Cellular Networks : Evolution(1)

• First Generation
 Launched in mid 1980’s
 Analog Systems
 Analog modulation ,mostly Frequency Modulation
 Voice Traffic only
 FDMA/FDD multiple access
 Confined to national boundaries
Examples: AMPS
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(2)
• Second Generation(2G)

 Developed for Voice Communications

 Digital Systems, Digital modulation
 TDMA/FDD and CDMA/FDD multiple access
 Provides data rates of the order of ~9.6Kbps
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(3)
• Examples of Second Generation (2G)
– Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM)
• TDMA/FDMA
• 900MHz and 1800MHz
– Personal Digital Communication (PDC)
• Popular in Japan
– IS-95
• CDMA
• US/South Korea
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(4)
• Limitations of Second Generation (2G)
– Developed for Voice communication (Unsuitable
for Data Traffic)
– Average rate of the order of tens of Kbps
– Not suitable for internet (Packet Switched
Services)
– Multiple Standards (no true global coverage)
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(4)
• 2.5G
– The effort to remove the impediments of 2G
System resulted in 2.5G.
– Digital Systems
– Voice + Low Data rate
– Internet Access through GPRS(General Packet
Radio Service)
– Enhanced Data rate for Global Evolution(EDGE)
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(5)
• 3G
– Digital Modulation
– Simultaneous Voice +High Speed Data
– Multimegabit Internet Access
– Voice Activated Call
– Multimedia Transmission
 Cellular Networks : Evolution(6)
• Need for 4G
– Present communication System are primarily
designed for one specific application, such as speech
on a mobile telephone or high data in wireless local
area network(WLAN)
– Will integrate various networks, functions and
applications
– Will create “Global information multimedia Village”
– Will support a variety of data rates from 2G to 3Gto
3G+
 Terminology
Mobile: It is used to describe the radio terminal
that is attached to a high speed mobile platform.

Portable: It describes a radio terminal that can be

hand held and used by someone at walking
speed.

Subscriber Unit: It describes a mobile or portable

user because each user pays a subscription fee to
use the system and each users communication
device is called Subscriber Unit.
 Terminology
Base Station: A fixed station in mobile radio system used
for radio communication with mobile station located
at center or edge of coverage region and consists of
radio channels and transmitters and receivers
antennas mounted on a tower.

Control Channel: Radio channel used for transmission of

call setup, call request, call initiation and other beacon
or control purpose.

Forward Channel: Radio channel used for transmission of

information from base station to mobile.
 Terminology
Reverse Channel: Radio channel used for
transmission of information from mobile to
base station.

Subscriber: A user who pays the subscription

charges for using a mobile communication
system.

Transceiver: A device capable of simultaneously

transmitting and receiving radio signals.
 Basic Concepts: Multiple Access
• Multiple access schemes are used to allow
many mobile users to share a finite amount of
radio spectrum.

• The sharing of the spectrum is required to

achieve high capacity by simultaneously
allocating the bandwidth.
• Constraint: There should not be severe
performance degradation.
Frequency Division Multiple Access
Scheme(FDMA)
• In Base Station separate transmit and receiver antennas are used to
accommodate two separate channels.

• In Subscriber Unit Single antenna is used for transmission to and reception

from Base Station.

• A device called duplexer is used inside Subscriber Unit to enable the same
antenna to be used for simultaneous transmission and reception.

• It is necessary to separate the transmit and receive frequency by about

5% of nominal RF frequency.

• In US AMPS standard, the reverse channel has a frequency which is

exactly 45MHz lower than that of forward channel
 Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA)
• It shares single radio channel in time (base station to
mobile and mobile to base station)
• If data transmission rate in the channel is much greater
than the end user’s data rate it stores information
bursts and appears like full duplex to the user
• TDMA is possible only with Digital Transmission
formats and Digital Modulation
• Very sensitive to timing
• It used only for indoor or small area wireless
applications where physical coverage distance is less.
 Code Division Multiple
Access(CDMA)
Time and bandwidth are used simultaneously by
different users, modulated by orthogonal or semi-
orthogonal codes (e.g. spread spectrum).

