(20A04703c)

CELLULAR & MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

TOP PRIORITY QUSTIONS & ANSWERS

IV-I B.TECH

Prepared by

Dr. M. Chiranjeevi, Professor

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING

GOKULA KRISHNA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(Affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur & Approved by AICTE, New Delhi)
 Gokula Krishna College of Engineering
Department of ECE
20A04703c-Cellular & Mobile Communications
TOP PRIORITY QUESTIONS-2023-24

Top 15 - 2 Marks Questions

1. Write a brief note on Mobile fading characteristics. (U1)
2. Write short note on Evolution of Cellular Systems? (U1)
3. What is the concept of frequency reuse in cellular system? (U1)
4. Explain phase difference between a direct path and a ground-reflected path. (U2)
5. Write short note on straight line path loss slope? (U2)
6. What are the various mobile antennas used in a mobile communication system? (U2)
7. What is adjacent channel interference? How it can be minimized? (U3)
8. What are the effects on Coverage and Interference by Power Decrease (U3)
9. Write short note on Cross Talk. (U3)
10. Discuss the concept of overlaid cells. (U4)
11. Explain about access channels. (U4)
12. Write short note on Numbering and Grouping of channels. (U4)
13. What is handoff? Explain Forced handoff ? (U5)
14. Explain power difference handoff and Dropped Call Rates.(U5)
15. What is Delaying handoff? (U5)

Top 5 - 10 Marks Questions

1. a)Explain the limitations of conventional mobile systems? (U1)

b) What are the operations of Cellular Systems? (U1)
2. Explain about the spaced diversity antennas and umbrella pattern antennas with neat sketches?
(U2)
3. (a) Explain how co-channel interference is measured in real time mobile radio range receivers.
(U3)
(b) What is near-end-far-end interference ratio? Explain its effects. (U3)
4. a) Explain in detail the channel assignment. (U4)
b) Discuss channel sharing and borrowing. (U4)
5. a) Explain about classification of Handoffs in detail.(U5)

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 Top 10 - 10 Marks Questions

6. a)With a neat diagram explain about the basic cellular system. (U1)
b) How to Improve Coverage and Capacity in Cellular Systems. (U1)
7. a)Explain in detail about the general formula for mobile propagation over water or flat surface.
(U2)
b) Explain in detail about Mobile Antennas. (U2)
8. a) With neat sketch, explain how directional antennas achieve reduction in interference. (U3)
b) Explain about high-gain Omni-directional antennas. (U3)
9. a) Explain about channel assignment to cell sites and mobile units. (U4)
b) What is sectorization? Compare Omni cells and sectorized cells. (U4)
10. a) Explain how the handoffs implemented based on signal strength? (U5)
b) What is meant by handoff initiation? Explain the different methods of handoff initiation with
suitable diagrams. (U5)
Top 15 - 10 Marks Questions

11. a) Explain about the co-channel interference reduction factor and derive the general formula for
C/I. (U1)
b) Derive the C/I for normal case in an omnidirectional antenna system. (U1)
12. What is point to point model and mention the merits of Lee Model. (U2)
13. a) Explain Diversity Techniques. (U3)
b) Explain Antenna Parameters and Their Effects. (U3)
14. a) Write short notes on set-up channels, Access channels and Paging channels. (U4)
b) Explain about fixed channel assignment. (U4)
15. Explain in detail about Performance Evaluation and Signaling Evaluation.(U5)

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UNIT-I
2-Marks

1. Write a brief note on Mobile fading characteristics.

• In wireless communication, fading is a phenomenon in which the strength and quality of a radio
signal fluctuate over time and distance.
• Fading is caused by a variety of factors, including multipath propagation, atmospheric conditions,
and the movement of objects in the transmission path.

2. Write short note on Evolution of Cellular Systems?

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3. What is the concept of frequency reuse in cellular system?

• Frequency reuse is a technique used in wireless communication, that allows the same frequency
band to be used in multiple geographical areas, known as cells, as long as these cells are sufficiently
far apart to prevent interference.
• In Frequency reuse there are several cells that use the same set of frequencies. These cells are
called Co-Channel Cells.

Fig1: Frequency Reuse(Same Alphabet cell indicates same frequency)

Advantages :
o Increased Network Capacity
o Cost-Effective
o Scalability
o Improved Spectral Efficiency

Disadvantages:
o Increased Interference
o Implementation Complexity
o Increased Power Consumption

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10-Marks

1. a)Explain the limitations of conventional mobile systems?

b) What are the operations of Cellular Systems?

a) The limitations of conventional mobile systems:

The operational limitations of conventional mobile telephone system are

i. Limited-service capability
ii. Poor service performance
iii. Inefficient frequency spectrum utilization

i)Limited-service capability:
• A conventional mobile telephone system is usually designed by selecting one or more channels from
a specific frequency allocation for use in autonomous geographic zones, as shown in Fig.1.1.

• The communications coverage area of each zone is normally planned to be as large as possible, which
means that the transmitted power should be as high as the federal specification allows.
• The user who starts a call in one zone has to reinitiate the call when moving into a new zone
because the call will be dropped.
• Another disadvantage of the conventional system is that the number of active users is limited to
the number of channels assigned to a particular frequency zone.

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ii. Poor Service Performance:

• In the past, a total of 33 channels were allocated to three mobile telephone systems.
a) Mobile Telephone Service (MTS)
b) Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) MJ systems.
c) Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) MK systems.
• MTS operates around 40 MHz and provide 11 channels.
• IMTS-MJ operates at 150 MHz and provide 11 channels.
• IMTS-MK operates at 450 MHz and provides 12 channels.
• These 33 channels must cover an area 50 miles in diameter. The large number of subscribers created
a high blocking probability during busy hours.

iii) Inefficient Frequency Spectrum Utilization:

• In a conventional mobile telephone system, the frequency utilization measurement Mo, is defined
as the maximum number of customers that could be served by one channel at the busy hour.
• If the number of channels is 6 and the offered loads are A1 = 9.33 and A2 = 6.51, then from the
Erlang B model the blocking probabilities, B1 = 50 percent (MJ system) and B2 =30 percent (MK
system), respectively.

• The conventional system does not utilize the spectrum efficiently since each channel can only
serve one customer at a time in a whole area. This is overcome by the new cellular system.

b) The operations of Cellular Systems:

The operations of cellular systems can be divided into four parts and a hand-off procedure.
i) Mobile unit initialization
ii) Mobile originated call(mobile call)
iii) Network originated call(land line call)
iv) Call termination

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i)Mobile unit initialization

• When a user sitting in a car activates the receiver of the mobile unit, the receiver scans 21 set-up
channels which are designated among the 333 channels.
• It then selects the strongest (nearest cell site) and locks on for a certain time which is called as self-
location scheme.
• This self-location scheme by mobile unit eliminates burden of cell site in locating the mobile unit
which is an advantage.
• The disadvantage of the self-location scheme is that idle mobile unit’s location information does not
appear at the cell site.

ii) Mobile originated call:

• When a call is initiated from the mobile unit (user) the dialled number correctness is verified and
pushes the "send" button.
• Then, a request for service is sent to a nearest cell site on a selected set-up channel with self-
location scheme by mobile unit.
• Once the request for service is received by the cell site, it selects the best directive antenna for
the voice channel.
• At the same time the cell site sends a request to the MTSO (mobile telephone switching office) via
a high-speed data link.
• The MTSO selects an appropriate voice channel for the call, and the cell site selects best directive
antenna to link the mobile unit.

iii)Network originated call:

• When a land-line phone dials a mobile number then the telephone company zone office recognizes
that the number belongs to a mobile unit and forwards the call to the MTSO.
• The MTSO sends a paging message to a search algorithm to locate mobile unit registered under
cell site.
• Every cell site transmits the page on its set-up channel. The mobile unit recognizes its own
identification on set-up channel, locks onto it, and responds to the cell.
• The mobile unit also follows the instruction to tune to an assigned voice channel and initiate user
alert.

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iv)Call termination:

• When the mobile user turns off the transmitter, a particular signal (signaling tone) transmitted
to the cell site, and both sides free the voice channel.
• The mobile unit resumes monitoring pages through the set-up channel.

Handoff procedure:

• During the call when the mobile unit moves out of the coverage area of a particular cell site, the
reception becomes weak.
• The present cell site requests a handoff. The system switches the call to a new cell site (with a new
frequency channel) without interrupting the call which is called as hand-off.
• The user does not notice the handoff occurrences and the call continues as long as the user is
talking.

