Dr E V Krishna Rao

Professor of ECE
Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering
(Autonomous)
Mylavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D,Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 1
1

CELLULAR AND MOBILE

COMMUNICATIONS
 TEXT BOOKS
1. Mobile and Cellular Telecommunications-W.C.Y.Lee
Tata McGraw Hill, 2 nd Edition,2006.
2. Mobile Cellular Communication– Gottapu Sasibhushana
Rao,, Pearson Education,1st Edition, 2013.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 3
 Introduction to Cellular System
 Basic Cellular System
 Operations of Cellular Systems
 Call establishment
 Operational channels
 Performance criteria
 Concept of Digital cellular system
 Hexagonal shaped cells,
 Frequency Reuse,
 Cell splitting
 Sectoring,
 Microcell zone concept
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 4
 A CELLULAR SYSTEM
 Cellular communications is one example of a wireless
communication system.

 The main objective of cellular systems design is to handle

as many calls as possible (called capacity in cellular
terminology) in a given bandwidth in the most efficient
way with reliability and quality of service in telephony.

 The cellular system employed two crucial features known

as frequency reuse and cell splitting.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 5
Evolution of cellular systems
 Evolution of cellular systems

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 6
 A CELLULAR SYSTEM
 The users are called as mobile stations (MSs) to
transmit/receive calls while moving in the cellular
network.
 Each cell has a base station (BS) that supplies frequency
channels to MSs. BSs are also referred to as cell sites.
 These cell sites are linked to a mobile switching centre
(MSC) also known as Mobile Telephone Switching
Office (MTSO) which is responsible for controlling the
calls and acting as a gateway to other networks
 Cells are assumed to have a regular hexagonal shape.
 Now we can observe that within the circle of radius R,
the area covered by the hexagonal pattern is the largest
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 7
 Basic Cellular System
 A cellular network is used by the mobile phone operator
to achieve both coverage and capacity for their
subscribers.
 Large geographical areas are split into smaller cells to
avoid line-of sight (LOS) signal loss and to support a
large number of active phones in that area.
 Low power transmitters are used by BSs; transmission
range determines cell boundary
 All cell sites are connected to telephone exchanges (or
switches), which in turn connect to the public telephone
network (PSTN).

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 8
Cell Shape
 The regular hexagon is favoured by system designers for
the following reasons:
 It provides the best approximation to the circular omni-
directional radio patterns achieved in practice.
 It is more economical to use since a hexagonal layout
requires fewer cells and hence fewer stations.
 It combines ease of geometry with the practical
realization of overlapping circles.
 For a given distance between the centre of a polygon and
its farthest perimeter points, the hexagon has the largest
area, and it is almost approximates a circular radiation
pattern.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 9
Cell Shape
 Cell Shape

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 10
 Cellular System
 A cellular network is formed by connecting the following five
components as shown
 1. Mobile station (MS)
 2. Base station (BS)
 3. Base station controller (BSC)
 4. Mobile switching centre (MSC)
 5. Public switched telephone network (PSTN)

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 11
Basic Cellular System
 Mobile station (MS): MSs are usually a mobile phone. Each mobile
phone contains a transceiver (transmitter and receiver), an antenna,
and control circuitry
 BS provides direct communication with mobile phones and it defines
the cell.
 Base station controller (BSC): A number of BSs are connected to a
BSC. An important function of BSC is that it manages the “handoff”
from one BS to another as a subscriber moves from cell-to-cell. The
BSC contains logic to control each of the BSs
 Mobile switching centre (MSC): The MSC is the control centre for
the cellular system. The MSC is also known as mobile telephone
switching office (MTSO). It coordinates the actions of the BSs
providing overall control and acts as a switch and connects into the
PSTN.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 12
 Basic Cellular System
 Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) is also known Mobile
Switching Centre (MSC)
 An Interface between Base Stations and the PSTN
 The switching office, the central coordinating element for all cell
sites, contains the cellular processor and cellular switch.
 Controls all the Base Stations in the Region and Processes User ID and
other Call Parameters, typical MSC can handle up to 100,000 Mobiles,
and 5000 Simultaneous Calls
 It interfaces with telephone company zone offices, controls call
processing, provides operation and maintenance, and handles billing
activities.
 The cellular switch, switches calls to connect mobile subscribers to
other mobile subscribers and to the nationwide telephone network.
 Its processor provides central coordination and cellular administration.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 13
Basic Cellular Network
 Cellular

