Impact of Interference on GPRS/EGPRS

services and Performance Optimization in a

Multi-cell Scenario

Francesca Tempesta - Emanuele de Carolis

Philipp Hagenhuber - Quentin Berder

Supervisor:
Persefoni Kyritsi - Haibo Wang

8th semester
May 2007
Contents

1 Introduction 4
1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Report Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Theoretical Aspect 6
2.1 GPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.1 GPRS Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.2 GPRS Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.3 GPRS Time slots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.4 GPRS Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.5 Mobile Station . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2 EGPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.1 EGPRS Modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.2 EGPRS Coding Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3 Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Problem Analysis 19
3.1 Problem definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Power control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.1 The Wireless Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2.2 Distributed Power Control (DPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2.3 Distributed Power Control with Active Link Protection
(DPC/ALP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Beamforming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.3.1 MMSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3.2 Interference-plus-noise rejecter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3.3 LCMV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.3.4 MCMV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4 Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.1 Scheduling in GPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.2 QoS in GPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.4.3 Explanation of scheduling techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4 Delimitation 31
4.1 Wireless channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.1 General characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.2 Path Loss: Deterministic parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3 Shadowing: Log-normal distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

1
 4.1.4 Multipath: Rayleigh distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.2 Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

5 Simulation Analysis 41
5.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.2 Initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.3 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3.1 Creation of the cells and clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3.2 Wrap around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.4 Mobility model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.5 Channel Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.5.1 Shadowing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.5.2 Shadow fading correlation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.5.3 Path loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.5.4 Short Scale Fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.5.5 CIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.6 Traffic generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.7 Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.7.1 Intercell scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.7.2 Intracell Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.8 Power Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.8.1 Basic Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.8.2 DPC Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

6 Simulation & Results 65

6.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1.1 Simulation expectation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.2 CIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.3 Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

7 Conclusion 74

Bibliography 74

List of Figures 77

List of Tables 79

A Glossar 80
 Ålborg university
E-Studyboard
Mobile Communications 8th semester

TITLE:

Impact of Interference on GPRS/EGPRS services and Performance

Optimization in a Multi-cell Scenario

THEME:

Communication, Signals and Systems

PROJECT PERIOD:

1st February - 31st May 2007

PROJECT GROUP:

07-gr-895

GROUP MEMBERS:

Berder Quentin
De Carolis Emanuele
Hagenhuber Philipp
Tempesta Francesca

SUPERVISORS:

Kyristi Persefoni
Wang Haibo

ABSTRACT:

With the development of multimedia application over Internet, the demand for
high data rate connection is increasing. Obviously this happen also for mobile
phones connected through GPRS/EDGE connections. Nevertheless interference
is an important limitation to reach higher data rates. In this way, the aim of
this project is to study and investigate several possibilities to reduce the effects
of those interference on GPRS/EGPRS services in a multi-cell scenario.

3
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background
The fast development of wireless technology and the increase of demand
for private usage and in business for a high data rate make of this technology
one of the most important fields of research in this decade. Furthermore the
emergence of multimedia applications such as television or internet on mobile
stations requires a high data rate.

Nevertheless, in order to obtain an efficient data rate, the interference has

to be taken in consideration. In the second generation of mobile phone, the
GSM brought optimal improvement for the voice services. The circuit-switched
interference on the GSM services has been exhaustively investigated. The voice
call traffic does not need a more advanced check for the interference because it is
enough to reach the good enough level of quality to make the transmission with
an acceptable quality. GPRS/EDGE services, which are packet switched ser-
vices, are an evolution of the GSM which allow wireless data services with rates
up to 473 kbps. Because of those high rates, multimedia application can also be
run on the mobile devices trough Internet. Nevertheless since those application
can be run on the mobile devices, the connection needs to be optimized in terms
of traffic organization, performance optimization and interference attenuation.

Since circuit and packet switched services share the same physical resources,
a notably increase in the interference level is appreciated in the whole system.
On the other hand, in order to lessen this negative effect, they have more flexi-
bility to make the system complex, improving the system capacity. The power
can be varied to improve the data rate. Different scheduling techniques can be
used to have different user data rates; moreover, beam-forming can also be used
to achieve the best system performance.

This project analyzes a multi-cell scenario i.e. a certain amount of cells will
be considered in which a number of users will be modelized. All the effects
inherit in this the type of environment, such as buildings or trees and of the
position of the users in the cells, will be simulated in order to obtain a simulation
as close as possible to the reality.

4
1.2 Report Outline
This report is based on the traffic analysis in GPRS connections. The aim of
this project is to analyze the impact of various technique such as scheduling and
power control in a multi-cell scenario during a download session. This report is
divided in five parts:

• Theorical aspect: Analysis of the theorical aspects of this project such

as GPRS, EGPRS and the interference. In this part, the background of
this project will be analyzed.

• Problem analysis: Analysis of the problem and of the various tech-

niques proposed to solve it. In this part, the physicals and mathematicals
solutions used for the simulation are developed.
• Delimitation: Delimitation of our scenario. In this part, the wireless
channel and all its components such as path-loss, shadow fading or mul-
tipath will be invetigate. And a mathematical approach of those effects
will be define to be used for the simulation.
• Simulation Analysis: Analysis of the simulation. In this part, the aim
of the simulation will be define and all its components will be describe.
• Simulation & Results: Evolution and results of the simulation. In
this part, the results of the simulation will be show and some partial
conclusions will be propose.

5
Chapter 2

Theoretical Aspect

2.1 GPRS
GSM has been under very stable usage for mobile communication. GSM, in
addition to voice communication, provides mobile phone communication based
on digital data interchange. GSM is the core on which the second generation
mobile phones are based. Actually, there are some limitations of GSM - namely,
that is only provides voice services - that inhibit the widespread use of this
technology GSM is a circuit switched connection. This means that the commu-
nication between nodes and terminal is dedicated for each call session. Each
circuit that is dedicated cannot be used by other callers until the circuit is re-
leased and a new connection is set up. There is no incompatibility with the
TCP/IP protocol and the mobile devices support just simply functions because
of their easy hardware.

GPRS is a set of GSM-based services with provide packet mode transmission

within the GSM network, and it allows mobile devices to be connected via
Internet protocol addresses. As the name suggest GPRS’ data is broken into
small packets at the transmitter and reassembled again at the receiver. Such
systems do not require any particular connection between one user and another,
the data are transmitted just when an user require it. GPRS is, for this reason, a
2.5 generation wireless communication system. The transmission is digital and is
up to 115 kbps, while GSM has transmission up to 9.6 Kbps. Another important
feature of GPRS is that there is no dial-up connection to be completed for data
access. The bill charging is determined by the amount of effective transmitted
and received information, and not by the connection’s time. That results in a
very cost-effective service.[1]

6
2.1.1 GPRS Architecture
The architecture of the GPRS network is shown in the following figure.

Figure 2.1: GPRS architecture

The items contained in the GPRS architecture are:

• BSS The Base Station Subsystem consists of the BTS and BSC. It has
been adapted to support the GPRS packets operations.

• BTS The Base Transceiver System handles all the radio transmission de-
vices.
• BSC The Base Station Controller manages the resources in the communi-
cation. Several BSCs can manage more than one BTS. It contains also the
Packet Control Unit (PCU) which controls the data traffic in the GPRS
network.
The BSS consists of BTS and BSC. When voice or data needs to flow through
the network, in the down link channel, it is transported over the air interface to
BSC, and from the BSC to the BTS. The voice has is own path in the network,
and the data passes through a new device called SGSN, via the PCU.

7
 • SGSN: The Serving GPRS Support Node maintains the logical connection
with the Mobile Station (MS), forwarding incoming packets from the MS
to the appropriate network node and vice-versa. Only one SGSN serves
the MS in its own service area.
• GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node provides the interface to external
packet data network (PDN) and forwards packets destined for the MS to
the SGSN that is serving it.

The SGSN can be compared to a packet sorting center that delivers packet
data within its service area. SGSNs take care about the detection and the man-
aging of new GPRS mobile station within their control area.

The GGSNs maintain routing information that is necessary to connect the

Protocol Data Units (PDU) to the SGSNs that service particular mobile sta-
tions.

The GPRS connection is based on protocols which assign network addresses

to the devices within the network in order to manage the data path. The
GGSN is responsible in checking that the PDP address from the public packet
data network is forwarded. The network then routes the data to the specific
mobile station through the SGSN. Each mobile station has is own PDP and is
constantly updated. Each time a mobile station wants to receive or send data it
has to communicate with the SGSN, then activate his PDP address and finally
get the PDP address from the GGSN to get the connection.

2.1.2 GPRS Layers

For a better understanding of the data flow, coding scheme and how the
packets are made in a GPRS connection, the following session focus on the differ-
ent layers. The RF layer, layer at the bottom, manages the physical connection
between mobile station and base station. This layer is divided in Physical RF
layer, which includes modulation and demodulation, and Physical link layer,
which manages the information for the physical channel such as error correc-
tion, power control, cell location..etc etc.

The following up layers are the radio link control (RLC) and the medium
access control (MAC) which controls the logical connection between mobile sta-
tion and base station. They are also the layer which will format the data to
pass to the upper layers, the logical link layer (LLC). The LLC is the layer who
handles the connection between SGSN, BSS, and mobile station. In this layer
the packets contain the user data. The LLC layer is important because in it
the authentication takes place, the mobile is attached to the SGSN through the
LLC layer. The following figure 2.2 shows the position of the different layers
within the GPRS communication.

8
 Figure 2.2: GPRS Layers organization

2.1.3 GPRS Time slots

The multiple access methods used in GPRS is based on FDD and FDMA.
During a session, a user is assigned to one pair of up-link and down-link fre-
quency channels. This is combined with time domain statistical multiplexing
which makes it possible for several users to share the same channel. In this way,
using the TDMA, different slots are assigned for the GPRS physical channels,
while the remaining can be used for the voice communication. In this project,
as will be outlined in the delimitation chapter, the voice data is not taken in
count. Due to this, the channel allocation will be managed just with GPRS
data packets.

