Wireless Communications

EE 473
Dr. Nadem Dawod
 Wireless Communications

• Wireless communications is the fastest growing segment of the

communications industry.
• Cellular phones have become a critical business tool and part of everyday
life in most developed countries.
• They are rapidly supplanting antiquated wireline systems in many
developing countries.
• Wireless local area networks currently supplement or replace wired
networks in
– many homes,
– businesses,
– and campuses.
• New applications, including;
– wireless sensor networks (WSN)
– automated highways and factories,
– smart homes and appliances
– remote telemedicine
 History of Wireless Communications
• Pre-industrial age. line-of-sight distances
• Smoke signals, torch signaling, flashing mirrors,
semaphore flags.
• Observation stations were built on hilltops and along
roads to relay these messages over large distances.
• Telegraph network (invented by Samuel Morse in 1838)
and later by the telephone.
• In 1895, a few decades after the telephone was
invented, Marconi demonstrated the first radio
transmission from the Isle of Wight to a tugboat 18
miles away, and radio communications was born.
 Invention of Radio
• Maxwell: predicted the existence of
electromagnetic waves (1864)
• Hertz: confirmed Maxwell's work in lab
experiment (1887)
• Marconi: commercializing wireless telephony
– Found Wireless Telegraph Company (1897)
– Wireless transmission across the Atlantic
(1901)
 History of Wireless Communications
• Early radio systems transmitted analog signals.
• AM, FM & PM, where the variation of the signal is
represented(Modulated) by the Amplitude , Frequency or by the
Phase.
• Today, most radio systems transmit digital signals composed of
binary bits
• Bits are obtained directly from a data signal or by digitizing an
analog signal.
• Bits are grouped into packets to form a packet radio.
• The first network based on packet radio, ALOHANET, was developed
at the University of Hawaii in 1971.
• This network enabled computer sites at seven campuses spread out
over four islands to communicate with a central computer on Oahu
via radio transmission.
 History of Wireless Communications
• The network architecture used a star topology with the central
computer at its hub.
• ALOHANET incorporated the first set of protocols for channel access
and routing in packet radio systems, and many of the underlying
principles in these protocols are still in use today.
• Throughout the 1970’s and early 1980’s the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested significant resources to
develop networks using packet radios for tactical communications
in the battlefield.
• The nodes in these ad hoc wireless networks had the ability to self-
configure into a network without the aid of any established
infrastructure.
• wide-area wireless data services first introduced in the early 1990’s,
enable wireless data access (including email, file transfer, and web
browsing) at fairly low speeds, on the order of 20 Kbps.
 History of Wireless Communications
• 1897: Marconi invented wireless concept
• 1960’s & 1970’s: Bell laboratories developed
the cellular concept
• 1970’s: Development of highly reliable,
miniature solid state radio frequency
hardware
• Wireless communication era was born
 Cellular Systems
• By far the most successful application of wireless networking has been the cellular
telephone system.
• In 1915, wireless voice transmission between New York and San Francisco was first
established.
• In 1946 public mobile telephone service was introduced in 25 cities across the
United States.
• These initial systems used a central transmitter to cover an entire metropolitan
area.
• This inefficient use of the radio spectrum coupled with lack of technology at that
time severely limited the system capacity: support only 543 users in NY.
• A solution to this capacity problem emerged during the 50’s and 60’s when
researchers at AT&T Bell Laboratories developed the cellular concept.
• Cellular systems exploit the fact that the power of a transmitted signal falls off
with distance.
• Thus, two users can operate on the same frequency at spatially-separate locations
with minimal interference between them.
• This allows very efficient use of cellular spectrum so that a large number of users
can be accommodated.
Cellular Systems
 Cellular Systems
• The first analog cellular system deployed in Chicago in 1983 was
already saturated by 1984.
• Throughout the late 1980’s, as more and more cities became
saturated with demand for cellular service, the development of
digital cellular technology for increased capacity and better
performance became essential.
• The second generation of cellular systems, first deployed in the
early 1990’s, were based on digital communications.
• The shift from analog to digital was driven by its higher capacity
and the improved cost, speed, and power efficiency of digital
hardware.
• second generation cellular systems initially provided mainly voice
services, these systems gradually evolved to support data services
such as email, Internet access, and short messaging.
Growth of Cellular Subscribers
 Cellular Technologies
Analog Cellular Technologies
• AMPS: Advanced Mobile Phone System.
Developed by Bell Labs in the 1970s
• First used commercially in the United States in
1983. It operates in the 800 and 1900 MHz
band in the United States and was the most
widely distributed analog cellular standard.
 Digital Cellular Technologies

