CELLULAR & MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

(R18A0411)

LECTURE NOTES
III B.TECH (SEM-1)
(2021-22)

PREPARED BY

Mr. ARUNKUMAR MADUPU, Associate Professor

Mr. CH KIRAN KUMAR, Assistant Professor

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING
MALLREDDY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
 B.Tech (ECE) R-18

MALLA REDDY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

III B.Tech ( ECE) I- Sem L T/P/D C
3 -/-/- 3
(R18A0411) CELLULAR & MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
OBJECTIVES:
The course objectives are
1. To provide the students with an understanding of the cellular concept frequency reuse, handoff
strategies.
2. To enable the students to analyze and understand wireless and mobile cellular communication systems
over stochastic fading channels .
3. To provide the students with an understanding of Co-channel and Non-Co channel Interference.
4. To give students an understanding of cell coverage for signal and traffic diversity techniques and mobile
antennas.
5. To give the students an understanding of frequency management channel assignment and types of
handoff.
UNIT I
CELLULAR SYSTEMS:
Limitations of Conventional System, Basic Cellular Mobile System, First, Second, Third and Fourth
Generation cellular wireless systems. Operation of Cellular System. Uniqueness of Mobile Radio
Environment -Fading, Coherence Bandwidth, Doppler Spread.

FUNDAMENTALS OF CELLULAR RADIO SYSTEM DESIGN: Concept of Frequency Reuse channels, Co- channel
Interference, Co-channel Interference Reduction Factor, Desired C/I from a normal case in a Omni
directional Antenna system. Trunking and grade of service

UNIT II
CO-CHANNEL & NON CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:
Measurement of Real Time Co-Channel Interference, Design of Antenna system, Antenna parameters and
their effects, Diversity techniques: Space Diversity ,Polarization diversity, Frequency diversity and Time
diversity.

NON-CO CHANNEL INTERFERENCE: Adjacent channel interference, Near end Far end interference, Effect on
coverage and interference by power decrease, antenna height decrease.

UNIT III
CELL COVERAGE FOR SIGNAL AND TRAFFIC:
Signal reflections in flat and hilly terrain, effect of human made structures, phase difference between direct
and reflected paths, constant standard deviation, straight line path loss slope, general formula for mobile
propagation over water and flat open area, near and long distance propagation .

UNIT IV
CELL SITE AND MOBILE ANTENNAS:
Space diversity antennas, umbrella pattern antennas, minimum separation of cell site antennas, Mobile
Antennas.

FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT AND CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT: Numbering and grouping, setup - access and
paging channels, channel assignments to cell sites and mobile units, channel sharing and borrowing,
Sectorization, overlaid cells, non fixed channel assignment.
 B.Tech (ECE) R-18

UNIT V HANDOFFS:
Handoff Initiation, types of handoff, delaying handoff, advantages of Handoff, power difference handoff,
forced handoff, mobile assisted and soft handoff. Intersystem handoff.

TEXTBOOKS:
1. Mobile Cellular Telecommunications – W.C.Y. Lee, Tata McGraw Hill, 2nd Edn., 2006.
2. Wireless Communications - Theodore. S. Rapport, Pearson education, 2nd Edn., 2002.

REFERENCES:
1. Principles of Mobile Communications – Gordon L. Stuber, Springer International 2nd Edition, 2001.
2. Modern Wireless Communication –Simon Haykin Michael Moher, Persons Eduction,2005.
3. Wireless Communication theory and Techniques,Asrar U.H .Sheikh ,Springer,2004.

OUTCOMES:
1. The student will be able to understand impairments due to multipath fading channel
2. The student will be able to understand the fundamental techniques to overcome the different fading
effects
3. The student will be able to understand co-channel and non co-channel interferences
4. The student will be able to familiar with cell coverage/signal and traffic, diversity techniques and mobile
antennas
5. The student will be able to understand the frequency management, channel assignment and types of
handoffs
 Cellular and Mobile Communications

UNIT-I(A)
CELLULAR SYSTEMS

LIMITATIONS OF CONVENTIONAL MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEMS:

One of many reasons for developing a cellular mobile telephone system and deploying it in many cities is the
operational limitations of conventional mobile telephone systems: limited service capability, poor service performance,
and inefficient frequency spectrum utilization.

1) Limited service capability:

A conventional mobile telephone system is usually designed by selecting one or more channels from a specific
frequency allocation for use in autonomous geographic zones, as shown in Fig.1. The communications coverage area of
each zone is normally planned to be as large as possible, which means that the transmitted power should be as high as
the federal specification allows. The user who starts a call in one zone has to reinitiate the call when moving into a new
zone because the call will be dropped. This is an undesirable radio telephone system since there is no guarantee that a
call can be completed without a handoff capability. The handoff is a process of automatically changing frequencies as
the mobile unit moves into a different frequency zone so that the conversation can be continued in a new frequency
zone without redialing. Another disadvantage of the conventional system is that the number of active users is limited
to the number of channels assigned to a particular frequency zone.

Fig.1 Conventional Mobile System

2) Poor service performance:

In the past, a total of 33 channels were all allocated to three mobile telephone systems: Mobile Telephone Service
(MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) MJ systems, and Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) MK
systems. MTS operates around 40 MHz and MJ operates at 150 MHs; both provide 11 channels; IMTS MK operates at
450 MHz and provides 12 channels. These 33 channels must cover an area 50 mi in diameter. In 1976,

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New York City had 6 channels of( MJ serving 320 customers, with another 2400 customers on a waiting list. New York
City also had 6 channels of MK serving 225 customers, with another 1300 customers on a waiting list. The large number
of subscribers created a high blocking probability during busy hours. Although service performance was undesirable,
the demand was still great. A high-capacity system for mobile telephones was needed.

3) Inefficient Frequency Spectrum Utilization:

In a conventional mobile telephone system, the frequency utilization measurement Mo, is defined as the maximum
number of customers that could be served by one channel at the busy hour.
Mo = Number of customers/channel Mo = 53 for MJ
37 for MK
The offered load can then be obtained by
A = Average calling time (minutes) x total customers / 60 min (Erlangs) Assume average calling time = 1.76 min.
A1 = 1.76 * 53 * 6 / 60= 9.33 Erlangs (MJ system)
A2 = 1.76 * 37 * 6 / 60= 6.51 Erlangs (MK system)
If the number of channels is 6 and the offered loads are A1 = 9.33 and A2 = 6.51, then from the Erlang B model the
blocking probabilities, B1 = 50 percent (MJ system) and B2 =30 percent (MK system), respectively. It is likely that half
the initiating calls will be blocked in the MJ system, a very high blocking probability. As far as frequency spectrum
utilization is concerned the conventional system does not utilize the spectrum efficiently since each channel can only
serve one customer at a time in a whole area. This is overcome by the new cellular system.

BASIC CELLULAR SYSTEMS:

A basic analog cellular system consists of three subsystems: a mobile unit, a cell site, and a mobile telephone switching
office (MTSO), as Fig. 1.1 shows, with connections to link the three subsystems.

Mobile units: A mobile telephone unit contains a control unit, a transceiver, and an antenna system.
Cell site: The cell site provides interface between the MTSO and the mobile units. It has a control unit, radio cabinets,
antennas, a power plant, and data terminals.
MTSO: The switching office, the central coordinating element for all cell sites, con-tains the cellular processor and
cellular switch. It interfaces with telephone company zone offices, controls call processing, provides operation and
maintenance, and handles billing activities.
Connections: The radio and high-speed data links connect the three subsystems. Each mobile unit can only use one
channel at a time for its communication link. But the channel is not fixed; it can be any one in the entire band

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assigned by the serving area, with each site having multichannel capabilities that can connect simultaneously to many
mobile units.
The MTSO is the heart of the analog cellular mobile system. Its processor provides central coordination and cellular
administration. The cellular switch, which can be either analog or digital, switches calls to connect mobile subscribers
to other mobile subscribers and to the nationwide telephone network. It uses voice trunks similar to telephone
company interoffice voice trunks. It also contains data links providing supervision links between the processor and the
switch and between the cell sites and the processor. The radio link carries the voice and signaling between the mobile
unit and the cell site. The high-speed data links cannot be transmitted over the standard telephone trunks and
therefore must use either microwave links or T-carriers (wire lines). Microwave radio links or T-carriers carry both voice
and data between cell site and the MTSO.

Fig: Basic cellular system

FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, AND FOURTH GENERATION CELLULAR WIRELESS SYSTEMS:

The "G" in wireless networks refers to the "Generation" of the underlying wireless network technology.
Technically generations are defined as follows:
1G networks (NMT, C-Nets, AMPS, TACS) are considered to be the first analog cellular systems, which started early
1980s. There were radio telephone systems even before that. 1G networks were conceived and designed purely for
voice calls with almost no consideration of data services

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2G networks (GSM, CDMAOne, D-AMPS) are the first digital cellular systems launched early 1990s, offering improved
sound quality, better security and higher total capacity. GSM supports circuit-switched data (CSD), allowing users to
place dial-up data calls digitally, so that the network's switching station receives actual ones and zeroes rather than the
screech of an analog modem. 2G networks with theoretical data rates up to about 144kbit/s.

3G networks (UMTS FDD and TDD, CDMA2000 1x EVDO, CDMA2000 3x, TD-SCDMA, Arib WCDMA, EDGE, IMT-2000
DECT) are newer cellular networks that have data rates of 384kbit/s and more. The UN's International
Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard requires stationary speeds of 2Mbps and mobile speeds of 384kbps for
a 3G.
4G technology refers to the fourth generation of mobile phone communication standards. LTE and WiMAX are
marketed as parts of this generation, even though they fall short of the actual standard.
The ITI has taken ownership of 4G, bundling into a specification known as IMT-Advanced. The document calls for 4G
technologies to deliver downlink speeds of 1Gbps when stationary and 100Mbps when mobile

UNIQUENESS OF MOBILE RADIO ENVIRONMENT:

Description of mobile radio transmission medium:
The propagation attenuation:
In general, the propagation path loss increases not only with frequency but also with distance. If the antenna height at
the cell site is 30 to 100 m and at the mobile unit about 3 m above the ground, and the distance between the cell site
and the mobile unit is usually 2 km or more, then the incident angles of both the direct wave and the reflected wave
are very small, as Fig. 2.4 shows. The incident angle of the direct wave is θ1, and the incident angle of the reflected
wave is θ2. θ 1 is also called the elevation angle. The propagation path loss would be 40 dB/dec, 4where “dec” is an
abbreviation of decade, i.e ., a period of 10. This means that a 40-dB loss at a signal receiver will be observed by the
mobile unit as it moves from 1 to 10 km. Therefore C is inversely proportional to R.