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 14
Basic Cellular Network
 Cellular

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 15
 Handoff
 Even when the mobile user is moving, the access to the network
should be continuous.
 This problem does not arise if the user is moving within the same
cell, but when the user is moving from cell to cell, a handoff is
needed.
 Handoff is the process of transferring an active call from one cell
to another as the mobile unit moves from the first cell to the
other cell without disconnecting the call.
 When a mobile moves into a different cell while the call is in
progress, the mobile switching centre (MSC) automatically
transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new BS.
 Handoff operation involves identifying a new BS along with the
allocation of voice and control signals.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 16
8
Operations of Cellular System
 Operations of Cellular Systems can be categorized as:

1. Operation Procedures

2. Maximum Number of Calls Per Hour Per Cell

3. Maximum Number of Frequency Channels Per Cell

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 18
Operation of Mobile
 The operation of one mobile phone placing a call to another
involves two steps.
 One is the initialization of the mobile system and the
second is the establishment of the call.
 A.Mobile unit initialization
 1.Initialization of mobile system: Five basic steps are
involved in the mobile initialization procedure.
 They are power on, scanning, tuning, registering, and
listening.
 When a mobile phone is turned on, it scans and selects the
strongest and best bit-error rate (BER) (control channel)
signal sent by adjacent BSs.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 19
Operation of Mobile
 Then a handshaking process takes place between the
mobile phone and the MSC to identify the user and register
its location. This procedure is repeated periodically as long
as the mobile unit is on to monitor the location of the
mobile.
 This self-location scheme is used in the idle stage and is
user-independent. It has a great advantage because it
eliminates the load on the transmission at the cell site for
locating the mobile unit.
 The disadvantage of the self-location scheme is that no
location information of idle mobile units appears at each
cell site.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 20
 Operation of Mobile
 2.Establishment of a call: If a user dials a number and presses
START button, the mobile phone initializes a call by sending a
call initiation request to its nearest BS. This request is sent on a
special channel reception at the reverse control channel
(RECC).
 The BS sends the request, which contains the telephone number
of the called party, to the MSC .The MSC validates the request
and uses the number to make a connection to the called party
via the PSTN.
 Then PSTN first connects itself to the MSC of the called party,
and then the MSC instructs the BS and MS that placed the call
to switch to voice channels. The MS that placed the call is then
connected to the called station, using unused forward and
backward voice channels.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 21
 Operation of Mobile
 B. Mobile Originated Call
 The user places the called number into an originating register in
the mobile unit, and pushes the “send” button.
 A request for service is sent on a selected set-up channel
obtained from a self-location scheme.
 The cell site receives it, and in directional cell sites (or sectors),
selects the best directive antenna for the voice channel to use.
 At the same time, the cell site sends a request to the mobile
telephone switching office (MTSO) via a high-speed data link.
 The MTSO selects an appropriate voice channel for the call, and
the cell site acts on it through the best directive antenna to link
the mobile unit.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 22
 Operation of Mobile
 C. Network Originated Call
 A land-line party dials a mobile unit number. The telephone
company zone office recognizes that the number is mobile
and forwards the call to the MTSO.
 The MTSO sends a paging message to certain cell sites
based on the mobile unit number and the search algorithm.
 Each cell site transmits the page on its own set-up channel.
If the mobile unit is registered, the registered site pages the
mobile.
 The mobile unit recognizes its own identification on a
strong set-up channel, locks onto it, and responds to the
cell site.
 The mobile unit also follows the instruction to tune to an
assigned voice channel and initiate user alert.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 23
Operation of Mobile
 D. Call termination
 When the mobile user turns off the transmitter, a particular
signal (signaling tone) transmits to the cell site, and both
sides free the voice channel.
 The mobile unit resume monitoring pages through the
strongest set-up channel.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 24
Operation of Mobile
 Handoff procedure
 During the call, two parties are on a voice channel. When
the mobile unit moves out of the coverage area of a
particular cell site, the reception becomes weak.

