INTERFERENCE IN CELLULAR SYSTEM

Interference is a major limiting factor in the performance of

cellular radio system.
Types of Cells
 Cells which use the same set of frequencies are referred
to as co-channel cells.
 The interference between co-channel cells is referred to
as co-channel interference.
 The space between co-channel cells are filled with cells
using different frequencies called adjacent cells.
Sources of Interference
 Another mobile in the same cell
 A call in progress in a neighboring cell
 Other base stations operating in the same frequency
band or
 Any non cellular system which inadvertently leaks
energy into the cellular frequency band
Effects of Interference
 On Control Channels - Interference leads to missed
calls and blocked calls due to error in the digital
signaling.
  On Voice Channels - Causes cross talk where the
subscriber hears interference in the background due to
an undesirable transmission.
 Interference is more pronounced in urban areas due to
greater RF noise floor and the large number of base
stations and mobiles.
 Capacity cannot be increased.
Co-channel Interference and Signal Quality

Interference Measurement at Mobile

A channel scanning mobile receiver records three received
signals while moving in any one co-channel cell, under
following conditions:
  When only serving cell transmits (signal recorded is
termed as C)
 Cell-sites of all six cochannel cells only transmit (signal
recorded is termed as I)
 No transmission by any cell site (signal recorded is
termed as N)
Interference Measurement Analysis
 If C/I > 18 dB in most of the area being served by a cell,
the system is said to be properly designed.
 If C/I < 18 dB and C/N > 18 dB in some areas, the
system is said to have co-channel interference problem.
 If both C/I and C/N < 18 dB and C/I is approximately
same as C/N in a given area, the system is said to have
radio coverage problem.
 If both C/I and C/N are < 18 dB and C/I < C/N in a given
area, the system is said to have both co-channel
interference as well as radio coverage problem.
Interference Measurement at Cell-site
 When only the mobile unit in the serving cell transmits
(signal recorded is termed as C)
 Up to six interference levels are obtained at the serving
cell site from six mobile units transmitting in six
cochannel interfering cells. (the statistical average signal
recorded is termed as I)
  No transmission by any mobile unit (signal recorded is
termed as N)
Co-channel Interference Reduction
 Increasing the separation between co-channel cells D
 Lowering the antenna heights at the cell site
 Using directional antennas at the cell site
 Use of diversity scheme at receiver
Design of Omni-directional Antenna Cellular System

Let NI be the number of cochannel interfering cells

Ii be the interfering power caused by transmissions from the i th
interfering cochannel cell
The signal to interference ratio (C/I) at the desired mobile is
given by
 C R 
 NI
I

i 1
D 

Or in terms of cochannel interference reduction factor

 .q 4
C 1
I 6
Here R = radius of the cell
D = frequency reuse distance
q = frequency reuse factor
γ = path loss exponent, normally γ = 4 for mobile radio.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
Worst-case Omni Antenna Design

From the geometry, D1 = D, D2 = D + R, D3 = D + R, D4 = D,

D5 = D – R, D6 = D – R

C R 
(omni) 
I 2( D  R)   2 D   2( D  R) 

And in terms of co-channel reduction factor

C 1
(omni) 
I 2( q  1)   2( q)   2( q  1) 

 For q = 4.6 (K=7), and γ =4, C/I ≈ 17 dB, which is less

than the desired C/I = 18 dB.
Ex. 3
Cell Sectoring using Directional Antennas
The process of reducing the co-channel interference and
thereby improving C/I by using directional antennas is
known as Cell Sectoring.

 An omni cell is partitioned into three 120 degree sectors

or six 60 degree sectors
 The channels used in a particular cell are broken down
into sectored groups and are used only in a particular
sector
 Each sector is assigned a set of channels
 The interference between two cochannel cells decreases
with cell sectoring
3-sector Cellular System Design

Here D1 = D + 0.7R and only sectors of two cochannel cells are

playing a vital role in interference.
Ex. 4
 6-sector Cellular System Design

Here D1 = D + 0.7R and only one cochannel cell is playing a

vital role in interference.
Ex. 5
Cell Sectoring – Pros & Cons
 Depends upon proper installation of cell-site directional
antennas
 Enhances signal quality
 Improves system capacity
 Increases handoff occurrences
 Increases trunking inefficiencies
 Reduces available number of channels in each sector

Microcell Zone Concept

 Related to sharing the same radio equipment by different
microcells
 Three directional antennas installed at a junction point,
referred to as zone-site
 Results in reduction of cluster size
 Used to expand the capacity of cellular systems
Effects of Lowering Antenna Heights
 In fairly flat ground or in a valley situation, lowering the
antenna height is very effective for reducing the
cochannel and adjacent channel interference.
 However, lowering the cell-site antenna height may or
may not reduce the interference on a high hill or a high
spot, In a valley, or in a forest area.
Effect of Tilting Antenna
 As the shape of the antenna pattern at the base station
relates directly to the reception level of signal strength at
the mobile unit, antenna may be titled to an angle of 19 o to
improve the coverage and reduce the co-channel
interference.

