Chapter 3

Mobile Cellular Communication System

 Objectives
1. Define cellular telephone concept.

2. Define and explain frequency reuse and frequency

reuse factor.

3. Define and describe interference, co-channel and

adjacent channel interference.

4. Define and explain GSM services, system

architecture and radio subsystem.
 Cellular systems generations
• 1G (first generation) – voice-oriented systems based on analog
technology; ex.: Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) and
cordless systems.
• 2G (second generation) - voice-oriented systems based on
digital technology; more efficient and used less spectrum than
1G; ex.: Global System for Mobile (GSM) and US Time Division
Multiple Access (US-TDMA).
• 3G (third generation) – high-speed voice-oriented systems
integrated with data services; ex.: General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).
• 4G (fourth generation) – still experimental, not deployed yet;
based on Internet protocol networks and will provide voice,
data and multimedia service to subscribers.
UMTS, WLAN,
DAB, GSM,
TETRA, ...

Personal Travel Assistant,

DAB, PDA, laptop,
GSM, UMTS, WLAN,
Bluetooth, ...
Cellular mobile communications
o A cellular mobile communications system
provides voice, data and multimedia services.
o Used large numbers of low power
transmitter/receiver (Tx/Rx) known as cell.
o Cell size depends on subscribers density.
o Cell can be split into small cell to
accommodate growth.
 Terminology
• CELLULAR networks got their name because of
the way they divide service areas into cells.

• MOBILE has traditionally been used to classify

a radio terminal that can be moved during
communication.
 How does it work?
• How can the system locate a user?

• Why don’t all phones ring at the same

time?

• What happens if two users talk

simultaneously?

• What are the key components of the

mobile phone network?
Coverage networks

possible radio
coverage of the cell

idealized
shape of the
cell
cell
 Cell
• A cell is the geographical area covered by a cellular telephone
transmitter.
• A city is divided into small cells.
• Each cell is equipped with a low-powered radio
transmitter/receiver or Radio Base Station (RBS).
• The cell provided by a RBS can be from one mile to twenty
miles in diameter, depending on terrain, transmission power,
and capacity demands.
• The hexagon shape was chosen because it is the most
efficient and easily managed system.
 Cell Concepts
• Regular cells
– Regular cells: dominant regions covered by each cells are all same
– There are only three regular cells – triangular, square, hexagonal

11
 Cell Concepts
• Why we only use hexagonal units?

– Hexagonal positioning of base station is the

most efficient transmission.
– Eliminates the gaps present between adjacent
cells.

12
 Network Cells
• the entire network coverage area is divided into cells based
on the principle of frequency reuse.
• a cell = basic geographical unit of a cellular network; is the
area around an antenna where a specific frequency range is
used; is represented graphically as a hexagonal shape, but in
reality it is irregular in shape.
• when a subscriber moves to another cell, the antenna of the
new cell takes over the signal transmission.
• a cluster is a group of adjacent cells, usually 7 cells; no
frequency reuse is done within a cluster.
• the frequency spectrum is divided into sub-bands and each
subband is used within one cell of the cluster.
• in heavy traffic zones cells are smaller, while in isolated zones
cells are larger. Why?
Network Cells
 Types of cells
1. MACROCELL – their coverage is large (aprox. 6 miles in
diameter); used in remote areas, high-power transmitters
and receivers are used. (1W – 6W).

2. MICROCELL – their coverage is small (half a mile in

diameter) and are used in urban zones; low-powered
transmitters and receivers are used to avoid interference
with cells in another clusters . (0.1W – 1W).

3. PICOCELL– covers areas such as building or a tunnel

(indoor communication).
 RBS Antenna
• RBS used 2 types of
antenna:
– Directional
– Omnidirectional
 Omnidirectional Antenna
• Radiates or receives
equally well in all
directions.
• Also called the "non-
directional" antenna
because it does not favor
any particular direction.
• Can deliver very long
communications
distances, but has one
drawback which is poor
coverage below the
antenna.
 Directional Antenna
• Focus the RF energy in a particular direction.
• Can divert the RF energy in a particular
direction to farther distances.
 Location of the base station
transmitter (tower + antenna)
1. Center excited cell
- used for omni-directional antennas.

2. Edge excited cell

- used for sectored directional antennas.

