Wireless Design Fundamentals

E6950: Lectures 2
Prof. Predrag Jelenkovic

Last lecture: Introduction to wireless and mobile networking

two primary types of wireless networks:

infrastructure-based: networks of cell-phone service provides

infrastructure-less: wireless Ad Hoc and sensor networks
(second half of the semester)

brief history of cellular wireless

1G - AMPS - analog system introduced 1983

2G - second generation digital cellular:

most popular standards: GSM, IS-136, PDC, IS-95 CDMA

making a cellular telephone call

voice versus data traffic

evolution to data enabled 2.5G systems

3G - packet wireless: W-CDMA and cdma2000

 4G - packet wireless: WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-m) and LTE (Long

Term Evolution)
key new technologies:
multi-antenna: MIMO
frequency domain statistical multiplexing: OFDM
turbo coding
channel dependent scheduling
mobile IP
other wireless systems:

paging and cordless phones

wireless local loop (WLL)
wireless LAN
bluetooth and personal are networks
mobile satellite communications

major promises for increased bandwidth:

multiple antenna technology (MIMO)

cognitive radio: utilizing the unused licensed bandwidth
high frequencies - 60GHz - needs direct line of sight

Wireless Design Fundamentals

Radio channel fundamentals:

radio propagation models
modulation/detection

coding and error control

Wireless system fundamentals:

(reference: Chapter 3 of Rappaport)
frequency reuse

channel assignment strategies

FCA - fixed channel allocation

DCA - dynamic channel allocation

handoff strategies

interference and system capacity

co-channel and adjacent channel interference

power control for reducing the interference

improving coverage and capacity in cellular systems

cell-splitting
sectoring
microcells

A Wireless Transmitter and Receiver: the RF Channel

[shown is a point-to-point link, most systems have many users (terminals/mobiles)]

A/D
speech coding

Channel
coding

Bit
interleaving

Encryption

Transmit Path

A high frequency sinusoidal signal

is capable of propagating energy through
space. By modulating this signal
(e.g., changing its amplitude,frequency,
RF Channel
or phase) information can be transmitted
from an antenna over the air. For a cellular
system we will be interested in transmission
in the forward/downlink path[base to mobile]
and in the backward/uplink path [mobile to base].
As the terminal moves, the signal amplitude,
phase, and frequency will fluctuate randomly, or fade.

Multiplexing
Modulation
Transmitting
radio subsystem
Receiving
radio subsystem
Demodulation
& equalization
Demultiplexing

Receive Path
D/A
speech decoding

Channel
decoding

Bit
deinterleaving

Decryption

Timing and synchronization

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The Cellular Concept: Tesellating Hexagons

The hexagon is an ideal choice
for macrocellular coverage areas,
because it closely approximates
a circle and offers a wide range of
tesellating reuse cluster sizes.
A tesellating cluster of size N can
be constructed if, for any positive
integers i and j, N = i2 + ij + j2.
Allowable cluster sizes are
N = 1,3,4,7,9,12,
For TDMA systems the total available
spectrum is broken into channel sets
[eg, Bandwidth/K/cell] in a particular
pattern to minimize co- and adjacent
channel interference. For CDMA,
the same frequency is re-used in each cell

2.1

Frequency reuse

each base station is allocated a group of radio channels to be

used in a small geographic area called cell
base station in adjacent cells are assigned completely different
channel groups
by limiting the coverage area to within the boundaries of a cell,
the same channels can be used in other cells that are separated by
distance large enough to keep the interference bellow a desired
level
for simplified analysis the hexagonal cell shape is most commonly used (other possibilities are : equilateral triangles, squares,
etc.). Hexagon closely approximates a circular radiation pattern
for an omnidirectional antenna
however, the actual cell radio coverage, called footprint, is determined by field measurements and propagation models; it is
usually amorphous
for omnidirectional antennas BS are usually placed in the center
of a cell. For sectored antennas they are position at the edges
claster N - number of cells that use different channel groups

if S is the total number of channels in the system and M is the

number of clusters, than the capacity is equal to
C = MS
Hence, by reducing the cluster size N we increase the number of
clusters M and therefore increase the capacity. Also, reducing
the cell size increases the capacity
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2.2

