Cellular System Design

Fundamental
cellular Mobile System
based on 3 core principles
FundamentalIt
 THREE CORE PRINCIPLES OF CELLULAR SYSTEM

 There are three core principles which works behind

cellular system

 Small cells tessellate overall coverage area.

 Frequency reuse

 Handoff
CORE PRINCIPLE-1

 Small cells tessellate ( pattern made of identical

shapes) overall coverage area.
 Instead of one cell(covering area) with
one high power transmitter ,the entire
city or covering area is broken up into
smaller area which is call cell.
CITY IS DIVIDED IN HEXAGONAL CELL
Cell
City is divided into small regions
 Each of these smaller coverage areas has its own
low power base station.

 User phones in one cell communicate with the

base station in that cell.
WHY HEXAGON CELL ?
 Ideally base stations have identical, circular coverage
areas
 Circles may be good option but circles Don’t
Tessellate
 The most circular of the regular polygons that
tessellate is the hexagon.
 Thus, early researchers started using hexagons to
represent the coverage area of a base station which is
called cell.
 WHAT IS CELL ?
 A cell is the geographic unit of a cellular System
 defined as the area where radio coverage is
given by one base station.
 TYPES OF CELLS
 on the basis of coverage area, cells may be
following Types
 Macro cell

 Micro cell

 Pico cell

 Femto cell
Macro cell
 radius (1-35)Km
 used in rural areas or along highways
 provide coverage to larger area .
 The antennae for macro cells are mounted
on ground-based masts, rooftops etc
 Micro cells
 have the radius (2-8)Km
 used in a densely populated urban area

 Pico cells
 have the radius 100m - 1km
 used in large office, a mall, or train station.

 Femto Cells
 have the radius (10-100) m
 used in homes or small offices.
Core Principle-2
THE CORE PRINCIPLE-2

Frequency
FREQUENCYReuse
RESUE

FREQUENCY RESUE
 A cell has one or several frequencies, depending
on traffic load.

 Frequencies are reused, but not used in

neighboring cells due to interference.
 NEED OF FREQUENCY REUSE

 GSM is not used for voice communication, but it is use for data
communications also.
 e.g 900MHz band have 25 MHz frequency band which account to
a maximum of 125 frequency channels
 Within an eightfold time multiplex for each carrier ,a maximum of
1000 channels can be accommodated .
 This number is further reduced by guard bands and the overhead
required for signaling .
 FREQUENCY REUSE - AN INTELLIGENT FREQUENCY
ALLOCATION PLANNING

 In order to be able to serve several millions of

subscribers in spite of this limitation ,frequencies
must be spatially reused .
 This spatial frequency reuse concept led to the
development of cellular technology ,
 Which allowed a significant improvement in the
economic use of frequencies .
AN INTELLIGENT FREQUENCY ALLOCATION PLANNING

 Due to the limited frequency spectrum a small

number of radio channels are available for mobile
system.

 The solution ,the industry adopted is called

frequency planning or frequency Reuse.
 EachBTS is allocated a group of radio channels to be
used within a cell.

 BTS in adjacent cells are assigned different frequency

than neighboring cell which is called frequency reuse.

 The key characteristic of a cellular network is the ability

to re-use frequencies to increase both coverage and
capacity
 FREQUENCY REUSE CONCEPT
 Suppose a cellular system has
 S total channels
 k channels per cell (k < S)
 Channels divided among N cells into disjoint groups
 N=S/k
 N cells which use all S channels called “cluster”( size,
typically 4, 7, 12)
 Clusters replicated M times in system
 Total number of channels(C) = MkN = MS
So, the capacity of a cellular system is directly proportional
to the number of times a cluster is replicated in a fixed
service area.
 BUT…
At what distance frequency may
be reused to avoid interference ?
FREQUENCY REUSE DISTANCE(D) ?