Code Space

Time

Frequency

7C29822.032-Cimini-9/97
Paging System
• Page: A brief message which is broadcast over the entire
service area usually in a simulcast fashion by many Base
Stations at the same time.

• Every cellular system has some kind of broadcast mechanism.

This can be used directly for distributing information to
multiple mobiles.

• The most important use of broadcast information is to set up

channels for one to one communication between the mobile
transceiver and the base station. This is called paging
Paging System
• Paging system transmits the page throughout the service
area using Base Stations which broad cast the page on a
radio carrier.

• Paging receivers are simple and inexpensive but

transmission system required is quite sophisticated.

• Wide area paging systems consists of network of telephone

line, many base station transmitters, and large radio towers
that simultaneously broadcast a page from each base
station(this is simulcasting).
Cellular System

MSC

Mobile
(1 Switching
) Center (MSC)

17
Cellular System
Cellular Systems – Basic concepts
• High Capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage of each
base station to small geographic region called cell

• Same frequencies/timeslots/codes reused at spatially separated

locations

• A switching technique called hand off enables a call to

proceed uninterrupted when a user moves from one cell to
another

• Base station/Mobile Telephone Switching Offices(MTSO)

coordinate handoff and control functions

• Reuse channels to maximize the capacity

 Cellular Systems – Basic
concepts
• Resolves the problem of limited radio spectrum

• Neighboring Base Station are assigned different group of

channels so as to minimize the interference.

• By systematically spacing the Base Station and the channel

groups may be reused as many number of times as necessary

• As demand increases, the number of base stations may be

increased thereby providing additional capacity
Forward and Reverse channels
• Forward Voice Channels(FVC):Used for voice
transmission from Base Station to Mobile Station.
• Reverse Voice Channels(RVC): Used for voice
transmission from Mobile Station to Base station.
• Forward Control Channel(FCC): Used for initiating
a call from Base Station to Mobile Station.
• Reverse Control Channel(RCC): Used for initiating
a call from Mobile Station to Base Station.
• The FCC and RCC are also called setup channels.
Anatomy of a Cellular Call
• A cell phone, when turned on,(though not yet
engaged in a call) scans the group of FCC to
determine the one with the strongest signal.
• It monitors that channel until it drops below the
usable threshold. It then scans for another
channel which is the strongest.
• Control channels are defined and standardized
over the entire area of service. Typically the
control channel use up to 5% of the total number
of channels
A Call TO a Mobile User(1)
• The MSC dispatches the request to all BS. The
Mobile Identification Number(MIN) is broadcast
as paging message over all FCC throughout the
service area.
• The MS receives the paging message from the BS
it is monitoring. It responds by identifying itself
over the RCC.
• The BS conveys the handshake to the MSC. The
MSC instructs the BS to move to an unused voice
channel.
A Call TO a Mobile User(2)
• The BS signals the MS to change over to an
unused FVC and RVC.
• An data message ( called alert) is transmitted
over the FVC to instruct the mobile to ring!
• All of these sequence of events occur in just a
few seconds, and are not noticeable to the user.
• While the call is in progress, the MSC adjusts the
transmitted power in order to maintain the call
quality.
A Call FROM a Mobile User
• A call initiation request is sent to the RCC.
• Along with this, the MS transmits its MIN,
Electronic Serial Number(ESN) and the phone
number of the called party.
• The MS also transmits the Station Class
Mark(SCM) which indicates the maximum
transmitted power level for the particular user.
• The BS forwards the data to the MSC, which
validates the data and makes connection to the
called party through the PSTN.
Call to Mobile User
 ‘’’

Call by Mobile User

Frequency Reuse: The Need
• Fixed telephone network runs wires to every
household.
• Suppose we give every household their own
allocation of radio spectrum for analog speech of
4kHz bandwidth
• 12.5 million households (say Agra) X
4kHz=50GHz!
• Clearly impractical!
– No other services possible using radio transmission
– Most of the spectrum unused most of the time
Frequency Reuse(2)

