The Cellular Concept – System Design Fundamentals

MODULE 1

Reference : Wireless communication –Principle and

Practice – Theodore S Rappaport
Chapter 2

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The Cellular Concept
• Older systems
• Achieve a large coverage area by using a single, high powered
transmitter
• Interference was not an issue
• Number of users that can be accommodated in system are
limited
• Noise limited system
• Cellular System
• Coverage area is divided into many small geographical area called cells
• Single high power transmitter replaced by several multiple low power
transmitters
• “Hand off “ procedure is used for uninterrupted call service
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The Cellular Concept

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Why hexagon?
Basic cellular system
• Consists of MS,BS and MSC
• MSC: Mobile Switching Center
• Also called MTSO(Mobile Telephone Switching Office)
• Coordinates the activities of all base stations
• Connect cellular system to PSTN
• Billing and Maintenance functions
• MS :Mobile Station
• Contains a transceiver, antenna and control circuitry
• BS: Base station
• Bridge between different mobile users
• Connects calls via telephone lines and microwave links to MSC
• Consists several transmitters and receivers for handling full duplex
communication 4
Frequency Reuse
• Frequency reuse: Use of radio channels of same carrier
frequency to cover different spatially separated areas
• BS s in adjacent cells are assigned completely different
channels than neighbouring cells
• BS antennas are arranged to provide desired coverage in
particular cell
• Reuse distance: The distance between two cells that use same
frequency channels

• Why cant we use same frequency in adjacent cells?

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Frequency Reuse
• Cluster:
• N cells which collectively use the complete set of available
frequencies is called a cluster

• The total coverage area is divided into clusters.

• There can be no co-channel interference within a cluster.

• The number of cells in a cluster is called the cluster size.

• This number is denoted by N.

The N cells collectively use the complete set of available
frequencies 6
Frequency Reuse
• Capacity
Let S = the total number of available duplex radio channels for the
system
k = the number of channels allocated to each cell (k < S)
N = cluster size

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

If a cluster is replicated M times within the system, the total number of

duplex channels, C, is given by
C = MS = MkN. 7
C αM
• Co channel reuse ratio (Q) = D/R
Where cell radius is R and the distance between the co-channel
cells is D
As N D , co channel Interference

• Conversely a small cluster size indicates the co-channel cells

are located much closer together so interference increases

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Frequency Reuse
• For a fixed total coverage area Atotal and the coverage area
Acell of each cell, the number of cells in the system is

• From a designer point of view, the smallest possible value of N

is desirable in order to maximize capacity over a given
coverage area.
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• Trade off between Capacity and Minimizing Co channel
interference
Cell planning with hexagonal cells

• There are only certain cluster sizes and cell layouts which are
possible.
• The number of cells per cluster, N, can only have values which
satisfy
N = i2 + ij + j2 where i and j are non-negative integers.
• Typical values for N= 4,7,12

• To locate the nearest co-channel neighbours of a particular

cell,
(1) move i cells along any chain of hexagons and then
(2) turn 60 degrees counter-clockwise and move j cells.
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19-cell reuse example (N=19)

Figure 3.2 Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular system. In this example, N = 19 (i.e., I = 3, j = 2).
(Adapted from [Oet83] © IEEE.) 11
Smaller N is greater capacity

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Co-channel cells for 7-cell
reuse

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Channel assignment strategies
• Two types:
• Fixed and Dynamic
• Fixed:
• Each cell is allocated predetermined set of channels
• Call is BLOCKED if all channels are occupied
• Borrowing strategy on supervision of MSC
• Dynamic:
• No permanent allocation of channels
• MSC allocates channels based on an algorithm considering likelihood
of future blocking ,reuse distance etc..
• Reduces likelihood of blocking, increases trunking capacity
• MSC monitors RSSI(Radio Signal Strength Indication),real time
channel occupancy, traffic distribution-Increase in storage and 14
computational load
Handoff Strategies
• Hand off: Automatic transfer of call to a new channel
belonging to a new base station
• Processes involved: Base station identification, Allocation of
control and voice channels of new base station