Channel assignment strategies

basic classification of channel assignments are into fixed FCA

and dynamic DCA. The assignment strategy can be also a mixture of the two
FCA: each cell is allocated a predetermined set of channels that
can be used for voice calls. If all channels are busy, the call is
blocked
The FCA can be relaxed through borrowing strategy, where
a cell is allowed to borrow channels from a neighboring cell.
This borrowing is supervised by the mobile switching center
(MSC)
in DCA voice channels are not allocated permanently. Instead,
a call request is made, the serving BS requests a channel from
MSC
designing near optimal DCA schemes is a very difficult problem

DCA increases the capacity (reduces the probability of blocking). However, it increases the complexity of the system

2.3

Handoff strategies

when a mobile with an ongoing call moves from one cell to another, the MSC automatically transfers (handoff) the call to a
new channel belonging to the new base station
many handoff strategies prioritize handoff requests over the new
call requests. It appears that call blocking is much more acceptable than call dropping
system design parameters:

Pmin minimum usable signal level (usually -90 dBm to -100

dBm (dB relative to 1mW)).
Ph - threshold for initiating handoff

= Ph Pmin can not be to large of too small

if is too large, there will be unnecessary handoffs

if is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete
a handoff before the call is dropped due to weak signal

in deciding when to handoff, it is important to ensure that the

drop in signal strength is actually due to mobile moving away
from a BS, but not due to temporary fading. Hence, the BS has
to monitor the signal of a mobile for a period of time before a
handoff is initiated. The length of the monitoring time depends
on many parameters, including the vehicle speed

 in 1G signal strength measurements are made by BSs and supervised by MSCs

each BS measures radio signal strength indication (RSSI)
in addition, there is a spare receiver (locator receiver) in
each BS, that scans the signal strength of the mobiles in the
neighboring cells
based on these measurements the MSC decides whether a
handoff is necessary or not
in todays 2G systems, handoff decision is mobile assisted In
mobile assisted handoff (MAHO), every mobile measures the
received power form the neighboring base stations and continuously reports these results to the serving BS
a handoff is initiated when the power received from the neighboring BS excides the power of the serving station
this approach reduces the burden on MSC, since it doesnt have
to monitor the signal strength all the time
MAHO is particularly suitable for microcellular environment
where the handoffs are more frequent
intersystem handoff - occurs when a mobile moves into a different cellular system. Many issues involved: a local call may
become long-distance, compatibility, etc

Prioritizing handoffs
guard channel concept - keeps a fraction of the total available
channels exclusively for handoffs
the disadvantage is that it reduces the total capacity
it is more efficient with the DCA
queueing of handoff requests - is possible due to the fact that
there is a finite time between the time that the received signal
drops bellow Ph and Pmin
queueing increases the utilization of handoff channels
Additional handoff considerations
vide spectrum of vehicle speeds - umbrella approach

cell dragging - occurs usually when there is a line of sight between a (pedestrian) mobile and a BS. Even when the user has
traveled well beyond the cell coverage, the signal strength may
be high, so that a handoff is not necessary. This may create additional interference in the surrounding cells
CDMA - has soft handoff, since each BS uses the same frequency. Handoff just means that a different BS handles the mobile. MSC monitors the received signal from a mobile by several
BSs, and at any moment of time may switch the mobile

Channel Interference

In a theoretical discussion cells

are considered hexagons. The
actual cell geometry depends on
the terrain contours and
topography, presence of water,
foliage, man-made structures height and density, location of the
antenna and its height.
 Frequency reuse in TDMA cellular systems introduces
 Co-channel interference [CCI], one of the major factors that limits system
capacity. CCI arises when the same carrier frequency is used in different cells.
 Adjacent Channel Interference [ACI] arises when neighboring cells use carrier
frequencies that are spectrally adjacent to each other.
 Wireless radio links generally exhibit a threshold in performance , when the link
quality, as measured by the signal-to-interference plus noise ratio [SINR] goes from
unacceptable to acceptable.

