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Channel Allocation in Cellular System

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Channel Allocation Strategies

 The way the channels are assigned inside a

cell affects the performance of the system
– especially when a change of BSs occurs

 Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA)

 Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)
 Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA)
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Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA)

10 Channels 10 Channels
– channels are divided in sets
– allocated to a group of cells & reassigned to other groups, according to some reuse
pattern
– Different considerations are taken before the assignment
BS BS2
1 channels (i.e. signal
of the
quality, distance between BSs, traffic per BS)
– they are fixed (i.e. a cell can not use channels that are not assigned to it)
– assignment of frequency sets to cells when the system 10 Channels
is designed & does not 10 Channels
change unless restructured
– Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused channels in that
cell BS 3 BS4
– If all the channels in that cell are busy, the service is blocked
– simple method but does not adapt to changing traffic conditions
– introduction of new BSs supposes frequency reassignment for the complete system
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Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

– Channels are placed in a pool

– assigned to new calls depending on the carrier to interference ratio (CIR) and other
criteria.
BS1 the RNC
– Each time a call is made the serving base station requests a channel from
BS2
40
– The switch then allocates a channel to the requested cell following an algorithm that
Channels
takes into account the likelihood of future blocking within the cell
 the frequency of use of the candidate channel
 the reuse distance of the channel, and other cost functions.

– The RNC only allocates a given frequency if that frequency is BS not presently in BS
3
use in the cell or any other cell which falls within the minimum restricted distance of 4
frequency reuse to avoid interference
– reduces the likelihood of blocking, which increases the trunking capacity of the system,
since all the available channels in a market are accessible to all of the cells
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Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

 Require the RNC to collect real-time data on

– channel occupancy
– traffic distribution
– radio signal strength indications (RSSI) of all channels on a
continuous basis
 This increases the storage and computational load on the system
but provides the advantage of increased channel utilisation and
decreased probability of a blocked call
 Allocation of channels is more complex since additional
information is needed, but is also more flexible to traffic changes
(i.e. non-uniform traffic).
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Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA)

 a combination of both FCA and DCA

 some channels are pre-assigned
 others are shared dynamically
 One of these approaches is based on the principal of
borrowing channels from a neighbouring cell when its
own channels are occupied
 Known as the borrowing strategy
 RNC supervises such borrowing procedures &
ensures that the borrowing of a channel does not
disrupt or interfere with any of the calls in progress in
the donor cell
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Allocation Comparison
 FCA better for high uniform traffic loads
– Max reusability of channels is always achieved
 DCA performs better for non-uniform traffic loads
– allocation of channels is flexible
 FCA schemes behave like a no. of small groups of servers
 DCA provides a way of making these small groups of servers behave
like a larger server, which is more efficient.
 FCA call must always be handed off into another channel
– same channel is not available in adjacent cells.
 DCA the same channel can be used if interference does not occur.
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Allocation Comparison

 variations in traffic that are typical of microcells are not

well handled in FCA.
 DCA techniques perform better in microcells
 Implementation complexity of DCA is higher than FCA.
– FCA:each cell has a number of channels and the
channel selection is made independently
– DCA: the knowledge of occupied channels in other cells
is necessary (i.e. heavy signalling load).
– A great deal of processing power to determine optimal
allocations is also required.
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Allocation Control
 Centralised fashion
– channels are assigned by a central controller, usually the RNC
 Distributed fashion
– Channels are selected either by the local BS or by the mobile
 BS control: BSs keep info about current available channels in its vicinity.
 Updated by exchanging data between BSs. In a mobile control system the mobile
chooses the channel based in its local CIR measurements (i.e. lower complexity
but less efficiency).
 FCA is suitable for a centralised control system.
 DCA is applicable to a centralised or decentralised control system
 Multiple Access Protocols

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Frequency Division Multiple Access 11
(FDMA)

Code

Channel N
Channel 2
Channel 1

Channel 3

Frequency

Time
Frequency Division Multiple Access 12
(FDMA)

• Divide spectrum into frequency bins

• Each host sends in a pre-determined frequency
bin
• Out-of-band reservation mechanism (FCC)
• Also called Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)
• Example: AM/FM radio, TV
Host 1 Host 2 Host 3
Freq.
AM FM Satellite (Hz)
500-1700 KHz 88-108 MHz GHz range
Time Division Multiple Access 13

(TDMA)

Code

ts Channel N

Channel 3
lo
eS

Channel 2
m

Channel 1
Ti

Frequency

Time
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Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

• Divide time into multiple slots

• Each host sends in a pre-determined slot
• Out-of-band reservation mechanism
• Compare to Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
… 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 …

Host 1 1
Host 3
2 1
1

3 Router/
2 Mux
Host 2 Not Eth.
2
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TDMA

 Several TDMA schemes have been studied for

the third generation air interface
 The frame length is 4.615 ms and it can consist of
64 1/64 time slots of length 72
16 1/16 time slots of length 288

Downlink Uplink

288µ Switching point between

72µ s s uplink and downlink
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An example of TDM

 Ethernet uses a protocol called CSMA/CD

Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detection
 When a node wants to broadcast, it checks whether
any other node is broadcasting (senses the carrier).

 A node broadcasts when no other node is

broadcasting. Otherwise, it tries later at a random
interval.
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CSMA Problems in Wireless Medium

 Collision detection is easy in wired networks but

difficult in wireless medium.

 With only one antenna, nodes can only listen or send.

 Full duplex radios are extremely expensive.

 CSMA gives rise to hidden terminal and exposed

terminal problems.
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Hidden Terminal Problem

 Wireless transmission is usually short range.

Even if the medium is free near the
transmitter, it may not be free near the
intended receiver.

C
A B

Collision at
B
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Exposed Terminal Problem

 Even if the medium is busy near the

transmitter, it may be free near the intended
receiver.

A B C D

C cannot transmit because B is transmitting.

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Message Loss due to Collision

 Using CSMA in wireless medium results in message

loss and requires retransmission of lost messages.

 A node spends much more energy while receiving or

transmitting messages. Hence, retransmission wastes
a lot of energy.

 The other alternative is to use a reservation based

TDM protocol.
Demand Assignment Multiple Access21
(DAMA)

 Ina DAMA protocol, nodes first reserve slots

which they intend to use for broadcasting.

 Each round of broadcast is preceded by a

reservation round.

 DAMA protocols are widely used in satellite

communication and increasingly being used
in wireless networking.
Code Division Multiple Access 22

(CDMA)

Code

Power Control

MAI (Multi-access Interference)

Cancellation Channel 1
Macro diversity
Channel 2
Channel 3

Frequency

Channel N

Time
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Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

• Use multiple orthogonal codes to partition a range

of spectrum
• Each host sends using a pre-determined code
• Also called “spread spectrum”
• Two forms spread spectrum:
• Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum– DSSS
• Chipping sequences spread the signal’s spectrum
• CDMA is often used as synonym for DSSS
• Examples: 802.11b, cell
• Frequency-hopping spread spectrum– FHSS
• Example: Bluetooth
• Advantage: simple, but not as efficient
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Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (2)

• Frequency hopping example

Freq (Hz)
F1 F2 F3 F4 Host 1
Possible
hopping F1 F2 F3 F4 Host 2
sequence
…, F1, F3, F4, F2, F1, F3, F4, F2, …
Bluetooth
Host 1’s Code: 1342,
Host 2’s Code: 3214,
Host 3
Host 3’s Code: 4123
Note that all 3 codes are orthogonal: at each instant in
time, each host is on a different frequency
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