• D-AMPS; Digital AMPS. Designed to use existing

channels more efficiently, D-AMPS (IS-136)
employs the same 30 kHz channel spacing and
frequency bands (824-849 and 869-894 MHz) as
AMPS.
• By using TDMA instead of frequency division
multiple access or FDMA, IS-136 increases the
number of users from 1 to 3 per channel.
• Operates in the 800 MHz band and 1900 MHz.
 Digital Cellular Technologies
GSM
Global System for Mobile Communications.
• The first European digital standard, developed to
establish cellular compatibility throughout Europe.
• Its success has spread to all parts of the world
• It operates at 900 and 1800 MHz in many parts of
Europe and in England.
• Works at 1900 MHz in some parts of the United States.
• TDMA based.
 Cellular Technologies
PCS
Personal Communications Service.
• The PCS frequency band in America is 1850 to
1990 MHz, encompassing a wide range of new
digital cellular standards like N-CDMA and
GSM 1900.
• PCS networks operate throughout the USA.
 Cellular Technologies
CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access
• Developed by Qualcomm
• characterized by high capacity and small cell
radius. It uses the same frequency bands as
AMPS and supports AMPS operation, employing
spread-spectrum technology and a special coding
scheme.
• It was adopted by the Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA) in 1993.
 Analog to Digital in North America
• In 1990 North American carriers faced the question -- how
do we increase
• capacity? -- do we pick an analog or digital method?
• The answer was digital. In March 1990 the North American
cellular network incorporated the IS-54B standard, the first
North American dual mode digital cellular standard.
• IS- 54 increased capacity by digital means: sampling,
digitizing, and then multiplexing conversations, a technique
called TDMA.
• This method separates calls by time, placing parts of
individual conversations on the same frequency, one after
the next. It tripled call capacity.
 Analog to Digital in North America
• Using IS-54, a cellular carrier could convert any of its
systems' analog voice channels to digital.
• A dual mode phone uses digital channels where available
and defaults to regular AMPS where they are not.
• IS-54 was, in fact, backward compatible with analog cellular
and indeed happily co-exists on the same radio channels as
AMPS.
• No analog customers were left behind; they simply couldn't
access IS-54's new features.
• CANTEL got IS-54 going in Canada in 1992. IS-54 also
supported authentication, a help in preventing fraud.
• IS-54, then rolled into IS-136, accounts for perhaps half of
the cellular radio accounts USA.
 The Rise of GSM-Europe
• Europeans saw things differently. No new telephone
system could accommodate their existing services on
so many frequencies.
• They decided instead to start a new technology in a
new radio band.
• Cellular structured but fully digital, the new service
would incorporate the best thinking of the time.
• They patterned their new wireless standard after
landline requirements for ISDN, hoping to make a
wireless counterpart to it.
• The new service was called GSM.
The Rise of GSM
 The Rise of GSM-Europe
• GSM first stood for “Groupe Speciale Mobile”,
after the study group that created the
standard.
• It's now known as “Global System for Mobile
Communications”, although the "C" isn't
included in the abbreviation.
Key Specifications of 2G Technologies
Upgrade Paths
2.5G and 3G Data Communication Standards
 Examples of Mobile Radio Systems
• Garage door openers
• Remote controllers for home entertainment
• Cordless telephones
• Hand-held walkie-talkies
• Pagers/beepers
• Cellular telephones
 Types of Mobile Radio Transmission Systems