Figure 2.3: GPRS time slot

Examining it with more detail, it is possible to distinguish the entire sequence

of data transmitted in GPRS operations. The used physical channel is named
Packet Data Channel (PDCH) and is composed by burst structure (as shown in
figure 2.3). The time slots are scheduled as 52 frames in a multi-frame. Each
frame contains eight slots and each slot is 0.577 ms, which means a frame length
of 4.62 ms. The base station use one slot for the managing of the PDCH with
the information on the mobile station’s status, or timing information.

9
 Different classes of GPRS are made based on the number of up-link and
down-link available time slots. The table 2.1 is showing the different classes of
GPRS with the relative number of time slots.

Class Receiving Slots Sending Slots Maximum number of slots

1 1 1 2
2 2 1 2
3 2 2 3
5 2 2 4
8 4 1 5
10 4 2 5
12 4 4 5

Table 2.1: Different classes in the GPRS connection

Within the same cell, different rates can be achieved by a single mobile
device. The speed depends on the coding scheme used for the communication.
It must be added that the maximum rate the is only available under the most
favorable conditions. On the other hand, with the slowest transmission the
maximum area of the cell (98% of the entire cell) is covered. The value, in the
figure 2.2, are shown in kilobits per second (Kbps).

Coding Scheme Number of slots

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CS-1 9.05 12.2 27.15 36.2 45.25 54.3 63.35 72.4
CS-2 13.4 26.8 40.2 53.6 67 80.4 93.8 107.2
CS-3 15.6 31.2 46.8 62.4 78 93.6 109.2 124.8
CS-4 21.4 42.8 64.2 85.6 107 128.4 149.8 171.2

Table 2.2: List of different Coding Schemes

CS-1 provides for the most correction and detection capabilities for situa-
tions in which the carrier-to-interference level are very low. The CS-2 and CS-3
are something more balanced and, at last, CS-4 is used in the ideal situation
where carrier-to-interference level are optimum. Here, no correction encoding is
used at all. In the ideal conditions the maximum data rate for a GPRS frame,
assuming that all slots are used for data, is 8 × 21.4K = 171,2Kbps. This rep-
resents the most ideal location and situation, where there is no error correction
at all.

10
2.1.4 GPRS Modulation
The modulation used for a GSM/GPRS connection is the Gaussian Minimum
Shift Keying (GMSK) [2]. This modulation comes directly from the Frequency
Shift Keying (FSK) modulation in which the information is associated by par-
ticular variation of the carrier signal frequency between two values f1 and f2 .

By using the GMSK every symbol that is transmitted is composed by one

bit, and its phase increment or decrement of π that is, each shift in the phase
represents one bit.

Figure 2.4: GMSK modulation [2]

The probability of error of the GMSK, supposing an Additive White Gaus-

sian Noise (AWGN) channel is:
r !
E
PE = erf c (2.1)
2N0

where N0 is the spectral noise density and E is the energy of the received signal
and it’s in relation with the received power PR and with the bit rate B by the
follow expression:
2PR
E= (2.2)
B

The received power PR can be written as a function of transmission power

y like:

PR = AyGc (2.3)

where A is the path loss coefficient (A < 1) and Gc the coding gain.

After these considerations, the energy E is equal to:

2AyGc
E= (2.4)
B

11
 From the probability of error given by the equation 2.1 it is possible to have
a probability of error per bit equal to:
PE
Pb ≈ (2.5)
2

Finally:
r !
1 AyGc
Pb = erf c (2.6)
2 N0 B

2.1.5 Mobile Station

Different states characterize the behavior of mobile devices:
• IDLE
When a mobile device is in idle state it appears invisible to the network.
The mobile device is not attached to the GPRS network, there is no in-
formation in the SGSN routing list, and it is not possible to perform any
data transmission.
• STANDBY
If a mobile is in standby state, it is attached to the GPRS network but
it is not possible to receive or transmit data. The SGSN contains all the
information of the routing area regarding the mobile device. When the
mobile device is interrogated by the SGSN for starting a communication,
the mobile goes to the ready state and the communication is established.
If the time expires, it returns to the idle state.
• READY
In the ready state the mobile device can receive and send data. During
this state it also sends updates to the SGSN regarding the changes in
routing area. This state is timer controlled. Whenever the time expires,
the mobile device goes in standby state.

12
2.2 EGPRS
A different modulation technique and error-tolerant transmission methods
make, starting from the GPRS’ bases, another type of connection named EG-
PRS. The objective of this technology is to increase data transmission rates and
spectrum efficiency using a new modulation technique and a new channel cod-
ing and, due to this, to facilitate the use of new application on mobile devices.
EDGE is used for the transmission of data on the same network as the GPRS’
data, therefore it is an add-on to GPRS and cannot work alone. [3]

2.2.1 EGPRS Modulation

In addition to the modulation used in the GSM/GPRS connection, in the
EGPRS is also used the 8-Phase Shifting Keying (8PSK) modulation, that comes
directly from a M-ary Phase Shifting Keying (M-PSK) modulation with M =
8, in order to increase the size of the modulation using 8 different points in the
constellation. To achieve higher bit rates per time slot than the ones available
in the GPRS, the 8PSK modulation maps three consecutive bits in one symbol.

The symbol rate remains the same as the GMSK, but each symbol represents
three bits instead of only one. The increased number of possible symbols means
a shorter distance between each of them. Because of this, under poor radio
condition, the risk of misinterpretation is higher because for the radio receiver
it is more difficult to detect which symbol has been received. Anyway, the extra
bits are added to improve the error control coding, and the correct information
can be recovered. Only under very poor radio environments the GMSK method
is more efficient.

Figure 2.5: 8-PSK modulation

The Probability of error for an 8-PSK modulation for a AWGN channel is

given by a more general expression of the M-PSK modulation, as follow:
r !
E π
PE = erf c sin (2.7)
N0 M

13
 As said for the GMSK modulation, the energy of the received signal E is
in relation with the received power PR and with the bit rate B by the follow
general expression:
PR
E= log2 (M ) (2.8)
B

where

PR = AyGc (2.9)

Substituting these results in the expression 2.7, it results that the probabil-
ity of error for a M-PSK modulation is:
r !
AyGc π
PE = erf c log2 (M )sin (2.10)
N0 B M

In our case M = 8, so we have a probability of error for a 8-PSK modulation

given by:
r !
3AyGc π
PE = erf c sin (2.11)
N0 B 8

2.2.2 EGPRS Coding Schemes

As said before, the GPRS coding scheme is composed of four different
schemes. Each of them is made for different environments and has different
rate. For the EGPRS there are nine different coding schemes which are chosen
from MCS1 - MCS9 (Modulation Coding Scheme). The nine coding schemes
of the EGPRS are based on both GMSK and 8PSK modulation. The first
four MCS are based on the GMSK, and the upper five are based on 8-PSK.
The following figure shows the different coding scheme of GPRS and EGPRS
comparing each other in terms of rate.

14
 Figure 2.6: Modulation Coding scheme in EGPRS

The GPRS saturation limit is at 20 Kbps with the best coding scheme. In
the best possible condition of EGPRS, it is possible to reach up to 59.2 Kbps.
The two different technologies are based on the same GMSK modulation, but
the last five MCS of EGPRS are based on 8PSK modulation, which increase the
throughput. The difference in performance is partly due to the different header
size of the EGPRS packets. A packet sent with a fast MSC that is received with
some error, can be retransmitted again by using a more-secure MSC (more error
correction) if the radio environment requires it. This possibility of retransmit-
ting by using different coding schemes is the reason why EGPRS and GPRS do
not have the same performances: GPRS cannot support the re-segmentation.

15
2.3 Interference
It is known that the capacity of a cellular system is determined by the in-
terference associated with it. In a multi-cell scenario the interference consists of
inter-cell interference arriving from neighbour cells. The intra-cell interference
is avoided in GSM technology. The interference power received at a base station
of a given cell can be estimated by knowing the number of users within a cell
(intra-cell interference), and the number of users and their locations in the adja-
cents cells (inter-cell interference). In this report only the inter-cell interference
will be treated. The possible sources of interference are shown in figure 2.7

Figure 2.7: Possible interference in multi-cell scenario

A lack of synchronization between the independent cells combined with an

imperfect channel isolation can lead to inter-cell interference. Inter-cell inter-
ference can result in unsuccessfully received packets by the user due to the
combination of the wanted signal with the interfering signals.

Power control will be considered in the expression of the inter-cell interfer-

ence. Power control is used to equalize MSs the received signal power at a given
cell’s base station for all the mobile stations linked to this base station. But
interference also arrives from mobile stations controlled by other cells base sta-
tions. The signal arrives at the base station with a lower download power level.
The interference comes from BSs that are using the same frequency in different
cells.

According to [4] it is possible to consider two cells i and j. The users power
is controlled by the base station of cell j at the distance rj (x, y). The distance
of the same user from the base station in cell i is ri (x, y). Assuming that in cell
j there are nj users denoted by region Cj and area Aj = Area(Cj ).

Figure 2.8: Multi-cell scenario & division of a cell for the integer

16
 According to [4], the relative average interference at cell i caused by nj users
in cell j can be written as
 ξj

rjm (x, y)10 10 nj
Z Z
Iji = E  m 2 dA(x, y) (2.12)
Cj ri (x, y)/χi Aj

where ξ is the decibel attenuation due to the shadowing which is a Gaussian

random with zero mean and standard deviation sigma σs , m is the pass loss
exponent and χi is a Rayleigh random variable that represents the fading on
the path from the user to cell i.

