Cellular Networks : Evolution(1)

First Generation Launched in mid 1980s Analog Systems Analog modulation ,mostly Frequency Modulation Voice Traffic only FDMA/FDD multiple access Confined to national boundaries Examples: AMPS

Cellular Networks : Evolution(2)

Second Generation(2G) Developed for Voice Communications Digital Systems, Digital modulation TDMA/FDD and CDMA/FDD multiple access Provides data rates of the order of ~9.6Kbps

Cellular Networks : Evolution(3)

Examples of Second Generation (2G)
Global System for Mobile Communication(GSM)
TDMA/FDMA 900MHz and 1800MHz

Personal Digital Communication (PDC)

Popular in Japan

IS-95
CDMA US/South Korea

Cellular Networks : Evolution(4)

Limitations of Second Generation (2G)
Developed for Voice communication (Unsuitable for Data Traffic) Average rate of the order of tens of Kbps Not suitable for internet (Packet Switched Services) Multiple Standards (no true global coverage)

Cellular Networks : Evolution(4)

2.5G
The effort to remove the impediments of 2G System resulted in 2.5G. Digital Systems Voice + Low Data rate Internet Access through GPRS(General Packet Radio Service) Enhanced Data rate for Global Evolution(EDGE)

Cellular Networks : Evolution(5)

3G
Digital Modulation Simultaneous Voice +High Speed Data Multimegabit Internet Access Voice Activated Call Multimedia Transmission

Cellular Networks : Evolution(6)

Need for 4G
Present communication System are primarily designed for one specific application, such as speech on a mobile telephone or high data in wireless local area network(WLAN) Will integrate various networks, functions and applications Will create Global information multimedia Village Will support a variety of data rates from 2G to 3Gto 3G+

Terminology
Mobile: It is used to describe the radio terminal that is attached to a high speed mobile platform. Portable: It describes a radio terminal that can be hand held and used by someone at walking speed. Subscriber Unit: It describes a mobile or portable user because each user pays a subscription fee to use the system and each users communication device is called Subscriber Unit.

Terminology
Base Station: A fixed station in mobile radio system used for radio communication with mobile station located at center or edge of coverage region and consists of radio channels and transmitters and receivers antennas mounted on a tower.

Control Channel: Radio channel used for transmission of call setup, call request, call initiation and other beacon or control purpose.
Forward Channel: Radio channel used for transmission of information from base station to mobile.

Terminology
Reverse Channel: Radio channel used for transmission of information from mobile to base station.

Subscriber: A user who pays the subscription charges for using a mobile communication system.
Transceiver: A device capable of simultaneously transmitting and receiving radio signals.

Basic Concepts: Multiple Access

Multiple access schemes are used to allow many mobile users to share a finite amount of radio spectrum.

The sharing of the spectrum is required to achieve high capacity by simultaneously allocating the bandwidth. Constraint: There should not be severe performance degradation.

Frequency Division Multiple Access Scheme(FDMA)

In Base Station separate transmit and receiver antennas are used to accommodate two separate channels. In Subscriber Unit Single antenna is used for transmission to and reception from Base Station. A device called duplexer is used inside Subscriber Unit to enable the same antenna to be used for simultaneous transmission and reception. It is necessary to separate the transmit and receive frequency by about 5% of nominal RF frequency.

In US AMPS standard, the reverse channel has a frequency which is exactly 45MHz lower than that of forward channel

Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA)

It shares single radio channel in time (base station to mobile and mobile to base station) If data transmission rate in the channel is much greater than the end users data rate it stores information bursts and appears like full duplex to the user TDMA is possible only with Digital Transmission formats and Digital Modulation Very sensitive to timing It used only for indoor or small area wireless applications where physical coverage distance is less.

Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)

Time and bandwidth are used simultaneously by different users, modulated by orthogonal or semiorthogonal codes (e.g. spread spectrum).

