PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

SYSTEMS: BASIC PRINCIPLES

(PART I)
Ian F. Akyildiz

Broadband & Wireless Networking Laboratory

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Tel: 404-894-5141; Fax: 404-894-7883
Email: ian@ece.gatech.edu
Web: http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/bwn
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION
SYSTEMS: BASIC PRINCIPLES
(PART I)
Ian F. Akyildiz

Broadband & Wireless Networking Laboratory

School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Tel: 404-894-5141; Fax: 404-894-7883
Email: ian@ece.gatech.edu
Web: http://www.ece.gatech.edu/research/labs/bwn
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Introduction

3 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Existing Network Infrastructure

 Public Switched
Telephone Network
(PSTN): Voice
 Internet: Data
 Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC):
Cable TV

4 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Market Sectors for Applications
 Four segments divided into two classes: voice-oriented and
data-oriented, further divided into local and wide-area
markets
 Voice:
 Local: low-power, low-mobility devices with higher QoS –
cordless phones, Personal Communication Services (PCS)
 Wide area: high-power, comprehensive coverage, low QoS -
cellular mobile telephone service
 Data:
 Broadband Local and ad hoc: WLANs and WPANs
(WPAN-Wireless Personal Area Network)
 Wide area: Internet access for mobile users

5 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Evolution of Voice-Oriented Services

Year Event
Early 1970s First generation of mobile radio at Bell Labs
Late 1970s First generation of cordless phones
1982 First generation Nordic analog NMT
1983 Deployment of US AMPS
1988 Initiation of GSM development (new digital TDMA)
1991 Deployment of GSM
1993 Initiation of IS-95 standard for CDMA
1995 PCS band auction by FCC
1998 3G standardization started

FDMA – Frequency Division Multiple Access

NMT – Nordic Mobile Telephony
AMPS – Advanced Mobile Phone System
GSM – Global System for Mobile
Communication
TDMA – Time Division Multiple Access
6 IFA’2004
IS-95 – Interim Standard 95
CDMA – Code Division Multiple Access
PCS – Personal Communication System
FCC – Federal Communication Commission
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Evolution of Data-Oriented Services

Year Event
1979 Diffused infrared (IBM Rueschlikon Lab - Switzerland
Early 1980s Wireless modem (Data Radio)
1990 IEEE 802.11 for Wireless LANs standards
1990 Announcement of Wireless LAN products
1992 HIPERLAN in Europe
1993 CDPD (IBM and 9 operating companies)
1996 Wireless ATM Forum started
1997 U-NII bands released, IEEE 802.11 completed, GPRS started
1998 IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth announcement
1999 IEEE 802.11a/HIPERLAN-2 started
HIPERLAN – High Performance Radio LAN
CDPD – Cellular Digital Packet Data
U-NII – Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure
GPRS – General Packet Radio Service
7 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations
 1G Wireless Systems: Analog systems
 Use two separate frequency bands for forward (base
station to mobile) and reverse (mobile to base
station) links: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)

 AMPS: United States (also Australia, southeast Asia,

Africa)
 TACS: EU (later, bands were allocated to GSM)
 NMT-900: EU (also in Africa and southeast Asia)

 Typical allocated overall band was 25 MHz in each

direction; dominant spectra of operation was 800 and
900 MHz bands.

AMPS – Advanced Mobile Phone System

TACS – Total Access Communication System
8 IFA’2004 NMT – Nordic Mobile Telephony
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations
 2G Wireless Systems: Four sectors

 Digital cellular
 GSM (EU/Asia): TDMA
 IS-54 (US): TDMA
 IS-95 (US/Asia): CDMA
 PCS – residential applications
 CT-2 (EU,CA): TDMA/TDD
 DECT(EU):TDMA/TDD
 PACS (US): TDMA/FDD

CT-2 – Cordless Telephone 2

DECT – Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone
PACS – Personal Access Communication System

9 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations
 2G Wireless Systems: Four sectors (cont’d)

 Mobile data
 CDPD shares AMPS bands and site infrastructure;
 GPRS shares GSM’s radio system - data rates suitable for
Internet
 WLAN – Unlicensed bands, free of charge and rigorous
regulations: very attractive!
 IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.11b use DSSS physical layer;
 HIPERLAN/1 uses GMSK;
 IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN/2 use OFDM: next generation

CDPD – Cellular Digital Packet Data

GPRS – General Packet Radio Service
DSSS – Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
GMSK – Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
10 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations
 3G and Beyond

 Purpose: develop an international standard that

combines and gradually replaces 2G digital cellular,
PCS, and mobile data services, at the same time
increasing the quality of voice, capacity of the
network, and data rate of the mobile data services.

