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Mechanisms for capacity increase

Trunking and grade of service

Co-channel and adjacent channel interference

Cellular concept and frequency reuse

Topics to study:

Chapter 4 Fundamentals of Cellular Communications

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Advantages:
Low transmitted power
Frequency reuse possible

In cellular systems, the total service area is divided into a

number of smaller areas, each of which is a radio cell

The coverage area can be controlled by using a

proper transmitted power level

Given a propagation environment, increasing transmitted

power will increase the service coverage area

4-1 Cellular Concept

(b)

(c)

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Cells in each cell cluster use unique frequency channels

Frequency is reused from cell cluster to cell cluster. No frequency

channel is reused among cells in the same cell cluster

Frequency reuse is limited by co-channel interference. Cells

which use the same frequency channels are called co-channel cells

Hexagonal cells are popular because

closest to a circle
tight cellular packing
perfect partitioning of the service area

(a)

Regular polygons may be used to represent the cell coverage

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then

Let

then

Let

or

J = K/N

C = MK = MJN
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M - total number of cell clusters in the system

C - total number of channels in the system with frequency reuse

K=JN

K - total number of channels in the system without frequency reuse

N - the number of cells in each cell cluster
J - total number of channels in each cell

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The cell cluster size N is also called the frequency reuse factor

That is, given K, C is maximized when N is minimized. However,

the minimum N depends on the requirement on the co-channel
interference level

M , to cover the same area

C for a given K value

cluster size N

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where the integers i and j are parameters for determining co-channel

cells and for determining the size of the cell cluster (N)

move i cells along any chain of hexagons

turn 60 degrees counter-clockwise and move j cells

To find the nearest co-channel neighbour of a particular cell, execute

the folllowing two steps:

Nearest co-channel neighbours

The lines joining the centers of any cell and each of its neighbours
are separated by multiples of 60 degrees

A hexagonal cells has exactly 6 equidistant neighbours

Consider hexagonal cells

4-2 Frequency Reuse Factor

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Figure: Locating co-channel cells in a cellular system

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11

12

11

(c) i =2 and j = 2

(a) i =2 and j = 0

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17

18

19

14

10

16

13

12

11

15

16

13

12

11

15

17

18

19

14

10

16

13

12

11

15

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18

19

14

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(d) i =2 and j = 3

17

18

19

14

10

(b) i =1 and j = 2

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13

12

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R - radius of the cell (from center to vertex)

D - distance from the center of the candidate cell to the cell of
the nearest co-channel cell

= 3R

D 2 = ( j 3R cos 300 )2 + (i 3R + j 3R sin 300 )2 = (i 2 + j 2 + ij )3R 2

3
2

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D 2 = 3NR 2
or

D = 3N R

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Dnorm

3R

It can be shown that the cell cluster size is given by

= N

N = i 2 + j 2 + ij

D 2 = (i 3R )2 + ( j 3R )2 2(i 3R )( j 3R ) cos1200 = (i 2 + j 2 + ij )3R 2

or,

2 R cos 300 = 2 R

The actual distance between the centers of two adjacent cells is

Let

Geometry of hexagonal cells




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Figure: Distance between nearest co-channel cells

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120

30

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D
3N R
=
= 3N
R
R

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We should choose the minimum q (or N ) subject to the constraint on

the signal to co-channel interference ratio requirement

frequency reuse less often and the system capacity

q (or N ) co-channel interference

The frequency reuse ratio q and the frequency reuse factor N carry the
same information

Frequency reuse ratio q

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7
9
12
13
19
21
27
28
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(2, 1)
(3, 0)
(2, 2)
(3, 1)
(3, 2)
(4, 1)
(3, 3)
(4, 2)
(4, 3)

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(1, 1)

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Cluster Size
N

Frequency Reuse Pattern

( i, j )

10.54

9.17

9.00

7.94

7.55

6.24

6.00

5.20

4.58

3.00

Frequency Reuse Ratio

q

Table: Frequency reuse factor and cell cluster size

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S - the received power of the desired signal

I k - co-channel interference from the kth co-channel cell

N I - the number of co-channel interfering cells

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S
=
I
k =1

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NI

The signal-to-co-channel interference ratio (S/I ), also referred to as

carrier-to-co-channel interference ratio (CIR), is

Let

Co-channel interference

4-3 Co-channel and Adjacent Channel Interference

13

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Where Dk is the distance from the kth co-channel cell BS to the mobile

I k Dk

Consider the forward link and assume that the transmitted power
levels from all the BSs are the same, then

Pr(d) the received power at distance d ( d)

the path loss exponent
d the distance between the transmitter and receiver

Where P0 - the received power at distance d0

Pr (d ) = P0 (d / d 0 )