• Simplex – Communication is possible only in one direction,

• (e.g., paging systems).
• Half Duplex – Two way communication, but uses the same
• radio channel for both transmission and reception.
• User can only transmit or receive information.
• Full Duplex – Simultaneous two-way radio transmission and
• reception between subscriber and base station.
– Two simultaneous but separate channels (FDD) or
– Adjacent timeslots on a single radio channel (TDD)
 Cordless Telephone Systems
• Full duplex
communication
• Few hundred meters
 Paging Systems
• Paging systems are communication systems that send brief
messages to a subscriber...
– Numeric messages
– Alpha-numeric message
– Voice message
– News headlines
– Stock quotes
– Faxes
• Paging System Coverage Areas
– 2 to 5 km
– Within individual buildings
– Worldwide coverage
Paging System: Wide Area System
Cellular System
Base Station - Mobile Network
Telephone Call Made To Mobile User
 Brief Outline of Cellular Process:
Telephone Call Placed to a Mobile User
 Brief Outline of Cellular Process:
Telephone Call Placed to a Mobile User
• Step 1 – The incoming telephone call to Mobile X is received at the
MSC.
• Step 2 – The MSC dispatches the request to all base stations in the
cellular system.
• Step 3 – The base stations broadcast the Mobile Identification
Number (MIN), telephone number of Mobile X, as a paging
message over the FCC throughout the cellular system.
• Step 4 – The mobile receives the paging message sent by the base
station it monitors and responds by identifying itself over the
reverse control channel.
• Step 5 – The base station relays the acknowledgement sent by the
mobile and informs the MSC of the handshake.
• Step 6 – The MSC instructs the base station to move the call to an
issued voice channel within in the cell.
 Brief Outline of Cellular Process:
Telephone Call Placed to a Mobile User
• Step 7 – The base station signals the mobile to
change frequencies to an unused forward and
reverse voice channel pair.
• At that point, another data message (alert) is
transmitted over the forward voice channel to
instruct the mobile to ring.
• Now the call is in progress. The MSC adjusts the
transmitted power of the mobile and changes the
channel of the mobile end and base stations in
order to maintain call quality.
Telephone Call Placed by Mobile
Telephone Call Placed by Mobile
 Telephone Call Placed by Mobile
• Step 1 – When a mobile originates a call, it sends the base
station its telephone number (MIN), electronic serial
number (ESN), and telephone number of called party.
– It also transmits a station class mark (SCM) which indicates
what the maximum power level is for the particular user.
• Step 2 – The cell base station receives the data and sends it
to the MSC.
• Step 3 – The MSC validates the request, makes connection
to the called party through the PSTN and validates the base
station and mobile user to move to an unused forward and
reverse channel pair to allow the conversation to begin.
 Roaming
• All cellular systems provide a service called roaming.
• This allows subscribers to operate in service areas other
than the one from which service is subscribed.
• When a mobile enters a city or geographic area that is
different from its home service area, it is registered as a
roamer in the new service area.
• Periodically, the MSC issues a global command over each
FCC in the system, asking for all mobiles which are
previously unregistered to report their MIN and ESN over
the RCC for billing purposes.
• If a particular mobile user has roaming authorization for
billing purposes, MSC registers the subscriber as a valid
roamer.
A Little History and Evolution of Mobile Radio
A Little History and Evolution of Mobile Radio
A Little History and Evolution of Mobile Radio
Wireless Communications Roadmap
A Little History and Evolution of Mobile Radio
Mobile Telephony and Wireless Communications
Standards
4G Wireless Systems
Broadband Services Go to Wireless
Speed vs. Mobility
IEEE 802 Standards Process
IEEE Standards
IEEE Standards
 Standards
• Unfortunately, three different standards in the
U.S. alone, and other standards in Europe and
Japan, all incompatible.
• The fact that different cities have different
incompatible standards makes roaming
throughout the U.S and the world using one
cellular phone standard impossible.
• As a result of the standards proliferation, many
cellular phones today are multi-mode: they
incorporate multiple digital standards to
facilitate nationwide and worldwide roaming.
 Satellite Systems
• Satellite systems are typically characterized by the
height of the satellite orbit.
• Low-earth orbit (LEOs at roughly 2000 Km. altitude).
• medium-earth orbit (MEOs at roughly 9000 Km.
altitude).
• Orgeosynchronous orbit (GEOs at roughly 40,000 Km.
altitude).
• It takes a great deal of power to reach the satellite, and
the propagation delay is typically too large for delay-
constrained applications like voice.
 Other Wireless Applications
• Wireless networks will connect palmtop, laptop, and
desktop computers anywhere within an office building
or campus, as well as from the corner cafe.
• home networks;
• Smart appliances, doors, HVAC, blinds, curtains.
• Security and monitoring systems.
• Smart homes can also help the elderly and disabled
with assisted living, patient monitoring, and emergency
response.
• Wireless video will enable remote classrooms, remote
training facilities, and remote hospitals anywhere in
the world.
 Wireless Sensor Networks
• Wireless sensors have an enormous range of both commercial and
military applications.
• Commercial applications include ;
• monitoring of fire hazards,
• hazardous waste sites,
• Stress and strain in buildings and bridges.
• carbon dioxide movement and the spread of chemicals and gasses
at a disaster site.
• These wireless sensors self-configure into a network to process and
interpret sensor measurements and then convey this information to
a centralized control location.
• Military applications include identification and tracking of enemy
targets, detection of chemical and biological attacks, support of
unmanned robotic vehicles, and counter-terrorism.
 WSN in Control Systems
• Control systems, with remote devices,
• Sensors, and actuators linked together via
wireless communication channels.
• Such networks enable;
– automated highways,
– mobile robots, and
– easily-reconfigurable industrial automation.
Requirements of Wireless Applications
Voice systems
• have relatively low data rate requirements
(around 20 Kbps)
• can tolerate a fairly high probability of bit
error (bit error rates, or BERs, of around
10−3),
• but the total delay must be less than around
30 msec or it becomes noticeable to the end
user.
Requirements of Wireless Applications
Data systems
• Data systems typically require much higher
data rates (1-100 Mbps),
• and very small BERs (the target BER is 10−8
and all bits received in error must be
retransmitted),
• but do not have a fixed delay requirement.
Requirements of Wireless Applications
Real-time video systems
• Real-time video systems have high data rate
requirements coupled with the same delay
constraints as voice systems.
Paging and short messaging
• Paging and short messaging have very low
data rate requirements and no delay
constraints
Requirements of Wireless Applications
• These diverse requirements for different
applications make it difficult to build one
wireless system that can efficiently satisfy all
these requirements simultaneously.
• At least in the near future, wireless systems
will continue to be fragmented, with different
protocols tailored to support the
requirements of different applications.
• While many wireless systems and companies
have enjoyed spectacular success,
• there have also been many failures along the
way,
• like WiMAX.,
• CDMA is expected to vanish.
 Radio Spectrum
• Wired channels are stationary and predictable,
whereas wireless channels are extremely random and
have complex models.
• Wireless channel is an unpredictable and difficult
communications medium.
• Radio spectrum is a scarce resource that must be
allocated to many different applications and systems.
• Spectrum is controlled by regulatory bodies both
regionally and globally.
• Spectrum can also be very expensive since in many
countries spectral licenses are often auctioned to the
highest bidder.
 Radio Spectrum
• U.S. companies spent over 9 billion dollars for
second generation cellular licenses, and the
auctions in Europe for third generation cellular
spectrum garnered around 100 billion dollars.
• So spectrum allocation should be extremely
efficient to get a reasonable return on its
investment
• Must also be reused over and over in the
same geographical area
 Radio Spectrum
• Spectrum reuse requires cellular system
designs with high capacity and good
performance.
• Spectrum in this frequency range is extremely
crowded.
 Channel & Pathloss
• Path loss at higher frequencies is larger,
thereby limiting range, unless directional
antennas are used.
• As a signal propagates through a wireless
channel, it experiences random fluctuations
in time(due to changing reflections and
attenuation), if the transmitter, receiver, or
surrounding objects are moving.
Channel & Pathloss
 Channel & Pathloss
• Thus, the characteristics of the channel appear to
change randomly with time, which makes it difficult to
design reliable systems with guaranteed performance.
• The signal power falls off with distance to reuse the
same frequency spectrum at spatially-separated
locations.
• The coverage area of a cellular system is divided into
non overlapping cells where some set of channels is
assigned to each cell. This same channel set is used in
another cell some distance away.
Ci denotes the channel set used in a particular cell
 Intercell Interference
• FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE ; incease # of users /same
spectrum.
• Make the spatial separation (reuse distance), as small as
possible between co-channel cells.
• frequencies are reused ----> maximizing spectral
efficiency.
• When distance decreases --> intercell interference
increases.
• Intercell interference < threshold, ---> acceptable system
performance,
• reuse distance << some minimum value.
• Signals experience random power variations.
 System Planning
• Celluler systems-->smart allocation of
channels throughout a coverage area.
• BS--> covers one cell
• Adjacent cells are allocated different channels.
• Footprint: actual radio coverage.
• Frequency reuse(planning); is the design
process of allocating channel groups for all BS
in a system.
 Cell shape
• 3 choices; square, triangle or ;
• hexagonal (best one); aprx. circle,
– design on weakest point, i.e at the edge, hexa has
the least cntr-edg variations).
• Factors
• Equal area
• No overlap between cells
Cell shape