• Cellular radio systems rely on intelligent

allocation and reuse of channels throughout
the coverage area.
• Each base station is allocated a group of radio
channels to be used within the small
geographic area of its cell
• Neighboring base station are given different
channel allocation from each other.
Frequency Reuse(3)
• By design of antennas, the coverage area is
limited within the cell, and the same group of
frequencies are reused to cover another cell
separated by large enough distance to keep
co-channel interference within limits.
• The design procedure of allocating channel
groups for all the cellular BS within a system is
called Frequency Reuse or Frequency Planning
Frequency Reuse(4)

Cells using the same frequencies

Frequency Reuse(5)
• S = Total duplex channels
• k = Available channels per cell
• N = Total number of cells in a cluster

• Therefore, S=kN

• N cells collectively use complete set of

available frequencies
Frequency Reuse(6)
Frequency Reuse(7)
• If N is reduced while cell size is kept constant then
more clusters are required to cover a given area.
Hence, more capacity(large value of C)is achieved.
• A large cluster size indicates that ratio between cell
radius and distance between co-channel cells is small.
• Conversely, small cluster size indicates that co-channel
cells are located much closer together. So, there is
more probability of interference.
• From design view point smallest possible value of N is
desirable in order to maximize the capacity
• Frequency reuse factor of cellular system is given by
1/N
Frequency
Reuse(8)
Frequency Reuse(9)
• Due to Hexagonal geometry of cell and center
line joinings are multiple of 60 degrees
• So, N is given as N= i² + ij + j² , where I & j are
non-negative numbers.
• To find the nearest co-channel neighbors of a
particular cell:
– Move i cells along any chain of Hexagon
– Turn 60 degree counter clockwise and move j cells
 19-cell reuse example (N=19)

Figure 3.2 Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular system. In this example, N = 19 (i.e., I = 3, j = 2).
(Adapted from [Oet83] © IEEE.)
Clustersize of 7
• Assume a clustersize of 7. This means that the total 395
voice channels are divided into groups of seven.

• Thus, each cell has about 56 voice channels. This is the

most number of users that can be supported in a cell,
i.e., roughly 10 square miles in normal environments.

• This may/may not be sufficient based on the distribution

of users.
Clustersize of 7
• To see what a system with clustersize of 7 looks like, color
a cell with color 1.

• This cell (if drawn as a hexagon) has 6 neighbors. Color

each of the seven neighbors using a different color (also
different from each other).

• Now repeat this rule to get the overall “reuse pattern.”

Cluster size of 7, Reuse Pattern
 What if we had a smaller cluster?
• Now consider a system with a cluster of 4.

• Then the number of voice channels per cell is 395/4,

which is roughly 98.

• Thus, in theory, we can hold more users per cell if this

were true.

• But there is a problem with a clustersize.

Problem with Smaller Clustersize

Interfering cells are closer by when clustersize is smaller.

Problem with Smaller Cluster size
• If interfering cells are closer, then the total interference
power will be larger.
• With higher interference power, the quality of the
speech signal will deteriorate.
• To reduce the interference power, we can make the cells
larger.
• With larger cell, the number of users covered per unit
area reduces. So, the gain (total number of users
supported) of a smaller clustersize is not as high as we
think.
Tessellation
• Three regular polygons that always tessellate:
– Equilateral triangle
– Square
– Regular Hexagon

