CELLULAR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

UNIT-I (A)
INTRODUCTION TO CELLULAR SYSTEMS

LIMITATIONS OF CONVENTIONAL MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

One of many reasons for developing a cellular mobile telephone system and deploying it in many cities is
the operational limitations of conventional mobile telephone systems: limited service capability, poor service
performance, and inefficient frequency spectrum utilization.

LIMITED SERVICE CAPABILITY:

A conventional mobile telephone system is usually designed by selecting one or more channels from a
specific frequency allocation for use in autonomous geographic zones, as shown in Fig.1. The communications
coverage area of each zone is normally planned to be as large as possible, which means that the transmitted power
should be as high as the federal specification allows. The user who starts a call in one zone has to reinitiate the call
when moving into a new zone because the call will be dropped. This is an undesirable radio telephone system since
there is no guarantee that a call can be completed without a handoff capability. The handoff is a process of
automatically changing frequencies as the mobile unit moves into a different frequency zone so that the
conversation can be continued in a new frequency zone without redialing. Another disadvantage of the
conventional system is that the number of active users is limited to the number of channels assigned to a particular
frequency zone.

Fig.1 Conventional Mobile System

POOR SERVICE PERFORMANCE:

In the past, a total of 33 channels were all allocated to three mobile telephone systems: Mobile Telephone
Service (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) MJ systems and Improved Mobile Telephone Service
(IMTS) MK systems. MTS operates around 40 MHz and MJ operates at 150 MHs; both provide 11 channels; IMTS MK
operates at 450 MHz and provides 12 channels. These 33 channels must cover an area 50 mi in diameter. In 1976,

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New York City had 6 channels of (MJ serving 320 customers, with another 2400 customers on a waiting list. New
York City also had 6 channels of MK serving 225 customers, with another 1300 customers on a waiting list. The large
number of subscribers created a high blocking probability during busy hours. Although service performance was
undesirable, the demand was still great. A high-capacity system for mobile telephones was needed.

Inefficient Frequency Spectrum Utilization:

In a conventional mobile telephone system, the frequency utilization measurement Mo is defined as the
maximum number of customers that could be served by one channel at the busy hour.
Mo = Number of customers/channel
Mo = 53 for MJ
37 for MK
The offered load can then be obtained by
A = Average calling time (minutes) x total customers / 60 min (Erlangs)
Assume average calling time = 1.76 min.
A1 = 1.76 * 53 * 6 / 60= 9.33 Erlangs (MJ system)
A2 = 1.76 * 37 * 6 / 60= 6.51 Erlangs (MK system)
If the number of channels is 6 and the offered loads are A1 = 9.33 and A2 = 6.51, then from the Erlang B
model the blocking probabilities, B1 = 50 percent (MJ system) and B2 =30 percent (MK system), respectively. It is
likely that half the initiating calls will be blocked in the MJ system, a very high blocking probability. As far as
frequency spectrum utilization is concerned the conventional system does not utilize the spectrum efficiently since
each channel can only serve one customer at a time in a whole area. This is overcome by the new cellular system.
BASIC CELLULAR SYSTEMS:
There are mainly two types of Basic Cellular System:
1. Circuit Switched: In a circuit-switched system, each traffic channel is dedicated to a user until its cell is
terminated.
2. Packet Switched: In packet-switching, the packets are sent towards the destination irrespective of
each other. Each packet has to find its own route to the destination. There is no predetermined path;
the decision as to which node to hop to in the next step is taken only when a node is reached. Each
packet finds its way using the information it carries, such as the source and destination IP addresses.
Circuit-switched systems can be of two types:
1. Analog Circuit-Switched System
2. Digital Circuit-Switched System

Analog Cellular system:

A basic analog cellular system consists of three subsystems: a mobile unit, a cell site, and a mobile telephone
switching office (MTSO), as Fig. 1.1 shows, with connections to link the three subsystems.

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fig: Basic Analog Cellular system

Mobile units: A mobile telephone unit contains a control unit, a transceiver, and an antenna system.
Cell site: The cell site provides interface between the MTSO and the mobile units. It has a control unit, radio
cabinets, antennas, a power plant, and data terminals.