Co-channel interference and system capacity

co-channel reuse ratio

D
Q=
= 3N
R

a small value of Q provides a larger capacity since the cluster

size N is small, whereas a large value of Q reduces the interference. Hence, a trade-off must be made between these objectives
signal-to-interference (SIR) ratio

S
S
= i0
,
I
I
i=1 i

where S is the desired signal power from the serving BS and

Ii is the interference power from the ith interfering co-channel
base station
measurements show that the average received signal power Pr
decreases as a power law of the distance from the BS
n
d
d
Pr = P0
, or Pr (dBm) = P0(dBm) 10nlog ,
d0
d0

where P0 is the power received at a small distance d0 from BS

and n is the path loss coefficient.

for n = 4 , easy calculation yields

R4
1
SIR =
=
2(D R)4 + 2(D + R)4 + 2D4 2(Q 1)4 + 2(Q + 1)4 + 2Q4

Worst-Case CCI on the Forward Channel

CCI for N=4

There are six first-tier, co-channel BSs, two each at (approximate) distances of
D-R, D, and R+D and the worst case (average) Carrier-to-(Co-Channel)
Interference [CCI] is

1
R E
(5.6b)
E
E
E
2 ( D  R)  D  ( D  R)
where beta=n=4.
For N=7, the co-channel
reuse factor is Q=4.6,
SIR is approx 49.56 (17 dB)

In the above equation

we assume that the co-channel
interference terms are independent
so that the total interference
power is the sum of the individual
terms.

R= cell radius

Worst case CCI

on the forward channel

Practical issues in channel planning

cell systems rarely obey the homogeneous path loss
channel allocation may be restricted by standards

Adjacent channel interference

interference caused by signals that are adjacent in frequency is

called adjacent channel interference
caused by imperfect receiver filters

near-far effect - happens when an adjacent channel user transmits in a very close proximity of the user
adjacent channel interference can be minimized by careful filtering and channel assignments; the channels in the same cell can
be separated in frequency
if the claster size N is small, the separation between the adjacent
channels may not be sufficient. For example, if a close-in mobile
is 20 times as close to the BS as another mobile and has energy
spill-out in its passband, then
SIR = 20n;
for path loss exponent n = 4, this equals to -53 dB. If the intermediate frequency filter of the BS receiver has a slope of 20
dB/octave, then an adjacent channel interferer must be placed
by at least six times the passband filter. Hence, a separation of
approximately six channel bandwidths is needed to ensure 0 dB
SIR
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Power control for reducing interference

power levels transmitted by each subscriber are under constant
control. The objective is that each mobile transmits with the
smallest power necessary to maintain a good quality link on a
reversed channel. These reduces the reversed channel SIR as
well as prolongs the battery life. Power control is particularly
important in CDMA systems, since all the users share the same
frequency spectrum; we will discuss this in details later
Trunking (statistical multiplexing gains)
the concept of trunking allows a relatively large number of users
to share a relatively small number of channels. This exploits the
statistical properties that not all of the users are making phone
calls at the same time
grade of service GOS or Quality of Service QOS: when the number of call requests exceeds the number of available channels,
the call request is blocked. The probability of blocking during
the busiest hour is the main QOS measure. A Danish mathematician Erlang computed this probability in the late 19th century
assume that there are C channels and that new calls arrive according to a Poisson process of rate . If each call has exponential duration with parameter , then the probability that an
arriving user will encounter a busy signal (be blocked) is
Pb = P[N (t) = C] =

C
C!
C k ,
k=0 k!

where = / is the traffic intensity (measured in Erlangs) and

N (t) = number of ongoing calls at time t
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The Erlang B Chart: Blocking Probability as a Function

of the number of channels and traffic intensity in Erlangs
Number of trunked channels

Erlang-B Blocking Probability B(,m) vs. Offered Traffic per

Channel Gc = /m

Channel efficiency
factor is (in units
of
Erlangs/channel):
T = /m(-PB )
The benefit from trunking is clear, since the offered traffic per channel, Gc, increases
as the number of trunked channels increases for any blocking probability. There are
diminishing returns as the number of trunked channels becomes larger.

