Chapter 2 Cellular 1

Goal of the Chapter
• In cellular system, the available radio spectrum is limited

– E.g., because of regulatory issues
– Hence, the number of simultaneous call supported is limited
• How to achieve high capacity (or support simultaneous
calls) at the same time covering very large areas?
– Frequency reuse by using cells?
• Overview system design fundamentals on cellular
communication
– Cell formation and the associated frequency reuse, handoff,
and power control
Wireless & Mobile Communications -
1
Ch. 2 – Cellular System
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Cell capacity and reuse
• Channel assignment strategies
• Handoff
• Interference and system capacity
• Trunking and grade of service
• Improving capacity
2
Cellular System - Architecture
Radio tower
PST N
T elephone
Network
Mobile Switching
Center
Wireless & Mobile Communications - Ch. 2 –

Cellular System
3
Cellular System ….
• High capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage of each base
stations to a small geographic region called a cell
– Single, high power transmitter (large cell) are replaced with many low
power transmitters (small cells)
• A portion of the total number of channels is allocated to each cell or
base station
– Available group of channels are assigned to a small number of neighboring
base stations called cluster
– Near by base stations are assigned d/t groups of channels to minimize
interference
• Same channels (frequencies/timeslots/codes) are reused by spatially
separated base stations
 Reuse distance and frequency reuse planning?
Cellular System
4
Cellular System ….
 A switching technique called handoff enables a call to proceed from
one cell to another
• As demand (or # of users) increases, the number of base stations may
be increased to provide additional capacity
 Smaller cells, e.g., Microcells, Picocell, Femtocell
 Also cell sites in trucks to replace downed cell towers after natural disasters,
or to create additional capacity for large gatherings (football games, rock
concerts)
 Transmission power reduction => interference decreases
• Typical power transmitted by the radios in a cell system
– Base station: Maximum Effective Radiated Power (ERP) is 100W, or up
to 500 W in rural areas
– Mobile station: Typically 0.5 W. For CDMA, transmit power is lowered
when close to a BS
Cellular System
5
Forward and Reverse Channels
• Forward Voice Channel (FVC): Used for voice
transmission from BS to MS
• Reverse Voice Channel (RVC): Used for voice
transmission from MS to BS
• Forward Control Channel (FCC): Used for
initiating a call from BS to MS
• Reverse Control Channel (RCC): Used for
initiating a call from MS to BS
Cellular System
6
Anatomy of a Cellular Call
• A cell phone, when turned on, (though not yet engaged in
a call) scans the group of FCC to determine the one with
the strongest signal
• It monitors the channel until it drops below the usable
threshold
• It then scans for another channel with the strongest signal
• Control channels are defined and standardized throughout
the service area
• Typically the control channels use up to 5% of the total
number of channels
Cellular System
7
A Call TO a Mobile User
• The MSC dispatches the request to all the base stations
– The Mobile Identification Number (MIN) is broadcast as a
paging message over all FCC throughout the service area.
• The MS receives the paging message from the BS it is
monitoring
• It responds by identifying itself over the RCC
• The BS conveys the handshake to the MSC
• The MSC instructs the BS to move to an unused voice
channel

8
A Call TO a Mobile User. . .
• The BS signals the MS to change over to unused
FVC and RVC
• A data message (called ‘alert’) is transmitted over
the FCC to instruct the mobile to ring
• All of these sequences of events occur in just few
seconds, and are not noticeable to the user
• While the call is in progress, the MSC adjusts the
transmitted power in order to maintain the call
quality
9
A Call FROM a Mobile User
• A call initiation request is sent to the RCC
• Along with this, the MS transmits its MIN, Electronic
Serial Number (ESN) and the phone number of the called
party
• The MS also transmits the Station Class Mark (SCM)
which indicates the maximum transmitter power level for
the particular user
• The BS forwards the data to the MSC, which validates
the data and makes connection to the called party
through the PSTN
10
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
11
Cell Shape – Why hexagon?
• The hexagonal shape is
a simplistic assumption
– (a) is theoretical coverage area
and (b) measured coverage area
where red, blue, green, and
yellow indicate signal strength,
in decreasing order
– Footprint: Actual radio
coverage and obtained
experimentally
• Actual shape is a random that
depends on the environment
• Circular (theoretical): If path
loss was a decreasing function
of distance, say, 1/dn, where d is
the distance b/n BS & MS
12
Cell Shape – Required
· Geometric shape that
approximates the
theoretical shape
· Shape whose non-
overlapping and
repetitive placement
covers an entire region
· Possible shapes
· Triangles, squares,
hexagons
· Which one to choose?
Has dead zones

13
Cell Shape . . .
R
R
R
aR = 2R2 aT = 33/2 R2/4 aH= 33/2 R2/2
• Hexagonal cell is conceptual, however, it is universally

adopted for most theoretical treatment because:
– Hexagons are a geometric shape that approximates a circle
(for Omni-directional radiation)
– Using a hexagon geometry, fewest number of cells can
cover the entire geographic region
14
Cell Shape . . .
• When using hexagon to model coverage areas
– Center-excited cell: Base station (BS) depicted as
being in the center of the cell
• Omni-directional antenna is used
– Edge-excited cell: on three of the six cell vertices

