Cellular Concept

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2 CELLULAR CONCEPT
Traditional mobile service was structured similar to television broadcasting: One very
powerful transmitter located at the highest spot in an area would broadcast in a radius of up to
fifty kilometers. The Cellular concept structured the mobile telephone network in a different
way. Instead of using one powerful transmitter many low-powered transmitter were placed
through out a coverage area. For example, by dividing metropolitan region into one hundred
different areas (cells) with low power transmitters using twelve conversation (channels) each,
the system capacity could theoretically be increased from twelve conversations using one
hundred low power transmitters.

The cellular concept employs variable low power levels, which allows cells to be
sized according to subscriber density and demand of a given area. As the populations grows,
cells can be added to accommodate that growth. Frequencies used in one cell cluster can be
reused in other cells. Conversations can be handed over from cell to cell to maintain constant
phone service as the user moves between cells.

The cellular system design was pioneered by during70s by Bell Laboratories in the
United States, and the initial realization was known as AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
Service). The AMPS cellular service was available in United States in 1983. AMPS is
essentially generation 1 analog cellular system in contrast to generation 2 digital cellular
systems of GSM and CDMA (1S-95).

CELLS :
A cell is the basic geographic unit of cellular system. The term cellular comes from
the honeycomb areas into which a coverage region is divided. Cells are base stations
transmitting over small geographic areas that are represented as hexagons. Each cell size
varies depending upon landscape. Because of constraint imposed by natural terrain and man-
made structures, the true shape of cell is not a perfect hexagon.

A group of cells is called a cluster. No frequencies are reused in a cluster.

Features of Digital Cellular Systems:

Small cells

Frequency reuse

Small, battery-powered handsets

Performance of handovers

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CELLULAR SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS
General Cellular radio systems allow the subscriber to place and
receive telephone calls over the wire-line telephone network where ever
cellular coverage is provided. Roaming capabilities extend service to
users traveling outside their outside home service areas.

characteristics The distinguishing features of digital cellular systems compared

of digital to other mobile radio systems are:
Small cells
cellular systems
A cellular system uses many base stations with relatively
small coverage radii (on the order of a 100 m to 30 km).
Frequency reuse
The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. As
a result there is a limit to the number of channels or frequencies
that can be used. For this reason each frequency is used
simultaneously by multiple base-mobile pairs. This frequency
reuse allows a much higher subscriber density per MHz of
spectrum than other systems. System capacity can be further
increased by reducing the cell size (the coverage area of a single
base station), down to radii as small as 200 m.
Small, battery-powered handsets In addition to supporting much
higher densities than previous systems, this approach enables the
use of small, battery-powered handsets with a radio frequency that
is lower than the large mobile units used in earlier systems.
Performance of handovers
In cellular systems, continuous coverage is achieved by executing a
handover (the seamless transfer of the call from one base station to
another) as the mobile unit crosses cell boundaries. This requires the
mobile to change frequencies under control of the cellular network.

FREQUENCY REUSE :
Why frequency The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. As a
reuse result there is a limit to the number of frequencies or channels that can
be used. A cellular network can only provide service to a large number
of subscribers, if the channels allocated to it can be reused. Channel
reuse is implemented by using the same channels within cells located at
different positions in the cellular network service area.

Radio channels can be reused provided the separation

between cells containing the same channel set is far enough
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apart so that co-channel interference can be kept below

acceptable levels most of the time. Cells using the same channel
set are called co-channel cells.

Cell clustering The figure on the opposite page shows an example. Within the
service area (PLMN), specific channel sets are reused at a different
location (another cell). In the example, there are 7 channel sets: A
through G. Neighboring cells are not allowed to use the same
frequencies. For this reason all channel sets are used in a cluster of
neighboring cells. As there are 7 channel sets, the PLMN can be divided
into clusters of 7 cells each. The figure shows three clusters.