 The distance between two centre of co-

channel cell is called frequency reuse
distance (D)
 Frequency reuse distance (D)is given by

D= R
where N=i²+ij+j²
R= Radius of the cell
N=No.of cells in a cluster
FREQUENCY REUSE DISTANCE(D)
Co-channel cell ?
 Thecells which use the same set of frequency are called co-
channel cell.
CO CHANNEL CELL
 LOCATING CO-CHANNEL CELL ?
 Move i cells along any chain of hexagon
 Turn 60 degree counter clockwise.

 Move j cells

 Let i=1,j=2 then N=7

 A

i
A

i=1, j=2 , N=1+2+4=7 A

A
 A Group of cell is called cluster and denoted by N.

N=i²+ij+j²

 Where i & j are non negative integers.

 The factor N is called the cluster size.
THE NUMBER OF CELL PER CLUSTER, N, CAN ONLY HAVE
VALUES WHICH SATISFY THE EQUATION.
N=i²+ij+j²

(i, j) N
(1,1) 3
(2,0) 4
(2,1) 7
(3,0) 9
(2,2) 12
(3,1) 13
(3,2) 19
 DESIGN OBJECTIVES FOR CLUSTER
FORMATION(SIZE)

 High spectrum efficiency

 Required : many users per cell
 Remedy : small cluster size gives much
bandwidth per cell
 High performance
 Required : Little interference
 Remedy : Large cluster sizes
DESIGN OBJECTIVES FOR CLUSTER
FORMATION(SIZE)

4 1
3 5 2
1 3
2 6
7

N=7 N=3
PROBLEM WITH SMALLER CLUSTER SIZE
 If
interfering cells are closer, then the
total interference power will be larger.

 With higher interference power, the

quality of the speech signal will
deteriorate.

 To
reduce the interference power, we can
make the cells larger.
PROBLEM WITH LARGER CLUSTER SIZE
 interfering cells are farther away, the total
interference power will be lesser.

 With lesser interference power, the quality of

the signal will be good.

 But larger cluster size reduce high spectrum

efficiency.
 Trade off between frequency reuse
and
Quality
WHEN N INCREASE, D ALSO INCREASES THUS LESS
INTERFERENCE BUT DECREASE EFFICIENCY

N D

4 3.46 R

7 4.6 R

12 6R
 SOME APPROACHES FOR FREQUENCY REUSE
CELL PLANNING

 1) Coarse planning (no terrain data used)

 2) coverage limited

 step 1: find coverage of base station

 step 2: make interference matrix

 step 3: find useful map coloring pattern

 recursive approach:

 change transmit powers

 This changes coverage and interference;

 we will get 1-2-3 then redo

 3) Interference limited
 step 1: Assign frequencies and powers to BTS

 step 2: Find coverage and interference zones

 recursive approach: modify powers and frequencies

Hand Off Strategies in GSM
What is Handoff

?
 When a mobile user moves from one cell(BTS) to other
cell(BTS) while a conversation is in progress, then the call
should be transferred to that cell , this is called Hand off .
 MSC automatically transfers the call to a new cell,

 Physical channel changed

NEED OF HANDOFF

 Mobile phone users are by definition mobile

 Thus, the network should be able to give them
continuous access as they move any where.
 Handoffs must be performed successfully, as
infrequently as possible and not visible to users.
 A crucial and important task in any cellular radio system
 Reason of Handoff ?

 MS moves out of the range of a BTS.

 When signal at current BS is below a threshold and

signal at new BS is higher than at current BS

 Load balancing i.e traffic in one cell is too high

 DWELL TIME
 The time over which a call may be maintained
within a cell without handoff

 Governed by number of factors such as

propagation, Interference, distance between the
MS and BTs
IMPORTANT PERFORMANCE METRICS IN
HANDOFF ?