−4 −4
C ∝R =αR
(2.3-1)
Where C = received carrier power
R = distance measured from the transmitter to the receiver α = constant

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FIGURE 2.4 mobile radio transmission models.

The difference in power reception at two different distances R1 and R2 will result in and the decibel expression of

Eq. (2.3-2a) is

This 40 dB/dec is the general rule for the mobile radio environment and is easy to remember. It is also easy to compare
to the free-space propagation rule of 20 dB/dec. The linear and decibel scale expressions are

In a real mobile radio environment, the propagation path-loss slope varies as

C ∝R−γ
= α R−γ (2.3-4)

γ usually lies between 2 and 5 depending on the actual conditions.5 Of course, γ cannot be lower than 2, which is the
free-space condition.
γ The decibel scale expression of Eq. (2.3-4) is
C = 10 log α − 10γ log RdB (2.3-5)

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Severe Fading:
Because the antenna height of the mobile unit is lower than its typical surroundings, and the carrier frequency
wavelength is much less than the sizes of the surrounding structures, multipath waves are generated. At the mobile
unit, the sum of the multipath waves causes a signal-fading phenomenon. The signal fluctuates in a range of about 40
dB (10 dB above and 30 dB below the average signal). We can visualize the nulls of the fluctuation at the baseband at
about every half wavelength in space, but all nulls do not occur at the same level, as Fig. 2.5 shows. If the mobile unit
moves fast, the rate of fluctuation is fast. For instance, at 850 MHz, the wavelength is roughly 0.35 m (1 ft). If the speed
of the mobile unit is 24 km/h (15 mi/h), or 6.7 m/s, the rate of fluctuation of the signal reception at a 10-dB level below
the average power of a fading signal is 15 nulls per second (see Sec. 2.3.3).

Fig: A typical fading signal while the mobile unit is moving

Model of transmission medium:

A mobile radio signal r(t), illustrated in Fig. 2.6, can be artificially characterized5 by two components m(t) and r0(t)
based on natural physical phenomena.
r (t ) = m(t )r0(t) ---------(2.3-6)
The component m(t) is called local mean, long-term fading, or lognormal fading and its variation is due to the terrain
contour between the base station and the mobile unit. The factor r0 is called multipath fading, short-term fading, or
Rayleigh fading and its variation is due to the waves reflected from the surrounding buildings and other structures. The long-term
fading m(t) can be obtained from Eq. (2.3-7a).

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where 2T is the time interval for averaging r(t). T can be determined based on the fading rate of r(t), usually 40 to
80fades.5 Therefore, m(t) is the envelope of r(t), as shown inFig.2.6a.
Equation (2.3-7a) also can be expressed in spatial scale as

The length of 2L has been determined to be 20 to 40 wavelengths. Using 36 or up to 50 samples in an interval of 40

wavelengths is an adequate averaging process for obtaining the local means.

Fig: A mobile radio signal fading representation. (A) A mobile signal fading (B)short-term signal fading.

The factor m(t) or m(x) is also found to be a log-normal distribution based on its characteristics caused by the terrain
contour. The short-term fading r0 is obtained by as shown in Fig.(B).
r0 (in dB) = r (t ) − m(t )dB -----(2.3-8)
The factor r0(t) follows a Rayleigh distribution, assuming that only reflected waves from local surroundings are the
ones received (a normal situation for the mobile radio environment). Therefore, the term Rayleigh fading is often used.

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Direct wave path, Line-of-sight path, and Obstructive path:

Direct wave path is a path clear from the terrain contour.
Line-of-sight path is a path clear from buildings. In the mobile radio environment, we do not always have a line- of-
sight condition.
Obstructive path: When the terrain contour blocks the direct wave path, we call it as obstructive path.
AMPLIFIER NOISE:
A mobile radio signal received by a receiving antenna, either at the cell site or at the mobile unit, will be amplified by an
amplifier. We would like to understand how the signal is affected by the amplifier noise. Assume that the amplifier has
an available power gain g and the available noise power at the output is No . The input signal- to-noise (S/N) ratio is Ps
/Ni , the output signal-to-noise ratio is Po /No , and the internal amplifier noise is Nα . Then the output Po /No becomes

𝑃0 𝑔𝑃𝑠 𝑃𝑠
= =
𝑁0 𝑔(𝑁𝑖 ) + 𝑁𝑎 𝑁 + (𝑁𝑎 )
𝑖 𝑔
-----(2.3-20)

maximum possible S/N ratio

The noise figure F is defined as 𝐹 = actual S/N ratio at output -----(2.3-21)
where the maximum possible S/N ratio is measured when the load is an open circuit. Equation (2.3-21) can be used for
obtaining the noise figure of the amplifier.

LONG-TERM FADING:
Long-term fading occurs when the propagation environment is changing significantly but this fading is typically much
slower than short-term fading.

Long-term fading means slower variation in mean signal strength and is produced by movement over much longer
distances.
Long-term is caused by terrain configuration (hill, flat area etc.), which results in local mean attenuation and
fluctuation. Long term fading is also called as slow fading or shadowing.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING SHORT TERM FADING:

The following physical factors influence short-term fading in the radio propagation channel:
MULTIPATH PROPAGATION
Multipath is the propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more
paths. The effects of multipath include constructive and destructive interference, and phase shifting of the signal.
SPEED OF THE MOBILE
The relative motion between the base station and the mobile results in random frequency modulation due to different
Doppler shifts on each of the multipath components.
SPEED OF SURROUNDING OBJECTS
If objects in the radio channel are in motion, they induce a time varying Doppler shift on multipath components. If the
surrounding objects move at a greater rate than the mobile, then this effect dominates fading.
TRANSMISSION BANDWIDTH OF THE SIGNAL
If the transmitted radio signal bandwidth is greater than the “bandwidth" of the multipath channel (quantified by
coherence bandwidth), the received signal will be distorted.

PARAMETERS OF MOBILE MULTIPATH FADING:

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COHERENCE BANDWIDTH:

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Types of small scale fading

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UNIT-I (B)

FUNDAMENTALS OF CELLULAR RADIO SYSTEM DESIGN

CONCEPT OF FREQUENCY REUSE CHANNELS:

A radio channel consists of a pair of frequencies one for each direction of transmission that is used for full- duplex
operation. Particular radio channels, say F1, used in one geographic zone to call a cell, say C1, with a coverage radius R
can be used in another cell with the same coverage radius at a distance D away.
Frequency reuse is the core concept of the cellular mobile radio system. In this frequency reuse system users in
different geographic locations (different cells) may simultaneously use the same frequency channel (see Fig.1.). The
frequency reuse system can drastically increase the spectrum efficiency, but if the system is not properly designed,
serious interference may occur. Interference due to the common use of the same channel is called co- channel
interference and is our major concern in the concept of frequency reuse.

Fig.1 The ratio of D/R

Frequency Reuse Scheme:

The frequency reuse concept can be used in the time domain and the space domain. Frequency reuse in the time
domain results in the occupation of the same frequency in different time slots. It is called time division multiplexing
(TDM). Frequency reuse in the space domain can be divided into two categories.
1. Same frequency assigned in two different geographic areas, such as A.M or FM radio stations using the same
frequency in different cities.
2. Same frequency repeatedly used in a same general area in one system - the scheme is used in cellular systems.
There are many co-channel cells in the system. The total frequency spectrum allocation is divided into K frequency
reuse patterns, as illustrated in Fig. 2 for K — 4, 7, 12, and 19.

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Fig.2 N- cell reuse pattern

Fig 2: K frequency reuse patterns

Frequency reuses distance:
The minimum distance which allows the same frequency to be reused will depend on many factors, such as the number
of co-channel cells in the vicinity of the center cell, the type of geographical terrain contour, the antenna height and the
transmitted power at each cell site. The frequency reuse distance can be determined from Where K is the frequency
reuse pattern shown in Fig.3, then

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Fig.3.The ratio of D/R

If all the cell sites transmit the same power, then K increases and the frequency reuse distance D increases.
This increased D reduces the chance that cochannel interference may occur.
Theoretically, a large K is desired. However, the total number of allocated channels is fixed. When K is too large, the
number of channels assigned to each of K cells becomes small. It is always true that if the total number of channels in K
cells is divided as K increases, trunking inefficiency results. The same principle applies to spectrum inefficiency: if the
total numbers of channels are divided into two network systems serving in the same area, spectrum inefficiency
increases.
Obtaining the smallest number K involves estimating cochannel interference and selecting the minimum frequency
reuse distance D to reduce cochannel interference. The smallest value of K is K = 3, obtained by setting i = 1, j = 1 in the
equation K = i 2 + i j + j 2.

CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE REDUCTION FACTOR:

Reusing an identical frequency channel in different cells is limited by cochannel interference between cells, and the
cochannel interference can become a major problem.
Assume that the size of all cells is roughly the same. The cell size is determined by the coverage area of the signal
strength in each cell. As long as the cell size is fixed, cochannel interference is independent of the transmitted power of
each cell. It means that the received threshold level at the mobile unit is adjusted to the size of the cell.
Actually, cochannel interference is a function of a parameter q defined as
q = D/R

The parameter q is the cochannel interference reduction factor. When the ratio q increases, cochannel interference
decreases. Furthermore, the separation D is a function of K, and C/I,
D=f(K,C/I)
Where K, is the number of cochannel interfering cells in the first tier and C/I is the received carrier-to- interference
ratio at the desired mobile receiver.

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In a fully equipped hexagonal-shaped cellular system, there are always six cochannel interfering cells in the fist tier, as
shown in Fig.5 ; that is, K = 6. The maximum number of K, in the first tier can be shown as six. Cochannel interference
can be experienced both at the cell site and at mobile units in the center cell. If the interference is much greater, then
the carrier-to-interference ratio C/I at the mobile units caused by the six interfering sites is (on the average) the same
as the C/I received at the center cell site caused by interfering mobile units in the six cells. According to both the
reciprocity theorem and the statistical summation of radio propagation, the two C/I values can be very close. Assume
that the local noise is much less than the interference level and can be neglected. C/I then can be expressed as

Where is a propagation path-loss slope determined by the actual terrain environment. In a mobile radio medium,

Usually is assumed to be 4. K is the number of co-channel interfering cells and is equal to 6 in a fully developed

system, as shown in Fig. 5. The six co-channel interfering cells in the second tier cause weaker interference than those
in the first tier. Therefore, the co-channel interference from the second tier of interfering cells is negligible

Where qk is the cochannel interference reduction factor with Kth co-channel interfering cell

Fig 5: Six effective interfering cells of cell 1

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C/I FOR NORMAL CASE IN AN OMNI DIRECTIONAL ANTENNA SYSTEM:

There are two cases to be considered: (1) the signal and co-channel interference received by the mobile unit and (2) the
signal and co-channel interference received by the cell site. Both cases are shown in Fig.6. Nm and Nb are the local
noises at the mobile unit and the cell site, respectively. Usually Nm and Nb are small and can be neglected as compared
with the interference level. As long as the received carrier-to-interference ratios at both the mobile unit and the cell
site are the same, the system is called a balanced system. In a balanced system, we can choose either one of the two
cases to analyze the system requirement; the results from one case are the same for the others.
Assume that all Dk are the same for simplicity, then D = Dk and q = qk,

Thus

And

The value of C/I is based on the required system performance and the specified value of is based on the terrain
environment. With given values of C/I and , the co-channel interference reduction factor q can
be determined. Normal cellular practice is to specify C/I to be 18 dB or higher based on subjective tests.
Since a C/I of 18 dB is measured by the acceptance of voice quality from present cellular mobile receivers, this
acceptance implies that both mobile radio multipath fading and co-channel interference become ineffective at that
level. The path-loss slope is equal to about 4 in a mobile radio environment.