• Sectored direction antenna is used

15
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
16
Frequency Reuse – Example
• Assume a city of 10 Million mobile users
– Let every user is allocated a radio spectrum for analog speech of 4
kHz bandwidth
– Thus the required bandwidth is 4 kHz * 10 Million users = 40 GHz!
• Clearly impractical!
– No other services possible using a radio transmission
– Most of the spectrum will be unused most of the time
Cognitive Radio
• Cellular radio systems rely on intelligent allocation and reuse
of channels through out the coverage area
– Available group of channels are assigned to a cluster
– Same group of frequencies are reused to cover another cell separated
by a large enough distance, i.e., there is a tradeoff
17
Frequency Reuse – Example
• Example: Consider
a cluster of 7 cells
• Same color labeled
cells use the same
frequency
– Frequency reuse factor is
1/7 since each cell
contains one-seventh of
the total available
channels

18
V
Geometry of Hexagons y
U

19
Cellular System
Geometry of Hexagons …
r x  y
2 2 2
• Axes U and V intersect at
60o
• Unit distance is the distance
x  u cos 30 0
between cell centers
• If cell radius to point of
hexagon is R, then
y  v  u sin 30 0
– 2Rcos 30o = 1 or R = 1/√3
(Normalized radius of a cell)
• To find the distance of a
point P(u,v) from the origin, 1
use X-Y to U-V coordinate
transformation
r  (v  uv  u )
2 2 2

20
Geometry of Hexagons …
• Using these equations, to locate the co-channel cells, start from a
reference cell and move
– i-hexagons along the U-axis and
– j-hexagons along the V-axis
• The distance, D, between co-channel cells in adjacent clusters is
given by D  i 2  ij  j 2
• The number of cells in a cluster, N, is given by N  i 2  ij  j 2
where i and j are non-negative integers

• There are only certain cluster sizes and layouts possible
• Typical values of N are 1, 3, 4, 7, 12, ……
21
Example
Re-use Coordinates Number of Cells in Normalized repeat
the cluster distance
i j N D
1 0 1 1
1 1 3 1.732
2 1 7 2.646
2 2 12 3.464
1 3 13 3.606
3 2 19 4.359
1 4 21 4.583

22
Locating Co-Channel Cells: Example N=7, i=2 & j=1
• To find out the
V
nearest co-channel
neighbors of a
particular cell, do BS1
the following
U
– Move i cells in the
U direction
– Then turn 60 degree BS1
BS1
counter clockwise
and move j cells in 1/3
the V direction
23
Locating Co-Channel Cells: Example N=19, i=3, j=2

24
Re-use Factor
• For Hexagonal cells, the
D re-use distance is given
by:
DR 3N
R – Where R = cell size and N
= cluster size
• Channel re-use factor is

defined as:
BS1
BS1 D
q  3N
R

25
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
26
Cell Capacity and Reuse
• Consider a cellular system
– Which has S duplex channels available for re-use
– Each cell allocated a group of k channels
– Let the S channels be divided among N cells (unique
and disjoint) then, S  kN
• Cluster: N cells, which collectively use the

complete set of available frequencies
• If a cluster is replicated M times in the system, the
total number of C duplex
M k Nchannels,
M S C, as a measure
of capacity is Wireless & Mobile Communications -
27
Cell Capacity and Reuse . . . M C 
• If cluster size N is reduced while cell size is kept constant

– More clusters are required to cover area of interest, i.e.,
– So capacity is directly prop. to replication factor for fixed area
• However, small cluster size means co-channel cells are located
much closer together
– Results in larger co-channel interference
– May result in lower Quality of Service (QoS)
• Conversely, large cluster size indicates that co-channel cells are
far from each other
– Less co-channel interference and frequency utilization
• The value of N is a function of how much interference a mobile
or BS can tolerate
28
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Example 1
• Assume that:
– 50 MHz is available for
forward channels
– GSM is deployed
– Each channel is 200 kHz
– In GSM, TDMA is used so
that 8 simultaneous calls can
be made on each channel
• How large is k?
• How many forward calls can
be made simultaneously for
the deployment containing
28 cells as in the figure?
29
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Solution
• Solution:
– There are 50 MHz / 0.2 MHz = 250 channels per
cluster
– With N = 4, then k = 250/4 = 62.5
– With 62.5 channels, 8(62.5) = 500 simultaneous
calls can be made in each cell
– There are 28 cells on the cell map in Figure, so the
total forward calls is 28(500) = 14×10 3 calls can be
made simultaneously
30
Cell Capacity and Reuse: Example 2
• Suppose 33 MHz BW allocated to particular FDD cellular system,
where two 25 KHz simplex channel to provide full-duplex for
voice/data
• Compute the number of channels per cell if a system uses
– Four-cell reuse
– Seven-cell reuse
– Twelve-cell reuse
• Solution: Given that

– Total BW = 33 MHz, channel BW = 25 KHz x 2 = 50 KHz/duplex channel
– S = 33,000/50 = 660 channels
• For N = 4, k = 660 / 4 ≈ 165 channels
• For N = 7, k = 660 / 7 ≈ 95 channels
• For N = 12, k = 660 / 12 ≈ 55 channels

31
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
32
Channel Assignment Strategies
• Which channels should be assigned to a cell?
• Channel assignment strategies can be
classified as either fixed or dynamic
• Within a cluster, separate channels in as much
as possible
– This reduces adjacent channel interference
• A scheme for increasing capacity and
minimizing interference is required
33
Fixed Channel Assignment
• Each cell is assigned a fixed number of voice channels
– Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the
unused channels in that particular cell
• If all the channels in the cell are in use, the call is
blocked
– I.e., the user will not get service
• Simple, but a busy cell will run out of channels before a
neighboring cell
– Service variations of fixed assignment strategy exit
– System performance will be limited by the most crowded cell