Triangles
Squares
Hexagons
Circular Coverage Areas
• Original cellular system was developed assuming base
station antennas are omnidirectional, i.e., they transmit in
all directions equally.
Users located outside
some distance to the
base station receive
weak signals.
s ign al al
k n
Wea ig
ngs Result: base station has
o
Str circular coverage
area.
Cell Shape
• Hexagonal cells are conceptual
• For most theoretical treatment, hexagonal
model of cells is universally adopted because:
– Hexagonal are geometric shape that approximates
a circle(for omni directionational radiation)
– Using a hexagonal geometry, fewest number of
cells can cover the entire geographical region
Channel Assignment Strategies
• A scheme for increasing capacity and
minimizing interference is required.
• Channel assignment strategies can be
classified as either fixed or dynamic.
• The choice of the channel assignment strategy
impacts the performance of the system,
particularly how a call is managed when user
is handed off from one cell to another.
Fixed Channel Assignment
• Each cell is assigned a predetermined set of voice
channels.
• Any call attempt within the cell can only be
served by the unused channels inn that particular
cell.
• If all the channels in the cell are occupied, the call
is blocked. The user does not get service.
• In a variation of the fixed channel assignment, a
cell can borrow channels from its neighboring cell
if its own channels are full.
Dynamic Channel Assignment
• Voice channels are not allocated to different cells
permanently
• Each time a call request is made, the BS requests
a channel from the MSC.
• MSC allocates a channel to requested cell using
an algorithm that takes into account
– The likelihood of future blocking.
– The frequency of use of the candidate channel
– The reuse distance of the channel, and
– Other cost functions
Dynamic Channel Assignment
• To ensure the minimum QoS, the MSC only
allocates a given frequency if that frequency is
not currently in use in the cell, or any other cell
which falls within the limiting reuse distance.
• DCA reduces the likelihood of blocking, thus
increasing the capacity of the system.
• DCA strategies require the MSC to collect real
time data on channel occupancy and traffic
distribution on a continuous basis.
Handoff
• When a mobile moves into a different cell while
the call is in progress, the MSC automatically
transfers the call to a new channel belonging to
the new BS.
• The handoff operation involves identifying a new
BS and the allocation of voice and control signals
associated with the new BS.
• Handoffs must be performed successfully, as
infrequently as possible, and must be
imperceptible to the user.
Handoff
• Handoff is made when the received signal at the
BS falls below a pre-specified threshold.
• In deciding when to handoff, it is important to
ensure that the drop in the signal level is not due
to momentary fading.
• In order to ensure this, the BS monitors the signal
for a certain period of time before initiating
handoff.
• The length of time needed to decide if handoff is
necessary depends on the speed at which the
mobile is moving.
Handoff Strategies
• In the first generation analog cellular systems, the signal strength
measurements are made by the BS and supervised by the MSC.
• There is a spare receiver ,called locator receiver ,in each BS to scan
and determine the signal strength of mobile users in the
neighbouring cells.
• In the second generation systems that use TDMA technology,
Mobile Assisted Handoff(MAHO) are used.
• In MAHO, every MS measures the received power from the
surrounding BS and continually report these values to the
corresponding BS.
• Handoff is initiated if the signal strength of a neighboring BS
exceeds that of the current BS.
• During the course of a call, if a mobile user moves from one cellular
system to a different cellular system controlled by different MSC ,an
intersystem handoff becomes necessary.
Handoff
Handoff
• The dropped call event can happen when
– There is an excessive delay by the MSC in
assigning a handoff
– Threshold is set too small for the handoff time in
the system.
• The excessive delay may occur during high traffic
conditions due to computational load at the MSC
or due to the fact that no channels are available.
Handoff
• The time during which the call is maintained
within a cell, without handoff is called dwell
time.
• The dwell time is governed by various factors
like
– Propagation
– Interference
– Distance between subscriber and BS
– Other time varying factors.
Handoff
• For e.g. in cells which provide coverage for vehicular
highway users ,most users tend to have relatively
constant speed and travel along fixed and well
defined path with good radio coverage.
• In the above instance, the dwell time for any
arbitrary user is a random variable with a distribution
that is highly concentrated about the mean dwell
time.
• But for the user in a dense, cluttered microcell
environments there is a large variation in the dwell
time about the mean.
Prioritizing Handoffs
• Guard channel concept, where a fraction of the total available
channels in a cell is reserved exclusively for handoff requests from
ongoing calls which may be handed off into the cell.
• This method reduces the total carried traffic, as fewer channels are
allocated to originating calls.
• Queuing of handoff requests is another method to decrease the
probability of forced termination
• There is a finite time interval between the time the received signal
level drops below the handoff threshold and the time the call is
terminated due to insufficient signal level.
• The delay time and the size of the queue is determined from the
traffic pattern of the particular service area.
• Queuing does not guarantee a zero probability of forced
termination, since large delay will cause the received signal level to
drop below the minimum required level to maintain
communication and lead to forced termination.
Practical Handoff consideration