 Must be seamless to user

 Probability of a new call being blocked
 Probability that a handoff is executed while
the reception conditions are inadequate
 Rate of handoff – number of handoffs per unit
time
 Hand over Contains two phases
1-Monitoring phase
-measurement of the quality of the current and
possible candidates radio link

2-Handover handling phase

-determination of a new point of attachment(PoA)
i.e resource reservation
-setting of new links,release of a old link-
execution
HANDOFF
(a) Improper Handoff Situation
Level at point A
Received signal level

Handoff threshold
Pn
Minimum acceptable
signal to maintain the call Pm
Level at point B
(call is terminated)
Time
A B Pn– Pm = ?
BS1 BS2 ? should not be too large
  Handoff threshold (Pn) must be greater than
Pm(Minimum acceptable signal to maintain the call)
∆= Pn – Pm

 ∆ too large: Too many handoffs, un necessary burden

to MSC
 ∆ too small: chance of call being lost, there may be
insufficient time to complete a handoff before a call is
lost due to weak signal condition
(b) Proper Handoff Situation
Level at point B
Received signal level

Level at which
handoff is made

Time
A B
BS1 BS2
TYPES OF HANDOFF ?

 1-Hard Hand off

 2-Soft Hand off
 Hard Handoff (Break before make)

 Connect new cell B after Breaking old cell A

 Physical Channel changed

switching

Cell A
Cell B
 SOFT HANDOFF (MAKE BEFORE BREAK)

 A new BS is assign to handle control functions

for the mobile

 MSC can use received signal strength from

multiple BSs to determine optimum receiver at
each instant
 Physical channel does not change

 Used in CDMA system,

 Break old cell A after connect new cell B

transmitting same signal from both BS A and BS

B simultaneously to the MS

Cell B
Cell A
HANDOFF IN 1G CELLULAR MOBILE

1st generation analog systems takes 10 s

2G Handover
 Mobile stations measure received power from
surrounding BTSs
 Inform current BTS of measurements
 Handoff initiated when power received from other
BS exceeds power received from current BS by a
certain level or for a certain period of time
 Handoff much quicker (1-2)s only
 Handover process in GSM consists four steps
1-Measurement
2- Handover request
3-Handover decision
4-Handover execution
HANDOVER PROCEDURE
Priority Handoff
 An abrupt call termination due to failed handoff is
more annoying than being blocked on a new call
attempt.
 So handoff become very important
 There are two method of giving priority to handoffs
1. Guard Channel Concept
2. Queuing Handoff Requests
1-GAURD CHANNEL CONCEPT

 A fraction of the total available channels is reserved

exclusively for handoff requests from ongoing calls
which may be handed off into the cell.
QUEUING HANDOFF REQUESTS

 Handoff requests could be given queuing priority

over new calls under the circumstances of lack of
available channels
UMBRELLA CELL CONCEPT
 PRACTICAL HANDOFF CONSIDERATION

 In practical , several problems arise when attempting to

design for a wide range of mobile velocities.
 High speed vehicle needs more handoff
 While pedestrian do not require handoff.
 Another practical limitation is the ability to obtain new cell
sites.
 Cell dragging
 Several schemes are used to handle the situation.
UMBRELLA CELL CONCEPT

 High-speed mobiles require frequent handoffs

 which Burdens to MSC
 Can use “umbrella cells” to minimize handoff
 Pedestrian users covered in small cells

 High-speed users covered in large umbrella

cell
 Minimizes handoffs for high-speed users while
ensuring capacity for pedestrian users
THE UMBRELLA CELL APPROACH
CELL DRAGGING

 If a user has a good LOS path to BS, signal

strength might be large even when user has
left the cell
 Causes interference and traffic management
problems (user in new cell but managed by old
BS)
 To solve the cell dragging problems ,handoff
threshhold and coverage parameters must be
adjusted carefully.
 Whenever a MS want to make a new call, it
submit a request for a channel to BTS.

 BTScan grant such an access provided that

channel is readily available and otherwise.
CHANNEL ALLOCATION SCHEME ?

 The design process of selecting and allocating

frequencies (channels) for all the BTS within a system is
called channel Allocation .
 Very important from a performance point of view.
 ONE GOOD OPTION

 Equal distribution of frequencies to all cells

 WHAT…?

 If there is dropped or blocking

probability of calls in a particular cell due
to lack of frequencies ?
 ANY SOLUTIONS…..?

 Increase the number of channels per cell.