 Radio transmission technology of choice:

W-CDMA,UMTS

 3G was envisioned to provide multimedia services

to users everywhere

11 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations
 3G and Beyond

 WLANs provide broadband services in hot spots

 WPANs connect personal devices together: laptop,
cellular phone, headset, speakers, printers
 WLAN and WPAN are the future of broadband and
ad hoc wireless networks
 WPAN’s first standard: Bluetooth – lower rates
than WLAN but uses a voice-oriented wireless
access method for integration of voice and data
services

12 IFA’2004
 Overview of Wireless Networks:
Different Generations

Relative coverage, mobility, and data rates of generations of cellular systems

and local broadband and ad hoc networks.
13 IFA’2004
 Operation of Wireless Networks

 Getting familiar with terms:

 MS/MT: Mobile Station/Mobile Terminal
 BS: Base Station
 MSC: Mobile Switching Center
 HLR: Home Location Register (database)
 VLR: Visitor Location Register (database)
 Cellular Network Architecture

14 IFA’2004
 Cellular Network Architecture

Location
Mobile Radio
Register
Switching Network
(Database)
Center Base Station
MSC Controller

Backbone
Wireline Network

Mobile
Terminal

Base Station

15 IFA’2004
Cell
 Early mobile radio systems(1G)
 The design objective of early mobile radio systems was to
achieve a large coverage area by using a single, high
powered transmitter with an antenna mounted on a tall tower .
 While this approach achieved very good coverage. but it was
impossible to reuse those same frequencies throughout the
system due to interference.
 For example, the Bell mobile system in New York City in the
1970s could only support a maximum of twelve simultaneous
calls over a thousand square miles
 Due to increasing demand for mobile services, it became
imperative to restructure the radio telephone system to achieve
high capacity with limited radio spectrum, while at the same
time covering very large areas.

16 IFA’2004
 Cellular Concept
 The cellular concept was a major breakthrough in solving the problem of spectral
congestion and user capacity. It offered very high capacity in a limited spectrum
allocation without any major technological changes.
The cellular concept is a system level idea which replaced a single, high power transmitter
(large cell) with many low power transmitters (small cells), each providing coverage to
only a small portion of the service area.
 Each base station is allocated a portion of the total number of channels available to the
entire system, and Neighboring base stations are assigned different groups of channels to
minimize the interference.
 By systematically spacing base stations and their channel groups throughout the
geographic region may be reused as many times as necessary, so long as the interference
between co-channel stations is kept below acceptable levels.
 As the demand for service increases (i.e., as more channels are needed) , the number of
base stations may be increased (along with a corresponding decrease in transmitter power
to avoid added interference), thereby providing additional radio capacity with no additional
increase in radio spectrum
17 IFA’2004
 Cell Shape
We need an appropriate model of a cell for the analysis
and evaluation. HEXAGON, SQUARE, EQUILATERAL
TRIANGLE
R
R
R
Cell
R R

(a) Ideal Cell (b) Actual Cell (c) Different Cell Models

. Many factors may cause reflections and refractions of the

signals, e.g., elevation of the terrain, presence of a hill or a
valley or a tall building and presence in the surrounding area.
The actual shape of the cell is determined by the received
signal strength. Thus, the coverage area may be a little
distorted
18 IFA’2004
 Size and Capacity of a Cell per Unit of Area and
Impact of the Cell Shape on System Characteristics

19 IFA’2004
 Why Hexagonal Cell?
 A hexagonal layout requires fewer cells due to its
large coverage area. Therefore, fewer transmitter
sites.
 A hexagonal cell layout is less expensive
compared to square and triangular cells.

20 IFA’2004
 Cellular Concept - Example
 Consider a high-power
transmitter that can support 35
voice channels over an area of
100 km2 with the available 2
spectrum
3
 If 7 lower power transmitters
are used so that they support 1 7
30% of the channels over an area
of 14.3 km2 each. 4
 Then a total 7*30% * 35 = 80
6
channels are available instead of 5
35.