• Several schemes have been designed to

handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed
and low speed users while minimizing the
intervention from the MSC.
• By using different antenna height and
different poer cells, it is possible
Interference
• Interference is the major limiting factor ion the
performance of cellular radio. It limits the
capacity and increases number of dropped calls.
• Sources of interference
– Another mobile in the same cell
– A call in progress in a neighbouring cell and
– other BS operating in the same frequency band.
• Interference is more severe in the urban areas
due to greater RF noise floor and more number
of MS and BS.
 Topics Discussed :
• Handoff & Handoff Strategies
 Prioritizing Handoffs
 Practical Handoff Considerations
 Guard Channel Concept
Cell Dragging
 Hard Handoff & Soft Handoff

• Interference & System Capacity

 Co-channel Interference
 Adjacent Channel Interference
 Co-channel reuse Ratio
 Definations
• Handoff: When a mobile moves into a different cell while the call is
in progress, the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new
channel belonging to the new BS.
• Dwell Time: The time during which the call is maintained within a
cell, without handoff.
• MAHO: Mobile Assisted Handoff, every MS measures the received
power from the surrounding BS and continually report these values
to the corresponding BS. Handoff is initiated if the signal strength of
a neighboring BS exceeds that of the current BS.
• Intersystem Handoff: When the Mobile moves from one cellular
system to different cellular system controlled by different MSC.
 Handoffs
• A crucial component of the cellular concept is the notion
of handoffs.
• Mobile phone users are by definition mobile, i.e., they
move around while using the phone.
• Thus, the network should be able to give them
continuous access as they move.
• This is not a problem when users move within the same
cell.
• When they move from one cell to another, a handoff is
needed.
 A Handoff
• A user is transmitting and receiving signals from a given
base station, say B1.

• Assume the user moves from the coverage area of one

base station into the coverage area of a second base
station, B2.

• B1 notices that the signal from this user is degrading.

• B2 notices that the signal from this user is improving.
 A Handoff (Cont’d)
• At some point, the user’s signal is weak enough at B 1 and
strong enough at B2 for a handoff to occur.
• Specifically, messages are exchanged between the user,
B1, and B2 so that communication to/from the user is
transferred from B1 to B2.
 Definations
• Guard Channel Concept: where a fraction of the total
available channels in a cell is reserved exclusively for handoff
requests from ongoing calls which may be handed off into the
cell.
• Queuing of handoff: The handoff request is queued to
decrease the probability of forced termination. There is a
finite time interval between the time the received signal level
drops below the handoff threshold and the time the call is
terminated due to insufficient signal level. However, Queuing
still does not guarantee a zero probability of forced
termination.
Queuing of Handoff Requests
 Practical Handoff Considerations

• Several schemes have been designed to

handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed
and low speed users to minimize the issues of
the MSC.
– Addition of cell sites
– Umbrell Cell Approach
 Practical Handoff Considerations