2.4

Some methods for increasing the coverage and capacity

here, we briefly describe three methods for improving the operation of wireless systems: cell splitting, sectoring and zone
approaches
Cell splitting
cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells, each with its own base station and a corresponding
reduction in antenna heights and transmitter power. Through
frequency reuse, this increases the capacity of the system
approximately one needs 4 smaller (micro) cells of radius R/2 to
cover the larger parent cell area
if the path loss exponent is n = 4, then the transmitted power
must be reduced by 16 times (12 dB), in order to provide the
same coverage, while maintaining the SIR requirement
in practice small and large cell may co-exist. The number of
channels between the large and small cells can be dynamically
allocated. The smaller lower powered cells may use more and
more channels as the number of users (demand) increases

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Increased Capacity: Cell Splitting




Cell Splitting is a process of introducing new, smaller [micro] cells into an existing
cellular deployment. This way, the system can be tailored to meet traffic growth.
Consider the uniform grid of hexagonal cells shown below. If heavy traffic loading is
experienced at the midpoint between the two cells labelled 1, then a split cell labelled 1
is introduced at that location. The area of the split cell is typically the area of the
parent cell. Additional split cells can be introduced to accommodate traffic loading in
other locations. For example, split cell 2 is located at the midpoint between the 2 cells.
Note that the split cells can only use
a subset of the frequencies used in
the parent cell. This is because
the higher powered macro cells
would introduce too high
a level of CCI into the
micro cells.

Cell Sectoring with Wide Beam Antennas



Sectoring is a very common method employed in cellular systems to improve the SIR
performance
The cells are divided into radial sectors with wide-beam directional BS antennas.
Cellular systems are often deployed with 120, and sometimes 60 cell sectors
A N-cell reuse cluster with 120 sectors yields a N/3N reuse plan [N cells and 3N
sectors]. Generally different frequencies are used in each sector.
A 120 cell sectoring, shown below, will reduce the number of first-tier interferers
from six to two with the first tier interferers located at distances of D and D+0.7R, and
the worst case C/I is




R
+ ( D + 0 .7 R )

21.1 dB for N = 7

= 17.1 dB for N = 4
15.0 dB for N = 3

(5.9)

For N=7, 120 sectoring provides a

6.8 dB C/I gain over omnidirectional
antennas

Microcell zone concept





In switched beam antenna systems, the narrow beam width directional antennas are
analogous to cell sectoring, but with more handoffs [due to inter-sector handoffs]. This
could result in reduced trunking efficiency.
To overcome the trunking efficiency degradation caused by narrow beam sectoring,
sector-trunkpool and omni-trunkpool load sharing have been suggested.
The figure shows a switched-beam smart antenna with 4 beams per 120 sector [30
beam widths] where all the channels assigned to the
sector are shared by all four
beams within that sector [as
opposed to having specific
channels assigned to each
beam]. Each sector acts as
a common aperture for one
of four beams and handoffs
are not needed unless the MS
crosses sector or cell
boundaries. This concept can
be extended to the omni
trunkpool technique where
any of the cells channels can
be assigned to any activated beam.

2.5

Extra material: Finite population Erlang loss system

Consider a village with N individuals and K < N telephone

lines. Let Yt be the number of telephone lines that are busy at
time t.
When an individual attempts to make a phone call it may be
successful if there is a free line (Yt < K) or it may be rejected if
all the lines are busy (Yt = K).
If successful, the villager will make a phone call of exponential
duration with parameter .
After the call ends the villager will wait an exponential amount
of time until she attempts to make another phone call.
If rejected, she waits an exponential amount of time with the
same parameter until the next attempt.
For each individual the successive lengths of phone conversations and waiting times are independent of each other; also, the
actions of different individuals are statisitcally identical and independent.
What is the stationary probability that a phone call is blocked/rejected?
Derivation uses the same approach as in deriving Erlang B formula, see pages 602-606 of Rappaport.

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Reading: Chapter 3 of Rappaport.

Homework problems, page 97, Rappaport: 3.1, 3.7, 3.11, 3.25 and
3.29.

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