The equation 2.12 can be written as

rjm (x, y)
Z Z
(γσs )2 nj
Iji = e m dA(x, y) (2.13)
Aj Cj ri (x, y)

where σ = ln(10)
10 . In equations 2.12 and 2.13 the denominator represents the
propagation loss to the given base station and the numerator is the gain adjust-
ment through power control by the nearest base station.

According to [4], to obtain the per-user inter-cell interference fji , Iji is di-
vided by the total number of users in cell j. In this model, fii equals zero and fji
can be viewed as elements in a two dimensionnal matrix F with i, j = 1, ..., M ,
where M is the total number of cells in the network. Each column i of F con-
tains the per-user inter-cell interference radiated by cell j on every other cell
i. The relative average inter-cell interference in cell i is the summation of the
product of number of users nj in cell j. The per-user interference factor fji
is the column vector i in F . It is possible to write the total relative average
inter-cell interference as
XM
Ii = nj F [j, i] (2.14)
j=1

It is possible to see that the interference in download caused by a user is

independent of its location within a given cell.

For a general mobile station distribution, the equation 2.12 becomes

 ξj

rjm (x, y)10 10 nj
Z Z
Iji = E  m 2 w(x, y)dA(x, y) (2.15)
Cj ri (x, y)/χi Aj

where w(x, y) is the user density at (x, y). We can define kji as the per-user
relative inter-cell interference factor from cell j to base station i and write it as
2 Z Z
e(γσs ) rjm (x, y)
Iji = m w(x, y)dA(x, y) (2.16)
Aj Cj ri (x, y)

If the mobile station exact location is taken into account for the determina-
tion of interference, the matrix F cannot be calculated in advance. For a user
k in cell j, the relative interference offered by the mobile station to cell i is
 m
(λσs )2 rj
(Uji )k = e (2.17)
ri

17
 Finally, the total inter-cell interference at cell i due to the nj mobile stations
in cell j can be written as
M Xnj
X
Ii = (Uji )k (2.18)
j=1 k=1

This vector represents the actual interference caused by each mobile station
on every cell.

18
Chapter 3

Problem Analysis

3.1 Problem definition

The GPRS and EGPRS technology permits improvements in the system ca-
pacity and so the data rate by using different techniques such as beamforming,
scheduling or power control. Indeed, through the use of various coding schemes,
the transmitting power can be varied to limit the effect of the interference. How-
ever, the increase in power can degrade the carrier to interference ratio for a cell
using the same channel at the same time. The co-channel inteference i.e. the
interference of two MSs transmitting on the same frequency, which has already
been treated, will not be discussed in this report.

Our problem will be solved by simulating a multi-cell urban scenario and

coordinate the base stations in term of power control, scheduling or beam-
forming. The combination of those techniques will also be investigated to obtain
the best system performance.

3.2 Power control

One of the most important things to consider in the design of wireless net-
work is Power Transmission Control, which minimizes the energy consumption
and reduces the interference, increasing the system capacity and, as a result,
the Quality of Service (QoS).

If we consider a constant power transmission, the channel quality depends

on the gain of the link between MS and BTS. This quality is reasonable if the
received power is almost equal to an assigned value PRIF the eventual overload
of power isn’t necessary to obtain the minimum quality and, at the same time,
it increase the interference.

Power control permits to change the MS’s and BTS’s transmission power,
so that it is able to use the minimum required power to obtain a good quality
of transmission; in this way, if the MS is close to the BTS, it has to transmit
with a lower power, as shown in fig. 3.1

19
Figure 3.1: Ideal Power Control: (a) constant transmission power; in that case the received
power increases when MS approaches the BTS; (b) the transmission power is reduced when
the MT approaches the BTS; in this way the received power is constant an equal to PRIF ,
minimizing the interference [5].

If the interference is reduced by using Power Control, it is possible to have

a more dense reutilization of frequencies (being able a reduction of cells’s num-
ber in a cluster); in addiction it moderates MS’s power consumption in uplink
direction, extending the life of the battery.[5]

3.2.1 The Wireless Network

To explain the power control algorithm about it is possible to consider the
wireless network like a set of radio-link in which every link stands for a transmis-
sion single-hop in the channel. The QoS, expressed by Bit Error Rate (BER),
is an increasing function of the Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) observed at
the receiver.

Given N active links, the SIR of the i-th link is

Gii Pi
Ri = P (3.1)
j6=i Gij Pj + ηi

where Gij > o is the power gain (loss) from the BSj to the i-th receiver and it
includes the free space loss, the multi path fading and the shadowing; Pi and
ηi > 0 are the transmitted power on the i-th link and the thermal noise power
at its receiver node.

To guarantee the minimum QoS, every i-th link has to have a SIR more than
a threshold value γi ≥ 0, so it’s required that

Ri ≥ γi for every i = 1, 2, ..., N (3.2)

It’s possible to rewrite equations 3.1 and 3.2 in matrix form

(I − F)P ≥ u and P > 0 (3.3)

20
 where P = (P1 , P2 , ..., Pi , ...PN ) is the column vector of transmitted powers
and
 
γ1 η1 γ2 η2 γ3 η3 γi ηi γN ηN
u= , , , ..., , ..., (3.4)
G11 G22 G33 Gii GN N

is the column vectors of normalized noise powers, and F is the matrix with
elements
(
0 if i=j
Fij = γi Gij (3.5)
Gij if i 6= j

where i, j ∈ {1, 2, ..., N } and F is the matrix of cross-link normalized power

gains. Its elements are nonnegative so it’s possible to assert that the matrix is
irreducible. The maximum modulus eigenvalue ρF of F is positive and simple,
while the corresponding eigenvector is positive component-wise.

From Matrix-theory it has that following statements are equivalent:

• It exists a vector P > 0 so that (I − F)P ≥ u;
• ρF < 1;
P+∞
• There exists the matrix (I−F)−1 = k=0 Fk and its elements are positive.
If ρF < 1, it will be

lim Fk = 0 (3.6)
k→+∞

Furthermore, if the equation 3.3 has solution, it is possible to have

P0 = (I − F)−1 u (3.7)

This is a Pareto-optimal solution, that means that any other vector that
satisfies the equation 3.3 is so that

P ≥ P0 (3.8)

If it is possible to satisfy the equation 3.2 for all links at the same time, it
is a good strategy to set the power of transmitters to P0 in order to minimize
the power consumption [6].

21
3.2.2 Distributed Power Control (DPC)
To describe in detail the DCP algorithm the word distributed must be de-
fined in the specific context of this analyzes.

In a distributed management of power control, every link, depending on ad-

equate measurements, decide autonomously how modify its transmission power.
This implies a less complex algorithm than the centralized case because both
decision operations and the real adaptation of transmission power are performed
by the link.

In the DCP algorithm every link increases autonomously its power when the
SIR is under its threshold γi and decreases it otherwise.

DPC Algorithm
The following algorithm was proposed by Foschini and Miljanic in [7]. In
this algorithm it is possible to observe that the iterative formula

P(k + 1) = FP(k) + u , k = 0, 1, 2, ... (3.9)

converges to P0 when it exists. As a matter of facts, substituting recursively in

the equation 3.9
"k−1 #
X
k
P(k) = F P(0) + Fi u (3.10)
i=0

which can be used to obtain

"k−1 #
X
k i
lim P(k) = lim F P(0) + lim F u (3.11)
k→+∞ k→+∞ k→+∞
i=0
"k−1 #
X
i
= 0+ F u (3.12)
i=0
−1
= (I − F) u = P0 (3.13)

The previous one is valid for ρF < 1, while if ρF ≥ 1 powers diverge to

infinite.

It is possiblePto simplify the DPC algorithm so that the local measurements

of interference i6=j Gij Pj , of the noise power ηi and of propagation gains Gii
are not necessary. The most important thing that the receiver has to know is
the SIR.

22
 Considering the equation 3.9, the i-th link’s variation of the power is given by
 
γi X
Pi (k + 1) = Gij Pj (k) + ηi  (3.14)
Gii
j6=i

From equation 3.1

X Gii Pi (k)
Gij Pj (k) + ηi = (3.15)
j¬i
Ri (k)

so that 3.14 becomes

γi
Pi (k + 1) = Pi (k) , i ∈ {1, 2, 3, ..., N } (3.16)
Ri (k)

where Ri (k) stands for the i-th link’s SIR at time k. Therefore every link
increases its power independently from any other when the SIR is under its
threshold value γi and decreases it in the opposite case. To do that, the receiver
take a measure of interference and transmit this value to the transmitter, which
decide how to modify the transmission power.

3.2.3 Distributed Power Control with Active Link Protec-

tion (DPC/ALP)
The main problem of the described algorithm is that it may allow the SIR to
be below its threshold during its evolution, so the transmission power may fluc-
tuate in the transient phase before convergence. When new links try to access
the channel, established ones can be suppressed because of their SIR temporar-
ily being under the threshold, even if they could be adjusted.

This is a serious problem that could be solved with the introduction of an

alternative power control scheme that protects both the currently active links,
maintaining their SIRs over their thresholds γi , and new links that try to access
the channel. Furthermore, if the latter cannot be adjusted, they will simply be
dropped, maintaining the active links in the process. Let L be the set of all
links. It’s possible to say that a link i ∈ L is active if, during the k-th step, it
is that

Ri (k) ≥ γi (3.17)

Let Ak be the set of active links during the k-th step.

