Cellular concepts

Danson Njue
 Cellular Concept
• Cellular telephone systems must accommodate a large number of
users over a large geographic area with limited frequency
spectrum, i.e., with limited number of channels.
• Cellular concept is based on the process of substituting high
power transmitters with low power transmitters to support many
users
• This is achieved by dividing the coverage area into small
segments, called cells utilizing low power transmitters
• Cell cluster: Refers to a group of cells adjacent to one another to
provide mobile coverage in a given area. Cells within a cluster use
different radio channels to avoid interference
• This cluster can repeat itself and hence the same set of channels
can be used again and again (a technique called Frequency
Reuse)
• Each cell has a low power transmitter with a coverage area equal
to the area of the cell.
• Therefore, a cellular system solves the problem of spectral
congestion
 Cell Shape
• The design of cells requires that they take regular shapes (polygons)
namely equilateral triangle, square and regular hexagon to ensure that an
entire area is covered without any overlaps or gaps.

• A cell must be designed such that it is most reliable too, i.e., it supports
even the weakest mobile which occurs at the edges of the cell. For any
distance between the center and the farthest point in the cell from it, a
regular hexagon covers the maximum area.

• Therefore, regular hexagonal geometry is normally adopted as the cells in

mobile communication

– Macro-cellular networks, with cell radius of 1 - 30 km

– Micro-cellular networks, with cell radius of 200 - 2000 m
– Pico-cellular networks, with cell radius of 4 - 200 meter
– Other types; e.g Mega-cells that cover large geographical areas (satellite systems
), Femtocell that cover small areas and are used to enhance capacity and
coverage of other cells
Types of cells
 Operational channels in a cell
• In each cell, there are four types of channels that take active
part during a mobile call:

– Forward Voice Channel (FVC): This channel is used for the voice
transmission from the BS to the MS.
– Reverse Voice Channel (RVC): This is used for the voice
transmission from the MS to the BS.
– Forward Control Channel (FCC): Control channels are generally
used for controlling the activity of the call, i.e., they are used for
setting up calls and to divert the call to unused voice channels.
Hence these are also called setup channels. These channels
transmit and receive call initiation and service request messages.
The FCC is used for control signalling purpose from the BS to MS.
– Reverse Control Channel (RCC): This is used for the call control
purpose from the MS to the BS. Control channels are usually
monitored by mobiles.
 Frequency Reuse (1)
• Frequency reuse, or, frequency planning, is a technique of
reusing frequencies and channels within a communication
system to improve capacity and spectral efficiency
• used by service providers to improve the efficiency of a
cellular network and to serve millions of subscribers using a
limited radio spectrum
• Frequency reuse in mobile cellular systems means that
frequencies allocated to the service are reused in a regular
pattern of cells, each covered by one base station.
• The repeating regular pattern of cells is called cluster. Two
cells using the same frequencies in different clusters is
known as Co-channel cells

• The reuse of frequencies enables a cellular system to handle

a huge number of calls with a limited number of channels
 Frequency Reuse (2)
• Cell:- basic geographical unit of a cellular network; is the
area around an antenna where a specific frequency range
is used.
• when a subscriber moves to another cell, the antenna of
the new cell takes over the signal transmission
• Cluster:- A group of adjacent cells, usually 7 cells; no
frequency reuse is done within a cluster
• The frequency spectrum is divided into sub-bands and
each sub-band is used within one cell of the cluster
• In heavy traffic zones cells are smaller, while in isolated
zones cells are larger
• In hexagonal cell model, BS transmitter can be in centre of
cell or on its 3 vertices.
• Centered excited cells use omni directional whereas edge
excited cells use directional antennas.
 Frequency Reuse (3)

Cell labeled with same letter use the same set of frequencies
 Frequency Reuse (4)
• Consider a cellular system with S duplex channels available for use and let N be the
number of cells in a cluster
• If each cell is allocated k duplex channels (where k<S), The total number of available
radio channels in the system is S=kN
• The N cells which use the complete set of channels is called cluster.
• If the cluster are repeated M times within the total area, the total number of duplex
channels, or, the total number of users in the system (total system capacity) would
be;

C = kMN = MS

• If k and N remain constant, then the system capacity, C is directly proportional to the
number of times a cluster is repeated;

Cα M

if C and k remain constant, then

N α 𝟏 /𝑴

The smaller the number of cells, the larger the larger the number of clusters and hence
the higher the capacity
 Frequency Reuse (5)
• Capacity of system, C is directly proportional to the no
of times cluster is repeated.
• Reducing the cluster size N while keeping the cell size
constant, more clusters are required to cover the given
area and hence more capacity.
• Co-channel interference is dependent on cluster size,;
the larger the cluster size the less interference and vice
versa.
• For small N, co-channel cells are located much closer
and hence more interference. The value of N is
determined by calculating the amount of interference
that can be tolerated in the system
 Frequency Reuse (6)
• The Frequency Reuse factor is given as 1/N,
each cell is assigned 1/N of total channels.
• The geometry of hexagon is such that number
of cells per cluster, N can only have values
which satisfy the equation
N=i2+ij+j2, i≥0, j≥0
N, the cluster size is typically 4, 7 or 12.
• In GSM normally N =7 is used.
• i and j are integers; for i=3 and j=2, N=19.
Channel Assignment Strategies(1)
• In cellular systems, capacity enhancement and
interference reduction are very important in
determining the performance of the system.
• Proper CAS are key to the overall performance
of the system.
• CAS can be classified as either fixed or
dynamic;
 Channel Assignment Strategies(2)
Fixed Channel Assignment (FCA)
• Each cell is allocated a fixed number of voice channels. Any
communication within the cell can only be made with the
designated unused channels of that particular cell