 The present cell site requests a handoff. The system

switches the call to a new frequency channel in a new cell
site without either interrupting the call or alerting the user
.
 The call continues as long as the user is talking. The user
does not notice the handoff occurrences.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 25
 Handoff Mechanism
 Handoff
Mechanism

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 26
Spectrum utilization
 Problem Based on the concept of efficient spectrum utilization,
Elements of Cellular Mobile Radio System Design are
 (1) the concept of frequency reuse channels
 (2) the co-channel interference reduction factor
 (3) the desired carrier-to-interference ratio
 (4) the handoff mechanism
 (5) cell splitting.
 Challenge - to serve the greatest number of customers with a
specified system quality.
 How many customers can we serve in a busy hour?
 How many subscribers can we take into our system
 How many frequency channels do we need?

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 27
Maximum Number of calls per hour Per Cell
 To calculate the predicted number of calls per hour per
cell Q in each cell, the following parameters are required
 The size of the cell
 The traffic conditions in the cell

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 28
 Maximum Number of Frequency
Channels Per Cell
 The maximum number of frequency channels per cell N is
closely related to an average calling time in the system.
 The standard user’s calling habits may change as a result of the
charging rate of the system and the general income profile of
the users
 If an average calling time T is 1.76 min and the maximum calls
per hour per cell is Qi, then the offered load can be derived as A
= Qi*T/60 (Erlangs)
 One Erlang represents the amount of traffic intensity carried by
a channel that is completely occupied.
 For example, a radio channel that is occupied for thirty minutes
during an hour carries 0.5 Erlangs of traffic
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 29
Maximum Number of Frequency Channels
Per Cell
 If the blocking probability is given, then it is easy to find the
required number of radios in each cell. If a large area is
covered by 28 cells, Kt = 28; The total number of customers in
the system increases.
 Therefore, we may assume that the number of subscribers per
cell Mi is somehow related to the percentage of car phones
used in the busy hours c and the number of calls per hour per
cell Qi as

 Where the value Qi is a function of the blocking probability B,

the average calling time T, and the number of channels N.
 Qi= f(B, T, N)
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 30
Maximum Number of Frequency
Channels Per Cell
 EXAMPLE : Let the maximum calls per hour Qi in one cell be
3000 and an average calling time T be 1.76 min. The blocking
probability B is 2 percent. Then we may use Q from to find the
offered load A.

 With the blocking probability B =2 percent, the maximum number

of channels can be found from Appendix A as N = 100 .

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 31
 Performance Criteria
 Performance Quality based on three categories
 Voice Quality
 Service Quality
 Special features

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 32
Performance Criteria
 Voice Quality
 a set value x at which y percent of customers rate the
system voice quality (from transmitter to receiver) as
good or excellent
 the top two circuit merits (CM) of the five listed below, as the
percentage of customers choosing CM4 or CM5 increases, the cost
of building the system raises.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 33
Performance Criteria
 Voice Quality
 Circuit Merits (CM)

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 34
Performance Criteria
 Service Quality
 Coverage
 Required grade of service
 Number of dropped calls
 Coverage: The system should serve an area as large as
possible
 The transmitted power would have to be very high to
illuminate weak spots with sufficient reception, a
significant added cost factor.
 The higher the transmitted power, the harder it becomes
to control interference
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 35
Performance Criteria
 Service Quality
 Coverage
 Required grade of service
 Number of dropped calls
 Grade of Service (GoS)
 GoS is used to mean the probability that a user’s request for
service will be blocked because a required facility such as a
trunk or a cellular channel is not available.
 For example, a GoS of 5 per cent implies that on the average a
user might not be successful in placing a call on 5 out of every
100 attempts
 One would expect more call attempts during business hours
than during the middle of the night
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 36
Performance Criteria
 Grade of Service
 Traffic intensity or offered load (Auser) is the product of
the average call request rate and the average holding time
 This quantity represents the average traffic that is
provided by a user to the system.