2. a)With a neat diagram explain about the basic cellular system.

b) How to Improve Coverage and Capacity in Cellular Systems.
a)The basic cellular system:
As shown in Fig. 1.3, A basic cellular system consists of three parts.
i) Mobile unit
ii) Cell site
iii) Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)

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i)Mobile unit:

• A mobile telephone unit contains

 A control unit
 A transceiver
 An antenna system

ii) Cell site:

• The cell site provides interface between the MTSO and the mobile units.
• Cell site contains
 A control unit
 Radio cabinets
 Antennas
 A power plant
 Data terminals

iii) MTSO (Mobile Telephone Switching Office) or MSC (Mobile Switching Center):

• The MTSO is the central coordinating element for all cell sites, contains the cellular processor
and cellular switch.
• It interfaces with telephone company zone offices, controls call processing, and handles
billing activities.
iv) Connections:
• The radio and high-speed data links connect all the three subsystems(Mobile unit, Cell site and
MTSO).
• Each mobile unit can only use one channel at a time for its communication link.
• Each cell site can connect simultaneously to many mobile units.

b) Improving Coverage and Capacity in Cellular Systems:

• With the rise in the demand for Cellular communication (wireless communication), the number
of channels (radio channels) allocated to each cell could become inadequate in order to satisfy
this increase in the demand.
• Therefore, to increase the capacity, it is very important to allocate more number of radio
channels to each cell.

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• Various techniques that are proposed for increasing the capacity of a cellular system is as
follows:
i. Cell splitting
ii. Cell sectoring
iii. Repeaters for extending range
iv. Micro zone method

i)Cell Splitting:
• Cell splitting is a method in which congested (heavy traffic) cell is subdivided into smaller
cells as shown in Figure 2, and each smaller cell is having its own base station with reduction in
antenna height and transmitter power.
• Therefore, the capacity of a system increases because more channels per unit area are now
available in a network.

Figure 2:Cell Splitting

• There are two kinds of cell-splitting techniques:

 Permanent splitting
 Dynamic splitting
Permanent splitting:

• The installation of split cell is permanent, and it has to be planned ahead of time with the number
of channels, the transmitted power, the assigned frequencies, the choosing of the cell-site
selection.
• When ready, the actual service cut over should be set at the lowest traffic point, usually at
midnight on a weekend.

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Dynamic splitting:

• This scheme is based on utilizing the allocated spectrum efficiency in real time. The algorithm for
dynamically splitting cell sites is a tedious job since we cannot afford to have one single cell unused
during cell splitting at heavy traffic hours.

ii)Cell sectoring:

• The channel capacity of a cellular system can be increased by increasing the frequency reuse. To

achieve this, the relative interference must be minimized without decreasing the transmit power.

• For minimizing co-channel interference in a cellular network, a single omni-directional

antenna is replaced with multiple directional antennas, with each transmitting within a smaller
region.

• These smaller regions are called sectors and minimizing co-channel interference while
improving the capacity of a system by using multiple directional antennas is called sectoring.

• A cell is generally divided either into three 120-degree or six 60-degree sectors as shown in Fig 3.

Figure 3: Cell Sectoring

• In the three-sector arrangement, three antennas are generally located in each sector with one
transmit and two receive antennas. The placement of two receive antennas provide antenna
diversity, which is also known as space diversity.

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• Cell sectoring also improves the signal-to-interference ratio, thereby increasing the capacity of a
cellular system.

iii) Repeaters for extending range:

• Wireless operators want to provide dedicated coverage for users located within buildings,
or in valleys or tunnels as these areas are sometimes very hard to reach.
• Radio re-transmitters(also known as repeaters) are frequently used to provide coverage in
such areas where range extension capabilities are required.
• Repeaters are bidirectional devices, as the signals can be concurrently transmitted to and
received from a base station.

iv) Micro zone method:

• In the micro-cell zone concept, the same radio equipment is shared by different micro-cells. It
results in decreasing of cluster size and, therefore, increase in system capacity.

• In this scheme, each of the three (or possibly more) zone sites are connected to a single base
station and share the same radio equipment as shown in Fig. 4 (This arrangement is known as
Lee's micro-cell zone concept.). The zones are connected by coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, to the
base station. Multiple zones and a single base station make up a cell.

Figure 4: Lee's micro-cell zone concept

• As mobile travels within the cell, it is served by the zone with the strongest signal. This approach
is superior to sectoring since antennas are placed at the outer edges of the cell, and any base
station channel may be assigned to any zone by the base station.

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• The base station simply switches the channel to a different zone site. In this way, a given channel
is active only in the particular zone in which the mobile is traveling, and hence the base station
radiation is localized, and interference is reduced.

• The co-channel interference in the cellular system is reduced since a large central base station is
replaced by several lower powered transmitters (zone transmitters) on the edges of the cell.

3. a) Explain about the co-channel interference reduction factor and derive the general formula
for C/I.
b) Derive the C/I for normal case in an omnidirectional antenna system.
a) The co-channel interference reduction factor:
• Reusing an identical frequency channel in different cells is limited by co-channel interference
between cells.
• To reduce co-channel interference, the minimum frequency reuse distance between cells must
be identified. The cell size is determined by signal coverage in each cell.
• The co-channel interference reduction factor q is given as

………………….. Eq.1

here

q : Co-channel interference reduction factor

R: Cell coverage Radius
D: Distance between frequency reused cells

• When the ratio q increases, cochannel interference decreases.

• The received Carrier-to-Interference ratio (C/I) at the desired mobile receiver is given as

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…………………Eq.2

• KI is the number of co-channel interfering cells in the first tier. KI = 6 in a hexagonal-shaped

cellular system as shown in below figure.
• C/I can also be expressed as

………………. Eq.3
• Where γ is propagation path-loss slope determined by the actual terrain environment and it is
usually assumed to be 4 (γ = 4).

Figure: Six effective interfering cells of cell 1.

• The co-channel interference from the second tier of interfering cells is negligible.

………Eq:4
• By substituting equation 1 in equation 4 we get
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• where qk is the co-channel interference reduction factor with Kth co-channel interfering cell.

b) C/I for normal case in an omnidirectional antenna system

There are two cases to be considered:
i) The signal and cochannel interference received by the mobile unit and
ii) The signal and cochannel interference received by the cell site.
• Both the cases are shown in Figure 1.24.

• Nm, and Nb are the local noises at the mobile unit and the cell site, respectively. The system is called
a balanced system as long as the received C/I at both the mobile unit and the cell site are the same.
• We know

For K=6

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=>

=>
Thus

and

• The value of C/I is based on the required system performance and the specified value of γ is
based on the terrain environment.
• With given values of C/I and γ, the co-channel interference reduction factor q can be determined.
• Normal cellular practice is to specify C/I to be 18 dB or higher based on subjective tests.
• Since a C/I of 18 dB is measured by the acceptance of voice quality from present cellular mobile
receivers, this acceptance implies that both mobile radio multipath fading and cochannel
interference become ineffective at that level.
• The path-loss slope γ is equal to about 4 in a mobile radio environment and if the C/I is assumed
to be 63.1 then q is given as

=
q = 4.41

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UNIT-II
10-Marks
1. Explain about the spaced diversity antennas and umbrella pattern antennas with neat
sketches?
Spaced diversity antennas:
• A space diversity antenna uses multiple antennas that are physically separated from one another.
The antennas are usually the same characteristics.
• Two-branch space-diversity antennas are used at the cell site to receive the same signal with
different fading envelopes, one at each antenna.
• The degree of correlation between two fading envelopes is determined by the degree of
separation between two receiving antennas.
• When the two fading envelopes are combined, the degree of fading is reduced.
• The Spaced diversity antennas setup is shown in Fig. 5.lla. The two space-diversity antennas
should be aligned with the terrain, which should have a U shape13 as shown in Fig. 5.11b.

The below equation is an example for the designer to use. where h is the antenna height and D
is the antenna separation.

• From above equation, the separation d ≥ 8 λ is needed for an antenna height of 30m(100ft) and
the separation d ≥ 14 λ is needed for an antenna height of (50m).
• Space-diversity antennas can separate only horizontally, not vertically.

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Umbrella pattern antennas:

• Umbrella pattern antenna is a capacitively top-loaded wire monopole antenna. In certain
situations, umbrella-pattern antennas should be used for the cell-site antennas.
• It radiates vertically polarized radio waves in an omnidirectional radiation pattern, with equal
power emitted in all horizontal directions.

Normal umbrella-pattern antenna:

• The umbrella-pattern antenna can be developed by using a monopole with a top disk as shown
in Fig. 5.12.

• The size of the disk determines the tilting angle of the pattern. The smaller the disk, the larger
the tilting angle of the umbrella pattern.

Broadband umbrella-pattern antenna:

• A bioconical antenna(Discone antennas) in which one of the cones is extended to 180° to form a
disk is a broadband umbrella-pattern antenna.
• The bioconical antenna is show below.

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• The diameter of the disk, the length of the cone, and the opening of the cone can be adjusted to
create an umbrella-pattern antenna.

2. a)Explain in detail about the general formula for mobile propagation over water and flat
surface.
b) Explain in detail about Mobile Antennas.
a) Mobile propagation over water and flat surface:
• Interference resulting from propagation over the water can be controlled if we know the cause.
• In general, the permittivity εr of seawater and fresh water are the same, but the conductivities of
seawater and fresh water are different.
• Wavelength at 850 MHz is 0.35m then dielectric constants εc is
 Conductivity of seawater, εc (Sea Water) = 80 - j84
 Conductivity of fresh water, εc (Fresh water) = 80 - j0.021
• In a scenario, as shown in Fig.4. 7, the antennas at the cell site and the mobile unit are well above
sea level, then two reflection points are generated.
• The one reflected from the ground is close to the mobile unit and the other reflected from the
water is away from the mobile unit.

