Yacoub, M.D.

Cell Design Principles

Mobile Communications Handbook
Ed. Suthan S. Suthersan
Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 1999
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
Cell Design Principles
Michel Daoud Yacoub
University of Campinas
21.1 Introduction
21.2 Cellular Principles
21.3 PerformanceMeasuresandSystemRequirements
21.4 SystemExpansionTechniques
21.5 BasicDesignSteps
21.6 TrafcEngineering
21.7 Cell Coverage
PropagationModel

BaseStationCoverage

ApplicationEx-
amples
21.8 Interference
Adjacent Channel Interference

Cochannel Interference
21.9 Conclusions
DeningTerms
References
Further Information
21.1 Introduction
Designingacellular networkisachallengingtaskthat invitesengineerstoexerciseall of their knowl-
edgein telecommunications. Although it maynot benecessaryto work asan expert in all of the
elds, theinterrelationshipamongtheareasinvolvedimpelsthedesigner to naturallysearchfor a
deeper understandingof themainphenomena. Inother words, thetimefor segregation, whenradio
engineersandtrafcengineerswouldnot talktoeachother, at least throughacommonvocabulary,
isprobablygone.
A great manyaspectsmust beconsideredinacellular networkplanning. Themainonesinclude
thefollowing.
RadioPropagation: Herethetopographyandthemorphologyof theterrain, theurban-
ization factor and theclutter factor of thecity, and someother aspectsof thetarget geographical
regionunder investigationwill constitutetheinput datafor theradiocoveragedesign.
FrequencyRegulationandPlanning: Inmost countriesthereisacentralizedorganization,
usuallyperformedbyagovernment entity, regulatingtheassignment anduseof theradiospectrum.
Thefrequencyplanningwithintheassignedspectrumshouldthenbemadesothat interferencesare
minimizedandthetrafcdemandissatised.
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Modulation: Asfarasanalogsystemsareconcerned,thenarrowbandFMiswidelyuseddue
toitsremarkableperformanceinthepresenceof fading. TheNorthAmericanDigital Cellular Stan-
dardIS-54proposesthe/4 differential quadraturephase-shift keying(/4 DQPSK) modulation,
whereastheGlobal Standardfor MobileCommunications(GSM) establishestheuseof theGaussian
minimum-shift keying(GMSK).
AntennaDesign: Tocover largeareasandfor low-trafcapplicationsomnidirectional an-
tennasarerecommended. Somesystemsat their inceptionmayhavethesecharacteristics, andthe
utilizationof omnidirectional antennascertainlykeepstheinitial investment low. Asthetrafcde-
mandincreases, theuseof somesort of capacityenhancement techniquetomeet thedemand, such
asreplacingtheomnidirectional bydirectional antennas, ismandatory.
TransmissionPlanning: Thestructureof thechannels, bothfor signallingandvoice, isone
oftheaspectstobeconsideredinthistopic. Otheraspectsincludetheperformanceofthetransmission
components(power capacity, noise, bandwidth, stability, etc.) and thedesign or specication of
transmittersandreceivers.
SwitchingExchange: Inmostcasesthisconsistsof adaptingtheexistingswitchingnetwork
for mobileradiocommunicationspurposes.
Teletrafc: For a given gradeof serviceand number of channels available, howmany
subscriberscanbeaccommodatedintothesystem? What istheproportionof voiceandsignalling
channels?
SoftwareDesign: Withtheuseofmicroprocessorsthroughoutthesystemtherearesoftware
applicationsinthemobileunit, inthebasestation, andintheswitchingexchange.
Other aspects, suchashumanfactors, economics, etc., will alsoinuencethedesign.
Thischapter outlinestheaspectsinvolvingthebasic design stepsin cellular network planning.
Topics, suchastrafcengineering, cell coverage, andinterference, will becovered, andapplication
exampleswill begiventhroughout thesectionsoastoillustratethemainideas. Westart byrecalling
thebasicconceptsincludingcellular principles, performancemeasuresandsystemrequirements, and
systemexpansiontechniques.
21.2 Cellular Principles
Thebasicideaof thecellularconceptisfrequencyreuseinwhichthesamesetof channelscanbereused
in different geographical locationssufcientlyapart fromeachother so that cochannel interference
bewithintolerablelimits. Theset of channelsavailableinthesystemisassignedtoagroupof cells
constitutingthecluster. Cellsareassumedtohavearegular hexagonal shapeandthenumber of cells
per cluster determinestherepeat pattern. Becauseof thehexagonal geometryonlycertain repeat
patternscantessellate. Thenumber N of cellsper cluster isgivenby
N = i
2
+ij +j
2
(21.1)
wherei andj areintegers. FromEq. (21.1) wenotethat theclusterscanaccommodateonlycertain
numbersof cellssuchas1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21, . . . , themost commonbeing4and7. The
number of cellsper cluster isintuitivelyrelated with systemcapacityaswell aswith transmission
quality. Thefewer cellsper cluster, thelarger thenumber of channelsper cell (higher trafccarrying
capacity) andthecloser thecocells(potentiallymorecochannel interference). Animportantparam-
eter of acellular layoutrelatingtheseentitiesistheD/R ratio, whereDisthedistancebetweencocells
andR isthecell radius. Inahexagonal geometryit isfoundthat
D/R =