 Auser =user.H
 The average holding time (H) is the average duration of a
call
 user the average number of call requests per user per unit
time,

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 37
 Performance Criteria
 Grade of Service
 Ex. Suppose during the busy hour, a user makes an average of 3 calls
per hour and holds each call an average of 15 min. Find the offered
traffic intensity. If the GoS during the busy hour is 10 %, find the
carried load for an individual user.
 Solution
 Auser =user.H
 The average arrival rate is user = 3 calls/h = 3 calls/60 min =
1call/20min. Then, Auser = 1/20 calls/ min × 15 min = 0.75 Erlang.
 If the blocking probability or GoS is Pb, then 1– Pb represents the
fraction of call requests that actually result in the assignment of a
channel. we obtain the carried traffic intensity or carried load Auser..
 The carried load (1 − Pb) Auser = (1 − 0.1)0.75 = 0.675 Erlang.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 38
Performance Criteria
 Service Quality
 Coverage
 Required grade of service
 Number of dropped calls
 Number of dropped calls.
A high drop rate could be caused by either coverage
problems or handoff problems related to inadequate
channel availability.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 39
Performance Criteria
 Special Features
 Call forwarding,
 Call waiting,
 Voice Stored (VSR) box,
 Automatic roaming, or Navigation services
 Customers may not willing to pay extra charges for these
special services

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 40
 ANALOG VS DIGITAL CELLULAR SYSTEMS

FEATURE ANALOG DIGITAL

TRAFFIC CH VOICE USE FM VOICE ENCODED IN

DIGITAL FORMAT

PROCESSING MORE DIFFICULT EASIER BY USING

MODEM

ENCRYPTION NO SECURITY PROVIDES THIS

CAPABILITY

NOISE MORE NOISY INHERENTLY LESS

NOISY
 ANALOG VS DIGITAL CELLULAR SYSTEMS (contd)

FEATURE ANALOG DIGITAL

ERROR DETECTION NO SUCH SUCH CAPABILITY

AND CORRECTION FACILITY.SO VOICE PROVIDED.SO
WAS NOT CLEAR VOICE IS CLEAR
CHANNEL ACCESS ONE CH TO ONLY ONE CH SHARED BY
ONE USER.EACH NO OF USERS
CELL SUPPORTS A USING TDMA/CDMA
NO OF FIXED CH.
COMPATIBILITY NOT COMPATIBLE COMPATIBLE WITH
WITH OTHER COMPUTERS
DEVICES /COMPUTERS N/W
WHICH USE DIGITAL
FORMAT.
 ANALOG CELLULAR SYSTEM
• 1 G / First Generation Cellular system.
• Evolved in early 80s.
• Called AMPS – ADVANCED MOBILE PHONE SYSTEM
• Released in 1983.
• Employed in North & South America, China, Australia etc.

General Specifications

• Base Stn Tx Band 869-894 M Hz

• M U Tx Band 824-849 M Hz
• Spacing between FCh & RCh 45 M Hz
• Channel Bandwidth 30 K Hz
• No of Full Duplex Ch 790
• No of Full Duplex Control Ch 42
 1G Mobile Standards
• NMT (Nordic mobile Telephone)
Used in Nordic countries , Switzerland, Netherland, eastern Europe
and Russia.

• AMPS( Analogue Mobile Phone system)

Used in United State

• TACS (total access communication

system)
Used in United Kingdom.
Nippon advanced mobile telephone system
(NAMTS) in Japan
 2G Mobile Systems (Digital Cellular
Systems)
 Digital cellular technology
 Digital multiplexing-TDMA,CDMA Developed in Europe and the US
 Supports data, speech, FAX, SMS, and WAP services
 Speed up to 64kbps
 Systems using 2G- GSM, TDMA, CDMA
 Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)- 890–960 MHz
and 1710–1880 MHz
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA(IS-136)) - 900 MHz, 1800
MHz and 1900 MHz
 CDMA(IS-95), IS-95 is based on CDMA/DSSS and FDMA.
800 MHz & 1900 MHz bands.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 45
 Features of 2G Mobile Technology

 Digital system,
 Better voice quality,
 Higher capacity,
 Lower power consumption.
 Short Messaging Service

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 46
 Features of 2G Mobile Technology
18
Network Structure(Digital Cellular System)
 Network Structure