The 90th percentile of the total covered area would be achieved by increasing the transmitted power at each cell;
increasing the same amount of transmitted power in each cell does not affect the result. This is because q is not a
function of transmitted power. The factor q can be related to the finite set of cells K in a hexagonal-shaped cellular
system by

Substituting q = 4.41 in above equation yields K=7.

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Fig 6: Cochannel interference from six interferers- (a)Receiving at the cell site (b) Receiving at the mobile unit

TRUNKING AND GRADE OF SERVICE:

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DEFINITIONS OF COMMON TERMS USED IN TRUNKING THEORY:

Set-Up Time: the time required to allocate a trunked radio channel to a requesting user.
Blocked Call: Call which cannot be completed at time of request, due to congestion. Also referred to as a lost call.
Holding Time: Average duration of a typical call. Denoted by H(in seconds).
Traffic Intensity: Measure of channel time utilization, which is the average channel occupancy measured in Erlangs.
This is dimensionless quantity and may be used to measure the time utilization of single or multiple channels. Denoted
by A.
Load: Traffic intensity across the entire trunked radio system, measured in Erlangs.
Grade of Service(GOS): A measure of congestion which is specified as the probability of a call being blocked (for Erlang
B), or the probability of a call being delayed beyond a certain amount of time(for Erlang C).
Request Rate: The average number of call requests per unit time.

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UNIT-II (A)
CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE
The frequency-reuse method is useful for increasing the efficiency of spectrum usage but results in cochannel
interference because the same frequency channel is used repeatedly in different cochannel cells. Application of the
cochannel interference reduction factor q= D/R = 4.6 for a seven-cell reuse pattern (K = 7).
In most mobile radio environments, use of a seven-cell reuse pattern is not sufficient to avoid cochannel interference.
Increasing K > 7 would reduce the number of channels per cell, and that would also reduce spectrum efficiency.
Therefore, it might be advisable to retain the same number of radios as the seven-cell system but to sector the cell
radially, as if slicing a pie. This technique would reduce cochannel interference and use channel sharing and channel
borrowing schemes to increase spectrum efficiency.

MEASUREMENT OF REAL TIME CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:

When the carriers are angularly modulated by the voice signal and the RF frequency difference between them is much
higher than the fading frequency, measurement of the signal carrier-to-interference ratio C/I reveal that the signal is

Following kozono and sakamoto s analysis Eq (9.3-6),the term s2(t)+I2(t) fluctuates close to the fading frequency V/λ
and the term 2S(t)+I(t)cos(Ø1-Ø2)fluctuates to a frequency close to d/dt(Ø1-Ø2).which is much higher than the fading
frequency. Then the two parts of the squared envelope can be separated as

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assume that the random variables s(t),I(t),Ø1,Ø2 are independent ;then the average processes on X and Y are

The signal to Interference ratio Γ becomes

Because X and Y can be separated in Eq.(9.3-6),the preceding computation of Γ in Eq.(9.3-11)could have been
accomplished by means of an envelope detector ,analog to digital converter, and a micro computer. The sampling
delay time Δt should be small enough to satisfy

Determining the delay time Δt to meet the requirement of Eq.(9.3-13) for this calculation is difficult and is a drawback
to this measurement technique. Therefore, real time cochannel interference measurement is difficult to achieve in
practice.

DESIGN OF ANTENNA SYSTEM:

Design of an omnidirectional antenna system in the worst case:
The value of q = 4.6 is valid for a normal interference case in a K=7 cell pattern. In this section we would like to prove
that a K=7 cell pattern does not provide a sufficient frequency re-use distance separation eyen when an ideal condition
of flat terrain is assumed. The worst case is at the location where the weakest signal from its own cell site but strong
interferences from all interfering cell sites. In the worst case the mobile unit is at the cell boundary R, as shown in Fig.
3. The distances from all six cochannel interfering sites are also shown in the figure: two distances of D
- R, two distances of D, and two distances of D + R.
Following the mobile radio propagation rule of 40 dB/dec, we obtain Then the carrier-to-interference ratio is

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Fig.3.Cochannel interference (worst case)

Where q=4.6 is derived from the normal case. Substituting q=4.6 into above eqn. we obtain C/I =54 or 17 dB, which is
lower than 18 dB. To be conservative, we may use the shortest distance D – R for all six interferers as a worst case;
then we have

In reality, because of the imperfect site locations and the rolling nature of the terrain configuration, the C/I received is
always worse than 17 dB and could be 14 dB and lower. Such an instance can easily our in a heavy traffic situation;
therefore, the system must be designed around the C/I of the worst case. In that case, a cochannel interference
reduction factor of q=4.6 is insufficient.
Therefore, in an unidirectional-cell system, K = 9 or K 12 would be a correct choice. Then the values of q are

Design of a Directional Antenna System:

When the call traffic begins to increase, we need to use the frequency spectrum efficiently and avoid increasing the
number of cells K in a seven-cell frequency reuse pattern. When K increases, the number of frequency channels
assigned in a cell must become smaller (assuming a total allocated channel divided by K) and the efficiency of

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applying the frequency reuse scheme decrease.

Instead of increasing the number K in a set of cells, let us keep K =7 and introduce a directional antenna arrangement.
The cochannel interference can be reduced by using directional antenna. This means that each cell is divided into three
or six sectors and uses three or six directional antennas at a base station. Each sector is assigned a set of frequencies
(channels). The interference between two cochannel cells decreases as shown Fig.4.2

Directional antennas in K=7 cell patterns:

Three sector case: The three-sector case is shown in Fig.4.2. To illustrate the worst case situation, two cochannel cells
are shown in Fig. 4.3(a). The mobile unit at position E will experience greater interference in the lower shaded cell
sector than in the upper shaded cell-sector site. This is because the mobile receiver receives the weakest signal from its
own cell but fairly strong interference from the interfering cell.
In a three-sector case, the interference is effective in only one direction because the front-to-back ratio of a cell-site
directional antenna is at least 10 dB or more in a mobile radio environment. The worst-case cochannel interference in
the directional-antenna sectors in which interference occurs may be calculated. Because of the use of directional
antennas, the number of principal interferers is reduced from six to two (Fig.4.2). The worst case of C/I occurs when
the mobile unit is at position E, at which point the distance between the mobile unit and the two interfering antennas
is roughly D + (R/2); however, C/I can be calculated more precisely as follows. The value of C/I can be obtained by the
following expression (assuming that the worst case is at position E at which the distances from two interferers are D +
0.7R and D).

Fig.4.2.Interfering cells shown in a seven cell system (two-tiers)

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Fig.4.3. Determination of C/I in a directional antenna system. (a)Worst case in a 120 directional Antenna system
(N=7); (b) worst case in a 60 directional antenna system(N=7)
Let q=4.6; then we have

The C/I received by a mobile unit from the 120° directional antenna sector system expressed in Eq. above greatly
exceeds 18 dB in a worst case. Equation above shows that using directional antenna sectors can improve the signal- to-
interference ratio, that is, reduce the cochannel interference. However, in reality, the C/I could be 6 dB weaker than in
Eq. given above in a heavy traffic area as a result of irregular terrain contour and imperfect site locations. The
remaining 18.5 dB is still adequate.
Six-sector case: We may also divide a cell into six sectors by using six 60°-beam directional antennas as shown in
Fig.4.2. In this case, only one instance of interference can occur in each sector as shown in Fig, 4.2. Therefore, the
carrier-to-interference ratio in this case is which shows a further reduction of cochannel interference. If we use the
same argument as we did for Eq. above and subtract 6 dB from the result of Eq. the remaining 23 dB is still more than
adequate. When heavy traffic occurs, the 60°-sector configuration can be used to reduce cochannel interference.
However, fewer channels are generally allowed in a 60° sector and the trunking efficiency decreases. In certain cases,
more available channels could be assigned in a 60° sector.
Directional antenna in K = 4 cell pattern:
Three-sector case: To obtain the carrier-to-interference ratio, we use the same procedure as in the K = 7 cell- pattern
system. The 120° directional antennas used in the sectors reduced the interferers to two as in K = 7 systems,

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as shown in Fig.4.4.
We can apply Eq. here. For K = 4, the value of q = 3.46; therefore, Eq. becomes

If, using the same reasoning used with Eq. above, 6 dB is subtracted from the result of Eq. above, the remaining 14 dB
is unacceptable.
Six-sector case: There is only one interferer at a distance of D + R shown in Fig.4.4. With q=3.46, we can obtain

If 6 dB is subtracted from the above result, the remaining 20 dB is adequate.

Fig. 4.4 Interference with frequency reuse pattern K=4.

Under heavy traffic conditions, there is still a great deal of concern over using a K =4 cell pattern in a 60° sector.
Comparing K =7 and N =4 systems:
A K =7 cell pattern system is a logical way to begin an omnicell system. The co-channel reuse distance is more or less
adequate, according to the designed criterion. When the traffic increases, a three sector system should be
implemented, that is, with three 120° directional antennas in place. In certain hot spots, 60° sectors can be used locally
to increase the channel utilization.
If a given area is covered by both K=7 and K=4 cell patterns and both patterns have a six-sector configuration, then the
K=7 system has a total of 42 sectors, but the K=4 system has a total of only 24 sectors and, of course, the system of K=7
and six sectors has less cochannel interference.
One advantage of 60° sectors with K=4 is that they require fewer cell sites than 120 sectors with K=7. Two
disadvantages of 60 deg sectors are that (1) they require more antennas to he mounted on the antenna mast and
(2) they often require more frequent handoffs because of the increased chance that the mobile units will travel
across the six sectors of the call. Furthermore, assigning the proper frequency channel to the mobile unit in each sector
is more difficult unless the antenna height at the cell site is increased so that the mobile unit can be located more
precisely. In reality the terrain is not flat, end coverage is never uniformly distributed; in addition, the

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directional antenna front-to-back power ratio in the field is very difficult to predict. In small cells, interference could
become uncontrollable; then the use of a K = 4 pattern with 60 deg sectors in small cells needs to be considered only
for special implementations such an portable cellular systems or narrow beam applications. For small cells, a better
alternative scheme is to use a K =7 pattern with 120° sectors plus the underlay-overlay configuration.
ANTENNA PARAMETERS AND THEIR EFFECTS:
Lowering The Antenna Height: Lowering the antenna height does not always reduce the co-channel interference. In
some circumstances, such as on fairly flat ground or in a valley situation, lowering the antenna height will be very
effective for reducing the cochannel and adjacent-channel interference, However, there are three cases where
lowering the antenna height may or may not effectively help reduce the interference.
On a high hill or a high spot: The effective antenna height, rather than the actual height, is always considered in the
system design. Therefore, the effective antenna height varies according to the location of the mobile unit. When the
antenna site is on a bill, as shown in Fig. 5.1(a), the effective antenna height is h1 + H.

