Lecture 3: Cellular Systems
Lecture 3: Cellular Systems
Frequency Assignments
UK
890 MHz 915 935 960
US
825 845 870 890
Japan
870 885 925 940
Frequency usage in GSM at
Europe
f
960 MHz 124
Downlink
935.2 MHz 1 200 kHz
20 MHz
915 MHz 124
1
Uplink
890.2 MHz
t
30 degrees
Distance calculation
(u1,v1) and (u2,v2) are centers of two cells
Distance D
D^2 = [ (u2-u1)^2 (cos 30)^2 +
{(v2-v1)+(u2-u1) sin 30}^2]
= [ (u2-u1)^2+(v2-v1)^2 +
(v2-v1)(u2-u1) ]
= [I^2 +J^2+IJ] where
(u1,v1) = (0,0) and (u2,v2) = (I,J)
Radius is R for a cell.
Distance between adjacent cells is 1.732 R
First Tier
Interfering cells
Co-channel interference
It is a function of q = D/R where R is the cell
radius and D is the co-channel separation distance.
Notice D is a function of n and S/I where n is the
number of interfering channels in the first tier and
S/I is signal to interference ratio.
In a fully equipped hexagonal-shaped system n is
always 6.
More Calculations
A(large)/A(small) = D^2 / R^2
Because of the hexagonal shape the total
number of cells included in first tier is
N + 6 (N/3) = 3N
Therefore
D^2/R^2 = 3N = 3(I^2+J^2+IJ)
S/I ratio
There are 6 interfering co-channels each gives i =
(D/R)^(-g) where 2 <= g <= 5 and it is called
propagation path-loss slope and depends upon the
terrain. (choose 4!)
S/I = S/(6i)
Experiment with actual users show that we need S/I to
be at least 18 dB (or 63.1)
Substituting, we get q = (6*63.1)^0.25 = 4.41
We then get N = q^2/3 = 6.49 approximates to 7.
Cell reuse factor vs Mean S/I
Cell q = D/R Voice Calls per Mean S/I
reuse Channels Cell per dB
factor N per cell Hour
4 3.5 99 2610 14.0
12 6.0 33 739
23.3
Standard 7 cells sharing system (N = 7)
f3
f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
f1 f4
f3 f7 f1
f2
Other Common Channel Sharing
f3 f3 f3
f2 f2
f1 f1 f1
f3 f3 3 cell cluster
f2 f2 f2
f1 f1
f3 f3 f3
f2 f3 f7
f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
7 cell cluster f1 f4
f3 f7 f1
f2 f3
f6 f5 f2
f2 f2 f2
f1 f f1 f f1 f
3 h 3 h 3
h 2 h 2 3 cell cluster
g2 1 h3 g2 1 h3 g2
g1 g1 g1
g3 g3 g3 with 3 sector antennas
Handoff
What happens when a user is mobile?
- Especially when crossing a cell boundary while
continuing the call.
Handoff strategy is invoked.
Find a new base station
Process handoff
higher priority over new call invocation
Who and When
Who initiates handoff
Network directed ( tower determines )
Terminal assisted ( user helps the tower)
Terminal directed ( user determines )
When to initiate handoff
When the mean signal (over some
predetermined time) is below some threshold
Types of Handoff
Hard handoff
Mobile user is passed between disjoint towers
that assign different frequency or adapt
different air-interface technology
Soft handoff
Mobile user communicates to two towers
simultaneously and the signal is treated as a
multipath signal
High priority for Handoff
Fraction of available channels is kept for
handoff purpose. These channels are called
guard channel.
Other problems with handoff
High speed vehicles can cross many small
cells in a short time.
Umbrella cell. Large cell with a powerful
tower to handle high speed vehicles
Another problem is called cell dragging.
Happens when the user moves slowly away
from the cell and the tower didnt recognize it
due to strong average signal.
Improving Capacity
Sectoring
Cell splitting
Process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells.
Each has its own base station
Smaller antenna and reduced transmission
power
These smaller cells are called microcells
Generations
1G - First generation (Analog and FM)
2G - Second generation (Digital, TDMA,
CDMA)
3G - Third generation (Multi-media)
4G - Fourth generation (?)
North American Systems
Generation
1st AMPS
Land Lines
A A B A B A A B A B
832 Channels
Channel Allocation
Each channel gets 30KHz.
So a call takes two channels
Forward channel (tower to mobile)
Reverse channel (mobile to tower)
Spectrum is divided into two bands
A and B bands
Two cellular operating licenses
Each authorized to use 416 channels (expanded)
Control Channels
42 channels (21 in each band) are called
control channels
Carry only system information
Receiver tunes to the control channel
Use this channel to establish contact with tower
and determine what channel to use for
conversation.
Power Control
AMPS terminal can transmit at 6 or 8
different power levels
Increase in steps of 4dB
Message from Base Station control the power
level of active terminal
Typically power remains the same during a
converstion
DTX (Discontinuous Transmission) where the
power varies depending upon speech activity
AMPS Identifiers
Notation Name Size Description
bits
MIN Mobile Identifier 34 Assigned by company to
subscriber
ESN Electronic serial no. 32 Assigned by manufacturer
Europe
1710 MHz 1785 1805 1885
US
1850 1910 1930 1990
Japan
1895 1918