Code Space

Time

Frequency

7C29822.032-Cimini-9/97

Paging System
Page: A brief message which is broadcast over the entire service area usually in a simulcast fashion by many Base Stations at the same time. Every cellular system has some kind of broadcast mechanism. This can be used directly for distributing information to multiple mobiles. The most important use of broadcast information is to set up channels for one to one communication between the mobile transceiver and the base station. This is called paging

Paging System
Paging system transmits the page throughout the service area using Base Stations which broad cast the page on a radio carrier. Paging receivers are simple and inexpensive but transmission system required is quite sophisticated. Wide area paging systems consists of network of telephone line, many base station transmitters, and large radio towers that simultaneously broadcast a page from each base station(this is simulcasting).

Cellular System
MSC

(1)

Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

17

Cellular System

Cellular Systems Basic concepts

High Capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage of each base station to small geographic region called cell Same frequencies/timeslots/codes reused at spatially separated locations A switching technique called hand off enables a call to proceed uninterrupted when a user moves from one cell to another

Base station/Mobile Telephone Switching Offices(MTSO) coordinate handoff and control functions
Reuse channels to maximize the capacity

Cellular Systems Basic concepts

Resolves the problem of limited radio spectrum
Neighboring Base Station are assigned different group of channels so as to minimize the interference.

By systematically spacing the Base Station and the channel groups may be reused as many number of times as necessary As demand increases, the number of base stations may be increased thereby providing additional capacity

Forward and Reverse channels

Forward Voice Channels(FVC):Used for voice transmission from Base Station to Mobile Station. Reverse Voice Channels(RVC): Used for voice transmission from Mobile Station to Base station. Forward Control Channel(FCC): Used for initiating a call from Base Station to Mobile Station. Reverse Control Channel(RCC): Used for initiating a call from Mobile Station to Base Station. The FCC and RCC are also called setup channels.

Anatomy of a Cellular Call

A cell phone, when turned on,(though not yet engaged in a call) scans the group of FCC to determine the one with the strongest signal. It monitors that channel until it drops below the usable threshold. It then scans for another channel which is the strongest. Control channels are defined and standardized over the entire area of service. Typically the control channel use up to 5% of the total number of channels

A Call TO a Mobile User(1)

The MSC dispatches the request to all BS. The Mobile Identification Number(MIN) is broadcast as paging message over all FCC throughout the service area. The MS receives the paging message from the BS it is monitoring. It responds by identifying itself over the RCC. The BS conveys the handshake to the MSC. The MSC instructs the BS to move to an unused voice channel.

A Call TO a Mobile User(2)

The BS signals the MS to change over to an unused FVC and RVC. An data message ( called alert) is transmitted over the FVC to instruct the mobile to ring! All of these sequence of events occur in just a few seconds, and are not noticeable to the user. While the call is in progress, the MSC adjusts the transmitted power in order to maintain the call quality.

A Call FROM a Mobile User

A call initiation request is sent to the RCC. Along with this, the MS transmits its MIN, Electronic Serial Number(ESN) and the phone number of the called party. The MS also transmits the Station Class Mark(SCM) which indicates the maximum transmitted power level for the particular user. The BS forwards the data to the MSC, which validates the data and makes connection to the called party through the PSTN.

Call to Mobile User


Call by Mobile User

Frequency Reuse: The Need

Fixed telephone network runs wires to every household. Suppose we give every household their own allocation of radio spectrum for analog speech of 4kHz bandwidth 12.5 million households (say Agra) X 4kHz=50GHz! Clearly impractical!
No other services possible using radio transmission Most of the spectrum unused most of the time

Frequency Reuse(2)
Cellular radio systems rely on intelligent allocation and reuse of channels throughout the coverage area. Each base station is allocated a group of radio channels to be used within the small geographic area of its cell Neighboring base station are given different channel allocation from each other.