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• The field strength can be studied in two circumstances, namely.

i. Fixed point-to-point transmission over water condition
ii. Land-mobile transmission over a water condition.

i) Fixed point-to-point transmission over water condition(Between fixed stations):

• The point-to-point transmission between the fixed stations(As shown in figure 4.8, ) over the
water can be estimated as follows.

• The h1 and h2 are actual heights and H1 and H2 are the heights of hills. In general, both antennas
at fixed stations are high, so the reflection point of the wave will be found toward the middle of
the radio path.
• The received power Pr can be expressed as

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ΔΦ = The phase difference caused by the path difference Δd between the direct
wave and the reflected wave
• The first part of Eq. (4.3-1) is the free-space loss formula which shows the 20 dB/dec slope.
( i.e 20-dB loss will be seen when propagating from 1 to 10 km).

ii. Land-mobile transmission over a water condition:

• In this case, there are one direct wave and two equal strength reflected waves, one from the
water and one from the proximity of the mobile unit, as depicted in Fig. 4.7.
• Both the reflected waves energy is strong, therefore, the reflected power of the two reflected
waves can reach the mobile unit without noticeable attenuation.
• The total received power at the mobile unit would be obtained by summing three components.

where ΔΦ1 and ΔΦ2 are the path-length difference between the direct wave and two reflected
waves, respectively.

Then

• From the above equation it is clear that the power received from land-to-mobile propagation over
water is same as the free-space condition.
• That is, the land-to-mobile propagation over water path loss is same as free-space path
loss(20dB/dec).
• Note: The path loss for land-to-mobile propagation over land is 40dB/dec.

b) Mobile Antennas (motor-vehicle–mounted):

• The requirement of a mobile antenna is an omnidirectional antenna that can be located as
high as possible from the point of reception.

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• However, the physical limitation of antenna height on the vehicle restricts this requirement.
• Some motor-vehicle–mounted antennas are
o Roof-Mounted Antenna
o Glass-Mounted Antennas
o Mobile High-Gain Antennas
o Horizontally Oriented Space-Diversity Antennas
o Vertically Oriented Space-Diversity Antennas
Roof-Mounted Antenna:
• The antenna pattern of a roof-mounted antenna is more or less uniformly distributed around
the mobile unit when measured at an antenna range in free space as shown in Fig. 1.
• However, the gain of the antenna used at the mobile unit must be limited to 3 dB because the
cell-site antenna is rarely as high as the broadcasting antenna and out-of-sight conditions often
prevail.
• The mobile antenna with a gain of more than 3 dB can receive only a limited portion of the total
multipath signal in the elevation as measured under the out-of-sight condition.

Fig 1: Roof mounted mobile antenna.

Glass-Mounted Antennas:
• There are many kinds of glass-mounted antennas. Energy is coupled through the glass,
therefore, there is no need to drill a hole. However, some energy is dissipated on passage
through the glass.
• The antenna gain range is 1 to 3 dB depending on the operating frequency.
• The position of the glass-mounted antenna is always lower than that of the roof-mounted
antenna; generally, there is a 3-dB difference between these two types of antennas.

• Also, glass mounted antennas cannot be installed on the shaded glass found in some motor
vehicles because this type of glass has a high metal content.

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Fig 2: Mobile antenna patterns: Roof mounted 3-dB-gain collinear antenna versus roof-mounted
quarter-wave antenna.

Mobile High-Gain Antennas:

• In a mobile radio environment, the scattered signals arrive at the mobile unit from every
direction with equal probability.
• That is why an omnidirectional antenna must be used. The scattered signals also arrive from
different elevation angles.
• Two types of high gain antenna are
o λ/4 whip antenna
o 4-dB-gain antenna
• The received signal from the 4-dB-gain antenna was 4 dB stronger than that from the whip
antenna under line-of-sight conditions.
• The received signal from the 4-dB-gain antenna was only about 2 dB stronger than that from the
whip antenna under out-of-sight conditions.

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Horizontally Oriented Space-Diversity Antennas:

• A two-branch space-diversity receiver mounted on a motor vehicle has the advantage of
reducing fading and thus can operate at a lower reception level.
• The two antennas can be mounted either in line with or perpendicular to the motion of the
vehicle.
• Theoretical analyses and measured data indicate that the inline arrangement of the two antennas
produces fewer level crossings, that is, less fading, than the perpendicular arrangement does.

Vertically Oriented Space-Diversity Antennas:

• The vertical separation between two space-diversity antennas can be determined from the
correlation between their received signals.
• The theoretical derivation of correlation is

3. What is point to point model and mention the merits of Lee Model.
• Signal coverage can be predicted by coverage prediction models. The task is to cover the
whole area with a minimum number of cell sites.
• Lee developed point-to-point model in 1977, and its software implementation at AT&T Bell Lab,
called ACE (Area Coverage Estimation).
• The point-to-point prediction model is a basic tool that is used to generate
o A signal coverage map
o An interference area map
o A handoff occurrence map … etc.

General Formula of Lee Model (Point-point Model):

1. Direct-wave case: The effective antenna height is a major factor which varies with the location of the
mobile unit while it travels.
2. Shadow case: No effective antenna height exists. The loss is totally due to the knife-edge diffraction
loss.
3. Over-the-water condition: The free space path-loss is applied.

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Remarks:
1. The Pr cannot be higher than that from the free-space path loss.
2. The road’s orientation, when it is within 2 mi from the cell site, will affect the received power at the
mobile unit.
3. α is the corrected factor (gain or loss) obtained from the condition .
4. The foliage loss would be added depending on each individual situation. Be sure that the antenna
height at the cell site is higher than the top of the trees.
5. Within one mile in a man-made environment, the received signal is affected by the buildings and
street orientations.

The Merit of the Point-to-Point Model:

• The uncertainty range is too large in the area-to-area model as it only provides a path-loss
prediction accuracy of 68 %.
• The point-to-point model reduces the uncertainty range by including the detailed terrain
contour information in the path-loss predictions.
• The differences between the predicted values and the measured ones for the point-to point
model were determined in many areas.

• A plot with the points with predicted values at the x-axis and the measured values at the y-
axis are shown in Fig. 1.
• The 45◦ line is the line of prediction without error. The dots are data from the Whippany area,
and the crosses are data from the Camden-Philadelphia area.
• Most of them are close to the line of prediction without error.
• The mean value of all the data is right on the line of prediction without error. The standard
deviation of the predicted value of 0.8 dB from the measured one.

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• The standard deviation range is much reduced as compared with the maximum of 8dB from
area-to-area models.

Fig 1: Point-to-point prediction curves in no obstruction

• This model is very useful for designing a mobile cellular system with a radius for each cell of 10
mi or less.

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UNIT-III
2-Marks

1. What is adjacent channel interference? How it can be minimized?

• The signals adjacent to the frequency of the desired signals interfere with mobile communication
and are called adjacent channel interference.
• Adjacent-channel interference can be reduced by the frequency assignment.
• Adjacent-channel interference is always smaller than the Cochannel interference.
• Adjacent channel interference includes two types of interference: Next-channel interference
and Neighboring channel interference.

Next-channel interference:

• Next-channel interference is the interference concerning the channel next to the operating
channel. In the case of a poorly designed cellular communication system, next-channel
interference interferes with the mobile unit from other cell sites.
• In certain cases, a mobile unit with a call-in progress in the control channel in a cell can interfere
with the next control channel at another cell site.
• Next-channel interference can be mitigated using filters with a sharp falloff slope.

Neighboring channel interference:

• Neighboring channel interference is the interference concerning more than one channel away
from the operating channel.
• In cellular communication, there are a fixed set of channels assigned for each cell site. If all the
channels are simultaneously transmitting at one cell site antenna with insufficient frequency
band isolation, it will result in neighboring channel interference caused by unwanted
intermodulation products.

2. What are the effects on Coverage and Interference by Power Decrease ?

• To compensate for interference, coverage must be reduced. There are several ways of doing this.
 Decreasing the power
 Reorienting the directional-antenna patterns
 Changing the antenna beamwidth
 Synthesizing the antenna pattern
 decreasing the antenna height

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Decreasing the power:

• As long as the setup of the antenna configuration at the cell site remains the same, and if the cell-
site transmitted power is decreased by 3 dB, then the reception at the mobile unit is also
decreased by 3 dB thus interference can be reduced.
• This is a linear relationship and thus is easy to control.

Power ∝ Interference

3. Write short note on Cross Talk.

• Crosstalk is a phenomenon that occurs when a signal transmitted on one channel of a mobile
communication system creates an undesired effect on another channel.
• It arises in the cellular mobile networks owing to the phenomenon of frequency reuse.
• Crosstalk can be caused by:
o Poor frequency reuse
o Undesired capacitive, inductive, or conductive coupling
• Crosstalk can:
o Reduce the signal to noise ratio (SNR)
o Corrupt the actual signal while transmission through the communication medium.

