Chapter 2: The Cellular System

Goal of the Chapter

 In cellular system, the available radio spectrum is limited
 E.g., because of regulatory issues
 Hence, the number of simultaneous call supported is limited

 How to achieve high capacity (or support simultaneous

calls) at the same time covering very large areas?
 Frequency reuse by using cells?

 Overview of system design fundamentals on

cellular communication
 Cell formation and the associated frequency reuse, handoff, and
power control
Overview
 Cellular system
 Cell shape
 Frequency reuse
 Cell capacity and reuse
 Channel assignment strategies
 Handoff
 Interference and system capacity
 Trunking and grade of service
 Improving capacity
Cellular System - Architecture

Radio tower

PSTN
Telephone
Network
Mobile Switching
Center
Cellular System ….
 High capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage of each
base stations to a small geographic region called a cell
 Single, high power transmitter (large cell) are replaced with many
low power transmitters (small cells)

 A portion of the total number of channels is allocated to

each cell or base station
 Available group of channels are assigned to a small number of
neighboring base stations called cluster
 Near by base stations are assigned d/t groups of channels to
minimize interference

 Same channels (frequencies/timeslots/codes) are reused

by spatially separated base stations
 Reuse distance and frequency reuse planning?
Cellular System ….
 A switching technique called handoff enables a call to
proceed from one cell to another
 As demand (or # of users) increases, the number of base
stations may be increased to provide additional capacity
 Smaller cells, e.g., Microcells, Picocell, Femtocell
 Also cell sites in trucks to replace downed cell towers after natural
disasters, or to create additional capacity for large gatherings
(football games, rock concerts)
 Transmission power reduction => interference decreases
 Typical power transmitted by the radios in a cell system
 Base station: Maximum Effective Radiated Power (ERP) is
100W, or up to 500 W in rural areas
 Mobile station: Typically 0.5 W. For CDMA, transmit power is
lowered when close to a BS
Forward and Reverse Channels
 Forward Voice Channel (FVC): Used for voice transmission
from BS to MS

 Reverse Voice Channel (RVC): Used for voice

transmission from MS to BS

 Forward Control Channel (FCC): Used for initiating a call

from BS to MS
 Reverse Control Channel (RCC): Used for initiating a call
from MS to BS
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 the channel until it drops below the usable

threshold
 It then scans for another channel with the strongest signal
 Control channels are defined and standardized throughout
the service area
 Typically the control channels use up to 5% of the total
number of channels
A Call TO a Mobile User
 The MSC dispatches the request to all the base stations
 The Mobile Identification Number (MIN) is broadcast as a 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. . .
 The BS signals the MS to change over to unused FVC and
RVC

 A data message (called ‘alert’) is transmitted over the FVC

to instruct the mobile to ring

 All of these sequences of events occur in just 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 transmitter 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
Cell Shape – Why hexagon?
 The hexagonal shape is a simplistic assumption

 (a) is theoretical coverage area and (b) measured coverage area

where red, blue, green, and yellow indicate signal strength, in
decreasing order
 Footprint: Actual radio coverage and obtained experimentally
 Actual shape is a random that depends on the environment
 Circular (theoretical): If path loss was a decreasing function
of distance, say, 1/dn, where d is the distance b/n BS & MS
Cell Shape – Required
 Geometric shape that
approximates the
theoretical shape?
 Shape whose non-
overlapping and
repetitive placement
covers an entire
region?

 Possible shapes Has dead zones

 Triangles, squares,
hexagons
 Which one to choose?
Cell Shape . . .

R
R
R

aR = 2R2 aT = 33/2 R2/4 aH= 33/2 R2/2

 Hexagonal cell is conceptual, however, it is universally

adopted for most theoretical treatment because:
 Hexagons are a geometric shape that approximates a circle (for
Omni-directional radiation)
 Using a hexagon geometry, fewest number of cells can cover the
entire geographic region
Cell Shape . . .

 When using hexagon to model coverage areas

 Center-excited cell: Base station (BS) depicted as being in the
center of the cell
 Omni-directional antenna is used

 Edge-excited cell: on three of the six cell vertices

 Sectored direction antenna is used
Frequency Reuse – Example
 Assume a city of 10 Million mobile users
 Let every user is allocated a radio spectrum for analog speech of 4 kHz
bandwidth
 Thus the required bandwidth is 4 kHz * 10 Million users = 40 GHz!
 Clearly impractical!
 No other services possible using a radio transmission
 Most of the spectrum will be unused most of the time
 Cellular radio systems rely on intelligent allocation and
reuse of channels throughout the coverage area
 Available group of channels are assigned to a cluster
 Same group of frequencies are reused to cover another cell
separated by a large enough distance, i.e., there is a tradeoff
Frequency Reuse – Example
 Example: Consider a
cluster of 7 cells
 Same color labeled
cells use the same
frequency
 Frequency reuse factor
is 1/7 since each cell
contains one-seventh
of the total available
channels
 V
Geometry of Hexagons y
U