For a given R, A3 provides maximum coverage

area.
By using hexagon geometry, the fewest
number of cells covers a given geographic
region.
Actual cellular footprint (coverage) is determined
by the contour of a given transmitting antenna
Design of cluster size
 Design of cluster size
• Design Process;
• S is the complete set of available
frequencies(chnls).
• Cluster of N cells that use S.
• then k=S/N is the # of Channels per cell.
• if N (cluster size) is repeated M times within a
system(city) then total# of chnls;
• C(Capacity) C=MkN=MS
 Design of cluster size
• C is proportional to M in a fixed area (Bngzi city
for eg).

• N should follow;
• N=i2 + ij + j2 ; where i,j are +ve integers.
• Common cluster size N is 4,7,or 12.
• if N is reduced (for same cell area),then
• more clusters (larger M) are required to cover a
given area(the city).
Here N=7, M=3
 Design of cluster size
• Large N --> D/R is large ,,
– Where R=cell r, D=co-chnl dist.
• Small N --> Co-chnl cells are closer,,so more
noise
• From design viewpoint, small N is better-->
maximize capacity(C) in certain area (eg; city).
• 1/N = frequency reuse factor, each cell is
assigned 1/N of S.
 co-channel neighbors
• To find the nearest co-
channel neighbors of a
particular cell, one must do
the following:
• (1) move i cells along any
chain of hexagons and then
• (2) turn 60 degrees counter-
clockwise and move j cells.
• This is illustrated in the
Figure for i = 3 and j = 2
• In this example, i=3, j =2, N
=19.
 Example
• If a total of 33MHz of bandwidth is allocated to a
prticular FDD cellular telephone system which
uses 25kHz simplex channels to provide full
duplex voice and control channels.
• A-compute the number of channels available per
cell if a system uses (a) 4-cell reuse, (b) 7-cell
reuse (c) 12-cell reuse.
• B-If 1 MHz of the allocated spectrum is dedicated
to control channels, determine an equitable
distribution of control channels and voice
channels in each cell for each of the 3 systems.
 Solution
• A- Total # of available channels = 33MHz/(25+25)kHz = 660 channels.
• a- 660/4= 165 channels/cell
• b-660/7=95 channels/cell
• c-660/12=55 channels/cell
• B- 1MHz /50kHz = 20 control channels per cluster out of total 660
channels,, so we are left with 640 voice channels. For fair distribution of
channels,
• a- N= 4, 20/4=5 control channels i.e 1 per cell, and 640/4=160 voice
channels.
• b- N=7, 20/7= 2 contrl per cell ,,
• About 5% of spectrum -- control channels, (vital for initiating, requesting,
or paging a call)
• 95% of the spectrum is dedicated to voice channels (dedicated to carrying
revenue-generating traffic).
 Interference and system capacity
• Interference is a major performance limiting
factor
• sources of I;
• 1- another mobile in the same cell,
• 2- call in progress in neighbouring cell
• 3- Co- cell call.
• 4- non celluler systems (leaks into our freq band).
•
 Co-Channel Interference
• On control channels, interference leads to missed
and blocked calls due to errors in the digital
signaling.
• Interference -- bottleneck in increasing capacity
and is often responsible for dropped calls.
• Two major types of system-generated cellular
interference are co-channel interference and
adjacent channel interference.
• I is difficult to control in practice (due to random
propagation effects)
 Co-channel Interference and System Capacity