3N (21.2)
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21.3 PerformanceMeasuresandSystemRequirements
Two parametersareintimatelyrelatedwiththegradeof serviceof thecellular systems: carrier-to-
cochannel interferenceratioandblockingprobability.
A high carrier-to-cochannel interferenceratio in connection with alow-blockingprobabilityis
thedesirablesituation. Thiscanbeaccomplished, for instance, inalargecluster withalow-trafc
condition. Insuchacasetherequiredgradeof servicecanbeachieved, althoughtheresourcesmay
not beefcientlyutilized. Therefore, ameasureof efciencyisof interest. Thespectrumefciency

s
expressedinerlangpersquaremeterperhertz, yieldsameasureof howefcientlyspace, frequency,
andtimeareused, andit isgivenby

s
=
number of reuses
coveragearea

number of channels
bandwidthavailable

timethechannel isbusy
total timeof thechannel
Another measureof interest isthetrunkingefciencyin which thenumber of subscribersper
channel isobtainedasafunctionof thenumber of channelsper cell for different valuesof blocking
probability. Asanexample, assumethat acell operateswith40channelsandthat themeanblocking
probabilityisrequiredtobe5%. Usingtheerlang-Bformula(refer totheTrafcEngineeringsection
ofthischapter),thetrafcofferediscalculatedas34.6erlang. Ifthetrafcpersubscriberisassumedto
be0.02erl, atotal of 34.6/0.02 = 1730 subscribersinthecell isfound. Inother words, thetrunking
efciencyis1730/40 = 43.25 subscribersper channel ina40-channel cell. Simplecalculationsshow
that thetrunkingefciencydecreasesrapidlywhenthenumber of channelsper cell fallsbelow20.
Thebasic specications requirecellular services to beoffered with a xed telephonenetwork
quality. Blockingprobabilityshouldbekept below2%. Asfor thetransmission aspect, theaimis
to providegoodqualityservicefor 90%of thetime. Transmission qualityconcernsthefollowing
parameters:
Signal-to-cochannel interference(S/I
c
) ratio
Carrier-to-cochannel interferenceratio(C/I
c
)
Signal plusnoiseplusdistortion-to-noiseplusdistortion(SINAD) ratio
Signal-to-noise(S/N) ratio
Adjacent channel interferenceselectivity(ACS)
TheS/I
c
is asubjectivemeasure, usually taken to bearound 17dB. ThecorrespondingC/I
c
dependson themodulation scheme. For instance, thisisaround 8dBfor 25-kHz FM, 12dBfor
12.5-kHzFM,and7dBforGMSK,buttherequirementsmayvaryfromsystemtosystem. Acommon
gurefor SINADis12dBfor 25-kHzFM. TheminimumS/N requirement is18dB, whereasACSis
speciedtobenolessthan70dB.
21.4 SystemExpansionTechniques
Theobviousandmost commonwayof permittingmoresubscribersintothenetworkisbyallowing
asystemperformancedegradationbut withinacceptablelevels. Thequestionishowtoobjectively
denewhatisacceptable. Ingeneral, thesubscribersaremorelikelytotolerateapoor qualityservice
rather thannot havingtheserviceat all. Somealternativeexpansiontechniques, however, doexist
that canbeappliedtoincreasethesystemcapacity. Themost widelyknownareasfollows.
AddingNewChannels: Ingeneral, whenthesystemisset upnot all of thechannelsneed
beused, andgrowthandexpansioncanbeplannedinanorderlymanner byutilizingthechannels
that arestill available.
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FrequencyBorrowing: Ifsomecellsbecomemoreoverloadedthanothers,itmaybepossible
toreallocatechannelsbytransferringfrequenciessothat thetrafcdemandcanbeaccommodated.
Changeof Cell Pattern: Smaller clusterscan beusedto allowmorechannelsto attenda
bigger trafcdemandat theexpenseof adegradationof thetransmissionquality.
Cell Splitting: Byreducingthesizeof thecells, morecellsper area, andconsequentlymore
channelsper area, areusedwithaconsequent increasein trafccapacity. A radiusreduction bya
factor of f reducesthecoverageareaandincreasesthenumber of basestationsbyafactor of f
2
. Cell
splittingusuallytakesplaceatthemidpointof thecongestedareasandissoplannedinorder thatthe
oldbasestationsarekept.
Sectorization: A cell is divided into anumber of sectors, threeand six beingthemost
commonarrangements, eachof whichisservedbyadifferent set of channelsandilluminatedbya
directional antenna. Thesector, therefore, can beconsideredasanewcell. Thebasestationscan