Frequency Reuse(3)
By design of antennas, the coverage area is limited within the cell, and the same group of frequencies are reused to cover another cell separated by large enough distance to keep co-channel interference within limits. The design procedure of allocating channel groups for all the cellular BS within a system is called Frequency Reuse or Frequency Planning

Frequency Reuse(4)

Cells using the same frequencies

Frequency Reuse(5)
S = Total duplex channels k = Available channels per cell N = Total number of cells in a cluster Therefore, S=kN

N cells collectively use complete set of available frequencies

Frequency Reuse(6)
M = No of times cluster is replicated C= Total number of duplex channels in a sytem Therefore, C=MkN => C=MS (Total channel capacity of system) => C is directly proportional to M N is called cluster Size

Frequency Reuse(7)
If N is reduced while cell size is kept constant then more clusters are required to cover a given area. Hence, more capacity(large value of C)is achieved. A large cluster size indicates that ratio between cell radius and distance between co-channel cells is small. Conversely, small cluster size indicates that co-channel cells are located much closer together. So, there is more probability of interference. From design view point smallest possible value of N is desirable in order to maximize the capacity Frequency reuse factor of cellular system is given by 1/N

Frequency Reuse(8)

Frequency Reuse(9)
Due to Hexagonal geometry of cell and center line joinings are multiple of 60 degrees So, N is given as N= i + ij + j , where I & j are non-negative numbers. To find the nearest co-channel neighbors of a particular cell:
Move i cells along any chain of Hexagon Turn 60 degree counter clockwise and move j cells

19-cell reuse example (N=19)

Figure 3.2 Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular system. In this example, N = 19 (i.e., I = 3, j = 2). (Adapted from [Oet83] IEEE.)

Clustersize of 7
Assume a clustersize of 7. This means that the total 395 voice channels are divided into groups of seven. Thus, each cell has about 56 voice channels. This is the most number of users that can be supported in a cell, i.e., roughly 10 square miles in normal environments. This may/may not be sufficient based on the distribution of users.

Clustersize of 7
To see what a system with clustersize of 7 looks like, color a cell with color 1. This cell (if drawn as a hexagon) has 6 neighbors. Color each of the seven neighbors using a different color (also different from each other). Now repeat this rule to get the overall reuse pattern.

Cluster size of 7, Reuse Pattern

What if we had a smaller cluster?

Now consider a system with a cluster of 4. Then the number of voice channels per cell is 395/4, which is roughly 98. Thus, in theory, we can hold more users per cell if this were true.

But there is a problem with a clustersize.

Problem with Smaller Clustersize

Interfering cells are closer by when clustersize is smaller.

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.

With larger cell, the number of users covered per unit area reduces. So, the gain (total number of users supported) of a smaller clustersize is not as high as we think.

Tessellation
Three regular polygons that always tessellate: Equilateral triangle Square Regular Hexagon

Triangles

Squares

Hexagons

Circular Coverage Areas

Original cellular system was developed assuming base station antennas are omnidirectional, i.e., they transmit in all directions equally.

Users located outside some distance to the base station receive weak signals. Result: base station has circular coverage area.

Cell Shape
Hexagonal cells are conceptual For most theoretical treatment, hexagonal model of cells is universally adopted because:
Hexagonal are geometric shape that approximates a circle(for omni directionational radiation) Using a hexagonal geometry, fewest number of cells can cover the entire geographical region

Channel Assignment Strategies

A scheme for increasing capacity and minimizing interference is required. Channel assignment strategies can be classified as either fixed or dynamic. The choice of the channel assignment strategy impacts the performance of the system, particularly how a call is managed when user is handed off from one cell to another.

Fixed Channel Assignment

Each cell is assigned a predetermined set of voice channels. Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused channels inn that particular cell. If all the channels in the cell are occupied, the call is blocked. The user does not get service. In a variation of the fixed channel assignment, a cell can borrow channels from its neighboring cell if its own channels are full.

Dynamic Channel Assignment

Voice channels are not allocated to different cells permanently Each time a call request is made, the BS requests a channel from the MSC. MSC allocates a channel to requested cell using an algorithm that takes into account
The likelihood of future blocking. The frequency of use of the candidate channel The reuse distance of the channel, and Other cost functions

Dynamic Channel Assignment

To ensure the minimum QoS, the MSC only allocates a given frequency if that frequency is not currently in use in the cell, or any other cell which falls within the limiting reuse distance. DCA reduces the likelihood of blocking, thus increasing the capacity of the system. DCA strategies require the MSC to collect real time data on channel occupancy and traffic distribution on a continuous basis.

Handoff
When a mobile moves into a different cell while the call is in progress, the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new BS. The handoff operation involves identifying a new BS and the allocation of voice and control signals associated with the new BS. Handoffs must be performed successfully, as infrequently as possible, and must be imperceptible to the user.