The number of channel sets is called K. K is also called the

reuse factor. In the figure, K=7. Valid values of K can be found using
equation (where i and j are integers):

K=i+j+I*j

Explaining this equation is beyond the scope of this course.

Some constraints to K are provided later in this chapter. Note that in the
example: Cells are shaped ideally (hexagons). The distance between
cells using the same channel set is always the same.

Other cell The figure on the opposite page shows some examples of
clusters possible clusters. The more cells in a cluster, the greater the separation
between co-channel cells when Other clusters are deployed. The idea is
to keep co-channel cell separation the same throughout the system area
for cells of the same size. Some valid cluster sizes that allow this are: 1,
3, 4, 7, 9 and 12.

Procedure for It is always possible to find cells using the same channel set, if
locating co- only the value of K is known. The following procedure is used.
channel cells
In the figure on the opposite page an example is shown with K =
19.

Signal Frequencies can be reused throughout a service area because

attenuation radio signals typically attenuate with distance to the base station (or
With distance mobile station). When the distance between cells using the same
frequencies becomes too small, co-channel

Interference might occur and lead to service interruption or

unacceptable quality of service.
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Step Action

1 Use the integer values i and j from the equation, and start

With the upper left cell. Through this cell, draw the j-axis.

2 Draw the i-axis. To find the starting point for the i-axis, count j
cells down the j-axis. In the example, one has to count 2 cells down
(j=2). The positive direction of the i-axis is always two cell faces (120
degrees) relative to the positive direction of the j-axis.

3 Find the first co-channel cell. It is found by counting i cells in the

positive i-axis direction. In the example, i = 3.

4 Find the other co-locating cells by repeating the previous steps.

The

Starting point is again at the upper left cell, but now choose another

Direction for the j-axis (e.g. rotate the j-axis with 60 degrees,
which is one cell face). As each cell has 6 faces, one will find 6 co-
channel cells around the starting cells. These are the nearest located
co-channel cells.

Capacity/Performance Trade-offs :

If K increases, then performance increases

If K increases, then call capacity decreases per cell

The number of sites to cover a given area with a given high traffic density, and hence
the cost of the infrastructure, is determined directly by the reuse factor and the number of
traffic channels that can be extracted from the available spectrum. These two factors are
compounded in what is called spectral efficiency of the system. Not all systems allow the
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same performance in this domain: they depend in particular on the robustness of the radio
transmission scheme against interference, but also on the use of a number of technical tricks,
such as reducing transmission during the silences of a speech communication. The spectral
efficiency, together with the constraints on the cell size, determines also the possible
compromises between the capacity and the cost of the infrastructure. All this explains the
importance given to spectral efficiency.

Many technical tricks to improve spectral efficiency were conceived during the
system design and have been introduced in GSM. They increase the complexity, but this is
balanced by the economical advantages of a better efficiency. The major points are the
following:

The control of the transmitted power on the radio path aims at minimizing the average
power broadcast by mobile stations as well as by base stations, whilst keeping transmission
quality above a given threshold. This reduces the level of interference caused to the other
communications;

Frequency hopping improves transmission quality at slow speeds through frequency

diversity, and improves spectral efficiency through interferer diversity;

Discontinuous transmission, where by transmission is suppressed when possible,

allows a reduction in the interference level of other communications. Depending on the type
of user information transmitted, it is possible to derive the need for effective transmission. In
the case of speech, the mechanism called VAD (Voice Activity Detection) allows
transmission requirements to be reduced by an important factor (typically, reduced by half);

The mobile assisted handover, whereby the mobile station provides measurements
concerning neighboring cells, enables efficient handover decision algorithms aimed at
minimizing the interference generated by the cell (whilst keeping the transmission quality
above some threshold).

References:1. The GSM system for mobile communication-Michel Mouly &

Marie- Bernadette Pautet.

2. GSM system Engineering-Asha Mehrotra (Artech House Publisher).

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