belocatedeither at thecenter or at thecorner of thecell. Thecellsin therst casearereferredto
ascenter-excitedcellsandinthesecondascorner-excitedcells. Directional antennascut downthe
cochannel interference, allowingthecocellsto bemorecloselyspaced. Closer cell spacingimplies
smaller D/R ratio, correspondingtosmaller clusters, i.e., higher capacity.
Channel AllocationAlgorithms: Theefcient useof channelsdeterminesthegoodperfor-
manceof thesystemand can beobtained bydifferent channel assignment techniques. Themost
widelyused algorithmisbased on xed allocation. Dynamic allocation strategiesmaygivebetter
performancebut areverydependent onthetrafcproleandareusuallydifcult toimplement.
21.5 Basic DesignSteps
Engineeringacellularsystemtomeettherequiredobjectivesisnotastraightforwardtask. Itdemands
agreatdeal of information, suchasmarketdemographics, areatobeserved, trafcoffered, andother
datanot usuallyavailableintheearlier stagesof systemdesign. Asthenetwork evolves, additional
statisticswill helpthesystemperformanceassessment andreplanning. Themainstepsinacellular
systemdesignareasfollows.
Denition of theServiceArea: In general, theresponsibility for this step of theproject
lies on theoperatingcompanies and constitutes atricky task, becauseit depends on themarket
demographicsand, consequently, onhowmuchthecompanyiswillingtoinvest.
Denitionof theTrafcProle: Asbefore, thisstepdependsonthemarket demographics
andisestimatedbytakingintoaccount thenumber of potential subscriberswithintheservicearea.
Choiceof ReusePattern: Giventhetrafcdistributionandtheinterferencerequirements
achoiceof thereusepatterniscarriedout.
LocationoftheBaseStations: Thelocationoftherstbasestationconstitutesanimportant
step. Asignicantparametertobetakenintoaccountinthisistherelevanceoftheregiontobeserved.
Thebasestation location ischosen so asto beat thecenter of or ascloseaspossibleto thetarget
region. Data, such asavailableinfrastructureand land, aswell aslocal regulationsaretaken into
consideration in this step. Thecell radius is dened as afunction of thetrafc distribution. In
urbanareas, wherethetrafcismoreheavilyconcentrated, smaller cellsarechosensoastoattend
thedemandwiththeavailablechannels. Insuburbanandinrural areas, theradiusischosentobe
largebecausethetrafcdemandtendstobesmall. Oncetheplacement of therst basestationhas
beendened, theotherswill beaccommodatedinaccordancewiththerepeat patternchosen.
RadioCoveragePrediction: Given thetopographyand themorphologyof theterrain, a
radiopredictionalgorithm,implementedinthecomputer,canbeusedtopredictthesignal strengthin
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
thegeographicregion. Analternativetothisreliesoneldmeasurementswiththeuseof appropriate
equipment. Therst optionisusuallylesscostlyandiswidelyused.
DesignCheckup: At thispoint it isnecessarytocheckwhether or not theparameterswith
whichthesystemhasbeen designedsatisfytherequirements. For instance, it maybenecessaryto
re-evaluatethebasestation location, theantennaheight, etc., so that better performancecan be
attained.
FieldMeasurements: For abetter tuningof theparametersinvolved, eldmeasurements
(radiosurvey) shouldbeincludedinthedesign. Thiscanbecarriedoutwithtransmittersandtowers
provisionallyset upat thelocationsinitiallydenedfor thebasestation.
Thecost assessment mayrequirethat aredesignof thesystemshouldbecarriedout.
21.6 Trafc Engineering
Thestartingpoint for engineeringthetrafcistheknowledgeof therequiredgradeof service. This
isusuallyspeciedtobearound2%duringthebusyhour. Thequestionliesondeningthebusy
hour. Thereareusuallythreepossibledenitions: (1) busyhour at thebusiest cell, (2) systembusy
hour, and(3) systemaverageover all hours.
Theestimateof thesubscriber usagerateisusuallymadeonademographicbasisfromwhichthe
trafcdistributioncanbeworkedout andthecell areasidentied. Giventherepeat pattern(cluster
size), thecluster with thehighest trafc ischosen for theinitial design. ThetrafcA in each cell
isestimatedand, withthedesiredblockingprobabilityE(A, M), theerlang-Bformulaasgivenby
Eq. (21.3) isusedtodeterminethenumber of channelsper cell, M
E(M, A) =
A
M
/M!
M