 DUE TO LIMITED RADIO FREQUENCY SPECTRUM ,WE
CAN’T INCREASE THE CHANNELS PER CELL

Kaash… ! We could have more radio frequency

spectrum.
ANY OTHER OPTION…?
Yes ….Frequency reuse
 BUT UNFORTUNATELY …

 It is against the philosophy of frequency reuse.

 ?
Why… ???
 Any reduction in the reuse distance increase the
interference from co-channel cells

4
5 3
1 2 1
6 2
7
4 3 3
1 1
3 5 2
1 2
2 6 3 3
1 1
7
2

N=7 N=3
ANY OTHER OPTION ?
Yes, why not, because life is all
about options…
 CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT STRATEGIES

 Various channel assignment strategies has

be developed to achieve the objective such
as
 Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) schemes.
 Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) schemes.
 Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA) schemes.
 A set of channel is permanently allocated to each
cell of the system.
 This allocation is static and can not be changed
 FCA systems typically allocate channels in a
manner that maximizes frequency reuse.

Then Borrow free channels from
neighboring cells.
 There are many possible channel
borrowing schemes:
Simple Borrowing Schemes

Complex Borrowing Schemes

 Note: The borrowing process must make sure that

there is no interference.
SIMPLE CHANNEL BORROWING (CB) SCHEMES

 Select a donor cell from among adjacent cells that has

the largest number of free channels.
 Select the first free channel found for borrowing when
the search follows a predefined sequence.
SIMPLE CHANNEL BORROWING (CB) SCHEMES

Donor Cell for Sector X

Cell 3
1

2 X Y
Z

• A call initiated in the sector X of cell

3 can borrow a channel from adjacent
cells 1 or 2.
Divide the channels into two groups:
One group assigned to each cell permanently

The second group kept reserved as donors.

The ratio between groups can be determines a

priority or based on the estimated traffic in the

system.
 The easiest one, but provides the complexity
and worst channel utilization

 Used in Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS)

 All channels are kept in a central pool and allocated
dynamically as new call arrives .
 Each time a call request is made, a serving BTS
request a Channels from MSC
 When call completed, channel will be returned to
central pool.
 Free channel can be allocated to any cell, as long as
interference constraints in that cell can be satisfied.
 TYPES OF DYNAMIC CHANNEL
ALLOCATION SCHEMES

 1.Centralized schemes
 2.Distributed schemes.
 CENTRALIZED CHANNEL ALLOCATION
SCHEMES

 Channel is selected for a new call from a central pool

of free channel
 The centralized DCA scheme involves a single
controller selecting a channel for each cell;
Select the first available free channel that can
satisfy the reuse distance – the simplest.
Select a free channel that can minimize the future
blocking probability
Channel reuse optimization, maximizes the use

of every channel
 DISTRIBUTED DYNAMIC CHANNEL
ALLOCATION SCHEMES

 The distributed DCA scheme involves a number of controllers

scattered across the network (MSCs).
 The allocation is primarily based on one of these three parameters:
 Co channel cell-based distributed schemes:
 Use a table to indicates if other co-channel cells in the

neighborhood are not use and select one of them.

 Signal strength measurement
- anticipated CIR above threshold
 Signal to noise interference ratio
- satisfy desired CIR ratio
 Reduced probability of blocked call
 Better signal quality of calls
 Storage and computational load on the system

 MSC continuously collect information about Channel

Capacity, Traffic Distribution ,Radio Signal Strength
indication(RSSI) of all channels
 Behaves worse performance than FCA under heavy loads
 COMPARISON BETWEEN FCA AND DCA
FCA DCA
 Performs better under heavy traffic  Performs better under light/moderate
 Low flexibility in channel traffic
assignment  Flexible channel allocation

 Maximum channel reusability  Not always maximum channel

 High forced call termination reusability

probability  Low to moderate forced call

 Suitable for large cell environment termination probability

 Low flexibility  Suitable in microcellular environment

 High flexibility

105
 COMPARISON BETWEEN FCA AND DCA
FCA
 Radio equipment covers all
channels assigned to the cell
 Independent channel control
 Low computational effort
 Low call set up delay
 Low implementation complexity
 Complex, labor intensive frequency
planning
 Low signaling load
 Centralized control
DCA
 Radio equipment covers the temporary
channel assigned to the cell
 Fully centralized to fully distributed
control dependent on the scheme
 High computational effort
 Moderate to high call set up delay
 Moderate to high implementation
complexity
 No frequency planning
 Moderate to high signaling load
 Centralized, distributed control
depending on the scheme
 OTHER CHANNEL ALLOCATION SCHEMES

