Name: Nurul Aisyah

Matric No: 193904

The essence of cell shapes

The shapes of cell in cellular networks depict the transmission range and the coverage.
Deliberate the various shapes possible from the point of a singular base station and multiple
mobile nodes.  

Explain three possible shapes which relate to an actual shape and those that impose the
conceptual coverage but can be used by companies for the purpose of mapping their specific
needs. 

1. Hexagonal cell
i. A hexagon is a tessellating cell shape in that cells can be laid next to each other
with no overlap. Therefore, they can cover the entire geographical region
without any gaps.

ii. The frequency reuse (concept of using the same radio frequencies within a
given area that are separated by considerable distance, with minimal
interference, to establish communication.) becomes possible using this shape.

iii. The radiation pattern of the antennas used is 60 degree which means 6 are
required for the full 360 degrees coverage which is the same no. of sides the
hexagon consists.
2. Circular cell
i. The major drawback of the circular approximation is that circular cells must
partially overlap in order to avoid gaps. The radius of the circular cell R equals
to r; as a result, the cells do not cover the whole network coverage area.

3. Square Cell

i. Used in Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS)

ii. It does not have any blackspots (area where you will not get any signal). But the
distance from its center to a corner is higher than distance to any side. Thus will
create an issue in providing equal level of signals at every point.
iii. Better if all adjacent antennas equidistant

 Simplifies choosing and switching to new antenna