MTSO: The switching office, the central coordinating element for all cell sites, contains the cellular processor and
cellular switch. It interfaces with telephone company zone offices, controls call processing, provides operation and
maintenance, and handles billing activities.
Connections: The radio and high-speed data links connect the three subsystems. Each mobile unit can only use one
channel at a time for its communication link. But the channel is not fixed; it can be any one in the entire band

Assigned by the serving area, with each site having multichannel capabilities that can connect simultaneously to many
mobile units.
The MTSO is the heart of the analog cellular mobile system. Its processor provides central coordination and
cellular administration. The cellular switch, which can be either analog or digital, switches calls to connect mobile
subscribers to other mobile subscribers and to the nationwide telephone network. It uses voice trunks similar to
telephone company interoffice voice trunks. It also contains data links providing supervision links between the
processor and the switch and between the cell sites and the processor. The radio link carries the voice and signaling
between the mobile unit and the cell site. The high-speed data links cannot be transmitted over the standard
telephone trunks and therefore must use either microwave links or T-carriers (wire lines). Microwave radio links or
T-carriers carry both voice and data between cell site and the MTSO.

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Digital Circuit-Switched System:

A Basic Digital System consists of four elements:

1. Mobile Station

2. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

3. Base Station Controller (BSC)

4. Switching Subsystems

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1.MS(Mobile Station): It consists of two parts

 mobile equipment (ME)

 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM): SIM contains all subscriber-specific data stored
on the MS side.
2. BTS (Base Transceiver System): Besides having the same function as the analog BTS, it
has the Transcoder/Rate Adapter Unit (TRAU), which carries out coding and decoding as
well as rate adaptation in case data rate varies.

3. BSC (Base Station Controller): A new element in digital systems that performs the Radio
Resource (RR) management for the cells under its control. BSC also handles handovers,
power management time and frequency synchronization, and frequency reallocation
among BTSs.

4. Switching subsystems: Main components of Switching Subsystem are as

follows:

a. MSC: The main function of MSC is to coordinate the setup of calls between MS
and PSTN users.

b. VLR (Visitor Location Register): A database of all mobiles roaming in the MSC’s
area of control.

c. HLR (Home Location Register): A centralized database of all subscribers

registered in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN).

d. AUC (Authentication Center): Provides HLR with authentication parameters and

ciphering keys that are used for security purposes.

e. EIR (Equipment Identity Register): A database for storing all registered mobile
equipment numbers.

f. EC (Echo Canceller): Used on the PSTN side of the MSC for all voice circuits.
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g. XC (Transcoder): Usually installs in each BTS. But for the cost reason, it can be
installed in BSC or MSC.

h. OMC (Operational and Maintenance Center): This function resided in analog

MSC but became a separated entity in digital systems.

FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH GENERATION CELLULAR WIRELESS SYSTEMS

(1G, 2G, 3G AND 4G NETWORKS)

The "G" in wireless networks refers to the "generation" of the underlying wireless network technology.
Technically generations are defined as follows:
1G networks (NMT, C-Nets, AMPS, TACS) are considered to be the first analog cellular systems, which started early
1980s. There were radio telephone systems even before that. 1G networks were conceived and designed purely for
voice calls with almost no consideration of data services.

2G networks (GSM, CDMAOne, D-AMPS) are the first digital cellular systems launched early 1990s, offering
improved sound quality, better security and higher total capacity. GSM supports circuit-switched data (CSD),
allowing users to place dial-up data calls digitally, so that the network's switching station receives actual ones and
zeroes rather than the screech of an analog modem. 2G networks with theoretical data rates up to about 144kbit/s.
3G networks (UMTS FDD and TDD, CDMA2000 1x EVDO, CDMA2000 3x, TD-SCDMA, Arib WCDMA, EDGE, IMT-2000
DECT) are newer cellular networks that have data rates of 384kbit/s and more. The UN's International
Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard requires stationary speeds of 2Mbps and mobile speeds of 384kbps
for a 3G.
4G technology refers to the fourth generation of mobile phone communication standards. LTE and WiMAX are
marketed as parts of this generation, even though they fall short of the actual standard.
The ITI has taken ownership of 4G, bundling into a specification known as IMT-Advanced. The document calls for 4G
technologies to deliver downlink speeds of 1Gbps when stationary and 100Mbps when mobile.
1.3. Operation of Cellular Systems

Mobile unit initialization. The receiver of the mobile unit scans 21 set-up channels which are designated
among the 333 channels and selects the strongest one and locks on for a certain time. Each site is assigned a
different set-up channel, locking onto the strongest set-up channel means selecting the nearest cell site. After
60 s, the self-location procedure is repeated.
Mobile originated call. The user places the called number into an originating register in the mobile unit and
pushes the “send” button. A request for service is sent on a selected set-up channel obtained from a self-
location scheme. The cell site receives it, at the same time sends a request to the MTSO via a high-speed data
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link.The MTSO selects an appropriate voice channel for the call, and the cell site selects the best directive
antenna to link the mobile unit. The MTSO also connects the wire-line party through the telephone company
zone office.
Network originated call. A land-line party dials a mobile unit number. The telephone company zone office
recognizes that the number is mobile and forwards the call to the MTSO. The MTSO sends a paging message to
certain cell sites based on the mobile unit number and the search algorithm. Each cell site transmits the page
on its own set-up channel. The mobile unit recognizes its own identification on a strong set-up channel, locks
onto it, and responds to the cell site. The mobile unit also follows the instruction to tune to an assigned voice
channel and initiate user alert.