Based on different criterion being used as a

potential way of optimizing the performance,
many other channel allocation schemes have been
suggested.
 Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA)
 Flexible Channel Allocation (FCA)
 Handoff Channel Allocation (HCA)
 HYBRID CHANNEL ALLOCATION (HCA)

 HCA schemes are the combination of both FCA and DCA

techniques.
 The total number of channels available for service is
divided into fixed and dynamic sets.
 The fixed set contains a number of nominal channels that are
assigned to cells as in the FCA schemes and, in all cases, are to be
preferred for use in their respective cells.
 The dynamic set is shared by all users in the system to increase
flexibility.

Example: When a call requires service from a cell and all

of its nominal channels are busy, a channel from the dynamic
set is assigned to the call.
 HYBRID CHANNEL ALLOCATION (HCA)

 Request for a channel from the dynamic set is initiated only

when the cell has exhausted using all its channels from the
fixed set.
 Optimal ratio: ratio of number of fixed and dynamic
channels ,
 3:1 (fixed to dynamic),

 Provides better service than fixed scheme for 50% traffic.

 Beyond 50% fixed scheme perform better.

 For dynamic, with traffic load of 15% to 32%, better

results are found with HCA.
 FLEXIBLE CHANNEL ALLOCATION (FCA)

 Similar to hybrid scheme channels divided into fixed and

flexible (emergency) sets.
 Fixed sets used to handle lighter loads.

 schedule emergency channels are needed when there is

variations in traffic (peaks in time and space)
 Two types: Scheduled and Predictive

 Scheduled: Prior estimate is done about traffic change

 Predictive: Traffic intensity and blocking probability is

monitored in each cell all the time.
VARIATION OF CALL FROM 8 A.M. TO
MIDNIGHT
 Handoff Channel Allocation (HCA)

Call initiated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

a b c d

Reuse distance D

If a new call is initiated in cell 1, with the current location of channels a,

b, c, d, e as shown.
 Handoff Channel Allocation (HCA)

Call initiated 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

a b c d

Reuse distance D

It is better to assign channel e to mobile in cell 1.

Assuming that as cell 1 moves to cell 2, MS in cell 7 moves to
cell 8.
 OVERLAPPED CELLS-BASED ALLOCATION
 Cell splitting into number of smaller cells (pico , micro
cells) ,to handle increased traffic.

115
 For fast moving MS, if channels are assigned from micro
cell , no of handoffs will increase.
 Therefore Highly mobile cells are assigned channels from
the cell.
 MS with low mobility are assigned to micro or pico cells.
OVERLAPPED CELLS-BASED ALLOCATION

Cell
7

6 2

1
Microcell

5 3

4
 In Frequency reuse concept that in a given
coverage area, there are several cells that uses
the same set of frequencies .
 These cell are called co channel cell.

 Interference between signals from these cells is

called co-channel interference.
 CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

1
2

6
3

5 4
How to Reduce Co-channel Interference ?
OBVIOUSLY BY INCREASING SIR

 But co-channel interference cannot be reduced

by increasing SIR.

 Because an increase in carrier transmit power

increases the interference to neighboring co-
channel cell.
 ANY OTHER OPTION
 Co-channel must be separated by a minimum
distance.
 Which is defined in terms of reuse ratio (Q) and
given by

D
Q   3N
R
 FREQUENCY REUSE RATIO(Q)
(i,j) N Q
By Increasing the (1,1) 3 3.00
ratio (Q), co-channel (2,0) 4 3.46
interference can be
(2,1) 7 4.58
reduced
(3,0) 9 5.20

(2,2) 12 6.00

(3,1) 13 6.24

(3,2) 19 7.55
 BUT WHAT’S ABOUT CAPACITY…?
 Though a Large value of Q improves
transmission quality or reduced interference.