• Addition of cell site Approach: Practically, it is diffult

to obtain new physical cell site in urban areas. Zoning
laws, ordinances and other non-technical barriers
does not incourage cellular service providers to go
for this approach.
• Umbrella cell Approach: Addition of channels and BS
at the same physical location of existing cell. By using
different antenna height and different power levels,
it is possible to provide Large & Small cells. This
technique is called as Umbrell cell approach, used to
provide large area coverage to high speed users and
small area coverage to users travelling at low speeds.
Umbrella Cells
Advantages of Umbrella Cell Approach
– Generation of Large Umbrella cells and small
microcells from the same physical cell site location.
– Number of handoffs is minimized for high speed
users.
– Provides additional microcell channels for
padestrian users.
– Sophisticated Algorithms may be used for better
performance of MSCs
– Load on MSC reduces.
 Cell Dragging
• Another practical problem in microcell system.
• It results from low speed users that provide very
strong signal to BS and travels away from BS. The
average signal strength does not decay rapidly, even
when the user has traveled well beyond the
designated range of cell. Handoff may not take place.
This creates potential interference and traffic
management problems in the adjoining cell.
• Solution to the cell dragging problems: Handoff
threshold and radio coverage paramenters must be
adjusted carefully.
 Hard & Soft Handoff
• Hard Handoff Strategy: Assigning different radio
channels to the users during each handoff.
• Soft Handoff Strategy: Spread spectrum mobiles share
the same channel in each cell. The user is
simultaneously connected to two or more cells during
a call and continuously make power measurements of
a list of neighboring cell sites, and determine:
– Whether or not to handoff the call.
– When to handoff the call.
– Whom to handoff the call.
This ability to select between the instanteous received signal
from variety of BS is called soft handoff.
 Interference
• Interference is the major limiting factor in the performance
of cellular radio. It limits the capacity and increases number
of dropped calls.
• Sources of interference
– Another mobile in the same cell
– A call in progress in a neighboring cell and
– other BS operating in the same frequency band.
– Noncellular system which leaks energy into the cellular
frequency band.
• Interference causes cross talk, disturbance in voice channel,
call dropping, missing and blocking of calls. It is more
severe in the urban areas due to greater RF noise floor and
large number of BS and mobiles.
 Interference
• Even though the interfering signals are
generated within the cellular system, it is
difficult to control in practice.
• System generated Cellular Interference:
– CCI or Co-channel Interference: The interference
between the signals from the co-channel cells.
– ACI or Adjacent channel interference : The
interference between the signals from the
adjacent channels in a cell.
 Causes of ACI
Interference resulting from signals which are adjacent in
frequency to desired signal is called ACI.

Causes of ACI
• Extraneous power from a signal in an adjacent
channel.
• Inadequate filtering, incomplete filtering of
unwanted modulation products in FM systems,
• Improper tuning, or poor frequency control, in either
the reference channel or the interfering channel, or
both.
 Near-far effect
• When an interferer close to BS radiates in
adjacent channel, while the subscriber is far away
from BS, the subscriber signals will get a lot of
interference. This problem is called as near-far
effect, where nearby transmitter captures the
receiver of subscriber.
• The adjacent channel user is transmitting strong
signal in very close range to subscriber’s receiver,
while the receiver attempts to receive weak
signals from BS on desired channel.
 Near Far Effect
• The near-far effect occurs when mobile close to BS
transmits on channel close to one being used by
weak mobile. The BS may have difficulty in
discriminating the desired mobile user.

User located away to the

nal base station receive
g sig

n al weak signals than the users

sig
n

ak
Stro

e near to BS.
W
 Minimizing ACI
• Through careful filtering and intelligent channel
assignment.
• Using high quality filters, power control systems
and FM systems.
• By keeping frequency separation between each
channel as large as possible.
• By following updated channel allocation schemes.
• Avoiding the use of adjacent channels in
neighboring cell sites.
 Causes of CCI
The interference between the signals from the
co-channel cells.
Causes of CCI
• Undesired Transmitter Signals located far away in
some other cells of the same frequencies (co-
channel signals) arrive at the receiver.
• Adverse weather conditions
• Poor frequency planning
• Overly-crowded radio spectrum
Example of CCI

D1
D2
D6

D5
D3
D4
 Co-Channel Interference
• Co-channel cells must be physically seperated by
minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due
to propogation.
When the size of each cell is approximately same and
the BS transmits same power, the CCI is independent
of transmitted power but becomes the function of
- Radius of cells (R) and
- Distance between centers of co-channel cells (D).
 Minimizing CCI
• By increasing D/R ratio, the spatial separation between the co-
channel cells relative to the coverage distance of cell is increased.
Thus co-channel interference is reduced.
• This ratio (D/R) is called co-channel reuse ratio represented by Q

Where N is cluster size.