Moreover it is possible to define a non-active link or a new-link if, during

the k-th step, it is that

Ri (k) < γi (3.18)

23
 Let Bk be the set of non-active links during the k-th step. Finally, let δ be
a control parameter bigger that 1, so that

δ =1+>1 , >0 (3.19)

The DPC/ALP algorithm updates transmission powers Pi (k + 1) in the

(k + 1)-th step according to the following rule
(
δγi
Ri (k) Pi (k) , i ∈ Ak
Pi (k + 1) = (
(3.20)
δPi (k) = δ k + 1)Pi (0) , i ∈ Bk

The previous equation shows that established links update their power fol-
lowing the DPC Algorithm, while new ones increase gradually their power. The
SIR threshold is δγ and give a margin for the protection of the active link equal
to  = δ − 1 > 0; this means that latter ones can maintain the SIR over the
threshold γ also when other links try to access the channel.

DPC/ALP algorithm has following properties:

Proposition 1. Given δ ∈ (1, +∞), for each k ∈ {1, 2, 3, ...} and for each
i ∈ Ak , the result is

Ri (k) ≥ γi ⇒ Ri (k + 1) ≥ γi (3.21)

hence

i ∈ Ak ⇒ i ∈ Ak + 1 (3.22)

or, equivalently

Ak ⊆ Ak + 1 (3.23)

and

Bk ⊆ Bk + 1 (3.24)

This proposition says that active links at the beginning remain active during
the whole evolution of DPC/ALP algorithm.

24
Proposition 1. Given δ ∈ (1, +∞), it results that

Pi (k + 1) ≤ δPi (k) (3.25)

for each k ∈ {1, 2, 3, ...} and for each i ∈ Ak

This proposition shows that PP i (k+1)

i (k)
≤ δ = 1 + , where δ is slightly more
than 1, that is the active links power increases slowly so that it is able for new
links to access the channel.

Proposition 1. Given a δ ∈ (1, +∞), it results that

Ri (k + 1) ≤ Ri (k + 1) (3.26)

for each k ∈ {1, 2, 3, ...} and for each i ∈ Bk .

From the last property it results that the SIR of every non-active link in-
crease step-by-step and if its value crosses the threshold, that link becomes
active.

To improve this algorithm it is possible to consider two different strategies

that can better be described the real world situation of a network situated in a
dynamic environment.

DPC/ALP with Voluntary Drop-Out (VDO)

When a new link detects a congestion of the channel and predicts few
probabilities to access it, it voluntarily decides to drop out from the channel.
In this way that link is non-active, it does not congest the channel and it also
gives other links the possibility to access that one.

DPC/ALP with Forced Drop-Out (FDO)

In this algorithm there is a restriction in the transmission power because
for each i-th link it can’t exceed a certain value Pimax . If this limit is already
reached and new links increase their power to access the channel, the i-th link
observes its SIR go down and it can become non-active. To avoid that situation
the Forced Drop-Out (FDO) mechanism can be used that pulls out new links
that are the cause of the decrease in SIR of active links as written in [8]

25
3.3 Beamforming
Due to the limitations of the channel bandwidth, the increase of data rate
increases interference. A way to reduce the interference is to use beamform-
ing by the use of adaptive/smart antennas. Adaptive antennas are composed
of a system of antenna arrays usually controlled by a signal processing algorithm.

Beamforming is divided into three parts. Firstly, the system estimates the
directions-of-arrival (DOAs) of the sources. This permits a signal-blocking (SB)
transformation which removes from the coherent signal the interference and the
noise. The SB signal is then used to determine the Inteference blocking (IB)
which permits determination the optimum beamforming. Optimum beamform-
ing then maximizes the output SINR.

According to [9], [10] and [11] it is possible to construct a steering matrix in

which each column correspond to the steering vector of a selective beam and a
constraint vector with each entry equal to the gain of a beam.

Assume a M -element antenna array from P coherent sources from directions

θdi and J uncorrelated interference from directions θui . It is also considered that
all the sources are narrow-band. The received array signal can be expressed as
P
X J
X
x(t) = sd (t) αi a(θdi ) + si (t)a(θui ) + n(t) (3.27)
t=1 i=1

where sd (t) represents the desired signal, αi represents the complex amplitude
of the coherent signal and a(θ) is the steering vector of the array. si (t) repre-
sents the i th interference with power σi2 = E|si (t)|2 . n(t) is a spatially white
noise vector power σn2 . Assume that sd (t), si (t) and n(t) are not correlated with
each other.

The vector associated with the coherent sources can be written as

P
X
ã = αi a(θdi ) = A.α (3.28)
t=1

where A = [a(θd1 ), ..., a(θdP )] and α = [α1 , ..., αJ ]T . ã is called the generalized
array manifold (GAM).

And the vector associated with the interference as

J
X
i(t) = si (t)a(θui ) (3.29)
i=1

The expression 3.27 can be rewritten as

x(t) = sd (t)A.α + i(t) + n(t) (3.30)

Given A and x(t) beamforming consists in finding the optimum beamform-

ing weight vector w.

26
 Various beamformers are now possible: the minimum mean square error
(MMSE), the interference-plus-noise rejecter, the linearly constrained minimum
variance (LCMV) or the multiple constrained minimum variance (MCMV). The
first two beamformers need a training signal which leads to a waste of bandwith
and this training signal can be not available in pratical situation. The LCMV
and the MCMV approaches require no training signal and can be called a blind
beamforming approach.

3.3.1 MMSE
To use the MMSE combiner, the desired signal has to be known. The mean
square error function is
E|sd (t) − wH .x(t)|2 (3.31)
The optimum weight vector is

min E|sd (t) − wH .x(t)|2 (3.32)

The solution is
wMMSE = Rxx −1 rxs (3.33)
with
rxs = E|x(t).s∗d (t)| (3.34)

3.3.2 Interference-plus-noise rejecter

For this beamformer the weight vector is chosen to maximally reject the
contribution of the interference and noise. The optimum weight vector is

wint = argminw (wH Rin w) (3.35)

with wH ã = 1, (3.36)
where Rin is the interference-plus-noise covariance. The solution is:

Rin −1 .ã
win = (3.37)
ãH .Rin −1 .ã

3.3.3 LCMV
If we know the GAM, so the complex amplitudes and the DOAs of the
coherent signal, it is possible to use the LCMV. The optimum weight is

wLCMV = argminw E|wH .x(t)|2 (3.38)

with
ãH w = 1, (3.39)
Because the knowledge of ã is not complete, α has to be estimated first. The
first step is to determine the signal-plus-interference subspace from the covari-
ance matrix Rxx . The second step is to determine α from the noise subspace.

27
3.3.4 MCMV
This beamformer use the DOA to construct multiple constraints for the
minimum variance beamformer. The optimum weight is

wLCMV = argminw E|wH .x(t)|2 (3.40)

H
with A w = f , (3.41)
where f is the unknown response vector depending on α. According to [11]
the objective of the MCMV is "to optimize the receiver’s output energy while
constraining the response of the user of interest to be constant".

3.4 Schedule
Scheduling is a basic principle used in systems with different tasks/processes
at the same time, independent of their purpose. With different kinds of schedul-
ing it is possible to change the behavior of the system regarding the tasks/processes
(see [12]).

Scheduling is only for data information. The voice information can not be
scheduled, because voice needs a dedicated bandwidth.

3.4.1 Scheduling in GPRS

Because GPRS is based on a packet switched system, one channel can be
used by several users. For this reason a scheduling technique is required.

Due to the fact that the channel has a different behavior in up- and downlink,
different techniques are used (see [13]):

Downlink
“First-come first-serve” scheduling (see chapter 3.4.3) is used in the downlink.

Uplink
With slotted ALOHA (see chapter 3.4.3) the reservation of the timeslot in
the channel happens. Afterward the actual data is transmitted via “first-come
first-serve” again.

3.4.2 QoS in GPRS

Quality of service (QoS) describes the quality properties of a system. De-
pending on the goal of the specific application the parameters can have different
characteristic.

28
 Important for the QoS in GPRS are following properties:
• priority

• reliability
• mean throughput
• peak throughput

• delay classes (see Table 3.1)

Because of the growing importance of data services (GPRS) and many dif-
ferent user applications, a certin level of service quality was defined, the QoS
profile which goes hand in hand with the delay classes. The classes one, two
and three provide predictive services and require QoS management. Otherwise,
class four offers the best-effort service.

delay class packed size

- 128 octets 1024 octets
- mean 95 % mean 95 %
1.(predictive) 0.5 1.5 2 7
2.(predictive) 5 25 15 75
3.(predictive) 50 250 75 375
4.(best effort) unspecified

Table 3.1: delay classes and requirements for different packet sizes (see [14])

For a useful performance measure with respect to the different delay classes
and packet sizes the delays should be normalized.

Therefore the following method can be used:

The first objective is to get an output independent from packet size and delay
class.
experienced real delay of the packet
delaynormalized = (3.42)
required delay of the packet
and the mean normalized delay can be calculated by
PN
i=1 normalized delay of packet i
mean delaynormalized = (3.43)
N
With the mean delaynormalized (shown in formula 3.43) the performance re-
quirement can be proved easily. If the mean delaynormalized is below 1 the
requirement is met.

29
3.4.3 Explanation of scheduling techniques
“First-come first-serve” scheduling
The tasks/processes are handled in order of their chronological appearance.
If not enough capacity is available, the appearing task/process at this point of
time is shifted to the end of a waiting queue.

Static priority scheduling (SPS)

In this scheduling technique there is a buffer for every delay class reserved.
Also a priority is assigned for every buffer - lowest priority for class 4 (best
effort), highest priority for class 1.

A downlink buffer timeslot will only be serviced if all higher prior buffers
are empty.

Slotted ALOHA
The slotted ALOHA technique is based on the ALOHA technique:

1. If there is data to send, send the data.

2. If a collision with another message occurs, wait and attempt the transmis-
sion later.

The main problem with this algorithm is, that the time which a task/process
has to wait is not defined. That can lead to unequal conditions, if one task/process
uses a shorter delay than the others.

