Cellular Concept

Hand Off
When a mobile moves into a different cell
while a conversation is in progress, the MSC
automatically transfers the call to a new
channel belonging to the new base station.
Handoff operation
identifying a new base station.
re-allocating the voice and control channels
with the new base station.
 System designers must specify an optimum level at which to
initiate a handoff.
Handoff Threshold
Optimum signal level taken between (-90dBm to -100dBm)
This margin is given by
= Prhandoff Prminimum usable
cannot be too large or to small.
If is too large, unnecessary handoffs burden the MSC.
If is too small, there may be insufficient time to
complete handoff before a call is lost.
 Fig (1) shows handoff situation.
Fig (2) shows where the hand off is not made and the
signal drops below the minimum acceptable level .

Dropped call event happen when there is an

excessive delay by the MSC in assigning a handoff.

Excessive delays - may occur during high traffic

conditions.
The base station monitors the signal level for a
certain period of time before a handoff is
initiated.
The time over which a call may be maintained
within a cell , without handoff is called the
dwell time.
The dwell time of a particular user is governed
by a number of factors
(i) Propagation
(ii) Interference
(iii) distance between the subscriber and base
station
(iv) other time varying effects
A spare receiver in each base station called
locator receiver used to scan and determine
signal strengths of mobile users which are in
neighboring cells.

Locator received controlled by the MSC.

Based on the locator receiver signal strength
information from each base station, the MSC
decides if a handoff is necessary or not.
Handoff measurement:
In first generation analog cellular systems, signal
strength measurements are made by the base
station and supervised by the MSC.
In second generation systems (TDMA), handoff
decisions are mobile assisted, called mobile assisted
handoff (MAHO)
Mobile Assisted handoff (MAHO):
In MAHO, every mobile station measures the
received power from surrounding base station
and continually reports the results of these
measurement to the serving base station.
Intersystem handoff:
During the course of a call, if a mobile moves
from one cellular system to a different system
controlled by a different MSC, an intersystem
handoff becomes necessary.
 Practical Handoff Considerations
First practical Hand off problem: Umbrella Approach
In cellular systems , there are different type of users
(i) High speed users need frequent handoff during a call.
(ii) Low speed users may never need a handoff during a call.

High speed users : High speed vehicles pass through the

coverage region of a cell within a matter of seconds.
Low speed users : Pedestrian users may never need a
handoff during a call.
Simultaneous handoff of high speed and low speed traffic is
difficult.
Umbrella Approach:
BY using different antenna heights and
different power levels , it is possible to provide
large and small cells which are co-located
at a single location. This techniques is called
Umbrella approach.
Used to provide large area coverage to high
speed users while providing small area
coverage to users travelling at low speeds.
The umbrella cell approach ensures that the
number of handoffs is minimized for high
speed users and provides additional microcell
channels for pedestrian users.
Second practical handoff problem:
Another practical handoff problem in
microcell systems is known as cell dragging.
Handoff for first generation analog cellular
systems
10 secs handoff time
Handoff for second generation cellular systems,
e.g., GSM
1 to 2 seconds handoff time
mobile assists handoff
Handoff decisions based on signal strength,
co-channel interference, and adjacent
channel interference.
CDMA system:
Hard handoff
Soft handoff