Lecture 3

Cellular Systems:
An Introduction (cont’d)
by Reynold Cheng

This lecture is based on the lecture slides of Prof. Victor Leung (with his permission), the textbook “W.
Stallings, Wireless Communications and Networks, Prentice Hall, 2001” and the slides (prepared by
Tom Fronckowiak) and figures provided at the Web site of the textbook.
Examples of Hexagonal Cellular
Topology

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Anatomy of a Mobile Call –
Outgoing Call

• Uses control channels

• Call blocked if free traffic channel not available

3
Anatomy of a Mobile Call –
Incoming Call

• Uses control channels

• Call blocked if free traffic channel not available
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 Anatomy of a Mobile Call –
Call Maintenance

• Uses control channels

Uses assigned traffic channel • Traffic channel in old cell
released
• Traffic channel assigned in new
cell
Final step for call completion – assigned traffic channel
• Call dropped if no free traffic 5
released
Lesson Objectives
 Cellular Network Topology
 Power Control
 Making a Mobile Call
 Traffic Modeling
 Multiple Call Access Protocols
 Handoff Management
 Location Management
 Markov-Model Based Paging Algorithm

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Mobility Management Functions
 Necessitated by mobility of users/MSs over areas covered
by different radio cells
 Handoff management – maintenance of a connection
through a cellular network during a call
 Also referred to as handover
 Handoff decision process
 Dissociation/Re-association process
 Location management – ability to identify the cell in
which a MS is located, for call delivery to the user
 Location update process
 Paging process
 Roaming
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Basic Steps of Handoff Procedure
(2) Dissociation/Re-
association

(1) Handoff initiation

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Network Infrastructure Scenario
MS

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Elements of Handoff Procedure
 Handoff control – where is the handoff decision made and
the handoff operation controlled?
 Handoff decision algorithm – conditions that trigger the
decision to initiate handoff process
 Dissociation – MS is dissociated with old BS; traffic channel
assigned to MS in old BS is released
 Re-association – MS is associated with new BS; traffic
channel assigned to MS in new BS to support ongoing call
 Channel allocation algorithms – priority treatment of re-
association for handoff calls?
 Call rerouting – needed if old and new BSs served by
different MSC
 Performance metrics – handoff call blocking (dropping)
probability, handoff delay
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Handoff Decision Algorithms
 Traditional algorithms based on received signal
strength (RSS) Pold at current cells, and Pnew at
adjacent cells.
 RSS: initiate handoff to BSnew if Pnew > Pold
 RSS with threshold (PT): choose BSnew if Pnew > Pold
and Pold < PT
 RSS with hysteresis (PH): choose BSnew if Pnew >
Pold+PH

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The Hysteresis Mechanism

•Avoid Ping-Pong Effect

•Handoff unnecessary if BS A still has sufficient signal strength
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Handoff Decision Algorithms
 RSS with threshold (PT) and hysteresis (PH): choose
BSnew if Pnew > Pold+PH and Pold < PT.
 The BS averages the signal over a moving window of
time to remove rapid fluctuations.
 Add a Dwell Timer to the above algorithms: start
timer when above condition is met; initiate handoff if
condition persists when timer expires.
 Alternative algorithms based on SIR, BER, block
error rate (BLER), symbol error rate, fuzzy logic, etc
(good research topic!)
 Complicated by power control
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Examples of Handoff Decision
Algorithms

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Types of Handoff Control
 Network Controlled Handoff (NCHO)
 Handoff is initiated by the network, i.e., MSC, BSC, etc.
 Network entity makes RSS measurements at MS’s current BS and
adjacent BSs
 e.g., AMPS
 Mobile Controlled Handoff (MCHO)
 Handoff is initiated by MS based on its measurement of RSS from
current and adjacent BSs
 e.g., 802.11 WLAN
 Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO)
 MS measures RSS from current and adjacent BSs and reports results
to network
 Network entity make handoff decision based on these measurements
 e.g., GSM, IS-95
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Types of Handoff Procedures
 Hard handoff
 MS dissociates with old BS before re-associating with new BS; i.e.,
“break before make”
 Momentary call disruption during handoff
 e.g., AMPS
 Seamless handoff
 MS associates with new BS before dissociating with old BS, i.e.,
“make before break”
 Enables MS to instantaneously switch from old to new connection
without call disruption
 Soft handoff
 MS is simultaneously associated with multiple BSs with active traffic
channels during soft handoff
 Facilitate diversity combining of signals
 e.g., IS-95
 Reference: http://home.san.rr.com/denbeste/soft.html

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Handoff and Network Infrastructure
2. Intra-MSC handoff