Handoff
Handoff is made when the received signal at the BS falls below a pre-specified threshold. In deciding when to handoff, it is important to ensure that the drop in the signal level is not due to momentary fading. In order to ensure this, the BS monitors the signal for a certain period of time before initiating handoff. The length of time needed to decide if handoff is necessary depends on the speed at which the mobile is moving.

Handoff Strategies
In the first generation analog cellular systems, the signal strength measurements are made by the BS and supervised by the MSC. There is a spare receiver ,called locator receiver ,in each BS to scan and determine the signal strength of mobile users in the neighbouring cells. In the second generation systems that use TDMA technology, Mobile Assisted Handoff(MAHO) are used. In MAHO, every MS measures the received power from the surrounding BS and continually report these values to the corresponding BS. Handoff is initiated if the signal strength of a neighboring BS exceeds that of the current BS. During the course of a call, if a mobile user moves from one cellular system to a different cellular system controlled by different MSC ,an intersystem handoff becomes necessary.

Handoff

Handoff
The dropped call event can happen when
There is an excessive delay by the MSC in assigning a handoff Threshold is set too small for the handoff time in the system. The excessive delay may occur during high traffic conditions due to computational load at the MSC or due to the fact that no channels are available.

Handoff
The time during which the call is maintained within a cell, without handoff is called dwell time. The dwell time is governed by various factors like
Propagation Interference Distance between subscriber and BS Other time varying factors.

Handoff
For e.g. in cells which provide coverage for vehicular highway users ,most users tend to have relatively constant speed and travel along fixed and well defined path with good radio coverage. In the above instance, the dwell time for any arbitrary user is a random variable with a distribution that is highly concentrated about the mean dwell time. But for the user in a dense, cluttered microcell environments there is a large variation in the dwell time about the mean.

Prioritizing Handoffs
Guard channel concept, where a fraction of the total available channels in a cell is reserved exclusively for handoff requests from ongoing calls which may be handed off into the cell. This method reduces the total carried traffic, as fewer channels are allocated to originating calls. Queuing of handoff requests is another method to decrease the probability of forced termination There is a finite time interval between the time the received signal level drops below the handoff threshold and the time the call is terminated due to insufficient signal level. The delay time and the size of the queue is determined from the traffic pattern of the particular service area. Queuing does not guarantee a zero probability of forced termination, since large delay will cause the received signal level to drop below the minimum required level to maintain communication and lead to forced termination.

Practical Handoff consideration

Several schemes have been designed to handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed and low speed users while minimizing the intervention from the MSC. By using different antenna height and different poer cells, it is possible

Interference
Interference is the major limiting factor ion the performance of cellular radio. It limits the capacity and increases number of dropped calls. Sources of interference
Another mobile in the same cell A call in progress in a neighbouring cell and other BS operating in the same frequency band.

Interference is more severe in the urban areas due to greater RF noise floor and more number of MS and BS.

Topics Discussed :
Handoff & Handoff Strategies Prioritizing Handoffs Practical Handoff Considerations Guard Channel Concept Cell Dragging Hard Handoff & Soft Handoff Interference & System Capacity Co-channel Interference Adjacent Channel Interference Co-channel reuse Ratio

Definations
Handoff: When a mobile moves into a different cell while the call is in progress, the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new BS. Dwell Time: The time during which the call is maintained within a cell, without handoff. MAHO: Mobile Assisted Handoff, every MS measures the received power from the surrounding BS and continually report these values to the corresponding BS. Handoff is initiated if the signal strength of a neighboring BS exceeds that of the current BS. Intersystem Handoff: When the Mobile moves from one cellular system to different cellular system controlled by different MSC.

Handoffs
A crucial component of the cellular concept is the notion of handoffs. Mobile phone users are by definition mobile, i.e., they move around while using the phone. Thus, the network should be able to give them continuous access as they move. This is not a problem when users move within the same cell. When they move from one cell to another, a handoff is needed.

