Cellular Architecture with Frequency Reuse

Pattern more than One (TDMA based system)

Course: S-72.333 Post-graduate course in Radio Communications 2001-2002

Author: Liang Yong
Student No.: 49329F
Contact info: yliang@cc.hut.fi

Table of contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................................................... 1
ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 3
1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 3
2. MAIN CONCEPTS ............................................................................................................................ 4
3. CELL SECTORING .......................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 CELL SECTORING WITH WIDE-BEAM DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS ................................ 6
3.2 SECTORING WITH SWITCHED-BEAM ANTENNAS............................................................. 7
3.3 TRUNKPOOL TECHNIQUES..................................................................................................... 8
4. CELL SPLITTING ............................................................................................................................ 8
4.1 REUSE PARTITIONING ........................................................................................................... 10
5. HIERARCHICAL ARCHITECTURE .......................................................................................... 11
6. MACRODIVERSITY ARCHITECTURES................................................................................... 13
7. SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 13
REFERENCE ....................................................................................................................................... 13

ABBREVIATIONS
AoA
BS
CCI
C/I
DCA
QoS
MS
TDMA

Angle-of-Arrivel
Base station
Cochannel Interference
Carrier/Interference
Dynamic Channel Assignment
Quality of Service
Mobile Station
Time Division Multiple Access

1 Introduction

In the early phase, mobile radio system normally used a high power transmitter with
an antenna mounted on a tall tower. This approach gave very good coverage, but it
was very difficult to reuse these same frequencies, therefore that the network capacity
is low. As the demand for mobile service increased, achieving high network capacity
by the same radio spectrum was more important than covering large areas [1].
In order to solve the capacity problem, the cellular concept was proposed in 1970. As
the population grows, cells can be added to accommodate that growth. Frequencies
used in one cell cluster can be reused in other cells. Conversations can be handed off
from cell to cell to maintain constant phone service as the user moves between cells
(Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1. Mobile telephone systems use a cellular architecture

The cellular concept employs variable low power transmitters, which allow cells to be
sized according to the subscriber density and demand of a given area. As the
population grows, cells can be added to accommodate that growth. . Frequencies used
in one cell cluster can be reused in other cells. Small cells will increase the network
capacity, but on the other hand will increase the cochannel interference (CCI),
therefore affect the quality of service (QoS).
In order to achieve high capacity while satisfying quality of service expectations, a
cellular architecture must be defined so as to be flexible to accommodate system
growth.

2. MAIN CONCEPTS

The motivation behind implementing a cellular mobile system is to improve the

utilization of spectrum efficiency. The frequency reuse is one concept, and cell
splitting is another concept. Cell splitting will be discussed in Chapter 4.
Frequency Reuse

Figure 2.1 Illustration of the cellular frequency reuse concept. Cells with the
same alphabet use the same channel set.
Frequency reuse is the core concept of the cellular mobile radio system. The total
available channels are divided into a number of channel sets (Actually, frequency
reuse pattern is equally to the number of channel sets). Each channel set is assigned to
a cell. Cells are assigned a group of channels that is completely different from
neighbouring cell. The same set of channels can be reused in another cell provided
that the reuse distance D is fulfilled (Figure 2.1). The reuse distance is the minimum
separation of identical channels that have the same carrier frequency, at which there is
acceptable interference:
D = 3N R
(2-1)
Where N is the number of channel sets (cells in a cluster) (in Figure 2.1, N=7), R is
the radius of a cell [2].
Reduction of Interference
Reusing an identical frequency channel in different cells is limited by cochannel
interference between cells, and the cochannel interference can become a major
problem. One way to reduce cochannel interference (CCI) is to keep the separation
between two cochannel cells by a sufficient distance. Another way for controling CCI
is to use directional antenneas at the base station (BSs), and we call it cell sectoring.
Chapter 3 discusses cell sectoring in detail.
The adjacent channel interference, coming from neighbouring-channels and nextchannels, is another consideration in channel assignment. The adjacent channel

interference depends on the separation of two adjacent channels, the characteristic of

receiver filters, and the distance of two adjacent channel users. The near-end ratio
interference can occur among the neighbouring channels. Therefore, if one channel is
assigned to a cell, its adjacent channels cannot be assigned to the same cell.

3. CELL SECTORING
As mentioned in chapter 2, the cell sectoring is employed into the cellular system to
reduction the effect of CCI. Two types of directional antennas are discussed here:
conventional wide beam directional antennas, and switched beam antennas.