21 IFA’2004
 Cellular Concept
 The design process of selecting and allocating
channel groups for all of the cellular base stations
within a system is called frequency reuse or
frequency planning.
 With frequency reuse, a large area can be divided
into small areas, each uses a subset of frequencies
and covers a small area.
 With frequency reuse, the system capacity can be
expanded without employing high power
transmitters.
22 IFA’2004
 Capacity Expansion by Frequency Reuse
 Same frequency band or channel used in a
cell can be “REUSED’ in another cell as
long as the cells are far apart and the signal
strength do not interfere with each other.
 A group of cells that use a different set of
frequencies in each cell is called a Cell
Cluster.

23 IFA’2004
 CELL CLUSTER

24 IFA’2004
25 IFA’2004
 RULE to Determine the Nearest Co-Channel
Neighbors
Determining the Cluster Size
 To find nearest co-channel neighbors of j
a particular cell
 Step 1: Move i cells along any
chain of hexagons;
i
 Step 2: Turn 60 degrees
anticlockwise and move j cells.
 i and j measure the number of
nearest neighbors between co-
channel cells
 The cluster size, N,
N = i2+ij+j2 3
1 2
4
If i =2 and j = 0, then N = 4 2 1
If i = 2 and j = 1, then N =7 3
2
26 IFA’2004
1
 Co channel reuse (q) vs. cluster size N

27 IFA’2004
 Frequency Reuse
 Let N be the cluster size in terms of number of
cells within it and K be the total number of
available channels without frequency reuse.
 N cells in the cluster would then utilize all K
available channels.
 Each cell in the cluster then uses 1/Nth of the total
available channels.
 N is also referred as the frequency reuse factor of
the cellular system.

28 IFA’2004
 Capacity Expansion by Frequency Reuse
 Consider a cellular system having S no. of Duplex
channels.
 Assume each cell is allocated k channels (k<S).
 Let these S channels be divided among N
cells(Cluster), each having k channels, then S=kN
 The N cells in a cluster use the complete set of
available frequencies. The cluster can be replicated
many times.
 If a cluster of N cells is replicated M times in the
system, then the total no. of duplex channels C, can
be measured as the system capacity , is computed
by C = M.( k N) =MS
29 IFA’2004
 Interpretation of C=MkN=MS
➢ The capacity of a cellular system is directly
proportional to the no. of times a cluster is replicated
in a fixed service area.
➢ If the cluster size N is reduced while the cell size is
kept constant, more clusters are required to cover a
given area and hence more capacity( a large value of C)
is achieved.
➢ A larger cluster size causes the ratio between the Cell
radius R and the distance between Co-Channels cells to
decrease. It leads to weaker Co-Channel interference.
30 IFA’2004
 Cellular System Capacity -
Example
 Suppose there are 1001 radio channels, and each cell is Acell = 6 km2
and the entire system covers an area of Asys = 2100km2.
1. Calculate the system capacity if the cluster size is 7.
2. How many times would the cluster of size 4 have to be replicated in order to
approximately cover the entire cellular area?
3. Calculate the system capacity if the cluster size is 4.
4. Does decreasing the cluster size increase the system capacity?
Solution:

1. k=S/N=143, Acluster=N*6=42km2, M=2100/42=50, C=M.k.N=50,050 chs.

2. N=4, Ac=4*6=24km2, M=2100/24=87.

3. N=4, k = 1001/4 = 250 chs/cell. C = 87 * 250 * 4 = 87,000 chs.
4. Decrease in N from 7 to 4→ increase in C from 50,050 to 87,000.
→ Decreasing the cluster size increases system capacity. So the
answer is YES!
31 IFA’2004
 Geometry of Hexagonal Cells
 Planning for Co-channel cells
 D is the distance to the center of the nearest co-channel cell
 R is the radius of a cell

3R
i
30o
R 3R
0

32 IFA’2004
 Geometry of Hexagonal Cells (6)

We assume the size of all the cells is roughly the same, as long as the cell size
is fixed co-channel interference will be independent of transmitted power of
each cell.
The co-channel interference will become a function of Q where Q
= D/R = sqrt (3N).

