Cellular Communication

Problems

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 1/20

 Problems
1) Cellular Architecture
Consider a city of 10 square kilometers. A macro cellular system design divides the city up
into square cells of 1 square kilometer, where each cell can accommodate 100 users. Find
Cellular Communication

the total number of users that can be accommodated in the system and the length of time
it takes a mobile user to traverse a cell (which is the approximate time needed for a
handoff) when moving at 30 km/hour.

If the cell size is reduced to 100 square meters and everything in the system scales so that
100 users can be accommodated in these smaller cells, find the total number of users the
system can accommodate and the length of time it takes to traverse a cell.

What does this tell you on the impact of cellular densification (i.e., increasing number of
small cells) on the network coverage and capacity?

For what reason square structures are not usually used to model a cellular architecture?
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 2/20
 Problems
1) Cellular Architecture-Solution
City has 10 macro-cells
each cell has 100 users
Cellular Communication

total number of users = 1000

Cells are of size 1 km2
maximum distance traveled to traverse is the diagonal of each cell whose length is equal
𝟐
to 𝟐. So the time to traverse is 𝟑𝟎 3600 = 169.7 𝑠

In the new configuration with reduced cell size, the number of cells becomes equal to 105
microcells which is 104 the number of cells previously available
The total number of users is now 1000 ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟒 = 𝟏𝟎𝟕
𝟏𝟎 𝟐∗𝟏𝟎−𝟑
The time to traverse a cell becomes equal to ∗ 𝟑𝟔𝟎𝟎 = 𝟏. 𝟔𝟗𝟕 𝒔
𝟑𝟎
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 3/20
 Problems
1) Cellular Architecture-Solution

By using cell densification, we were able to increase the number of users (and thus
Cellular Communication

capacity) by 10000. This comes at the expense of smaller cells and more frequent
handovers. In the problem, the number of users increases by 10000 and handover
time reduces by 1/100

Square cells are not used to model a cellular architecture because the distance
from the cell center to all points in the cell is not the same. This means that when
planning the network, it would rather difficult to do proper analysis of the
different network parameters including cell coverage, cell throughput, cell edge
user conditions, etc.

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 4/20

 Problems
2) Frequency Planning
Consider the empty cells:
Cellular Communication

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 5/20

 Problems
2) Frequency Planning
a) Perform frequency planning for 𝑁 = 7 and 𝑁 = 12. (Fill all the cells)
Cellular Communication

b) Determine the co-channel reuse ratio and the estimated signal to interference ratio for
a pathloss exponent equal to 3.6.

c) If a total bandwidth is of 50 𝑀𝐻𝑧 is available to an FDD cellular system which uses a

200 𝐾𝐻𝑧 full duplex channel for voice and control. Also assume that one control
channel is needed per cell. What is the total number of voice channels available per
cell. What channel assignment scheme would you recommend, fixed or dynamic?
Why?

d) For a cell radius 𝑅, determine the cell area and the cluster area in terms of 𝑅

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 6/20

 Problems
2) Frequency Planning-Solution
a) This is done similarly to what has been done in class. For 𝑁 = 7, we use 𝑖 = 1; 𝑗 =
2. For 𝑁 = 12, 𝑖 = 2; 𝑗 = 2.
Cellular Communication

b) The co-channel reuse ratio is given as 𝑄 = 𝟑𝑵.

For the two values above
𝑵 = 𝟕 ⇒ 𝑄 = 4.58
𝑵 = 𝟏𝟐 ⇒ 𝑄 = 𝟔
Assuming 6 co-channel interferers, the signal to interference ratio is given as
𝑆 1
= 4.583 𝟑.𝟔 = 𝟑𝟗. 𝟗 = 𝟏𝟔. 𝟎𝟏 𝑑𝐵
𝐼 6
𝑆 1
= 𝟔 𝟑.𝟔 = 𝟏𝟎𝟓. 𝟓 = 𝟐𝟎. 𝟐𝟑 𝑑𝐵
𝐼 6
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 7/20
 Problems
2) Frequency Planning-Solution
c) Since we are using full duplex, the number of channels is 50𝑀/200𝑘 = 250
channels. An example of full duplex scheme is the GSM band where 25 𝑀𝐻𝑧 is
Cellular Communication

available in the downlink and 25 𝑀𝐻𝑧 in the uplink. A channel corresponds to a

pair of frequencies, one for each transmission direction.

For 𝑁 = 7, we need 7 control channels. As for the remaining 243 channels, 5 cells
would have 35 voice channels and two would have 34 voice channels. For 𝑁 = 12,
we need 12 control channels. 10 cells would have 20 voice channels and two would
have 19 voice channels.