 But large value of Q reduced capacity(since

the cluster size N is more)
 So A trade off must be made between these
two objectives in actual cellular design.
INTERFERENCE AND SYSTEM CAPACITY
 Let i0 be the number of co-channel interfering cells
 Then the SIR for a mobile receiver which monitors a forward channel can
be expressed as

S S
 io
I
I
i 1
i

 Where S is the desired signal power from the desired BTS.

 Ii is the interference power caused by the ith interfereing co-
channel cell .
FREE SPACE PROPAGATION MODEL

 The free space power received by receiver antenna

which is separated from Tx by a distance d is
given by

Pt
or Pr (d )  K 2 Watts
d

 where Pt is the transmitter power in Watts

 K is a constant factor depends on antenna gain, system
loss factor, and the carrier wavelength
PROPAGATION MEASUREMENT IN A MOBILE
RADIO CHANNEL

 Shows that the average received signal strength at any point

decay as the power law of the distance of separation between
Tx/Rx and is given by

Pr (d)= Pr(do) (d /do )-n

Where n is path loss exponent

FREE SPACE
SIGNAL TO INTERFERENCE WHEN MS IS AT
THE CENTER OF THE CELL

. First Tier

.
D .
. Interfering Cell
R

. . (Downlink)

. (Uplink)

R=radius of the cell

D=Distance from interfere cell
 Considering forward link where the desired signal is the
serving base station and where the interference is due to co-
channel BTS.

 If Di is the distance of the ith interfere from the mobile, the

received power at a given mobile due to the ith interfering cell
be proportional to (Di)-n
 When each transmitter power of each BTS is equal and
path loss exponent n is the same throughout the coverage
area then S/I for a mobile is given by
i0
 S / I = R -n /  ( Di)-n
i0 =1

i0 = total no. of first layer interfering cell if the mobile is in

the centre of cell Di=D
 S

( D / R) n

 3N 
n

I io io
 S/I relates to the cluster size N which in turn relates
with the overall capacity of the system i.e
 Capacity (C )= MkN

 By various experiments and study we know that SIR

> 18 dB = 63 needed for acceptable quality of voice
 If n = 4 and io = 6

S ( D / R)
 
n
 3N 
n

I io io

S
 63 
 3N 
4

 63  N  6.5
I 6

Above Equation is a valuable rule of thumb for

detemining the appropriate frequency reuse ratio or
cluster size.
Also it tell us separation between adjacent co-
channel cells.
S/I FOR SOME VALUES OF N
Worst Case Of Interference ?
WHEN MS IS AT BOUNDARY OF
CELL
 Assuming n=4,S/I for the worst case can be
closely approximated as
S/I IN TERMS OF Q
ADJACENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

1-Imperfect receiver filter allow nearby frequencies

to leak in cellular band
2-Perform degrade seriously due to near far effect
 HOW TO REDUCE ADJACENT
CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

 Adjacent channel interference is minimized

through careful filtering and channel
assignment.
ASSIGN MENT-1
 1-Discuss evolution and revolution of 2G mobile
system.
 2-Draw the block diagram of a cellular system and
explain it in detail.
 3-Prove that for a hexagonal geometry,the co-channel
3N
reuse ratio is given by Q=
Where N=i2+ij+j2
 4-What is frequency reuse and cell splitting ? Discuss
 5-A signal to interference ratio of 15 dB is required for
satisfactory forward channel performance of a cellular
system, what is the frequency reuse factor and cluster
size that should be used for maximum capacity if the
path loss exponents (i) n=4 (ii) n=3
Assume that there are six co-channel cells in the first
tier and all of them are at the same distance from the
mobile. Use suitable approximation
IMPROVING COVERAGE AND
CAPACITY IN CELLULAR SYSTEM
 HOW CAPACITY CAN BE INCREASED ?

