1.

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

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
of digital
The distinguishing features of digital cellular systems compared to
cellular
other mobile radio systems are:
systems

Small cells
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
reuse

Cell clustering

The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. As a 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 apart so that cochannel interference can be kept below acceptable levels most of
the time. Cells using the same channel set are called co-channel
cells.
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:

Other cell
clusters

Procedure for
locating cochannel cells

Cells are shaped ideally (hexagons).

The distance between cells using the same channel set
is always the same.

The figure on the opposite page shows some examples of 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.
It is always possible to find cells using the same channel set, if only
the value of K is known. The following procedure is used.

In the figure on the opposite page an example is shown with K = 19.

Step

Action

Use the integer values i and j from the equation, and start
With the upper left cell. Through this cell, draw the j-axis.
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.

Find the first co-channel cell. It is found by counting i cells in the positive
i-axis direction. In the example, i = 3.

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.

Signal
attenuation
With distance

Frequencies can be reused throughout a service area because

radio signals typically attenuate with distance to the base
station (or 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.
As long as the ratio
Frequency reuse distance = D
Cell radius
R
Is greater than some specified value, the ratio
Received radio carrier power
= C
Received interferer radio carrier power I

Will be greater than some given amount for small as well as

large cell sizes when all signals are transmitted at the same
power level. The average attenuation of radio signals with
distance in most cellular systems is a reduction to about 1/16 of
the received power for every doubling of distance (1/10000 per
decade).
The frequency reuse distance is also known as separation
distance. is also known as the signal-to-noise ratio.
The figure on the opposite page shows the situation. At the
5

base station, both signals from subscribers within the cell

covered by this base station and signals from subscribers
covered by other cells are received. Interference is caused by
cells using the same channel set.
The ratio D/R needs to be large enough in order for the base
station to be able to cope with the interference.
Relationship
between K and
D/R

Capacity/
performance
trade-offs

There is a relationship between K and ratio D/R, shown by the

following equation:
___
D/R= 3K
Explaining this equation is beyond the scope of this course.
Note that there is a direct relationship between K and ratio
D/R. The result is that when the reuse factor K, and so the
shape of the cluster is chosen, ratio D/R is fixed.
When engineering a cellular network, the most important
trade-off to make is the one between call capacity and
performance:
Relationship between K and Performance
The performance of a cellular network can be expressed in
quality of service. An acceptable quality of service means a
low (co-channel) interference level in the network.
The relationship between the reuse factor K and the
network performance is: if K increases, then the cochannel interference decreases, and so the performance
increases (note that there is a fixed relationship between K
and ratio D/R).
Relationship between K and Cell Capacity
The other key relationship in cellular networks is the one
between the reuse factor K and call capacity. First of all,

call capacity depends on the number of available channels.

In GSM, a limited number of frequencies is available (for
GSM: 124 frequencies, and for GSM-1800: 374
frequencies). The frequencies are grouped into frequency
sets. If K increases, the number of frequencies per set (and
so per cell) decreases, and so the call capacity per cell.
The value of K in GSM cellular networks varies between 4 and
21. Note that in real networks, K is not constant within the
whole PLMN area, but varies depending on the traffic capacity
needed in certain regions. Typically, K is high in urban regions
and low in rural regions.

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 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

Marie- Bernadette Pautet.

Mouly &

2. GSM system Engineering-Asha Mehrotra (Artech House

Publisher).