Presentation Report

Abstract :
In this report we studied the basics of the GSM. In
which we went through the GSM architecture,
different interfaces used in GSM, the internal
components of GSM. Then we went through the most
important phenomenon of channel allocation and
frequency re-use, different types of interferences,
Submitted power control to minimize the effect of interferences.
by: Techniques for improving channel capacity are also
covered.
Ali Naseer (1728)
Arsalan J. Tarar (1999)
Saqib Aqeel (1773)
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Table of Contents
1-CHAPTER 1..................................... ......................................4
1.1 The Beginning of GSM........................................................5
1.2. Two Main Standards of GSM.......................... .....................6
1.3. GSM frequency bands:....................................... ................6
1.4 Specifications and Characteristics for GSM:.........................7
1.5 Radio Transmission Aspects:...............................................7
1.6 Basic Architecture:....................................... ......................8
2-CHAPTER 2..................................... ......................................9
2.1 GSM ARCHITECTURE:........................................................10
2.1.1 Functions of a Mobile Station:................................................................10
2.1.2 Base Station System (BSS):...................................................................11
2.1.3 Mobile Switching Center (MSC):.............................................................11
2.1.3.1 The MSC connects to the following elements:.....................................12
2.1.4 Operation and Maintenance Subsystem (OMS):.....................................12
2.2 GSM NETWORK AREAS...................... ................................13
2.2.1Cell:.................................................................................................. .......13
2.2.2 Location Area:........................................................................................14
2.2.3 MSC/VLR Service Area............................................................................14
2.2.4 PLMN Service Area:................................................................................14
3-CHAPTER 3.......................................................................... 15
3.1 CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT STRATEGIES: 1............................ ...16
3.1.1 FIXED CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT:...............................................................16
3.1.2 BROWING STRATAGEY:...........................................................................16
3.1.3 DYNAMIC CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT:.........................................................16
3.2 INTERFERENCE AND SYSTEM CAPACITY: 1...........................17
3.2.1 TYPES OF THE INTERFERENCE:..............................................................17
3.2.2 CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:................................................................18
3.2.3 ADJACENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:.....................................................20
3.3 Minimization of Adjacent Channel Interference: 1...............22
3.3.1 Filtering:.................................................................................. ...............22
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3.3.2 Channel Assignment Strategy: ..............................................................22

4-CHAPTER 4.......................................................................... 23
4.1 Power Control: 1............................................................ ...24
4.1.1 Open loop power control: ......................................................................24
4.1.2 Fast closed-loop power control: .............................................................24
4.2 Traffic Load and Cell Size:3...............................................24
4.2.1 Cell splitting: 1.......................................................................................25
4.2.2 Sectoring: 1........................................................................................ ....27
.............................................................................. ..............29
5.0 References:.............................................................. ........30

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1-CHAPTER 1

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1.1 The Beginning of GSM

1980: In the early 1980s, as business was becoming increasingly international, the
communications industry focused exclusively on local cellular solutions, with very
few compatible systems. Nevertheless, it was clear there would be anes collating
demand for a technology that facilitated flexible and reliable mobile
communications. The problem was lack of capacity. By the early 1990s, it was clear
that analog technology would not be able to keep up with demand. GSM is
worldwide standard that allows users of different operators to connect and to
shares the services simultaneously. GSM has been the backbone of the phenomenal
success in mobile telecommunication over the last decade. Now, at the dawn of the
era of true broadband services, GSM continues to evolve to meet new demands.
One of GSM's great strengths is its international roaming capability, giving
consumers a seamless service in about 160 countries. This has been a vital driver in
growth, with around 300 million GSM subscribers currently in Europe and Asia. In
the Americas, today's 7 million subscribers are set to grow rapidly, with market
potential of 500 million in population, due to the introduction of GSM 800, which
allows operators using the 800 MHz band to have access to GSM technology too.
The Europeans realized this early on, and in 1982 the Conference of European Posts
and Telegraphs (CEPT) formed a study group called the Group Special Mobile
(GSM) to study and develop a pan-European public land mobile system.