 By Adding new channels 

 By Borrowing Frequencies from adjacent cells 
 By Cell splitting – cells in areas of high usage can be split
into smaller cells
 By Cell sectoring – cells are divided into a number of
sectors, each with their own set of channels
 By Microcell Zoning :distributes the coverage of cell
and extends the cell boundary to Hard –to-reach areas
Cell Splitting
 Cell splitting allows a system to grow by
replacing large cells with smaller cells.
 But not upsetting the channel allocation
scheme required to maintain the minimum
co-channel reuse ratio (Q) between co-
channel cells.
 CELL SPLITTING FROM RADIUS
R TO R/2 AND R/4
R

R/2
Large cells
R/4

Medium cells
Small cells
 CELL SPLITTING
 In this figure , the area served by a particular cell assumed to be
saturated with traffic i.e blocking of that BTS exceeds acceptable
rates .
 Therefore there is a need to split the cell for increasing the number
of channels in that area
 AFTER CELL
SPLITTING
 New BTS is surrounded by six new
micro cells
 The smaller cells are added in such a
way as to preserve the frequency reuse
plan of the system.
FOR EXAMPLE ,THE MICRO CELL BTS” G” IS
PLACED HALFWAY BETWEEN TWO LARGER STATION
UTILIZING THE SAME CHANNEL SET G
 To ensure the frequency reuse plan for the new
microcells , the Tx power of the new cell can be
calculated
 Radius of old cells =R
 Radius of new cells=R/2

 Pr(at old cell boundary)αPt1R-n

 Pr(at new cell boundary) αPt2R-n
 Pt1 and Pt2 are the transmit power of the larger and
smaller cell BTS and n is path loss exponent
 Taking path loss exponent (n)=4 & equating both,
we have
 Pt2=Pt1/16

 So the transmitted power must be reduced by 1/16

factor in order to fill in the old coverage area with
micro cell, maintaining the S/I requirement.
 ADVANTAGES

 More capacity
 Less power is used by mobiles and base stations.
 DRAWBACKS

 More Handoffs
Load on MSC
 New BTS are needed, increasing
system complexity.
CAN WE HAVE SOME OPTION FOR THIS
DRAWBACK

 Toprevent handoffs and dropped calls, umbrella

cells are used for high speed traffic.
PROBLEM
 Suppose each base station is allocated
60 channels regardless of cell size.
Find the number of channels contained in
a 3 x 3 km2 area around (small ) cell “A” for the
following cases:
a) Without cell splitting
(i.e. just the original large cells)
b) With cell splitting (using the small cells)
SOLUTION
 To cover a 3 x 3 km2 area centered as around cell
A, we need to cover 1.5 km to right, left, top and
bottom.
CELL SPLITTING EXAMPLE WITH R = 1
KM

R
A
R/2
.SOLUTION

 Number of large cells in this 3 x 3 km2 area (approx.) = 4

 Number of small cells in this 3 x 3 km2 area

 = R
(
2


R/2
)
 x number of large cells = 4 x 4 = 16 small cells
a) With base stations, the number of
channels equals 4 x 60 = 240
b) With 16 small cells, the number of channels
in the square, with cell splitting
equals 60 x 15 = 900
SOLUTION

 Number of large cells in this

3 x 3 km2 area (approx.) = 4
 Number of small cells

()
R 2
in this 3 x 3 km2 area = x number of
R/2
large cells = 4 x 4 = 16 small cells
a) With base stations, the number of
channels equals 4 x 60 = 240
b) With 16 small cells, the number of channels
in the square, with cell splitting
equals 60 x 15 = 900
CONCEPT OF CELL SPLITTING

 By decreasing the cell radius R and keeping the Co-

channel reuse ratio D/R unchanged.
 SECTORING
 To keep the cell radius R unchanged and seek
methods to decrease the D/R ratio.
 By sectoring approach first SIR is improved
using directional antenna.
 Then capacity improvement is achieved by
reducing the number of cells in a cluster thus
increasing the frequency reuse.
OMNI DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA HAS SIX INTERFEREING
CELLS
SECTORING
 The cell is divided into sectors.
 Common sectoring methods divide cells
into 3 or 6 sectors.
 These sectors use directional antennas in
place of omni-directional antenna.
 Sectoring increases SIR.
 ANTENNA
SECTORIZATION