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 48
Network Structure (Digital Cellular System)
 Base station controller (BSC): A number of BSs are connected to
a BSC. An important function of BSC is that it manages the
“handoff” from one BS to another as a subscriber moves from cell-
to-cell. The BSC contains logic to control each of the BSs
 Mobile switching centre (MSC): The MSC is the control centre for
the cellular system. The MSC is also known as mobile telephone
switching office (MTSO). It coordinates the actions of the BSs
providing overall control and acts as a switch and connects into the
PSTN.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 49
 Network Structure(Digital Cellular System)

 HLR : Home Location Register, contains static

information of subscribers and location update data
 VLR : Visitor Location Register, embedded in MSC to
avoid delay, contains current location information of
handsets.
 AUC : Authentication Center, stores secret keys for
authentication and encryption of the radio channel
 EIR : Equipment Identity Register, contains a list of all
valid mobile equipment in the network, by its
International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 50
 Concept of Digital cellular system

DIGITAL CELLULAR SYSTEM –(GSM)

• GSM –GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS.

• YEAR INTRODUCED 1990
• ACCESS METHOD TDMA
• BASE STN TX CH 935-960 M Hz
• M U TX CH 890-915 M Hz
• SPACING BETWEEN FWD AND REV CH 45 M Hz
• CH BANDWIDTH 200 K Hz
• NO OF DUPLEX CH 125
• MU MAX POWER 20 W
• USERS PER CH 8
• MODULATION GMSK 270.8
• CARRIER BIT RATE Kbps 13 Kbps
• SPEECH CODING BIT RATE 4.6 ms
• FRAME SIZE
 Cellular System working
 Base stations provide wireless connectivity to mobile
users
 Each base station limits control to its small geographical
area (2-3 sq. km) or cell.
 High capacity of cellular network is achieved:
 By limiting the coverage to the cell
 By using concept of Frequency reuse
 However, frequencies are reused in cells quite far away to
minimize interference

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 52
Cellular Process in call to Mobile User
Step 1 Incoming telephone call is received by MSC
Step 2 MSC dispatches request to all BSs
Step 3 BSs broadcast MIN over FCC
Step 4 Mobile acknowledges over RCC to local BS Step
5 BS relays mobile reply to MSC
Step 6 MSC instructs local BS to initiate call
Step 7-1 BS signals mobile to use unused channel*
Step 7-2 Alert is transmitted over FVC to ring mobile*
* Simultaneous process
Steps to Telephone call made to mobile user
Base Stations

Step 1 2, 6

4 3, 7

Mobile X

PSTN

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 54
Cellular Process in call from mobile user
Step 1-1 Mobile dials MIN of called party to BS
Step 1-2 Mobile transmits SCM* to show signal power
Step 2 BS receives data and sends it to MSC
Step 3-1 MSC validates request
Step 3-2 MSC connects to called party via PSTN
Step 4 MSC validates unused channel to mobile
* Station class mark
The SCM (Station Class Mark) is a 4 bit number which holds three
different pieces of information. Your cellular telephone transmits this
information (and more) to the cell tower. Bit 1 of the SCM tells the
cell tower whether your cellphone uses the older 666 channel
cellular system, or the newer 832 channel cellular system.
 Steps to Telephone call from mobile user

MobileSwitching
Center 3

PSTN
1

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 56
Spectrum utilization
 Problem Based on the concept of efficient spectrum utilization,
Elements of Cellular Mobile Radio System Design are
 (1) the concept of frequency reuse channels
 (2) the co-channel interference reduction factor
 (3) the desired carrier-to-interference ratio
 (4) the handoff mechanism
 (5) cell splitting.
 Challenge - to serve the greatest number of customers with a
specified system quality.
 How many customers can we serve in a busy hour?
 How many subscribers can we take into our system
 How many frequency channels do we need?