The proposed system had to meet certain criteria:

1. good subjective speech quality,

2. low terminal and service cost,

3. support for international roaming,

4. ability to support handheld terminals,

5. support for range of new services and facilities

6. spectral efficiency

7. ISDN compatibility

GSM is a standard for a Global System for Mobile communications. Global System
for Mobile communications, a mobile phone system based on multiple radio cells
(cellular mobile phone network). It has been agreed upon and is completed by
ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
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1.2. Two Main Standards of GSM

Two main standards are followed:

1. GSM 900 (global system for mobile communications in the 900 MHz band)
2. DCS 1800 (digital cellular system for the 1800 MHz band)

1.3. GSM frequency bands:

Figure 1.3a: GSM Frequency Bands

Pictorial representation of the uplink and downlink frequencies is given as

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F
igu
re

1.3b: Pictorial Representation

1.4 Specifications and Characteristics for GSM:

· Frequency band—the frequency range specified for GSM is 1,850 to 1,990 MHz
(mobile station to base station).

· Duplex distance—the duplex distance is 80 MHz Duplex distance is the distance

between the uplink and downlink frequencies. A channel has two frequencies, 80
MHz apart.

· Channel separation—the separation between adjacent carrier frequencies. In GSM,

this is 200 kHz.

· Modulation—Modulation is the process of sending a signal by changing the

characteristics of a carrier frequency. This is done in GSM via Gaussian minimum
shift keying (GMSK).

· Transmission rate—GSM is a digital system with an over-the-air bit rate of 270

kbps.

· Access method—GSM utilizes the time division multiple access (TDMA) concept.
TDMA is a technique in which several different calls may share the same carrier.
Each call is assigned a particular time slot.

· Speech coder—GSM uses linear predictive coding (LPC). The purpose of LPC is to
reduce the bit rate. The LPC provides parameters for a filter that mimics the vocal
tract. The signal passes through this filter, leaving behind a residual signal. Speech
is encoded at 13 kbps.

1.5 Radio Transmission Aspects:

For the GSM-900 system, two frequency bands have been made available:

1. 890 - 915 MHz for the uplink (direction MS to BS)

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2. 935 - 960 MHz for the downlink (direction BS to MS).

The 25 MHz bands are then divided into 124 pairs of frequency duplex channels
with 200 kHz carrier spacing using Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA).
Since it is not possible for a same cell to use two adjacent channels, the channel
spacing can be said to be 200 kHz interleaved. One or more carrier frequencies are
assigned to individual Base Station (BS) and a technique known as Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA) is used to split this 200 kHz radio channel into 8 time slots
(which creates 8 logical channels). A logical channel is therefore defined by its
frequency and the TDMA frame time slot number. By employing
eight time slots, each channel transmits the digitized speech in a series of short
bursts: a GSM terminal is only ever transmitting for one eighth of the time.

1.6 Basic Architecture:

A GSM system is basically designed as a combination of four major subsystems:

1. Radio subsystem (RSS)

2. Network (switching) subsystem (SSS)

3. Operation and maintenance subsystem (OMS)

Figure 1.6: Main Components of GSM Network

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2-CHAPTER 2

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2.1 GSM ARCHITECTURE:

Figure 7.0.1: GSM Architecture

2.1.1 Functions of a Mobile Station:

The Mobile Station (MS) performs the following:

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)

1. Radio transmission termination

2. Radio channel management

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3. Speech encoding/decoding

4. Radio link error protection

5. Flow control of data

6. Mobility management

7. Performance measurements of radio link

The MS has two very important entities, each with its own identity:

1. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

2. Mobile equipment

2.1.2 Base Station System (BSS):

In GSM, the Base Station System is a term given to a BSC (Base Station Controller)
and the BTS (Base Transceiver Station) associated with it. The number of BTS
associated with a BSC is dependent on the manufacturer. Although not mandatory,
through interpretation of the Abis interface standard BTS and BSC employed
within a BSS will always be supplied by the same manufacturer.
The base station subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular telephone
network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile
phone and the network switching subsystem. The BSS carries out transcoding of
speech channels, allocation of radio channels to mobile phones, paging, quality
management of transmission and reception over the air interface and many other
tasks related to the radio network

