuse.
Coverage zone : Distributing the coverage of a cell and extends the cell
boundary to hard-to-reach place.
 2.7.1 Cell Splitting
Split congested cell into smaller cells.
Preserve frequency reuse plan.
Reduce transmission power.

Reduce R to R/2
microcell
Illustration of cell splitting within a 3 km by 3 km square
 Transmission power reduction from Pt1 to Pt 2
Examining the receiving power at the new and old cell boundary
Pr [at old cell boundary ] Pt1R n
Pr [at new cell boundary ] Pt 2 ( R / 2) n

If we take n = 4 and set the received power equal to each other

Pt1
Pt 2
16
The transmit power must be reduced by 12 dB in order to fill in the
original coverage area.
Problem: if only part of the cells are splited
Different cell sizes will exist simultaneously
Handoff issues - high speed and low speed traffic can be
simultaneously accommodated
 2.7.2 Sectoring
Decrease the co-channel interference and keep the cell radius R
unchanged
Replacing single omni-directional antenna by several directional antennas
Radiating within a specified sector
 Interference Reduction

position of the
mobile

interference cells
 2.7.3 Microcell Zone Concept
Antennas are placed at the outer edges of the cell
Any channel may be assigned to any zone by the base station
Mobile is served by the zone with the strongest signal.

Handoff within a cell

No channel re-
assignment
Switch the channel to a
different zone site
Reduce interference
Low power transmitters
are employed