The Cellular Concept

System Design Fundamentals

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Frequency Reuse
Channel Assignment
Hand off
Interference and System capacity
Improve Coverage and capacity in
cellular system

Ref. Wireless Communications :Principles and Practice

Theodore S. Rappaport

Page No. 25 to 67

The Cellular Concept

The Cellular concept is a system level idea

which calls for replacing a single, high power

transmitter with too many small low power
transmitters
Each providing coverage to only a small
portion of the service area
Each base station is allocated a portion of the
total number of channels available to the entire
system

The Cellular Concept

And nearby BS are assigned different group of

channels so that all available channels are

assigned and the interference between BS is
minimized
As the demand for service increases, the
number of BS may be increased to provide
additional radio capacity with no additional
increase in radio spectrum

Frequency Reuse
Each BS is allocated a group of radio channels

to be used within a small geographic area

called cell
Adjacent cells are assigned different group of
channels
The design process of selecting and allocating
channel groups for all of the BS is called
Frequency Planning or Frequency Reuse

Frequency Reuse

Frequency Reuse
Consider a cellular system which has a total of

S duplex Channel available for use.

If each cell is allocated a group of k channel
(k<S), and if the S channels are divided among
N cells into unique and disjoint channel groups
Then the total number of available channels
can be expressed as
S=kN

Frequency Reuse
The N cells which collectively use the

complete set of available frequencies is called

a cluster .( N is called cluster size )
If a cluster replicated M times within the
systems, the number of duplex channels, can
be used as a measure of capacity and is
C=MS=MkN
The cluster size N typically equal to 4,7,12

Frequency Reuse
From a Design viewpoint, the smallest value of N is

desirable in order to maximize the capacity of the

cellular systems.
1/N is the frequency reuse factor, since each cell
assigned 1/N of the total available channel
Construction of many cluster should satisfy equation
N=i2+ij+j2, i & j non-negative integers.
To find the nearest co-channels neighbors of a
particular cell
1) move i cell along any chain of hexagon
2) turn 60 degrees counter-clockwise and move j cells

19-cell reuse example (N=19)

Figure 3.2 Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular system. In this example, N = 19 (i.e., I = 3, j =
2). (Adapted from [Oet83] IEEE.)

Channel Assignment Strategies

Classified as either fixed or dynamic
In fixed channel assignment,

each cell allocated

a predetermined set of voice channel.
If all the channels are occupied in that cell, then
the call is set to blocked.
Now a cell is allowed to borrow channels from
neighboring cell,
MSC supervises borrowing procedure and
ensures that the borrowing of a channel does not
disrupt or interfere with any of the calls in
progress in the donor cell

 In dynamic channel assignment, voice

channels are not allocated to cells

permanently.
When a call request is made, the BS request a
channel from the MSC.
MSC allocate a channel to the BS , by
considering factors like the reuse distance of
the channel, likelihood of future blocking with
in the cell.
It require the MSC to collect real-time data on
channel occupancy, traffic distribution, and
radio signal strength (RSSI) and it increases

Handoff Strategies
When a mobile moves into a different cell

while a conversation is in progress, the MSC

automatically transfers the call to new BS
It involves identifying a new BS and also
Voice and control signal
The time over which a call may be maintained
within a cell, without handoff, is called the
dwell time

Handoffs the basics

 IG , MSC measures the signal strength of all

mobile and initiate the handoff, but it increases

the burden of MSC.
In 2G, Mobile Assisted Handoff, introduced
Every mobile measures the received signal
power from surrounding BS and continuously
reports the results to MSC
A handoff is initiated when the power received
from the BS of neighboring cell begins to
exceeds the power received from the current
BS

Prioritizing Handoffs
Guard Channel Concept : a fraction of the total

available channels in a cell is reserved exclusively

for handoff request ( disadv. Reduce the total
carried traffic)
Queuing of Handoff requests : it decreases the
probability of forced termination of a call due to
lack of available channel.

Umbrella Cells

Smaller N is greater capacity

Co-channel Interference and

System Capacity

AMPS Duopoly Channels

Key Definitions for Trunked

Radio

Erlang B Trunking GOS

Erlang B

Erlang C

Improving Coverage and

Capacity in Cellular System
Cell

Splitting
Sectoring
Microcell Zone Concept

Cells are split to add channels

with no new spectrum usage

Cell Splitting increases capacity

Sectoring improves S/I

Sectoring improves S/I

In-building deployment is the

next great growth phase

The Zone Cell Concept

Zone Cell Concept