i=0
A
i
/i!
(21.3)
Incasethetotal number of availablechannelsisnot largeenoughtoprovidetherequiredgradeof
service, theareacoveredbythecluster shouldbereducedinorder toreducethetrafcper cell. In
suchacase, anewstudyontheinterferenceproblemsmust becarriedout. Theother clusterscan
reusethesamechannelsaccordingto thereusepattern. Not all channelsneedbeprovidedbythe
basestationsof thosecellswherethetrafcissupposedlysmaller than that of theheaviest loaded
cluster. Theywill eventuallybeusedasthesystemgrows.
Thetrafcdistribution variesin timeandspace, but it iscommonlybell shaped. Highconcen-
trationsarefound in thecitycenter duringtherush hour, decreasingtoward theoutskirts. After
thebusyhour andtowardtheendof theday, thisconcentrationchangesastheusersmovefromthe
towncenter totheir homes. Notethat becauseof themobilityof theusershandoffsandroamingare
alwaysoccurring, reducingthechannel holdingtimesin thecell wherethecallsaregeneratedand
increasingthetrafcinthecell wherethemobilestravel. Accordingly, theerlang-Bformulais, infact,
aroughapproximationusedtomodel thetrafcprocessinthisever-changingenvironment. A full
investigationof thetrafcperformanceinsuchadynamicsystemrequiresall of thephenomenato
betakenintoaccount, makinganytrafcmodel intricate. Softwaresimulationpackagescanbeused
soastofacilitatetheunderstandingof themainphenomenaaswell astohelpsystemplanning. This
isauseful alternativetothecomplexmodeling, typicallypresent intheanalysisof cellular networks,
whereclosed-formsolutionsarenot usuallyavailable
Ontheother hand, conventional trafctheory, inparticular, theerlang-Bformula, isahandytool
widelyusedincellular planning. Attheinceptionof thesystemthecalculationsarecarriedoutbased
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on thebest availabletrafc estimates, and thesystemcapacityisobtained bygrosslyexaggerating
thecalculated gures. With thesystemin operation someadjustmentsmust bemadeso that the
requirementsaremet.
The approach just mentioned assumes the simplest channel assignment algorithm: the xed
allocation. It has themaximumspatial efciency in channel reuse, sincethechannels arealways
assignedat theminimumreusedistance. Moreover, becauseeachcell hasaxedset of channels, the
channel assignment control for thecallscanbedistributedamongthebasestations.
Themainproblemof xedallocationisitsinabilitytodeal withthealterationof thetrafcpattern.
Becauseof themobilityof thesubscribers, somecellsmayexperienceasuddengrowthinthetrafc
offered, withaconsequent deterioration of thegradeof service, whereasother cellsmayhavefree
channelsthat cannot beusedbythecongestedcells.
Apossiblesolutionforthisistheuseofdynamicchannel allocationalgorithmsinwhichthechannels
areallocatedon ademandbasisThereisan innitudeof strategiesusingthedynamicassignment
principles, but theyareusuallycomplextoimplement. Aninterimsolutioncanbeexercisedif the
changeof thetrafcpatternispredictable. For instance, if aregionislikelytohaveanincreaseof the
trafconagivenday(say, afootball stadiumonamatchday), amobilebasestationcanbemoved
towardsucharegioninorder toalleviatethelocal base.
Another specic solution usesthetrafc availableat theboundarybetween cellsthat maywell
communicatewithmorethanonebasestation. Inthiscase, acall that isblockedinitsowncell can
bedirectedtotheneighboringcell tobeservedbyitsbasestation. Thisstrategy, calleddirectedretry,
isknown to substantiallyimprovethetrafc capacity. On theother hand, becausechannelswith
marginallyacceptabletransmissionqualitymaybeused, anincreaseintheinterferencelevels, both
for adjacent channel andcochannel, canbeexpected. Moreover, subscriberswithradioaccessonly
totheir ownbasewill experienceanincreaseinblockingprobability.
21.7 Cell Coverage
Thepropagationof energyinamobileradioenvironmentisstronglyinuencedbyseveral factors, in-
cludingthenatural andarticial relief, propagationfrequency, antennaheights, andothers. Aprecise
characterizationof thesignal variabilityinthisenvironment constitutesahardtask. Deterministic
methods, suchasthosedescribedbythefreespace, planeearth, andknife-edgediffractionpropagation
models, arerestricted to verysimplesituations. Theyareuseful, however, in providingthebasic
mechanismsof propagation. Empirical methods, suchasthoseproposedbymanyresearchers(e.g.,
[1, 4, 5, 8]; and others), usecurvesand/or formulasbased on eld measurements, someof them
includingdeterministicsolutionswithvariouscorrectionfactorstoaccount for thepropagationfre-
quency, antennaheight, polarization, typeof terrain, etc. Becauseof therandomcharacteristicsof
themobileradio signal, however, asingledeterministictreatment of thissignal will certainlylead
theproblemto asimplistic solution. Therefore, wemaytreat thesignal on astatistical basisand
interpret theresultsasrandomeventsoccurringwithagivenprobability. Thecell coverageareais
then determined astheproportion of locationswherethereceived signal isgreater than acertain
thresholdconsideredtobesatisfactory.
Supposethat at aspecieddistancefromthebasestation themeansignal strengthisconsidered
to beknown. Given thiswewant to determinethecell radiussuch that themobilesexperiencea
receivedsignal aboveacertainthresholdwithastipulatedprobability. Themeansignal strengthcanbe
determinedeitherbyanyofthepredictionmodelsorbyeldmeasurements. Asforthestatisticsofthe
mobileradiosignal, vedistributionsarewidelyacceptedtoday: lognormal, Rayleigh, Suzuki [11],
Rice, and Nakagami. Thelognormal distribution describesthevariation of themean signal level
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
(large-scalevariations) for pointshavingthesametransmitterreceiver antennasseparation, whereas
theotherdistributionscharacterizetheinstantaneousvariations(small-scalevariations) ofthesignal.
Inthecalculationsthat followweassumealognormal environment. Theother environmentscanbe
analyzedinalikemanner;althoughthismaynotbeofinterestifsomesortofdiversityisimplemented,
becausethentheeffectsof thesmall-scalevariationsareminimized.
21.7.1 PropagationModel
Denem
w
andk asthemeanpowersat distancesx andx
0
, respectively, suchthat
m
w
= k
_
x
x
0
_