Figure 2.1.2: BSS Structure

2.1.3 Mobile Switching Center (MSC):

An MSC is the point of connection to the network for mobile subscribers of a

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wireless telephone network. It connects to the subscribers through base stations

and radio transmission equipment that control the air interface, and to the network
of other MSCs and wireless infrastructure through voice trunks and SS7. An MSC
includes the procedures for mobile registration and is generally co-sited with a
visitor location register (VLR) that is used to temporarily store information relating
to the mobile subscribers temporarily connected to that MSC. The MSC performs
the telephony switching functions of the system.

2.1.3.1 The MSC connects to the following elements:

· The home location register (HLR) for obtaining data about the SIM and mobile
services ISDN number (MSISDN; i.e., the telephone number).

· The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) which handles the radio
communication with 3G mobile phones.

· The visitor location register (VLR) for determining where other mobile subscribers
are located.

· Other MSCs for procedures such as handover.

2.1.4 Operation and Maintenance Subsystem (OMS):

The Operations and Maintenance Center (OMC) is the centralized maintenance

and diagnostic heart of the Base Station System (BSS). It allows the network
provider to operate, administer, and monitor the functioning of the BSS. An OMS
consists of one or more Operation & Maintenance Centre (OMC). The operations
and maintenance center (OMC) is connected to all equipment in the switching
system and to the BSC. The implementation of OMC is called the operation and
support system (OSS). The OSS is the functional entity from which the network
operator monitors and controls the system. The purpose of OSS is to offer the
customer cost-effective support for centralized, regional and local operational and
maintenance activities that are required for a GSM network. An important function
of OSS is to provide a network overview and support the maintenance activities of
different operation and maintenance organizations.

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Figure 2.1.4: OAM

2.2 GSM NETWORK AREAS

The GSM network is made up of geographic areas. As shown in Figure, these

areas include cells, location areas (LAs), MSC/VLR service areas, and public
land mobile network (PLMN) areas.

Figure 2.2: GSM NETWORK AREAS

2.2.1Cell:
Cell is the basic service area. The cell is the area given radio coverage by one
base transceiver station. The GSM network identifies each cell via the cell global
identity (CGI) number assigned to each cell.

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2.2.2 Location Area:

The location area is a group of cells. It is the area in which the subscriber is
paged. Each LA is served by one or more base station controllers, yet only by a
single MSC. Each LA is assigned a location area identity (LAI) number.

Figure 2.2.2: Location Area

2.2.3 MSC/VLR Service Area

An MSC/VLR service area represents the part of the GSM network that is
covered by one MSC and which is reachable, as it is registered in the VLR of the
MSC (see figure below)

Figure 2.2.3: MSC/VLR Service Area

2.2.4 PLMN Service Area:

The area covered by one network operator is called PLMN. A PLMN can contain
one or more MSCs.

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3-CHAPTER 3

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3.1 CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT STRATEGIES: 1

For the efficient utilization of the radio spectrum a frequency reuse scheme that is
consistent with the objectives of increasing and minimizing interference is
required. A variety of channel assignment strategies have been deployed. Channel
assignment strategies can be classified into two categories

1. Fixed channel assignment

2. Dynamic channel assignment

The choice of the channel assignment strategy impacts the performance of the
system.

3.1.1 FIXED CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT:

In a fixed channel assignment, each cell is allocated a predetermined set of a voice

channels. Any call attempt within the cell only is served by the unused channels in
that particular cell. If all the channels in that cell are occupied, the call is blocked
and the subscriber doesn’t receive service. Several variations of the fixed
assignment strategy exist.

3.1.2 BROWING STRATAGEY:

In this strategy a cell is allowed to borrow channels from a neighboring cell if all of
its own channels are already occupied. The MSC supervises such borrowing
strategy.