• co-channel interference cannot be combated by simply

increasing the carrier power of a transmitter.
• increase in carrier transmit power,
• increases the interference to neighboring co-channel
cells.
• co-channel cells must be physically separated by a
minimum distance.
• when the base stations transmit the same power, and
for hexagonal shape;
•
 Co-Channel Interference
• when the base stations transmit the same power,
and for hexagonal shape;

• The parameter Q, called the co-channel reuse

ratio
• small Q means larger capacity,
• but large Q results in better transmission
quality(low CHI), so a trade-off must be made.
 Co-Channel Interference
• so a trade-off must be made
 Co-Channel Interference
• Signal-to-interference
ratio (SIR) for a mobile
receiver is given by:
• S = desired signal power
from designated base
station.
• Ii = interference power
caused by the ith
interfering co-channel cell
base station
• i0 = number of interfering
co-channel cells.
 Co-Channel Interference
• From propagation
measurements, average
received Pr decays as a
power law of the distance ;
• where P0 is the power
received at a close-in
reference point in the far
field region of the antenna
at a small distance d0 from
the transmitting antenna
and n is the path loss
exponent.
 Co-Channel Interference
• If Di is the distance of the
ith interferer from the
mobile,
• the received power at a
given mobile due to the ith
interfering cell will be
proportional to (Di)–n.
• When the transmit 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
approximated as
 Co-Channel Interference
• If all Di's are equal = D
(considering only the first
layer of interfering cells),
then;
• This equation relates S/I to
the cluster size N, hence
the overall capacity of the
system is decided by I,,
• for example; to get the
needed 18dB, for the old US
AMPS cell system, N should
be >6.49 & n=4,, i.e N=7
• If the mobile unit is at the
cell boundary,
• the mobile is a distance D –
R from the two nearest co-
channel
• and is exactly D + R/2, D, D
– R/2, and D + R from the
other interfering cells
• assuming n = 4, the signal-
to-interference ratio for the
worst case can be closely
approximated as;
• in terms of the co-channel
reuse ratio Q
 Co-Channel Interference
• For N = 7, the co-channel reuse ratio Q is 4.6, and
the worst case S/I is approximated as 49.56 (17
dB)
• I can be reduced making N the next largest size i.e
= 12, which then reduce capacity from 1/7 to
1/12 per cell.
• So, co-channel interference determines link
performance,
• which in turn dictates the frequency reuse plan
and the overall capacity of cellular systems
 Units of Received Signal Strength
• The standard unit of
power is Watt, but dBm
is more commonly
used.
• P (dBm) = 10 log10 [ P
(mW)]
• Minimum usable signal
strength to be received
at a base station is
typically between -90
dBm -100 dBm
 Example
• If a signal-to-interference ratio of 15 dB is
required for satisfactory forward channel
performance of a cellular system:
• What is the frequency reuse factor(Q) and cluster
size(N) that should be used for maximum
capacity if the path loss exponent is
• (a) n = 4,
• (b) n = 3? Assume that there are 6 co-channel
cells in the first tier, and all of them are at the
same distance from the mobile. Use suitable
approximations.
 Solution
• a- n=4;
• if N=7, then
• Q=D/R=sqrt(3N)= 4.583
• and using, io=6
• SNR= 18.66 dB
• so SNR is > 15dB so N=7 is ok,,,
• b- n=3,
• SNR=(1/6)x(4.583)3 =16.04=12.05dB
• SNR= < 15dB,,
• so we have to use the next N size which is 12
,with i=j=2,
• here Q = 6,,
• then SNR = 15.56dB
• The smaller n the better but we can NOT
control the pathloss exponent(n), as it
depends on the channel characteristics.
• So we have to choose the correct cluster size
for each specific channel.
 Co-Channel Interference
• In practice, cellular systems seldom obey the
propagation path loss assumption of the last
Equation.
• The wireless engineer must deal with the real-
world difficulties of radio propagation and
imperfect coverage regions of each cell.
Co-Channel Interference
 Improving Coverage and Capacity in
Cellular Systems—JAN28
• As demand for wireless
services increases, the number
of channels assigned to a cell
is not enough to support the
required number of users.
• Solution is to increase
channels per unit coverage
area.
• Cell Splitting :
• Subdivides a congested cell
into smaller cells, each with its
own base station.
• With R decreased and D/R
• unchanged, the capacity of a
cellular system is increased
Improving Capacity in Cellular Systems
• Sectoring :
• Sectoring: The technique for
decreasing co-channel
interference by using
directional antennas.
• A single omni-directional
antenna at the base station is
replaced by several directional
antennas, each radiating
within a specified sector.
• A given cell will receive
interference and transmit with
only a fraction of the available
cochannel cells.
Improving Capacity in Cellular Systems
• Cellular design techniques are needed to provide more
channels per unit coverage area. Techniques such as
cell splitting, sectoring, and coverage zone
approaches are used in practice to expand the capacity
of cellular systems.
• Cell splitting allows an orderly growth of the cellular
system.
• Sectoring uses directional antennas to further control
the interference and frequency reuse of channels.
• The zone microcell concept distributes the coverage of
a cell and extends the cell boundary to hard-to-reach
places.
• cell splitting increases the number of base
stations in order to increase capacity,
• Sectoring and zone microcells rely on base
station antenna placements to improve
capacity by reducing co-channel interference.
 Cell Splitting
• Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell
into smaller cells, each with its own base station and a
corresponding reduction in antenna height and transmitter
power.
• Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system
since it increases the number of times that channels are
reused.
• By defining new cells which have a smaller radius than the
original cells and by installing these smaller cells (called
microcells) between the existing cells, capacity increases