(21.4)
where isthepathlosscoefcient. Expressedindecibels, M
w
= 10 log m
w
, K = 10 log k and
M
w
= K 10log
_
x
x
0
_
(21.5)
Denethereceivedpower asw = v
2
/2, wherev isthereceivedenvelope. Let p(W) betheproba-
bilitydensityfunctionof thereceivedpower W, whereW = 10 log w. Inalognormal environment,
v hasalognormal distributionand
p(W) =
1

2
w
exp
_

(W M
w
)
2
2
2
w
_
(21.6)
whereM
W
is themean and
w
is thestandard deviation, all given in decibels. Denew
T
and
W
T
= 10 log w
T
asthethresholdabovewhich thereceivedsignal isconsideredto besatisfactory.
Theprobabilitythat thereceivedsignal isbelowthisthresholdisitsprobabilitydistributionfunction
P(W
T
), suchthat
P(W
T
) =
_
W
T

p(W) dW =
1
2
+
1
2
erf
_
(W
T
M
W
)
2
2
2
w
_
(21.7)
whereerf( ) istheerror functiondenedas
erf (y) =
2

_
y
0
exp
_
t
2
_
dt (21.8)
21.7.2 BaseStationCoverage
Theproblemofestimatingthecell areacanbeapproachedintwodifferentways. Intherstapproach,
wemaywishtodeterminetheproportion of locationsat x
0
wherethereceivedsignal power w is
abovethethresholdpower w
T
. In thesecondapproach, wemayestimatetheproportion of the
circular areadenedbyx
0
wherethesignal isabovethisthreshold. Intherst case, thisproportion
isaveragedover theperimeter of thecircumference(cell border); whereasinthesecondapproach,
theaverageisover thecircular area(cell area).
Theproportion equalstheprobabilitythat thesignal atx
0
isgreater thanthisthreshold. Hence,
= prob(W W
T
) = 1 P (W
T
) (21.9)
c 1999byCRCPressLLC
UsingEqs. (21.5) and(21.7) inEq. (21.9) weobtain
=
1
2

1
2
erf
_
W
T
K +10 log (x/x
0
)

2
w
_
(21.10)
ThisprobabilityisplottedinFig. 21.1, for x = x
0
(cell border).
FIGURE 21.1: Proportion of locations wherethereceived signal is aboveagiven threshold; the
dashdot linecorrespondstothe approachandtheother linestothe approach.
Let prob(W W
T
) betheprobabilityof thereceived power W beingabovethethreshold W
T
withinaninnitesimal areadS. Accordingly, theproportion of locationswithinthecircular area
S experiencingsuchaconditionis
=
1
S
_
S
[1 P (W
T
)] dS (21.11)
whereS = r
2
anddS = x dxd. Notethat 0 x x
0
and0 2. Therefore, solvingfor
d, weobtain
= 2
_
1
0
u du (21.12)
whereu = x/x
0
isthenormalizeddistance.
InsertingEq. (21.10) inEq. (21.12) resultsin
= 0.5
_
1 + erf (a) +exp
_
2ab +1
b
2
__
1 erf
_
ab +1
b
___
(21.13)
wherea = (K W
T
)/

2
w
andb = 10 log(e)/

2
w
.
TheseprobabilitiesareplottedinFig. 21.1for different valuesof standarddeviationandpathloss
coefcients.
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21.7.3 ApplicationExamples
Fromthetheorythathasbeendevelopeditcanbeseenthattheparametersaffectingtheprobabilities
and for cell coveragearethepath losscoefcient , thestandard deviation
w
, therequired
thresholdW
T
, andacertainpower level K, measuredor estimatedat agivendistancefromthebase
station.
Theapplicationsthat followareillustratedfor twodifferent standarddeviations:
w
= 5 dBand