3.1.3 DYNAMIC CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT:

In a dynamic channel assignment strategy voice channels are not allowed to
different cells permanently. Instead each time a call request is made, the serving
base station requests a channel from the MSC. The switch then allocates a channel
to requested cell following an algorithm that takes into account the blocking within
the cell, the frequency of the use of the candidate channel, the reuse distance of the
channel and the other cost functions.

Accordingly the MSC only allocates a given frequency if that frequency is not
presently in use in the cell or any other cell which falls within the minimum
restricted distance of the frequency reuse to avoid co-channels interference.

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Dynamic channel assignment reduces the blocking, which increases the trucking
capacity of the system, since all the available channels in the market are accessible
to all the cells. Dynamic channel assignment requires MSC to collect real-time-data
on the channel occupancy, traffic distribution and radio signal strength indications
of all the channels on a continuous basis.

3.2 INTERFERENCE AND SYSTEM CAPACITY: 1

Interference is the major limiting factor in the performance of the cellular radio
systems. Sources of the interference include the following cases

1. Include another mobile in the same cell

2. A call in progress in the neighboring cell
3. Other base stations operating in the same frequency band
4. Any noncellular system which inadvertently leaks energy into cellular
frequency band

Interference on the voice channels causes crosstalk, where the subscriber hears
interference in the background due to an undesired transmission. On control
channels, interference leads to missed and blocked calls due to errors in the digital
signaling. Interference is more severe in urban areas due to the greater RF noise
floor and the large number of base stations and the mobiles. Interference has been
recognized as a major bottleneck in increasing capacity.

3.2.1 TYPES OF THE INTERFERENCE:

The two major types of system-generated cellular interference are as follows

1. Co-channel interference
2. Adjacent channel interference

Interfering signals are often generated within the cellular system; they are difficult
to control in practice. Even more difficult to control is interference due to out of
band users, which arises without warning due to the front-end overload of the
subscriber equipment. In practice the transmitters from the competing cellular
carriers are often a significant source of out of band interference, since competitors
often locate their base stations in close proximity to one another in order to provide
comparable coverage to the customers.

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3.2.2 CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:

Frequency reuse implies that a given coverage area there are several cells that use
the same set of frequencies. These cells are called co-channel cells and the
interference between the signals from these cells is called co-channel interference.

Note: unlike the thermal noise which can be overcome by increasing the signal-to-
noise ratio

Co-channel interference cannot be combated by simply increasing the carrier

power of transmitter. This is because an increase in carrier transmitter power
increases the interference to neighboring co-channel cells. To reduce co-channel
interference co-channel cells must be physically separated by a minimum distance
to provide sufficient isolation due to propagation.

When the size of the cell is approximately the same and the base station transmit
the same power the co-channel interference ratio is independent of the transmitted
power and becomes a function of radius of cell and the distance between the
centers of the nearest co-channel cells. By increasing the ratio of D/R the spatial
separation between co-channel cells relative to the coverage distance of the cell is
increased. Thus the interference is reduced from the improved isolation of the RF
energy from the co-channel cell. The parameter Q called the co-channel reuse ratio
is related to the cluster size. For a hexagonal geometry.

A small value of Q provides larger capacity since the cluster size N is small,
whereas a larger value of Q improves the transmission quality due to the smaller
level of co-channel interference. A trade-off must be made between these two
objectives in actual cellular design.

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Let Io be the number of the co-channel interfering cells. Then the signal-to-
interference ratio from a mobile receiver which monitors a forward channel can be
expressed as

Where S is the desired signal power from the desired base station and I is the
interference power caused by the ith interfering co-channel cell base station. if the
signal levels of the co-channel cells are known then the S/I ratio for the forward
link can be found using above equation

Propagation measurements in a mobile radio channel show that the average

received signal strength at any point decays as a power law of distance of
separation between a transmitter and the receiver. The average received power at a
distance d is give as

Where P0 is the power received at a close in reference point in the far field region
of the antenna at a small distance from transmitting antenna and n is the path loss
exponent.