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10-Marks

1. (a) Explain how co-channel interference is measured in real time mobile radio range
receivers.
(b) What is near-end-far-end interference ratio? Explain its effects.

(a) Co-channel interference measurement in real time mobile radio range receivers:
• The frequency-reuse method is useful for increasing the efficiency of spectrum usage but results
in cochannel interference because the same frequency channel is used repeatedly in different
cochannel cells.
• Therefore, real-time cochannel interference measurement is difficult to achieve in practice.
If the signal is e1= S(t) sin (ωt + 𝜙𝜙1)
and the interference is e2 = I(t) sin (ωt + 𝜙𝜙 2)
Then the received signal is e(t) = e1(t) + e2(t) = R sin (ωt + ψ)

R2 = [S2(t) + I2(t) + 2S(t)I (t) cos (𝜙𝜙1 − 𝜙𝜙2)]

Then the two parts of the squared envelope can be separated as

X = S2(t) + I2(t)
Y = 2S(t)I(t) cos (𝜙𝜙1 − 𝜙𝜙2)

Assume that the random variables S(t), I (t), 𝜙𝜙1, and 𝜙𝜙2 are independent; then the average processes on X and
Y are

Γ could have been accomplished by means of an envelope detector, analog-to digital converter, and a
microcomputer. The sampling delay time t should be small enough to satisfy

S(t) ≈ S(t + _t)

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I (t) ≈ I (t + _t)

4. Determining the delay time Δt to meet the requirement for this calculation is difficult and is a
drawback to this measurement technique. Therefore, real-time cochannel interference
measurement is difficult to achieve in practice.

(b) Near-end-far-end interference ratio:

5. Near-end–far-end interference is a type of interference in mobile communication, which occurs
due to strong signal from a near mobile making it hard for a cell site to hear a weaker signal from
far end mobile.
6. It can occur only at the reception point in the cell site. This happens because some mobile units
are close to the cell site and some are not.
7. It may occur both within one cell and within cells of two systems.

In one cell:
1. When mobile station A is located close to the base station, and at the same time mobile station B is
located far away from the same base station (e.g., at the cell boundaries), mobile station A causes
Adjacent channel interference(ACI) to the base station and mobile station B (Fig. 1).

Fig 1: Near-end–far-end (ratio) interference in one cell

• If a separation of five channel bandwidths(5B ) is needed for two adjacent channels in a cell in
order to avoid the near-end–far-end interference, it is then implied that a minimum separation
of 5B is required between each adjacent channel used with one cell.

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In cells of two systems:

• If two different mobile operators cover an area, ACI may occur if the frequency channels of the
two systems are not properly coordinated.
• In Figure 2, two different mobile radio systems are depicted. Mobile station A is located at the
cell boundaries of system A, but very close to base station B.
• In addition, mobile station B is located at the cell boundaries of system B, but very close to base
station A. Interference may occur at base station A from mobile station B and at mobile station
B from base station A.
• The same interference will be introduced at base station B and at mobile station A.

Fig 2: Near-end–far-end (ratio) interference in cells of two systems

Effect on Near-End Mobile units :

• As shown in Figure 1, the distance d0 between a calling mobile transmitter and a base-station
receiver is much larger than the distance d1 between a mobile transmitter causing interference and
the same base-station receiver.
• Therefore, the transmitter of the mobile unit causing interference is close enough to override the
desired base-station signal. This interference C/I at mobile station B, which is based on the distance
ratio, can be expressed as

 Where γ is the path-loss slope

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 d0 is the distance from base station to desirable mobile station A

 d1 is the distance from base station to undesirable mobile station B

• The ratio d1 /d0 is the near-end–far-end ratio.

• From above equation, the carrier–interference(adjacent channel) ratio is dependent on the
relative positions of the moving mobile units.
• This kind of interference can be reduced only by frequency separation with narrow filter
characteristics.
• The general formula for the required channel separation is based on the filter characteristic L,
which is expressed as follows.

where

2. a) With neat sketch, explain how directional antennas achieve reduction in interference.
b) Explain about high-gain Omni-directional antennas.

a) Design of a Directional Antenna System

• The cochannel interference can be reduced by using directional antennas. This means that each cell
is divided into three or six sectors and uses three or six directional antennas at a base station.
• Each sector is assigned a set of frequencies (channels).

i) K=7 and Three-Sector Case (120° directional antenna):

• To illustrate the worst-case situation in a three-Sector Case, two cochannel cells are shown in Fig2a.
• The mobile unit at position E will experience greater interference in the lower shaded cell sector
than in the upper shaded cell-sector site.
• This is because the mobile receiver receives the weakest signal from its own cell but fairly strong
interference from the interfering cell.

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(a)Worst case in a 120◦ directional antenna system (N = 7) (b) worst case in a 60◦ directional antenna system (N = 7)
Fig 2: Determination of carrier-to-interference ratio C/I in a directional antenna system

• In a three-sector case, the interference is effective in only one direction because the front-to-back
ratio of a cell-site directional antenna is at least 10 dB or more in a mobile radio environment.
• Because of the use of directional antennas, the number of principal interferers is reduced from
six to two. The worst case of C/I occurs when the mobile unit is at position E, at which point the
distance between the mobile unit and the two interfering antennas is roughly D +(R/2).
• C/I in worst case(K=7 and 3 sectors(120° directional antenna) is 24.5dB.

similarly

ii) K=7 and Six-Sector Case (60° directional antenna):

iii) K=4 and Three-Sector Case (120° directional antenna):

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iv) K=4 and Six-Sector Case (60° directional antenna):

• When the traffic increases, a three-sector system should be implemented, that is, with three
120°directional antennas in place. In certain hot spots, 60° sectors can be used locally to increase
the channel utilization.

b) Design of omni-directional antennas (in the Worst-Case scenario):

• The value of q = 4.6 is valid for a normal interference case in a K=7 cell pattern.
• In an omni-directional antennas cell sites, the worst case is at the location where the weakest
signal from its own cell site but strong interferences from all interfering cell sites.
• In the worst case the mobile unit is at the cell boundary R, as shown in Fig.1. The distances from
all six cochannel interfering sites are also shown in the Fig 1.
• Two distances of D-R, two distances of D, and two distances of D + R.

Fig 1: Cochannel interference(C/I) in omni directional antenna (a worst case)

• Following the mobile radio propagation rule of 40 dB/dec , we obtain

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• The shortest distance D − R for all six interferers as a worst case, the carrier-to-interference
ratio is

Equation 1.

• K=4 then q = 4.6(Normal case) so C/I is

• When K=4, q = 4.6(Normal case), then C/I is 14.47dB, but it is insufficient as we require
minimum of 18dB, therefore, K must be increased.

Then the values of q are

• Substituting these values in Eq 1, we obtain

• When K= 9 or 12 case the C/I is more than 18dB so omnidirectional-cell system, choosing cluster
size K = 9 or K = 12 would be a correct choice.

3. a) Explain Diversity Techniques.

b) Explain Antenna Parameters and Their Effects.

a) Diversity Techniques:
• Diversity: Diversity refers to a technique for improving the transmission of a signal, by receiving
and processing multiple versions of the same transmitted signal.

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• It is the technique used to decrease the effect of fading. It is implemented by using two or more
receiving antennas.
• If one radio path undergoes deep fade at a particular point in time, another independent (or at least
highly uncorrelated) path may have a strong signal at that input.

• There are several techniques for obtaining diversity namely

 Space diversity
 Polarization diversity
 Frequency diversity
 Time diversity

Space diversity:
• Space diversity, also known as antenna diversity, is one of the most popular forms of receiver
diversity schemes widely used in wireless systems.
• It is easy to implement and does not require additional frequency spectrum resources.
• In this technique, replica of same signal is transmitted through different antenna.

Fig 1: Space diversity

• Spatial diversity can be implemented in different ways, such as

o Beamforming
o Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
o Cooperative communication.
Advantages: It can significantly enhance the capacity and performance of wireless systems by
exploiting the spatial dimension.
Disadvantages: increased complexity, cost, and power consumption of the hardware, as well as the
need for accurate channel estimation and feedback.

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Polarization diversity:
• In polarization diversity, horizontally and vertically polarized signals or left and right circular
polarized waves are transmitted simultaneously.
• Polarization Diversity require two transmitter and two receiving antennas with different
polarization.
• Since these are uncorrelated in the mobile radio path, one of these signals will provide strong
received level after fading.
• Polarization diversity can be obtained in two ways:
o Explicit polarization diversity – In explicit polarization diversity, the signal is transmitted
and received in two orthogonal polarizations.
o Implicit polarization diversity – In the implicit polarization technique, the signal is
launched in a single polarization, but is received with cross-polarized antennas.

Advantage : It can enhance the diversity gain and spectral efficiency of wireless systems by exploiting
the polarization dimension.
Disadvantages: The increased complexity and sensitivity of the antenna design.