Call termination. When the mobile user turns off the transmitter, a particular signal (signaling tone) transmits
to the cell site, and both sides free the voice channel. The mobile unit resumes monitoring pages through the
strongest set-up channel.

Handoff procedure. During the call, two parties are on a voice channel. When the mobile unit moves out of
the coverage area of a particular cell site, the reception becomes weak. The present cell site requests a
handoff. The system switches the call to a new frequency channel in a new cell site without either
interrupting the call or alerting the user. The call continues as long as the user is talking. The user does not
notice the handoff occurrences

Performance Criteria:
There are three categories for specifying performance criteria.

Voice quality:
For commercial communications system, a set value x at which y percent of customers rate the system
voice quality (from transmitter to receiver) and circuit merits as follows:
CM5 excellent (speech perfectly understandable)
CM4 good (speech easily understandable, some noise)
CM3 fair (speech understandable with a slight effort, occasional repetitions needed)
CM2 poor (speech understandable only with considerable effort, frequent repetitions needed)
CM1 unusable (speech not understandable)
Service quality:
Three items are required for service quality.
1. Coverage. The system should serve an area as large as possible,because of irregular terrain configurations,
it is usually not practical to cover 100 percent of the area for two reasons:
a. The transmitted power would have to be very high to illuminate weak spots with sufficient reception, a
significant added cost factor.
b. Higher the transmitted power, harder it becomes to control interference.
2. Required grade of service.The grade of service is specified for a blocking probability of .02 for initiating calls
at the busy hour, this is an average value. But the blocking probability at each cell site will be different. To
decrease the blocking probability requires a good system plan and a sufficient number of radio channels.
3. Number of dropped calls. During Q calls in an hour, if a call is dropped and Q - 1 calls are completed, then
the call drop rate is 1/Q. This drop rate must be kept low. A high drop rate could be caused by either
coverage problems or handoff problems related to inadequate channel availability.
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Special features:

System would like to provide as many special features as possible, such as call forwarding, call waiting,
voice stored (VSR) box, automatic roaming, or navigation services

UNIQUENESS OF MOBILE RADIO ENVIRONMENT

DESCRIPTION OF MOBILE RADIO TRANSMISSION MEDIUM
THE PROPAGATION ATTENUATION.

In general, the propagation path loss increases not only with frequency but also with distance. If the
antenna height at the cell site is 30 to 100 m and at the mobile unit about 3 m above the ground, and the distance
between the cell site and the mobile unit is usually 2 km or more, then the incident angles of both the direct wave
and the reflected wave are very small, as Fig. 2.4 shows. The incident angle of the direct wave is θ1, and the incident
angle of the reflected wave is θ2. θ 1 is also called the elevation angle. The propagation path loss would be 40
dB/dec, 4where “dec” is an abbreviation of decade, i.e ., a period of 10. This means that a 40-dB loss at a signal
receiver will be observed by the mobile unit as it moves from 1 to 10 km. Therefore C is inversely proportional to R.
4

−4 −4
C ∝R =αR
(2.3-1)

Where C = received carrier power

R = distance measured from the transmitter to
the receiver α = constant

FIGURE 2.4 mobile radio transmission models.

The difference in power reception at two different distances R1 and R2 will result in

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and the decibel expression of Eq. (2.3-2a) is

This 40 dB/dec is the general rule for the mobile radio environment and is easy to remember. It is also easy to
compare to the free-space propagation rule of 20 dB/dec. The linear and decibel scale expressions are

In a real mobile radio environment, the propagation path-loss slope varies as

C ∝R−γ

= α R−γ (2.3-4)

γ usually lies between 2 and 5 depending on the actual conditions.5 Of course, γ cannot be lower than 2, which is
the free-space condition.
γ The decibel scale expression of Eq. (2.3-4) is
C = 10 log α − 10γ log RdB (2.3-5)

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UNIT-I (B)

FUNDAMENTALS OF CELLULAR RADIO SYSTEM DESIGN

CONCEPT OF FREQUENCY REUSE CHANNELS:

A radio channel consists of a pair of frequencies one for each direction of transmission that is used for full-
duplex operation. Particular radio channels, say F1, used in one geographic zone to call a cell, say C1, with a
coverage radius R can be used in another cell with the same coverage radius at a distance D away.
Frequency reuse is the core concept of the cellular mobile radio system. In this frequency reuse system users
in different geographic locations (different cells) may simultaneously use the same frequency channel (see Fig.1.).
The frequency reuse system can drastically increase the spectrum efficiency, but if the system is not properly
designed, serious interference may occur. Interference due to the common use of the same channel is called co-
channel interference and is our major concern in the concept of frequency reuse.