w
= 8 dB. Weassumethepath losscoefcient to be = 4 (40dB/decade), themobilestation
receiver sensitivitytobe116dB(1mW), andthepower level estimatedat agivendistancefrom
thebasestationasbeingthat at thecell border, K = 102 dB(1mW). Thereceiver isconsidered
tooperatewithaSINADof 12dBfor thespeciedsensitivity. Assumingthat cochannel interference
levelsarenegligibleandgiventhatasignal-to-noiseratioS/N of 18dBisrequired, thethresholdW
T
will be116dB(1mW) +(18 12) dB(1mW) = 110 dB(1mW).
Threecaseswill beexploredasfollows.
Case1: Wewant toestimatetheprobabilities and that thereceivedsignal exceedsthe
giventhreshold1) at theborder of thecell, probability and2) withintheareadelimitedbythecell
radius, probability.
Case2: It maybeinterestingto estimatethecell radiusx
0
such that thereceived signal
beabovethegiventhresholdwithagivenprobability(say90%) (1) at theperimeter of thecell and
(2) withinthecell area. Thisproblemimpliesthecalculationof themeansignal strengthK at the
distancex
0
(thenewcell border) of thebasestation. GivenK andgiven that at adistancex
0
(the
former cell radius) themeansignal strengthM
w
isknown[notethat inthiscaseM
w
= 102 dB(1
mW)], theratiox
0
/x canbeestimated.
Case3: To fulll thecoveragerequirement, rather than calculatingthenewcell radius,
as in Case2, asignal strength at agiven distancecan beestimated such that aproportion of the
locationsat thisdistance, proportion, or withintheareadelimitedbythisdistance, proportion,
will experienceareceivedsignal abovetherequiredthreshold. Thiscorrespondstocalculatingthe
valueof theparameter K alreadycarriedout inCase2for thevarioussituations.
Thecalculationproceduresarenowdetailedfor
w
= 5 dB. Resultsarealsoshownfor
w
= 8 dB.
Case1: Usingthegivenparametersweobtain(W
T
K)/
w
= 1.6. Withthisvaluein
Fig.21.1,weobtaintheprobabilitythatthereceivedsignal exceeds116dB(1mW) forS/N = 18dB
giventhat at thecell border themeansignal power is102dB(1mW) giveninTable21.1.
TABLE21.1 Case1CoverageProbability
StandardDeviation, Approach Approach
dB (Border Coverage), % (AreaCoverage), %
5 97 100
8 84 95
Note, fromTable21.1, that thesignal at thecell border exceedsthereceiver sensitivitywith97%
probabilityfor
w
= 5 dBandwith84%probabilityfor
w
= 8 dB. If, ontheother hand, weare
interestedintheareacoveragerather thanintheborder coverage, thenthesegureschangeto100%
and95%, respectively.
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Case2: FromFig. 21.1, with = 90% wend (W
T
K)/
w
= 1.26. Therefore,
K = 103.7 dB(1mW). BecauseM
w
K = 10 log(x/x
0
), then x
0
/x = 1.10. Again, from
Fig.21.1, with = 90%wend(W
T
K)/
w
= 0.48, yieldingK = 107.6 dB(1mW).Because
M
w
K = 10 log(x/x
0
), thenx
0
/x = 1.38. TheseresultsaresummarizedinTable21.2, which
showsthenormalizedradiusof acell wherethereceivedsignal power isabove116dB(1mW) with
90%probabilityfor S/N = 18 dB, giventhat at areferencedistancefromthebasestation(thecell
border) thereceivedmeansignal power is102dB(1mW).
TABLE21.2 Case2NormalizedRadius
StandardDeviation, Approach Approach
dB (Border Coverage) (AreaCoverage)
5 1.10 1.38
8 0.88 1.27
Note, fromTable21.2, thatinorder tosatisfythe90%requirementatthecell border thecell radius
canbeincreasedby10%for
w
= 5 dB. If, ontheother hand, for thesamestandarddeviationthe
90%requirementistobesatisedwithinthecell area, rather thanatthecell border, asubstantial gain
inpower isachieved. Inthiscase, thecell radiuscanbeincreasedbyafactor of 1.38. For
w
= 8 dB
and90%coverageat thecell border, thecell radiusshouldbereducedto88%of theoriginal radius.
For areacoverage, anincreaseof 27%of thecell radiusisstill possible.
Case3: Thevalues of themean signal power K aretaken fromCase2 and shown in
Table21.3, which shows thesignal power at thecell border such that 90% of thelocations will
experienceareceivedsignal above116dBfor S/N = 18 dB.
TABLE21.3 Case3Signal Power
Approach Approach
StandardDeviation (Border Coverage), (AreaCoverage),
dB dB(1mW) dB(1mW)
5 103.7 107.6
8 99.8 106.2
21.8 Interference
Radio-frequency interferenceis oneof themost important issues to beaddressed in thedesign,
operation, and maintenanceof mobilecommunication systems. Although both intermodulation
andintersymbol interferencesalsoconstituteproblemstoaccount for insystemplanning, amobile
radiosystemdesigner ismainlyconcernedabout adjacent-channel andcochannel interferences.
21.8.1 Adjacent Channel Interference
Adjacent-channel interferenceoccursdueto equipment limitations, such asfrequencyinstability,
receiver bandwidth, ltering, etc. Moreover, becausechannelsarekept veryclosetoeachother for
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maximumspectrumefciency, therandomuctuation of thesignal, dueto fadingand nearfar
effect, aggravatesthisproblem.
Somesimple,butefcient,strategiesareusedtoalleviatetheeffectsofadjacentchannel interference.
In narrowband systems, thetotal frequency spectrumis split into two halves so that thereverse
channels, composingtheuplink(mobiletobasestation) andtheforwardchannels, composingthe
downlink(basestationtomobile), canbeseparatedbyhalf of thespectrum. If other servicescanbe
insertedbetweenthetwohalves,thenagreaterfrequencyseparation,withaconsequentimprovement
intheinterferencelevels, isaccomplished. Adjacent channel interferencecanalsobeminimizedby
avoidingtheuseof adjacent channelswithinthesamecell. Inthesameway, bypreventingtheuse
of adjacent channelsin adjacent cellsabetter performanceisachieved. Thisstrategy, however, is
dependent onthecellular pattern. For instance, if aseven-cell cluster ischosen, adjacent channels
areinevitablyassignedtoadjacent cells.
21.8.2 Cochannel Interference
Undoubtedlythemost critical of all interferencesthat canbeengineeredbythedesigner incellular
planning is cochannel interference. It arises in mobileradio systems using cellular architecture
becauseof thefrequencyreusephilosophy.
A parameter of interest toassessthesystemperformanceinthiscaseisthecarrier-to-cochannel
interferenceratio C/I
c
. Theultimateobjectiveof estimatingthis ratio is to determinethereuse
distanceand, consequently, therepeat pattern. TheC/I
c
ratio is arandomvariable, affected by
randomphenomenasuchas(1) locationof themobile, (2) fading, (3) cell sitelocation, (4) trafc
distribution, and others. In this subsection weshall investigatetheoutageprobability, i.e., the
probabilityof failingtoachieveadequatereceptionof thesignal duetocochannel interference. This
parameter will beindicatedbyp(CI). Ascanbeinferred, thisisintrinsicallyrelatedtotherepeat
pattern.
Cochannel interferencewill occur whenever thewantedsignal doesnotsimultaneouslyexceedthe
minimumrequired signal level s
0
and then interferingsignals, i
1
, i
2
, . . . , i
n
, bysomeprotection
ratior. Consequently, theconditional outageprobability, givenn interferers, is
p (CI | n) = 1
_