Fig. 5.1.Lowering the antenna height (a) on a high hill and (b) in a valley

If we reduce the actual antenna height to 0.5h1, the effective antenna height becomes 0.5h1 + H. The reduction in gain
resulting from the height reduction is

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If h1<<H, then the above equation becomes

This simply proves that lowering antenna height on the kill does not reduce the received power at either the cell site or
the mobile unit.

In a valley: The effective antenna height as seen from the mobile unit shown in Fig. 5.1(b) is he1, which is less than the
actual antenna height h1. If he1= 2/3 h1, and the antenna is lowered to ½ h1, then the new effective antenna height is

Then the antenna gain is reduced by

This simply proves that the lowered antenna height in a valley is very effective in reducing the radiated power in a
distant high elevation area. However, in the area adjacent to the cell-site antenna the effective antenna height is the
same as the actual antenna height. The power reduction caused by decreasing antenna height by half isonly

In a forested area: In a forested area, the antenna should clear the tops of any trees in the vicinity, especially when
they are very close to the antenna. In this case decreasing the height of the antenna would not be the proper
procedure for reducing cochannel interference because excessive attenuation of the desired signal would occur in the
vicinity of the antenna and in its cell boundary if the antenna were below the treetop level.

DIVERSITY TECHNIQUES:
1) SPACE DIVERSITY CONSIDERATIONS
Space diversity, also known as antenna diversity, is one of the most popular forms of diversity used in wireless systems.
Conventional cellular radio systems consist of an elevated base station antenna and a mobile antenna close to the
ground. The existence of a direct path between the transmitter and the receiver is not guaranteed and the possibility of
a number of scatterers in the vicinity of the mobile suggests a Rayleigh fading signal. From this model jakes deduced
that the signals received from spatially separated antennas on the mobile would have essentially uncorrelated
envelopes for antenna separations of one half wavelength or more.
The concept of antenna space diversity is also used in base station design. At each cell site, multiple base station
receiving antennas are used to provide diversity reception. However, since the important scatterers are generally on
the ground in the vicinity of the mobile, the base station antennas must be spaced considerably far

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apart to achieve de-correlation. separations on the order of several tens of wavelengths are required at the base
station .space diversity can thus be used at either the mobile or base station or both . Below figure shows general block
diagram of a space diversity scheme.

Figure 6.12 Generalized block diagram for space diversity

2) POLARIZATION DIVERSITY:
At the base station, space diversity is considerably less practical than at the mobile because the narrow angle of
incident fields requires large antenna spacing. The comparatively high cost of using space diversity at the base station
prompts the consideration of using orthogonal polarization to exploit polarization diversity .while this only provides
two diversity braches it does allow the antenna elements to be collocated.
In the early days of cellular radio, all subscriber units were mounted in vehicles and used vertical whip antennas. Today,
however, over half of the subscriber units are portable. This means that most subscribers are no longer using vertical
polarization due to hand tilting when the portable cellular phone is used. This recent phenomenon has sparked interest
in polarization diversity at the base station. Measured horizontal and vertical polarization paths between a mobile and
a base station are reported to be uncorrelated by Lee and Yeh. The decorrelation for the signals in each polarization is
caused by multiple reflections in the channel between the mobile and base station antennas. That the reflection
coefficient for each polarization is different, which results in different amplitudes and phases for phases for each, or at
least some, of the reflections. After sufficient random reflections, the polarizations state of the signal will be
independent of the transmitted polarization. In practice; however, there is some dependence of the received
polarization on the transmitted polarization.
Circular and linear polarized antennas have been used to characterize multipath inside buildings. When the path was
obstructed, polarization diversity was found to dramatically reduce the multipath delay spread without significantly
decreasing the received power.
3) FREQUENCY DIVERSITY:
Frequency diversity transmits information on more than one carrier frequency. The rationale behind this technique is
that frequencies separated by more than the coherence bandwidth of the channel will not experience the same fades.
Theoretically, if the channels are uncorrelated, the probability of simultaneous fading wills e the product of the
individual fading probabilities.

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Frequency diversity is often employed in microwave line of sight links which carry several channels in a frequency
division multiplex mode (FDM).due to troposphere propagation and resulting refraction. Deep fading sometimes
occurs. In practice 1: N protection switching is provided by a radio licensee. Where in one frequency is nominally idle
but is available on a standby basis to provide frequency diversity switching for any one of the N other carriers
(frequencies) being used on the same link, each carrying independent traffic. When diversity is needed, the appropriate
traffic is simply switched to the backup frequency. This technique has the disadvantages that it not only requires spare
bandwidth but also requires that there be as many receivers as there are channels used the frequency diversity.
However, for critical traffic, the expense may be justified.

4) TIME DIVERSITY: Time diversity repeatedly transmits information at time spacing’s that exceed the coherence time
of the channel, so that multiple repetitions of the signal will be received with independent fading conditions, thereby
providing for diversity. One modern implementation of time diversity involves the use of the RAKE receiver for spread
spectrum CDMA, where the multipath channel provides redundancy in the transmitted messages.

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UNIT-II(B)
NON CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE

ADJUSCENT CHANNEL INTERFERENCE:

Adjacent channel interference can be eliminated on the basis of the channel assignment, the filter characteristics and
be reduction of near-end-far-end interference. Adjacent channel interference is a board term. It includes next channel
interference (the channel next to the operating channel) and neighboring channel interference (more than one channel
away from the operating channel). Adjacent channel interference can be reduced by the frequency assignment.

1) Next channel interference:

Next channel interference in an AMPS system affecting a particular mobile unit cannot be caused by transmitters in the
common cell site but must originate at several other cell sites. This is because any channel combiner at the cell site
must combine the selected channels. Normally 21 channels(630 kHz) away, or at least 8 or 10 channels away from the
desired one. Therefore, next channel interference will arrive at the mobile unit from other cell sites if the system is not
designed property .also a mobile unit initiating a call on a control channel in cell may cause interference with the next
control channel at another cell site. The methods for reducing this next channel interference use the receiving end. The
channel filter characteristics are a 6dB/oct slope in the voice band and a 24 dB/oct falloff outside the voice band
region. If Next channel signal is stringer than 23 Db, it Will interfere with the desired signal. The filter with a sharp
falloff slope can help to reduce all the adjacent channel interference, including the next channel interference. The same
consideration is applied to digital systems.

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2) Neighboring Channel Interference:

The channels that are several channels away from next channel will cause interference with the desired signal. Usually,
a fixed set of serving channels is assigned to each cell site. If all the channels are simultaneously transmitted at one cell
site antenna; a sufficient amount of band isolation between channels is required for a multichannel combiner to reduce
products. This requirement is no different from other non mobile radio systems. Assume that band separation
requirements can be resolved, for example, by using multiple antennas instead of one antenna at the cell site. There
will be no inter-modulation products. A truly linear broadband amplifier can realize this idea. However, it is a new
evolving technology.

Another type of adjacent channel interference is unique to the mobile radio system. In the mobile radio system, most
mobile units are in motion simultaneously. Their relative positions change from time to time. In principle, the optimum
channel assignments that avoid adjacent channel interference must also change from time to time .one unique station
that causes adjacent channel interference in mobile radio system.

Transmitting And Receiving Channels Interference:

In FDMA and TDMA systems, the transmitting channels and receiving channels have to be separated by a guard band
mostly 29MHz.it is because the transmitting channels are so strong that they can mask the weak signals received from
receiving channels. The duplexer can only provide 30 dB to 40dB isolation. The band isolation is the other means to
reduce the interference.

Interference From Adjacent Systems:

The frequency bands allocated between AMPS and iDEN in 800 MHz systems are shown in Fig 10.4 in 1993. IDEN
transmitted in the band 851-866 MHz , using several broad band amplifiers to cover this band. The IM(2A- B)generated
from the nonlinear amplifier interfered with the cellular base received signals. Then , the broadband amplifiers were
removed.

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UNIT-III

CELL COVERAGE FOR SIGNAL AND TRAFFIC

SIGNAL REFLECTIONS IN FLAT AND HILLY TERRAIN:

Ground Incident Angle θ and Ground Elevation Angle φ:

The ground incident angle and the ground elevation angle over a communication link are described as follows. The
ground incident angle 0 is the angle of wave arrival incidentally pointing to the ground as shown in Fig. 1.1. The ground
elevation angle is the angle of wave arrival at the mobile unit as shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1. Ground Incident Angle θ and Ground Elevation Angle φ in flat terrain

Ground reflection angle and reflection point:

Based on Snell’s law, the reflection angle and incident angle are the same. Since in graphical display we usually
exaggerate the hilly slope and the incident angle by enlarging the vertical scale, as shown in Fig. 1.2, then as long as the
actual hilly slope is less than 100, the reflection point on a hilly slope can be obtained by following the same method as
if the reflection point were on flat ground. Be sure that the two antennas (base and mobile) have been placed
vertically, not perpendicular to the sloped ground. The reason is that the actual slope of the hill is usually very small and
the vertical stands for two antennas are correct. The scale drawing in Fig.2 is somewhat misleading however, it
provides a clear view of the situation.