34
Fixed Channel Assignment …
• In a variant of the fixed channel assignment, a
cell can borrow channels from its neighboring
cells if its own channels are full
– MSC supervises such procedures and ensures that
the borrowing of a channel does not disturb any
call in the donor cell

35
Dynamic Channel Assignment
• In dynamic channel assignment (DCA), channels are not
assigned to cells permanently
– Each basestation can change the channels it uses
• When a call request is made, the BS requests a channel from the
MSC
– MSC only allocates the channel after verifying that the channel is not
presently in use
• To ensure a required QoS, the MSC allocates a given frequency
if that frequency is not currently used in
– The cell, or
– In any other cell which falls within the limiting reuse distance, i.e.,
channels in neighboring cells must still be different
36
Dynamic Channel Assignment . . .
• The MSC allocates a channel taking into account
– The likelihood of future call blocking
– The frequency usage of the candidate channel
– The reuse distance of the channel
– Other cost functions
• DCA reduces the likelihood of blocking, thus increasing
the capacity of the system
• DCA strategies require the MSC to collect real-time data
on channel occupancy and traffic distribution on a
continuous basis
• DCA requires more careful control as it gives extra load to the MSC
37
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
38
Handoff
– The process of transferring a call, which is in progress from one channel
or BS to another is called handoff or handover
– Handoff is required when a MS moves into a different cell
– MSC facilitates the transfer
• In general, handoff involves
– Identifying the new BS
– Allocation of voice and control channels in the new BS
• Prioritize handoff requests over call initiation
requests when allocating unused channels in a cell
site
39
Handoff Region – Power Strength
BS-1 P (x)
1 P (x)
2 BS-2
• By looking at the variation of signal strength from either base station,

it is possible to decide on the optimum area where handoff can take
place

40
Handoff
• Handoffs must be performed
– Successfully
– As infrequently as possible, and
– Must be imperceptible to the user
• To meet these requirements, a minimum
usable signal level must be specified for
acceptable voice quality at the base station
• If the received power drops too low prior to handoff, the call will be
dropped so that users complain about dropped calls

41
Handoff Region . . .

42
Handoff Margin
• Consider the following two power levels
– Pr,min. usable be the minimum received power in dB, below
which a call cannot be received
• A handoff has to be initiated much prior to this point
– Pr,handoff be a higher threshold in dB at which the MSC

initiates the handoff procedure
• Handoff is made when the received signal at the BS falls below
the threshold
• Define handoff margin in dB as

– ∆ = Pr,handoff − Pr,min. usable
43
Handoff Margin …
• How much margin is needed to handle a mobile at driving
speeds?
• The margin ∆ should not be too large or too small
– The handoff threshold power is selected such that it is slightly greater
than the minimum usable signal power for an acceptable voice quality
• If ∆ is too large, it may lead to unnecessary handoffs which may
burden the MSC
– The call may be headed over to the neighboring BS when the MS is
well inside the home cell
• If ∆ is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete a

handoff before a call is lost due to weak signal conditions
44
Handoff Margin …
• A call drop can also happen when there is an excessive delay
by the MSC in assigning a channel
– E.g., during high traffic conditions
• To effect handoff, it is important to ensure that the mobile is
actually moving away from the serving base station
– The measured signal level drop may be due to momentary fading
– In order to ensure this, BS monitors signal level for a certain
period of time before a handoff is initiated
– The length of monitoring depends on the speed of mobile units
– Where to get information about the mobile speed?
• At high mobile speeds, handoff needs to happen quickly
• In GSM, handoff is typically within 1-2 seconds
• In AMPS, this was 10 seconds (higher potential for dropped calls!)

45
Handoff Margin – Example
• Assume that
– A mobile moving at a speed of v = 35 mps (~125
Kph)
– Path-loss exponent n = 4
– Cell radius of 500 meters (the distance at which
the call is dropped)
– 2 second handoff
• What is the required handoff margin?

46
Handoff Margin - Solution
• Assume the mobile is driving directly away from the BS
– So distance d changes by 70 meters in two seconds
• Consider the received power at the two times
Pr,min. usable = 0 − 10nlog10d
Pr,handoff = 0 − 10nlog10(d−70)
• Taking the difference of the 2nd and the 1st equations,

∆ = 10nlog10d − 10nlog10(d − 70) = 10n log10(d/(d − 70))
• Taking that the call is dropped at d = 500 meters, we have

∆ = 40 log10(500/430) = 2.6 dB
• Note: In this example, the propagation equation used is for “large

scale path loss” only, which changes slowly
47
Handoff Strategies
1. MSC controlled
– Used in the 1st generation analog cellular systems
– Signal strength measurements are made by the BS
and supervised by the MSC
– A spare receiver in each BS, called the location
receiver, is used to determine signal strengths of
mobile users which are in neighboring cells (and
appear to be in need of handoff)

48
Handoff Strategies ….
2. Mobile-assisted hand-off (MAHO)
– Used in the 2nd generation systems
– MSs measures the received power from
surrounding BSs and report the results to home BS
– Handoff is initiated when the received power at the
MS from the neighboring BS begins to exceed the
home BS by a certain level for a certain period of
time
– MAHO performs at a much faster rate, and is
particularly suited for micro cellular environments
49
Handoff Strategies ….
• Intersystem handoff
– When a mobile user moves from one cellular
system to a different cellular system controlled by a
different MSC
– It may become a long-distance call and a roamer
– Compatibility between the two MSCs need to be
determined