s
0
p(s)
_
s/r
0
p (i
1
)
_
(s/r)i
1
0
p (i
2
)

_
(s/r)i
1
i
n1
0
p (i
n
) di
n
di
2
di
1
ds (21.14)
Thetotal outageprobabilitycanthenbeevaluatedby
p(CI) =

n
p (CI | n) p(n) (21.15)
wherep(n) isthedistributionof thenumber of activeinterferers.
Inthecalculationsthat followweshall assumeaninterference-onlyenvironment, i.e., s
0
= 0, and
thesignalstobeRayleighfaded. In suchafadingenvironment theprobabilitydensityfunction of
thesignal-to-noiseratiox isgivenby
p(x) =
1
x
m
exp
_

x
x
m
_
(21.16)
wherex
m
isthemean signal-to-noiseratio. Notethat x = s andx
m
= s
m
for thewantedsignal,
andx = i
j
andx
m
= i
mj
for theinterferingsignal j, withs
m
andi
mj
beingthemeanof s andi
j
,
respectively.
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Byusingthedensityof Eq. (21.16) inEq. (21.14) weobtain
p (CI | n) =
n

j=1
j

k=1
z
k
1 +z
k
(21.17)
wherez
k
= rs
m
/i
mk
If theinterferersareassumedtobeequal, i.e., z
k
= z for k = 1, 2, . . . , n, then
p (CI | n) = 1
_
z
1 +z
_
n
(21.18)
DeneZ = 10 log z, S
m
= 10 log s
m
, I
m
= 10 log i
m
, andR
r
= 10 log r. Then, Z = S
m
(I
m
+
R
r
). Equation(21.18) isplottedinFig. 21.2asafunctionof Z for n = 1 andn = 6, for thesituation
inwhichtheinterferersareequal.
FIGURE21.2: Conditional andunconditional outageprobabilityfor n = 6 interferesinaRayleigh
environment andinaSuzuki environment with = 6 dB.
If theprobabilityof ndinganinterferer activeisp, thedistributionof activeinterferersisgivenby
thebinomial distribution. Consideringtheclosest surroundingcochannelstobethemost relevant
interfererswethenhavesixinterferers. Thus
p(n) =
_
6
n
_
p
n
(1 p)
6n
(21.19)
Forequal capacitycellsandanevenlytrafcdistributionsystem, theprobabilityp isapproximately
givenby
p =
M