3. Corner excited cell

- used for sectored directional antennas.
 Other cellular concepts

• HANDOVER = moving a call from one zone (from the

transmitter-receiver from one zone) to another zone due
to subscriber’s mobility.

• ROAMING = allowing the subscriber to send/receive calls

outside the service provider’s coverage area.
 Cluster
• A cluster is a group
of cells.
• No channels are
reused within a
cluster.
• The figure illustrates
a seven-cell cluster.
Cellular network components
Cellular network components
 Cellular network components
• BTS (Base Transceiver Station) – main component of a cell
and it connects the subscribers to the cellular network; for
transmission/reception of information it uses several
antennas spread across the cell.
• BSC (Basic Station Controller) – it is an interface between
BTSs and it is linked to BTSs by cable or microwave links; it
routes calls between BTSs; it is also connected to the MSC.
• MSC (Mobile Switching Center) – the coordinator of a cellular
network, it is connected to several BSCs, it routes calls
between BSCs; links the cellular network with other networks
like PSTN through fiber optics, microwave or copper cable.
Cellular network components
MSC is known by several different names depending on the
manufacturer and the system configuration.
i) Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)
- given by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
ii) Electronic Mobile Xchange (EMX)
- by Motorola
iii) AEX by Ericcson
iv) NEAX by NEC
Each mobile communicates via radio with one or more base
stations. A call from a user can be transferred from one base
station to another during the call.
The process of transferring is called handoff.
 Mobile Telephone Switching
Office (MTSO)
• The MTSO is the central switch that controls the entire
operation of a cellular system.
• The MTSO is responsible for monitoring the relative signal
strength of your cellular phone as reported by each of the cell
towers, and switching your conversation to the cell tower
which will give you the best possible reception.
• It houses the mobile switching center (MSC), field monitoring,
and relay stations for switching calls from cell sites to PSTN.
• The MSC controls calls, tracks billing information, and locates
cellular subscribers and arranges handoffs.
Mobile cellular call
 Important of handoff
When the phone is moving away from the area covered by
one cell and entering the area covered by another cell the call
is transferred to the second cell in order to avoid call
termination when the phone gets outside the range of the
first cell;

When the capacity for connecting new calls of a given cell is

used up and an existing or new call from a phone, which is
located in an area overlapped by another cell, is transferred to
that cell in order to free-up some capacity in the first cell for
other users, who can only be connected to that cell;
Handoff: At any instant, each mobile station is logically in a cell and under
the control of the cell’s base station. When a mobile station moves out of a
cell, the base station notices the MS’s signal fading away and requests all
the neighbouring BSs to report the strength they are receiving. The BS then
transfers ownership to the cell getting the strongest signal and the MSC
changes the channel carrying the call. The process is called handoff. There
are two types of handoff; Hard Handoff and Soft Handoff. In a hard
handoff, which was used in the early systems, a MS communicates with one
BS. As a MS moves from cell A to cell B, the communication between the MS
and base station of cell A is first broken before communication is started
between the MS and the base station of B. As a consequence, the transition
is not smooth. For smooth transition from one cell (say A) to another (say
B), an MS continues to talk to both A and B. As the MS moves from cell A to
cell B, at some point the communication is broken with the old base station
of cell A. This is known as soft handoff.
Version
Two types of handoff
1. HARD handoff
2. SOFT handoff

HARD handoff

- Like swimming relay which is the next swimmer start just

as the preceding one touch the wall, analogous to the
switch from one base station to another in a hard
handoff.
- A definite decision made on whether to handoff or not.
A decision will eventually be made to communicate with
only one, which is one base station have strongest from
the others.
SOFT handoff

- Like track-and-field events, the baton is passed from

runner to the next after the second runner starts running
and so for a short they are both running together,
analogous to a soft handoff.
- A conditional decision is made on the changes in pilot
strength from the two or more base station involved.
 Cellular network components
• The worldwide voice telephone network.
• The PSTN is made up of local networks, the
exchange area networks, and the long-haul
network that interconnect telephones and
other communication devices on a
worldwide basis.
Cellular network components
Component 1 : Mobile Phones,
PDAs, etc

The visible but smallest

part of the network!
Component 2: Antennas

Still visible – cause many

discussions…
Component 3: Infrastructure 1
Base Stations

Cabling

Microwave links
Component 3: Infrastructure 2
Not „visible“, but
comprise the major
part of the network
(also from an
investment point of
view…)