Fig 2: Ground reflection angle and reflection point in hilly terrain

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OBTAINING MOBILE POINT TO POINT MODEL(LEE MODEL):

Standard Condition:

Obtain area-to-area prediction curves for human made structures:

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EFFECT OF HUMAN MADE STRUCTURES:

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PHASE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIRECT AND REFLECTED PATH:

Based on a direct path and a ground reflected path, the equation

Indicates a two-wave model which is used to understand the path-loss phenomenon in a mobile radio environment. It
is not the model for analyzing the multipath fading phenomenon. In a mobile environment av = - 1 because of the small
incident angle of the ground wave caused by a relatively low cell-site antenna height. Thus,

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Where ΔP is the power difference in decibels between two different path lengths and ΔG is the gain (or loss) in decibels
obtained from two different antenna heights at the cell site. From these measurements, the gain from a mobile
antenna height is only 3 dB/oct, which is different from the 6 dB/oct . Then

CONSTANT STANDARD DEVIATION ALONG A PATH-LOSS SLOPE:

When plotting signal strengths at any given radio-path distance, the deviation from predicted value. is approximately 8
dB. This standard deviation of 8 dB is roughly true in many different areas. The explanation is as follows. When a line-
of-sight path exists, both the direct wave path and reflected wave path are created and are strong. When an out-of-
sight path exists, both the direct wave path and the reflected wave path are weak. In either case, according to the
theoretical model, the 40-dB/dec path-loss slope applies. The difference between these two conditions is the 1-mi
intercept (or 1-km intercept) point. It can be seen that in the open area, the 1-mi intercept is high. In the urban area,
the 1-mi intercept is low. The standard deviation obtained from the measured data remains the same along the

different path-loss curves regardless of environment.

Support for the above argument can also be found from the observation that the standard deviation obtained from the
measured data along the predicted path-loss curve is approximately 8 dB. The explanation is that at a distance from the
cell site, some mobile unit radio paths are line-of-sight, some are partial line-of-sight, and some are out-of-sight. Thus
the received signals are strong, normal, and weak, respectively. At any distance, the above situations prevail. If the
standard deviation is 8 dB at one radio-path distance, the same 8dB will be found at any distance. Therefore a standard
deviation of 8 dB is always found along the radio path as shown in Fig.3
The standard deviation of 8 dB from the measured data near the cell site is due mainly to the close-in buildings around
the cell site. The same standard deviation from the measured data at distant locations is due to the great variation
along different around the cell site. The same standard deviation from the measured data at a distant location is due to
the great variation along different radio paths.

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Fig 3 An 8-dB local mean spread

STRAIGHT LINE PATH LOSS SLOPE:

As long as the distance of the radio path from cell site to to the mobile unit are the same in
different runs , the signal strength data measured at that distance. the path loss curve is γ. the
received power can be expressed as
𝑟
𝑃𝑟 = 𝑃0 − 𝛾𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑟0

The slope γ is different in different areas, but it is always straight line in a log scale. if =20 is a free
space path loss, =40 is a mobile path loss.

GENERAL FORMULA FOR MOBILE RADIO PROPAGATION:

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PROPAGATION OVER WATER OR FLAT OPEN AREA:

Propagation over water or fiat open area is becoming a big concern because it is very easy to interfere with other cells
if we do not make the correct arrangements. Interference resulting from propagation over the water can be controlled
if we know the cause. In general, the permittivity’s Er of seawater and fresh water are the same, but the conductivities
of seawater and fresh water are different. We may calculate the dielectric constants Ec where Ec = Er - j60σλ. The
wavelength at 850MHz is 0.35m. Then Eo (sea water) = 80 - j84 and Ec (fresh water)=80- j0.021.

However, based upon the reflection coefficients formula with a small incident angle both the reflection coefficients for
horizontal polarized waves and vertically polarized waves approach 1. Since the 180o phase change occurs at the
ground reflection point, the reflection coefficient is -1. Now we can establish a scenario, as shown in Fig 10.1 Since the
two antennas, one at the cell site and the other at the mobile unit, are well above sea level, two reflection points are
generated. The one reflected from the ground is close to the mobile unit; the other reflected from the water is away
from the mobile unit. We recall that the only reflected wave we considered in the land mobile propagation is the one
reflection point which is always very close to the mobile unit. We are now using the formula to find the field strength
under the circumstances of a fixed point-to-point transmission and a land-mobile transmission over a water or flat
open land condition.

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Fig 10.1.A model for propagation over water

Between two Fixed Stations:

The point -to-point transmission between the fixed stations over the water or flat open land can be estimated as
follows. The received power P, can be expressed as (see Fig.10.2)

Fig 10.2.Propagation between two fixed stations over water or flat open land.

_φ is the phase difference caused by the path difference M between the direct wave and the reflected wave, or

The first part of i.e. the free-space loss formula which shows the 20 dB/dec slope; that is, a 20-dB loss will be seen
when propagating from 1 to 10 km.

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The complex reflection co-efficient and can be found from the formula

When the vertical incidence is small, θ is very small and

It can be found from equation. Ec is a dielectric constant that is different for different media. The reflection coefficient
remains -1 regardless of whether the wave is propagated over water dry land, wet land, Ice, and so forth. The wave
propagating between fixed stations is illustrated in Fig. 10.2.

since _φ is a function of d and d can be obtained from the following calculation. The effective antenna height at
antenna 1 is the height above the sea level.

The effective antenna height at antenna 2 is the height above the sea level.

As shown in Fig.10.2 where h1 and h2 are actual heights and H1and H2 are the heights of hills. In general, both
antennas at fixed stations are high, so the resection point of the wave will be found toward the middle of the radio
path. The path difference d can be obtained from Fig. 10.2 as

Then

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PROPAGATION IN NEAR NEAR-IN DISTANCE:

Why use a 1-mi intercept?

Curves for near-in propagation:

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LONG DSTANCE PROPAGATION:

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Within an area of 50-mile radous:

At a Distance of 320km(200mile):

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UNIT IV (A)
CELLSITE AND MOBILE ANTENNAS
SPACES-DIVERSITY ANTENNAS:
Two-branch space-diversity antennas are used at the cell site to receive the same signal with different fading
envelopes, one at each antenna. The degree of correlation between two fading envelopes is determined by the degree
of separation between two receiving antennas. When the two fading envelopes are combined, the degree of fading is
reduced. Here the antenna setup is shown in Figure 5a.
Equation is presented as an example for the designer to use.
η = h/D = 11
Where h is the antenna height and D is the antenna separation. From Eq., the separation d ≥ 8λ is needed for an
antenna height of 100 ft (30 m) and the separation d ≥ 14λ is needed for an antenna height of 150 ft (50 m). In any
Omni cell system, the two space-diversity antennas should be aligned with the terrain, which should have a U shape as
shown in Fig.5b. Space-diversity antennas can separate only horizontally, not vertically; thus, there is no advantage in
using a vertical separation in the design.

Fig 5: Diversity antenna spacing at cell site: (a) n=h/d (b) Proper arrangement with two antennas

UMBRELLAS-PATTERN ANTENNAS:

In certain situations, umbrella-pattern antennas should be used for the cell-site antennas.

Fig: Vertical-plane patterns of quarter-wavelength stub antenna on infinite ground plane (solid) and on finite ground
planes several wavelengths in diameter (dashed line) and about one wavelength in diameter (dotted line).

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i) NORMAL UMBRELLA-PATTERN ANTENNA:

For controlling the energy in a confined area, the umbrella-pattern antenna can be developed by using a monopole
with a top disk (top-loading) as shown in Fig. The size of the disk determines the tilting angle of the pattern. The
smaller the disk, the larger the tilting angle of the umbrella pattern.

ii) BROADBAND UMBRELLA-PATTERN ANTENNA:

The parameters of a Discone antenna (a bio conical antenna in which one of the cones is extended to 180◦ to form a
disk) are shown in Fig. The diameter of the disk, the length of the cone, and the opening of the cone can be adjusted to
create an umbrella-pattern antenna.

iii) INTERFERENCE REDUCTION ANTENNA:

A design for an antenna configuration that reduces interference in two critical directions (areas) is shown in Fig.6.3. The
parasitic (insulation) element is about 1.05 times longer than the active element.

iv) HIGH-GAIN BROADBAND UMBRELLA-PATTERN ANTENNA:

A high-gain antenna can be constructed by vertically stacking a number of umbrella- pattern antennas as shown in Fig.

Fig. Discone antennas (a) Single antenna; (b) An array of antenna

MINIMUM SEPARATION OF CELL-SITE RECEIVING ANTENNAS:

Separation between two transmitting antennas should be minimized to avoid the inter modulation. The
minimum separation between a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna is necessary to avoid receiver
desensitization. Here we are describing a minimum separation between two receiving antennas to reduce the antenna
pattern ripple effects. The two receiving antennas are used for a space-diversity receiver.
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Because of the near field disturbance due to the close spacing, ripples will form in the antenna patterns (Fig.). The
difference in power reception between two antennas at different angles of arrival is shown in Fig. . If the antennas are
located closer; the difference in power between two antennas at a given pointing angle increases. Although the power
difference is confined to a small sector, it affects a large section of the street as shown in Fig.
If the power difference is excessive, use of space diversity will have no effect reducing fading. At 850 MHz, the
separation of eight wavelengths between two receiving antennas creates a power difference of ±2 dB, which is
tolerable for the advantageous use of a diversity scheme .

Fig: Antenna pattern ripple effect

MOBILE ANTENNAS:
The requirement of a mobile (motor-vehicle-mounted) antenna is an Omni-directional antenna that can be located as
high as possible from the point of reception. However, the physical limitation of antenna height on the vehicle restricts
this requirement. Generally, the antenna should at least clear the top of the vehicle. Patterns for two types of mobile
antenna are shown in Fig.

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Fig: Mobile antenna patterns (a) Roof mounted 3-dB-gain collinear antenna versus roof-mounted quarter-wave
antenna, (b) Window-mourned “on-glass” gain antenna versus roof-mounted quarter-wave antenna.

Roof-mounted antenna:
The antenna pattern of a roof-mounted antenna is more or less uniformly distributed around the mobile unit when
measured at an antenna range in free space as shown in Fig.9.2. The 3-dB high gain antenna shows a 3 dB gain over the
quarter-wave antenna. However, the gain of the antenna used at the mobile unit must be limited to 3 dB because the
cell-site antenna is rarely as high as the broadcasting antenna and out-of-sight conditions often prevail. The mobile
antenna with a gain of more than 3 dB can receive only a limited portion of the total multipath signal in the elevation
as measured under the out-of-sight condition.

Fig: Vertical angle of signal arrival

Glass-Mounted Antennas:
There are many kinds of glass-mounted antennas. Energy is coupled through the glass; therefore, there is no need to
drill a hole. However, some energy is dissipated on passage through the glass. The antenna gain range is 1 to 3 dB
depending on the operating frequency. The position of the glass-mounted antenna is always lower than that of the
roof-mounted antenna; generally there is a 3-dBdifference between these two types of antenna. Also, glass mounted
antennas cannot be installed on the shaded glass found in some motor vehicles because this type of glass has a high
metal content.

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Mobile High-Gain Antennas:

A high-gain antenna used on a mobile unit has been studied. This type of high-gain antenna should be distinguished
from the directional antenna. In the directional antenna, the antenna beam pattern is suppressed horizontally; in the
high-gain antenna, the pattern is suppressed vertically.