– Hence, Q determines the spatial separation relative to the
coverage distance of a cell.
– Smaller value of Q provides larger capacity, but higher CCI

Hence there is a tradeoff between the Capacity and Interference

Co-channel reuse Ratio Table
 Signal-to-Interference Ratio
• The SIR (or S/I) for mobile receiver which
monitors a forward channel is expressed as
(S/I ) = S/∑(Ii ) (submission i=1 to i0)
– where S is desired signal power and Ii is
interference power.
– i0 is number of co-channel interfering cells.

If the signal levels of co-channels are known, then

S/I ratio for the forward link can be found using
the equation.
 Calculation of S/I
• Average received power (Pr) at a distance (d)
from transmitting antenna is approximated as
Pr = Po (d/do)-n
– Where Po is power received at reference point
near to antenna at distance do
– n is path loss exponent.
• Now, if Di is the distance of ith interferer from
mobile, the received power due to ith
interfering cell will be proportional to (Di)-n
 Calculation of S/I

Hence S/I is independent of Cell Radius.

 Example of CCI

D
D
D

Assuming all interfering BS are equidistant

D
D
D
 Calculate cluster size through S/I
• Assume 6 closest cells (io) are creating significant
interference and are equidistant from desired BS.
Assume path loss exponent n=4.
• Subjective tests indicate that sufficient voice
quality is provided when S/I ≥ 18dB = 63.18
• Using the equation
We get the cluster size N should be at least 6.49,
Thus minimum cluster size of 7 is required to meet
an S/I requirement of 18dB.
 First tier of co-channel cell for N=7

When the mobile is at the cell boundary (point X), it

experiences worst case co-channel interference on
forward channel.
 CCI Worst case (S/I Ratio)

S/I = R-4/(2(D-R)-4 + 2(D)-4 + 2(D+R)-4)

= 1/(2(Q-1)-4 + 2(Q)-4 + 2(Q+1)-4)
CCI Average case (S/I Ratio)
Assuming user is near to centre of cell, we get
S/I = R-4/6(D)-4 = 1/6(D/R)-4
= 1/6Q-4
 Power control to reduce Interference
• The power levels transmitted by every subscriber unit
are under constant control by the serving BS. This is
done to ensure that each mobile transmits the smallest
power necessary to maintain a good quality link on
reverse channel.
• Power Control reduces interference.
• It also provides long battery life.
• It also reduces the reverse channel S/I in system.
• It is especially important in spread spectrum systems
that allow every user in every cell to share the same
radio channel .
• Reduced Interference leads to higher capacity.
 Improving Capacity
• As the demand for service increases, system designers
have to provide more channels per unit coverage area.
• Common techniques are Cell Splitting, Sectoring and
Microcell Zoning
• Cell Splitting increases the number of BS deployed and
allows an orderly growth of cellular system.
• Cell Sectoring uses directional antennas to further
control interference and frequency reuse.
• Microcell Zoning distributes the coverage of a cell and
extends the cell boundary to hard to reach places.
 Cell Splitting
• Cell Splitting is a process of subdividing a
congested cell into smaller cells with
– their own BS
– A corresponding reduction in antenna height
– A corresponding reduction in transmitted power
Splitting the cells reduces the cell size thus more
number of cells have to be used.
More number of cells viz. more number of clusters viz.
more channels viz. higher capacity.
Cell Splitting allows a system to grow by replacing large
cells by small cells without upsetting the channel
allocation.
 Cells are split to add channels with no
new spectrum usage

