Unit 1

Q. Frequency Reuse in mobile communications:

Q. Comparison between Cell Splitting and Cell Sectoring:

Basis of Cell Splitting Cell Sectoring

comparison

A method in which an area of a cell A method in which a single cell is

or an independent coverage area of partitioned into a number of wedge-
Definition a cellular system is divided into two shaped sectors, each of which contains
or more cell areas in order to its own unique set of channels.
accommodate more than one cell.

This will result in a higher This feature reduces the efficiency of

processing burden as well as an the trunking process by dividing the
Function
increased number of handoffs (base channel sets into smaller groupings.
station transfers) each call.

The cell radius is shrunk but the co- The cell radius does not change,
Operation channel reuse ratio is maintained at despite the fact that the co-channel
the previous level. reuse ratio has reduced.

The cell is divided into a smaller The cell is divided into 120₀ and
Cell Size
cell. 60₀ sectors.

In cell splitting the transmit power Cell sectoring improves the S/I ratio
Signal to
must be reduced to maintain the S/I using a directional antenna.
Interference
ratio.

The radius of the cell is decreased The radius of the cell is kept constant
and the co-channel reuse ratio D/R and the co-channel reuse ratio D/R is
Reuse Ratio
is kept constant to improve the decreased to improve the capacity.
capacity.
 Basis of Cell Splitting Cell Sectoring
comparison

In cell splitting large macro-cell are Cell sectoring decreases the coverage
dedicated to high-speed traffic. The area of a group of channels and
Handoffs reason for a number of handoffs increases the number of handoffs.
will be less and call progress can be
smoothly done.

It has two techniques horizontal and It has three techniques 3-sector, 6-

Techniques vertical splitting sector, and 9-sector.

Q. Compare Fixed and Dynamic Channel assignment Strategies:

Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

Fixed number of channels or voice Fixed number of channels are not allocated to
channels are allocated to cells. cells.

If all the channels are occupied and user If all the channels are occupied and user make
make a call then the call will be blocked a call then Base Station (BS) request more
in FCA. channel to the Mobile Station Centre (MSC).

Frequency reuse is maximum because

Frequency reuse is not that maximum in DCA
cells channels are separated by
because of channel randomness allocation.
minimum reuse distance.

In FCA no such complex algorithms are In DCA complex algorithms are used to decide
used. which available channel is most efficient.
 Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

Dynamic Channel Allocation Strategy is costly

Fixed Channel Allocation Strategy is
because lot of computation is required in real-
less costly than the DCA
time.

In DCA once the call is completed then the

In FCA allocated channels remains to
channel or the voice channel return to the
the cell, once the call is completed
MSC.

Mobile Station Center(MSC) has less Mobile Station Center(MSC) has more
responsibilities. signalling load and responsibilities.

Performs better under heavy traffic Performs better under light/moderate traffic

Low computational efforts Moderate to high call set up delay

Centralized, distributed control depending on

Centralized control
the scheme
Q. Handoffs:
In cellular telecommunications, the terms handover or handoff refers to the process of
transferring an ongoing call or data connectivity from one Base Station to another Base Station.
When a mobile moves into a different cell while the conversation is in progress then the MSC
(Mobile Switching Centre) transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new Base
Station.
When a mobile user A moves from one cell to another cell then BSC 1 signal strength loses for
the mobile User A and the signal strength of BSC 2 increases and thus ongoing calls or data
connectivity for mobile users goes on without interrupting.

Q. Hard Handoff
When there is an actual break in the connectivity while switching from one Base Station to
another Base Station. There is no burden on the Base Station and MSC because the switching
takes place so quickly that it can hardly be noticed by the users. The connection quality is
not that good. Hard Handoff adopted the ‘break before make’ policy.
It is generally implemented in Time Division Multiplexing and Frequency Division
Multiplexing when a user connects to the base station with a fluctuating radio frequency.
• Hard Handoff is cheaper in cost as compared to soft Handoff because only one channel
needs to be active at a time.
• It is more efficient than soft handoff, that’s why hard handoffs are widely
implemented.
• Sometimes, a delay can be experienced while switching base stations.