50
Handoff Strategies - Prioritizing Handoffs
• Having a call abruptly terminated while in the middle of
a conversation is more annoying than being blocked
occasionally on a new call attempt
• Concept of guard channels
– A fraction of the total available channel is reserved for
handoff requests, which then are not offered to mobiles
making new calls
– It may reduce the total carried traffic
– However, it offers efficient spectrum utilization when
dynamic channel assignment strategies are used
• Queuing of handoff requests
– Does not guarantee a zero probability of forced termination
51
Handoff Strategies - Practical Handoff Considerations
• How to handle the simultaneous traffic of high

speed and low speed users while minimizing
the handoff intervention from the MSC?
– Using microcells to increase capacity also
increases burden on MSC
• Another practical limitation is the ability to
obtain new cell sites, particularly in an urban
environment

52
Handoff Strategies - Umbrella Cell
• By using different antenna
heights (often at the same
building or tower) and
different power levels,
“large” and “small” cells
are co-located at a single
location
• Minimizes the number of
handoffs for high speed
users and provides
additional microcell
channels for pedestrian
users
53
Handoff Strategies – Hard Handoff
• Hard handoff: The channel in the source cell is released
only when the channel in the target cell is engaged
– i.e., assign different radio channels during a handoff
– For 1st generation analog systems, it takes about 10 seconds
and the value for ∆ is on the order of 6dB to 12dB
– For 2nd generation digital systems, typically requires only 1
or 2 seconds, and ∆ usually is between 0 dB and 6 dB
– In 2nd generation systems, handoff decision is also based on a
co-channel and adjacent channel interference levels

54
Handoff Strategies – Soft Handoff in
CDMA
• The channel in the source cell is retained and used for a
while in parallel with the channel in the target cell
• Used in CDMA system
– In CDMA, users share the same channel in every cell
– Consequently, handoff does not mean a physical change in the
assigned channel, rather that a different base station handles the
radio communication task
– By simultaneously evaluating the receiver signals from a single
subscriber at several neighboring base stations, the MSC may
actually decide which version of the user’s signal is best at any
moment in time
55
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
– Co-channel interference
– Adjacent channel interference
– Power control for reducing interferences
56
Interference
• Interference is a major performance limiting factor in
cellular radio
– It limits capacity thereby increasing the number of dropped
calls
• Interference are difficult to control in practice largely
due to random propagation effects
• Sources of interference include
– Another mobile in the same cell or in a neighboring cell
– Other BSs operating in the same frequency band
• Any cellular (e.g., from competing cellular carriers) or non-cellular system which
inadvertently leaks energy into the cellular frequency band
• …
57
Interference – Effects
• Interference in the voice channels causes crosstalk
– A subscriber hears interference in the background due to an
undesired transmission
• Interference in the control channels causes error in

digital signaling which causes:
– Missed calls
– Blocked calls
– Dropped calls
• Interference is more severe in urban areas, due to the

greater RF noise floor and the large number of base
stations and mobiles
58
Interference – Types
• There are two major types of Interferences:
– Co-channel Interference (CCI)
– Adjacent channel Interference (ACI)
 CCI is caused due to the cells that reuse the
same frequency set
 These cells using the same frequency set are
referred to as co-channel cells
 ACI is caused due to signals that are adjacent in
frequency
59
Co-Channel Interference – First-tier Interference

60
Co-Channel Interference – First-tier Interference
First-tier co-channel BSs
D1
D6
D5 D2
D4
D3
Serving Base Station

61
Co-Channel Interference …
• Unlike thermal noise, CCI cannot be overcome by
increasing the carrier power of a transmitter
– This is because, any increase in the transmitter power also
increases the interference to other co-channel cells
• Instead, co-channel cells must be physically separated by a
minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due to
propagation
– To reduce CCI the co-channel cells must be sufficiently
separated
• Co-channel interference is a function of
– The radius of the cell, R, and
– The distance to the center of the nearest co-channel cell, Di
62
• For a hexagonal geometry, the co-channel reuse ratio, Q is
related to the cluster size D
Q   3N
R
• It determines the spatial separation relative to the coverage

distance of the cell
• N small gives Q small
– Provides a larger capacity (i.e., can re-use more), but higher CCI
• N large means Q large
– Better transmission quality due to a small level of co-channel
interference but small capacity
• Hence there is capacity vs. interference tradeoff
63

64
Signal-to-Interference Ratio
• Signal-to-interference ratio (S/I) for a mobile which monitors a
forward channel is S S
 m
I
I
j 1
j
– Where S: desired signal power, Ij: interference caused by the jth co-channel
cell, and m: first-tier co-channels cells
• The average received power at a distance d from the transmitting
antenna is approx. by
n
 d  d
Pr  Po   Pr ( dB )  P0 ( dB )  10n log( )
 d oor d0
– Where Po is the received power at a close-in reference distance in the far-field

and n is the path-loss exponent
• The path loss exponent, n, ranges between 2 and 6
65
Signal-to-Interference Ratio …
• If Di is the distance of the ith interferer, the received power is
proportional to ( Di )  n
• If transmit power of each BS is equal & n is the same

throughout the coverage area, S/I for a mobile is approx. as
S R n
 m
I
 (D )
i 1
i
n
• To simplify, assume all first-tier interferers are equidistance

S

D R  n

 3N 
n
I m m
• This relates S/I to the cluster size, and in turn determines the overall capacity of the
system
– Puts a limits on how low we may set N

66
Signal-to-Interference Ratio …
• For a hexagonal cluster
of cells with the MS R
situated at the center of
D
the cell D
D
 
n
S 1D 1
    3N n
D
I 6 R  6
D
D
– As long as all cells are of the
same size, S/I is independent of
the cell radius, R

67
Signal-to-Interference Ratio - Example 1
• Design parameters:
– Desired S/I = 15dB
– Path-loss exponent n = 4
– Assume that there are six co-channel cells in the first
tier and all of them are at the same distance from the
mobile
• What is the required re-use factor and cluster size
that should be used for maximum capacity?