D
Geometry of Hexagons …
 Axes U and V intersect at 60o
 Unit distance is the distance between cell centers
 If cell radius to point of hexagon is R, then
 2Rcos 30o = 1 or R = 1/√3 (Normalized radius of a cell)

 To find the distance of a point P(u,v) from the origin, use X-

Y to U-V coordinate transformation

r 2
 x2  y2
x  u cos 300
y  v  u s in 3 0 0
1
r  (v 2  u v  u 2
)2
Geometry of Hexagons …
 Using these equations, to locate the co-channel cells,
start from a reference cell and move
 i-hexagons along the U-axis and
 j-hexagons along the V-axis
 The distance, D, between co-channel cells in adjacent
clusters is given by
D  i 2  ij  j 2

 The number of cells in a cluster, N, is given by

N  i 2  ij  j 2
where i and j are non-negative integers
 There are only certain cluster sizes and layouts possible
 Typical values of N are 1, 3, 4, 7, 12, ……
Example
Re-use Coordinates Number of Cells Normalized
in the cluster repeat distance
i j N D
1 0 1 1

1 1 3 1.732

2 1 7 2.646

2 2 12 3.464

1 3 13 3.606

3 2 19 4.359

1 4 21 4.583
Locating Co-Channel Cells: Example N=7, i=2 & j=1
 To find out the
V
nearest co-channel
neighbors of a
BS1
particular cell, do the
following U
 Move i cells in the U
direction
BS1
 Then turn 60 degree
BS1
counter clockwise and
move j cells in the V 1/3
direction
Locating Co-Channel Cells: Example N=19, i=3, j=2
Re-use Factor
 For Hexagonal cells,
D the re-use distance is
given by:
DR 3N
R  Where R = cell size and
N = cluster size

 Re-use factor is
BS1
defined as:
BS1
D
q  3N
R
Cell Capacity and Reuse
 Consider a cellular system
 Which has S duplex channels available for re-use
 Each cell allocates a group of k channels
 Let the S channels be divided among N cells (unique and disjoint)
then,
S  kN
 Cluster: N cells, which collectively use the complete set of
available frequencies

 If a cluster is replicated M times in the system, the total

number of duplex channels, C, as a measure of capacity is

C M k N M S
Cell Capacity and Reuse . . .
 If cluster size N is reduced while cell size is kept constant
 More clusters are required to cover area of interest, i.e., M  C 
 So capacity is directly prop. to replication factor for fixed area

 However, small cluster size means co-channel cells are

located much closer together
 Results in larger co-channel interference
 May result in lower Quality of Service (QoS)

 Conversely, large cluster size indicates that co-channel

cells are far from each other
 Less co-channel interference and frequency utilization

 The value of N is a function of how much interference a mobile

or BS can tolerate
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Example 1
 Assume that:
 50 MHz is available for
forward channels
 GSM is deployed
 Each channel is 200 kHz
 In GSM, TDMA is used so
that 8 simultaneous calls can
be made on each channel

 How large is k?
 How many forward calls
can be made
simultaneously for the
deployment containing 28
cells as in the figure?
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Solution
 Solution:
 There are 50 MHz / 0.2 MHz = 250 channels per cluster
 With N = 4, then k = 250/4 = 62.5

 With 62.5 channels, 8(62.5) = 500 simultaneous calls can be made

in each cell
 There are 28 cells on the cell map in Figure, so the total forward
calls is 28(500) = 14×103 calls can be made simultaneously
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Example 2
 Suppose 33 MHz BW allocated to particular FDD cellular
system, where two 25 KHz simplex channels to provide
full-duplex for voice/data
 Compute the number of channels per cell if a system uses
 Four-cell reuse
 Seven-cell reuse
 Twelve-cell reuse

 Solution: Given that

 Total BW = 33 MHz, channel BW = 25 KHz x 2 = 50 KHz/duplex
channel
 S = 33,000/50 = 660 channels
 For N = 4, k = 660 / 4 ≈ 165 channels
 For N = 7, k = 660 / 7 ≈ 95 channels
 For N = 12, k = 660 / 12 ≈ 55 channels
Channel Assignment Strategies
 Which channels should be assigned to a cell?
 Channel assignment strategies can be classified as either
fixed or dynamic
 Within a cluster, separate channels in as much as possible
 This reduces adjacent channel interference

 A scheme for increasing capacity and minimizing

interference is required
Fixed Channel Assignment
 Each cell is assigned a fixed number of voice channels
 Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused
channels in that particular cell

 If all the channels in the cell are in use, the call is blocked
 I.e., the user will not get service

 Simple, but a busy cell will run out of channels before a

neighboring cell
 Service variations of fixed assignment strategy exit
 System performance will be limited by the most crowded cell
Fixed Channel Assignment …
 In a variant of the fixed channel assignment, a cell can
borrow channels from its neighboring cells if its own
channels are full
 MSC supervises such procedures and ensures that the borrowing
of a channel does not disturb any call in the donor cell
Dynamic Channel Assignment
 In dynamic channel assignment (DCA), channels are not
assigned to cells permanently
 Each basestation can change the channels it uses

 When a call request is made, the BS requests a channel

from the MSC
 MSC only allocates the channel after verifying that the channel is
not presently in use

