Cellular Concepts

Summer 2007

Richard S. Wolff, Ph. D.

rwolff@[Link]
406 994 7172
509 Cobleigh Hall

Summer 2007
The cellular radio concept: frequency reuse to
increase capacity

Summer 2007
Why cellular?
• Capacity
– Reuse resources (spectrum) in a geographic area to
serve more users simultaneously

Comparison: One cell versus multiple cells (nearby cells

May use the same frequency

P(r) = P0r-n, n = 2-4

BS r SS
Summer 2007
Cellular concept
•Reuse frequencies at ranges where the interference
level is tolerable
•Idea introduced by Bell Labs, 1947
•Proposal to FCC for system using cellular (Bell Labs):
1971
•First commercial deployment in US: Chicago, 1983
•A long delay!!!

Summer 2007
Problem due to limited spectrum:
example

•FCC allocation for mobile at 800 MHz: 25Mhz (one

way)
•First generation analog systems: 30kHz/channel
•Capacity = 25MHz/30kHz = 833 channels
•Hence only 833 simultaneous users! Hardly
sufficient for a metro area.

Summer 2007
 Frequency reuse
Assume base stations transmit equal power P0, n=4
f1 f0 f1

BS SS BS r SS r BS
r
C B A
P(f1)= P0(3r)-4 P(f0)=P0r-4= P(f1)
P(f1)= (1/81) P0r-4
P(f1)= (1/81) P(f0)
P(f1)/ P(f0)= 1/81, = 19 dB difference in
power level, or S/I =19 dB
Hence can put another BS at C using f1
And the co-channel S/I will be 19 dB
Summer 2007
Typical characteristics of cellular
systems
• Spectral efficiency achieved by frequency reuse
– Spatial
– Spread spectrum
• Usually “interference limited”
– S/I rather than S/N
– Increasing transmit power does not improve
performance
• Capacity can be increased by
– Speech compression: voice codecs at < 10 kbps
– Cell division: micro cells, pico cells
– Power control: for CDMA systems (alleviates “near-
far” problem)
Summer 2007
Various upgrade paths for wireless technologies:
move towards data
1G Analog

Summer 2007
Frequency reuse: linear (one dimensional)
example
•Assume 832 channels available
•Divide into four sets: hence 832/4=208 channels per cell.
•For N cells in the system, total capacity = 208N (instead of 832)
•Note that dividing the original channels into 3 sets yields greater
gain: 832/3 = 277
•Hence total capacity = 277N, 277/208= 1.33
•Problem: distance between cells using the same frequencies has
been reduced by 1/3, and SIR decreases

Summer 2007
Summer 2007
Why approximate cells by
hexagons?

• Want to cover area without gaps or

overlaps:
¾squares, triangles, hexagons
• Want to have signal strength as large as
possible for all points within the cell
¾hexagon is closest to a circle
• This is an idealized representation, in the
real world, cell boundaries are ill-defined.

Summer 2007
Limitations on frequency reuse
•Frequency reuse is limited by the tolerable SIRmin
•SIRminis determined by the modulation characteristics of
the radio system
•First generation analog systems (AMPS)
•SIRmin= 18dB
•Second generation digital AMPS
•SIRmin= 14dB
•European GSM
•SIRmin= 7-12dB
Summer 2007
Interference and system capacity

• Cellular systems are usually designed with

capacity in mind.
• Co-channel interference I, rather than thermal
noise is the limiting factor:
S/(I+Noise) = S/I when I>>Noise

I = contribution from all surrounding cells that use

the same frequency

Summer 2007
Interference from adjacent
channels

• Frequency separation between channels is small

to increase efficient use of spectrum
– AMPS: 25kHz wide channels, 30kHz spacing
• Filters in receivers (SS and BS) used to reduce
interference
– Filter shape (roll off) is critical in reducing unwanted
signals
• Near-far effect: SSs on different frequencies are
close to each other and transmit with the same
power

Summer 2007
Interference from adjacent
channels: mitigation strategies

• Use filters with sharp roll off factor

1 2 3 1 2 3

No filters: all channels Filter on channel 2 reduces

Have equal amplitude in amplitudes
Receiver pass band of channels 1 and 3 in
receiver pass band of
channel 2
Summer 2007
Interference from adjacent
channels: mitigation strategies

• Use power control to reduce “near-far” effect

– Base station measures power received from mobiles
– Mobiles adjust power level so that signals at BS are
comparable in level
P1
1
r P2
2
2r

If the path loss exponent is 4, then P2= P1x(2)-4=P1/16

Summer 2007
Media access protocols
• None: random access
• ALOHA protocol: no collision avoidance – only about 18% efficient
• Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)
• Easy to implement
• Requires some control
• Widely used in first and second generation systems (AMPS, GSM)
• Time division multiple access (TDMA)
• Harder to implement: requires time synchronization
• Requires centralized control
• Used in second generation systems (GSM, IS-136, PDC)
• Code division multiple access (CDMA)
• Can be implemented using either frequency hopping or spread spectrum
• More complex that FDMA or TDMA
• Used in second generation (IS-95) and third generation (CDMA 2000, W-
CDMA)

Summer 2007
Elements of a cellular network

f1
PSTN

f2

MSC

HLR

VLR
•MSC: mobile telephone switching office
• HLR: home location register
• VLR: visitor location register

Summer 2007
Handoff issues

• What initiates the handoff?

– Signal strength?
– Noise level?
• Who initiates the handoff?
– Mobile?
– Base station?
• Is there a channel available in the new cell?
– Will the connection be dropped?
• How long does the handoff take?
– Is there a service interruption?

Summer 2007
Hand-off: goal is to keep session
alive as subscriber moves from one
cell to another

Summer 2007
Methods of increasing capacity:
umbrella cells

Summer 2007
Methods of increasing capacity:
Cells are split to add channels with
no new spectrum needed
New cells are smaller,
Channels reused more per unit area,
Results in greater capacity
•New cells use same reuse pattern
•Lower transmitter power

Disadvantage:
Need new base station sites

Summer 2007
Method of increasing capacity:
cell sectoring

•Each sector uses a subset of the frequency channels of the original cell
•S/I increases, hence cluster size can be reduced to increase the capacity

Summer 2007
 Example: integration
• DoCoMo 3G FOMA phone
• Download 684 kbps, Upload 64 kbps
(nominal)
• Still and video digital camera
– Add text and frames to pictures
– Send as email
– Share video while talking
• Remote video monitoring using a
second phone
• i-motion service for multimedia
content download (music, movie clips
etc)

Source: NTT DoCoMo website

Summer 2007
Example: hybrid

BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

•Initially paging, now two-way e-mail
•Initially text-based, now image and text
•Cellular voice added
•Targeted at business users
•Integrates with office software
•High level of security

Source: BlackBerry web site

Summer 2007
The Apple IPhone

Summer 2007
Cellular concepts - summary

• Overall goal: maximize the number of

users while maintaining acceptable grade
of service
• Constraints:
– Limited spectrum
– Properties of radio medium
– Interference
• Key technique: frequency reuse

Summer 2007