A Handoff
A user is transmitting and receiving signals from a given base station, say B1. Assume the user moves from the coverage area of one base station into the coverage area of a second base station, B2. B1 notices that the signal from this user is degrading. B2 notices that the signal from this user is improving.

A Handoff (Contd)
At some point, the users signal is weak enough at B1 and strong enough at B2 for a handoff to occur. Specifically, messages are exchanged between the user, B1, and B2 so that communication to/from the user is transferred from B1 to B2.

Definations
Guard Channel Concept: where a fraction of the total available channels in a cell is reserved exclusively for handoff requests from ongoing calls which may be handed off into the cell. Queuing of handoff: The handoff request is queued to decrease the probability of forced termination. There is a finite time interval between the time the received signal level drops below the handoff threshold and the time the call is terminated due to insufficient signal level. However, Queuing still does not guarantee a zero probability of forced termination.

Queuing of Handoff Requests

Practical Handoff Considerations

Several schemes have been designed to handle the simultaneous traffic of high speed and low speed users to minimize the issues of the MSC.
Addition of cell sites Umbrell Cell Approach

Practical Handoff Considerations

Addition of cell site Approach: Practically, it is diffult to obtain new physical cell site in urban areas. Zoning laws, ordinances and other non-technical barriers does not incourage cellular service providers to go for this approach. Umbrella cell Approach: Addition of channels and BS at the same physical location of existing cell. By using different antenna height and different power levels, it is possible to provide Large & Small cells. This technique is called as Umbrell cell approach, used to provide large area coverage to high speed users and small area coverage to users travelling at low speeds.

Umbrella Cells

Advantages of Umbrella Cell Approach

Generation of Large Umbrella cells and small microcells from the same physical cell site location. Number of handoffs is minimized for high speed users. Provides additional microcell channels for padestrian users. Sophisticated Algorithms may be used for better performance of MSCs Load on MSC reduces.

Cell Dragging
Another practical problem in microcell system. It results from low speed users that provide very strong signal to BS and travels away from BS. The average signal strength does not decay rapidly, even when the user has traveled well beyond the designated range of cell. Handoff may not take place. This creates potential interference and traffic management problems in the adjoining cell. Solution to the cell dragging problems: Handoff threshold and radio coverage paramenters must be adjusted carefully.

Hard & Soft Handoff

Hard Handoff Strategy: Assigning different radio channels to the users during each handoff. Soft Handoff Strategy: Spread spectrum mobiles share the same channel in each cell. The user is simultaneously connected to two or more cells during a call and continuously make power measurements of a list of neighboring cell sites, and determine:
Whether or not to handoff the call. When to handoff the call. Whom to handoff the call. This ability to select between the instanteous received signal from variety of BS is called soft handoff.

Interference
Interference is the major limiting factor in the performance of cellular radio. It limits the capacity and increases number of dropped calls. Sources of interference
Another mobile in the same cell A call in progress in a neighboring cell and other BS operating in the same frequency band. Noncellular system which leaks energy into the cellular frequency band.

Interference causes cross talk, disturbance in voice channel, call dropping, missing and blocking of calls. It is more severe in the urban areas due to greater RF noise floor and large number of BS and mobiles.

Interference
Even though the interfering signals are generated within the cellular system, it is difficult to control in practice. System generated Cellular Interference:
CCI or Co-channel Interference: The interference between the signals from the co-channel cells. ACI or Adjacent channel interference : The interference between the signals from the adjacent channels in a cell.

Causes of ACI
Interference resulting from signals which are adjacent in frequency to desired signal is called ACI. Causes of ACI Extraneous power from a signal in an adjacent channel. Inadequate filtering, incomplete filtering of unwanted modulation products in FM systems, Improper tuning, or poor frequency control, in either the reference channel or the interfering channel, or both.

Near-far effect
When an interferer close to BS radiates in adjacent channel, while the subscriber is far away from BS, the subscriber signals will get a lot of interference. This problem is called as near-far effect, where nearby transmitter captures the receiver of subscriber. The adjacent channel user is transmitting strong signal in very close range to subscribers receiver, while the receiver attempts to receive weak signals from BS on desired channel.