 To ensure a required QoS, the MSC allocates a given

frequency if that frequency is not currently used in
 The cell, or
 In any other cell which falls within the limiting reuse distance, i.e.,
channels in neighboring cells must still be different
Dynamic Channel Assignment . .
 The MSC allocates a channel taking into account
 The likelihood of future call blocking
 The frequency usage of the candidate channel
 The reuse distance of the channel
 Other cost functions

 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
 DAC requires more careful control as it gives extra load to
the MSC
Handoff
 The process of transferring a call, which is in progress from
one channel or BS to another is called handoff or handover
 Handoff is required when a MS moves into a different cell
 MSC facilitates the transfer

 In general, handoff involves

 Identifying the new BS
 Allocation of voice and control channels in the new BS

 Prioritize handoff requests over call initiation requests

when allocating unused channels in a cell site
Handoff Region – Power Strength

BS-1 P1(x) P2(x) BS-2

• By looking at the variation of signal strength from either base station, it

is possible to decide on the optimum area where handoff can take place

36
Handoff
 Handoffs must be performed
 Successfully
 As infrequently as possible, and
 Must be imperceptible to the user

 To meet these requirements, a minimum usable signal

level must be specified for acceptable voice quality at the
base station
 If the received power drops too low prior to handoff, the call will be
dropped so that users complain about dropped calls
Handoff Region . . .
Handoff Margin
 Consider the following two power levels
 Pr,min. usable be the minimum received power in dB, below which a
call cannot be received
 A handoff has to be initiated much prior to this point
 Pr,handoff be a higher threshold in dB at which the MSC initiates the
handoff procedure
 Handoff is made when the received signal at the BS falls below the
threshold
 Define handoff margin in dB as
∆ = Pr,handoff − Pr,min. usable
Handoff Margin …
 How much margin is needed to handle a mobile at driving
speeds?
 The margin ∆ should not be too large or too small
 The handoff threshold power is selected such that it is slightly
greater than the minimum usable signal power for an acceptable
voice quality

 If ∆ is too large, it may lead to unnecessary handoffs which

may burden the MSC
 The call may be headed over to the neighboring BS when the MS
is well inside the home cell

 If ∆ is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete

a handoff before a call is lost due to weak signal conditions
Handoff Margin …
 A call drop can also happen when there is an excessive
delay by the MSC in assigning a channel
 E.g., during high traffic conditions

 To effect handoff, it is important to ensure that the mobile is

actually moving away from the serving base station
 The measured signal level drop may be due to momentary fading
 In order to ensure this, BS monitors signal level for a certain
period of time before a handoff is initiated
 The length of monitoring depends on the speed of mobile units
 Where to get information about the mobile speed?

 At high mobile speeds, handoff needs to happen quickly

 In GSM, handoff is typically within 1-2 seconds
 In AMPS, this was 10 seconds (higher potential for dropped calls!)
Handoff Margin – Example

 Assume that
 A mobile moving at a speed of v = 35 mps (~125 Kmph)
 Path-loss exponent n = 4
 Cell radius of 500 meters (the distance at which the call is
dropped)
 2 second handoff

 What is the required handoff margin?

Handoff Margin - Solution
 Assume the mobile is driving directly away from the BS
 So distance d changes by 70 meters in two seconds
 Consider the received power at the two times
Pr,min. usable = 0 − 10nlog10d
Pr,handoff = 0 − 10nlog10(d−70)

 Taking the difference of the 2nd and the 1st equations,

∆ = 10nlog10d − 10nlog10(d − 70) = 10n log10(d/(d − 70))

 Taking that the call is dropped at d = 500 meters, we have

∆ = 40 log10(500/430) = 2.6 dB

 Note: In this example, the propagation equation used is for

“large scale path loss” only, which changes slowly
Handoff Strategies
1. MSC controlled
 Used in the 1st generation analog cellular systems
 Signal strength measurements are made by the BS and
supervised by the MSC
 A spare receiver in each BS, called the location receiver, is used to
determine signal strengths of mobile users which are in
neighboring cells (and appear to be in need of handoff)
 Handoff Strategies ….
2. Mobile-assisted hand-off (MAHO)
 Used in the 2nd generation systems
 MSs measures the received power from surrounding BSs and
report the results to home BS
 Handoff is initiated when the received power at the MS from the
neighboring BS begins to exceed the home BS by a certain level for
a certain period of time
 MAHO performs at a much faster rate, and is particularly suited for
micro cellular environments
Handoff Strategies ….
 Intersystem handoff
 When a mobile user moves from one cellular system to a different
cellular system controlled by a different MSC
 It may become a long-distance call and a roamer
 Compatibility between the two MSCs need to be determined
 Handoff Strategies - Prioritizing Handoffs
 Having a call abruptly terminated while in the middle of a
conversation is more annoying than being blocked
occasionally on a new call attempt
 Concept of guard channels
 A fraction of the total available channel is reserved for handoff
requests, which then are not offered to mobiles making new calls
 It may reduce the total carried traffic
 However, it offers efficient spectrum utilization when dynamic
channel assignment strategies are used