Fig.1 The ratio of D/R

FREQUENCY REUSE SCHEME: The frequency reuse concept can be used in the time domain and the space domain.
Frequency reuse in the time domain results in the occupation of the same frequency in different time slots. It is
called time division multiplexing (TDM). Frequency reuse in the space domain can be divided into two categories.
1. Same frequency assigned in two different geographic areas, such as A.M or FM radio stations using the same
frequency in different cities.
2. Same frequency repeatedly used in a same general area in one system - the scheme is used in cellular systems.
There are many co-channel cells in the system. The total frequency spectrum allocation is divided into K frequency
reuse patterns, as illustrated in Fig. 2 for K — 4, 7, 12, and 19.

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Fig.2 N- cell reuse pattern

Frequency reuses distance:

The minimum distance which allows the same frequency to be reused will depend on many factors, such as
the number of co-channel cells in the vicinity of the center cell, the type of geographical terrain contour, the
antenna height and the transmitted power at each cell site. The frequency reuse distance can be determined from
Where K is the frequency reuse pattern shown in Fig.3, then

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Fig.3.The ratio of D/R

If all the cell sites transmit the same power, then K increases and the frequency reuse distance D increases.
This increased D reduces the chance that cochannel interference may occur.
Theoretically, a large K is desired. However, the total number of allocated channels is fixed. When K is too
large, the number of channels assigned to each of K cells becomes small. It is always true that if the total number of
channels in K cells is divided as K increases, trunking inefficiency results. The same principle applies to spectrum
inefficiency: if the total numbers of channels are divided into two network systems serving in the same area,
spectrum inefficiency increases.
Obtaining the smallest number K involves estimating cochannel interference and selecting the minimum
frequency reuse distance D to reduce cochannel interference. The smallest value of K is K = 3, obtained by setting i =
1, j = 1 in the equation K = i 2 + i j + j 2.

CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE REDUCTION FACTOR

Reusing an identical frequency channel in different cells is limited by cochannel interference between cells,
and the cochannel interference can become a major problem.
Assume that the size of all cells is roughly the same. The cell size is determined by the coverage area of the signal
strength in each cell. As long as the cell size is fixed, cochannel interference is independent of the transmitted
power of each cell. It means that the received threshold level at the mobile unit is adjusted to the size of the cell.
Actually, cochannel interference is a function of a parameter q defined as
q = D/R

The parameter q is the cochannel interference reduction factor. When the ratio q increases, cochannel
interference decreases. Furthermore, the separation D is a function of K, and C/I,
D=f(K,C/I)
Where K, is the number of cochannel interfering cells in the first tier and C/I is the received carrier-to-
interference ratio at the desired mobile receiver.

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In a fully equipped hexagonal-shaped cellular system, there are always six cochannel interfering cells in the
fist tier, as shown in Fig.5 ; that is, K = 6. The maximum number of K, in the first tier can be shown as six. Cochannel
interference can be experienced both at the cell site and at mobile units in the center cell. If the interference is
much greater, then the carrier-to-interference ratio C/I at the mobile units caused by the six interfering sites is (on
the average) the same as the C/I received at the center cell site caused by interfering mobile units in the six cells.
According to both the reciprocity theorem and the statistical summation of radio propagation, the two C/I values
can be very close. Assume that the local noise is much less than the interference level and can be neglected. C/I
then can be expressed as

Where is a propagation path-loss slope determined by the actual terrain environment. In a mobile radio
medium,

Usually is assumed to be 4. K is the number of co-channel interfering cells and is equal to 6 in a fully
developed system, as shown in Fig. 5. The six co-channel interfering cells in the second tier cause weaker
interference than those in the first tier. Therefore, the co-channel interference from the second tier of interfering
cells is negligible

Where qk is the cochannel interference reduction factor with Kth co-channel interfering cell

Fig 5: Six effective interfering cells of cell 1

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C/I FOR NORMAL CASE IN AN OMNI DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA SYSTEM.