The decision on which channel assignment to use depends on the design criteria. If
complexity is the goal, then fixed channel assignment is used. If system performance
is to be optimized, then dynamic channel assignment is the best.
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 8/20
 Problems
2) Frequency Planning-Solution
d) The cell area for a hexagonal cell can be derived by dividing it into six
equilateral triangles.
Cellular Communication

𝟏 𝟏 𝑹 𝟑 𝑹𝟐 𝟑
The area of each triangle is 𝒂 = 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 ∗ 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝒈𝒉𝒕 = 𝑹 = .
𝟐 𝟐 𝟐 𝟒

𝑹𝟐 𝟑 𝟑
So the total area of the hexagon is 𝑨 = 𝟔𝒂 = .
𝟐

This is why, when we estimated the cell range after link budget
𝟑 𝟑
analysis, the factor 𝐾 for the omnidirectional case was 𝑲 = = 𝟐. 𝟔.
𝟐

The cluster area is 𝐴 ∗ 𝑁.

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 9/20

 Problems
3) Cellular vs. Telephony
An analog cellular system has 250 duplex channels available (250 channels in each direction).
To obtain acceptable transmission quality, the relation between reuse distance (𝐷) and cell
Cellular Communication

radius (𝑅) has to be at least 𝑫/𝑹 = 7. The cell structure is designed with a cell radius of 𝑅 =
2 𝑘𝑚. During a busy hour, the traffic per subscriber is on average one call of 2-minute
duration. The network setup is modeled as an Erlang-B loss system with the blocking
probability limited to 3 %.

The Erlang (symbol B) is a dimensionless unit (of traffic intensity) that is used in telephony as a
measure of offered load or carried load on service-providing elements such as telephone
circuits.

Blocking probability is expressed as a percentage of denial, for example 1 call in 100 blocked,
it is expressed as 0.01 (1 % of the offered calls will expect to be blocked)
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 10/20
 Problems
3) Cellular vs. Telephony
Find
a) The maximal number of subscribers per cell. You can use tables or online calculators.
Cellular Communication

b) The capacity of the network in Erlangs/𝒌𝒎𝟐 . (Assume a circular cell structure)

c) The analog system above is modernized for digital transmission. As a consequence, the
channel separation has to be doubled i.e., only 125 duplex are now available. However,
digital transmission is less sensitive to interference and acceptable quality is obtained for
𝐃/𝐑 = 4. What is the maximal number of subscribers per cell. How is the capacity of the
network affected by this modernization.
d) To increase the capacity of the network in 𝐵, the cells are made smaller, with a radius of
only 𝑅 = 1 𝑘𝑚. How much is capacity increased (in terms of Erlangs/𝒌𝒎𝟐 ) and how
many more BSs are required to cover the same area?
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 11/20
 Problems
3) Cellular vs. Telephony-Solution
𝐷
a) First we need to find the cluster size. Applying the formula given in the slides 𝑄 = =
𝑹
𝟑𝑵 yields 𝑁 = 16.33. However, we select 𝑁 = 19 since it is the only one where we can
Cellular Communication

have 𝑁 = 𝒊𝟐 + 𝑖𝑗 + 𝒋𝟐 .

The number of channels per cell is then 𝑵𝒄 = 250/19 = 13.1. Let us consider it as 13.
Note that, if we do proper division, we have 3 cells with 14 channels and 16 cells with 13
channels.

For a blocking probability of 3 % and 13 channels, using an Erlang B table yields 7.9667
2
Erlangs of traffic. Using the given information, each user generates = 0.033 Erlangs.
60
7.9667
Hence, the maximum number of subscribers per cell is 0.033 = 2𝟒𝟏 subscribers.
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 12/20
 Problems
3) Cellular vs. Telephony-Solution
b) Assuming a circular cell structure the capacity of the network 𝐶 = 7.9667/𝝅𝟐𝟐 =
0.634 Erlang/𝒌𝒎𝟐 .
Cellular Communication

c) For 𝐷/𝑅 = 4, we have 𝑁 = 7 so the total number of channels per cell is 17 (actually it is
6 cells with 18 channels and 1 cell with 17). For a blocking probability of 3 % and 17
channels, using an Erlang B table yields 11.368 Erlangs of traffic. Hence, the maximum
11.368
number of subscribers per cell is = 34𝟒 subscribers. The capacity is now 𝐶 =
0.033
11.368
𝝅𝟐𝟐
= 𝟎. 𝟗𝟎𝟒 Erlang/𝒌𝒎𝟐 .

d) The new cellular area is now 𝝅 𝒌𝒎𝟐 . So the capacity quadruples to 3.616 Erlang/𝒌𝒎𝟐 .
Since the area of the cell is 4 times smaller, we need four times the number of base
stations.
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 13/20
 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Consider the WCDMA link budget table
a) Why do we use the link budget analysis for?
Cellular Communication

b) What are the interference margin, shadowing and fast fading margins?

c) What is soft/softer handover? And why is it considered a gain?

d) What is the receiver sensitivity?

e) What is the receiver noise figure? How do we determine it?

f) Determine the maximum allowed pathloss and the resulting cell range?

g) Determine the coverage area of each cell if omni, 2-sectored and 3-sectored BS are used?