Frequency diversity:
• In Frequency diversity, same signal is transmitted over different frequencies to minimize
fading effects.
• The idea is that fading issues will not affect all frequencies to the same extent, so at least one
signal will be received with acceptable quality.
• The frequency separation between carriers should be larger than the coherence bandwidth.
• It needs additional frequency spectrum.
• A common form of frequency diversity are
o Frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)
o Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)
o Cognitive radio.
Advantage : It can increase the robustness and flexibility of wireless systems by exploiting the frequency
dimension.
Disadvantage: The limited availability spectrum resources.

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Time diversity:
• Time diversity uses multiple time slots or intervals to transmit the same information over
the same channel.
• Time diversity can take advantage of the fact that fading is time-varying, meaning that the signal
strength changes over time due to the relative movement of the transmitter, receiver, or
scatterers.
• Time diversity can be realized by methods such as
o Time-hopping spread spectrum (THSS)
o Time-division multiplexing (TDM)
o Automatic repeat request (ARQ)
Advantage : It can improve the reliability and efficiency of wireless systems by exploiting the time
dimension.
Disadvantage: The increased latency and overhead of transmission, the reduced throughput and
bandwidth efficiency, and the dependence on the coherence time of the channel.

b) Antenna Parameters and Their Effects:

• There are several ways of exploiting the effects of various cell-site antenna parameters which
affect the cellular system design. Some of such parameters are
o Antenna radiation pattern
o Antenna Beamwidth
o Antenna Gain
o Antenna Height
o Antenna tilting

Antenna radiation pattern:

• It is defined as a mathematical function or a graphical representation of the radiation properties
of the antenna as a function of space coordinates.
• The antenna radiation pattern can be omnidirectional, directional, or any other shape in both the
horizontal and vertical planes.
• The antenna patterns seen in cellular systems are different from the patterns seen in the free
space.
• For example, if a mobile unit travels around a cell site in areas with many buildings, the
omnidirectional antenna will not duplicate the omnidirectional radiation pattern. The radiation
pattern is distorted in an urban or suburban environment.

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• The design of the antenna pattern should be based on the terrain contour, the building and forest
density, and other conditions within a given area.

Fig 3. Directional antenna radiation pattern

Antenna Beamwidth:
• Antenna beamwidth is the angular width of the main lobe of an antenna's radiation pattern. It's
the angle from which the majority of the antenna's power radiates.
• The beamwidth of the directional antenna used at the cell site has no correlation between its
measured values in the free space and the mobile radio environment.
• Control of secondary lobe formation in an antenna radiation pattern is very critical in the
implementation of a directional antenna.
Antenna Gain:
• Antenna gain G is defined as the maximum radiation intensity produced by the antenna compared
to that given by a lossless isotropic radiator supplied with the same level of power.
• In a transmitting antenna, the gain describes how well the antenna converts input power into
radio waves headed in a specified direction.
Antenna Height:
• The antenna height is the height of the radiation center of the antenna above the average terrain.
• The height of the cell site antenna can affect the area and shape of the coverage in the
system.
• The effective antenna height, rather than the actual height, is always considered in the system
design. Therefore, the effective antenna height varies according to the location of the mobile unit.
• When the antenna site is on a hill, as shown in Fig. 4, the effective antenna height is h1 + H.

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Fig 4: Lowering the antenna height (a) on a high hill and (b) in a valley

• If we reduce the actual antenna height to 0.5h1, the effective antenna height becomes 0.5h1 + H.
The reduction in gain resulting from the height reduction is

• This simply proves that lowering antenna height on the hill does not reduce the received power
at either the cell site or the mobile unit.
Antenna tilting:
• Antenna tilt is the angle between the main beam of an antenna and the horizontal plane.
• Antenna tilting can enhance the weak spots in the cell by reducing the interference to the
neighboring cells.

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UNIT-IV
2-Marks
1. Discuss the concept of overlaid cells.

Underlay-overlay:
• The traffic capacity at an omnidirectional cell or a directional cell (see Fig. 8.3) can be increased by
using the underlay-overlay arrangement.
• The underlay overlay arrangement is achieved by adjusting the transmitted power at the cell sites.
• The underlay is the inner circle (Low transmitted power from cell site), and the overlay is the outer
ring (High transmitted power from cell site).
• A set of frequencies used in an over lay area will differ from a set of frequencies used in an underlay
area in order to avoid adjacent-channel and cochannel interference.
• In an omnidirectional cell site, the channel assignment has one overlay and one underlay as
shown in Fig. 8.3a.
• In a directional cell site case, the channel assignment has three overlay regions and three
underlay regions because of the sectorization (Fig. 8.3b).

2. Explain about access channels.

• Set-up channels are the channels designated to set up calls also called control channels. A call
always needs a set-up channel.

• Base on usage Set-up channels can be classified into two types: access channels and paging
channels.
•

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• Access channel is used for the mobile originating calls and paging channels for the responder
calls from the cell site.

3. Write short note on Numbering and Grouping of channels.

• The function of frequency management is to divide the total number of available channels into
subsets which can be assigned to each cell site.
• The total number of channels (January 1988) is 832. But most mobile units and systems are
still operating on 666 channels.
• The 666 channels are divided into two groups: block A system and block B system. Each block
has 333 channels.
• The voice channels(623) are assigned as follows.
o Channels 1-312 (312 voice channels) block A
o Channels 355-666 (312 voice channels) block B
• The set-up channels(42) are assigned as follows.
o Channels 313-333 (block A)
o Channels 334-354(block B)
• Since there are 21 set-up channels for each system, it is logical to group the 312 channels into
21 subsets.

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10-Marks

1. a) Explain in detail the channel assignment.

b) Discuss channel sharing and borrowing.

a) The channel assignment:

• Channel assignment means to allocate the available channels to the cells in a cellular system. When
a user wants to make a call request then by using channel allocation strategies their requests are
fulfilled.
• Channel Allocation Strategies are designed in such a way that there is efficient use of frequencies,
time slots and bandwidth.
• Three ways the traffic channels can be allotted to different cells. Fixed, Dynamic and Hybrid as
shown in fig 1.

Fig 1: Channel allocation schemes in cellular system

i)Fixed(Static) Channel assignment(FCA):
 FCA is a strategy in which fixed number of channels are allocated to the cells as shown in fig 2.
 Once the channels are allocated to the specific cells then they cannot be changed.

Fig 2: Fixed(Static) Channel assignment

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FCA Advantages :
o Simple to implement and manage.
o Does not require complex equipment or algorithms.
FCA Disadvantages :
o Limited channel utilization as unused channels remain unused.
o Susceptible to interference and congestion.

ii) Non-Fixed(Dynamic) Channel assignment(DCA):

• In DCA, voice channel is not allocated to cell permanently, instead for every call request, base
station request channel from MSC. The channel is allocated following an algorithm which accounts
likelihood of future blocking within the cell.
• On the basis of overall system performance, DCA can also be used during a call.
DAC Advantages :
o Efficient use of available bandwidth.
o Reduces call blocking and improves call quality.
o Allows for dynamic allocation of resources.
DAC Disadvantages :
o Requires more complex equipment and algorithms.
o May result in call drops or poor quality if resources are not available.

iii) Hybrid Channel assignment(HCA):

• Hybrid Channel assignment is a combination of both Fixed Channel assignment (FCA) and Dynamic
Channel assignment (DCA).
• The total number of channels or voice channels are divided into fixed and dynamic set. When a user
makes a call then first fixed set of channels are utilized but if all the fixed sets are busy then dynamic
sets are used.
• The main purpose of HCA is to work efficiently under heavy traffic and to maintain a minimum S/I.

HCA Advantages :
o Provides the benefits of both FCA and DCA.
o Allows for dynamic allocation of resources while maintaining predictable call quality and
reliability.
HCA Disadvantages :
o Requires more complex equipment and algorithms than FCA.
o May not provide the same level of efficiency as pure DCA.

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Borrowing Channel assignment(BCA):

• when a cell experiences high traffic demand and all of its channels are occupied, it can borrow
channels from neighboring cells that are not being used at that time called Borrowing Channel
assignment.
• The borrowed channels are assigned to the busy cell and are used to support the additional
traffic demand. Once the demand subsides, the borrowed channels are released and returned to
their home cell.
BCA Advantages :
o Efficient use of available bandwidth.
o Reduces call blocking and improves call quality.
BCA Disadvantages :
o Increases interference between cells.
o Can cause call drops if borrowed channels are reclaimed by the home cell.

Forcible-Borrowing Channel Assignment(FBCA):

• In FBCA, if a channel is in operation and the situation permits it, channels must be borrowed from
the neighboring cells and at the same time, another voice channel will be assigned to continue the
call in the neighboring cell.
• Even those channels currently in operation can be forcibly borrowed and will be replaced by a new
channel in the neighboring cell or the neighboring cell of the neighboring cell.
• If all the channels in the neighboring cells cannot be borrowed because of interference problems,
the FBCA stops.
• The FBCA algorithm is based on assigning a channel dynamically but obeying the rule of reuse
distance.

b) Channel sharing and borrowing:

i) Channel sharing:
• Channel sharing is a short-term traffic-relief scheme.
• There are 21 channel sets, with each set consisting of about 16 channels.
• When a cell needs more channels, the channels of another face at the same cell site can be shared
to handle the short-term overload.