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 57
 Centre-to-centre distance between two
adjacent hexagonal cells
 The actual centre-to-centre distance between two adjacent
hexagonal cells is
 OAP is a right-angled triangle. Angle OAP is 600
 In the OAP triangle, OP = OA Sin 60° = (√3 / 2) R.
 Let d be the centre-to-centre (OQ) distance between two
adjacent hexagonal cells 1 and 2, then
 d = OQ = OP + PQ
 d =(√3 / 2)R + (√3 / 2)R = √3 R
 Area of a small hexagon with radius R
 = 6 × OP .AP
 A = 6 × (d/2)(R/2) = 1.5(√3).R2
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 59
Frequency reuse and cell splitting
 Cellular radio systems rely on an intelligent allocation and reuse
of channels throughout a coverage region.
 Each cellular base station is allocated a group of radio channels to
be used within a small geographic area called a cell.
 Base stations in adjacent cells are assigned channel groups which
contain completely different channels than neighboring cells. The
base station antennas are designed to achieve the desired coverage
within the particular cell.
 By limiting the coverage area to within the boundaries of a cell,
the same group of channels may be used to cover different cells
that are separated from one another by distances large enough to
keep interference levels within tolerable limits. 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
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 60
Frequency reuse and cell splitting
 The cellular system employed two crucial features
known as frequency reuse and cell splitting.
 Frequency reuse refers to the usage of the same
frequency carrier in different geographical locations that
are distant enough so that the interference caused by
using the same carrier is not a problem. The reason for
the application of frequency reuse is to increase the
number of simultaneous calls.
 Cell splitting refers to the reconfiguration of a cell into
smaller cells. This allows the system to adjust to an
increase in the traffic demand in certain areas or in the
whole network without any increase in the spectrum
allocation.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 61
Frequency Reuse Concept
 Frequency reuse
 Each cellular base station is
allocated a group of radio
channels to be used within a
small geographic area called a
cell.
 Figure illustrates the concept
of cellular frequency reuse,
where cells labeled with the
same letter use the same group
of channels. The frequency
reuse plan is overlaid upon a
map to indicate where
different frequency channels
are used.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 64
 Frequency reuse
 To understand the frequency reuse concept, consider a cellular
system which has a total of S duplex channels available for use.
If each cell is allocated a group of k channels (k < S),
 k channels /cell
 and if the S channels are divided among N cells into unique and
disjoint channel groups which each have the same number of
channels,
 the total number of available radio channels S = k N
 The N cells which collectively use the complete set of available
frequencies is called a cluster.
 If a cluster is replicated M times within the system, the total
number of duplex channels, C, can be used as a measure of
capacity and is given by
 Cellular System Capacity C=MkN=MS
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 66
 Frequency reuse
 The value for N is a function of how much interference a mobile or
base station can tolerate while maintaining a sufficient quality of
communications.
 From a design viewpoint, the smallest possible value of N is
desirable in order to maximize capacity over a given coverage
area.
 The frequency reuse factor of a cellular system is given by 1/N,
since each cell within a cluster is only assigned 1/N of the total
available channels in the system.
 To find the nearest co-channel neighbors of a particular cell,
 (1) move i cells along any chain of hexagons and then
 (2) turn 60 degrees counter-clockwise and move j cells. This is
illustrated in Fig for i = 3 and j = 2 (example, N = 19).
 N = i2 + ij + j2
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 67
Different Cluster Sizes
 Cluster Sizes

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 69
 Frequency reuse
 This is
illustrated in
Fig for i = 2
and j = 1
 (ex, N = 7).
 N = i2 + ij + j2

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 70
 Frequency reuse
 This is
illustrated in
Fig for i = 3
and j = 2
 (ex, N = 19).
 N = i2 + ij + j2

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 71
Frequency reuse
 To find the nearest co-
channel neighbors of a
particular cell,
 (1) move i cells along
any chain of hexagons
and then
 (2) turn 60 degrees
counter-clockwise and
move j cells. This is
illustrated in Fig for i =
3 and j = 2 (example, N
= 19).
 N = i2 + ij + j2
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 72
Frequency reuse
 Let D be the distance from the
centre of the cell under
consideration to the centre of a
co-channel cell (XZ).
 Apply cosine formula to triangle
XYZ to derive the relation
between D, d, and shift
parameters (i, j)
 We have

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 73
Frequency reuse factor

 d = √3 R
 We get D2 = d 2 × (i2 + j2 + i j)
 D2 = 3 R2 × (i2 + j2 + i j)
 we know that the cluster size N= i2 + j2 + ij
 D2 = 3 R2 × N
 or
 D2/R2 = 3 × N
 where q is the reuse ratio and N is the cluster size or reuse factor.
 D/R = q = 3N