But in the case of GPRS this Problem disappear because of the timeslots
of the system –> slotted ALOHA. A transmission can only be started at the
beginning of a timeslot, and the delay time is given.
This adaption also increases the maximum throughput because of the specified
delay time.

Earliest deadline first (EDF)

Each packet has a given deadline (contains delay class and packet size). And
according to this deadline the packets will be controlled in a list.

Because of this sorted list a more difficult implementation is required. This

means that there are at least O(log N ) operations for each packet (N is the
amount of packets in the queue).

30
Chapter 4

Delimitation

4.1 Wireless channel

The environment of wireless communication is tightly constrained by the
complex variability of propagation parameters. Therefore is very important to
describe the characteristics of the wireless channel using representative models to
understand the channel behavior in order to obtain peak performance following
the planning choices.

4.1.1 General characteristics

A wireless transmission is a link between devices in which at least one of
them is not fixed in a known position. If one of the devices is fixed, it is called
Base Station (BS). A wireless system is a net of BS conveniently linked to give
good coverage for a service area. In the case of cellular wireless system, the
service area is separated in adjoining cells, each lead by a BS.

Let us consider a link between BTS and MS. The transmission channel for
that link has characteristics that can be modeled with just a statistic approach.

MS’s antenna is usually close to the ground and often not visible from the
BTS because of many obstacles (shadowing). Furthermore it is possible to no-
tice the presence of propagative phenomena diffraction, absorption (path loss)
and diffusion as well as multiple ways to arrive at the receiver antenna (multi-
path).

To describe the wireless channel it is possible to distinguish to different

phenomena:

• Slow fading: verifiable on long distance (some hundred times of wave-

lengths), due to the sum of a deterministic parameter, function of distance
(path loss), with a statistic one with mean equal to zero (shadowing);

• Fast fading: verifiable on short distance (some wavelength) due to mul-

tipath;

31
In this case the i-th path suffer for:

– reduction;
– time delay;
– shift of carrier frequency (Doppler effect) fdi

We can define Doppler Spread as the quantity Fd = 2fd,max that is the

measure for channel frequency dispersion.

The difference between the minimum delay and the maximum is Delay
Spread, which is a measure for channel time dispersion. Its mutual value
is defined as Coherence Bandwidth that is the limit for the bandwidth
beyond which the channel becomes frequency selective [2].

Figure 4.1: Channel Model

Figure 4.2: Received signal strength by MS [2].

32
4.1.2 Path Loss: Deterministic parameter
The pathloss is the amount of energy that gets lost from the signal during
transmission through a channel. It depends on the environment how much the
influence of the pathloss is.
An easier description of a channel model is used to explain the behavior
of the channel. Regarding to the environment, i.e. rural, suburban, urban or
heavy urban, the channel model uses different parameters (see [15]).

Okumura-Hata model
This model derives its name from its creators, Yoshihisa Okumura and Masa-
haru Hata. It is quite easy to handle, built for frequencies up to 1000 MHZ and
distances between 1 and 20 km with higher locations for the transmit antennas
(above 30m).

This is a more typical model for a rural area.

The pathloss is calculated as followed:

A(dB) = 69.55 + 26.16 log(F ) − 13.82 log(H) + (44.9 − 6.55 log(H)) log(D) + C
(4.1)
The constants have the following meaning:
• F for frequency in MHz
• H for the efficient height of the BS-Antenna in m
• D for the distance between BS and MS in km
• C for the kind of environment:
– 0 for heavy urban
– -5 for urban
– -10 for suburban
– -17 for rural

COST- 231 HATA model

This propagation model is little similar to the Okumura-Hata model, but
designed for frequencies around 1800MHz.
The pathloss is calculated as followed:

A(dB) = 46.3+33.9 log(F )−13.82 log(H)+(44.9−6.55 log(H)) log(D)+C (4.2)

The constants have the following meaning:

• F for frequency in MHz (1700 - 1900 MHz)
• H for the efficient height of the BS-Antenna in m
• D for the distance between BS and MS in km
• C for the kind of environment:

33
 – -2 for heavy urban
– -5 for urban
– -10 for suburban
– -20 for rural

Lee’s propagation model

This model was developed in 1982 in the United States and was a popular
model for the early (analog) mobile operator.

If the frequency is above 450MHz and the efficient MS’s height is below
3m, the pathloss for a distance between 1km to 10km can be calculated in a
logarithmic format as followed:
f
P( E) = P0 − y log(d) − 3 log( ) + K0 (4.3)
900
With d as the distance between BS and MS in km and f for the frequency
in MHz. P0 (reference input power) and y (base attenuation) are depending on
the kind of environment and can be assumed as listed below:

environment P0 (dBm) y (dB/Decade)

rural -41 20
suburban -40 43,5
urban -54 38,4
heavy urban -55..-78 30..43

Table 4.1: assumed values for P0 and y for Lee’s propagation model (see [15])

The factor K0 is a correction factor which is dependent on the circumstances

of sender and receiver. It is calculated from the equations below:

(height of the BS)2

K1 = (4.4)
30.48m
height of the MS’s antenna
K2 = (4.5)
3m
transmission power
K3 = (4.6)
10W
BS antenna gain over a λ/2-Dipol(lin)
K4 = (4.7)
4

K5 = MS antenna gain over a λ/2-Dipol(lin) (4.8)

After the multiplication of the several factors (K1 ...K5 ) the linear factor K
is the result. To use the factor in formula 4.3 it has to be transformed into a
logarithmic format:
K0 = 10 ∗ log(K) (4.9)
With this transformation all variables for the formula 4.3 are given and the
calculation can be progressed.

34
4.1.3 Shadowing: Log-normal distribution
Shadow fading, also called shadowing or slow fading, is defined as the fluc-
tuation in the received power averaged over a small area, typically a diameter
of 10 to 50 wavelengths in an outdoor environment.

According to [16] the shadowing value X is characterized by a log-normal

distribution. The probability density function is
(X−µX )2
1 −
2σ 2
p(X) = √ e X (4.10)
σX 2π
where σX is the deviation of the local mean (in dB ) due to the location variabil-
ity, the shadowing of the signal, and µX is the average of the received loval mean
level (in dB ). The value of σX depends on the type of the terrain. According to
[17] we can draw the following table

Environment σX (dB)
Urban micro cell 2.3
Urban micro cell - Manhattan layout 3.1
LOS fixed station (rooftop to rooftop) 3.4
Urban macro cell 8
Sub-urban macro cell 8.2-10.6
Indoor small office 12

Table 4.2: Some typical values for the deviation σX [17]

4.1.4 Multipath: Rayleigh distribution

It is possible to describe the multipath phenomena with a Rayleigh distri-
bution if we assume that there is not a component among all received signals
from the MS that has a bigger energy than the others.

Under these assumptions the received signal is the following:

c(t) = cR (t) + jcI (t) (4.11)

where the real component cR (t) and the imaginary one cI (t) are independent
random variables with Gaussian statistic.

35
 Expressing the same signal in a complex formula it is possible to write:

c(t) = α(t)ejϕ(t) (4.12)

with

q
α(t) = c2R (t) + c2I (t) (4.13)
cI (t)
ϕ(t) = arctan (4.14)
cR (t)

It’s possible to demonstrate that:

• the phase ϕ(t) is a random variable uniformly distributed in [−π, π];
• the envelope α(t) of received signals is a random variable with density
probability function that follows Rayleigh distribution, given by:
(
α2
α − 2σ
f (α) = σ 2 e 2
if α>0 s (4.15)
0 if otherwise

where σ represents the variance of the Rayleigh random variable.

The corresponding distribution function is:
(
α2

F (α) = 1 − e− 2σ2 if α > 0 (4.16)

0 if otherwise
α2
If we can make the approximation 2σ 2 << 1 the expression 4.16 become:

α2
F (α) ∼
= (4.17)
2σ 2

Probability of error
A non-selective channel is represented by an impulse response like:

h(t, τ ) = α(t)δ(τ − τ0 (t)) (4.18)

where α(t) follows the Rayleigh distribution at any time.

36
 Assuming that the variations of α(t) and τ0 (t) are unimportant in the sym-
bol range T , the impulse response in 0 ≤ t ≤ T has the expression:

h(τ ) = αδ(τ − τ0 ) (4.19)

where α is a Rayleigh variable.

A general expression for the probability of error, for every possible value of
α is:
Z ∞
Pb = Pb (α)f (α)dα (4.20)
0

Solving this integral we have that:

 r 
1 ρb
Pb = 1− (4.21)
2 1 + ρb

where ρb is the average received SNR and is equal to:

Eb
ρb = E(α2 ) (4.22)
N0

while E(α2 ) is the average value of the random Rayleigh variable α, so that:

E(α2 ) = 2σ 2 (4.23)

Starting from the general expression is easy to find the expression for the
probability of error for modulations GMSK and MPSK [18].

For the GMSK modulation, from the equation 4.21, with

AyGc 2
ρb = 2σ (4.24)
N0 B

we have that the probability of error per bit in a Rayleigh fading channel is:
 v
u AyGc 2 
1 B 2σ
u
Pb = 1 − t N0AyG  (4.25)
2 1 + N0 Bc 2σ 2

For the general M-PSK modulation, the probability of error per bit is given
by:
 r 
1 ρb
Pb = 1− (4.26)
log2 (M ) 1 + ρb

37
where
AyGc π
ρb = log2 (M )sin2 2σ 2 (4.27)
N0 B M

In our case M = 8, so the final probability of error per bit for a 8-PSK
modulation is:
 v 
u 3AyGc
u N B sin2 π8 2σ 2


1
Pb = 1−t 0  (4.28)
1 + 3AyG 2 π 2σ 2


3 N B sin
c
8 0

4.2 Throughput
The definition of the Steady-state Long Term Throughput f is:
Nt
f = lim (4.29)
t→∞ t

where Nt is the number of transmitted segments in the range [0, t]. To analyze
the throughput expression as function of the channel quality it is necessary to
define the probability to lose a segment, composed by J blocks, as follow:

PS = 1 − (1 − Pblock )J (4.30)

where Pblock is the probability to lose a block that can be approximated by:

Pblock = (1 − (1 − Pb )K )δ+1 (4.31)

In this case Pb is the probability of error per bit and it depends on the mod-
ulation while δ is the maximum number of retransmissions that is possible, and
it is given directly by the Link-Layer Protocol used.