Fig: Hard Handoff

Q. Soft Handoff
Soft Handoff is a mechanism in which the device gets connected with two or more base
stations at the same time. At least one of the links is kept when radio signals are added or
removed to the Base Station. Soft Handoff adopted the ‘make before break’ policy. If a
channel is in power loss then another channel will always be on standby mode so this makes
it best in terms of quality as compared to Hard handoff. Soft handoffs are used in devices
supporting CDMA/WDMA networks
• High Transmission speed as more than one repeater can transmit signals.
• It has a very low delay in signals.
• It can’t be implemented on devices supporting GSM or LTE networks.

Fig: Soft Handoff

Q. Intra-system Handoff or NETWORK CONTROLLED HANDOFF (NCHO):
• In Intra-system Handoff, if during an ongoing call a mobile unit moves from one
cellular system to an adjacent cellular system which is controlled by the same MTSO,
a handoff procedure which is used to avoid dropping of call referred to as Intra System
Handoff takes place.
• An MTSO engages in this handoff system when a mobile signal becomes weak in a
given cell and the MTSO finds another cell within its system to which it can transfer
the call in progress.
• In Intra System Handoff local calls always remain local calls only since after handoff
also the call is handled by the same MTSO. In first generation analog cellular systems,
signal strength measurements are made by the base stations and supervised by the MSC.
• Each base station constantly monitors the signal strengths of all of its reverse voice
channels to determine the relative location of each mobile user with respect to the base
station tower.
• In addition, to measuring the RSSI of calls in progress within the cell, a spare receiver
in each base station, called the locator receiver, is used to scan and determine signal
strengths of mobile users which are in the neighboring cells which appear to be in need
of handoff.
 • The locator receiver, which is controlled by the MSC, reports all RSSI values to the
MSC. Based on the locator receiver signal strength information from each base station,
the MSC decides if a handoff is necessary or not. This handoff is called as NETWORK
CONTROLLED HANDOFF (NCHO).
Q. Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO):
• In Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO) every mobile station measures the received
power from surrounding base stations and continually reports the results of these
measurements to the serving base station.
• A handoff is initiated, when the power received from the base station of a neighboring
cell begins to exceed the power received from the current base station by a certain level
or for a certain period of time.
• In MAHO method call handed over between base stations is much faster than first
generation analog systems .As handoff measurements are made by each mobile . MSC
no longer constantly monitors signal strengths. MAHO is particularly suited for
microcellular environments where handoffs are more frequent. During the course of a
call, if a mobile moves from one cellular system to a different cellular system controlled
by a different MSC, an intersystem handoff becomes necessary.
• An MSC engages in an intersystem handoff when a mobile signal becomes weak in a
given cell and the MSC cannot find another cell within its system to which it can
transfer the call in progress.

Q. Umbrella cell approach:

The cell with low traffic speed is called as micro-cells and large high-speed traffic called
macro-cells.
A hexagonal cell method is one of the closest approximation of a circle device. It is being
typically used for the system.
The smaller cell is grouped and assumed to be under a large cell. This method called as an
umbrella cell concept.
It can be used to provide a large area to high-speed users while small area coverage to users
that travel at low speeds.
Some advantages of using an umbrella cell concept in cellular technology
• Umbrella cell provides a large coverage area to high-speed users.
• Minimize the number of handoff for high-speed users.
• Speed estimation can be performed by slop of short term average calculation of receive
power.
• If a high-speed user in large umbrella cell is near the base station and if its velocity is
decreasing then the BS stands for can decide whether to hand the user into the co-
 located micro-cell without the intervention of the mobile switching center (MSC stands
for).
• Provide additional micro-cell channel for pedestrian user.

Q. Types of interferences in mobile communication:

1. Co-Channel Interference
2. Adjacent Cell Interference

Co-Channel Interference:
Co-channel cells are those cells that use the same frequency in a given coverage area.
Interference from these cells is called co-channel interference. In co-channel interference, the
cells are clustered as close together as possible to reduce the co-channel interface and provide
sufficient isolation. Increasing the co-channel reuse ratio improves the transmission quality
because of the smaller level of co-channel interference. An example of co-channel
interference is when a radio transmitter is operating on the same frequency.