• due to the additional number of channels per unit area.
• if every cell in the figure were
reduced in such a way that the
radius of every cell was cut in
half.
• In order to cover the entire
service area with smaller cells,
approximately 4 times as
many cells would be required.
• This can be easily shown by
considering a circle with radius
R.
• The area covered by such a
circle is four times as large as
the area covered by a circle
with radius R/2.
• The increased number of cells would increase the
number of clusters over the coverage region,
• which in turn would increase the number of
channels, and thus capacity, in the coverage area.
• Cell splitting allows a system to grow by replacing
large cells with smaller cells, while not upsetting
the channel allocation scheme required to
maintain the minimum co-channel reuse ratio Q
between co-channel cells.
 Example
• The base stations are placed at
corners of the cells, and the
area served by base station A
is assumed to be saturated
with traffic
• New base stations are
therefore needed in the region
to increase the number of
channels in the area and to
reduce the area served by the
single base station.
• Note in the figure that the
original base station A has
been surrounded by 6 new
microcells.
• The smaller cells were added in
such a way as to preserve the
frequency reuse plan of the
system.
• For example, the microcell base
station labeled G was placed half
way between two larger stations
utilizing the same channel set G.
• This is also the case for the other
microcells in the figure.
• Cell splitting merely scales the
geometry of the cluster.
• In this case, the radius of each
new microcell is half that of the
original cell.
• For the new cells 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 the
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 behaves exactly as for the
original cells.
• Pt1 and Pt2 are the transmit powers of
the larger and smaller cell base stations,
respectively,
• If we take n = 4 and set the received
powers equal to each other, then;
• The transmit power must be reduced by
12 dB in order to fill in the original
overage area with microcells, while
maintaining the S/I requirement.
• In practice, not all cells are split at the same time. It is often difficult for service providers to find
real estate that is perfectly situated for cell splitting. Therefore, different cell sizes will exist
simultaneously.
• In such situations, special care needs to be taken to keep the distance between cochannel cells at
the required minimum, and hence channel assignments become more complicated
• Also, handoff issues must be addressed so that high speed and low speed traffic can be
• simultaneously accommodated (the umbrella cell approach).
• When there are two cell sizes in the same region as shown in the example, last Equation shows
• that one cannot simply use the original transmit power for all new cells or the new transmit power
• for all the original cells.
• If the larger transmit power is used for all cells, some channels used by the smaller cells would not
be sufficiently separated from co-channel cells.
• On the other hand, if the smaller transmit power is used for all the cells, there would be parts of
the larger cells left unserved.
• For this reason, channels in the old cell must be broken down into two channel groups,
• one that corresponds to the smaller cell reuse requirements
• and the other that corresponds to the larger cell reuse requirements.
• The larger cell is usually dedicated to high speed traffic so that handoffs occur less frequently.
• The two channel group sizes depend on the stage of the splitting
process.
• At the beginning of the cell splitting process, there will be fewer
channels in the small power groups.
• However, as demand grows, more channels will be required, and
thus the smaller groups will require more channels.
• This splitting process continues until all the channels in an area are
used in the lower power group, at which point cell splitting is
complete within the region, and the entire system is rescaled to
have a smaller radius per cell.
• Antenna downtilting, which deliberately focuses radiated energy
from the base station toward the ground (rather than toward the
horizon), is often used to limit the radio coverage of newly formed
microcells.
 Example
• Assume, for the shown figure, each
base station uses 60 channels,
• regardless of cell size.
• If each original cell has a radius of 1
km and each microcell has a radius of
0.5 km,
• find the number of channels
contained in a 3 km by 3 km square
centered around A under the
following conditions:
• (a) without the use of microcells;
• (b) when the lettered microcells as
• shown in the figure are used;
• (c) if all the original base stations are
replaced by microcells.
• Assume cells on the edge of the
square to be contained within the
square.
• (a) without the use of microcells:
• A cell radius of 1 km implies that the
sides of the larger hexagons are also
1 km in length.
• To cover the 3 km by 3 km square
centered around base station A,
• we need to cover 1.5 km (1.5 times
the hexagon radius) toward the right,
left, top, and bottom of base station
A.
• We see that this area contains five
base stations.
• Since each base station has 60
channels,
• the total number of channels without
cell splitting is equal to 5 × 60 = 300
channels.
• (b) with the use of the
microcells;
• The base station A is surrounded
by six microcells.
• Therefore, the total number of
base stations in the square area
under study is equal to 5 + 6 = 11.
• Since each base station has 60
channels,
• the total number of channels will
be equal to 11 × 60 = 660
channels.
• This is a 2.2 times increase in
capacity when compared to case
(a).
• (c) if all the base stations are
replaced by microcells:
• We see there are a total of 5 + 12
= 17 base stations in the square
region under study.
• Since each base station has 60
channels,
• the total number of channels will
be equal to 17 × 60 = 1020
channels.
• This is a 3.4 times increase in
capacity compared to case (a).
• Theoretically, if all cells were
microcells having half the radius