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 74
Frequency reuse factor


Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 75
Relation between i, j and Cluster Size N
 Cluster Size

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 76
 Co-channel Interference Reduction Factor
 Frequency reuse implies that in a given coverage area there
are several cells that use the same set of frequencies. These
cells are called co-channel cells, and the interference
between signals from these cells is called co-channel
interference
 An increase in carrier transmit power increases the
interference to neighboring 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

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 77
Co-channel Interference Reduction Factor
 When the size of each cell is approximately the same and the base
stations transmit the same power, the co-channel interference ratio is
independent of the transmitted power and becomes a function of the
radius of the cell (R) and the distance between centers of the nearest
co-channel cells (D).
 By increasing the ratio of D/R, the spatial separation between co-
channel cells relative to the coverage distance of a cell is increased
 The parameter q, called the co-channel reuse ratio, is related to the
cluster. For a hexagonal geometry
 D/R = q = 3N
 D is the distance between the centres of cells
 R is the radius of the cell
 q is the reuse ratio
 N is the cluster size
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 78
Co-channel Interference (CCI) Reduction Factor
 CCI between the cells limits frequency reuse and hence is a major
problem. Our aim is to find the minimum frequency reuse distance in
order to reduce this CCI.
 CCI is independent of the transmitted power of each cell as long as
the size of the cell is fixed. It is a function of a parameter q and is
defined as D/R = q = 3N
 CCI decreases when q increases.
 Further, the separation D as a function of KI and C/I,
 D = f (K1, C/I )
 Where K1 is the number of co-channel interfering cells in the first tier
 C/I is the received CIR at the desired receiver
 C/I is the Received Power / Received Interference Power

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 79
 Co-channel Interference Reduction Factor
 In a hexagonal-shaped cellular system, there are always six co-
channel interfering cells in the first tier KI = 6.
 Assume that the interference level is very high; the local noise can be
neglected. Then, C/I can be expressed as

 where the actual terrain environment determines γ, the propagation

path-loss slope. Usually, γ = 4 in a mobile radio medium. Weaker
interference is caused by the six co-channel interfering cells in the
second tier than those in the first tier and hence is negligible.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 80
 Relation between co-channel reduction factor
and frequency reuse factor
 by substituting KI = 6, the
C/I can be obtained as

 D/R = q = 3N

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 81
Cellular system design in worst-case scenario
with an omnidirectional antenna
 When the mobile unit receives the weakest signal from its
own cell site but strong interferences from interfering cell
sites, it is considered to be the worst-case scenario.
 Let us re-examine the seven-cell reuse pattern and
consider the worst case in which the mobile unit is located
at the cell boundaryThe distances from the six interfering
cells are given
 The C/I can be given as
 Using D/R = q and the path-loss exponent γ = 4,

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 82
Cellular system design in worst-case scenario
with an omnidirectional antenna
 where q = 4.6 for a normal seven-cell reuse pattern (N = 7).
 Substituting q = 4.6 in Eqn we get C/I = 54.3 or 17.3 dB.

 If we use the shortest distance (D− R), then

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 83
Cellular system design in worst-case scenario
with an omnidirectional antenna
 The C/I could be 14 dB or lower in real situations. This can be due
to imperfect cell-site locations, terrain configuration, and also heavy
traffic. The cellular system should, hence, be designed around the
C/I of worst case and for a seven-cell reuse (N = 7) pattern.
 We conclude that when considering the worst-case scenario, q = 4.6
is not enough in an omnidirectional cell system.
 Therefore, in an omnidirectional cell system, N = 9 or N = 12 would
be a correct choice. Then the values of q are

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 84
Cellular system design in worst-case scenario
with an omnidirectional antenna
 The N = 9 and N = 12 cell patterns, shown in Figures 3.5 and 3.6, are
used when the traffic
 is light. Each cell covers an adequate area with adequate numbers of
channels to handle the traffic.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 85
Cell Splitting
 Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells, each with its own BS and a corresponding reduction in
antenna height and transmitter power.
 Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system since it
increases the number of times that channels are reused.
 When the traffic in an area increases, larger cells are split into
smaller cells so that frequency can be reused more frequently.
 By making these the new cells to have smaller radius than the
original cells, capacity increases due to the additional number of
channels per unit area. Cell splitting achieves capacity improvement
by essentially re-scaling the system.
 By decreasing the radius R and keeping the co-channel reuse ratio
D/R unchanged, cell splitting increases the number of channels per
unit area.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 86
Cell Splitting
 Cell Splitting