• Handoffs must be performed successfully ,infrequently as

possible and imperceptible to users

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Handoff
• Handoff margin : ∆= P r handoff – P r minimum usable

where P r minimum usable required minimum usable power level

for acceptable signal quality (-90 dBm to -100dBm)
P r handoff handoff threshold

• ∆ cant be too large or too small

• ∆ too large –unnecessary hand offs occur
• ∆ too small – not enough time for hand off completion, call
may be lost

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Handoffs – the basics

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Handoffs
• Dwell time: Time over which call may be maintained within
cell without hand off

• Dwell time depends on speed of user, interference, distance

between user and BS, type of radio coverage

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Handoff
• First generation cellular systems:
• Signal strength measurements are made by the base
stations and supervised by the MSC
• Locator receiver: monitors signal strength from
neighbouring cells, controlled by MSC
• Based on RSSI from locator receiver, MSC decides
whether hand off is necessary or not
• Typical time -10 seconds if signal level is below handoff
threshold
• ∆ is about 6 db to 10 db
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• 2G systems:
• MAHO: Mobile Assisted Hand Off
• MS measures signal strength from neighbouring BSs and reports
to serving BS
• Faster than 1G, 1 to 2 seconds once decision is made
• ∆ is between 0 and 6 db
• MSC no longer constantly monitors signal strength
• Suitable for microcellular environments where frequent hand offs
occur
• In addition to RSSI , cochannel and adjacent channel interference
are also considered

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Handoff
• Intersystem handoff:
• Mobile moves from one cellular system to a different cellular
system controlled by a different MSC
• Different issues to be considered: Compatibility between MSCs

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Hand off in CDMA
• Soft Hand off
• No physical change in channels, different BS handles radio link
• MSC evaluate received signal of same subscriber from several
neighbouring BSs, MSC chooses best signal to pass through
PSTN
• Ability to select between instantaneous received signals from
variety of BSs is called soft hand off

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Prioritizing handoffs
• Different systems employ different policies for hand offs
• Hand off request are given more priority than call initiation
requests
• Guard channel concept: Fraction of total available channels in cell
is allocated for hand off requests
• Queuing handoffs : decrease the probabilty of forced termination

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Practical hand off considerations
• Accommodate high speed and low speed users
• Cellular capacity can be increased by addition of cell sites, but
it is difficult to obtain new cell sites –addition of new channels
and base stations at same physical location
• Large and small cells located at same location-umbrella cell
approach
• Minimizing hand offs for high speed users and providing
additional micro cells for low speed users

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Umbrella Cell Approach

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Cell dragging
• Another practical hand off consideration
• Pedestrian users provide a very strong signal to the base
station
• Occurs in urban environment due to LOS path between MS
and BS
• User moves well beyond cell range but hand off has not made
• Creates interference and traffic management problem

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Interference in cellular systems
• Interference is the major limiting factor in the performance of
cellular radio systems.
• Limiting capacity and is often responsible for dropped calls

• Sources of interference include

(a) another mobile in the same cell,

(b) a call in progress in a neighboring cell,
(c) other base stations operating in the same frequency band
(d) any non cellular system which inadvertently leaks energy into
the cellular frequency
band. 27
Interference
• Effects of interference:
 Cross talk- voice channel
 Missed or blocked calls- control channel

• Two major types of system generated interference

• Co-channel interference
• Adjacent channel interference

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Co-channel interference
• Co-channel interference- minimised by increasing D(reuse
distance)(Refer slides: 8,9,12)
• Co-channel interference cannot be combated by simply increasing
the carrier power of a transmitter.
An increase in carrier transmit power increases the interference to
neighboring co-channel cells
• Let i0 be the number of co-channel interfering cells.
(S/I or SIR) for a mobile receiver is given as

S is the desired signal power from the desired base station

Ii is the interference power caused by the i th interfering co-channel cell base
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station
Adjacent channel interference
• Interference from cells which are adjacent in frequency to the
desired signal is called adjacent channel interference
• Reason- Imperfect receiver filters
• Near far effect- Interference caused by adjacent channel user
transmitting in very close range to a subscriber's receiver, while the receiver
attempts to receive a base station on the desired channel.

• Adjacent channel interference can be avoided by careful

filtering and channel assignments

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Trunking
• Trunking –Large number of users sharing limited radio
spectrum
• Exploiting statistical behaviour of users

• Channels are given to each user, on demand, from a pool of

available channels, upon termination of the call, the
previously occupied channel is immediately returned to the
pool of available channels.