3.1 CELL SECTORING WITH WIDE-BEAM DIRECTIONAL

ANTENNAS
In the initial phase of a system, omnidirectional antennas are used to transmit or
receive signals, and the corresponding cells are called omnidirectional cells. In the
later stages, systems use directional antennas to both increase the capacity of the
system and reduce the effect of the CCI. The original cells are diveided into
sectorized cells, where coverage is confined to individual 120-degree (or 60-degree)
sectors rather than the typical full 360-degree coverage (Figure 3.1).
Cell sectoring is a very common method that is employed in cellular systems to
improve the C/I performance. On the forward channel, directional antennas reduce the
generation of CCI by transmitting the signals to the mobile stations (MSs) with a
narrower Angle-of-Arrivel (AoA) spread than omnidirectional antennas. On the
reverse channel, directional antennas reduce the effect of the CCI because they
respond to CCI that is generated with a narrower AoA spread about the MS.

Figure 3.1 Worst case CCI situation on the forward channel with 120 cell
sectoring
Lets analysis the worse case CCI situation on the forward channel with 120 cell
sectoring (Figure 3.1). An N-cell reuse cluster with 120 sectors yields an N/3N reuse
plan (N cells and 3N sectors). As shown in Fig.3.1, 120 cell sectoring reduces the

number of first-tier cochannel interferers from six to two. The two first tier interferers
are located at approximate distances of D and D+0.7R. The resulting worst case C/I is
R
1
=

D + ( D + 0.7 R)
D
D

+ + 0.7
R
R

With a path loss exponent = 3.5, the worst case C/I is

=

( )dB

= 21.1dB
Where for the omni-directional antenna case [1],
( )dB = 14.3dB

(3-1)

(3-2)
(3-3)

Therefor, for N=7, 120sectoring yields a 6.8 dB C/I gain over the case when
omnidirectional antennas are used.
To derive a benefit from sectoring, the carriers that are assigned to each cell must be
partitioned into disjoint sets, such that each sector uses a disjoint set of carriers. This
finer partitioning of the carriers results in a loss in trunking efficiency, which we will
quantify later. Hence, cell sectoring improves the C/I performance at the cost of
trunking efficiency.

3.2 SECTORING WITH SWITCHED-BEAM ANTENNAS

Switch-beam antennas can be used in place conventional wide-beam directional
antennas, to improve both the coverage and system capacity. Switched-beam antennas
are a simple type of smart antenna where multiple antenna beams are used within each
cell sector, and beam steering is achieved through a simple beam selection
mechanism.

Figure 3.2 Trunkpool schemes for switched-beam antennas.

The MS antennas are assumed to be omni-directional. With omni-directional BS
antennas, there are six first-tier cochannel interferers for both the forward and reverse
channels. The number of first-tier interferers is reduced to two with 120 sectoring.
With a switched-beam smart antenna, the number of first-tier cochannel interferers on
the forward channel is a random variable ranging from 0 to 6, due to the narrow-beam

directional antennas and the dependency of the activated beam on the MS location. If
the CCI form the antenna sidelobes is ignored, there is at most one interferer on the
reverse channel when the smart antenna beamwidth is less than 40.

3.3 TRUNKPOOL TECHNIQUES

Although narrow-beam directional antennas in switched-beam smart antenna systems
can reduce unnecessary spillage of radiation and mitigate the effects of channel time
dispersion, switched-beam smart antennas will have more frequent handoffs (due to
inter-sector handoffs) that result in reduced trunking efficiency (offered traffic per
channel) [1].
To overcome the trunking efficiency degradation caused by narrow beam sectoring,
sector-trunkpool and moni-trunkpool (Figure 3.2) load sharing schemes are suggested.
(1) Sector-trunkpool
There are a few beams in each sector. All the channels assigned to one sector are
shared by all the beams within that sector. Each sector antenna acts as common
aperture for one of these beams. No handoffs are needed unless the MS crosses sector
or cell boundaries. The trunking efficiency will remain the same as the reference
system, which each wide-beam sector has a unique channel assignment.
(2) Omni-trunkpool
Any of the channels assigned to a cell can be assigned to any one of the activated
beams. No handoffs are needed unless an MS crosses a cell boundary.
The omni-trunkpool technique is helpful for increasing the trunking efficiency when
smart antenna systems are employed.