After these conditions it is possible to write the final expression for the
throughput [19]:
 
 Wmax 1 
f (PS ) ≈ min 
 RT T , q q  

2PS 3PS 2
RT T 3 + T0 min 1, 3 8 PS (1 + 32PS )
(4.32)

where Wmax is the maximum dimension of the congestion window, T0 is the

Time-Out and RT T is the Round Trip Time given by the following expression:

38
 J
X
RT T = T + 2D + TS + (2D + Tb ) δi (4.33)
i=0

in which T is the RTT of the wired part of the link, D is the propagation time
one-way, TS is the time for the transmission of one segment, Tb is the time
for the transmission of a block and δi is a random variable that stands for the
number of retransmissions.

Given this expression, it could be analyzed by the following average value:

J
X
E(RT T ) = T + 2D + TS + (2D + Tb ) E(δi ) (4.34)
i=0
= T + 2D + TS + (2D + Tb )JE(δi ) (4.35)

The expression of the average value of δi is given by [18]:

δ+1
Pblock (δ + 1)Pblock
E(δi ) = − δ+1
(4.36)
1 − Pblock 1 − Pblock

According to [20] the optimal choice of coding schemes can be described as a

function of the CIR of the channel. So if the CIR is known a CS that maximizes
the throughput can be chosen as shown as in figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3: Throughput vs CIR ratio

39
 In order to simulate this function it is possible to make a linear interpolation
as shown as in figure 4.4.

Figure 4.4: Approximation of throughput vs CIR ratio

40
Chapter 5

Simulation Analysis

5.1 Description
The main objective of this project is to simulate users moving within a cell
representative of an urban area. The environment has been set to nine base
stations. The number of users is changing, and each user is moving within its
own cell. Path-loss, shadowing and small scale fading will be evaluated based on
statistical distributions. Hence, this channel model will modify the value of gain
for all the users and for all the positions they pass trough. Spatial correlation
will also be taken in account.

Based on this situation, a certain amount of traffic will be generated for 2

minutes and it will be carried to the users according to a certain scheduling
algorithm. The scheduling algorithm can be chosen between the different avail-
able algorithms. At the same time, different Power Control algorithms can be
chosen to reduce the interference problem of the multi-cell scenario. Inter-cell
scheduling can also be part of the simulation.

41
The following diagram shows the different parts of the simulation.

Figure 5.1: Diagram of the simulation

42
5.2 Initialization
The different number of simulations will be based on different environmental
conditions. As was stated in the previous sub-chapter, the channel model will
define the behavior of the gain and, based on this, different Coding Schemes will
be assigned to different users during their transmissions.All the parameters that
can determine the network characteristics are determined by the environment.

Those parameters are showed in the following table.

Type of value Value

General
Radius of a cell 650 m
Frequency 1.8 GHz
Wavelength 0.16 m
Number of channel per cell 1
Number of time slots 8
Number of cells within a cluster 25
Number of mobile 5 to 25
Power level 1W
Noise level 1e−9
Training sequence 20 ms
Change position 5s
Total time of simulation 120 s
Channel model
Distance attenuation coefficient for the path gain 4m
Standard deviation for the lognormal faiding 20 dB
Gain at 1 m of distance from a BS -21 dB
Downlink correlation 0.5
Correlation distance 50 m
Mobility model
Mean velocity of the users 1.38 m.s−1
Mean acceleration of the users 0.68 m.s−2

Table 5.1: Values used during the simulations

43
5.3 Environment
RUNE (Rudimentary Network Emulator) is a collection of MATLAB func-
tions designed to simulate a cellular network and many of its features. It was
originally developed at Ericsson and later enhanced for the book "Radio Re-
sources Management for Wireless Networks" [21] by the authors Magnus Alm-
gren and Olav Queseth. RUNE functions permit the manipulation of various
aspects of a hypothetical cellular system environment such as the creation of
cells, base stations, propagation losses, interference, channel assignment or mo-
bility of the MSs.

5.3.1 Creation of the cells and clusters

When doing the cellular network simulations the first objective is to create
the cells. In reality these cells do not represent an organized shape, due to the
environment, the terrain, the geography, etc. But it will be assumed that each
cell is of hexagonal geometry which will permit more simple calculations. Due
to this shape, the coordinates of the MSs and BSs are plotted in a hexagonal
geometry.

A cluster contains many cells and, after a cluster is created, it is replicated

(number of clusters) 2 times and then closely coupled to reuse in the cellular
system.

Since the clusters are replicated situated in a patterned grid, it is important

that the clusters fit together. If three rhombuses are created that have the size
km2 , lm2 and km.lm, and are put together, a geometric figure results. So each
cluster will contain km2 +lm2 +km.lm cells. The figure 5.2 demonstrates how
RUNE is creating the clusters.

Figure 5.2: Creation of the clusters

44
5.3.2 Wrap around
The main objective of cellular network simulations is to replicate reality as
closely as possible. These simulations require a lot of computer memory. If the
size of the cellular network increases, the computer memory needed increases as
well, as does the computing time. The best way to deal with this problem is to
create and repeat a small amount of cells. A method to do this is to put the
cells in a rhombus and then wrap the edges. That means that the top meets the
bottom and the right meets the left. Illustration of a wrap around technique is
shown in figure 5.3. It is also possible to refer to [22] to have more information
about the wrap-around optimization in network simulation.

Figure 5.3: Illustration of wrap around

45
5.4 Mobility model
The mobility model is used to simulate a random walk of a pedestrian inside
a cell. This permits a more dynamic and realistic simulation.

During the initiation the number and size of the cells, the size of the cluster
and the number of mobiles are given by the author of the source code as a test
phase. In the further implementation the variables will be given by preceding
routines of the simulation itself.

The first part of the source code "Mobilitymobile.m" is to initialise the po-
sition and velocity of the various MSs, respectively noted xym and xyv. It is
performed by the following code lines:

xym=nans(nmob,1);
xyv=nans(nmob,1);

The velocity given to the users is in m.s−1 . The coordinates are represented
by a real component which represents East-West direction and an imaginary
component which represents the North-South direction.

The code line used to perform the movement of the MSs is:
[xym,xyv] = mobmove(xym,xyv,par.vmean,par.amean,par.dt,rombvec);
As INPUT parameters, we have:
• xym: last postion of the MSs;
• xyv: last velocity of the MSs;
• par.vmean: mean velocity of the MSs in m.s−1 ;
• par.amean: mean acceleration of the MSs in m.s−2 ;
• par.dt: time step in seconds;
• rombvec: two complex vectors determining the area within the mobile
users are folded;
As OUTPUT parameters, we have:
• xym: new position of the MSs;
• xyv: new velocity of the MSs;
The function mobmove found in RUNE permits, from a given position and
velocity, the calculation of a new position and velocity according to the follow-
ing equations

dt.amean
ρ = exp(− ) (5.1)
vmean
p
vn = vn−1 .ρ + 1 − ρ2 .vmean .X (5.2)

46
where ρ is the correlation of the velocity between the times steps with dt the
time step, amean the mean acceleration in m.s−2 , vmean the mean velocity. X
is the complex random number whose magnitude is Rayleigh distributed.

According to [23] the mean speed of a pedestrian in an urban scenario is 1,36

m.s−1 and the mean acceleration is 0,6 m.s−2 .

To avoid the handover between the BSs i.e. the movement of a MS from a
cell to another one, it is possible to constraint the MS to stay in its cell. The
bounce function is used in this way. If a MS is too far from its linked BS and
cross the borders of its cell, it is automatically replaced near its linked BS.

Results
As a result of the simulation the figure 5.4 shows 100 MSs, uniformly dis-
tributed, in a cluster containing 36 cells.

Figure 5.4: Mobility model for 100 MSs in a cluster containing 36 cells

It is possible to show the mobility of the MSs by zooming in on a certain

amount of MSs as shown in the figure 5.5.

47
 Figure 5.5: Zoom in a cell to show the mobility model

It is also possible, as shown on the figure 5.6 to see the wrap effect -i.e.- if a
MS go out from the cluster it will reappear in the other side of the cluster like
a 3D-torus.

Figure 5.6: Wrap effect on the mobility label

48
5.5 Channel Model
To model the channel, taking into account just path-loss and Large Scale
Fading (or Shadowing) we use for our simulations the tool RUNE that gives us
some important functions useful for a cellular network.

As described in Chapter 4.1, to make an accurate model of our environment,

it is important to consider three main aspects that contribute to change the
received power at the mobile in a downlink connection: path-loss, shadowing
and short scale fading.

The final result that must be obtained is a 3-Dimensional matrix in which

each element represents the total path-gain for a specific mobile linked with a
certain base station in a given time. This comes directly from the decision to
observe the channel for a period of time, taking measurements every 20ms, that
is the time range between two samples.

5.5.1 Shadowing
To generate a shadowing map that follows the log-normal distribution, is
still possible to use one of the RUNE’s functions:crelognmap.