 Queuing of handoff requests

 Does not guarantee a zero probability of forced termination
Handoff Strategies - Practical Handoff Considerations

 How to handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed and

low speed users while minimizing the handoff intervention
from the MSC?
 Using microcells to increase capacity also increases burden on
MSC

 Another practical limitation is the ability to obtain new cell

sites, particularly in an urban environment
Handoff Strategies - Umbrella Cell
 By using different antenna heights (often at the same
building or tower) and different power levels, “large” and
“small” cells are co-located at a single location
 Minimizes the number of handoffs for high speed users and
provides additional microcell channels for pedestrian users
 Handoff Strategies – Hard Handoff
 Hard handoff: The channel in the source cell is released
only when the channel in the target cell is engaged
 I.e., assign different radio channels during a handoff

 For 1st generation analog systems, if takes about 10 seconds and

the value for ∆ is on the order of 6dB to 12dB
 For 2nd generation digital systems, typically requires only 1 or 2
seconds, and ∆ usually is between 0 dB and 6 dB
 In 2nd generation systems, handoff decision is also based on a co-
channel and adjacent channel interference levels
Handoff Strategies – Soft Handoff in CDMA
 The channel in the source cell is retained and used for a
while in parallel with the channel in the target cell
 Used in CDMA system
 In CDMA, users share the same channel in every cell
 Consequently, handoff does not mean a physical change in the
assigned channel, rather that a different base station handles the
radio communication task

 By simultaneously evaluating the receiver signals from a single

subscriber at several neighboring base stations, the MSC may
actually decide which version of the user’s signal is best at any
moment in time
Interference
 Interference is a major performance limiting factor in
cellular radio
 It limits capacity thereby increasing the number of dropped calls

 Interference are difficult to control in practice largely due to

random propagation effects
 Sources of interference include
 Another mobile in the same cell or in a neighboring cell
 Other BSs operating in the same frequency band
 Any cellular (e.g., from competing cellular carriers) or non-cellular
system which inadvertently leaks energy into the cellular frequency
band
 …
Interference – Effects
 Interference in the voice channels causes crosstalk
 A subscriber hears interference in the background due to an
undesired transmission

 Interference in the control channels causes error in digital

signaling which causes
 Missed calls
 Blocked calls
 Dropped calls

 Interference is more severe in urban areas, due to the

greater RF noise floor and the large number of base
stations and mobiles
Interference – Types
 There are two major types of Interferences:
 Co-channel Interference (CCI)
 Adjacent channel Interference (ACI)

 CCI is caused due to cells that reuse the same frequency

set
 These cells using the same frequency set are referred to as co-
channel cells

 ACI is caused due to signals that are adjacent in frequency

Co-Channel Interference – First-tier Interference
Co-Channel Interference – First-tier Interference
First-tier co-channel BSs

D1
D6

D5 D2

D4
D3

Serving Base
Station
Co-Channel Interference …
 Unlike thermal noise, CCI cannot be overcome by increasing
the carrier power of a transmitter
 This is because, any increase in the transmitter power also increases
the interference to other co-channel cells

 Instead, co-channel cells must be physically separated by a

minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due to
propagation
 To reduce CCI the co-channel cells must be sufficiently separated

 Co-channel interference is a function of

 The radius of the cell, R, and
 The distance to the center of the nearest co-channel cell, Di
Co-Channel Interference …
 For a hexagonal geometry, the co-channel reuse ratio, Q is
related to the cluster size
D
Q  3N
R
 It determines the spatial separation relative to the coverage
distance of the cell
 N small gives Q small
 Provides a larger capacity (i.e., can re-use more), but higher CCI
 N large means Q large
 Better transmission quality due to a small level of co-channel
interference but small capacity

 Hence, there is capacity vs. interference tradeoff

Co-Channel Interference …
Signal-to-Interference Ratio
 Signal-to-interference ratio (S/I) for a mobile which
monitors a forward channel is
S S
 m
I
I j
j 1

 Where S: desired signal power, Ij: interference caused by the jth co-
channel cell, and m: first-tier co-channels cells
 The average received power at a distance d from the
transmitting antenna is approx. by
n
 d  d
Pr  Po   or Pr ( d B )  P0 ( d B )  1 0 n log( )
 do  d0

 Where Po is the received power at a close-in reference distance in

the far-field and n is the path-loss exponent
 The path loss exponent, n, ranges between 2 and 6
Signal-to-Interference Ratio …
 If Di is the distance of the ith interferer, the received power
is proportional to (Di )n
 If transmit power of each BS is equal & n is the same
throughout the coverage area, S/I for a mobile is approx. as
S R n

I m


i 1
( Di )n

 To simplify, assume all first-tier interferers are equidistance

S

D    
R
n
3N 
n

I m m
 This relates S/I to the cluster size, and in turn determines the
overall capacity of the system
 Puts a limits on how low we may set N
Signal-to-Interference Ratio …
 For a hexagonal cluster of
cells with the MS situated at
the edge of the cell R