Q is the CO-CHANNEL REUSE RATIO and is related to the

cluster size.
A small value of Q provides larger capacity since N is small.
For large Q, the transmission quality is better, smaller level of co-
channel interference.
By increasing the ratio of D/R spatial separation between co-
channel cells relative to the coverage distance of a cell is
increased.
Thus, interference is reduced from improved isolation of RF
energy from the number of cells per cluster N co-channel cells.
33 IFA’2004
 Geometry of Hexagonal Cells (7)

Furthermore, D (distance to the center of the nearest

cochannel cell) is a function of NI and S/I
Where, NI is the number of co-channel interfering cells in the
first tier and S/I = received signal to interference ratio at
the desired mobile receiver.

34 IFA’2004
 Frequency Reuse Ratio
 The frequency reuse ratio, q, is defined as
q = D/R
which is also referred to as the co-channel
reuse ratio.
Also → q = sqrt(3N)
 Tradeoff
 q increases with N.
 A smaller value of N has the effect of increasing
the capacity of the cellular system and increasing
co-channel interference
 Tradeoff between q and N

35 IFA’2004
 Interference
MAJOR LIMITING FACTOR for Cellular System
performance is the INTERFERENCE
.
SOURCES OF INTERFERENCE?
 Another mobile in the same cell
 A call in progress in neighboring cell.
 Other base stations operating in the same frequency
band
 Non-cellular systems leaking energy into cellular
frequency band

36 IFA’2004
 Interference

1. Co-channel Interference
2. Adjacent Channel Interference

37 IFA’2004
 CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

 Frequency Reuse → Given coverage area→ cells using the same

set of frequencies → co-channel cell!!!
 Interference between these cells is called
CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE.
(Thermal noise → increase SNR and combat it).
 However, co-channel interference → cannot be overcome just
by increasing the carrier power of a transmitter.
Because increase in carrier transmit power increases the
interference.
 Reduce co-channel interference
Co-channel cells must be physically separated by a minimum
distance to provide sufficient isolation.

38 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference

Cell Site-to-Mobile Interference (Downlink )

Mobile-to Cell-Site Interferences (Uplink)

39 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference
Base → Mobile → DOWNLINK
Mobile→ Base → UPLINK
UPLINK→ All mobiles in 6 cells + central cell assigned
to the same frequency channel
DOWNLINK→ All base stations in 6 cells and central
cell have the same frequency channel.
DOTTED LINES show the interference of all 6
mobiles (all co-channel) received at central base
station (interference)
Actual signal is from the mobile in the center
cell to its own base station(Uplink Signal Interference ratio)
40 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference

 For simplicity, we consider only the average channel

quality as a function of the distance dependent path loss.
 Signal-to-Co-channel interference ratio, (S/I), at the
desired mobile receiver which monitors the forward
channel is defined by
S S
= NI
I
I
i =1
i

 S is the desired signal power from desired base station

 Ii interference power caused by the ith interfering co-
channel cell base station.
 NI is the number of co-channel interfering cells

41 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference

 The desired signal power S from desired base station

is proportional to d-n, where d is the distance between the
mobile and the serving base station. n is the path loss
component.
 The received interference, Ii, between the ith interferer
and the mobile is proportional to (Di)- n
 Assume the transmisson powers from all base stations are
equal, then we have
S R −n
= NI
I
 Di
−n

i =1

42 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference

Consider only the first tier of interfering cells, if all

interfering base stations are equidistant from the
desired base station and if this distance is equal to
the distance D between cell centers, then the above
equation can be simplified to:
(i.e., d=R and assume Di=D and use q=D/R):

S d −n R −n ( D / R) n q n
= NI
= −n
= =
I NI D NI NI
 Di
−n

i =1

43 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference
 Frequency reuse ratio,

q = [ N I ( )]
S
I
1/ n

e.g., NI = 6 →
q = [6( )]S
I
1/ n

44 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference
 Example: In AMPS systems;
for n=4, S/I = 18dB (i.e., 63.1),
are acceptable; then (assume N=6)

q = (6 63.1)1/4  4.41.

 Thus, the cluster size N should be
(from eq. q=sqrt(3N)→ N = q2/3 = 6.79  7.

i.e.,A 7-cell reuse pattern is needed for an S/I ratio of

18dB. Based on q=D/R, we can select D by choosing the
cell radius R.

45 IFA’2004
 Co-Channel Interference

An S/I of 18 dB is the measured value for the accepted

voice quality from the present day cellular mobile
receivers.
Sufficient voice quality is provided when S/I is greater
than or equal to 18dB.