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• To obey the adjacent channel assignment algorithm, the sharing is always cyclic.
• Since we cannot allow adjacent channels to share with the nominal channels in the same cell,
channel sets 4 and 5 cannot both be shared with channel sets 12 and 18, as indicated by the grid
mark.
• However, the upper subset of set 4 can be shared with the lower subset of set 5 with no
interference.

ii) Channel borrowing:

• Channel borrowing is usually handled on a long-term basis. The extent of borrowing more
available channels from other cells depends on the traffic density in the area.
• Channel borrowing can be implemented from one cell-site face to another face at the same cell
site.
• In addition, the central cell site can borrow channels from neighboring cells. The channel-
borrowing scheme is used primarily for slowly growing systems.
• It is often helpful in delaying cell splitting in peak traffic areas. Since cell splitting is costly, it
should be implemented only as a last resort.

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2. a) Explain about channel assignment to cell sites and mobile units.

b) What is sectorization? Compare Omni cells and sectorized cells.

a) Channel assignment to cell sites and mobile units

i) Channel assignment to the cell site:

• In a fixed channel assignment case, the channels are usually assigned to the cell site for relatively
long periods.
• Two types of channels are assigned they are
 Set-up channels
 Voice channels
Set-up channels:
 There are 21 set-up channels assigned in each cell in a K = 4, K = 7, or K = 12 frequency-reuse
pattern.
 If the set-up channel antennas are omnidirectional, then each cell only needs one set-up channel.
This leaves many unused set-up channels. However, the setup channels of blocks A and B are
adjacent to each other.
 In order to avoid interference between two systems, the set-up channels in the neighbourhood of
Channel 333 (block A) and Channel 334 (block B) are preferably unused.

Voice channels:
 One way of dividing the total voice channels into 21 sets. The assignment of certain sets of voice
channels in each cell site are based on causing minimum co-channel and adjacent-channel
interference.

Supervisory audio tone (SAT):

 SAT are the sine wave signals at 5970, 6000, and 6030 Hz assigned by operating company to each
cell site.
 SAT from cell sites help mobile stations distinguish neighboring cell sites from one another.

 The SAT is transmitted with user information to identify cell site.

 Based on the assignment of each SAT in each cell, we can show the method for further reducing
cochannel interference.

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ii) Channel assignment to the traveling mobile site:

• The mobile site antenna pattern does not affect if the traffic density is uniform.
• When the traffic becomes heavier (more cars approach the city in the morning and leave the city
at evening), the traffic pattern becomes non-uniform and the mobile sites closest to the city
cannot receive calls or handoffs.
• To solve these problems, three methods can be used.
 Underlay-overlay
 Frequency assignment
 Tilted antenna
Underlay-overlay:
• The traffic capacity at an omnidirectional cell or a directional cell (see Fig. 8.3) can be increased by
using the underlay overlay arrangement.
• The underlay overlay arrangement is achieved by adjusting the transmitted power at the cell sites.
• The underlay is the inner circle (Low transmitted power from cell site), and the overlay is the outer
ring (High transmitted power from cell site).
• A set of frequencies used in an over lay area will differ from a set of frequencies used in an underlay
area in order to avoid adjacent-channel and cochannel interference.
• In an omnidirectional cell site, the channel assignment has one overlay and one underlay as
shown in Fig. 8.3a.
• In a directional cell site case, the channel assignment has three overlay regions and three
underlay regions because of the sectorization (Fig. 8.3b).

Frequency assignment:
• We assign the frequencies by a set of channels or any part of a set or more than one set of the total
21 sets.
• Borrowed frequency sets are used when needed.
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• On the basis of coverage prediction, we can assign frequencies intelligently at one site or at one
sector without interfering with adjacent cochannel sectors or cochannel cells.

Tilted antenna:
• The tilted directional antenna arrangement can eliminate interference.
• Sometimes antenna tilting is more effective than decreasing antenna height, especially in areas of
tall trees or at high sites.
• When the tilting angles become 22° or greater, the horizontal pattern creates a notch in the front
of the antenna.
b)
i) Sectorization:
• The total number of available channels can be divided into sets (subgroups) depending on the
sectorization of the cell configuration like the 120° -sector system, the 60° -sector system, and the
45° -sector system.
• A seven-cell system usually uses three 120° sectors per cell, with the total number of channel sets
being 21.
• In certain locations and special situations, the sector angle can be reduced (narrowed) in order to
assign more channels in one sector without increasing neighboring channel interference serves the
same purpose as the channel-borrowing scheme in delaying cell splitting.

Fig : Cell Sectoring

• In addition, channel coordination to avoid cochannel interference is much easier in sectorization

than in cell splitting.
• Given the same number of channels, trunking efficiency decreases in sectorization.

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ii) Comparison of omni cells (non-sectorized cells) and sectorized cells Omni cells:
• If a K = 7 frequency-reuse pattern is used, the frequency sets assigned in each cell can be followed
by the frequency-management chart.
• However, terrain is seldom flat; therefore, K= 12 is sometimes needed for reducing cochannel
interference.
• For K = 12, the channel-reuse distance is D = 6R, or the cochannel reduction factor q = 6.

Sectorized cells:
There are three basic types.
1. The 120°-sector cell is used for both transmitting and receiving sectorization. Each sector has
assigned a number of frequencies. Changing sectors during a call requires handoffs.
2. The 60°-sector cell is used for both transmitting and receiving sectorization. Changing sectors
during a call requires handoffs. More handoffs are expected for a 60° sector than a 120° sector in areas
close to cell sites (close-in areas).
3. The 120°- or 60°-sector cell is used for receiving sectorization only. In this case, the transmitting
antenna is omnidirectional. The number of channels in this cell is not subdivided for each sector.
Therefore, no handoffs are required when changing sectors.

3. a) Write short notes on set-up channels, Access channels and Paging channels.
b) Explain about fixed channel assignment.
a)
i) Set-up channels, Access channels and Paging channels:
• Set-up channels are the channels designated to set up calls also called control channels. A call
always needs a set-up channel.
• The 21 set-up channels are taken out from the total number of channels(The total number of
channels (January 1988) is 832).
• The number 21 is derived from a seven-cell frequency-reuse pattern with three 120° sectors per
cell.
• Base on usage Set-up channels can be classified into two types: access channels and paging
channels.
• Access channel is used for the mobile originating calls and paging channels for the responder
calls from the cell site.

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• One set-up channel is specified by two operations as a forward set-up channel (using the upper
band) and a reverse set-up channel (using the lower band).
• The forward set-up channel is transmitted from the cell site to mobile unit, and the reverse set-
up channel is transmitted from the mobile unit to the cell site.
• In the most common types of cellular systems, one set-up channel is used for both paging and
access.
• The forward set-up channel functions as the paging channel for responding to the mobile-
originating calls.
• The reverse set-up channel functions as the access channel for the responder to the paging call.
• All set-up channels carry data information only whereas Voice channels carry Voice
information.

Access channels:
• In mobile-originating calls, the mobile unit scans its 21 set-up channels and chooses the strongest
one. Because each set-up channel is associated with one cell site, the strongest set-up channel
indicates which cell is to serve the mobile-originating calls.
• The mobile unit detects the system information ( Busy/Idle) bits transmitted from the cell site.
• When the idle bits are received, the mobile unit can use the corresponding reverse set-up channel
to initiate a call.
• The operational functions are described as follows.
1. Power of a forward set-up channel [or forward control channel (FOCC)]:
 When the traffic is heavy, the power of the set-up channel should be reduced in order to reduce
the coverage of the cell for the incoming calls originating from the mobile unit.
2. The set-up channel received level:
 The set-up channel threshold level is determined in order to control the reception at the reverse
control channel (RECC).


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 If the received power level is greater than the given set-up threshold level, the call request will
be taken.
3. Change power at the mobile unit:
 When the mobile unit monitors the strongest signal strength from all set-up channels and selects
that channel to receive the messages.
4. Direct call retry.
 When a cell site has no available voice channels, it can send a direct call-retry message through
the set-up channel.
Paging channels:
• Each cell site has been allocated its own set-up channel. The assigned forward set-up channel
(FOCC) of each cell site is used to page the mobile unit.
• Because the same message is transmitted by the different set-up channels, no simulcast
interference occurs in the system.
• The simplest way is to page from all the cell sites. This can occupy a large amount of the traffic load.
• The other way is to page in an area corresponding to the mobile unit phone number. If there is no
answer, the system tries to page in other areas. The drawback is that response time is sometimes
too long.

b) Fixed channel assignment:

• In a fixed channel assignment case, the channels are usually assigned to the cell site for relatively
long periods.
• Two types of channels are assigned they are
 Set-up channels
 Voice channels

Set-up channels:
 There are 21 set-up channels assigned in each cell in a K = 4, K = 7, or K = 12 frequency-reuse
pattern.
 If the set-up channel antennas are omnidirectional, then each cell only needs one set-up channel.
This leaves many unused set-up channels. However, the setup channels of blocks A and B are
adjacent to each other.