of the original cell, the capacity
increase would approach 4.
 Sectoring
• Cell splitting achieves capacity improvement by essentially rescaling the
system.
• By decreasing the cell radius R and keeping the co-channel reuse ratio D/R
unchanged, cell splitting increases the number of channels per unit area.
• However, another way to increase capacity is to keep the cell radius
unchanged and seek methods to decrease the D/R ratio.
• Sectoring increases SIR so that the cluster size may be reduced. In this
approach, first the SIR is improved using directional antennas, then
capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the number of cells in a
cluster, thus increasing the frequency reuse.
• However, in order to do this successfully, it is necessary to reduce the
relative interference without decreasing the transmit power.
• Sectoring is the technique of decreasing co-channel interference and thus
increasing system performance using directional antennas.
• The factor by which the
co-channel interference
is reduced depends on
the amount of sectoring
used.
• A cell is normally
partitioned into three
120° sectors or six 60°
sectors.
• Assuming seven-cell reuse, for the case of 120° sectors,
the number of interferers in the first tier is reduced from
six to two.
• This is because only two of the six co-channel cells
receive interference with a particular sectored channel
group. Consider the interference experienced by a
mobile located in the right-most sector in the center cell
labeled “5”.
• There are three cochannel cell sectors labeled “5” to the
right of the center cell, and three to the left of the
center cell.
• Out of these six co-channel cells, only two cells have
sectors with antenna patterns which radiate into the
center cell, and hence a mobile in the center cell will
experience interference on the forward link from only
these two sectors.
• The resulting S/I for this case can be found to be 24.2 dB,
which is a significant improvement over the
omnidirectional case , where the worst case S/I was
shown to be 17 dB.
• This S/I improvement allows the wireless engineer to
then decrease the cluster size N in order to improve the
frequency reuse, and thus the system capacity.
• In practical systems, further improvement in S/I is
achieved by downtilting the sector antennas such that
the radiation pattern in the vertical (elevation) plane has
a notch at the nearest co-channel cell distance.
• The improvement in S/I implies that with 120°
sectoring, the minimum required S/I of 18 dB can be
easily achieved with seven-cell reuse, as compared to
12-cell reuse for the worst possible situation in the
unsectored case.
• Thus, sectoring reduces interference, which amounts
to an increase in capacity by a factor of 12/7, or 1.714.
• In practice, the reduction in interference offered by
sectoring enable planners to reduce the cluster size N,
and provides an additional degree of freedom in
assigning channels.
• The penalty for improved S/I and the resulting capacity
improvement from the shrinking cluster size is an increased
number of antennas at each base station, and a decrease in
trunking efficiency due to channel sectoring at the base
station.
• Since sectoring reduces the coverage area of a particular
group of channels, the number of handoffs increases, as
well.
• Fortunately, many modern base stations support
sectorization and allow mobiles to be handed off from
sector to sector within the same cell without intervention
from the MSC, so the handoff problem is often not a major
concern.
 Repeaters for Range Extension
• Often a wireless operator needs to provide dedicated
coverage for hard-to-reach areas, such as within buildings,
or in valleys or tunnels.
• Radio retransmitters, known as repeaters, are often used to
provide such range extension capabilities.
• Repeaters are bidirectional in nature, and simultaneously
send signals to and receive signals from a serving base
station.
• Repeaters work using over-the-air signals, so they may be
installed anywhere.
• Upon receiving signals from a base station forward link, the
repeater amplifies and reradiates the base station signals to
the specific coverage region.
• In practice, directional
antennas or distributed
antenna systems (DAS)
are connected to the
inputs or outputs of
repeaters
• for localized spot
coverage, particularly in
tunnels or buildings.
 A Microcell Zone Concept
• In this scheme, each of the three (or
possibly more) zone sites are
connected to a single base station
and share the same radio equipment.
• The zones are connected by coaxial
cable, fiberoptic cable, or microwave
link to the base station.
• Multiple zones and a single base
station make up a cell.
• As a mobile travels within the cell, it
is served by the zone with the
strongest signal.
• This approach is superior to sectoring
since antennas are placed at the
outer edges of the cell, and any base
station channel may be assigned to
any zone by the base station.
• As a mobile travels from one zone to
another within the cell, it retains the
same channel.
• Thus, unlike in sectoring, a handoff is not
required at the MSC when the mobile
travels between zones within the cell.
• The base station simply switches the
channel to a different zone site.
• In this way, a given channel is active only
in the particular zone in which the mobile
is traveling, and
• hence the base station radiation is
localized and interference is reduced.
• The channels are distributed in time and
space by all three zones and are also
reused in co-channel cells in the normal
fashion.
• This technique is particularly useful along
highways or along urban traffic corridors.
• The advantage of the zone cell
technique is that while the cell
maintains a particular coverage
radius, the co-channel
interference in the cellular system
is reduced since a large central
base station
• is replaced by several lower
powered transmitters (zone
transmitters) on the edges of the
cell.
• Decreased co-channel
interference improves the signal
quality and also leads to an
• increase in capacity without the
degradation in trunking efficiency
caused by sectoring.
Mobile Radio Propagation