B (21.20)
whereB istheblockingprobabilityandM isthenumber of channelsinthecell.
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NowEqs.(21.20),(21.19),and(21.18) canbecombinedintoEq.(21.15) andtheoutageprobability
isestimatedasafunctionof theparameter Z andthechannel occupancyp. ThisisshowninFig. 21.2
for p = 75%andp = 100%.
Asimilar, but muchmoreintricate, analysiscanbecarriedout for theother fadingenvironments.
Notethat inour calculationswehaveconsideredonlythesituationinwhichboththewantedsignal
andtheinterferingsignalsexperienceRayleighfading. For amorecompleteanalysiswemayassume
thewantedsignal tofadedifferentlyfromtheinterferingsignals, leadingtoagreatnumber of possible
combinations. Acaseof interest istheinvestigationof theinuenceof thestandarddeviationinthe
outageprobabilityanalysis. ThisisillustratedinFig. 21.2for theSuzuki (lognormal plusRayleigh)
environment with = 6 dB.
Notethatbydenitiontheparameter z isafunctionof thecarrier-to-cochannel interferenceratio,
which, inturn, isafunctionof thereusedistance. Therefore, theoutageprobabilitycanbeobtained
asafunctionof thecluster size, for agivenprotectionratio.
Theratiobetweenthemeansignal power s
m
andthemeaninterferingpower i
m
equalstheratio
betweentheir respectivedistancesd
s
andd
i
suchthat
s
m
i
m
=
_
d
s
d
i
_

(21.21)
where isthepathlosscoefcient. Now, (1) letDbethedistancebetweenthewantedandinterfering
basestations, and(2) let R bethecell radius. Thecochannel interferenceworst caseoccurswhenthe
mobileispositionedat theboundaryof thecell, i.e., d
s
= R andd
i
= D R. Then,
i
m
s
m
=
_
D
R
1
_

(21.22a)
or, equivalently,
S
m
I
m
= 10 log
_
D
R
1
_
(21.22b)
Infact, S
m
I
m
= Z +R
r
. Therefore,
Z +R
r
= 10log
_

3N 1
_
(21.23)
WithEq.(21.23) andthecurvesofFig.21.2,wecancomparesomeoutageprobabilitiesfordifferent
clustersizes. TheresultsareshowninTable21.4wherewehaveassumedaprotectionratioR
r
= 0 dB.
Theprotectionratiodependsonthemodulationschemeandvariestypicallyfrom8dB(25-kHzFM)
to20dB[singlesideband(SSB) modulation].
Note, fromTable21.4, that thestandarddeviationhasagreat inuenceinthecalculationsof the
outageprobability.
21.9 Conclusions
Theinterrelationshipamongtheareasinvolvedinacellularnetworkplanningissubstantial. Vocabu-
lariesbelongingtotopics, suchasradiopropagation, frequencyplanningandregulation, modulation
schemes, antennadesign, transmission, teletrafc, andothers, arecommontoall cellular engineers.
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TABLE21.4 Probabilityof Cochannel InterferenceinDifferent
Cell Clusters
OutageProbability, %
Rayleigh Suzuki = 6 dB
N Z +R, dB p = 75% p = 100% p = 75% p = 100%
1 4.74 100 100 100 100
3 10.54 31 40 70 86
4 13.71 19 26 58 74
7 19.40 4.7 7 29 42
12 24.46 1 2.1 11 24
13 25.19 0.9 1.9 9 22
Designingacellular networktomeet systemrequirementsisachallengingtaskwhichcanonlybe
partiallyandroughlyaccomplishedat thedesigndesk. Fieldmeasurementsplayanimportant role
inthewholeprocessandconstituteanessential stepusedtotunetheparametersinvolved.
DeningTerms
Outageprobability: Theprobabilityof failingtoachieveadequatereceptionof thesignal due
to, for instance, cochannel interference.
Spectrumefciency: A measureof howefcientlyspace, frequency, andtimeareused. It is
expressedinerlangper squaremeter per hertz.
Trunkingefciency: Afunctionrelatingthenumberofsubscribersperchannel andthenumber
of channelsper cell for different valuesof blockingprobability.
References
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[3] Ho, M.J. and St uber, G.L., Co-channel interferenceof microcellular systems on shadowed
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[4] Ibrahim, M.F. andParsons, J.D., Signal strength prediction in built-upareas, Part I: median
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[5] Lee, W.C.Y., MobileCommunicationsDesignFundamentals, HowardW. Sams, Indianapolis,
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1993b.
[8] Okumura, Y., Ohmori, E., Kawano, T., andFukuda, K., FieldstrengthanditsvariabilityinVHF
andUHFlandmobileservice. Rev. Elec. Comm. Lab., 16, 825873, Sept.-Oct. 1968.
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c 1999byCRCPressLLC
[10] Sowerby, K.W. andWilliamson, A.G., Outageprobabilitycalculationsfor multiplecochannel
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Further Information
Thefundamentals of mobileradio engineeringin connection with many practical examples and
applications as well as an overviewof the main topics involved can be found in Yacoub, M.D.,
Foundationsof MobileRadioEngineering, CRCPress, BocaRaton, FL, 1993.
c 1999byCRCPressLLC