46 IFA’2004
 Example:
Co-Channel Interference
If S/I = 15 dB is required for satisfactory
performance for forward channel performance of
a cellular system.
a) What is the Frequency Reuse Factor?
b) What Cluster Size should be used for maximum
capacity?
(Use path loss component of n=3 and n=4) .
Assume 6 co-channels all of them (same distance
from the mobile)

47 IFA’2004
 Example:
Co-Channel Interference
a) N= 7 and n=4
The co-channel reuse ratio is q=D/R=sqrt(3N)=4.583
n
S q
= = 16 (4.583) 4 = 75.3
I NI
Or 18.66 dB → greater than the minimum required level
→ ACCEPT IT!!!
b) N= 7 and n=3
S qn 1
= = 6 (4.583) = 16.04
3

I NI
Or 12.05 dB → less than the minimum required level
→ REJECT IT!!!
48 IFA’2004
 Example:
Co-Channel Interference

We need a larger N. Use eq. N =i2+ij+j2

for i=j=2 → next possible value is N=12.
q=D/R=sqrt(3.N) = 6 and n=3
S qn 1 3
= = 6 (6) = 36
I NI

Or 15.56 dB → N=12 can be used for minimum

requirement, but it decreases the capacity since 12
cell reuse offers a spectrum utilization of 1/12
within each cell.
49 IFA’2004
 Worst Case Co-Channel Interference
i.e., mobile terminal is located at the cell boundary where it receives the weakest
signal from its own cell but is subjected to strong interference from all all the
interfering cells.

 We need to modify our assumption, i.e., assume Di=D.

 The S/I ratio can be expressed as
S R −n R −n
= =
I NI
2( D − R) − n + 2 D − n + 2( D + R) − n
 Di
−n
D+R
i =1

S 1 R
=
I 2(q − 1) − 4 + 2q − 4 + 2(q + 1) − 4 D D+R

Used D/R=q and n=4. D

Where q=4.6 for D-R
normal seven cell reuse pattern. D-R
50 IFA’2004
 Example: Worst Case
Cochannel Interference (2)

A cellular system that requires an S/I ratio of

18dB.
(a) If cluster size is 7, what is the worst-case
S/I?
(b) Is a frequency reuse factor of 7 acceptable
in terms of co-channel interference?
c) If not, what would be a better choice of
frequency reuse ratio?

51 IFA’2004
 Example: Worst Case
Cochannel Interference (2)
⚫Solution
(a) N=7 ➔ q = 3 N = 4.6 .
If a path loss component of n=4, the worst-case
signal- to-interference ratio is S/I = 54.3 or 17.3 dB.

(b) The value of S/I is below the acceptable level of

18dB. To increase S/I → we need to decrease I,
I.e., Increase the frequency reuse factor, q=5.20 by
using N =9.
The S/I becomes then 95.66 or 19.8dB. Acceptable…
52 IFA’2004
 ADJACENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

Interference resulting from signals which

are adjacent in frequency to the desired signal
is called Adjacent Channel Interference.

WHY?
From imperfect receiver filters (which allow
nearby frequencies) to leak into the pass-band.

53 IFA’2004
 ADJACENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

How to reduce?
• Careful filtering
• Channel assignment→ no channel assignment
which are all adjacent in frequency.
• Keeping frequency separation between each
channel in a given cell as large as possible.

54 IFA’2004
 Cell Splitting
 Cell Splitting is the process of sudividing a congested
cell into smaller cells without upsetting the channel
allocation.
 Each smaller cell has its own base station and
accordingly antenna height and transmission power
can be reduced.
 Splitting the cells reduces the cell size. So, more no.
of cells have to be used.
 More no of cells=> more no. of clusters =>more
channels=>higher capacity.
 We have the formula in calculating path loss:
Pr(dBW) = P0(dBW) - 10 nlog10(d/d0)
where d0 is the distance from the reference point to
the transmitter, and P0 is the power received at the
reference point.
55 IFA’2004
 Cell Splitting (2)
 Let Pt1 and Pt2 be the transmit
power of the large cell BS and R
medium cell BS, respectively.
R/2
 The received power at the edge
of large cell is
Pr1 = P0 - 10 n log10(R/d0)
 The received power at the edge
of large cell, Pr1 is proportional
to
Pt1 (R)- n.
 The received power at the edge
of R/2 cell, Pr2 is proportional
to
Pt2 (R/2)- n.
 With the equal received power,
we have Pt1 (R)-n = Pt2 (R/2)- n,
i.e., Pt1/Pt2= 2 n
56 IFA’2004
 Cell Splitting Pros and Cons
 Cell splitting reduces the call blocking
probability because the number of channels
is increased.
 It increases the handoff rate, i.e., more
frequent crossing of borders between the
cells. So, higher processing load per
subscriber.

57 IFA’2004
 Example – Cell Splitting
 Suppose each BS is allocated 60 channels regardless of the cell
size. Find the number of channels contained in a 3x3 km2 area
without cell splitting, i.e., R= 1km and with cell splitting, R/2 =
0.5km.
⚫ The number of cells for R=1km.
1. Each large cell can cover 2.6 km2, for 9 km2
approximately need 9/2.6 => 3.49 cells. However, 3
hexagon cannot cover a square of 3x3. A better
approximation is 4 cells. So the number of channels is
4x60=240.
2. With small cells, the number of cells is approximately
(1/0.5)2x4 = 16. Then the number of channels is
16x60=960.
58 IFA’2004
 Directional Antenna
 When a transmitter(BS) uses an omnidirectional antenna, the
transmitted power goes off into all directions. Only a small
portion of it is received by the desired station(MS).In effect, all
other power is wasted.
 When a directional antenna is used, there is greater efficiency
 Power transmission because it eliminates interference from
other signals being received from all directions except the
direction of desired station.
 Directivity refers to the ability of an antenna to send or receive
signals over a narrow horizontal directional range.
 The measure of an antenna’s directivity is beamwidth. It refers to
the angle of the radiation pattern over which a transmitter’s
59
energy is directed or received.
IFA’2004
 Cell Sectoring
 The technique for decreasing co-channel interference and thus
increasing system capacity by using directional antennas is called
Sectoring.
 The CCI may be decreased by replacing a single Omnidirectional
antenna by several Directional antenna each radiating within a
specified sector.
 As opposed to cell splitting, where D/R is kept constant while
decreasing R, Sectoring keeps R untouched and reduces the
D/R.
 Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the no. of cells
per cluster, thus increasing frequency reuse.

60 IFA’2004
 Cell sectoring(2)
 A directional antenna transmits to and receives from only a
fraction of the total number of co channel cells. Thus CCI is
reduced.
 A cell is normally partitioned into three 120 degree and six
60 degree sectors.

61 IFA’2004
 CELL SECTORING
Directional Antennas (Sectoring)

1
1
2
2 4
3 3

OMNIDIRECTIONAL 120 DEGREE SECTOR 90 DEGREE SECTOR

6
5 1

4 2
3
60 DEGREE SECTOR
62 IFA’2004
 Cell sectoring

63 IFA’2004
 Advantages of Cell Sectoring:

 Coverage of smaller area by each antenna and

hence lower power is required in transmitting
. radio signals.

 Helps to decrease interference between co-

channels.

64 IFA’2004
 Problems with Cell Sectoring
 Increased no. of antenna at each BS.

 Decrease in trunking efficiency due to

sectoring (dividing the bigger pool of
channels into smaller groups)

 Increased no. of hand-offs(sector-to-sector)

65 IFA’2004
 Worst-Case Scenario in 120 o Sectoring

 In this situation, Mobile

receives the weakest
signal from its own cell
and fairly strong
interference from 2
interfering stations .
 Because of the use of
directional antenna, the
no of interfering cells is
reduced from six to two.

66 IFA’2004
 S/I Calculation
With the distance approximation and use
path loss component n, the signal-to-
interference ratio is
S R −n 1
( )120 = − n −n
= −n
I D + ( D + 0.7 R ) q + (q + 0.7) − n
1
= −4 −4
= 24.5dB
4.6 + (4.6 + 0.7)

67 IFA’2004
 Worst-Case Scenario in 60o Sectoring

68 IFA’2004
 S/I Calculation

With the distance approximation and use

path loss component n, the signal-to-
interference ratio is

S R −n
( )60 = −n
= ( q + 0.7 ) n
= ( 4.6 + 0.7 ) 4
= 29dB
I ( D + 0.7 R)

69 IFA’2004
 Segmentation
 Cellular design engineers sometimes have to add an
additional cell at less than reuse distance without using
complete Cell splitting to fill up the coverage gap.
 This can result in Co-channel interference. The increase in
Co-channel interference can be avoided by simply not to
reuse them.
 Segmentation divides a channel group into segments of
mutually exclusive channel frequencies. Then, by assigning
different segments to particular cell sites, cochannel
interference between these cell sites can be avoided.

70 IFA’2004
 Cont.

71 IFA’2004
 Disadvantage of Segmentation
 The capacity of the segmented cells is lower than
the unsegmented cell.

72 IFA’2004
 Segmentation
 Radio at the cell site are divided into 2
separate server groups, one for the larger
(overlaid) cell and one for the smaller
(underlaid) cell
 Radios for primary server group serve
the underlaid cell, and the radio of the
secondary server group are used to serve
mobile in the overlaid cell areas
 As traffic in smaller cell grows, more and
more channels are removed from the
secondary group and assigned to the
primary group until the secondary group
and its larger cell disappears

73 IFA’2004
 Microcell Zone Concept
 The problems of Sectoring can be addressed by the
Microzone cell concept.
 A cell is divided into smaller Microcells or zones.
 Each Microcell(zone) is connected to the same base
station(fiber/microwave Link)
 Each uses a directional antenna.
 As a mobile travels from one zone to another, it retains the
same channel i.e no hand off.
 The BS simply switches the channel to the next zone site.

74 IFA’2004
75 IFA’2004
 Microcell Zone advantages
 While the cell maintains coverage area, the CCI is
reduced because :
i. The large central BS is replaced by several low
power transmitters.
ii. Directional antenna are used.
 Decreased CCI improves signal quality and
Capacity.

76 IFA’2004
 Repeaters for Range Extension
➢ Useful for hard-to–reach places like Tunnels, Valleys and
within building.
➢ Radio transmitter called Repeaters can be used to
provide coverage into these above areas.
➢ Repeaters are bidirectional
i. Receives signals from the BS.
ii. Amplify the signals.
iii. Reradiates the signals.

77 IFA’2004
 Channel assignment strategies
 Channel assignment strategies can be classified as either fixed
or dynamic
 The choice of channel assignment strategy impacts the
performance of the system, particularly as to how calls are
managed when a mobile user is handed off from one cell to
another
 In a fixed channel assignment strategy, each cell is allocated a
predetermined set of voice channels
 Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the
unused channels in that particular cell

78 IFA’2004
 Cont.
 If all the channels in that cell are occupied, the call is blocked
and the subscriber does not receive service
 How to solve the problem? One approach called borrowing
strategy is applied
 A cell is allowed to borrow channels from a neighboring cell
if all of its own channels are already occupied
 The MSC supervises such borrowing procedures and ensures
that the borrowing of a channel does not disrupt or interfere
with any of the calls

79 IFA’2004
 Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA)

 In dynamic channel assignment strategy, voice channels are not allocated

to different cell permanently
 Each time a call request is made, the serving BTS requests a channel
from the MSC
 The MSC then allocates a channel to the requested cell following an
algorithm that takes into account the likelihood of future blocking
within the cell, the frequency of use of the candidate channel, the reuse
distance of the channel, and other cost functions

80 IFA’2004
 Handoff Strategies
Handoff is made when the received signal at the base station falls
below a pre-specified threshold.
Why handoff ?
1. MS moves out of the range of a BTS
i.e signal level becomes too low or error rate becomes too high
2. Load balancing: Traffic in one cell is too high ⇒shift some MSs to
other cells with a lower load
 The handoff operation involves identifying a new base station and
the allocation of voice and control signals associated with the new
base station.
When a mobile moves into a different cell while a
conversation is in a progress, the MSC automatically transfers the
call to a new channel belonging to the new BTS

81 IFA’2004
 Cont.
 Handoffs must be performed successfully and as infrequently
as possible, and be imperceptible to the users
 In order to meet the requirements, system designers must
specify an optimum level at which to initiate a handoff
 The time over which a call may be maintained within a cell,
without handoff, is called dwell time

82 IFA’2004
 Successful handoff vs. Unsuccessful handoff

83 IFA’2004
 TRUNKING THEORY
 Cellular radio systems rely on Trunking to
accommodate a large number of users in a limited
radio spectrum
 In a trunked radio system, each user is allocated a
channel on a per call basis and upon termination of
the call, the previously occupied channel is
immediately returned to the pool of available channels
 The fundamentals of trunking theory were developed
by Erlang
 One Erlang represents the amount of traffic intensity
carried by a channel that is completely occupied
during the busiest hour(i.e. one call-hour per hour or
one call-minute per minute)

84 IFA’2004
 Cont.
 For example, a radio channel that is occupied for thirty
minutes during an hour carries 0.5 Erlangs of traffic
 The GOS is a measure of the ability of a user to access a
trunked system during the busiest hour
 GOS is typically given as the likelihood that a call is blocked
or the likelihood of a call experiencing a delay greater than a
certain queuing time

85 IFA’2004
 Some useful terms Trunking theory

86 IFA’2004
87 IFA’2004
 Call Blocking
 How likely a new user can get a connection established
successfully? Admission control of new calls.
 It is measured by the probability of call blocking, which
is a quality of service (QoS) factor, a.k.a., (GoS) factor.
 Assume we have a total number of C channels in a radio
cell.
 If the number of active users during any period of time
is C, then the call blocking probability is 1.
 If and only if the number of ongoing calls is less than C,
the probability of call blocking will be less than 1.

88 IFA’2004
 Erlang B

Probability of an arriving call being blocked Prob that

(Blocked Calls Cleared; Lost)) is
AC
Pr ob[ Blocking ] = Pr ob[Cell _ Losses ) = Pr ob( A, C ) =
1
 C k,
A

C!
k =0 k !
where C is the number of channels in a cell.
Prob(A,C) is also called blocking probability, probability of
loss, or probability of rejection.

89 IFA’2004
 Erlang C

Probability of an arriving call being delayed, i.e.,

probability that no trunk (server=channel) is
available for an arriving call in a system with C
channels and the call is delayed, is

Pr[ delay  0] = Pr ob( A, C ) = AC

C −1
A +C !(1− CA )
C
 Ak
k!
k =0

where Prob(A, C) is the probability of an arriving call being

delayed with load A and C channels.
90 IFA’2004
 SEMANTICS
Prob that calls are lost..
GOS for telephone calls (realstic values 10^{-2} – 10^{-3}
Physical Interpretation-> Ratio of calls rejected to the total number of
calls.
What can we do with these Erlang formulas?
a) Given a fixed offered traffic A in Erlangs and a fixed device
capacity C, then find the prob of blocking…
b) Determine the offered traffic in Erlangs that produces a given
blocking probability for a fixed device capacity C.
c) Determine the required device capacity given the blocking
probability and the offered traffic in Erlangs.

91 IFA’2004
 EXAMPLE
An urban PC area has a population of 2 Million residents.
A cellular company serves this area. System has 394
cells with 19 channels each.
Find the number of users that can be supported at 2%
blocking if each user averages 2 calls/per hour at an
average call duration of 3 minutes!!

92 IFA’2004
 EXAMPLE
Prob of Blocking→ 0.02 (GOS)
Number of Channels → C=19
Traffic Intensity per User → A/mu = 2* 3/60 = 0.1 Erlangs
From Erlang B chart, total carried traffic obtained as 12 ERLANGS.

The number of users which can be supported per cell is

12/0.1 = 120.

There are 39 cells → total number of subscribers supported is 120 *

394 = 47280.

93 IFA’2004
 Efficiency (Utilization)
Traffic nonblocked
Efficiency =
Capacity
Erlangs  portions of nonblocked traffic
=
Number of trunks (channels)
 Example: for previous example, if C=2, A= 3
then
B(2, 3) = 0.6, ------ Blocking probability,
i.e., 60% calls are blocked.
Total number of rerouted calls = 30 x 0.6 = 18
Efficiency = 3(1-0.6)/2 = 0.6
94 IFA’2004
 Summary
 The advantage of cellular communications
 Capacity extension by frequency reuse
 Cell cluster and cochannel cells
 Number of cells in a cluster
 Frequency reuse ratio
 Co-Channel interference
 Impact of cluster size
 Worst-case cochannel interference
 Cell splitting and sectoring
 Fixed channel allocation and dynamic channel allocation
 Traffic load and call blocking probability
 Average delay
 Probability of queuing delay

95 IFA’2004