Test 1- Marking scheme

Question 1

a. It is advisable to increase the mobile network capacity by reducing the cell size. Discuss
at least there disadvantages of using small cell size.
.
o Smaller cell size increases the rate at which handoffs occurs, which increases the
dropping probability if the percentage of failed handoffs stays the same.
o Smaller cells increase the load on the backbone network.
o More cells per unit area require more base stations, which can increase system
cost.
o Propagation characteristics typically change as cell size shrinks, so the system
does not scale perfectly.

b. Describe other techniques that can improve the mobile network capacity without
reducing the cell size.
i. Cell sectoring
Directional antennas instead of being omnidirectional will only beam over a
certain angle.
We can now assign frequency sets to sectors and decrease the re-use distance or
improve S/I ratio (i.e. signal quality).
Question: By how much? Depends on number of sectors (i.e., 60% or 120%).

ii. Lees Microcell Zone Concept

Large central sender is replaced by 3 or more low power senders (coverage
radius is retained).
3 zones act as receivers but only the best receiving zone sites sends
When the mobile moves, the zone may change but the channel remains (no
handover is necessary)
Co-channel interference is small and N=3 can be used instead of N=7.
Thus the capacity is increased by the factor 7/3 = 2.33

Question 2

Consider a cellular system which has an average call holding time of 2 minutes and an
average call rate of 2 calls/hour per user. Suppose the system deploys AMPS cellular system
with a total of 395 traffic channels and 7 cell reuse system. The system is designed to offer
blocking probability of not more than 1%. Assume Erlang B distribution.
 i. Find the number of users in each cell and the number of performed calls per hour in
each cell
Traffic Intensity for each user:
Au = H = (2/60) x 2 = 0.006 Erlangs/user.

Number of simultaneous users per cell is:

395 (voice channels) 56.42 = 57 channels
7 Cells/cluster
Given C=57, B=1% A = 44.2 Erlangs (From Erlang B Table).
Total number of users per cell:
U= (A/Au)=(44.2/0.006) 669.7 = 670 users/cell.
No. of calls = 670 x 2 calls/hour = 1,340 calls/hour.

ii. Assuming that each cell employs 120o sectoring, computer the number of user in each
cell and the number of calls per hour in each cell.
For 120 sectoring: the number of simultaneous users per sector is:
57 channels = 19 channels
3
Given C=19, B=1% A = 11.2 Erlangs (From Table).

Total number of users per sector:

Usec= (A/Au)=(11.2/0.006) 169.7 = 170 users/sector.
Total number of users/cell: U = 3 x 170 = 510 users/cell.
No. of calls = 510 x 2 calls/hour = 1,020 calls/hour.

Question 3

a. A cellular network for BEng 13T Communication Company consists of 32 cells with each
hexagonal cell area of 1.8 km2. The total number of radio channels allotted is 184. Determine
i. The total area covered by the cellular network
1.8 x 32 = 57.6 km2
ii. The total channel capacity if the company employs the cell reuse (N) of 7.

N=7, 184/7 = 27; 27 x 32 = 864

b. A certain mobile communication company allocates a total of 33MHz of bandwidth to a

particular FDD cellular telephone system which uses 25 kHz simplex channels to provide full
duplex voice and control channels. Find;
i. The number of channels available per cell for the company if it uses the
cluster size of 12 cells
 Channel bandwidth = 25 kHz x 2 simplex channels= 50 kHz/duplex
channel
The total available channels= 33 000 /50 = 660 channels
For N=12 number of channels/cell = 660/12 55 channels
ii. The frequency reuse distance D if the company aims to cover an area of 250
Km2, assume the company deploys hexagonal cell shape.

Assuming 50 basestation
2
Every base station covers 250/50 = 5 square kilometers 2.6 R = 5 => R = 1.39 km
Frequency resuse distance for N= 12 D = R 3N = 1.39 3x12 = 8.28 km