Consider only distance-dependent path loss. From chapter 2, we have

k =1

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S 1/
q = (NI )
I

S
R
( D / R) q ( 3N )
=
=
=
=

I NI D
NI
NI
NI

which is not a function of the transmitted power! If we use the

approximation DkD for all k, then

S
R
= NI
I
Dk

S R

When the mobile is at the cell boundary (the worst case),

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S
q = (6 )1/
I

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S 1 1
= q = (5.1962) 4 = 121.5
I 6
6

or 20.845 dB

q = 3 N = 3 9 = 5.1962

A 9-cell cluster is needed for S/I of at least 20 dB. On the other

hand, with N = 9 and = 4,

q = (6 1 0 0 ) 1 / 4 = 4 .9 4 9 2 N = q 2 / 3 = 8 .1 6 5 9

From the required S/I value, q can be determined. For example, if the
required S/I is 20 dB and = 4, then

If we neglect interference from co-channel cells in the second and

higher tiers, then NI = 6

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D-R

D+R

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Design tradeoff: N = 7 or 9 if it requires S/I =18 dB?

For =4 and N =9, q = (3N ) 0.5 =5.2 S/I = 19.8 dB

For =4 and N =7, q = (3N ) 0.5 =4.6 S/I = 17.3 dB

S
R
1

=
I 2( D R) + 2 D + 2( D + R) 2(q 1) + 2q + 2(q + 1)

D-R

Mobile

D+R

Consider a better approximation of the distances:

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d1
MS 1

BS

MS3
d2

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psd: Pr1 >> Pr2

psd: Pr1 = Pr2

fc1

fc1

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fc2

receiver BPF

fc2

Near-far effect: d1 << d2 Pr1 >> Pr2 at the BS

Adjacent channel interference

MS2

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B C D

A B

D E F

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furthermore, do not use adjacent channels in adjacent cells, which is

possible only when N is very large. For example, if N =7, adjacent
channels must be used in adjacent cells
use FDD or TDD to separate the forward link and reverse link

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cell

ch.

To reduce adjacent channel interference

use modulation schemes which have small out-of-band radiation
(e.g., MSK is better than QPSK)
carefully design the receiver BPF
use proper channel interleaving by assigning adjacent channels to
different cells, e.g., for N =7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

For the signal from MS2, the adjacent channel interference due to
the near-far effect.

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Based on traffic load, the number of radio channels in each cell should
be determined in such a way that
- all the channels are utilized efficienctly
- call blocking rate is below a predetermined threshold
Given a traffic load, number of channels utilization efficiency
and call blocking rate

Trunking exploits the statistical behaviour of mobile users, so that a

large number of mobile users can share the fixed radio channels in each
cell on demand

In cellular systems, a relatively small number of radio channels are used

to serve a large population of mobile users, which is possible by
frequency reuse and by trunking

4-4 Trunking and Grade of Service

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set-up time: the time required to allocate a trunked radio channel to a

requesting user
blocked call (lost call): call which cannot be completed at the time
of request, due to congestion

Definitions

The grade of service (GoS) is a measure of the ability of a user to

access a trunked system during the busiest hour. GoS is typically
given as
o the likelihood that a call is blocked (for Erlang B systems), or
o the likelihood that a call experiences a delay larger than a
certain queueing delay (for Erlang C systems)

The measure of traffic efficiency: 1 Erlang represents the amount of

traffic intensity carried by a channel that is completely occupied, e.g.,
a radio channel that is occupied for 30 minutes during an hour carries
0.5 Erlangs of traffic

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A = u Au = u H

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For a system with u users and an unspecified number of channels, the total
offered traffic intensity is (in Erlangs)

Au = H

Relations
The traffic intensity offered by each user is (in Erlangs)

holding time ( H ): average duration of a typical call

traffic intensity ( A ): measure of channel time utilization, which is the
average channel occupancy measured in Erlangs
load: traffic intensity across the entire trunked radio system, measured
in Erlangs
request rate (): the average number of call requests per unit time per
user

(Erlangs)



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carried traffic
Erlangs



blocked calls
blocking

- channel
trunked system




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offered traffic

Difference between offered traffic and carried traffic

Ac = u Au / C = u H / C

In a C channel trunked system, if the traffic is equally distributed

among the channels, then the traffic intensity per channel is

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There are memoryless arrivals of calls, implying that all users,

including blocked users, may request a channel at any time

There are an infinite number of users

where is the request rate (average number of call arrivals per unit
time), and we have E(X ) = , V(X ) =

i
P( X = i) = e , i = 0,1, 2,...
i!

Call arrivals follows a Poisson distribution. Let X denote the

number of calls arrivals per unit time, then

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If no channels are available, the requesting user is blocked without

access and is free to try again later

(a) Blocked calls cleared

Types of trunked systems

=
k =0

Ak / k !