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When the transmitted power of each base station is equal and the path loss
exponent is the same throughout the coverage area S/I for a mobile can be as.

Figure 3.2.2: Illustration of the first tier of co-channel cells for a cluster size of N=7

3.2.3 ADJACENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:

Interference resulting from the signals which are adjacent in frequency to the
desired signal is called adjacent channel interference. Adjacent channel interference
results from the imperfect receiver filters which allow nearby frequencies to leak
into the pass band. The problem can be particularly serious if an adjacent channel
user is very close to a subscriber’s receiver. While the receiver attempts to receive a
base station on the desired channel. This is referred as near-far-effect, where a
nearby transmitter captures the receiver of the subscriber. Alternatively the near far
effect occurs when a mobile close to a base station transmits on a channel close to
one being used by a weak mobile.

Adjacent channel interference can be minimized through careful filtering and

channel assignments. Since each cell is given only a fraction of the available
channels, a cell need not be assigned channels which are all adjacent in frequency.
By keeping the frequency separation between each channel in a given cell as large
as possible, the adjacent channel interference may be reduced separately. Thus
instead of assigning channels which form a contiguous band of frequencies within a
particular cell, many channels allocation schemes are able to separate adjacent
channels in a cell by as many N channel bandwidths, where N is the cluster size.

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If the frequency reuse factor is large the separation between the adjacent channels
as the base station may not be sufficient to keep the adjacent channel interference
level within tolerable limits. For example if a close in mobile is 20 times as close to
the base station as another mobile and has the energy spill out of its pass band the
S/I is weak mobile given by

For the path loss exponent n=4 this is equal to -52db. If the intermediate frequency
filter of the base station receiver has a slope of 20dB/octave, then an adjacent
channel interferer must be displayed by at least six times the pass band from the
centre of the receiver frequency to achieve 52db attenuation.

This implies that more than six channels are needed to bring the adjacent channel
interference to acceptable level. The below figure explains the channel allocation for
A and B side carriers

Figure 3.2.3: Channel allocation for A & B side carriers

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3.3 Minimization of Adjacent Channel Interference: 1

It is very important to reduce ACI because if we do not reduce ACI, we will have to
place guard band between adjacent channels. This will reduce the already limited
wireless bandwidth that is available. There are two ways using which we can
reduce ACI:

• Filtering

• Better Channel Assignment Strategy

3.3.1 Filtering:
We can reduce ACI by using better and careful filtering techniques with minimum
leakage and sharp transition.

3.3.2 Channel Assignment Strategy:

[[[

Channels in a cell need not be adjacent. For channels within a cell, keep frequency
separation as large as possible. Sequentially assign cells the successive frequency
channels so that adjacent channel is not in the same cell.

Also, secondary level of interference can be reduced by not assigning adjacent

channels to neighboring cells.

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4-CHAPTER 4

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4.1 Power Control: 1

We can also control the power in cellular system to minimize interference and
improved reverse SIR.

Power levels that are transmitted by every subscriber unit are under constant
control by the Base Station. Base Station constantly keeps a check on the received
power on the reverse channel. Mobile Station should transmit minimum power to
maintain quality link on reverse channel. This has benefits of longer Battery Life at
the Mobile Station Reduced reverse SIR.

In CDMA systems, it is extremely important to control the power, as the

neighboring cells are using the same channel

4.1.1 Open loop power control:

In open loop power control, mobile station constantly performs estimation of the
path loss on the forward channel and according to that adjusts its output power.

It is not very accurate as in frequency division duplexing, uplink and downlink

frequencies are different and fast fading is uncorrelated between uplink and
downlink.

4.1.2 Fast closed-loop power control:

Fast closed-loop power control is a better technique than open loop power control.
In this Base Station performs frequent estimations of the received SIR and compares
to a target SIR or a threshold and according to the results it commands the mobile
station to lower or increase its power.

The command-react cycle for changing the power is 1500 times per second for each
mobile station (faster than any fading mechanism).