 3 N  D
n
S  1  D    1 n

I 6  R  6 D
D

 As long as all cells are of the D

same size, S/I is D
D
independent of the cell
radius, R
Signal-to-Interference Ratio - Example 1
 Design parameters:
 Desired S/I = 15dB
 Path-loss exponent n = 4
 Assume that there are six co-channel cells in the first tier and all of
them are at the same distance from the mobile

 What is the required re-use factor and cluster size that

should be used for maximum capacity?
Signal-to-Interference Ratio – Example 1 …
 Six co-channel
cells in the first
tier
Signal-to-Interference Ratio - Example 1 …
 Let’s try for N= 4. The co- • Let’s try: N= 7
channel re-use ratio is D
D  4.58
 3.46 R
R S 1
  4.58 4
 And the signal-to-interference I 6
ratio is  73.5  18.66 d B

S 1
 3.46 4  24 13.8 dB
I 6 • Which is greater than
the desired
 Smaller than the desired • Hence, N=7 can be
15 dB used
 We must move to the next reuse • The frequency reuse
distance factor = 1/7
Example 2 - Repeat Example 1 for n = 3
 Solution
 Let’s try for a seven-cell reuse pattern, i.e. N= 7. Like the previous
example
D S 1
 4.58 and  4.58 3  16.04  12.05 dB
R I 6
 Which is smaller than the desired 15 dB, hence we need to use
larger N
 Let us try N=12
D S 1
 6.00 and   6.00 3  36  15.56 dB
R I 6
 Since this is greater than 15 dB, N=12 can be used

 Note: n=3 is typical value for sub-urban area

 Exercise: Try for n=2, which represents rural area!
Summary - Re-Use Factor for n=2, n=3, and n=4
30

Path loss n= 2
25
Path loss n = 3
Path loss n=4
20
SIR in dB

15
N =7 N=12
10

-5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Cluster Size, N
Worst Case Calculation of S/I
 The MS is at the cell
boundary
 The approximate S/I is
given by:

S R n

I 2 D  R  n  2 D  n  2 D  R  n

S 1
 
I 2Q 1n  2Q n  2Q 1n
Adjacent Channel Interference (ACI)
 Results from signals that are adjacent in frequency to the
desired signal
 Due to imperfect receiver filters, that allow nearby frequencies to
leak

 Near-far effect: The adjacent channel interference is

particularly serious. This occurs when:

 When an interferer close to the BS radiates in the adjacent

channel, while the subscriber is far away from the BS
 The BS may not discriminate the desired mobile user from the “bleed
over” caused by the close adjacent channel mobile

 Or, an interferer which is in close range to the subscriber’s

receiver, is transmitting while the receiver receives from the BS
 Near-Far Effect - Interferer Close to BS
• One solution is power control, i.e., reducing the power
level transmitted by mobiles close to the BS

Interferer Subscriber

70
Near-Far Effect - Interferer Close to MS

Interferer Subscriber

71
Adjacent Channel Interference …
 ACI can be reduced by
 Careful filtering
 Careful channel assignment

 The frequency separation between each channel in a cell

should be made as large as possible
 Assign non-adjacent channels within each cell’s channel group

 Example: Assign S = 50 channels into groups for N = 7.

 Solution
 There are about k = 50/7 ≈ 7 channels per cell
 For group 1, use forward channels {1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50}
 For group i, i = 2, . . . 7, let the channels for group i consist of {i, i
+7, i + 14, i + 21, i + 28, i + 35, i + 42}
Adjacent Channel Interference …
 Example: The frequency separation between each
channel in a cell should be made as large as possible while
assigning them
Adjacent Channel Interference …
 If a subscriber is at a distance d1 and the interferer is d2
from the base station, then SIR (prior to filtering) is:
n
S  d1 
  
I  d 2 

 Example
 Suppose a subscriber is at d1 = 1000m from the BS and an
adjacent channel interferer is at d2 = 100m from the BS
 Assume: Path-loss exponent is n = 3
 The signal-to-Interference ratio prior to filtering is then
n
S  d1   1000 
3
     1 0  3   3 0 d B
I  d 2   1 0 0 
Power Control to Reduce Interference
 In practice, power levels transmitted by every subscriber
are under constant control by the serving BS
 Each MS transmits with the smallest power necessary

 In power control
1. Reduces the transmit power level of MSs close to the BS since a
high TX power is not necessary in this case
2. MSs located far away must transmit with larger power than those
nearby

 Advantages of power control

 Reduces out-of-band interference
 Prolongs battery life
 Even reduces co-channel interference on reverse channels
Power Control to Reduce Interference …
 However, power control requires well control
 Controlling a mobile means communication from the BS to the
mobile to inform it whether to increase or decrease its power.