4. CELL SPLITTING
When the traffic load in an area increases, a cell can be split into smaller cells in order
to improve the utilization of spectrum efficiency (reuse frequency more often).
Usually the new radius is one half the original radius. For example, the radius of a cell
reduces by half and splits an old cell into four new small cells (Figure 4.1). The area
of the split cell is of the area of the parent cells , then the traffic load is increased
fourfold in the same area, if each new cell carry the same maximum traffic load of the
old cell.

Figure 4.1 Cell splitting

There are two ways of splitting: In Figure 4.2a, the original cell site is not use, while
in Figure 4.2b, it is. In Figure 4.2a, a split cell labelled 1 is located at the midpoint
between two cells labelled 1. In Figure 4.2b, a split cell is overlaid in its parent cell,
and we call it inner cell.
Because the split cells are smaller, the transmit power can be reduced. To estimated
the transmit power requirements in the split cells, we note that the received power for
a MS located at the corner of a parent cell is
(R0 ) = A 0 R0
While the received power at the boundary of a split cell is
(Rs ) = A s Rs

(4-1)

(4-2)
Where 0 and s and R0 and Rs are the transmit power and cell radius associated
with the parent cells and split cells, respectively. The new transmit power can be
obtained as follows:

R
s = 0 s
(4-3)
R0
If =4, then s = 0 / 16, since Rs = R0 / 2 . Hence, the split cells can reduce their
transmit power levels by 12dB.

(a)

(b)
Figure 4.2 Cell splitting is used to accommodate traffic load by introducing
smaller cells.
To avoid violation of the reuse constraint for introducing of the split cells. A very
straight forward approach is channel segmenting, where the channel sets in the
cochannel cells are divided into two groups: the split cells are assigned one group of
channels, while the parent cochannel cells are assigned the other group of channels.
However, this arrangement sacrifices trunking efficiency because the parent cells
cannot use the channels assigned to the split cells. Therefore, channel segmenting is
not a good option.
Another solution is shown in Fig. 4.2b, where overlaid inner cells are introduced into
the parent cells. MSs located within the overlaid inner cells and the split cells use one
group of channels, while MSs located within the outer cells use the other group of
channels. Whenever an MS moves between the inner and outer areas of a cell a
handoff must be executed, to avoid violations of the cochannels reuse constraint.

4.1 REUSE PARTITIONING

Halpern [5] suggested an overlay/underlay scheme based on the concept of reuse
partitioning, where multiple cochannel reuse factors are used in the same deployment.
An inner cell is created within each of the existing cells as shown in Fig. 4.3. channels
are assigned to the inner and outer cells according to a 3-cell and 7-cell reuse plan,
respectively, although other reuse plans could be used. Handoffs are required when a
MS crosses the boundary between an inner and outer cell. The reduced radii of the
inner cells leads to an increase in cell capacity.

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Figure 4.3 Overlaid inner cells with reuse partitioning

Cell splitting can be used with reuse partitioning. In Fig.4.4, a split cell is added
between the parent B2 cells. And the split cell also uses reuse partitioning. To
maintain the C/I at an acceptable level, some of the channels in the B2 cells are
moved to the inner cells and denoted by B2. Furthermore, the closest co-channel
inner cells A1 must have their channels partitioned in a similar fashion. Therefore, for
using cell splitting with the reuse partitioning scheme, the drawback is that the cells
must be divided into many concentric rings that use disjoint cannel sets, and handoffs
must occur when a MS crosses the boundary between two rings.

Figure 4.4 Cell splitting can be used in combination with reuse partitioning

5. HIERARCHICAL ARCHITECTURE
Although the cell splitting technique will increase the network capacity, it also will
cause a large number of handoffs among the different small cells for high-mobility
MSs (e.g. MS in moving cars). Since each handoff requires additional work by the
network, it is not particularly desirable to increase the number of such events. To
achieve the conflicting goals of maximizing network capacity (which implies use of

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small cells) and minimizing network control (which favours large cells), a hierarchical
architecture is proposed.
A hierarchical architecture may consist of two or more layers of cell, with the layer
having the smallest cells the lowest in the hierarchy. They may be formed of a
picocellular layer to give service to indoor environment and a microcellular layer to
provide service to indoor/outdoor environments. Both could be overlaid by a
macrocellular layer that deals with requests from users in outdoor areas in cities or
rural areas. Finally, at the highest hierarchical level, there could be communication
satellite beams overlaying all the previous terrestrial layers or some clusters of them.
Small cells provide greater spectral reuse and larger capacity and allow the use of
low-power lightweight handsets. They also provide coverage to points that larger cells
cannot reach due to natural or man-made obstacles. Large cells are used to cover
larger areas with low-cost implementation, to cover spots that are difficult for radio
propagation in small cells, and to provide overflow groups of channels for clusters of
small cells when heavily loaded. Figure 5.1 shows an example of a four-level
hierarchical architecture.