68
Signal-to-Interference Ratio – Example 1
…
· Six co-channel
cells in the first
tier

69
Signal-to-Interference Ratio - Example 1
…
· Let’s try for N= 4. The co- • Let’s try: N= 7
channel re-use ratio is D
D  4.58
 3.46 R
R S 1
· And the signal-to-interference   4.58
4
I 6
ratio is  73.5 18.66 dB
S 1
 3.46   24 13.8 dB
I 6
4
• Which is greater than
the desired
· Smaller than the desired 15 dB • Hence, N=7 can be
· We must move to the next reuse used
distance • The frequency reuse
factor = 1/7

70
Example 2 - Repeat Example 1 for n = 3
Solution
· Let’s try for a seven-cell reuse pattern, i.e. N= 7. Like the previous
example
D S 1
 4.58  16.04  12.05 dB
3
 4.58 and
R I 6
· Which is smaller than the desired 15 dB, hence we need to use larger N
· Let us try N=12 D S 1
 6.00 and 
3
 6.00  36  15.56 dB
R I 6
· Since this is greater than 15 dB, N=12 can be used
· Note: n=3 is typical value for sub-urban area

· Exercise: Try for n=2, which represents rural area!

71
Summary - Re-Use Factor for n=2, n=3, and
n=4
30
25 Path loss n= 2
Path loss n = 3
Path loss n=4
20
SIR in dB
15
N=7 N=12
10
-5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Cluster Size, N

72
Worst Case Calculation of S/I
• The MS is at the cell
boundary
• The approximate S/I is
given by:
S R n

I 2D  R  n  2D  n  2D  R  n
S 1
 
I 2Q  1 n  2Q  n  2Q  1 n

73
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
74
Adjacent Channel Interference (ACI)
• Results from signals that are adjacent in frequency to the
desired signal
– Due to imperfect receiver filters, that allow nearby frequencies
to leak
• Near-far effect: The adjacent channel interference is
particularly serious. This occurs when:
– an interferer close to the BS radiates in the adjacent channel,
while the subscriber is far away from the BS
• The BS may not discriminate the desired mobile user from the “bleed
over” caused by the close adjacent channel mobile
– Or, an interferer which is in close range to the subscriber’s

receiver, is transmitting while the receiver receives from the BS

75
Near-Far Effect - Interferer Close to BS
• One solution is power control, i.e., reducing the power level
transmitted by mobiles close to the BS
Interferer Subscriber

76
Near-Far Effect - Interferer Close to MS
Interferer Subscriber

77
Adjacent Channel Interference …
• ACI can be reduced by
– Careful filtering
– Careful channel assignment
• The frequency separation between each channel in a cell should
be made as large as possible
– Assign non-adjacent channels within each cell’s channel group
• Example: Assign S = 50 channels into groups for N = 7.
• Solution
– There are about k = 50/7 ≈ 7 channels per cell
– For group 1, use forward channels {1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50}
– For group i, i = 2, . . . 7, let the channels for group i consist of {i, i +7,
i + 14, i + 21, i + 28, i + 35, i + 42}
78
• Example: The frequency separation between
each channel in a cell should be made as large
as possible while assigning them

79
• If a subscriber is at a distance d1 and S  d1 
n
 
the interferer is d2 from the base I  d2 


station, then SIR (prior to filtering) is:
• Example
– Suppose a subscriber is at
d1 = 1000m from the BS and an adjacent
channel interferer is at d2 = 100m from the
BS
– Assume: Path-loss exponent is n = 3 n 3
– The signal-to-Interference ratio prior to S  d1   1000 
     3
 10   30dB
filtering is then I  d2   100 

80
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
81
Power Control to Reduce Interference
• In practice, power levels transmitted by every
subscriber are under constant control by the
serving BS
– Each MS transmits with the smallest power necessary
– In power control
1. Reduces the transmit power level of MSs close to the BS since a high TX
power is not necessary in this case
2. MSs located far away must transmit with larger power than those nearby
– Advantages of power control
• Reduces out-of-band interference
• Prolongs battery life
• Even reduces co-channel interference on reverse channels
82
Power Control to Reduce Interference …
• However, power control requires well control

– Controlling a mobile means communication from the BS to
the mobile to inform it whether to increase or decrease its
power, which incurs overhead
• In CDMA systems, every user in every cell share the
same radio channel means a tight power control is
required
– The “near-far problem” is even more of a problem in CDMA
– Need to reduce the co-channel interference
– Reduced interference leads to higher capacity