The reasons behind Co-channel interference are:

• Bad weather condition
• Poor frequency planning
Ways we can reduce co-channel interference in cellular communication are:
• Proper planning and implementation.
• The frequency reuse technique increases overall system capacity.

Adjacent Channel Interference:

It is the interference caused to the signal which is adjacent in frequency to the desired signal.
Imperfect receiver side filters allow the neighboring signal to mix with the actual pass band.
if adjacent channel signal strength becomes strong, it will be difficult for Base Station to
differentiate the actual mobile signal from the strong mobile signal.
The reasons behind adjacent channel interference are as follows:
• Due to multiple channels close to each other communicating using similar
frequencies.
• Irrelevant power emission from an adjacent channel.

Factors for reducing Adjacent Channel Interference are as follows:

• Proper filtering
• Careful Channel Assignments
• By managing the space between two adjacent cells which should remain constant.

• Numerical On unit 1:
Q. If a total of 33Mhz of bandwidth is allocated to a particular FDD cellular telephone system
which uses two 25Khz simplex channels to provide full duplex voice and control channels,
compute the number of channels available per cell if a system uses (a) 4 – cell reuse (b) 7-cell
reuse (c) 12-cell reuse. If 1 MHz of the allocated spectrum is dedicated to control channels,
determine an equitable distribution of control channels and voice channels in each cell for each
of the 3 systems.
Solution
Given:
Total bandwidth = 33 MHz
Channel bandwidth = 25 kHz × 2 simplex channels = 50 kHz/duplex channel
Total available channels = 33,000/50 = 660 channels
(a) For N = 4,
total number of channels available per cell = 660/4 ≈ 165 channels.
(b) For N = 7,
total number of channels available per cell = 660/7 ≈ 95 channels.
(c) For N = 12,
total number of channels available per cell = 660/12 ≈ 55 channels.

A 1 MHz spectrum for control channels implies that there are,

 1000/50 = 20 control channels out of the 660 channels available.

To evenly distribute the control and voice channels, simply allocate the same number
of voice channels in each cell wherever possible. Here, the 660 channels must be evenly
distributed to each cell within the cluster. In practice, only the 640 voice channels would
be allocated, since the control channels are allocated separately as 1 per cell.

(a) For N = 4, total number of control channels available per cell = 20/4 = 5.
we can have five control channels and 160 voice channels per cell. In practice, however,
each cell only needs a single control channel (the control channels have a greater reuse
distance than the voice channels). Thus, one control channel and 160 voice channels
would be assigned to each cell.

(b) For N = 7, total number of control channels available per cell = 20/7 = 2.8 = 2 or 3
Channels.
four cells with three control channels and 92 voice channels, two cells with three control
channels and 90 voice channels, and one cell with two control channels and 92 voice
channels could be allocated. In practice, however, each cell would have one control
channel, four cells would have 91 voice channels, and three cells would have 92 voice
channels.

(c) For N = 12, total number of control channels available per cell = 20/12 = 1.6 = 1 or
2.
we can have eight cells with two control channels and 53 voice channels, and four cells
with one control channel and 54 voice channels each. In an actual system, each cell
would have one control channel, eight cells would have 53 voice channels, and four
cells would have 54 voice channels.

Q. If ‘R’ is the radius of a hexagonal cell, then show that the area of this hexagonal cell is
given by, Area = 2.598R2.
Ans:
• Prove that for a hexagonal geometry, the co-channel reuse ratio is given by Q=√3𝑁,
where N= i2+ij+j2. (Hint: Use the cosine law and the hexagonal cell geometry).

Ans:

There are only certain cluster sizes and cell layouts which are possible. The number of
cells per cluster, N, can only have values which satisfy

where i and j are non-negative integers.

• To locate the nearest co-channel neighbors of a particular cell, one must do the
following:
(1) move i cells along any chain of hexagons and then
(2) turn 60 degrees counter-clockwise and move j cells.
• As examples, the AMPS system uses 7; GSM uses 3 or 4.

By Appling Cosine laws on above triangle,

𝐷2 = (j√3 R)2 + (i√3 R)2 – 2. j√3 R. i√3 R Cos 120
Therefore, Q= D/R = √3𝑁