4.2 Traffic Load and Cell Size:3

The more traffic generated, the more base stations will be needed to service the
customers. The number of base stations for a simple cellular network is equal to the
number of cells. The traffic engineer can achieve the goal of satisfying the
increasing population of customers by increasing the number of cells in the area
concerned, so this will also increases the number of base stations. This method is

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called cell splitting (and combined with sectorization) is the only way of providing
services to a burgeoning population. This simply works by dividing the cells
already present into smaller sizes hence increasing the traffic capacity. Reduction of
the cell radius enables the cell to accommodate extra traffic. The cost of equipment
can also be cut down by reducing the number of base stations through setting up
three neighboring cells, with the cells serving three 120° sectors with different
channel groups.

4.2.1 Cell splitting: 1

Cell splitting consists of decreasing the radii of existing cells and adding new ones.
Cell splitting has been one of the principal means by which cellular telephone
operators increased the capacity of their networks, and it will also be a standard
tactic for broadband wireless operators, although it will be supplemented by NLOS
technologies that were not available to cellular operators during the period of
greatest growth in cellular networks. Cell splitting should properly be considered a
species of cell mapping or planning and refers to a process by which the network
operator predetermines the minimum number of cells required to provide the
desired coverage and capacity as the network attracts more subscribers. One does
not just split a cell into two neat halves; one has to construct entirely new coverage
patterns for each of the resulting base stations.

It is a fairly involved process because of the very indefiniteness of cells themselves,

a fact that may not be immediately apparent to the individual without extensive
knowledge of RF propagation.

When a diagram is made of a cellular network—and I use the term broadly here,
not just with respect to mobile telephone networks—the cells are often represented
as a sort of honeycomb pattern, a hexagonal arrangement of spaces where
everything is clearly defined and fits neatly together, though occasionally a
checkerboard pattern is substituted. Both patterns are abstractions, and misleading
ones at that. A cell radius is always an arbitrary value. A radio signal does not
abruptly cease to propagate at so many yards from the transmitter; indeed it
continues to the very edge of the cosmos, though growing steadily weaker over
distance. What this means is that not only do adjacent cells overlap, but that every
cell in the network overlaps with every other cell. Picture the propagation of signals
as ripples or wavelets spreading over the surface of a pond. Each pattern of ripples
travels everywhere, and each reflection begets new ripples. This being the case,
cells should be considered as concentrations of RF energy rather than as well-

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defined geographical areas. Nevertheless, subscriber units within a point-to-

multipoint network architecture must treat the cells as if they were well-defined
entities; that is, subscriber units located at the arbitrary boundary separating cells
must communicate with only one base station even though they are receiving
signals from several, albeit at reduced levels. In other words, they must lock onto
the base station with which they are registered and reject interference from all
others, and for that to happen transmit power levels must be strictly controlled
throughout the network. This, as it happens, has important implications for cell
splitting. Because the average radii of all the cells in the network decrease with cell
splitting, so perforce does the transmit distance from the subscriber terminal to the
base station, and vice versa. And because of the shorter distances involved,
transmitting power must be reduced at both the base station and the subscriber
terminals to avoid interference throughout the network.

Because in a fixed broadband network (excepting the mesh variety, which really
does not have cells as such) subscriber units are normally assigned to a specific cell
(an assignment that is ultimately based on the strength of the signal in either
direction), re-determining the optimal transmit power levels becomes extremely
important during cell splitting.

Cell splitting may also necessitate the reassignment of channels within each cell in
the network since the new cells will be establishing new channel relationships with
surrounding cells. Altogether, it is not a process to be undertaken lightly and
without a thorough reexamination of the entire network. As indicated earlier, it is
advisable to plot out the location and capacity of every base station hat the network
will ever need at the time the network is being launched, though that may not
always be possible, and the time may come when the network operator is forced to
consider unanticipated microcells to meet demand. At that point, the network
operator is faced with the task of essentially reengineering and re-architecting the
entire network. Obviously, there are limits to what can be done here. For practical
reasons one is not going to relocate existing base stations. But power levels and
channel assignments will all have to be redone, and the same software tools used in
the initial planning process will have to be used all over again.