Near Far Effect

The near-far effect occurs when mobile close to BS transmits on channel close to one being used by weak mobile. The BS may have difficulty in discriminating the desired mobile user.
User located away to the base station receive weak signals than the users near to BS.

Minimizing ACI
Through careful filtering and intelligent channel assignment. Using high quality filters, power control systems and FM systems. By keeping frequency separation between each channel as large as possible. By following updated channel allocation schemes. Avoiding the use of adjacent channels in neighboring cell sites.

Causes of CCI
The interference between the signals from the co-channel cells. Causes of CCI Undesired Transmitter Signals located far away in some other cells of the same frequencies (cochannel signals) arrive at the receiver. Adverse weather conditions Poor frequency planning Overly-crowded radio spectrum

Example of CCI
D1 D2

D6

D5
D3 D4

Co-Channel Interference
Co-channel cells must be physically seperated by minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due to propogation. When the size of each cell is approximately same and the BS transmits same power, the CCI is independent of transmitted power but becomes the function of - Radius of cells (R) and - Distance between centers of co-channel cells (D).

Minimizing CCI
By increasing D/R ratio, the spatial separation between the cochannel cells relative to the coverage distance of cell is increased. Thus co-channel interference is reduced. This ratio (D/R) is called co-channel reuse ratio represented by Q

Where N is cluster size. Hence, Q determines the spatial separation relative to the coverage distance of a cell. Smaller value of Q provides larger capacity, but higher CCI
Hence there is a tradeoff between the Capacity and Interference

Co-channel reuse Ratio Table

Signal-to-Interference Ratio
The SIR (or S/I) for mobile receiver which monitors a forward channel is expressed as
(submission i=1 to i0) where S is desired signal power and Ii is interference power. i0 is number of co-channel interfering cells.

(S/I ) = S/(Ii )

If the signal levels of co-channels are known, then S/I ratio for the forward link can be found using the equation.

Calculation of S/I
Average received power (Pr) at a distance (d) from transmitting antenna is approximated as Pr = Po (d/do)-n
Where Po is power received at reference point near to antenna at distance do n is path loss exponent.

Now, if Di is the distance of ith interferer from mobile, the received power due to ith interfering cell will be proportional to (Di)-n

Calculation of S/I

Hence S/I is independent of Cell Radius.

Example of CCI
D
D

D
Assuming all interfering BS are equidistant

Calculate cluster size through S/I

Assume 6 closest cells (io) are creating significant interference and are equidistant from desired BS. Assume path loss exponent n=4. Subjective tests indicate that sufficient voice quality is provided when S/I 18dB = 63.18 Using the equation We get the cluster size N should be at least 6.49, Thus minimum cluster size of 7 is required to meet an S/I requirement of 18dB.

First tier of co-channel cell for N=7

When the mobile is at the cell boundary (point X), it experiences worst case co-channel interference on forward channel.

CCI Worst case (S/I Ratio)

S/I = R-4/(2(D-R)-4 + 2(D)-4 + 2(D+R)-4)
= 1/(2(Q-1)-4 + 2(Q)-4 + 2(Q+1)-4)

CCI Average case (S/I Ratio)

Assuming user is near to centre of cell, we get

S/I

= R-4/6(D)-4 = 1/6(D/R)-4
= 1/6Q-4

Power control to reduce Interference

The power levels transmitted by every subscriber unit are under constant control by the serving BS. This is done to ensure that each mobile transmits the smallest power necessary to maintain a good quality link on reverse channel. Power Control reduces interference. It also provides long battery life. It also reduces the reverse channel S/I in system. It is especially important in spread spectrum systems that allow every user in every cell to share the same radio channel . Reduced Interference leads to higher capacity.

Improving Capacity
As the demand for service increases, system designers have to provide more channels per unit coverage area. Common techniques are Cell Splitting, Sectoring and Microcell Zoning Cell Splitting increases the number of BS deployed and allows an orderly growth of cellular system. Cell Sectoring uses directional antennas to further control interference and frequency reuse. Microcell Zoning distributes the coverage of a cell and extends the cell boundary to hard to reach places.