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 87
67
 Sectoring
 Cell Sectoring is replacing a single omni-directional antenna at the
base station by several directional antennas radiating within
specified sectors. The co-channel interference in a cellular system
may be reduced
 A cell is normally partitioned in three 1200 or sectors or six 600
 In the sectoring scheme, the co-channel interference is reduced and
thus system capacity is improved.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 89
Sectoring
 Some important points on cell sectoring :
 Cell sectoring is another method to increase capacity. It keeps the
radius of the cell constant and decreases the co-channel reuse ratio
D/R to reduce the cluster size N.
 Cell sectoring is a method of decreasing the co channel
interference and enhancing system performance by using a
directional antenna.
 The size of clusters in a particular service area can be reduced
because the cell sectoring increases the signal to interference ratio
(SIR).
 So in cell sectoring process enhancing the system
performance by using a directional antenna and reducing the co-
channel interference value. here the reduction in the co-channel
interference is dependent on the amount of sectoring used
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 90
Sectoring
 The case of cluster size of N = 4 in which only two of the six co-
channel cells cause interference to the middle cell for the sector
labelled S2 in the case of 120° cell sectoring

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 91
Sectoring
 The other four cells, although they are radiating at the
same frequencies cause no interference because the
middle cell is not in their radiation angles.
 For the case of 60° cell sectoring, only one cell causes
interference (the cell with radiation sectors coloured
green).
 The number of co-channel interfering cells depends on
the cluster shape and size. By having less than six
interfering first-tier co-channel cells causing interference,
the CIR is increased for the same cluster size

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 92
Sectoring
 The other four cells,

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 93
 Microcell zone concept
 By the use of sectorization technique, we can increase the system
performance (i.e. quality of the signal) but there will be a large
increment of handoffs which results in the increment of load on the
switching and control link elements of the mobile system.
 So there must be some technique for the solution of this problem.
 So a microcell zone concept is introduced which leads to an increased
capacity without any degradation in trunking efficiency caused by
sectoring
 The microcell zone concept is related to sharing the same radio
equipment by different microcells. This results in reduction of cluster
size and hence increase in system capacity.
 The microcell coverage zone approach is used in practice to expand
the capacity of cellular communication systems.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 94
Microcell zone concept
 Microcell zone

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 95
Microcell zone concept
 For example, each of the three or more zones (represented
as Tx/Rx) in figure are connected to a single BS and share
the same radio equipment (same frequency).
 Generally, the zones are connected by coaxial cable, fibre
optic cable, or microwave link to the BS. All those multiple
zones (three zones considered here) and a single BS make
up a cell.
 As a mobile travels within a cell, it is served by the zone
with the strongest signal.
 This microcell zone concept is superior to sectoring since
antennas are placed at the outer edges of the cell, and any
BS channel may be assigned to any zone by the BS.
Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 96
 Microcell zone concept
 As the mobile travels from one zone to another within the
cell, it retains the same channel. Thus, unlike in sectoring, a
handoff is not required at the MSC when the mobile travels
between zones within the cell since all the three zones have
the same frequency.
 The BS simply switches the channel to a different zones’
site. In this way, a given channel is active only in the
particular zone in which the mobile is travelling, and hence
the BS radiation is localized and interference is reduced

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 97
 Advantages of microcell zone concept
 Advantages of microcell zone concept
 A given channel is active only in a particular zone. Thus,
interference is reduced and capacity is increased.
 Handoffs are reduced (also compared to decreasing the
cell size) since the microcells within the cell operate at
the same frequency; no handover occurs when the
mobile unit moves between the microcells.
 Size of the zone apparatus is small. The zone site
equipment being small can be mounted on the side of a
building or on poles.

Dr E V Krishna Rao, Dean of R&D, Prof of ECE, Lakireddy Bali Reddy College of Engineering 98