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Figure 4.2.1: Illustration of Cell Splitting

For the new cell to be smaller in size, the transmit power of these cells must be
reduced. The transmit power of the new cells with radius half that of the original
cells can be found by examining the received power Pr at new and old cell
boundaries and setting them equal to each other. This is necessary to ensure that
the frequency reuse plan for the new microcells behave exactly as for the original
cells. For figure above:

Where Pt1 and Pt2 are the transmit powers of the larger and smaller cell base
stations respectively and ‘n’ is the path loss exponent.

4.2.2 Sectoring: 1

Sector zing is using an array of highly directional antennas to direct intense radio
frequency (RF) energy into a designated area of the cell and little energy elsewhere.
The sector defined by the antenna array appears like a pie slice when depicted on a
diagram. Sectorization itself is a species of spatial diversity, of which adaptive
beam steering is another. In both cases the operator is able to define sub channels in

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three-dimensional space rather than by frequency division or the use of sequential

time slots. Figure below shows how a directional antenna defines a sector by
sweeping a narrow arc. The figure shows a directivity polar plot for such an
antenna. Sectorizing is somewhat akin to cell splitting and indeed may be viewed
as a sort of poor man’s cell splitting inasmuch as it allows the operator to reuse
spectrum aggressively without installing a new base station and defining a new
cell. It is a standard tactic in the majority of broadband wireless networks.

Sect oral antenna arrays vary according to the number of sectors they form, with
three to eight sectors being the usual range and four and six being the most
common numbers. Obviously, the more sectors, the narrower the beam width of
each antenna in the array. Some arrays are configurable to cover the whole range
from three to eight, that is, the number of sectors that can be made to vary by
adjustments in the antenna itself. Since each antenna in a sectoral array will be
provided with a separate radio, sectorization definitely entails higher costs for the
network operator. Sectors are akin to cells in that they ordinarily permit a channel
to be reused one sector away but not in intervening sectors. This means that when
four sectors are present, the reuse factor is two, and for six the factor is three, and so
on. As indicated earlier, advanced modulation techniques loosen such reuse
constraints to some extent. In very large cells, as you have seen, the narrow beams
formed by sectoral antennas spread out over distance, so actual frequency reuse
capabilities will be reduced at the outer periphery. Naturally the bigger the cell, the
greater the spreading and the more the sectors will overlap.

Sectoral antennas can be used in both the lower microwave and millimeter
microwave regions, though the physical form of the antenna will differ with
frequency, with horns and waveguides being employed at the highest frequencies
and arrays of spaced omnidirectional pole antennas at the lower frequencies.
Sectoral antennas of whatever type are considerably more expensive than the
Omnis used in WLAN applications, but, given the vastly increased spectral
efficiency that they confer upon the network, the cost is trifling. Indeed, using such
devices has almost no downside, though they do concentrate the radiated energy,
somewhat increasing the potential for interference outside the cell. The cure for that
is to polarize the antennas in the horizontal plane so that only horizontally
disposed magnetic fields are propagated. The whole array is then tilted downward
so that beyond a certain distance the radiation will simply be absorbed into the
ground. The following section explains polarization itself.

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[Presentation Report]

Figure 4.2.2: (a) 120 degree sectoring, (b) 60 degree sectoring

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 [Presentation Report]

5.0 References:

1: Wireless Communications by Theodore Rappaport

2:http://www.scribd.com/search?cx=007890693382555206581%3A7fgc6et2hmk&c
of=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&c=all&ft=&q=open+loop+power+control#1121

3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_traffic#Traffic_load_and_cell_size

4:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/solutions_docs/mobile_ip/mobil_ip.ht
ml

5:http://nislab.bu.edu/sc546/sc441Spring2003/mobileIP/What%20and%20How.h
tml

6:https://commerce.metapress.com/content/l48275725160w472/resource-
secured/?target=fulltext.pdf&sid=lfcpzc45jppht0usvlatnq55&sh=www.springerlin
k.com

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