To apply either a directional antenna or a high-gain antenna for reception in a radio environment, we must know the
origin of the signal. If we point the directional antenna opposite to the transmitter site, we would in theory receive
nothing. In a mobile radio environment, the scattered signals arrive at the mobile unit from every direction with equal
probability. That is why an Omni directional antenna must be used.

The scattered signals also arrive from different elevation angles. Lee and Brandt used two types of antenna, one λ/4
whip antenna with elevation coverage of 39◦ and one 4-dB-gain antenna (4-dB gain with respect to the gain of a dipole)
with elevation coverage of 16◦ and measured the angle of signal arrival in the suburban Keyport-Matawan area of New
Jersey. There are two types of test: a line-of-sight condition and an out-of-sight condition. In Lee and Brandt’s study,
the transmitter was located at an elevation of approximately 100 m (300 ft) above sea level.

The measured areas were about 12 m (40 ft) above sea level and the path length about 3 mi. The received signal from
the 4-dB-gain antenna was 4 dB stronger than that from the whip antenna under line-of- sight conditions. This is what
we would expect.

However, the received signal from the 4-dB-gain antenna was only about 2 dB stronger than that from the whip
antenna under out-of-sight conditions. This is surprising. The reason for the latter observation is that the scattered
signals arriving under out-of- sight conditions are spread over a wide elevation angle. A large portion of the signals
outside the elevation angle of 16◦ cannot be received by the high-gain antenna. We may calculate the portion being
received by the high-gain antenna from the measured beam width. For instance, suppose that a 4:1 gain (6 dBi) is
expected from the high-gain antenna, but only 2.5:1 is received. Therefore, 63 percent of the signal is received by the
4-dB-gain antenna (i.e., 6 dBi) and 37 percent is felt in the region between 16 and 39.

Therefore, a 2- to 3-dB-gain antenna (4 to 5 dBi) should be adequate for general use. An antenna gain higher than 2 to
3 dB does not serve the purpose of enhancing reception level. Moreover, measurements reveal that the elevation
angle for scattered signals received in urban areas is greater than that in suburban areas.

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UNIT-IV (B)

FREQUENCY MANAGEMENT AND CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT

The function of frequency management is to divide the total number of available channels into subsets which can be
assigned to each cell either in a fixed fashion or dynamically (i.e., in response to any channel among the available
channels). The terms frequency management and channel assignment‖ often create some confusion. Frequency
management refers to designating setup channels and voice channels (done by the Federal Communications
Commission [FCC]), numbering the channels (done by the FCC), and grouping the voice channels into subsets (done by
each system according to its preference).

Channel assignment refers to the allocation of specific channels to cell sites and mobile units. A fixed channel set
consisting of one more subsets is assigned to a cell site on a long-term basis. During a call, a particular channel is
assigned to a mobile unit on a short- term basis. For a short-term assignment, one channel assignment per call is
handled by the Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO). Ideally channel assignment should be based on causing the
least interference in the system. However, most cellular systems cannot perform this way.

NUMBERING THE RADIO CHANNELS:

The total number of channels at present (January 1988) is 832. But most mobile units a systems are still operating on
666 channels. Therefore we describe the 666 channel numbering first. A channel consists of two frequency channel
bandwidths, one in the low band and one in the high band. Two frequencies in channel 1 are 825.030 MHz (mobile
transmit) 870.030 MHz (cell-site transmit). The two frequencies in channel 666 are 844.98 MHz (mobile transmit) and
898 MHz (cell-site transmit). The 666 channels are divided into two groups: block A system and block B system. Each
market (i.e., each city) has two systems for a duopoly market policy. Each block has 333 channels, as shown in Fig.1.1.

The 42 set-up channels are assigned as follows.

Channels 313-333 block A

Channels 334-354 block B

The voice channels are assigned as follows

Channels 1-312 (312 voice channels) block A

Channels 355-666 (312 voice channels) block B

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Fig.4.1. Frequency management chart

These 42 set-up channels are assigned in the middle of all the assigned channels to facilitate scanning of those channels
by frequency synthesizers. In the new additional spectrum allocation of 10 MHz (sec Fig. 1.2.), an additional 166
channels are assigned. Since a 1 MHz is assigned below 825 MHz (or 870 MHz) in the future, additional channels will be
numbered up to 849 MHz (or 894 MHz) and will then circle back. The last channel number is 1023. There are no
Channels between channels 799 and 991.

Fig.4.2. New additional spectrum allocation

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GROUPING INTO SUBSETS:

The number of voice channels for each system is 312. We can group these into any number of subsets. Since there are
21 set-up channels for each system, it is logical to group the 312 channels into 21 subsets. Each subset then consists of
16 channels. In each set, the closest adjacent channel is 21 channels away, as shown in Fig.1.1. The 16 channels in each
subset can be mounted on a frame and connected to a channel combiner. Wide separation between adjacent channels
is required for meeting the requirement of minimum isolation. Each 16- channel subset is idealized for each 16-channel
combiner. In a seven- cell frequency-reuse cell system each cell contains three subsets, iA+iB+iC, where i is an integer
from 1 to 7. The total number of voice channels in a cell is about 45. The minimum separation between three subsets is
7 channels. If six subsets are equipped in an omnicell site, the minimum separation between two adjacent channels
can be only three (21/6> 3) physical channel bandwidths.

For example,
1A+1B+1C+4A+4B+4 C
Or

1A+1B+1C+5A+5B+5C

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SET-UP CHANNELS:
Set-up channels also called control channels are the channels designated to setup calls. We should not be confused by
fact that a call always needs a set-up channel. A system can be operated without set-up channels. If we are choosing
such a system all the 333 channels in each cellular system (block A or block B) can be voice channels; however each
mobile unit must then scan 333 channels continuously and detect the signaling for its call. A customer who wants to
initiate a call must scan all the channels and find an idle (unoccupied) one to use.

In a cellular system, we are implementing frequency-reuse concepts. In this case the set-up channels are acting as
control channels. The 21 set-up channels are taken out from the total number of channels. The number 21 is derived
from a seven-cell frequency-reuse pattern with three 120◦ sectors per cell, or a total of 21 sectors, which require 21
set-up channels. However, now only a few of the 21 setup channels are being used in each system. Theoretically, when
cell size decreases the use of set-up channels should increase. Set-up channels can be classified by usage into two
types: access channels and paging channels.

An access channel is used for the mobile-originating calls and paging channels for the land originating calls. For this
reason, a set-up channel is sometimes called an access channel and sometimes called a paging channel. Every two- way
channel contains two 30-kHz bandwidth.. Normally one set-up channel is also specified by two operations as a forward
set-up channel (using the upper band) and a reverse set-up channel (using the lower band). In the most common types
of cellular systems, one set-up channel is used for both access and paging. The forward set-up channel functions as the
paging channel for responding to the mobile-originating calls. The reverse set-up channel functions as the access
channel for the responder to the paging call. The forward set- up channel is transmitted at the cell site, and the reverse
set-up channel is transmitted at the mobile unit. All set- up channels carry data information only.

Access Channels:
In mobile-originating calls, the mobile unit scans its 21 set-up channels and chooses the strongest one. Because each
set-up channel is associated with one cell, the strongest set-up channel indicates which cell is to serve the mobile-
originating calls. Th. mobile unit detects the system information transmitted from the cell site. Also, the mobile unit
monitors the Busy/Idle status bits over the desired forward setup channel. When the idle bits are received, the mobile
unit can use the corresponding reverse set-up channel to initiate a call.

Frequently only one system operates in a given city; for instance, block B system might be operating and the mobile
unit could be set to preferable A system.‖ When the mobile unit first scans the 21 set-up channels in block A, two
conditions can occur.
1. If no set-up channels of block A are operational, the mobile unit automatically switches to block B.
2. If a strong set-up signal strength is received but no message can be detected, then the scanner chooses the

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second strongest set-up channel. If the message still cannot be detected, the mobile unit switches to block B and scans
to block B set-up channels.

The operational functions are described as follows:

1. POWER OF A FORWARD SET-UP CHANNEL [OR FORWARD CONTROL CHANNEL (FOCC)]: The power of the set- up
channel can be varied in order to control the number of incoming calls served by the cell. The number of mobile-
originating calls is limited by the number of voice channels in each cell site, when the traffic is heavy, most voice
channels are occupied and the power of the set-up channel should be reduced in order to reduce the coverage of the
cell for the incoming calls originating from the mobile unit. This will force the mobile units to originate calls from other
cell sites, assuming that all cells are adequately overlapped.
2. THE SET-UP CHANNEL RECEIVED LEVEL: The setup channel threshold level is determined in order to control the
reception at the reverse control channel (RECC). If the received power level is greater than the given set-up threshold
level, the call request will be taken.

3. CHANGE POWER AT THE MOBILE UNIT: When the mobile unit monitors the strongest signal strength from all
Set-up channels and selects that channel to receive the messages, there are three types of message.

a) MOBILE STATION CONTROL MESSAGE.

This message is used for paging and consists of one, two, or four words -DCC, MIN, SCC and VMAX.

b) SYSTEM PARAMETER OVERHEAD MESSAGE.

This message contains two words, including DCC, SID, CMAX, or CPA.

c) CONTROL-FILLER MESSAGE.

This message may be sent with a system parameter overhead message, CMAC—a control mobile attenuation code
(seven levels).

4. DIRECT CALLS RETRY: When a cell site has no available voice channels, it can send a direct call-retry message
through the set-up channel. The mobile unit will initiate, the call from a neighboring cell which is on the list of
neighboring cells in the direct call-retry message.

Paging channels:
Each cell site has been allocated its own setup channel (control channel). The assigned forward set-up channel (FOCC)
of each cell site is used to page the mobile unit with the same mobile station control message.
Because the same message is transmitted by the different set-up channels, no simulcast interference occurs in the
system. The algorithm for paging & mobile unit can be performed in different ways. The simplest way is to page from
all the cell sites. This can occupy a large amount of the traffic load. The other way is to page in an area corresponding
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to the mobile unit phone number. If there is no answer, the system tries to page in other areas. The drawback is that
response time is sometimes too long.
When the mobile unit responds to the page on the reverse set-up channel, the cell site which receives the response
checks the signal reception level and makes a decision regarding the voice channel assignment based on least
interference in the selected sector or underlay-overlay region.
CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT TO CELL SITES AND MOBILE UNITS:
Channel Assignment To Cell Sites(-Fixed Channel Assignment):

Channel assignment to mobile units:

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FIXED CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT:

Adjacent-channel assignment:
Adjacent-channel assignment includes neighboring-channel assignment and next-channel assignment. The near-end–
far-end (ratio) interference can occur among the neighboring channels (four channels on each side of the desired
channel). Therefore, within a cell we have to be sure to assign neighboring channels in an Omni- directional-cell system
and in a directional-antenna-cell system properly.
In an Omni-directional-cell system, if one channel is assigned to the middle cell of seven cells, next channels cannot be
assigned in the same cell. Also, no next channel (preferably including neighboring channels) should be assigned in the
six neighboring sites in the same cell system area (Fig. 7.3a). In a directional-antenna-cell system, if one channel is
assigned to a face, next channels cannot be assigned to the same face or to the other two faces in the same cell. Also,
next channels cannot be assigned to the other two faces at the same cell site (Fig. 7.3b). Sometimes the next channels
are assigned in the next sector of the same cell in order to increase capacity. Then performance can still be in the
tolerance range if the design is proper.