 In CDMA systems, every user in every cell share the same

radio channel means a tight power control is required
 The “near-far problem” is even more of a problem in CDMA
 Need to reduce the co-channel interference
 Reduced interference leads to higher capacity
Trunking
 Trunking: How to accommodate a large number of users in
a limited radio spectrum?
 Trunking refers to sharing a fixed and small number of
channels among a large and random user community
 Each user demands access from a pool of channel
infrequently & at random times
 A channel is allocated on a per call basis and a channel is returned
to the pool upon termination of a call
 So a dedicated channel for each user is not required
 If U be number of users and C be number of channels, for any C <
U, possibility of more requests than channels

 Trunking exploits statistical behavior of users so that a fixed

number of channels accommodate a large, random user
Trunking …
 Trunking accommodates large & random users
 By providing access to each user on demand from a pool of
available channels

 When a user requests service and if all channels are in use

1. The user is blocked or denied access to the system

2. In some systems, a queue may be used to hold the requesting
users until a channel becomes available

 Upon termination of the call, the previously occupied channel is

immediately returned to the pool

 Designing a trunked system, that can handle a given

capacity at a specific “grade of service”, requires trunking
and queuing theories
Trunking – Definition of Terms . . .
 Setup time: The time required to allocate a radio channel to
a requesting user
 Users request may be blocked or have to wait
 Blocked Call: A call that cannot be completed at the time of
request due to congestion
 Also called lost call => lost revenue, e.g., pick hours, holidays, …

 Holding time: Average call duration in seconds, denoted H

 Depends on users and operator's tariff

 Request (or call) rate: Average number of calls per unit time,
denoted λ seconds-1
 Typically taken to be at the busiest time of a day
 Depends on type of users community: Office, residential, call
center,…
Trunking – Definition of Terms . . .
 Traffic intensity: A measure of channel time utilization
 Is the average channel occupancy measured in Erlang, denoted by A
 Load: Traffic intensity across the entire trunked radio system
 Measured in Erlang

 Erlang: A “unit” of measure of usage or traffic intensity

 A channel kept busy for one hour is defined as having a load of one
Erlang

 Grade of Service (GoS): Measure of congestion (or ability of

a user to access a trunked system) during the busiest hour
 Typically given as likelihood that a call is blocked, called Erlang B or
 The likelihood of a call experiencing a delay greater than a certain
amount of time, called Erlang C
Trunking …
 Average arrival rate, λ
 Average number of MSs requesting service (call request/time)
 Average hold-time, H
 Average duration of a call (or time for which MS requires service)

 An average traffic intensity offered (generated) by each user

Au  H (Erlangs)
 Example 1: If a user makes on average two calls per hour,
and that a call lasts an average of 3 minutes
2
Au  3 min  0.1Erlang
60 min
Trunking …
 Example 2: In a cell with 100 MSs average of 30 requests
are generated in an hour with average holding time of
6 minutes
 The arrival rate:   30 3600 requests / sec

30 Calls 360 Seconds

 Offered load is: Au  *  3 Erlangs
3600 Seconds Call
Trunking …
 The total offered traffic intensity for U users A  UAu
 Note: A is not necessarily the traffic carried by the trunked system

 In a C channel trunked system, if traffic is distributed equally

among channels, then traffic intensity per channel
UAu A
AC  
C C

 In Example 1, assume that there are 100 users and 20

channels
 Then A = 100(0.1)= 10 and Ac = 10/20 = 0.5

 Note: Ac is a measure of the efficiency of channels utilization

Trunking and GoS
 Offered traffic is not necessarily the traffic carried by the
trunked system, only that is offered to the system
 Maximum possible carried traffic is the total number of channels, C,
in Erlangs

 AMPS system is designed for a GOS of 2% blocking

 Channel allocations for cells are designed so that 2 out of 100 calls
will be blocked due to channel occupancy during the busiest hour

 What do we do when a call is offered (requested) but all

channels are full?
 Blocked calls cleared? Offers no queuing for call requests, Erlang B
 Blocked calls delayed? Erlang C
Trunking – Blocked Calls Cleared
1. Calls arrival request follows a Poisson distribution
2. Memoryless arrivals of requests
 I.e., all users, including blocked users, may request a channel at
any time
3. The probability of a call durations (or a user occupying a
channel) is exponentially distributed
 I.e., longer calls are less likely to occur
4. There are “infinite number of users” and “finite channels”
 Rather than a finite number U of users each requesting Au traffic,
set the total offered traffic as a constant A, and then let U   and
Au  0 in a way that preserves A = UAu

 These assumptions leads to the Erlang B formula

 Also known as the “blocked calls cleared formula”
Trunking – Erlang B Formula
 The probability of an arriving call being blocked is
Ac
Pr [blocking]  C!  GOS
C
Ak

k 0 k!
 Where C: number of trunked channels and A: total offered traffic
 Erlang B is a measure of the GOS for a trunked system
which provides no queuing for blocked calls
 Setting the desired GOS, one can derive
 Number of channels needed
 The maximum number of users we can support as A = UAU or
 The maximum AU we can support (and set the number of minutes
on our calling plans accordingly)
 Since C is very high, it is easier to use table or graph
Erlang B Formula - Table Form
Erlang B Formula - Graphical Form

Wireless Communications - Ch. 2 – Cellular

Sem. I, 2015
System
Trunking – Blocked Calls Delayed
 Instead of clearing a call, put it in a queue and have it wait until
a channel is available
 First-in, first-out line: Calls will be processed in the order received

 There are two things to determine here

1. The probability a call will be delayed (enter the queue) and
2. The probability that the delay will be longer than t seconds

 The first is no longer the same as Erlang B

 It goes up, because blocked calls aren’t cleared, they “stick
around” and wait for the first open channel

 Meaning of GOS
 The probability that a call will be forced into the queue AND it will wait
longer than t seconds before being served (for some given t)
Trunking - Blocked Calls Delayed …
 Additional assumptions:
1. The queue is infinitely long: Translates to infinite memory
2. No one who is queued gives up/hangs up (rather than wait)

 The probability of an arriving call not having an immediate

access to a channel (or being delayed) is given by Erlang
C Formula
Ac
Pr [delay  0] 
A C 1 Ak
Ac  C!(1 )
C k 0 k!