Figure 5.1 Four-level hierarchical architecture

Hierarchical architectures are used to improve coverage, to increase capacity, to
balance the load between layers, and give service to uses with different mobility
characteristics (i.e., slow or fast). The speed of the user determines which cellular
layer is the most adequate to provide service. Once a layer is selected, efforts are
made to attend the user in that layer. Where there is a lack of resources in the
appropriate layer, the next higher layer in the hierarchy with larger cells would attend
the call.
It is common to associate people working in indoor environments with picocells,
pedestrians and users in cars traveling at low speeds with microcell, users in cars
moving at high speeds with macrocells, and users traveling in ships and airplanes with
the highest levels of the hierarchy or satellite. However, there is no clear classification
of when a user should be considered as a slow-moving user or a fast-moving user. The
threshold to differentiate one from the other can even depend on the offered load, and
can change during the day. Thresholds are normally proposed by system operators to
differentiate users and depend mainly on the probability density function of their

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speed, the time required to establish a call or a handoff, and the cells radii. The
classification of users most commonly adopted in a hierarchical architecture formed
of two layers, microcells and macrocells, is the one that considers only slow and fast
moving users with the division between the two decided by operational realities.
For a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) hierarchical architecturs, a key issue
for introducing microcells (picocell) is the partitioning of the frequency resources
among the hierarchical layers. In order no to violate frequency reuse constraint,
careful frequency planning is needed when microcells are introduced.

6. MACRODIVERSITY ARCHITECTURES
Macrodiversity architectures are another method for achieving high capacity, where
the same signal is received by, and perhaps transmitted by, multiple BSs. At any time,
the BS with the best quality measure is chosen to serve the MS. The selection of
branch (BS) is based on the local mean power (local-mean-based selection scheme)
rather than the instantaneous power, because the branch selection algorithm cannot
react to the rapidly varying instantaneous signal power.
Macrodiversity is an effective method for combating shadow and envelope fading. In
fact, cellular handoff algorithms implement macrodiversity. The soft handoff
techniques used in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems are a well
known method for realizing macrodiversity. In TDMA systems that use hard handoff
algorithms will not yield as much macrodiversity gain due to latencies in the order of
a few seconds in the hard handoff algorithms. The requirement for hard handoff in
TDMA systems arises a result of the non-universal frequency reuse. However, if
Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) techniques are used, then TDMA systems can
realize benefits from macrodiversity similar to those obtained in CDMA systems [2].

7. SUMMARY
In this paper, cellular architectures aspects of TDMA digital cellular system are
considered, more specially, it concentrate on the methods for achieving high network
capacity, for example, cell splitting, hierarchical architecture have been discussed in
detail. To control the CCI, cell sectoring is one of the simplest methods, mainly focus
on sectoring with switched-beam antennas. Trunkpool techniques are discussed as
well. When design a cellular system, frequency planning must be consider carefully to
avoid violations of the cochannel reuse constraint. This paper proves a guideline for
cell planning.

Reference
1. Gordon L.Stuber, Principles of Mobile Communication (Second Edition),
Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp.16, 2001.

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2. Lee, William C. Y., Mobile Cellular Telecommunications Systems, McGrawHill Book Company, 2ed., 1995.
3. Ni, Shaoji, "Dynamic Channel Allocation Algorithms in Cellular Systems
(Licentiate Thesis)", Communications Lab of HUT, Oct. 1997.
4. S.C.Swales, M.A.Beach, D.J.Edwards, and J.P.McGeehan, The performance
enhancement of multibeam adaptive base station antennas for cellular land mobile
radio systems, IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., Vol. 39, pp. 56-67, February 1990.
5. S.W.Halpern, "Reuse Partitioning in Cellular Systems," in IEEE Veh. Technol.
Conf.,Toronto, Ontario, Canada, pp. 322-327. 1983.

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