Fig.4.3 Adjacent channel assignment (a) Omni direction antenna cells; (b) Directional antenna cells

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Channel Sharing:
Channel sharing is a short-term traffic-relief scheme. A scheme used for a seven-cell three-face system is shown in Fig.
7.2. There are 21 channel sets, with each set consisting of about 16 channels. Figure7.2 shows the channel set
numbers. When a cell needs more channels, the channels of another face at the same cell site can be shared to handle
the short-term overload. To obey the adjacent-channel assignment algorithm, the sharing is always cyclic. Sharing
always increases the trunking efficiency of channels.

Since we cannot allow adjacent channels to share with the nominal channels in the same cell, channel sets 4 and 5
cannot both be shared with channel sets 12 and 18, a indicated by the grid mark. Many grid marks are indicated in
Fig.7.2 for the same reason. However, the upper subset of set 4 can be shared with the lower subset of set 5 with no
interference. In channel-sharing systems, the channel combiner should be flexible in order to combine up to 32
channels in one face in real time. An alternative method is to install a standby antenna.

Fig.4.4. Channel sharing algorithm

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Channel Borrowing:

Channel borrowing is usually handled on a long-term basis. The extent of borrowing more available channels from
other cells depends on the traffic density in the area. Channel borrowing can be implemented from one cell-site face to
another face at the same cell site. In addition, the central cell site can borrow channels from neighboring cells. The
channel-borrowing scheme is used primarily for slowly-growing systems. It is often helpful in delaying cell splitting in
peak traffic areas. Since cell splitting is costly, it should be implemented only as a last resort.

Sectroring:

The technique for decreasing co-channel interference and thus increasing system performance by using directional
antennas is called sectoring. 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 as shown in below figure.

Fig: (a) 120˚ sectoring (b) 60˚ sectoring

Advantage of sectorization:
The total number of available channels can be divided into sets (subgroups) depending on the Sectorization of the cell
configuration: the 120◦-sector system, the 60◦-sector system, and the 45◦-sector system. In certain locations and
special situations, the sector angle can be reduced (narrowed) in order to assign more channels in one sector without
increasing neighboring-channel interference. Sectorization serves the same purpose as the channel-borrowing scheme
in delaying cell splitting. In addition, channel coordination to avoid co- channel interference is much easier in
sectorization than in cell splitting. Given the same number of channels, trunking efficiency decreases in Sectorization.

Sectorized Cells: There are three basic types.

1. The 120◦-sector cell is used for both transmitting and receiving Sectorization. Each sector has an assigned a
number of frequencies. Changing sectors during a call requires handoffs.
2. The 60◦-sector cell is used for both transmitting and receiving Sectorization. Changing sectors during a call
requires handoffs. More handoffs are expected for a 60◦ sector than a 120◦ sector in areas close to cell sites

(close-in areas).

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3. The 120◦ or 60◦-sector cell is used for receiving Sectorization only. In this case, the transmitting antenna is Omni
directional. The number of channels in this cell is not sub- divided for each sector. Therefore, no handoffs are required
when changing sectors. This receiving Sectorization only configuration does not decrease interference or increase the
D/R ratio; it only allows for a more accurate decision regarding handing off the calls to neighboring cells.

Underlay-Overlay Arrangement:
In actual cellular systems cell grids are seldom uniform because of varying traffic conditions in different areas and cell-
site locations.
Overlaid Cells:
To permit the two groups to reuse the channels in two different cell-reuse patterns of the same size, an under laid‖
small cell is sometimes established at the same cell site as the large cell shown in below Figure. The
doughnut‖(large) and hole‖(small) cells are treated as two different cells. They are usually considered as neighboring
cells.‖

Fig: Under laid-overlaid cell arrangements. (a) Underlay-overlay in omnicell; (b) Underlay- overlay in Sectorized cell;
(c) Two level handoff scheme

The use of either an Omni directional antenna at one site to create two sub ring areas or three directional antennas to
create six subareas is illustrated in Fig. 4.5 b. As seen in Fig.4.5, a set of frequencies used in an overlay area will differ
from a set of frequencies used in an underlay area in order to avoid adjacent-channel and co-channel interference.
The channels assigned to one combiner—say, 16 channels—can be used for overlay, and another combiner can be
used for underlay.

Implementation:
The antenna of a set-up channel is usually Omni directional. When an incoming call is received by the set-up channel
and its signal strength is higher than a level L, the under laid cell is assigned; otherwise, the overlaid cell is assigned.
The handoffs are implemented between the under laid and overlaid cells. In order to avoid the unnecessary handoffs,
we may choose two levels L1 and L2 and L1 > L2 as shown in Fig. 4.5 (c). When a mobile signal is higher than a level L1
the call is handed off to the under laid cell. When a signal is lower than a level L2 the call is handed off to the overlaid
cell. The channels assigned in the under laid cell have more protection against co-channel interference

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NON FIXED CHANNEL ASSIGNMENT ALGORITHMS:

Description of different algorithms as follows--

1. Fixed Channel Assignment: The fixed channel assignment (FCA) algorithm is the most common algorithm
adopted in many cellular systems. In this algorithm, each cell assigns its own radio channels to the vehicles within its
cell.
2. Dynamic Channel Assignment: In dynamic channel assignment (DCA), no fixed channels are assigned to each
cell. Therefore, any channel in a composite of N radio channels can be assigned to the mobile unit. This means that a
channel is assigned directly to a mobile unit. On the basis of overall system performance, DCA can also be used during a
call.
3. Hybrid Channel Assignment: Hybrid channel assignment (HCA) is a combination of FCA and DCA. A portion of the
total frequency channels will use FCA and the rest will use DCA.
4. Borrowing Channel Assignment: Borrowing channel assignment (BCA) uses FCA as a normal assignment
condition. When all the fixed channels are occupied, then the cell borrows channels from the neighboring cells.
5. Forcible-Borrowing Channel Assignment: In forcible-borrowing channel assignment (FBCA), if a channel is in
operation and the situation warrants it, channels must be borrowed from the neighboring cells and at the same time,
another voice channel will be assigned to continue the call in the neighboring cell. There are many different ways of
implementing FBCA. In a general sense, FBCA can also be applied while accounting for the forcible borrowing of the
channels within a fixed channel set to reduce the chance of co-channel assignment in a reuse cell pattern. The FBCA
algorithms based on assigning a channel dynamically but obeying the rule of reuse distance.
The distance between the two cells is reuse distance, which is the minimum distance at which no co- channel
interference would occur. Very infrequently, no channel can be borrowed in the neighboring cells. Even those channels
currently in operation can be forcibly borrowed and will be replaced by a new channel in the neighboring cell or the
neighboring cell of the neighboring cell. If all the channels in the neighboring cells cannot be borrowed because of
interference problems, the FBCA stops.

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UNIT-V

HANDOFFS
Why hand off is necessary?
In an analog system, once a call is established, the set-up channel is not used again during the call period.
Therefore, handoff is always implemented on the voice channel. In the digital systems, the handoff is carried out
through paging or common control channel. The value of implementing handoffs is dependent on the size of the cell.
For example, if the radius of the cell is 32 km (20 mi), the area is 3217 km^2(1256 mi^2). After a call is initiated
in this area, there is little chance that it will be dropped before the call is terminated as a result of a weak signal at the
coverage boundary. Then why bother to implement the handoff feature? Even for a 16-km radius, cell handoff may not
be needed. If a call is dropped in a fringe area, the customer simply redials and reconnects the call. Today the size of
cells becomes smaller in order to increase capacity. Also people talk longer. The handoffs are very essential. Handoff is
needed in two situations where the cell site receives weak signals from the mobile unit: (1) at the cell boundary, say,
−100 dBm, which is the level for requesting a handoff in a noise-limited environment; and (2) when the mobile unit is
reaching the signal-strength holes (gaps) within the cell site as shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1. Occurrence of handoffs

THE TWO DECISIONS MAKING PARAMETERS OF HANDOFF:

There are two decision-making parameters of handoff: (1) that based on signal strength and (2) that based on carrier-
to-interference ratio. The handoff criteria are different for these two types. In type 1, the signal-strength threshold
level for handoff is −100 dBm in noise-limited systems and −95 dBm in interference limited systems. In type 2, the value

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of C/I at the cell boundary for handoff should be at a level, 18 dB for AMPS in order to have toll quality voice.
Sometimes, a low value of C/I may be used for capacity reasons.

Type 1: It is easy to implement. The location receiver at each cell site measures all the signal strengths of all receivers
at the cell site. However, the received signal strength (RSS) itself includes interference.
RSS = C + I
where C is the carrier signal power and I is the interference. Suppose that we set up a threshold level for RSS; then,
because of the I , which is sometimes very strong, the RSS level is higher and far above the handoff threshold level. In
this situation handoff should theoretically take place but does not. Another situation is when I is very low but RSS is also
low. In this situation, the voice quality usually is good even though the RSS level is low, but since RSS is low,
unnecessary handoff takes place. Therefore, it is an easy but not very accurate method of determining handoffs. Some
analog systems use SAT information together with the received signal level to determine handoffs. Some CDMA
systems use pilot channel information.

Type 2: Handoffs can be controlled by using the carrier-to-interference ratio C/I C+I/I = C/I

we can set a level based on C/I ,so C drops as a function of distance but I is dependent on the location. If the handoff is
dependent on C/I , and if the C/I drops, it does so in response to increase in
(1) propagation distance
or
(2) interference. In both cases, handoff should take place. In today’s cellular systems, it is hard to measure C/I
during a call because of analog modulation. Sometimes we measure the level I before the call is connected, and
the level C + I during the call. Thus (C + I )/I can be obtained.

TYPES OF HANDOFF:
There are four types of handoff:
1. INTERSECTOR OR SOFTER HANDOFF
The mobile communicates with two sectors of the same cell (see Fig. 10-1). A RAKE receiver at the base station
combines the best versions of the voice frame from the diversity antennas of the two sectors into a single traffic frame.
2. INTERCELL OR SOFT HANDOFF
The mobile communicates with two or three sectors of different cells (see Fig. 10-2). The base station that has the
direct control of call processing during handoff is referred to as the primary base station. The primary base station can
initiate the forward control message. Other base stations that do not have control over call processing are called the
secondary base stations. Soft handoff ends when either the primary or secondary base station is dropped. If the
primary base station is dropped, the secondary base station becomes the new primary for this call. A three-way soft
handoff may end by first dropping one of the base stations and becoming a two-way soft handoff. The base stations
involved coordinate handoff by exchanging information via SS7 links. A soft handoff uses considerably more network
resources than the softer handoff.