The code is the following:

[lognmap, mapvec] = crelognmap(xyb,rombvec,par_corr.distance)

The INPUT parameters for this function are:

• xyb: the position of each base station, given by the mobility model, to
determine the size of the map;
• rombvec: a data structure that contains the size of the rhombus that
represents the service area of the system that is simulated; it is also used
to determine the size of the map;

• par_corr.distance: the correlation distance between two samples that con-

trol how rapidly the value of the shadowing fading will change.
As OUTPUT parameters, we will have:
• lognmap: a square matrix of real values that contains, for each point, the
fading value in dB;

• mapvec: two complex vector elements that are used to calculate the dis-
tance at which the map will be repeated.
In the next figures the shadowing map is shown, and it is also applied to the
cell map. It is possible to see how the shadowing map has to be calculated in
terms of cell’s border. The figure shows how the shadowing map covers the cell
map.

49
 Figure 5.7: Shadowing map

5.5.2 Shadow fading correlation

For the radio links which have different propagation path, the shadow fading
experienced by each of them will not differ greatly. In order to obtain a model
that approximates reality as closely as possible, the shadow correlation model
has to be considered when simulating the shadow fading effect.

The correlation, as a function of space, can be written as

Rd (i) = σ 2 e−αX0 |i| (5.3)

where σ 2 is the process generalized power, X0 is the distance between the
measurements points, i is an integer number and e−α is the correlation coeffi-
cient between two points spaced by a distance X0 .

The correlation model in RUNE is created by generating a Gaussian white

noise process and filtering through a first-order low-pass filter. It is known that
a Gaussian white process has autocorrelation equal to zero. It is easy to find
the power spectral density of this process, which will be constant throughout
the frequency band. At this the it is then passed from a first-order filter which
produces a rect function whose Fourier transformation that will give a correlated
function, sinc here. This method is represented in figure 5.8.

5.5.3 Path loss

With respect to the loss that occurs over the path that the signal has to
cover, RUNE offers a function that puts together the shadowing gain already
calculated with the losses due to the distance between the mobile and the base
station in a matrix in which rows are the mobiles and columns are the different

50
Figure 5.8: Modelling correlated shadow fading using a Gaussian white process
and a first order low filter

base stations.

The path-loss is calculated by the following equations:

Gatt = Gconst − 10αlog10 (dist) (5.4)

The parameters that are used in this equation are calculated using the model
discussed in 4.1.2.

The RUNE function is:

g = pathgain (xym, xyb, fib, rombvec, par_attconst, par_alpha, par_sigma,

par_raa, lobevector, lognmap, mapvec);
The INPUT parameters are:
• xym: a vector that contains the position for each mobile;
• xyb: the vector with the position of each base station;
• fib: a vector that points in the antenna direction;
• rombvec: as previous explanation, it’s a two complex vector elements that
are used to calculate the distance at which the map will be repeated;
• par_attconst: gain at 1 meter distance;
• par_alpha: a parameters that fixes the distance attenuation constant;
• par_sigma: standard deviation for the lognormal fading in dB;
• par_raa: this parameter determines the correlation for the lognormal fad-
ing on the links between the base station and one mobile;
• lobevector: a column vector that contains the antenna gains for all direc-
tions;

51
 • lognmap: given by the function crelognmap;
• mapvec: given by the function crelognmap.

The OUTPUT parameter is the matrix g with the total gain for each link.

The figure 5.9 shows the total pathgain between 3 different MSs and all the
BSs. In this example the MS1 will be linked to the BS 3 which is the BS with
the highest total path-gain.

Figure 5.9: Total path-gain between 3 MSs and all the BSs

5.5.4 Short Scale Fading

The Short Scale Fading matrix is calculated based on the mobile’s position
with respect to the base station and the environment. This means that during
the observation of the channel, the mobile changes its position within a space
determined by variation in the received power, which can be ignored in the cal-
culation of the shadowing and the path-loss gain.

As shown in figure 5.10 the MS has a fixed path-loss and shadowing depend-
ing on its position far R from the BS, but a different path-gain in respect to
time given by localized movements of the user within a small space dR.

To take into account the small variation in positions of Short Scale Fading
(SSF) that adds the third dimension to our path-gain matrix with respect to
the time must be considered.

To implement this aspect of the channel a vector of complex random vari-

ables that follow the Rayleigh distribution and that have a fixed correlation
between them is used.

52
Figure 5.10: Variation of the position of the MS responsible for the Rayleigh
fading

To create a set of correlated random variable a vector X must be considered

that contains a number of uncorrelated complex random variables, in which
both the real part and the imaginary part are normal distributed, equal to the
number of samples that we want to consider.
 
X1
 X2 
X= 
 ....  (5.5)
XN

where

Xi = xQ,i + jxI,i (5.6)

and
1
xQ,i , xI,i ∼ N (0, ) (5.7)
2
Moreover the number of samples is given by the time that we observe the
channel divided by the time between each sample that can guarantee the corre-
lation between two measurements:
Ttot
N= (5.8)
Tcorr
To have a vector of complex random variables normally distributed with a
certain correlation normalized to the power of one, the vector of uncorrelated
samples X must be multiplied by the square root of a correlation matrix R:

Y = R1/2 ∗ X (5.9)

53
 In our case, the correlation matrix is given by a symmetric matrix given by
Bessel function as follows:
   
J0 2π v∗T J0 2π v∗2T ... J0 2π v∗(Nλ−1)T



1 λ λ
   
v∗(N −2)T
J0 2π v∗T v∗T



1 J 2π ... J 2π
 
λ 0 λ 0 λ
J=
 


  ...     


J0 2π v∗(Nλ−1)T J0 2π v∗(Nλ−2)T J0 2π v∗(Nλ−3)T ... 1
(5.10)
From that multiplication in 5.11, we have the desired randomly correlated
variables and their envelope is Rayleigh distributed normalized to 1.

To obtain the correct samples of the path-gain for the context, this vector is
multiplied by the square-root of the power G, transformed in linear scale, given
by the matrix of path-gain obtained, considering only shadowing and path-loss.
√
Z= GY (5.11)

Repeating this process for every mobile station and base station, we have
the desired 3-dimensional matrix that contain the values of the path-gain for
each user, for each base station and for each time sample.

Figure 5.11 shows the total path gain, given by path-loss, shadowing and
SSF, depending on the time for a MS linked to its BS. Figure 5.12 shows the
distance between the MS and its BS within the cell.

Figure 5.11: Variation of total path-gain of a MS linked to its BS

54
 Figure 5.12: Distance between the MS and its BS

5.5.5 CIR
Based on the values of path-gain, it is easy to calculate the link between each
mobile and the base station to connect. This link is created with the base station
that has the higher value of path-gain. This is possible to be implemented in
RUNE using assign

[b,k,obk] = assign (b,k,g,obk,handover_margin));

As INPUT parameters, we have:

• b: a vector that is initialized to all zeros;
• k: a vector that is initialized to all zeros;
• g: the path-gain matrix;
• obk: a binary matrix that shows the occupied and the available channels;
• handover_margin: the standard deviation of the noise added to the gain
matrix.
In this case one may consider the path-gain matrix g given only by the shad-
owing and the path-loss because the strongest component of the total gain is
given by these two factors, so it’s enough to decide the base station to which
the mobile must be linked.

The OUTPUT parameters are:

• b: a vector that contains, for each mobile, the number of the base station
that is linked to;
• k: a vector that contains, for each mobile, the number of the channel that
the mobile uses to communicate;
• obk: as told before, it’s a binary matrix that shows the busy and the
available channels.

55
 After this assignment it becomes easy to calculate the CIR ratio for each
mobile, if it is supposed that every base station use the same channel (so that
we will always have interference between two base stations), using the following
equation:
PBSj ∗ gBSj →M Si
CIRM Si = Pn (5.12)
k=1 PBSk ∗ gBSk →M Si − PBSj ∗ gBSj →M Si

in which we suppose that the i-th mobile is linked to the j-th base station and
capture the interference from the other base stations.

With this formula we can calculate this CIR for each mobile and for each
time sample so that, at the end of our simulation, we will have another matrix
that contains the CIR referred to every mobile in every possiple time.

5.6 Traffic generator

The traffic generator is used to create the amount of data needed for the
simulation. It is based on previously analyzed distributions associated with
different parameters of the traffic. The number of pages, length of waiting time,
amount of data, etc. are calculated using standard distributions which can give
realistic results for the simulation. To recreate the realistic conditions, two
different types of data are analyzed: burst data and continuous data.

• WWW Model consists of requests for a certain number of pages in a

certain moment. The number of requested pages follows a geometric dis-
tribution. Each page is composed of a certain number of objects, each with
its own size. All of the previous parameters have specific distributions with
a certain mean and a certain variance. Another important characteristic
is the time delay parameter between two different pages, which gives as a
result the total time for the entire session. A small number of objects per
page and a small size per object were chosen because clients with a GPRS
connection (mobile or PDA) do not have very high speed connections.

In the following diagrams, plots of a random scenario show the different

parameters that characterize the buffer of the traffic generation. The
scenario is simulated with four users. The number of pages generated
from the geometric distribution are shown in the following figure:
Then, the number of object generated for each page is following a
geometric distribution and, the size of each of those objects follows a
Log2 -Erlang-k distribution. The plots of the objects characteristic are as
follows:

56
 Figure 5.13: Number of pages per single user

Figure 5.14: Number of object per single page

Moreover, the waiting time between one page and another has been
considered in the simulation. When the user is connected to the Inter-
net, the request for downloading a page comes with some delay from the
previous one. This is due to the time required to read the page, check
information, or find the correct link to click. This waiting time, in statis-
tical terms, follows a negative exponential distribution. The result of this
complete analysis of the traffic is the following plot 5.16. It is possible to
observe that the user 3, which is the user with largest number of pages, is
the last one to finish his WWW session.