1. Intra-BBS
handoff

3. Inter-MSC handoff 17
Handoff and Network Infrastructure
 Intra-BSS handoff
 Handoff between different channels in the same cell, e.g., due to
excessive interference in the original traffic channel
 Handoff between different sectors or zones in the same cell
 MSC is not involved if BSS has processing capability as in GSM
 Intra-MSC handoff
 Handoff between cells connected to the same MSC via different BSSs
 Dissociation/Re-association involves traffic channels not only over air
interface, but also over links between MSC and BSSs, all under
coordination of the MSC
 Inter-MSC handoff
 Handoff between cells connected to different MSCs
 Dissociation/Re-association involves traffic channels in different cells,
over links between different MSCs and BSSs, and link between the
MSCs or a common switch connecting the two MSCs
 Requires the highest degree of coordination in network infrastructure 18
An Intra-MSC Hard NCHO
1. Handoff from old to new BS initiated by MSC
2. MSC assigns a free traffic channel to MS via new BS; MS
dissociates with old BS and re-associates with new BS
3. MS takes the new path and signals the MSC
4. MSC switches call over to the new traffic channel and
releases the old channel to BS

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An Inter-MSC Hard NCHO
 Detecting a drop in RSS, MSC A requests MSC B to find suitable new
BS; MSC B replies with identity of new BS2
 MSC A requests MSC B to set up traffic channel at BS2; MSC B
acknowledges success to MSC A to initiate handoff
 MSC A establishes traffic channel over trunk connecting to MSC B
 MSC A signals MS to handoff to BS2 by dissociating from traffic
channel at BS1 and re-associating with new traffic channel at BS2

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Lesson Objectives
 Cellular Network Topology
 Power Control
 Making a Mobile Call
 Traffic Modeling
 Multiple Call Access Protocols
 Handoff Management
 Location Management
 Markov-Model based Paging Algorithm

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Location Management
 Objective: to track the location of MS for call delivery
 Location registration (update):
 MS authentication
 Database update
 Call delivery:
 Database query
 Paging MS
 Minimization of database update/query cost
 Trade-off between location update cost and call delivery cost:
to update or not to update (when the MS enters a new cell)
 Roaming support: redirection call from home network to visited
network
 http://www.comsoc.org/~ci/private/1996/sept/akyildiz.html

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Network Architectural Model for
Location Management
HLR

VLR MSC VLR MSC

Cells
Location
Area LA 1
Location
Area LA 2
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HLR and VLR Databases
 HLR: Home Location Register database
stores permanent and temporary
information (e.g., which VLR stores the
user location) about each of its subscribers
 VLR: Visitor Location Register database
stores temporary information e.g., the
physical location of the subscriber (i.e.,
which cell the user is in) in the location area

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Registration Scenario
HLR
4
5 3

VLR MSC VLR MSC

2
Cells
Location
1
Area LA 1
Location
Area LA 2

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Registration Procedure
1. MS enters new LA and sends location update message to
BS
2. Message forwarded to MSC which launches registration
query to VLR
3. If MS is known to VLR, VLR updates new location and
registration is complete; else VLR determines location of
MS’ HLR from the mobile identification number and sends
location registration message to HLR
4. HLR authenticates the MS, updates identity of current VLR
in the database, and acknowledges the location registration
to the VLR; all or part of user profile may be forwarded to
new VLR
5. HLR sends registration cancellation to old VLR, which
deletes the MS’ record and acknowledges the cancellation
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Call Delivery Scenario
1
4
HLR
2
Calling
Switch

5
3
(SSP)

VLR MSC VLR MSC

6
7
Cells
Location 7
Area LA 1
Location
Area LA 2
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Call Delivery Procedure
1. Call for MS arrives at MS’ home network
2. HLR identifies VLR currently serving MS and sends route
request message to VLR, which relays the message to the
MSC serving the MS
3. MSC allocates temporary local directory number (TLDN)
to MS and informs the HLR
4. HLR forwards this information to the calling switch (SSP)
5. Calling SSP then sets up a connection to the called MSC
via SS7 signaling
6. MSC pages MS via all the cells in the LA in which the MS
is currently located to alert MS about incoming call
7. MS replies via serving BS; MSC allocates traffic channel in
cell where MS is located to complete call 28
Database Optimization
 HLR and VLR are potentially far apart, resulting in
expensive signaling cost for frequent location updates
 Techniques to minimize HLR lookup for call delivery
 Per user location caching in SS7 network
 User profile replication at local database
 Techniques to minimize HLR access for location update
 Pointer forwarding between successive VLRs
 Local anchoring at a serving VLR

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Pointer Forwarding Scenario
HLR

VLR MSC VLR MSC

LA 1 2 LA 4
4
3
VLR MSC VLR MSC

LA 2 LA 3

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Local Anchoring Scenario

HLR

Local Anchor 1
VLR MSC
VLR MSC
4 LA 4
LA 1
2 3

VLR MSC VLR MSC

LA 2 LA 3

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 Dynamic Location Update
Algorithms
 Based on the call and mobility patterns of individual MS

Cells

Timer-based: Movement-based: Distance-based:

Location update is Location update is Location update is
performed periodically performed whenever the performed when the
at a constant time mobile terminal has distance traveled exceeds
interval T. crossed the cell boundary a certain threshold (e.g.,
M times (e.g., M = 4). threshold = 3). 32
Conclusions
 An overview on numerous aspects of a
cellular network:
 Topology, power control, making phone calls,
traffic engineering, multiple access, handoff
management and location management

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