1 123
2 65 4
1 3 123
2 654
3

a. 3 sectors of 120˚ each b. 6 sectors of 60˚ each

SECTORING ANTENNA
SECTORED ANTENNA
 DECREASING CO-CHANNEL CELL
INTERFERENCE BY SIX TO TWO
 Sectoring Decrease co-channel cell interference by six
to two.
A1
A3
A2 A1
A3
A2

A1
A3
A2 A1
A3
A2 A1
A3
A2

A1
A3
A2 A1
A3
A2
 By Taking N=7 i0=2 and n=4
n
S ( D / R)
 
 3N 
n


I io io

 S/I= 24.2 dB
 While in omni directional antenna this value comes
for N=12
 So using sectored scheme capacity can be
increased by
12/7=1.714
 ADVANTAGE

 The S/I ratio increases because interference is received

from only one direction rather than all directions.
 Around 7dB SIR improvement.
 With sectorization a lower value of N can be used i.e.
overall capacity will be increased.

 Around 1.174 times more capacity.

DRAWBACKS
 Decreased trunking efficiency due to fewer
channels per sector.
 Hand off rate increases due to intracell handoffs
(between sector’s of same cell).

 Does not work well in high density urban areas

due to reflections.
 Increased complexity at base station due to
additional antennas
ANTENNA DOWN TILTING
 S/I further can be improved by down tilting the
antenna.
 The vertical radiation pattern of a BTS can be
directed towards the ground in order to reduce
the power of co-channel interference.
 Parameters as radiation pattern, antenna height,
cell coverage area affect on the selected down-tilt
angle.
ANTENNA DOWNTILTING
RADIATION WITHOUT
ANTENNA DOWNTILTING
RADIATION WITH ANTENNA CREATING INTERFERENCE
IN COCHANNEL CELL
DOWNTILTING
 ANTENNA DOWNTILTING
 Downtilt can be performed either mechanically or
electrically.

 Mechanical downtilt relies on physical movement

of an antenna where electrical down relies on
relative phase shifts of different elements in an
antenna array.
ANTENNA DOWNTILTING
 MICROCELL ZONE
CONCEPT
PROBLEMS WITH SECTORING

 Increases the number of antennas at each BS

 Decrease in trunking efficiency due to sectoring

 Increase number of handoffs(sector-to sector)

 MICROCELL ZONE
CONCEPT

Increased number of handoffs results in an

increased load on the MSC.
Lee proposed concept of microcell zones
WHAT IS MICROCELL ZONES
CONCEPT ?

 Cell is divided into 3 or more zones all

served by the same BTS.
 Zones are connected by coaxial cable,
optical fiber or microwave link.
 Each zone uses a directional antenna.
 Each zone radiates power into the cell.

 MS is served by strongest zone.

 As mobile travels from one zone to another, it

retains the same channel,i.e no hand off
MICROCELL ZONE CONCEPT

C
B

A
ADVANTAGES OF MICROCELL ZONES
CONCEPT

 Mobile travelling between zones retains the same

channel.
 No need of handoff
 Especially useful along highways and urban traffic
corridors
 Decreased co-channel interference improves the signal
quality and increase system capacity without reducing
trunking efficiency.
 DRAWBACKS

 Basestations are more complex as they

must coordinate multiple antennas.?
 Illustration
of extent of Capacity
Increase in Microcell zone concept
 As we know for the satisfactory system
performance desired S/I=18 dB with path
loss exponent of n=4

 By a system of N=7,a D/R of 4.6 ,8dB can

be achieve .
 CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT BY MICROCELL ZONE
 Transmission at any instant is confined to one
zone(group of 3 cell)
 Therefore, Q( Dz/Rz) =4.6

 Each hexagon represents a zone and 3 hexagons

represent a cell
 In the above figure ,each individual hexagon
represents a zone, while group of three hexagon
represents a cell.
 Value of co channel reuse is 3

 D/R = 3 corresponds to N=3

 Reduction in cluster size from N=7 to N=3

 Increase in capacity is 7/3=2.33 times