• The call will be blocked if all channels in that cell are occupied and
the user has to wait for channels to be released by other users

• FCA is simplest of the channel assignment strategies as it requires

very simple circuitry but provides worst channel utilization

• Borrowing strategy; Another approach in which channels are

borrowed from adjacent cell if all of its own designated channels
are occupied. In such a case, the MSC supervises the borrowing
process and ensures that none of the calls in progress are
interrupted
 Channel Assignment Strategies(3)
Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA)
• Channels are temporarily assigned for use in cells for the duration of the call. Each
time a call attempt is made from a cell, the corresponding BTS requests a channel from
MSC. The MSC then allocates a channel to the requesting BTS. After the call is over, the
channel is returned and kept in a central pool.

• The MSC allocates a channel to the requesting cell using an algorithm that takes into
account the following;-
– Likelihood of future blocking
– The reuse distance of the channel ( should not cause interference)
– Other parameters like cost

• To avoid co-channel interference, any channel that in use in one cell can only be
reassigned simultaneously to another cell in the system if the distance between the
two cells is larger than minimum reuse distance

• DCA reduces the likelihood of blocking and increases the capacity of the network as all
of the channels are available to all cells.

• However, it results in heavy load on the MSC during heavy traffic conditions as it
requires the MSC to collect real-time data on channel occupancy and traffic
distribution on continuous basis
 Handover/Handoff(1)
• 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 BTS

• The handover process involves identifying a new base

station and re-allocating the voice and control signal to
channels associated with the new BTS.

• For successful handover, an optimum signal level must be

defined to initiate the process.

• A minimum usable signal for acceptable voice quality ranges

from -90 to -100 dBm. A slightly higher value is used as
threshold for the handover process
 Handover/Handoff(2)
• Once a signal level is set as the minimum
acceptable for good voice quality Pr(min),
then a slightly stronger level is chosen as
the threshold PrH at which handover has to
be made.

• Handoff is made when received signal at

the BS falls below a certain threshold

• A handover margin, ∆= PrH − Pr(min) is

defined and it cannot be too large or too
small
• If ∆ is too large, unnecessary handovers
will burden the MSC
• If ∆ is too small, there may be insufficient
time to complete handover before a call is
lost.
Handover/Handoff(3)
• In Fig (a), a handover is not made and signal
falls below minimum acceptable level to keep
the channel active.

• This can happen due to excessive delay by

MSC in assigning handover, or when
threshold ∆ is set too small.

• Excessive delay may occur during high traffic

conditions due to unavailability of channels
in nearby cells

• In deciding when to initiate a handover , it is

important to ensure that the drop in signal
power level is not due to momentary signal
fading.

• In order to ensure this, the BS monitors the

signal for a certain period of time before
initiating the handover

• The length of time needed to decide if

handover is necessary depends on the speed
at which the MS is moving
Factors affecting handover process
• Transmitted power: The transmission power is different for
different cells and therefore, the handover threshold or the power
margin varies from cell to cell.

• Received power: The received power mostly depends on the Line

of Sight (LoS) path between the user and the BS. Especially when
the user is on the boundary of the two cells, the LoS path plays a
critical role in the handover procedure and therefore the power
margin depends on the minimum received power value from cell
to cell.

• Area and shape of the cell: Apart from the power levels, the cell
structure also a plays an important role in the handover process

• Mobility of users: The number of mobile users entering or going

out of a particular cell, also fixes the handover strategy of a cell
 Handover strategies (1)
1st generation analog cellular systems
• The signal strength measurements are made by the BS
and are supervised by the MSC.
• A spare Rx in base station (locator Rx) monitors the
received signal strength (RSS) of the reverse voice
channel (RVC) in the neighbouring cells
• It also tells the MSC about these mobiles and their
channels
• The locator Rx can also see if signal to this base station
is significantly better than to the host base station
• The MSC monitors RSS from all base stations & decides
on the handover
 Handover strategies (2)
2nd generation cellular systems
• Mobile Assisted Handoffs (MAHO)are used
• In MAHO, every MS measures the received power
from the surrounding BS and continually reports these
values to the corresponding BS.
• Handoff is initiated if the signal strength of a
neighbouring BS exceeds that of current BS
• MSC no longer monitors RSS of all channels; which
results to;
– Reduced computational load of the MSC
– Much more rapid and efficient handovers
– Handovers that are imperceptible to the mobile user
 Handover strategies (3)
CDMA systems
• CDMA spread spectrum cellular systems
provides a unique handover capability,
normally called a Soft handover
• Unlike channelized wireless systems that
assigns different radio channel during
handover (called hard handoff), the spread
spectrum MS share the same channel in every
cell
 Handover strategies (4)
Inter-system handover
• If a mobile moves from one cellular system to a
different system controlled by a different MSC, an
inter-system handoff is necessary
• MSC engages in intersystem handoff when signal
becomes weak in a given cell and MSC cannot find
another cell within its system to transfer the
on-going call
• Many issues must be resolved;-
– Local call may become long distance call
– Compatibility between the two MSCs
 Typical handoff parameters
Analog cellular (1st generation)
• Threshold margin, △ ≈ 6 to 12 dB
• Total time to complete handoff ≈ 8 to 10 sec

Digital cellular (2nd generation)

• Total time to complete handoff ≈ 1 to 2 sec
• Lower necessary threshold margin △ ≈ 0 to 6 dB
• Enabled by Mobile Assisted HandOff (MAHO)