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Trunking
• Based on trunking theory and queuing theory
• Trunking theory was developed by Erlang, a Danish
Mathematician
• Today, the measure of traffic intensity bears his name.
One Erlang represents the amount of traffic intensity
carried by a channel that is completely occupied.
For eg: A radio channel that is occupied for thirty minutes during
an hour carries of traffic 0.5 Erlangs

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Trunking
• Definitions of Common Terms Used in Trunking Theory

• Blocked Call: Call which cannot be completed at time of request, due to

congestion.
Also referred to as a lost call.

Set-up Time: The time required to allocate a trunked radio channel to a

requesting user

• Holding Time: Average duration of a typical call. Denoted by H (in seconds)

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• Traffic Intensity: Measure of channel time utilization, which is the
average channel occupancy measured in Erlangs.

◦ Denoted by A=UλH, λ is call request rate -average number of call

requests per time,U- no of users

• Load: Traffic intensity across the entire trunked radio system, measured
in Erlangs.

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Grade Of Service(GOS)
• GOS- measure of the ability of a user to access a trunked
system during the busiest hour.
• A measure of congestion which is specified as the probability of a
call being blocked (for Erlang B), or the probability of a call being
delayed beyond a certain amount of time (for Erlang C)

• Benchmark for performance of a trunked system

• There are two types of trunked systems which are commonly
used.
(a) Blocked calls cleared.
(b) Blocked calls delayed

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 Blocked calls cleared
• M/M/m/m Queue assumptions:
Blocked calls cleared
◦ Offers no queuing for call requests.
◦ For every user who requests service, it is assumed there is no setup
time and the user is given immediate access to a channel if one is
available.
◦ If no channels are available, the requesting user is blocked without
access and is free to try again later.
• Call arrive as determined by a Poisson distribution.
• There are memoryless arrivals of requests, implying that all users,
including blocked users, may request a channel at any time.
• There are an infinite number of users (with finite overall request rate)

Erlang B formula is derived from this assumption

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Erlang B formula
• Measure of GOS for a trunked system which provides no
queuing for blocked calls

• Erlang B formula

A is total offered traffic, C number of trunked channels

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Blocked Calls Delayed

• A queue is provided to hold calls which are blocked

• If a channel is not available immediately, the call request may
be delayed until a channel becomes available
• Erlang C formula: Measure of GOS is defined as the probability
that a call is blocked after waiting a specific length of time in
the queue.
•

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Methods to improve cellular
capacity
• cell splitting
• sectoring
• coverage zone approaches

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Cells are split to add channels
with no new spectrum usage

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Cell splitting
• Cell splitting allows an orderly growth of the cellular system.

• Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell into

smaller cells (called microcells), 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.

Received power at new and old boundaries are set equal

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• Larger cell is usually allocated for high speed traffic in order to
reduce hand offs

• Antenna downtilting- focusing radiated energy from the base

station towards the ground (rather than towards the horizon),
is often used to limit the radio coverage of newly formed
microcells.

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Sectoring improves S/I

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Sectoring
• Capacity improvement by reducing number of cells in cluster
• Replace a single omnidirectional antenna at the base station
by several directional antennas, each radiating within a
specified sector
• The channels used in a particular cell are broken down into
sectored groups and are used only within a particular sector.
• The SIR is improved

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Sectoring
• Disadvantages

◦ Increase number of antennas at each base station.

◦ Decrease trunking efficiency due to channel sectoring at the base

station. The available channels in the cell must be subdivided and dedicated
to a specific antenna.

◦ Number of handoffs increases because sectoring reduces the

coverage area of a particular group of channels.

In modern systems sector to sector hand off can be done without intervention
from MSC

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Sectoring improves S/I

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The Zone Cell Concept

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Zone Cell Concept
• Each zone is connected to a single Base station and share the
same radio equipment
• Zones are connected by coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,
or microwave link to the base station
• Mobile is served with zone with strongest signal
• Mobile retains the same channel so no hand off is needed
• BS switches channel to a different cell site
• Channels are distributed in time and space by all three zones
• Useful in highways and urban areas

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