- call blocking probability

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where A is the total offered traffic and C is the number of trunked channels

P (blocking)

AC / C !

The Erlang-B formula (the blocked calls cleared formula):

The system can be modeled by an M/M/C queue

There are a finite number of channels available in the trunked pool

with E( Y ) = H = 1/ and V( Y ) = 1/ 2

e x , x 0
fY ( x ) = {
0,
x<0

Channel holding time, Y, follows an exponential distribution

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P (delay > 0)

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AC
C 1
A
C
A + C !(1 )
Ak / k !
C k =0

The Erlang-C formula: The probability of a call not having immediate

access to a channel is

Other conditions (assumptions) are the same as those in the case

of blocked calls cleared

If a channel is not available immediately, the call request may be

delayed until a channel becomes available

(b) Blocked calls delayed

Note: The assumption that there are an infinite number of users in the
system results in a conservative estimate of the GoS, as the blocking
probability with a finite number of users is smaller than that obtained
by the Erlang B formula

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The average delay for those calls which are queued is H /( C-A )

H
D = P(delay > 0)
CA

The average delay D for all calls in a queued system is

P (delay > t ) = P (delay > 0) P (delay > t | delay > 0)

= ( P (delay > 0) exp[(C A)t / H ]

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If no channels are immediately available the call is delayed, and the

probability that the delayed call is forced to wait more than t seconds is

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Cell Splitting
Subdivide a congested cell into smaller cells, each with its own
base station and a corresponding reduction in antenna height and
transmitted power
Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system since it
increases the number of times that channels are reused ( M )
Reducing cell size increases handoffs, the number of base
stations needed, and may result in a difficulty in finding a proper
site for the base station

Old base station should be kept in some splitting cells

The capacity can be improved by

cell splitting

antenna sectoring

dynamic channel assignment

4-5 Capacity Enhancement in Cellular Systems

small cells

medium cells

large cells

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Figure: Illustration of cell splitting from radius R to R/2 and to R/4

R/4

R/2

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R R /2 in cell splitting
Cell area (1/4) cell area
Capacity is increased by 3 times (or 4 times in total)

For= 4, Pt1 / Pt2 = 12 dB. In general

10log10(Pt1 / Pt2 ) = 10log102 3dB

Pt1 / Pt2 = 2

On the basis of equal received power, we have

Pt1 R-= Pt2 (R/2)-

Pt1 the transmitted power of large cell BS

Pt2 - the transmitted power of small cell BS
Pr - the received power at cell boundary
Then when R R /2, we have
Pr (large cell) Pt1 R-
Pr (small cell) Pt2 (R/2)-

Let

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1
2

1
5

2
4

1
5

2
4

k =1

k =1

S
R
R
= NI
= 2
I

D
D
k k

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Which is larger than the omnidirectional case where NI = 6.

The CIR is given by

Assuming 7-cell reuse pattern, for the 3-sector case, the number of
interferers in the first tier is reduced from 6 to 2

Cell Sectoring

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S
1
and ( )1200 = q
I
2

D+0.7R

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The 3-sector worst case for 7-cell reuse is acceptable for (S / I )

requirement of 18 dB
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For = 4 and N = 7 ( q = 4.6 ), we have (S / I )1200 = 24.5 dB > 18 dB

S
R
1
=
( )120 =
I
D + ( D + 0.7 R) q + ( q + 0.7)

Worst-case scenario in 1200 sectoring:

S
1
( )omni = q
I
6

For Dk = D for all k,

Mobile

Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused
channels in that particular cell
Channel allocation cannot adapt to traffic load dynamics

Borrowing option:

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Each cell is allocated a predetermined set of voice channels

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Borrowing is supervised by the MSC to satisfy constraints on cochannel and adjacent channel interference

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A cell is allowed to borrow channels from a neighbouring cell if all

of its channels are already occupied

Fixed channel assignment (FCA)

1.

Channel Assignment Strategies

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Voice channels are not allocated to different cells on a permanent

basis
Each time a call request is made, the home BS requests a channel
from the MSC
The MSC determines (dynamically) the availability of a channel
and executes its allocation procedure accordingly
The MSC only allocates a given channel if the channel is not
presently in use in the cell or any other cell which falls within the
minimum restricted distance of the frequency reuse to avoid
severe co-channel interference (co-channel reuse locking)
DCA reduces the likelihood of call blocking, which increases the
trunking capacity of the system, since all available channels under
the control of the MSC are accessible to all the calls
DCA strategies require the MSC to collect real-time data on
channel occupancy, traffic load distribution and radio signal
strength indications of all the channels on a continuous basis

Dynamic channel assignment (DCA)

2.

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