83
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
– Basic definitions
– Blocked calls cleared
– Blocked calls delayed
84
Trunking
• Trunking: How to accommodate a large number of users in a
limited radio spectrum?
– Trunking refers to sharing a fixed and small number of channels among a large
and random user community
• Each user demands access from a pool of channel

infrequently & at random times
– A channel is allocated on a per call basis and a channel is returned
to the pool up on termination of a call
– So a dedicated channel for each user is not required
– If U be number of users and C be number of channels, for any C <
U, possibility of more requests than channels
– Trunking exploits statistical behavior of users so that a fixed number of channels
accommodate a large, random user
85
Trunking …
• Trunking accommodates large & random users:
– By providing access to each user on demand from a pool of available
channels
– When a user requests service and if all channels are in use
1. The user is blocked, or denied access to the system
2. In some systems, a queue may be used to hold the requesting users until a
channel becomes available
– Upon termination of the call, the previously occupied channel is
immediately returned to the pool
• Designing a trunked system, that can handle a given capacity at
a specific “grade of service”, requires trunking and queuing
theories
86
Trunking – Definition of Terms . . .
• Setup time: The time required to allocate a radio channel to a
requesting user
– Users request may be blocked or have to wait
• Blocked Call: A call that cannot be completed at the time of
request due to congestion
– Also called lost call => lost revenue, e.g., pick hours, holidays, …
• Holding time: Average call duration in seconds, denoted H
– Depends on users and operator's tariff
• Request (or call) rate: Average number of calls per unit time,
denoted λ seconds-1
– Typically taken to be at the busiest time of day
– Depends on type of users community: Office, residential, call center,
…
87
Trunking – Definition of Terms . . .
• Traffic Intensity: A measure of channel time utilization

– Is the average channel occupancy measured in Erlang, denoted by A
• Load: Traffic intensity across the entire trunked radio system
– Measured in Erlang
• Erlang: A “unit” of measure of usage or traffic intensity
– A channel kept busy for one hour is defined as having a load of one
Erlang
– Grade of Service (GoS): Measure of congestion (or ability of a user to access a trunked
system) during the busiest hour
– Typically given as likelihood that a call is blocked, called Erlang B or
– The likelihood of a call experiencing a delay greater than a certain
amount of time, called Erlang C

88
Trunking …
• Average arrival rate, λ:
– Average number of MSs requesting service (call
request/time)
• Average hold-time, H
– Average duration ofAa call
 H (or (Erlangs
time for) which MS requires
u
service)
• An average traffic intensity
2 offered (generated) by
Au  3 min  0.1Erlang
each user 60 min
• Example 1: If a user makes on average two calls per

hour, and that a call lasts an average of 3 minutes
89
Trunking …
• Example 2: In a cell with 100 MSs average of
30 requests are generated in an hour with
average holding time of 6 minutes
• The arrival rate:   30 requests / sec
3600
• Offered load is:

30 Calls 360 Seconds
Au  *  3 Erlangs
3600 Seconds Call

90
Trunking …
• The total offered traffic intensity for U users A  UAu
– Note: A is not necessarily the traffic carried by the trunked
system
• In a C channel trunked system, if traffic is distributed
equally among channels, thenUAtraffic
A
intensity per channel
AC  u

C C
• In Example 1, assume that there are 100 users and 20

channels
– Then A = 100(0.1)= 10 and Ac = 10/20 = 0.5
• Note: Ac is a measure of the efficiency of channels

utilization
91
Trunking and GoS
• Offered traffic is not necessarily the traffic carried by the
trunked system, only that is offered to the system
– Maximum possible carried traffic is the total number of channels, C,
in Erlangs
• AMPS system is designed for a GOS of 2% blocking
– Channel allocations for cells are designed so that 2 out of 100 calls
will be blocked due to channel occupancy during the busiest hour
• What do we do when a call is offered (requested) but all

channels are full?
– Blocked calls cleared? Offers no queuing for call requests, Erlang B
– Blocked calls delayed? Erlang C

92
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
93
Trunking – Blocked Calls Cleared
1. Calls arrival request follows a Poisson distribution

2. Memoryless arrivals of requests
– I.e., all users, including blocked users, may request a channel at any time
3. The probability of a call durations (or a user occupying a channel)
is exponentially distributed
– i.e., longer calls are less likely to occur
4. There are “infinite number of users” and “finite channels”
– Rather than a finite number U of users each requesting A u traffic, set the
total offered traffic as a constant A, and then let U   and Au  0 in a
way that preserves A = UAu
• These assumptions leads to the Erlang B formula

– Also known as the “blocked calls cleared formula”

94
Trunking – Erlang B Formula
• The probability of an arriving call being blocked is: Ac
Pr [blocking ]  C C! k  GOS
A

• See the proof!!! k  0 k!
– Where C: number of trunked channels and A: total offered traffic

• Erlang B is a measure of the GOS for a trunked system which provides
no queuing for blocked calls
• Setting the desired GOS, one can derive
– Number of channels needed
– The maximum number of users we can support as A = UAU or
– The maximum AU we can support (and set the number of minutes on our
calling plans accordingly)
• Since C is very high, it is easier to use table or graph
95
Erlang B Formula - Table Form

96
Erlang B Formula - Graphical Form

97
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
98
Trunking – Blocked Calls Delayed
• Instead of clearing a call, put it in a queue and have it wait until a
channel is available
– First-in, first-out line: Calls will be processed in the order received
• There are two things to determine here
1. The probability a call will be delayed (enter the queue), and
2. The probability that the delay will be longer than t seconds
• The first is no longer the same as Erlang B
– It goes up, because blocked calls aren’t cleared, they “stick around” and
wait for the first open channel
• Meaning of GOS
– The probability that a call will be forced into the queue AND it will wait
longer than t seconds before being served (for some given t)
99
Trunking - Blocked Calls Delayed …
• Additional assumptions:
1. The queue is infinitely long: Translates to infinite memory
2. No one who is queued gives up/hangs up (rather than wait)
• The probability of an arriving call not having an
immediate access to a channel (or being
Ac delayed) is given
Pr [delay  0] 
by Erlang C Formula A C 1 Ak
c
A  C!(1  )
C k 0 k!
• It is typically easiest to find a result from a chart