There are two cases to be considered: (1) the signal and co-channel interference received by the mobile
unit and (2) the signal and co-channel interference received by the cell site. Both cases are shown in Fig.6. Nm and
Nb are the local noises at the mobile unit and the cell site, respectively. Usually Nm and Nb are small and can be
neglected as compared with the interference level. As long as the received carrier-to-interference ratios at both the
mobile unit and the cell site are the same, the system is called a balanced system. In a balanced system, we can
choose either one of the two cases to analyze the system requirement; the results from one case are the same for
the others.
Assume that all Dk are the same for simplicity, then D = Dk and q = qk,

Thus

And

The value of C/I is based on the required system performance and the specified value of is based on the
terrain environment. With given values of C/I and , the co-channel interference reduction factor q can
be determined. Normal cellular practice is to specify C/I to be 18 dB or higher based on subjective tests.
Since a C/I of 18 dB is measured by the acceptance of voice quality from present cellular mobile receivers, this
acceptance implies that both mobile radio multipath fading and co-channel interference become ineffective at that
level. The path-loss slope is equal to about 4 in a mobile radio environment.

The 90th percentile of the total covered area would be achieved by increasing the transmitted power at each cell;
increasing the same amount of transmitted power in each cell does not affect the result. This is because q is not a
function of transmitted power. The factor q can be related to the finite set of cells K in a hexagonal-shaped cellular
system by

Substituting q = 4.41 in above equation yields k=7.

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Fig 6 Cochannel interference from six interferers. (a).receiving at the cell site; (b) receiving at the
mobile unit.

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IMPROVING COVERAGE AND CAPACITY IN CELLULAR SYSTEMS

CELL SPLITTING
The motivation behind implementing a cellular mobile system is to improve the utilization of spectrum
efficiency. The frequency reuse scheme is one concept, and cell splitting is another concept. When traffic density
starts to build up and the frequency channels Fi in each cell Ci cannot provide enough mobile calls, the original cell
can be split into smaller cells. Usually the new radius is one-half the original radius. There are two ways of splitting:
In Fig. 8 a, the original cell site is not used, while in Fig. 8 b, it is
New cell radius = Old cell radius/2
Then,
New cell area = Old cell area/4
Let each new cell carry the same maximum traffic load of the old cell , then
New traffic load/Unit area = 4 X Traffic load/Unit area.
There are two kinds of cell-splitting techniques:
1. PERMANENT SPLITTING: The installation of every new split cell has to be planned ahead of time; the number of

channels, the transmitted power, the assigned frequencies, the choosing of the cell-site selection, and the traffic
load consideration should all be considered. When ready, the actual service cut-over should be set at the lowest
traffic point, usually at midnight on a weekend. Hopefully, only a few calls will be dropped because of this cut-over,
assuming that the downtime of the system is within 2h.
2. DYNAMIC SPLITTING: This scheme is based on using the allocated spectrum efficiency in real time. The algorithm

for dynamically splitting cell sites is a tedious job, as we cannot afford to have one single cell unused during cell
splitting at heavy traffic hours.
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Fig.8 Cell splitting

SECTORING

Cell splitting achieves capacity improvement by essentially rescaling the system. By decreasing the cell radius R and
keeping the co-channel reuse ratio D/R unchanged, cell splitting increases the number of channels per unit area.
However, another way to increase capacity is to keep the cell radius unchanged and seek methods to decrease a
D/R ratio . as we now show sectoring increases SIR so that the cluster size may be reduced
In this approach. First the SIR is improved using directional antennas, then capacity improvement is achieved by
reducing the no of cells in a cluster, thus increasing the frequency reuse. However in order to do this successfully. It
is necessary to reduce the relative interference without decreasing the transmitted power.
The co-channel interference in cellular systems may be decreased by replacing a single Omni directional antenna at
the base station by several directional antennas each radiating within a specified sector. By using directional
antennas, a given cell will receive interference and transmit with only a fraction of the available co-channel cells.
The technique for decreasing co-channel interference and thus increasing system performance by using directional
antennas is called sectoring. The factor by which the co-channel interference is reduced depends on the amount of
sectoring used. A cell is normally partitioned into three 120˚ sectors or six 60˚ sectors as shown in below figure.

Fig: (a) 120˚ sectoring (b) 60˚ sectoring

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MICROCELL ZONE CONCEPT

The increased number of handoffs required when sectoring is employed results in an increased load on the
switching and control link elements of the mobile system. A solution to this problem was presented by lee. The
proposal is based on a microcell concept for seven cell reuse as illustrated in fig below. In this scheme, each of the
three (or possibly more) zone sites

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