Cell Splitting
 When the call traffic in an area increases, larger cells are
split into smaller cells so that frequency can be reused
more frequently.
 Cell splitting involves reducing the radius of a cell by
half and splitting an old cell into four new small cells.
The traffic capacity then increases by four times.
Techniques of Cell Splitting
1. Permanent Splitting
 The new split cell has to be installed with
 revised frequency assignment planning
 proper cell site selection
 required traffic load considerations
 lower transmitter power at each cell site

2. Dynamic (Real-time) Splitting

 By utilizing the allocated spectrum in real time as per
traffic demand.
 Cell splitting should proceed gradually with a software
algorithm program over a cellular operating system to
prevent dropped calls.
Effects of Cell Splitting
 Reduction in the coverage area of a split cell
 Reduction in the cell-site transmitter power of a split cell
 Increase in traffic load after cell splitting
 Changing frequency reuse plan
 Changing the channel assignment

Cell Splitting without using Original Cell

Cell Splitting using Original Cell

New cell radius = old cell radius

2

New cell area = old cell area

4
New traffic load = 4 x old traffic load
unit area unit area

Area of cell = 3√3 R2

2
Umbrella- pattern effect
The umbrella pattern can be achieved by use of a
staggered discone antenna as discussed in Sec. 5.4.6.
The umbrella pattern can be applied to reduce
cochannel interference just as the downward tilted
directional antenna pattern is. The umbrella pattern
can be used for a.n omnidi- rectional pattern, but not
for a directional antenna pattern. The tilted
directional antenna pattern can create a notch after
tilting 20° or more in front of the beam, but the
umbrella pattern cannot.
Axis

— 0.25 1

The umbrella pattern, in which energy is eonfined

to the immediate area of the antenna, is e&ective in
reducing both cochannel and long- distance
interference. Also, in hilly terrain areas there are many
holes (weak signal spots). With a normal antenna
pattern, we cannot raise the antenna high enough to
cover these holes and decrease cochannel
interference at the same time. However, the
advantage of the umbrella pattern is that we can
increase the antenna height and still decrease
cochannel interference.

diversity receiver
The diversity scheme applied at the receiving end of the
antenna is an effective technique for reducing interference
because any measurestaken at the receiving end to improve signal
performance will not cause additional interference.
Multiple versions of the same signal may be received and
combined in the receiver. The diversity scheme is one of these
approaches. We may use a selective combiner to combine two correlated
signals.
 Analytical Problems

1. Determine the C/I value for frequency reuse factor of 4, 7,

and 12, assuming omni directional antenna with six co-
channel interfering cells and propagation path loss slope of
nd
40 dB/decade. Ignore the interference from 2 tier
cochannel interfering cells.
[Ans. 13.78 dB, 18.65 dB, 23.34 dB]
2. Calculate q for a cell radius of 2 km and the distance
between two co-channel cells of 9.2 km.
[Ans. 4.6]
3. A new cellular service provider decides to employ a cluster
of 19 cells for frequency reuse. Calculate the worst case C/I
(in dB) at the mobile, when it is receiving co-channel
st
interference from 1 tier co-channel cells only. Assume
path loss exponent as 4 in a mobile radio environment.
[Ans. 26.8 dB]
4. A cellular system is designed with 100 cell sites deployed
with a frequency reuse factor of 4, and overall 500 full
duplex channels. Determine the number of channels per
cell, total number of channels available to the service
provider, and the minimum carrier-to-interference ratio
(C/I) of the system in dB in a mobile radio environment.
[Ans. 13.78 dB]
5. Prove that C/I performance of 3-sector cellular design
improves over omni-directional design by more than 6 dB.
 Assume propagation path loss exponent as 4 and cluster
size 7 in a regular hexagonal cellular pattern.
[Ans. omni-directional- 17 dB,
3-sector directional- 24.5 dB]
6. Let the total service area to be covered with number of
2 2
uniform-sized cells of 5 km area each is 2000 km . How
many times would the cluster of size 4 have to be replicated
in order to cover the entire cellular area?
[Ans. 100 times]

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