 It is typically easiest to find a result from a chart

Trunking - Calls Delayed …
 Once it enters the queue, the probability that the delay is
greater than t (for t > 0) is given as
C  A 
Pr [delay  t delay  0]  exp  t 
 H 

 GOS: The marginal (overall) probability that a call will be

delayed AND experience a delay greater than t is then
Pr[delay  t]  Pr[delay  0]Pr [delay  t | delay  0]
C  A 
 Pr [delay  0]exp  t 
 H 
 The average delay for all calls in a queued system
H
D  Pr [delay  0]
CA
Erlang C Formula - Graphical Form
Trunking - Example 1
 Consider a system with
 100 cells
 Each cell has C = 20 channels
 Generates on average λ = 2 calls/hour
 The average duration of each call (H) = 3 Minutes

 How many number of users can be supported if the

allowed probability of blocking is 2%?

 Solution:
 From Erlang B Chart, total carried traffic = 13 Erlangs
 Traffic intensity per user AU = λH = 0.1 Erlangs
 The total number of users that can be supported by a cell = 13/0.1
= 130 Users/cell
 Therefore, the total number of users in the system is 13,000
Trunking - Example 2
 Consider a system with
 100 cells, each cell has C = 20 channels
 Generates on average λ = 2 calls/hour
 The average duration of each call (H) = 3 Minutes

 How many number of users can be supported if the

allowed probability of blocking is 0.2%?

 Solution
 Again from Erlang B Chart, total carried traffic = 10 Erlangs
 Traffic intensity per user AU = λH = 0.1 Erlangs
 The total number of users that can be supported by a cell = 10/0.1
= 100 Users/cell
 Therefore, the total number of users in the system is 10,000
 We support less number of users
Trunking - Example 3
 Consider a system with
 Total number of channels = 20
 Probability of blocking = 1%
 How shall we use this set of channels?
 Approach 1: Divide 20 channels into 4 trunks of 5 channels each
 Traffic capacity of one trunk (5 channels) = 1.36 Erlangs
 Traffic capacity of four trunks (20 channels) = 5.44 Erlangs
 Approach 2: Divide 20 channels into 2 trunks of 10 channels each
 Traffic capacity of one trunk (10 channels) = 4.46 Erlangs
 Traffic capacity of two trunks (20 channels) = 8.92 Erlangs
 Approach 3: Use the 20 channels as they are
 Traffic capacity of one trunk (20 channels) =12.0 Erlangs
 Better to make a large pool instead of dividing
 Allocation of channels in a trunked radio system has a major impact
on overall system capacity
Trunking - Example 4
 Given
 An urban area has a population of 2 million residents
 Three competing trunked mobile networks (system A, B, and C)
provide cellular service in this area
 System A has 394 cells with 19 channels each
 System B has 98 cells with 57 channels each
 System C has 49 cells each with 100 channels
 Each user averages 2 calls per hour at an average call duration of
3 minutes
 Required
 The number of users that can be supported at 2% blocking?
 Assuming that all three trunked systems are operated at maximum
capacity, compute the percentage market penetration of each
cellular provider
Trunking - Example 5
 How many users can be supported for 0.5% blocking
probability for the following number of trunked channels in
a blocked calls cleared system? And how many user can
be supported per channel?
a. 5
b. 10
c. 100

 Assume each user generates 0.1 Erlangs of traffic.

Improving Capacity
 A network may need to expand because of
 Increase in traffic or demand for service
 Or because of a change in the environment (e.g., a new building)
 As traffic increases, the channels originally assigned to
each cell will be congested

 System designers have to provide more channels per unit

coverage area
 Common techniques
 Cell splitting, sectoring, microcell zoning, and use of repeaters
Cell Splitting
 Cell splitting: Process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells (called microcells), where each cell has
 Its own BS (increase in BSs deployed) and
 Reduction in the transmitter power and antenna height

 Splitting the cells reduces the cell size and thus more
number of cells have to be used
 More number of cells = > more number of clusters => more
channels => higher capacity

 Cell splitting allows a system to grow by replacing large

cells by small cells without new spectrum usage
 Additional channels per unit area are created
 Cell Splitting . . .
Large cell
• Depending on traffic (low density)
patterns, the smaller
cells may be Small cell
activated/deactivated (high density)
in order to efficiently
use cell resources

• The co-channel re-

use factor D/R is
unchanged
Smaller
• Only increases the cell (higher
number of channels density)
per unit area
Cell Splitting - Example 1
 Suppose the radius of cell is reduced by half
 To cover the entire area, four times microcells are required
 What is the required transmit power for these new cells?