100
Trunking - Calls Delayed …
• Once it enters the
queue, the probability
that the delay is greater  CA 
Pr [delay  t delay  0]  exp  t
than t (for t > 0) is  H 
given as
• GOS: The marginal
Pr [ delay  t ]  Pr [ delay  0]Pr [ delay  t | delay  0]
(overall) probability
that a call will be  CA 
 Pr [ delay  0] exp  t
delayed AND  H 
experience a delay
greater than t is then
H
• The average delay for D  Pr [delay  0]
CA
all calls in a queued
system
101
Erlang C Formula - Graphical Form

102
Trunking - Example 1
• Consider a system with
– 100 cells
– Each cell has C = 20 channels
– Generates on average λ = 2 calls/hour
– The average duration of each call (H) = 3 Minutes
• How many number of users can be supported if the allowed
probability of blocking is 2%?
Solution:
– From Erlang B Chart, total carried traffic = 13 Erlangs
– Traffic intensity per user AU = λH = 0.1 Erlangs
– The total number of users that can be supported by a cell = 13/0.1 = 130
Users/cell
– Therefore, the total number of users in the system is 13,000
103
– 100 cells, each cell has C = 20 channels
– Generates on average λ = 2 calls/hour
– The average duration of each call (H) = 3 Minutes
• How many number of users can be supported if the allowed probability
of blocking is 0.2%?
Solution
– Again from Erlang B Chart, total carried traffic = 10 Erlangs
– Traffic intensity per user AU = λH = 0.1 Erlangs
– The total number of users that can be supported by a cell = 10/0.1 = 100
Users/cell
– Therefore, the total number of users in the system is 10,000
– We support less number of users
104
– Total number of channels = 20
– Probability of blocking = 1%
• How shall we use this set of channels?
Approach 1: Divide 20 channels into 4 trunks of 5 channels each
• Traffic capacity of one trunk (5 channels) = 1.36 Erlangs
• Traffic capacity of four trunks (20 channels) = 5.44 Erlangs
Approach 2: Divide 20 channels into 2 trunks of 10 channels each
• Traffic capacity of one trunk (10 channels) = 4.46 Erlangs
• Traffic capacity of two trunks (20 channels) = 8.92 Erlangs
Approach 3: Use the 20 channels as they are
• Traffic capacity of one trunk (20 channels) =12.0 Erlangs
• Better to make a large pool instead of dividing
– Allocation of channels in a trunked radio system has a major impact on
overall system capacity

105
Trunking – Exercise!!!
Given
– An urban area has a population of 2 million residents
– Three competing trunked mobile networks (system A, B, and C) provide
cellular service in this area
• System A has 394 cells with 19 channels each
• System B has 98 cells with 57 channels each
• System C has 49 cells each with 100 channels
– Each user averages 2 calls per hour at an average call duration of 3
minutes
Required
– The number of users that can be supported at 2% blocking?
– Assuming that all three trunked systems are operated at maximum
capacity, compute the percentage market penetration of each cellular
provider
106
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
• Improving capacity and coverage
– Cell splitting
– Sectoring
– Microcell zoning and use of repeaters
107
Improving Capacity
• A network may need to expand because of
– Increase in traffic or demand for service
– Or because of a change in the environment (e.g., a new
building)
• As traffic increases, the channels originally assigned to
each cell will be congested
• System designers have to provide more channels per unit
coverage area
• Common techniques for improving capacities:
– Cell splitting, sectoring, microcell zoning, and use of
repeaters
108
Cell Splitting
• Cell splitting: Process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells (called microcells), where each cell has
 Its own BS (increase in BSs deployed) and
 Reduction in the transmitter power and antenna height
• Splitting the cells reduces the cell size and thus more
number of cells have to be used
– More number of cells = > more number of clusters => more
channels => higher capacity
• Cell splitting allows a system to grow by replacing large
cells by small cells without new spectrum usage
– Additional channels per unit area are created
109
Cell Splitting . . . Large cell
• Depending on traffic
patterns, the smaller cells (low density)
maybe
activated/deactivated in Small cell
order to efficiently use cell (high
resources density)
• The co-channel re-use
factor D/R is unchanged
• Only increases the
number of channels
per unit area
Smaller
cell (higher
density)

110
Cell Splitting - Example 1
• Suppose the radius of cell is reduced by half
– To cover the entire area, Approx. four times microcells are required
 area covered by such a circle is 4 * area of circle with radius R/2
• What is the required transmit power for these new cells?
Pu  Ptu R  n
• We have:
– Power at the boundary of un-split cell:
Pmc  Ptmc ( R / 2)  n
– Power at the boundary of a new microcell:
– Where Ptu : transmitted power for un-split cell, Pmc : transmitted power
from for microcell
Ptmc  Ptu / 2 n
– For same CCI (S/N) performance Pu = Pmc implies
111
Cell Splitting - Example 1 . . .
• For n = 4; (a typical suburban area)
Ptu
Ptmc 
16
• Thus, the transmit power must be reduced by

12dB in order to fill in the original coverage
area with microcells, while maintaining the S/I
requirement

112
4 Cell Cluster 7 Cell Cluster
Smaller Cells
7 Cell Cluster
12 Cell
Cluster
 Typical city cellular radio cell plan – different cell sizes and clusters
– Combination of cell size and cluster size to increase capacity