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3. SOFT-SOFTER HANDOFF
The mobile communicates with two sectors of one cell and one sector of another cell (see Fig. 10-3). Network resources
required for this type of handoff include the resources for a two-way soft handoff between cell A and B plus the
resources for a softer handoff at cell B.

4. HARD HANDOFF
Hard handoffs are characterized by the break-before-make strategy. The connection with the old traffic channel is
broken before the connection with the new traffic channel is established. Scenarios for hard handoff include

 Handoff between base stations or sectors with different CDMA carriers

 Change from one pilot to another pilot without first being in soft handoff with the new pilot (disjoint active
sets)

 Handoff from CDMA to analog, and analog to CDMA

 Change of frame offset assignment—CDMA traffic frames are 20 ms long. The start of frames in a particular
traffic channel can be at 0 time in reference to a system or it can be offset by up to 20 ms (allowed in IS- 95).
This is known as the frame offset. CDMA traffic channels are assigned different frame offset to avoid
congestion. The frame offset for a particular traffic channel is communicated to the mobile. Both forward and
reverse links use this offset. A change in offset

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Fig 10.3 Soft-Softer Handoff

Assignment will disrupt the link. During soft handoff the new base station must allocate the same frame offset to the
mobile as assigned by the primary base station. If that particular frame offset is not available, a hard handoff may be
required. Frame offset is a network resource and can be used up

HANDOFF INITIATION
A hard handoff occurs when the old connection is broken before a new connection is activated. The performance
evaluation of a hard handoff is based on various initiation criteria [1, 3, 13]. It is assumed that the signal is averaged
over time, so that rapid fluctuations due to the multipath nature of the radio environment can be eliminated.
Numerous studies have been done to determine the shape as well as the length of the averaging window and the older
measurements may be unreliable. Figure 1.2 shows a MS moving from one BS (BS1) to another (BS2). The mean signal
strength of BS1 decreases as the MS moves away from it. Similarly, the mean signal strength of BS2 increases as the MS
approaches it. This figure is used to explain various approaches described in the following subsection.
Relative signal strength:
This method selects the strongest received BS at all times. The decision is based on a mean measurement of the
received signal. In Figure 1.2, the handoff would occur at position A. This method is observed to provoke too many
unnecessary handoffs, even when the signal of the current BS is still at an acceptable level.
Relative signal strength with threshold:
This method allows a MS to hand off only if the current signal is sufficiently weak (less than threshold) and the other is
the stronger of the two. The effect of the threshold depends on its relative value as compared to the signal strengths of
the two BSs at the point at which they are equal. If the threshold is higher than this value, say T1 in Figure 1.2, this
scheme performs exactly like the relative signal strength scheme, so the handoff occurs at position
A. If the threshold is lower than this value, say T2 in Figure 1.2, the MS would delay handoff until the current signal
level crosses the threshold at position B. In the case of T3, the delay may be so long that the MS drifts too far into the
new cell.

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This reduces the quality of the communication link from BS1 and may result in a dropped call. In addition, this results in
additional interference to cochannel users. Thus, this scheme may create overlapping cell coverage areas. A threshold
is not used alone in actual practice because its effectiveness depends on prior knowledge of the crossover signal
strength between the current and candidate BSs.
Relative signal strength with hysteresis:
This scheme allows a user to hand off only if the new BS is sufficiently stronger (by a hysteresis margin, h in Figure 1.2)
than the current one. In this case, the handoff would occur at point C. This technique prevents the so- called ping-pong
effect, the repeated handoff between two BSs caused by rapid fluctuations in the received signal strengths from both
BSs. The first handoff, however, may be unnecessary if the serving BS is sufficiently strong.
Relative signal strength with hysteresis and threshold:
This scheme hands a MS over to a new BS only if the current signal level drops below a threshold and the target BS is
stronger than the current one by a given hysteresis margin. In Figure 1.2, the handoff would occur at point D if the
threshold is T3.
Prediction techniques:
Prediction techniques base the handoff decision on the expected future value of the received signal strength. A
technique has been proposed and simulated to indicate better results, in terms of reduction in the number of
unnecessary handoffs, than the relative signal strength, both without and with hysteresis, and threshold methods.

CONCEPT OF DELAYING A HANDOFF:

In many cases, a two-handoff-level algorithm is used. The purpose of creating two request handoff levels is to
provide more opportunity for a successful handoff. A handoff could be delayed if no available cell could take the call. A
plot of signal strength with two request handoff levels and a threshold level is shown in Fig.3. The plot of average
signal strength is recorded on the channel received.

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Fig.3. A two level handoff scheme

Signal strength indicator (RSSI), which is installed at each channel receiver at the cell site. When the signal strength
drops below the first handoff level, a handoff request is initiated. If for some reason the mobile unit is in a hole (a weak
spot in a cell) or a neighboring cell is busy, the handoff will be requested periodically every 5s. At the first handoff level,
the handoff takes place if the new signal is stronger. However, when the second handoff level is reached, the call will
be handed off with no condition. The MSO always handles the handoff call first and the originating calls second. If no
neighboring calls are available after the second handoff level is reached, the call continues until the signal strength
drops below the threshold level; then the call is dropped. In AMPS systems if the supervisory audio tone (SAT) is
not sent back to the cell site by the mobile unit within 5 s, the cell site turns off the transmitter.
ADVANTAGES OF DELAYED HANDOFF:
1. Consider the following example. The mobile units are moving randomly and the terrain contour is uneven. The
received signal strength at the mobile unit fluctuates up and down. If the mobile unit is in a hole for less than 5s (a
driven distance of 140m for 5s, assuming a vehicle speed of 100 km/h), the delay (in handoff) can even circumvent the
need for a handoff. If the neighboring cells are busy, delayed handoff may take place. In principle, when call traffic is
heavy, the switching processor is loaded, and thus a lower number of handoffs would help the processor handle call
processing more adequately. Of course, it is very likely that after the second handoff level is reached, the call may be
dropped with great probability.
2. The other advantage of having a two-handoff-level algorithm is that it makes the handoff occur at the proper
location and eliminates possible interference in the system. Figure 3, case I, shows the area where the first-level
handoff occurs between cell A and cell B. If we only use the second-level handoff boundary of cell A, the area of
handoff is too close to cell B. Figure 3, case II, also shows where the second-level handoff occurs between cell A and
cell C. This is because the first-level handoff cannot be implemented.

POWER DIFFERENCE HANDOFF:

A better algorithm is based on the power difference Δp in dB of a mobile signal received by two cell sites, home and
handoff. Δp can be positive or negative. The handoff occurs depending on a preset value of Δp.

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Δp = the mobile signal measured at the candidate handoff site − the mobile signal measured at the home site For
example, the following cases can occur.
Δp > 3 dB request a handoff

1dB < Δp < 3 dB prepare a handoff

−3dB < Δp < 0 dB monitoring the signal strength

Δp < −3 dB no handoff

Those numbers can be changed to fit the switch processor capacity. This algorithm is not based on the received
signal strength level, but on a relative (power difference) measurement. Therefore, when this algorithm is used, all the
call handoffs for different vehicles can occur at the same general location in spite of different mobile antenna gains or
heights.

FORCED HANDOFF:
A forced handoff is defined as a handoff that would normally occur but is prevented from happening, or a handoff that
should not occur but is forced to happen.

MOBILE-ASSISTED HANDOFF:
In a mobile-assisted handoff process, the MS makes measurements and the network makes the decision. In the circuit
switched GSM (Global System Mobile), the Base Station Controller (BSC) is in charge of the radio interface
management. This mainly means allocation and release of radio channels and handoff management. The handoff time
between handoff decision and execution in such a circuit-switched GSM is approximately 1 second.

SOFT HANDOFF:
Soft Handoff (Forward Link):
In this case all traffic channels assigned to the mobile are associated with pilots in the active set and carry the same
traffic information with the exception of power control sub channel. When the active set contains more than one pilot,
the mobile provides diversity by combining its associated forward traffic channels.
Soft Handoff (Reverse Link):
During intercell handoff, the mobile sends the same information to both base stations. Each base station receives the
signal from the mobile with appropriate propagation delay. Each base station then transmits the received signal to the
vocoder/selector. In other words, two copies of the same frame are sent to the vocoder/selector. The vocoder/selector
selects the better frame and discards the other.
Softer Handoff (Reverse Link):
During intersector handoff, the mobile sends the same information to both sectors. The channel card/element at the
cell site receives the signals from both sectors. The channel card combines both inputs, and only one frame is sent to
the vocoder/selector. It should be noted that extra channel cards are not required to support softer handoff as is the
case for soft handoffs. The diversity gain from soft handoffs is more than the diversity gain from softer handoffs
because signals from distinct cells are less correlated than signals from sectors of the same cell.

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Benefit Of Soft Handoff:
A key benefit of soft handoff is the path diversity on the forward and reverse traffic channels. Diversity gain is obtained
because less power is required on the forward and reverse links. This implies that total system interference is reduced.
As a result, the average system capacity is improved. Also less transmit power from the mobile results in longer battery
life and longer talk time. In a soft handoff, if a mobile receives an up power control bit from one base station and a
down control bit from the second base station, the mobile decreases its transmit power. The mobile obeys the power
down command since a good communications link must have existed to warrant the command from the second base
station.

INTERSYSTEM HANDOFF:
Occasionally, a call may be initiated in one cellular system (controlled by one MSO) and enter another system
(controlled by another MSO) before terminating. In some instances, intersystem handoff can take place; this means
that a call handoff can be transferred from one system to a second system so that the call is continued while the mobile
unit enters the second system. The software in the MSO must be modified to apply this situation. Consider the simple
diagram shown in Fig.7. The car travels on a highway and the driver originates a call in system A. Then the car leaves
cell site A of system A and enters cell site B of system B. Cell sites A and B are controlled by two different MSOs. When
the mobile unit signal becomes weak in cell site A, MSO A searches for a candidate cell site in its system and cannot
find one. Then MSO A sends the handoff request to MSO B through a dedicated line between MSO A and MSO B, and
MSO B makes a complete handoff during the call conversation. This is just a one-point connection case. There are many
ways of implementing intersystem handoffs, depending on the actual circumstances. For instance, if two MSOs are
manufactured by different companies, then compatibility must be determined before implementation of intersystem
handoff can be considered.

Fig.7: Intersystem handoffs

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