Management

Data bases
Switching units
Monitoring
 Frequency reuse

“The process in which the same set of frequencies

(channels) can be allocated to more than one cell,
provided the cells are separated by sufficient
distance is called Frequency Reuse”
• The number of cells per cluster, N, can only have
values which satisfy
N = i + ij + j
2 2

C
N = number of cells per cluster
i,j = non-negative integer values. A F
A A
D E

B
E B

C C G C

A A

F D

E
Finding the distance - Hexagon
Quiz - Finding the distance –
between co-channels (D=?)
Number of cell per cluster (N)
N = i + ij + j
2 2
 Frequency reuse
The process of finding the tier (first tier) with the
nearest co-channels cells is as follows:

(1) Move i cells through the center of successive

cells
(2) Turn 60 in a counterclockwise direction.
(3) Move j cells forward through the center of
successive cells.
N determination
 Frequency reuse
The cellular concept employs variable low-power
levels, which allow cells to be sized according to the
subscriber density and demand of a given area. As
the population grows, cells can be added to
accommodate that growth. Frequencies used in one
cell in a cluster can be reused in other cells (different
cluster).
Recall :
A cell is the basic geographic unit of a cellular system.
A cluster is a group of cells.
No channels are reused within a cluster.
 Frequency reuse
• The factor N is called the cluster size and typically equal to
3,7or 12. To maximize the capacity over a given coverage
area we have to choose the smallest possible value of N.

• The factor 1/N is called the frequency reuse factor (FRF).

• Total number of a cellular channels available in a cluster, F,

can be expressed as
F = GN
where G= number of channels in a cell
N= number of cells in a cluster
 Frequency reuse

• Figure shows the cellular frequency reuse concept. Cells

labeled with same number use the same group of
channels. A cell cluster is outlined in bold and replicated
over the coverage of a cellular system.
 Frequency reuse
• When a cluster is duplicated m times within a
given service area, the total number of full duplex
channels can be expressed as
C = mGN = mF
where m = number of cluster in a given area.

• From equations, it can be seen that the channel

capacity of a cellular telephone system is directly
proportional to the number of times a cluster is
duplicated in a given service area.
 Example
Determine the number of channels per cluster and
the total channel capacity for a cellular telephone
area comprised of 10 clusters with 7 in each cluster
and 11 channels in each cell.

Total number of channel/cluster,

F = (10) (7) = 70 channels

Total channel capacity/area,

C = (10) (11) (7) = 770 channels
 Frequency reuse
• If the cluster size, N, is reduced and the cell size held
constant, more cluster are required to cover a given area,
and the total channel capacity increases.
• As mentioned earlier, the factor 1/N is called the frequency
reuse factor(FRF). FRF can be expressed mathematically as

N
FRF =
C
where :
N = total number of channel in a given area
C = total number of channel in a cell
 Interference
Two major types of interference
1. Co-channel interference (CCI)
2. Adjacent-channel interference (ACI)

Co-channel Interference (CCI)

“interference occurred between two cells that using the

same set of frequencies”

- these two cells are called co-channel cells.

To reduce co-channel interference, co-channel cells must be

physically separated by a minimum distance to provide sufficient
isolation due to propagation.
CCI is dependent on the radius of the cell (R ) and the
distance to the center of the nearest co-channel cell
(D). (note : prove the equation)

D
Q= = 3N
R

where Q = co-channel reuse ratio

D = distance to the nearest center of the cell
R = cell radius

Q increases CCI decreases

Co-channel reuse ratio
 Adjacent-channel Interference
(ACI)
“ ACI occurred when the transmissions from adjacent channels
interfere with each other” ( occur in the same cell)

- ACI results from imperfect filters in receivers that allow nearby

frequencies to enter the receiver.

- Using precise filtering and making careful channel

assignments can minimize ACI in receivers.
ACI
Exercise
TUTORIAL 3

1.Why was a honeycomb pattern selected for a

cell area?

2.What are the differences between

macrocells, microcells and picocells?

3.Described frequency reuse. Why is it useful

in cellular telephone systems?

4.What is meant by frequency reuse factor?

5.Explain the term handoff/handover?

6.Determine the number of channels per

cluster and the total channel capacity for a
cellular telephone area comprised of 12
clusters with seven cells in each cluster and
16 channels in each cells.