113
• Suppose a congested service area is
originally covered by
– 5 Cells
– Each with 80 Channels
• Capacity = 5*80 = 400
• After Splitting: Rnew  R / 2
– Let
– We now have 20 cells to cover the region
– New Capacity = 20*80 = 1600
· In general, the relationship in capacity between cell splitting and
subscriber addition can be expressed as
Cn  4 n C
· Where Cn : network capacity after “n” times cell splitting and C:
Network capacity before cell splitting
114
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
– Cell splitting
– Sectoring
115
Cell Sectoring
• Sectoring uses directional antennas to further control interference and
frequency reuse
• As opposed to cell splitting, where D/R is kept constant while

decreasing R, in sectoring keeps R untouched and reduces the D/R ratio
• Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the number of cells per
cluster, thus increasing frequency reuse

116
Cell Sectoring . . .
• In order to do this, it is necessary to reduce the relative
interference without decreasing the transmitter power
• CCI is reduced by replacing single omni-directional antenna by
several directional antennas, each radiating within a specified
sector
• A directional antenna transmits to and receives from only a
fraction of the total number of co-channel cells
– Thus CCI is reduced
• CCI reduction factor depends on the amount of sectoring
– A cell is normally partitioned into three 120⁰ sectors or six 60 ⁰
sectors
117

118
• Assume 7 cell
reuse and 1200
sector
• Number of
interference in the
first tier reduces
from 6 to 2
– Significant
compared to omni-
directional case
• Sectored groups
119
For a 7-cell cluster, the MS will
receive signals from only 2 other
clusters (instead of 6 in an omni-
directional antenna)
For worst case, when mobile is at

the edge of the cell
R n
SIR   n
D  ( D  0.7 R )  n
Desired channel Interfering co-channel cells @ D distance

120
Cell Sectoring – Problems
• Increased number of antennas at each BS
• Decrease in trunking efficiency due to sectoring
– Dividing the bigger pool of channels into smaller groups
• Increased number of handoffs (sector-to-sector)
• Good news: Many modern BSs support sectoring
and related handoffs without the help of the MSC

121
Cell Sectoring – Modern BSs
1
2 120o
1-1 3
2
1-2
1-3
Sector in use CCI

122
Overview
• Cellular system
• Cell shape
• Frequency reuse
• Handoff
– Cell splitting
– Sectoring
123
Microcell Zone Concept
• The problems of sectoring, i.e., increased handoff, can be
addressed by the Microcell Zone concept
• A cell is divided into microcells or zones
• Each microcell (zone) is connected to the same base
station via fiber, microwave link, or coaxial
• Each zone uses a directional antenna
• As a MS travels from one zone to another, it retains the
same channel, i.e., no handoff
• The BS simply switches the channel to the next zone site

124
Microcell Zone Concept …
• Let each cell be divided into three zones
Zone
Selector

125
• While the cell maintains a particular coverage
area, the CCI is reduces because:
– The large central BS is replaced by several low
power transmitters
– Directional antennas are used
• Decreases CCI, improves
– Signal Quality
– Capacity

126

127
Example:
– Suppose the desired S/I = 18 dB,
– Path loss exponent n = 4,
• How much capacity increase can occur if we use
Microcell zoning with 3 zones per cell?
Solution
– To achieve S/I = 18 dB, we need N=7
– Now we create 3 zones within a cell
• The cluster size has been reduced to N = 3
• A capacity increase factor of 7/3 = 2.33
128
Repeaters for Range Extension
• Useful for hard-to-reach areas
– Within buildings or basements
– Tunnels
– Valleys
• Radio transmitters, called repeaters, can be used to provide
coverage in these areas
• Repeaters are bi-directional
– Receive signals from BSs
– Amplify the signals
– Re-radiate the signals
• Problem: received noise and interference is also reradiated!
129
Repeaters for Range Extension …

130
Summary
• Concepts such as handoff, frequency reuse, trunking
efficiency, and frequency planning are covered.
• Capacity of cellular system is a function of many
things,
– E.g., S/I that limits frequency reuse, which intern limits
the number of channels within the coverage area
• Trunking efficiency limits the number of users that
can access a trunked radio system
• Capacity can be improved by cell splitting, sectoring,
and the zone microcell techniques
131

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Goal of the Chapter

• In cellular system, the available radio spectrum is limited

Wireless & Mobile Communications - Ch. 2 –

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

aR = 2R2 aT = 33/2 R2/4 aH= 33/2 R2/2

• Hexagonal cell is conceptual, however, it is universally

– Edge-excited cell: on three of the six cell vertices

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications - Ch. 2 –

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• The number of cells in a cluster, N, is given by N  i 2  ij  j 2

where i and j are non-negative integers

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• Channel re-use factor is

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• Cluster: N cells, which collectively use the

• If cluster size N is reduced while cell size is kept constant

• Solution: Given that

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• By looking at the variation of signal strength from either base station,

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

– Pr,handoff be a higher threshold in dB at which the MSC

• Define handoff margin in dB as

• If ∆ is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete a

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• Taking the difference of the 2nd and the 1st equations,

• Taking that the call is dropped at d = 500 meters, we have

• Note: In this example, the propagation equation used is for “large

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• How to handle the simultaneous traffic of high

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• Interference in the control channels causes error in

• Interference is more severe in urban areas, due to the

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

First-tier co-channel BSs

Serving Base Station

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

• It determines the spatial separation relative to the coverage

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

– Where Po is the received power at a close-in reference distance in the far-field

• If transmit power of each BS is equal & n is the same

• To simplify, assume all first-tier interferers are equidistance

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

Wireless & Mobile Communications -

· Since this is greater than 15 dB, N=12 can be used

· Note: n=3 is typical value for sub-urban area