The Cellular Concept –
System Design
Fundamentals
Center excited cells – Omni directional antenna
Edge-excited cells – Sectored directional antenna
A base station can be positioned up to 1/4th the
cell radius away from the ideal location.
Users in different geographic locations (different
cells) simultaneously use the same frequency
channel.
Interference due to the common use of the same
channel is called co-channel interference.
Frequency reuse in the time domain: Use of same
frequency in different time slots – Called as TDM.
Frequency reuse in the space domain: Use of
same frequency in different geographic areas.
The minimum distance which allows the same frequency
to be reused.
Depends on
Number of co-channel cells in the vicinity of the center
cell.
The type of geographic terrain contour.
The antenna height.
The transmitted power at each cell site.
Minimum distance D = R√(3N)
Where N – frequency reuse pattern, ie the number of
frequencies used in the system.
R – Radius of the cell
It refers to
Designating set-up channels and voice
channels
Numbering the channels
Grouping the voice channels into subsets
Channel Assignment
It refers to
Allocation of specific channels to cell sites
and mobile units
A short term traffic relief scheme.
When a cell needs more channels, the
channels of another face at the same cell
site can be shared to handle the short term
overload.
The sharing is always cyclic.
Sharing increases the trunking efficiency of
channels.
Fixed
Each cell is allocated a predetermined set of voice
channels.
Dynamic
Voice channels are not allocated to different cells
permanently.
Reduces the likelihood of blocking, which increases the
trunking capacity of the system.
Requires the MSC to collect real-time data on channel
occupancy, traffic distribution, & RSSI of all channels
continuously. Increases storage & computational load on
the system.
The radio frequency spectrum is finite in mobile
radio systems.
Geographic location is an important decisive
factor in the use of frequency reuse in mobile
cellular technology to increase spectrum
efficiency.
Frequency management involving the
assignment of proper channels in different cells
can increase spectrum efficiency.
A long term traffic relief scheme.
Used primarily for slowly growing systems.
The extent of borrowing more available
channels from other cells depends on the
traffic density in the area.
Channel borrowing can be implemented
from one cell-site face to another face at
the same cell site.
It helps to delay cell splitting in peak traffic
areas. Since cell splitting is costly, it should
be the last resort.
Hand-off requests are prioritized over call initiation
requests when allocating unused channels.
Should be imperceptible to the user.
An optimum signal level to initiate a handoff is defined.
(-90 dBm and -100 dBm)
△ = Pr handoff – Pr minimum usable.
Pthreshold > Pr minimum usable
△ - Too small – insufficient time to complete handoff.
Call is lost.
△ - Too large – Unnecessary handoff. Burdens MSC
Dwell Time: The time over which a call may be
maintained within a cell, without handoff.
Handoff Initiation
a. Base station assisted: In 1st generation analog
cellular systems.
b. Mobile assisted (MAHO): In 2nd generation
systems
Faster handoff
Wide range of mobile velocities
Microcells are used to increase the capacity.
MSC can become quickly burdened if high
speed users are constantly being passed.
By using different antenna height and diff.
power levels, it is possible to provide “large”
and “small” cells which are co located at a
single location.
Another practical handoff problem is cell
Dragging.
Sources of interference-
-mobile in the same cell
-A call in progress in a neighboring cell
-Other base stations operating in the same
frequency band.
-Any non cellular system leaking energy into
cellular frequency band.
Two major system generated cellular
interferences are- Co-channel interference,
adjacent channel interference.
Co channel cells- Cells using same freq.
Interference between signals from these cells is
called Co channel interference.
To reduce this ,co channel cells must be
physically separated by a minimum distance to
provide sufficient isolation due to propagation.
Interference is independent of transmitted
power and depends on R and D.
Q = D/R = √3N ( Co Channel reuse ratio)
Small Q provides larger capacity, since N is
small
Large Q improves the transmission quality, due
to smaller level of co channel interference.
Interference resulting from signals which are
adjacent in freq. to the desired signal is
called adjacent channel interference.
Results from imperfect receiver filters which
allow nearby freq. to leak into the pass band.
Near-far effect
Interference can be minimized through
careful filtering and channel assignment
Trunking allows a large number of users to
share the relatively small no. of channels in a
cell by providing access to each user, on
demand, from a pool of available channels.
Grade of service is a measure of the ability of
a user to access a trunked system during the
busiest hour.
GoS is given as the likelihood that a call is
blocked, or the likelihood of a call
experiencing a delay greater than a certain
queuing time.
Erlang B Trunking GOS
Power control for interference reduction
Cell splitting
Sectoring
Microcell Zone
Use of repeaters
In present system the power level of every
subscriber is under constant control by the
serving BS.
Power control not only reduces interference
levels but also prolongs battery life.
Reduced interference leads to higher capacity
In CDMA spread spectrum systems, power
control is the key feature to ensure maximal
utilization of the system capacity.
As the demand for the services increases,
system designers have to provide more
channels per unit coverage area.
Common techniques are, cell splitting,
sectoring, microcell zoning.
Cell splitting increases the no. Of BS deployed
and allows an orderly growth of the cellular
system.
Sectoring uses directional antennas to further
control interference and frequency reuse.
Microcell zoning distributes coverage of a cell
and extends the cell boundaries to hard to
reach area.
Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a
congested cell into smaller cells with
1. There own BS
2. Corresponding reduction in the antenna
height.
3. Corresponding reduction in the antenna
power
Splitting the cell reduces the cell size and
thus more no. Of cells have to be used.
More no. Of cells- more no. Of clusters-more
channels-higher capacity
Cell splitting allows a system to grow by
replacing larger cells by smaller cells, without
upsetting the channel allocation.
CCI is reduced by using more directional
antennas each radiating within a sector
Directional antenna transmit to and receives
from only a fraction of the total no.of co
channel cells. This reduces CCI
A cell is partitioned into 3 ,120 deg, 4, 90
deg or 6, 60 deg. sectors
Increased no. Of antennas at each base
station
Decrease trunking efficiency due to sectoring
Increased no. Of hand offs. ( sector-sector)
Modern BS support sectoring and hand off
without the help of MSC
The problem of sectoring can be addressed
by Microcell zone concept
The cell is divided into microcells or zones
Each microcell is connected to the same base
station
Each zone uses a directional antenna.
As a mobile travels from one zone to another,
it retains the same channel, i.e. No handoff.
The base station simply switches the channel
to the next zone site.
While the cell maintains a particular coverage
area, the CCI is reduced because:
1. The large base station is replaced by several
low power transmitters
2. Directional antennas are used
Decreased CCI improves
1. Signal quality
2. capacity
Example
• Suppose the desired S/I=18 dB
• Path loss exponent n=4
• How much capacity increase can occur if we
use microcell zoning of 3 zones / cell?
To achieve S/I=18dB, N=7
1. We use microcell zone concept and create 3
zones within one cell
2. This makes cluster size N=3
3. The capacity increase factor is 7/3=2.33
Useful for hard-to-reach areas
1. Within building, basements
2. Valleys
3. Tunnels
Radio transmitters, called repeaters, can be
used to provide coverage in this area.
Repeaters are bidirectional
1. Receive signals from the base station
2. Amplify the signals
3. Reradiates the signals.