 In order to avoid interference between two systems, the set-up channels in the neighbourhood of
Channel 333 (block A) and Channel 334 (block B) are preferably unused.

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Voice channels:
 One way of dividing the total voice channels into 21 sets. The assignment of certain sets of voice
channels in each cell site are based on causing minimum co-channel and adjacent-channel
interference.

Supervisory audio tone (SAT):

 SAT are the sine wave signals at 5970, 6000, and 6030 Hz assigned by operating company to each
cell site.
 SAT from cell sites help mobile stations distinguish neighboring cell sites from one another.
 The SAT is transmitted with user information to identify cell site.
 Based on the assignment of each SAT in each cell, we can show the method for further reducing
cochannel interference.

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UNIT-V
2-Marks
1. What is handoff? Explain Forced handoff ?
Handoff:

• In mobile communication, handoff is the process of transferring cellular transmission from one
base station to another. This process is important for delivering uninterrupted service to a caller
or data session user.

Forced handoff:
• A forced handoff is defined as a handoff that would normally occur but is prevented from
happening, or a handoff that should not occur but is forced to happen.

Controlling a Handoff:
• The cell site(Base station(BS)) can assign a low handoff threshold in a cell to keep a mobile unit
in a cell longer or assign a high handoff threshold level to request a handoff earlier.
• The MSC also can control a handoff by making either a handoff earlier or later, after receiving
a handoff request from a cell site.
Creating a Handoff:
• If MSC finds that some cells are too congested, then the MSC can request call sites to create
early handoffs.
• In other words, a cell site has to follow the MSC’s order and increase the handoff threshold to push
the mobile units at the new boundary and to hand off earlier.

2. Explain power difference handoff and Dropped Call Rates.

Power difference handoff:
• A better algorithm is based on the power difference (Δ) of a mobile signal received by two cell sites,
home site and candidate site .
• The handoff occurs depending on a preset value of Δ. Δ can be positive or negative.
• Δ = The mobile signal measured at the candidate handoff site − the mobile signal measured at the
home site.
• For example, the following cases can occur.

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• Those numbers can be changed to fit the switch processor capacity. This algorithm is not based
on the received signal strength level, but on a relative (power difference) measurement.

Dropped Call Rates:

• The possibility that a call will drop due to the poor signal of the assigned voice channel is called
as “dropped call”.
• If the phone cannot find an alternative cell site to initiate handoff, the call is lost.
• Co-channel and adjacent-channel interference can also be responsible for dropped calls in a
wireless network.
• One of major reason of dropped calls is improper handoff, a proper timely handoff is one of the
procedures to reduce dropped calls.
• The dropping probability is defined as the percentage of handoff attempts that are denied
because of insufficient resources in the cell into which the mobile is moving.
• The number of dropped calls in cellular system is dependent on the dropped call rate. The
dropped call rate is dependent on the following factors:
 The channel capacity
 Level of traffic in the system
 Voice quality
 Probability that the signal below the receiver threshold
 Probability that the signal below the specified co-channel interference level
• The general formula of dropped call rate P in a whole system can be expressed as:

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3. What is Delaying handoff?

• A handoff could be delayed if no available cell site or busy target cell site to start handoff
procedure.
• The following are the two approaches for delaying handoffs.
i) Implementing a two-level handoff
ii) Queuing the handoff calls

i) Implementing a two-level handoff

• In this approach, based on the RSS(Received Signal Strength), two handoff request levels( L1
and L2) and a threshold level (X) are defined first.
• When the RSS drops below the first handoff level L1, a handoff request is initiated(Fig 1a) but
does not take place immediately. At this stage for every 5sec handoff request is made and handoff
takes place if the new signal from adjacent cell is stronger.

(a) Handoff at first threshold L1 (b) Handoff at second threshold L2 (c) Dropped call
Fig 1: Implementation of two-level handoff scheme.

• If the handoff reached level L2, handoff takes place immediately (Fig 1b) without considering
any condition.

• Even after second level (L2) if no target cells are available, then the call continues until the RSS
drops below the threshold level “X” and after the threshold level the call is dropped(Fig 1c).

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ii) Queuing the handoff calls:

• If the home cell site finds all the available channels occupied in the target cell site, a handoff
request is put in the queue.
• If the RSS from the current cell site falls below the receiver threshold level prior to the mobile
being assigned a channel in the target cell, the call is forced to terminate.
• The MSC will queue the requests of handoff calls instead of rejecting them if the new cell sites are
busy.

Fig 2: A general system model for handoff queuing

• In general, it is better to queue only the handoff calls so that it will give a decreased blocking
probability of handoff calls and it should not affect the originating calls. Similarly, queuing of
originating calls will give an increased blocking probability on handoff calls.
• Queuing of handoff approach is more effective than a two-level handoff.

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10-Marks

1. Explain about classification of Handoffs in detail.

Classification of Handoffs:
Handoffs can be classified based on three decisive factors, the natures of handoff, the purposes of
handoff, and the algorithms of handoff. These classifications are further classified into various handoffs
as shown in Figure below.

Fig : Classification of Handoff

Classification based on natures of handoff:

In this classification, the handoff mechanism is usually categorized as follows:

 Hard handoff
 Soft handoff
 Softer handoff

Hard handoff:
• A hard handoff is also known as break-before-make handoff. In hard handoff, as the mobile crosses
the border to another cell, the communication between MS(Mobile Station) and BS(Base Station/Cell
site) is first broken before the communication is started between mobile and the other BS.
• As a consequence, the transition is not smooth. Although there is generally a short break in
transmission, this is normally short enough and not to be noticed by the user.

• Figure 1 illustrates the hard handoff between BS1 and BS2.

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• In Figure 1(a) the dark (solid) line indicates connection between BS1 and mobile. The dotted line
indicates no connection and request for establishing new connection with BS2, which indicates the
mobile before handoff.

Fig 1: Hard handoff between BS1 and BS2

Soft handoff:
• The soft handoff is also known as make-before-break handoff. In soft handoff, the handoff from
one BS to another occurs in a smooth manner.
• In this the MS keeps its communication with the original BS, until it establishes a connection with
the other BSs.
• The excess connections are given up only when the new link has the sufficient quality. In soft
handoff, unlike hard handoff, for smooth transition of a call from one cell to another, the mobile
continues to talk to both the cells. The soft handoff between two BSs (BS1 and BS2) is illustrated
in Figure 2.

Fig 2: Soft handoff between BS1 and BS2

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• As the mobile moves from cell A (BS1) to cell B (BS2), the MS remains in communication with the
original cell as well as with the new cell. The handoff is completed when the mobile selects the
best BS as the target.
• Normally soft handoff can be used when cells operated on the same frequency are changed.

Softer handoff:
• A softer handoff occurs when the MS is communicating with two sectors of a same cell. Softer
handoff is identical to the soft handoff .

Classification based on Purpose of handoff:

The classification is based on network view in this classification the handoff can be of three types:
 Intra-cell handoff
 Inter-cell handoff
 Inter-system handoff
Intra-cell handoff:
• The handoff between two sectors within a cell is known as intra-cell handoff.
• In general, to support a greater number of mobile subscribers, a cell is sectorized into number of
sectors.
• In a cell with three sectors case, the total 360° of cell area is sectored into three 120° individual areas
as shown in Fig 3, and the handoff in between sector-to-sector is called as intra-cell handoff.

Fig 3: Intra-cell handoff

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Inter-cell handoff:
• The most basic form of handoff is when a phone call is in progress is redirected from its current
cell site(source) to a new cell site(target).

• Such a handoff, in which the source and the target are different cells under same Mobile switching
center(MAC) is called inter-cell handoff as shown in Figure 4.
• The purpose of inter-cell handoff is to maintain the call as the subscriber is moving out of the area
covered by the source cell and entering the area of the target cell.

Fig 4: Inter-cell handoff

Inter-System handoff:
• The handoff which takes place when a mobile moves away from one system controlled by an MSC
and enters into another system controlled by a different MSC is called as inter-system handoff.
• As shown in Figure 5, the mobile initially in MSC-A is moving to MSC-B.
• In this case, when the signal strength is decreasing, MSC-A searches for new MSC then it makes a
handoff request to MSC-B to provide handoff.

Fig 5: Inter- System handoff

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Classification based on algorithms of handoff:

• There are three different handoff strategies based on algorithms of handoff, which have been
proposed for transferring the connection to a new BS.