Cell Splitting
Cell Splitting is a process of subdividing a congested cell into smaller cells with
their own BS A corresponding reduction in antenna height A corresponding reduction in transmitted power Splitting the cells reduces the cell size thus more number of cells have to be used. More number of cells viz. more number of clusters viz. more channels viz. higher capacity. Cell Splitting allows a system to grow by replacing large cells by small cells without upsetting the channel allocation.

Cells are split to add channels with no new spectrum usage

Large Cells Low Density

Small Cells High Density

Cell Splitting
The cells are split to add channels with no new spectrum usage. Depending on traffic patterns the smaller cells may be activated/deactivated in order to efficiently use cell reuse resources. A typical city cellular radio cell plan different cell sizes and clusters.

Cell Splitting increases capacity

Power of Smaller Cells

Suppose cell radius of new cells are reduced by half. What is the required transmit power for these new cells? We have Pr *at old cell boundary+ Pt1 R-n Pr *at new cell boundary+ Pt2 (R/2)-n Pt2 = Pt1 /16 if n=4

Thus transmitted power of smaller cell should be 16 times lower than the large cell.

Capacity increase
Suppose a congested area is originally covered by 5 Cells, each cell with 80 channels. Capacity = 5 x 80 = 400 users After cell splitting Rnew = R/2 Now we have 24 cells. New Capacity = 24 x 80= 19200 users Hence cell splitting provide strong technique to handle more users without asking for extra bandwidth.

Cell Sectoring
As opposed to cell splitting, where D/R is kept constant while decreasing R, sectoring keeps R untouched and reduces D/R. Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the number of cells per cluster, thus increasing frequency reuse. However, it will lead to higher interference which is taken care-off. It is necessary to reduce the relative interference without decreasing the transmitter power.

Cell Sectoring
The CCI may be decreased by replacing the single omnidirectional antenna by several directional antennas, each radiating within a specified sector. The directional antenna transmits and receives only a fraction of the total number of cochannel cells. Thus CCI is reduced. A cell is normally partitioned into three 1200 sectors, four 900 sectors or six 600 sectors. Increasing the number of sectors, CCI reduces but increases number of handoffs.

Sectoring improves S/I

Way of Cell Sectoring

Placing directional transmitters at corners where three adjacent cells meet

Problems with sectoring

Increase in number of antennas at each BS Decrease in trunking efficiency due to sectoring (dividing the bigger pool of channels into smaller groups). Increased number of handoffs (sector-to-sector). However, many modern BS support sectoring and related handoff without the help of MSC. Therefore sectoring can be handled locally.

Microcell Zone Concept

The problems of sectoring can be solved by Microcell Zone concept. A cell is divided into microcells or zones. Each microcell (zone) is connected to the same BS using Fiber/microwave link. Each zone uses a directional antenna. As a mobile travels from one zone to another, it retains the same channel, i.e no hand-off. BS simply switches the channel to the next zone side.

The Zone Cell Concept let each cell be divided into three zones

Microcell Zone Concept

While the cell maintains a particular coverage area, the CCI reduces because:
Large central BS is replaced by several low power transmitters. Directional antennas are used.

Decreased CCI improves

Signal quality Capacity

Zone Cell Concept

Example Microcell Zone Concept

Suppose desired S/I = 18 dB. Path loss exponent n = 4 How much capacity increase can occur if we use Microcell Zoning of 3 zones/cell? To achieve S/I = 18 dB we need N = 7. We use Microcell Zone concept and create 3 zones within 1 cell. This makes the cluster size N = 3. The capacity increase factor = 7/3 = 2.33

Repeaters for range extension

Useful for hard to reach areas
Within buildings, basements Tunnels Valleys

Radio transmitters, called repeaters can be used to provide coverage in these areas. Repeaters are bidirectional
Receive signals from the BS Amplify the signals Reradiate the signal to required area.

Received noise and interference is also reradiated.

Mobile Radio Propagation:Intoduction

The mobile radio channel places fundamental limitations on the performance of wireless communication systems. Wireless communication path may be
Line of sight(LOS) Non Line Of Sight(NLOS):Obstruction by buildings, mountain and foliage. Radio channel are often random and time varying. Modelling the radio channel has historically been one of the most difficult parts of the mobile radio system design.