Introduction To Cellular Communications Fundamentals

2002 SDR Communications Technologies

Cellular Fundamentals
Cellular Mobile Networks are very complex, however there are a few fundamental features of a cellular system that differentiates it from other radio systems such as broad TV, radio and wireless LANS: Geographic Sharing (Frequency Re-use) Cell Splitting Handoff Mobility

This tutorial gives a brief introduction into the main components of a cellular network and explains the cellular concepts as listed above.

Cellular Systems
MS Mobile Station. Usually referred to as a mobile phone or cell phone. BTS Base Transceiver Station. Usually referred to as a Base Station or Cell Site. Transmits and receives calls to the Mobile Station. Controlled by a BSC. BSC Base Station Controller. Each BSC controls a number of BTSs and is responsible for switching calls to the correct BTS (i.e. the one the subscriber is currently closest to). Also responsible for call handovers. Controlled by the MSC. MSC Mobile Switching Centre. The switching gateway between the mobile network and the PSTN. Responsible for call control and subscriber management. A network may have multiple MSCs depending on the size of the network. VLR Visitor Location Register. A database containing the location and information relating to visiting subscribers (i.e. subscribers roaming from another network). HLR Home Location Register. A database containing the location and information relating to network subscribers (so the BSC knows where the subscriber is and can send calls to the correct BTS). EIR Equipment Identity Register. A database that keeps track of stolen phones so that calls cannot be made to or from a stolen mobile. AuC Authentication Centre. Authenticates that the subscriber is who they says they are, by sending a secret number to the mobile and verifying the mobiles response. PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network. The worldwide network of copper cable and switches that allows people to call one another from anywhere in the world.

Cellular Systems Components

BTS

Basic Cellular Architecture:

MS

BSC

VLR

HLR

MSC
BTS

PSTN

BSC
AuC Base Station Subsystem (BSS) EIR

Network Subsystem

Geographic Sharing
Early mobile telephone systems operated similar to radio stations, with one high powered transceiver covering large geographic areas.

Mobile Subscribers

AMPS Example: 12.5MHz total bandwidth meant a maximum of 416 simultaneous conversations. The combination of limited radio spectrum and continually increasing subscriber numbers, meant network operators had to find a way to increase the number of channels they could offer their customers.

Geographic Sharing

(cont..)

Capacity problem is overcome by geographic sharing (frequency re-use). By replacing high powered transceivers with many low powered transceivers, the same channels can be re-used in a consistent pattern, as long as there is enough distance between the re-used frequencies to avoid interference.

Mobile Subscribers

Cell Splitting
In an Attempt to further increase network capacity, the idea of cell splitting was conceived. Cell splitting involves segmenting the base station into sections, with a separate antenna for each section. Standard Cell Sectored Cell

The most common configuration is the 3 sectored solution, as shown in the diagram above. Instead of an omni directional antenna radiation pattern (360o), the cell is split into three sectors, with each antenna radiating a 120o coverage pattern. Each sector acts like its own base station, with a particular group of frequencies assigned to it. The fact that the antenna beam is more directional means the mobile phone usually gets a stronger, cleaner signal. A majority of cellular systems use cell splitting.

Handoff
The ultimate purpose of cellular telephony is mobility. The problem with mobility is that as a subscriber moves further away from the base station during a call, the signal between the mobile phone and the base station gets weaker while interference from adjoining cells increases. Handoff was introduced to solve the problem of subscribers getting too far away from the transmitting base station. Handoff occurs when the mobile network automatically transfers a call from a radio channel in one base station to another radio channel in an adjacent base station as Base Station 2 the subscriber crosses into the adjacent base stations cell area.
Base Station 1

Call handoff from Base Station 1 to Base Station 2 as the car crosses cells

Handoff (cont..)
The procedure for handoff is: As the subscriber approaches the cell border, the call signal drops to a minimum threshold, at which point the mobile informs the network of this fact. The network then must find an unused channel on the appropriate adjoining base station and sends the mobile the details to switch to the new channel (channel number ect). The mobile phone then switches to the new channel, without the subscriber even noticing. However, some problems still occur: When the mobile needs to handoff and the adjoining basestation is at full capacity, there are no free channels to switch to, so the call is dropped. The call is sometimes lost between handoff as the adjoining base station doesnt lock into the call before the first base station hands it off. To reduce these problems, other handoff procedures were implemented: Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO) Soft Handoff

Handoff (cont..)
Mobile Assisted Handoff: Used in current GSM systems, MAHO makes use of the mobile phone to help in collecting statistics regarding the most suitable base station to hand over to. The mobile phone makes signal strength measurements from the surrounding base stations and sends the measurements back to the network. The network then uses these figures, as well as others (such as the spare channels available in each base station), to make a more informed decision about which base station to hand the call over to.

Soft Handover: Used in current CDMA systems, soft handover is similar to MAHO except that in this configuration the first base station does not let go of a call until there is confirmation from the second base station that they have received the call. When the confirmation comes from the second base station that the handoff is complete, the first base station releases the call. This has the effect of greatly reducing the amount of dropped calls, reducing the Bit Error Rate (BER), and improving call quality.

Summary
Cellular Telecommunication Systems are designed with a tradeoff between efficient spectrum use and complexity and cost of the system. In a bid to extract the most from the limited spectrum bandwidth allocated to them and service as many customers as possible, network operators use smaller low powered base stations to take advantage of frequency reuse, resulting in an escalation in base station costs. Cell splitting also increases the need to handoff calls, increasing switching subsystem complexity.