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 14/20

 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Cellular Communication

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 15/20

 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Cellular Communication

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 16/20

 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Consider the WCDMA link budget table
a) The radio link budget aims to calculate the cell coverage area. One of the required
Cellular Communication

parameters is radio wave propagation to estimate the propagation loss between the
transmitter and the receiver. The other required parameters are the transmission power,
antenna gain, cable losses, receiver sensitivity and margins.

b) Interference margin: Link budget is based on the computation of the sensitivity in presence
of noise. To take into account co-channel interference, we add an interference margin.

Shadowing margin: The shadowing margin ensures that the signal level is above the
sensitivity in the whole cell with a certain probability.

Fast fading margin: Power control headroom needed in the mobile station transmission
power to maintain fast power control to compensate fast fading. Specific for WCDMA.
Hassan TERMOS, PhD 17/20
 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Consider the WCDMA link budget table
c) Soft/softer handover is when the mobile is connected to two base stations/sectors at the
Cellular Communication

same time. This situation creates a gain because signals from different base stations can be
combined to obtain a better quality signal.

d) Receiver sensitivity is the minimum received signal power level (usually measured in
negative dBm) that a radio needs to receive in order to successfully demodulate and
decode a packet of data. This factor depends on the receiver noise figure and minimum
energy to noise ratio.

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 18/20

 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis
Consider the WCDMA link budget table
e) Noise figure (NF) and noise factor (F) are measures of degradation of the signal-to-noise
Cellular Communication

ratio (SNR), caused by components in a radio frequency (RF) signal chain.

f) The maximum allowed pathloss is equal to 142.45 dB as shown in the table. Using the
equation in the table
𝑳𝒑 = 𝒅 − 𝒋 + 𝒑
𝒅 = 𝒂 + 𝒃 − 𝒄 = 𝟐𝟑 + 𝟎 − 𝟑 = 𝟐𝟎 𝒅𝑩𝒎
𝒈 = 𝒆 + 𝒇 = −𝟏𝟎𝟓. 𝟏𝟓 + 𝟒. 𝟓 = −𝟏𝟎𝟎. 𝟔𝟓 𝒅𝑩𝒎
𝒋 = 𝒊 − 𝒉 + 𝒈 = 𝟖 − 𝟐𝟓. 𝟖 − 𝟏𝟎𝟎. 𝟔𝟓 = −𝟏𝟏𝟖. 𝟒𝟓 𝒅𝑩𝒎
𝒑 = 𝒌 − 𝒍 − 𝒎 − 𝒏 + 𝒐 = 𝟏𝟐 − 𝟐 − 𝟖 − 𝟐 + 𝟒 = 𝟒 𝒅𝑩
𝑳𝒑 = 𝟐𝟎 + 𝟏𝟏𝟖. 𝟒𝟓 + 𝟒 = 𝟏𝟒𝟐. 𝟒𝟓 𝒅𝑩

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 19/20

 Problems
4) Link Budget Analysis

𝟏𝟒𝟐. 𝟒𝟓 = 𝟏𝟑𝟓 + 𝟑𝟓 log 𝒅

Cellular Communication

log 𝒅 = 𝟎. 𝟐𝟏𝟐𝟗
𝒅 = 𝟏. 𝟔𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝒌𝒎

g) Omni: 𝑨 = 𝟐. 𝟔 ∗ 𝟏. 𝟔𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝟐 = 𝟔. 𝟗𝟐𝟑𝟗𝟑 𝒌𝒎𝟐

2-sectored: 𝑨 = 𝟏. 𝟑 ∗ 𝟏. 𝟔𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝟐 = 𝟑. 𝟒𝟔𝟒𝟔 𝒌𝒎𝟐
3-sectored: 𝑨 = 𝟏. 𝟗𝟓 ∗ 𝟏. 𝟔𝟑𝟐𝟓 𝟐 = 𝟓. 𝟏𝟗𝟕 𝒌𝒎𝟐

Hassan TERMOS, PhD 20/20