 We have:
 Power at the boundary of un-split cell: Pu  Ptu Rn
 Power at the boundary of a new microcell: Pmc  Ptmc (R / 2) n

 Where Ptu : transmitted power for un-split cell, Pmc : transmitted

power from for microcell

 For same CCI performance Pu = Pmc implies Ptmc  Ptu / 2 n

Cell Splitting - Example 1 . . .
 For n = 4; (a typical suburban area)
Ptu
Ptm c 
16
 Thus, the transmit power must be reduced by 12dB in
order to fill in the original coverage area with microcells,
while maintaining the S/I requirement
 Cell Splitting - Example 2

4 Cell 7 Cell
Cluster Cluster
Smaller
Cells

7 Cell
Cluster 12 Cell
Cluster

 Typical city cellular radio cell plan – different cell sizes and
clusters
 Combination of cell size and cluster size to increase capacity
Cell Splitting - Example 3
 Suppose a congested service area is
originally covered by
 5 Cells
 Each with 80 Channels
 Capacity = 5*80 = 400
 After Splitting:
 Let Rnew  R / 2
 We now have 20 cells to cover the region
 New Capacity = 20*80 = 1600

 In general, the relationship in capacity between cell

splitting and subscriber addition can be expressed as
Cn  4 n C
 Where Cn : network capacity after “n” times cell splitting and C:
Network capacity before cell splitting
Cell Sectoring
 Sectoring uses directional antennas to further control
interference and frequency reuse

 As opposed to cell splitting, where D/R is kept constant while

decreasing R, sectoring keeps R untouched and reduces the
D/R ratio
 Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the number of
cells per cluster, thus increasing frequency reuse
Cell Sectoring . . .
 In order to do this, it is necessary to reduce the relative
interference without decreasing the transmitter power
 CCI is reduced by replacing single omni-directional
antenna by several directional antennas, each radiating
within a specified sector
 A directional antenna transmits to and receives from only a
fraction of the total number of co-channel cells
 Thus CCI is reduced

 CCI reduction factor depends on the amount of sectoring

 A cell is normally partitioned into three 120⁰ sectors or six 60⁰
sectors
Cell Sectoring . . .
Cell Sectoring . . .
 Assume 7 cell reuse
and 1200 sector
 Number of interference
in the first tier reduces
from 6 to 2
 Significant compared to
omni-directional case
 Sectored groups
Cell Sectoring . . .
For a 7-cell cluster, the MS will
receive signals from only 2
other clusters (instead of 6 in
an omni-directional antenna)

For worst case, when mobile is

at the edge of the cell

R n
SIR 
D n  (D  0.7R) n

Desired channel Interfering co-channel cells @ D distance

Cell Sectoring – Problems
 Increased 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)

 Good news: Many modern BSs support sectoring and

related handoffs without the help of the MSC
Cell Sectoring – Modern BSs

1
2 120o
1-1 3
1-22
1-3
Sector in use CCI
Microcell Zone Concept
 The problems of sectoring, i.e., increased handoff, can be
addressed by the Microcell Zone concept
 A cell is divided into microcells or zones
 Each microcell (zone) is connected to the same base
station via fiber, microwave link, or coaxial
 Each zone uses a directional antenna

 As a MS travels from one zone to another, it retains the

same channel, i.e., no handoff
 The BS simply switches the channel to the next zone site
Microcell Zone Concept …
 Let each cell be divided into three zones

Zone
Selector
Microcell Zone Concept …
 While the cell maintains a particular coverage area, the
CCI is reduces because:
 The large central BS is replaced by several low power transmitters
 Directional antennas are used

 Decreases CCI improves

 Signal Quality
 Capacity
Microcell Zone Concept …
Microcell Zone Concept …
 Example:
 Suppose the desired S/I = 18 dB
 Path loss exponent n = 4

 How much capacity increase can occur if we use Microcell

zoning with 3 zones per cell?

 Solution
 To achieve S/I = 18 dB, we need N=7
 Now we create 3 zones within a cell
 The cluster size has been reduced to N = 3
 A capacity increase factor of 7/3 = 2.33
Repeaters for Range Extension
 Useful for hard-to-reach areas
 Within buildings or basements
 Tunnels
 Valleys
 Radio transmitters, called repeaters, can be used to
provide coverage in these areas
 Repeaters are bi-directional
 Receive signals from BSs
 Amplify the signals
 Re-radiate the signals
 Problem: received noise and interference is also
reradiated!
Repeaters for Range Extension …
Summary
 Concepts such as handoff, frequency reuse, trunking
efficiency, and frequency planning are covered

 Capacity of cellular system is a function of many things

 E.g., S/I that limits frequency reuse, which intern limits the number
of channels within the coverage area

 Trunking efficiency limits the number of users that can

access a trunked radio system

 Capacity can be improved by cell splitting, sectoring, and

the zone microcell techniques