Large Cells Low Density

Small Cells High Density

 Cell Splitting
• The cells are split to add channels with no
new spectrum usage.
• Depending on traffic patterns the smaller cells
may be activated/deactivated in order to
efficiently use cell reuse resources.
• A typical city cellular radio cell plan different
cell sizes and clusters.
Cell Splitting increases capacity
 Power of Smaller Cells
• Suppose cell radius of new cells are reduced by half.
• What is the required transmit power for these new
cells?
• We have Pr [at old cell boundary] α Pt1 R-n
Pr [at new cell boundary] α Pt2 (R/2)-n
Pt2 = Pt1 /16 if n=4
Thus transmitted power of smaller cell should
be 16 times lower than the large cell.
 Capacity increase
• Suppose a congested area is originally covered by
5 Cells, each cell with 80 channels.
• Capacity = 5 x 80 = 400 users
• After cell splitting Rnew = R/2
• Now we have 24 cells.
• New Capacity = 24 x 80= 19200 users
• Hence cell splitting provide strong technique to
handle more users without asking for extra
bandwidth.
 Cell Sectoring
• As opposed to cell splitting, where D/R is kept
constant while decreasing R, sectoring keeps R
untouched and reduces D/R.
• Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing
the number of cells per cluster, thus increasing
frequency reuse. However, it will lead to higher
interference which is taken care-off.
• It is necessary to reduce the relative interference
without decreasing the transmitter power.
 Cell Sectoring
• The CCI may be decreased by replacing the single
omnidirectional antenna by several directional
antennas, each radiating within a specified sector.
• The directional antenna transmits and receives
only a fraction of the total number of cochannel
cells. Thus CCI is reduced.
• A cell is normally partitioned into three 1200
sectors, four 900 sectors or six 600 sectors.
• Increasing the number of sectors, CCI reduces but
increases number of handoffs.
Sectoring improves S/I
 Way of Cell Sectoring
• Placing directional transmitters at corners
where three adjacent cells meet
 Problems with sectoring
• Increase in number of antennas at each BS
• Decrease in trunking efficiency due to sectoring
(dividing the bigger pool of channels into smaller
groups).
• Increased number of handoffs (sector-to-sector).
However, many modern BS support sectoring
and related handoff without the help of MSC.
• Therefore sectoring can be handled locally.
 Microcell Zone Concept
• The problems of sectoring can be solved by
Microcell Zone concept.
• A cell is divided into microcells or zones.
• Each microcell (zone) is connected to the same
BS using Fiber/microwave link.
• Each zone uses a directional antenna.
• As a mobile travels from one zone to another, it
retains the same channel, i.e no hand-off.
• BS simply switches the channel to the next zone
side.
 The Zone Cell Concept
let each cell be divided into three zones
 Microcell Zone Concept
• While the cell maintains a particular coverage
area, the CCI reduces because:
– Large central BS is replaced by several low power
transmitters.
– Directional antennas are used.
• Decreased CCI improves
– Signal quality
– Capacity
Zone Cell Concept
 Example Microcell Zone Concept
• Suppose desired S/I = 18 dB.
• Path loss exponent n = 4
• How much capacity increase can occur if we use
Microcell Zoning of 3 zones/cell?
• To achieve S/I = 18 dB we need N = 7.
• We use Microcell Zone concept and create 3
zones within 1 cell.
• This makes the cluster size N = 3.
• The capacity increase factor = 7/3 = 2.33
 Repeaters for range extension
• Useful for hard to reach areas
– Within buildings, basements
– Tunnels
– Valleys
• Radio transmitters, called repeaters can be used to
provide coverage in these areas.
• Repeaters are bidirectional
– Receive signals from the BS
– Amplify the signals
– Reradiate the signal to required area.
• Received noise and interference is also reradiated.
Mobile Radio Propagation:Intoduction
• The mobile radio channel places fundamental
limitations on the performance of wireless
communication systems.
• Wireless communication path may be
– Line of sight(LOS)
– Non Line Of Sight(NLOS):Obstruction by buildings,
mountain and foliage.
• Radio channel are often random and time varying.
• Modelling the radio channel has historically been one
of the most difficult parts of the mobile radio system
design.