Cell splitting

• Need of Cell Splitting:

As no. of subscribers increase within a given area,
the no. of channels allocated to a cell is no longer
sufficient for supporting the subscriber demand.
It becomes necessary to allocate more channels
to the area that is being covered by this cell. This
can be done by CELL SPLITTING.
 MAXIMUM TRAFFIC LOAD

• MAXIMUM TRAFFIC LOAD:

The point when a cell reaches maximum
capacity occurs when the no. of subscribers
wishing to place a call at any given time equals
no. of channels in the cell.
 CELL SPLITTING
• Cell Splitting is the process of subdividing a
congested cell into smaller cells each with its
own base station and corresponding reduction
antenna height and transmitter power.
• It increases the capacity of the system since it
increases the no. of times the channels are
reused
Cell splitting
 Cell splitting
• Smaller cells are added in such a way to
preserve the frequency reuse plan of the
system for e.g Microcell base station labeled G
is placed exactly half way b/w two large
stations using the same channel set G
Illustration of cell splitting within a 3 km by 3 km square
 Cell splitting
• New cell radius=Old cell radius/2
• New cell area=Old cell radius/4
• If each new cell carries the same maximum
traffic load of the old cell then
• New Traffic Load /Unit Area=4(Old Traffic Load
/Unit Area)
 Problems Arising
• Let transmit power of BS of smaller cell is
same as that of larger cells.
• Radius of new cell=R/2.
• Maximum distance the mobile can be from BS
of this cell is R/2.
• FOR SMALLER CELL:Although the distance b/w
this cell and any co-channel larger cell is
reduced by half the value of Signal to Noise
ratio remains the same.
 Cell splitting
• FOR LARGER CELL: Signal to Noise ratio is not
maintained because co-channel reuse ratio for these
cells is now D/2R with respect to smaller cell.
• In order to maintain the same level of interferences
the transmit power of the BS in the smaller cell
should be reduced but these will increase the
interference observed by the mobiles in the smaller
cell.
• Transmission power reduction from to
Pt1 Pt 2
• Examining the receiving power at the new and old cell
boundary
Pr [at old cell boundary]  Pt1R  n

Pr [at new cell boundary]  Pt 2 ( R / 2) n

• If we take n = 4 and set the received power equal to each

other
Pt1
Pt 2 
16

• The transmit power must be reduced by 12 dB in order to

fill in the original coverage area.
• The other method is to divide the channel allocated
to cells labeled A into two parts those used by ‘a’ and
those not used by ‘a’.
• The channels used by ‘a’ will be used in the larger
cells only within the radius of R/2 from the centre of
the cell so that cochannel reuse ratio is maintained
as far as these channels are concerned. This is called
OVERLAID CELL CONCEPT where a larger macrocell
coexists with a smaller microcell
 Assignment
• Discuss in detail concept of cell splitting .
 SECTORING
We know For a hexagonal geometry
• D/R=(3N)1/2 & S/N is inversely proportional to
D/R
• In Cell Splitting capacity or no. of channels per
unit area is increased by decreasing the cell
radius & keeping cochannel reuse ratio D/R
unchanged
 SECTORING
• Another way to increase the capacity is to keep cell
radius unchanged and decrease D/R ratio.
• So Sectoring is the means to increase the channel
capacity of a cellular telephone system by decreasing
the D/R ratio while maintaining the same cell radius
• Channels allocated to a cell are further divided into
three parts(120 degree sectors) each used in one
sector of a cell.
 SECTORING
• In this approach first the S/I is improved by
using directional antennas, then capacity
improvement is achieved by reducing the no.
of cells in a cluster.
• However Relative Interference is reduced
without decreasing the transmit power.
 Sectoring
• Decrease the co-channel interference and keep the cell radius R
unchanged
– Replacing single omni-directional antenna by several directional antennas
– Radiating within a specified sector
 • Interference Reduction

position of the mobile

interference cells
 Sectoring

• By using directional antennas a given cell will

receive and transmit with only a fraction of
available co-channel cells.
• In the example shown Consider the
interference experienced by a mobile located
in the rightmost sector in the center cell
labeled ‘5’
.
 Sectoring

• There are six co-channel cell sectors labeled ‘5’ three

to its right & three to its left. Out of these six only
two cells have sectors with antenna patterns which
radiate into the centre cell.Hence a mobile will
experience interference on the forward link from
these two sectors only.
• Hence Signal to Interference ratio is improved.
• By using 60 degree directional antennas no. of
interfering cochannel cells reduces to one
 LEE’s MICROCELL ZONE CONCEPT
• In sectoring concept, Handoff is increased which
increases the load on the switching &control link
elements of the mobile system.
• In this concept there is only one BS per cell but there
are three zone-sites located at the corners of a cell.
• All the three zone sites act as receivers for signal
transmitted by mobile terminal and connected to a
single BS and share the same radio equipment.
LEE’s MICROCELL ZONE CONCEPT
 LEE’s MICROCELL ZONE CONCEPT
• The BS determines which of the zone-sites has the best
reception from the mobile and uses that zone-site to
transmit the signal on the downlink.
• As the mobile user travels within the cell it is served by
the zone with the strongest signal retaining the same
channel.
• Thus like in sectoring, a handoff is not required at MSC
when mobile travels b/w zones within the cell. The BS
simply switches the channel to a different zone site.