Large-Scale Pathloss
 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation
• The mobile radio channel places fundamental
limitations on the performance of wireless
communication systems.
• Mobile radio path is severely obstructed by buildings,
mountains, and foliage.
• Radio channels are extremely random and do not offer
easy analysis.
• The speed of motion impacts how rapidly the signal
level fades as a mobile terminals moves in the space
• Modeling radio channel is one of the most difficult
part and typically done in a statistical manner based on
Measurements.
 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation
• Electromagnetic wave
propagation
• reflection
• diffraction
• scattering
• Urban areas
• No direct line-of-sight
• high-rise buildings causes
severe diffraction loss
• multipath fading due to
different paths of varying
lengths
Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation
 transmitter
R
Street
S
D
D

R: Reflection receiver
D: Diffraction Building Blocks
S: Scattering
 Introduction to Radio Wave Propagation
Large Scale Propagation Models
• Propagation models are
usually required to predict
the average received signal
strength at a given distance
from the transmitter and
estimating the coverage
area (averaged over
meters).
Small-Scale models (fading models)
• Propagation models that
characterize rapid
fluctuations of the received
signal strength over very
short travel distances (few
λs) or short time duration
(on the order of seconds).
• Small-scale fading:
rapidly fluctuation
• sum of many
contributions from
different directions with
different phases
• random phases cause
the sum varying widely.
(ex: Rayleigh fading
distribution)
 Propagation Model
• To focus on predicting the average received signal strength at a
given distance from the transmitter
• variability of the signal strength is useful in estimating the radio
coverage.
• Large-scale propagation
• computed by averaging over 5λ to 40λ, 1m to 10m, for1GHz to
2GHz.
• Small-scale fading
• Received signal strength fluctuate rapidly, as a mobile moves over
very small distance.
• Received signal is a sum of multi-path signals.
• Rayleigh fading distribution
• may vary by 30 dB to 40 dB due to movement of propagation
related elements in the vicinity of the receiver
 Deterministic Techniques
Basic Propagation Modes
• Free Space Propagation Model;
• The free space propagation model is used to
predict received signal strength when the
transmitter and receiver have a clear line-of-
sight path between them.
• satellite communication
• microwave line-of-sight radio link
• Friis free space equation;
Free Space Propagation Model

Pr : Received power
D : Max dimension of transmitting antenna
Gr : Receiver antenna gain
L : System loss factor (L ≥ 1, transmission lines
etc, but not due to propagation)
λ= c / f = 3 • 108 / f : Wavelength
(units – f : Hz, c = 3 • 108 : meters/sec, λ:
meters)…
Ae: effective aperture, is related to the physical
size of the antenna.
• The losses L (L ≥ 1) are usually due to transmission line
attenuation, filter losses, and antenna losses in the
communication system. A value of L=1 indicates no loss
in the system hardware.
• Isotropic radiator is an ideal antenna which radiates
power with unit gain.
• Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) is defined as;
• EIRP = Pt Gt
• and represents the maximum radiated power available
from transmitter in the direction of maximum antenna
gain as compared to an isotropic radiator.
• Path loss for the free space model with
antenna gains;
•
•
• When antenna gains are excluded
• The Friis free space model is only
a valid predictor for Pr for values
of d which is in the far-field
(Fraunhofer region) of the
transmission antenna.
• The far-field region of a
transmitting antenna is defined
as the region beyond the far-field
distance
• where D is the largest physical
linear dimension of the antenna.
• To be in the far-filed region the
following equations must be
satisfied
• Furthermore the following
equation does not hold for d=0.
• Use close-in distance d0
and a known received
power Pr(d0) at that
point;
 Example
• Find the far-field distance
for an antenna with
maximum dimension of 1
m and operating
frequency of 900 MHz.
• Given:
• Largest dimension of
antenna, D = 1 m
• Operating frequency f =
900 MHz,. λ is:
• far-field distance is
obtained as:
 Example
• If a transmitter produces 50 watts of power.
• Express the transmit power in units of (a)
dBm, and (b) dBW.
• If 50 watts is applied to a unity gain antenna
with a 900 MHz carrier frequency,
• Find the received power in dBm at a free
space distance of 100 m from the antenna.
• What is P r (10 km) ? Assume unity gain for
the receiver antenna.
• Transmitter power Pt =
50 w.
• Carrier frequency, fc =
900 MHz
• (a,b) Transmitter power,
• The received power in
dBm at a free space
distance of 100 m from
the antenna.

• The received power at

10 km can be expressed
in terms of dBm, where
do = 100 m and d = 10
km is: