Name of Institution

CELLULAR CONCEPTS
PRESENTED BY:-
SONIA BHUKRA
AP(ECE)

1
 Topics Name of Institution

• System design fundamentals

• Frequency reuse channel assignment strategies
• Hand off strategies, Interference and system
capacity
• Improving coverage and capacity in cellular
system.

2
 Basics Name of Institution

➢ Early mobile telephony systems were not cellular. Coverage over a large
area was provided by a high powered transmitter mounted on a tall tower.
That resulted in very low capacity.
➢ The cellular concept arose from the need to re-structure the radio telephone
system with the increase in demand. The increase in demand could not be
satisfied just by additional spectrum allocations.
➢ Cell – a geographical area covered by a BS.
➢ Base station antennas are designed to cover specific cell areas.
➢ For convenience, the cells are shown with a hex pattern. A hex pattern
is the simplest pattern that can cover an area.
➢ simple model for easy analysis → circles leave gaps
• In practice, cells are not hexagonal
• Base station location
– cell center → omni-directional antenna (360° coverage)
– not necessarily in the exact center (can be up to R/4 from the ideal
location) 3
 CellularConcept
The Cellular concept is a system level idea which calls for replacing,
a single, high power transmitter with many low power transmitters,
each providing coverage to only small portion of the service area.

4
 Frequency
Reuse/Planning
➢ It is a design process of selecting & allocating channel groups
of cellular base stations.
➢ Co-channel cells → cells that share the same set of frequencies
➢ VC & CC traffic in co-channel cells is an interfering source to
mobiles in several different cells
➢ Two competing/conflicting objectives:
—maximize frequency reuse in specified area
—minimize interference between cells\

5
Frequency reuse
pattern Name of Institution

6
 Contd...
➢ Cells labeled with the same letter use the same group of
channels.
➢ Cell Cluster: group of N cells using complete set of available
channels
➢ Each cell allocated a % of the total number of available
channels
➢ Nearby (adjacent) cells assigned different channel groups to
prevent interference between neighboring base stations and
mobile users.
➢ As frequency reuse↑ → # possible simultaneous users↑→ #
subscribers ↑→ but system cost ↑ (more towers)
➢ To increase number of users without increasing radio
frequency allocation, reduce cell sizes (more base stations)
↑→ # possible simultaneous users ↑

7
 System Capacity

➢ S : total # of duplex channels available for use in a

given area; determined by:
– amount of allocated spectrum
– channel BW → modulation format and/or standard
specs. (e.g. AMPS)
➢ k : number of channels for each cell (k < S)
➢ N : cluster size → # of cells forming cluster
➢S = k N

8
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ M : number of times a cluster is replicated over a

geographic coverage area
➢ System Capacity = Total # Duplex Channels

➢ C=MS=MkN
➢ If cluster size (N) is reduced and the geographic area for
each cell is kept constant:
– The geographic area covered by each cluster is smaller,
so M must ↑ to cover the entire coverage area (more
clusters needed).
– S remains constant.
– So C ↑
– The smallest possible value of N is desirable to
maximize system capacity. 9
 Contd...
➢ Frequency reuse factor = 1 / N
– each frequency is reused every N cells
– each cell assigned k ≒ S / N
➢N cells/cluster
– connect without gaps
– specific values are required for hexagonal
geometry
• N = i2 + i j + j2 where i, j ≧ 1
• Typical N values → 3, 4, 7, 12; (i, j) = (1,1),
(2,0), (2,1), (2,2)
10
 Contd...

➢To find the nearest co-

channel neighbors of a
particular cell
−Move i cells along any
chain of hexagons, then
−turn 60 degrees and move
j cells.

11
 Channel Assignment
Strategies
➢ Goal is to minimize interference & maximize use of capacity
– lower interference allows smaller N to be used → greater frequency
reuse → larger C
➢ Two main strategies: Fixed or Dynamic
➢ Fixed
– each cell allocated a pre-determined set of voice channels
• calls within cell only served by unused cell channels
• all channels used → blocked call → no service
– several variations
• MSC allows cell to borrow a VC from an adjacent cell
• donor cell must have an available VC to give

12
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ Dynamic
− channels NOT allocated permanently
− call request → goes to serving base station → goes to MSC
− MSC allocates channel “on the fly”.
➢ allocation strategy considers:
– likelihood of future call blocking in the cell
– reuse distance (interference potential with other cells that are
using the same frequency)
– channel frequency

13
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ Advantage: reduces call blocking (that is to say, it

increases the trunking capacity), and increases voice
quality
➢ Disadvantage: increases storage & computational
load at MSC
– requires real-time data from entire network related
to:
• channel occupancy
• traffic distribution

14
 Handoff Strategies

➢ Handoff: when a mobile unit moves from one cell to another

while a call is in progress, the MSC must transfer (handoff) the
call to a new channel belonging to a new base station
– new voice and control channel frequencies
– very important task → often given higher priority than new
call
➢ choose a (handoff threshold) > (minimum useable signal level)
– so there is time to switch channels before level becomes
too low
– as mobile moves away from base station and toward
another base station

15
Name of Institution

16
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ A dropped handoff can be caused by two factors

– not enough time to perform handoff
a. delay by MSC in assigning handoff
b. high traffic conditions and high
computational load on MSC can cause
excessive delay by the MSC
– no channels available in new
cell

17
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ 2nd Generation Cellular digital TDMA (GSM, IS-136)

a. Mobile Assisted Hand Offs (MAHO)
− important advancement
− The mobile measures the RSS of the FCC’s from
adjacent base stations & reports back to serving base
station
− if Receiver power from new base station > Rx power
from serving (current) base station by pre-determined
margin for a long enough time period → handoff
initiated by MSC
➢ A mobile may move into a different system controlled by a
different MSC
– Called an intersystem handoff
18
 Guard channel

➢ % of total available cell channels exclusively set

aside for handoff requests
➢ makes fewer channels available for new call
requests
➢ a good strategy is dynamic channel allocation
(not fixed)
− adjust number of guard channels as needed by demand
− so channels are not wasted in cells with low traffic

19
 Queuing Handoff
Requests
➢ use time delay between handoff threshold and
minimum useable signal level to place a blocked
handoff request in queue
➢ a handoff request can "keep trying" during that
time period, instead of having a single block/no
block decision
➢ prioritize requests (based on mobile speed) and
handoff as needed
➢ calls will still be dropped if time period expires

20
 Practical Handoff
Considerations
➢ Problems occur because of a large range of mobile
velocities
– pedestrian vs. vehicle user
➢ Small cell sizes and/or micro-cells → larger number
of handoffs
➢ MSC load is heavy when high speed users are passed
between very small cells

21
 Umbrella Cells

➢ use different antenna heights and Tx power levels

to provide large and small cell coverage
➢ large cell → high speed traffic → fewer handoffs
➢ small cell → low speed traffic
➢ example areas: interstate highway passing through
urban center, office park, or nearby shopping mall

22
Name of Institution

23
 Cell Dragging Name of Institution

➢ low speed user with line of sight to base station

(very strong signal)
➢ strong signal changing slowly
➢ user moves into the area of an adjacent cell
without handoff
➢ causes interference with adjacent cells and other
cells

24
 Co-Channel
Interference
➢ Interference is the limiting factor in performance of all
cellular radio systems
➢ What are the sources of interference
for a mobile receiver?
➢ Interference is in both
– voice channels
– control channels
➢ Two major types of system-generated interference:
1) Co-Channel Interference (CCI)
2) Adjacent Channel Interference (ACI)
25
 Contd...
➢ Possible Solutions:
1) Increase base station Tx power to improve radio
signal reception
− this will also increase interference from co-channel
cells by the same amount
2) Separate co-channel cells by some minimum
distance to provide sufficient isolation from
propagation of radio signals
− if all cell sizes, transmit powers, and coverage patterns
≈ same → co-channel interference is independent of Tx power

26
 Contd... Name of Institution

➢ co-channel interference depends on:

– R : cell radius
– D : distance to base station of nearest co-channel
cell
➢ if D / R ↑ then spatial separation relative to cell
coverage area ↑
– improved isolation from co-channel RF energy
➢ Q = D / R : co-channel reuse ratio
– hexagonal cells → Q = D/R =√3N
27
 Improve Capacity
➢ When the demand for wireless service increases, the number
of channels allotted to a cell becomes insufficient to support
the required number of users.
➢ Certain design techniques are used to provide more number of
channels per unit coverage area, thus increasing the capacity:
– Cell Splitting : It allows an orderly growth of the cellular
system
– Sectoring : It uses Directional antennas to control the
interference and frequency reuse of channels.
– Zone Microcell: It distributes the coverage of the Cell.
– More bandwidth
– Borrow channel from nearby cells

28
 Cell Splitting
➢ It is the process of subdividing the congested cell into smaller
cells.
➢ Each of the smaller cells will have their own base station with a
reduction in antenna height and transmitted power.
➢ The smaller cells are known as Microcells.
➢ Cell Splitting increases the capacity of the cellular system as it
increases the number of times the channels are reused
➢ The increased number of cells would increase the number
of clusters over the coverage region which in turn increase the
number of channels and thus capacity in the coverage area
➢ Cell Splitting allows the system to grow by replacing large cells
with smaller cells without changing the co-channel re-use ratio
(Q).
29
 Name of Institution

Cells are split to add channels with no new spectrum

usage
30
Name of Institution

31
 Sectoring
➢ The co-channel interference in a cellular system can be
decreased by replacing the Omni directional antenna at
the base station by several directional antennas, each
radiating within a specified sector.
➢ The process of reducing the co-channel interference
and thus increasing the capacity of the system by using
directional antennas is known as Sectoring.
➢ In general a cell is partitioned into three 120
degree sectors or six 60 degree sectors.
➢ When sectoring is employed, the channels used in a
particular cell are broken down into sectored groups
and are used only in a particular sector.
32
33
 Name of Institution

THANK YOU

34