 MCHO (mobile-controlled handoff)

 NCHO (network-controlled handoff)

 MAHO (mobile-assisted handoff)

MCHO (Mobile-Controlled HandOff):

• In this case, the mobile phone measures the handoff criteria and makes a decision based on them.
• The MSC is not involved in the handoff process resulting in reduced burden on the MSC.
• Since the handoff process is implemented in the mobile itself, the delay is usually smaller with a
typical value of 0.1sec.
• Mobile continuously monitors the signal strengths, a handoff can be initiated if the signal strength
of the serving BS is lower than that of another BS by a certain threshold. Then the mobile requests
the target BS for handoff mechanism.
• MCHO is the highest degree of handoff decentralization.
• An example of a MCHO-based handoff control network is Digital European cordless telephone
(DECT).
Advantages:
o Handoff decisions can be made fast.
o MSC does not have to make handoff decisions for every mobile, which is a very difficult task.

NCHO (Network-Controlled HandOff):

• In this type of handoff, the network (BS or MSC or both) makes a handoff decision based on
measurements of the RSSs (Received Signal Strength) of mobile and the interferences from
different BSs.
• NCHO is a centralized handoff protocol.
• If the mobile is measured to have a weaker signal in its old cell, while a stronger signal in a
neighboring cell, then a handoff decision could be made by the network to switch BS from the old
cell to the new cell.
• Such a type of handoff in general takes 100–200ms and produces a noticeable “interruption” in
the conversation.
• It is widely used in the first-generation(1G)cellular systems, such as AMPS (Advanced Mobile
Phone System).

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MAHO (Mobile-Assisted HandOff):

• MAHO is a variant of NCHO strategy.
• To improve the handoff reaction time and to reduce the handoff administration load of the MSC,
the mobile phones make the measurements and the MSC make the decisions.
• In the MAHO strategy, the network (BS or MSC or both) directs the mobile to measure the signal
strengths from the surrounding BSs and to report those measurements back to the network.
• The network then uses these measurements to determine where a handoff is required with which
channel.
• The delay in this protocol starting from the handoff initiation till the handoff execution is around
1sec.
• It is widely used in the Second-generation(2G) cellular systems such as GSM and IS-95 system.

2. a) Explain how the handoffs implemented based on signal strength?

b) What is meant by handoff initiation? Explain the different methods of handoff initiation
with suitable diagrams.

a) Handoffs implementation based on signal strength

Handoff is needed in two situations where the cell site receives weak signals from the mobile unit:
(1) at the cell boundary, say -100 dBm, . which is the level for requesting a handoff in a noise-
limited environment.
(2) when the mobile unit is reaching the signal-strength holes (gaps) within the cell site as
shown in Fig. 9.1.

• There are two types of handoffs: (1) that based on signal strength and (2) that based on carrier-
to-interference ratio.
•

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• The handoff criteria are different for these two types. In type 1, the signal-strength threshold
level for handoff is -100 dBm in noise-limited systems and -95 dBm in interference-limited
systems.
• In type 2, the value of C/I at the cell boundary for handoff should be 18 dB in order to have toll
quality voice.
• Type 1 is easy to implement. The location receiver at each cell site measures all the signal
strengths of all receivers at the cell site. However, the received signal strength (RSS) itself
includes interference.

RSS = C + I

where C is the carrier signal power, and I is the interference.

• Suppose that we set up a threshold level for RSS then, because of the I, which is sometimes very
strong, the RSS level is higher and far above the handoff threshold level. In this situation handoff
should theoretically take place but does not.
• Another situation is when I is very low but RSS is also low. In this situation, the voice quality
usually is good even though the RSS level is low, but since RSS is low, unnecessary handoff takes
place.
• Therefore, it is an easy but not very accurate method of determining handoffs.

b)
Handoff Initiation:

• At the cell site, signal strength is always monitored from a reverse voice channel.
• When the signal strength reaches the level of a handoff (higher than the threshold level for the
minimum required voice quality), then the cell site sends a request to the MSC for a handoff on
the call.
• If an unnecessary handoff is requested, then the decision was made too early. If a failure
handoff occurs, then a decision was made too late.
• The following approaches are used to make handoffs successful and to eliminate all unnecessary
handoffs.
•

• Suppose that −100 dBm is a threshold level at the cell boundary at which a handoff would be
taken.
• Given this scenario, we must set up a level higher than −100 dBm say, −100 dBm + Δ dB and
when the received signal reaches this level, a handoff request is initiated.
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• If the value of Δ is large, then the signals will never drop below −100 dBm. Thus, many
unnecessary handoffs may occur simply because we have taken the action too early.
• If Δ is small, then there is not enough time for the call to hand off at the cell site and many calls
can be lost while they are handed off.
• Therefore, Δ should be varied according to the path-loss slope and the level-crossing rate
(LCR) of the signal strength as shown in Fig.1.

Fig 1: Parameters for handling a handoff

• Let the value of Δ be 10 dB, this would mean a level of −90 dBm as the threshold level for requesting
a handoff.
• Then we can calculate the velocity V of the mobile unit based on the predicted LCR at a −10 dB level
with respect to the root-mean-square (rms) level, which is at −90 dBm; thus

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• Where n is the LCR (crossings per second) counting positive slopes and λ is the wavelength in
feet.
• The velocity of vehicle V and the pathloss slope γ , can be used to determine the value of Δ
dynamically so that the number of unnecessary handoffs can be reduced and the required
handoffs can be completed successfully.

3. Explain in detail about Performance Evaluation and Signaling Evaluation.

i) Performance Evaluation:
• Performance Evaluation of a cellular network can be done by measuring Blockage and Dropped-
Call Rates.

Blockage:

• In cellular networks, blocking occurs when a base station has no free channel to allocate to a
mobile user.
• There are two kinds of blockage: set-up channel blockage and voice-channel blockage.

Set-up channel blockage B1:

• Information regarding set-up channel blockage can be obtained at the mobile site because the
mobile unit will be searching for the busy/idle bit of a forward set-up channel in order to set up
its call.
• If the busy bit does not change after 10 call attempts in 1 s, a busy tone is generated, and no
mobile transmit takes place.
• In another case, the mobile transmit takes place as soon as the idle bit is shown. Several
initiating cells can inter collide at the same time. When it occurs, the mobile unit counts it as one
seizure attempt. If the number of seizure attempts exceeds 10, then the call is blocked.
• The blocking probability is the dominant parameter used for effective network design and
network planning. It is defined as the probability of service being denied to users due to the non-
availability of channels.
•

• If all the call-attempt repeats are independent events, then the resultant blocking probability B1
after n attempts is related to the blocking probability of the single call attempt B, as

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Note:

Voice-Channel Blockage B2:

• Voice-channel blockage can be evaluated at the cell site. When all calls come in, some are refused
for service because there are no available voice channels.
• Suppose that we are designing a voice channel blockage to be .02. On this basis, B2 = .02, and
after determining the holding time per call1 and roughly estimating the total number of calls per
hour at the site,2 we can find the number of radios required.
End-Office Trunk Blockage B3:
• The trunks connecting from the MSC to the end office can be blocked. This usually occurs when
the call traffic starts to build up and the number of trunks connected to the end office becomes
inadequate.
• Unless this corrective action is taken, the blockage during busy periods increases.
The Total Blockage Bt:
• As the total call blockage is the result of all three kinds of blockage, the total blockage is

Note:

Dropped-Call Rates:
• Call drops are defined as calls dropped for any reason after the voice channel has been assigned.

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• Sometimes call drops due to weak signals are called lost calls.
• The dropped-call rate is partially based on the handoff-traffic model and partially based on signal
coverage.

The Handoff Traffic Model:

• A new handoff cell site treats handoffs the same way as it would an incoming call. Therefore, the
blockage for handoff calls is also B = .02.
• MSC systems may give priority to handoff calls rather than to incoming calls. In this case the
blocking probability will be less than .02.
The Loss of SAT Calls in AMPS System:
• If the mobile unit does not receive a correct SAT (Supervisory audio tone )in 5 s, the mobile-unit
transmitter is shut down.
• If the mobile unit does not send back a SAT in 5 s, the transmitter at the cell site is shut down. In
both cases the call is dropped.

ii) Signaling Evaluation:

• The signaling format of the forward control channel (FOCC) as deduced from a BCH code (63, 51)
becomes a short code of (40, 28) or that of the reverse control channel (RECC) from a BCH
becomes a short code of (48, 36).
• This BCH code can correct one error and detect two errors.
False-Alarm Rate:
• The false-alarm rate is the rate of occurrence of a false recognizable word that would cause a
malfunction in a system.
• The false-alarm rate should be less than 10−7. Now we would like to verify that the BCH code (40,
28) can meet this requirement.

• The Hamming distance d of BCH (40, 28) is 5. This means that in every different code word at
least 5 out of 40 bits are different. Then the false-alarm rate FAR can be calculated as

Word Error Rate Consideration:

• The word error rate (WER), also called frame error rate (FER), plays an important role in a
Rayleigh fading environment. The length of a word of an FOCC is L = 40 and the transmission rate
is 10 kbps. Then the transmission time for a 40-bit word is

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Parity Check Bits:

• Let a word of (7, 4) be generated with 4 bits of information and a 3-bit parity check. The word
matrix [C] can be expressed as

where [xm] is the information matrix and [G] is the generation matrix.

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