57
 Figure 5.15: Size of the object included in the pages

Figure 5.16: WWW traffic

• E-mail model is simulating the download of the e-mail data from a cer-
tain server in the web. This traffic is applicable to a continuous amount of
data downloadable from the network. The only parameter is the amount
of data per e-mail. A mean value for the e-mail size is chosen with the
presupposition that no large attachments will be downloaded on the mo-
bile devices. The distribution for the e-mail size is log2 -normal and it has
different mean values because of two different type of e-mail analyzed. A
mean value of 1.7 kByte is chosen for a large number of e-mails. A small
number of e-mail are simulated using mean value of 16 kByte. This is due
to the simulation of larger attachments in the e-mail traffic.

58
 The figure 5.17 shows the behavior of the channel during a session of 1000
e-mails.

Figure 5.17: e-mail traffic

The last table 5.2 is a resume of all the different distribution used for each
one of the relevant parameters into the traffic generator model [24].

WWW Traffic Distribution Mean Variance

Pages geometric 20 380
Interval between pages[s] neg.exponential 12 144
Object per page geometric 2.5 3.75
Object size[byte] log2 -Erlang-k (k=17) 3700 4.67*109
e-mail Traffic Distribution Mean Variance
e-mail size (80%) [byte] log2 normal 1700 5.5*106
e-mail size (60%) [byte] log2 normal 16000 71.3*109
Base quota [byte] constant 300 0

Table 5.2: First step of the simulation

59
5.7 Scheduling
Scheduling is necessary if there is not enough capacity for all requests. It is
useful in guaranteeing that no request is lost.

The main purpose of the file “Scheduler.m” is to simulate different types of

scheduling techniques. So it is possible to measure the impact of the used tech-
nique on the throughput.

During the initiation the occurring traffic and amount of users are given by
the author of the source code as a test phase. In the further implementation
the variables will be given by preceding subprograms of the simulation itself.

5.7.1 Intercell scheduling

In order to reduce the interference it is possible to coordinate the transmis-
sion among BSs. It involves the coordination of the activity phases of interfering
BSs to increase the capacity gains.

An easy technique is to form two groups of BSs: one with the odd BSs and
the other with the even BSs. Then the times slots are divided in two parts, each
dedicated to a group of BSs. The figure 5.18 represents the cells used during
the simulations and the two groups of BSs. More advanced techniques can be
found in [25].

Figure 5.18: Intercell scheduling

5.7.2 Intracell Scheduling

C/I scheduling
This technique first serves the user with the prime conditions. In this design
the rating is determined according to the coding scheme. A higher C/I equals
a higher ranking.

60
 All the other requests are stored and handled as resources become available
again. This means that the second highest rate is served immediately after the
highest rated buffer is empty, within the same channel.

“find2max.m”
This is a subprogram which searches for the actual highest and second
highest active rating in the buffer and returns the indexes of the corresponding
users.

Result
As result of the C/I scheduling the figure 5.19 shows the state of the dif-
ferent buffer of each user. It is also pictured that only the highest rate (coding
scheme) is served and the other requests are delayed in the meanwhile.

Figure 5.19: result of the C/I scheduling

The rising edge marks the appearing traffic (here as amount of needed times-
lots). The falling edge shows the current status of the buffer and therefore the
time needed to transfer all remaining packets.

FIFO scheduling
During this scheduling technique no user has priority. The only important
variable is the point in time in which the traffic occurs. The first user is served
and all other user have to wait until the buffer of the first served user is empty.

All the other requests are stored and handled as resources become available
again. This means that the next occurred traffic is served immediately after the
previous buffer is empty, within the same channel.

61
“findFIFOorder.m”
This subprogram searches for the chronological occurrence of the different
user, remembers the ranking and returns the first two users with active buffer.

Result
The figure 5.20 shows the current progress of the FIFO scheduling. As can
be seen the priority is given by the point in time the traffic occurs; the condition
of the users does not matter.

Figure 5.20: result of the FIFO scheduling

The rising edge marks the appearing traffic (here as amount of needed times-
lots). The falling edge shows the current status of the buffer and therefore the
time needed to transfer all remaining packets.

“Proportional fair” scheduling

For this scheduling technique a more complex way to find the highest rate
is used. The ratio between the C/I and the throughput of a user in a certain
window is calculated for every user and used for the rating. A user who trans-
mits for a shorter time get a higher chance to be served, more independent of
its C/I than the “C/I scheduling” in chapter 5.7.2.

All the other requests are stored and handled as resources become available
again. This means that the second highest rate is served immediately after the
highest rated buffer is empty, within the same channel.

“findFAIRmax.m”
This is a subprogram that searches for the actual highest and second highest
active rating in the buffer and returns the indexes of the corresponding users.

62
Result
As a result of the “proportional fair” scheduling, the figure 5.21 shows the
state of the different buffer of each user. It is also pictured that only the highest
rate is served and the other requests are meanwhile delayed.

Figure 5.21: result of the “proportional fair” scheduling

The rising edge marks the appearing traffic (here as amount of needed times-
lots). The falling edge shows the current status of the buffer and therefore the
time needed to transfer all remaining packets.

5.8 Power Control

Power Control is implemented in the total simulation to reduce the impact
of interference, giving more power to the BSs that have a bad path-gain, and
consequently a low CIR, with the linked MS and reducing the power to BSs
that boast good channel conditions in respect to the MS that is receiving data.

5.8.1 Basic Algorithm

This algorithm is basic, and is based on the calculation of the power that
each MS should receive in accordance with the measure of its CIR, which is
dependent on the channel conditions at the actual time.

63
 In particular, this power is decreased by a fixed amount δ if the measured
CIR is over a certain threshold γ and is increased by the same amount otherwise.

P (k) − δ if CIR ≥ γ
P (k + 1) = (5.13)
P (k) + δ if CIR < γ

5.8.2 Assignment of the power to BSs

After the calculation of the power for each mobile present in our system, we
need to assign the power to the relative BS if a certain mobile is receiving data,
and a null power otherwise. This way it is possible to calculate the new CIR
during the following step, as it is based on the transmitted power of all BSs.

64
Chapter 6

Simulation & Results

In order to be able to see the effect of scheduling and power control on the
interference it is necessary to simulate various scenarios and compare them.

The first step of this simulation is to compare a scenario without any power
control or a particular scheduling technique, and compare it to a scenario us-
ing power control. The scheduling technique used for all the simulations is the
FIFO. Moreover, different scheduling algorithms will be evaluated to check the
different results they produce. As shown as in figure 6.1, it is possible to ’switch’
between the various techniques to see their different influences and interactions.

The analysis of the different scenarios will be parametrized by the system

load. The different behavior of this parameter will give an idea of how much
the system is busy in terms of carried data versus data. We can also compare
the various techniques in term of efficiency by visualizing the CIR over the users.

65
The following diagram shows the simulation approach.

Figure 6.1: Diagram of the simulation techniques

66
6.1 Description
The simulation is built as a model of the real GPRS-system with some par-
ticular features. To get a statistically significant result, the simulation is based
on four different shadowing maps. Each of those maps has been used as a inde-
pendent scenario to perform all the simulations. Moreover, for each shadowing
map a set of users position is calculated and, related to it, the set of correlation
values of SSF is determined using the Bessel function.

For all the repetitions, with changing traffic, it was possible to use the same
correlation values because always the same movement for all the users has been
used. Each user has a different starting position but has the same movement
and velocity for every repetition. The position changes according to the mobil-
ity model every 5 seconds.

All the different algorithms are simulated 10 times in order to have a statis-
tical result. Afterwords, the mean value of all repetition is giving the average
behavior of the entire system and different algorithm can be compared.
Therefore, the exspected results of the impact of the techniques are described
in advance.

6.1.1 Simulation expectations

One of the main purposes of this project is to show how different tech-
niques and different combinations of these techniques influence or improve the
performance.

Comparison of the scheduling techniques

With different scheduling techniques the decision of the selected user, who
receives data from the linked BS, changes.

Because of different positions of all the users, each of them has a different
distance to it’s linked BS. This produces a different CIR and, based on the CIR,
different Coding Schemes are chosen. This results in different throughput for
all the users and, as a consequence, a different throughput for the entire system.

• C/I scheduling
This technique should achieve the best result because the user with the
best C/I, and therefore the highest data rate, is always served. So it is
guaranteed that no resources lie idle.
• FIFO scheduling
For the rating in this technique only the time of arrival of the traffic is
important. So the served user is independent of the C/I and the result
is not based on the C/I; for this reason the best throughput cannot be
ensured.
• Proportional fair scheduling
Within the proportional fair algorithm the C/I and the theoretical through-
put of every user are taken into account. The theoretical throughput is

67
 calculated based on the Coding Scheme assigned to the user, indepen-
dently of whether the user is transmitting or not. The unique throughput
for every user is also affected by the time since the traffic occurs. For
that reason the user with the best conditions is not always the user which
receives data. Thus is appears that this technique, though not the best
technique in terms of throughput, is likely better than FIFO.

Influence of intercell-scheduling
In the realization of IS used in this simulation the BS are split into two
groups and the TSs of every channel are halved from eight into four TSs. The
basic idea is to reach a higher C/I by avoiding the biggest interference from BS
that are close to each other.
IS will only show a positive effect if the improvement of the C/I and the
respective throughput is bigger than the amount of data that is lost for the
transmission because of the reduced amount of TSs.

Influence of power control

With PC the transmitting powers of the BSs are affected. The aim of
this technique, as in IS, is to reduce the intercell interference. But in this case
a reduction in transmitting power instead of time division is deployed. With
specific algorithms a predefined threshold of C/I can be achieved.
With this threshold the maximum C/I is also reduced. Because of this, the
maximum possible throughput is equated for all BSs. Whether this technique
enhances the overall throughput depends on how the remaining throughput can
be increased.

68
6.2 CIR
The CIR shows the different behavior of the channel for every user’s connec-
tion. As one of the parameter of the project work, the CIR is calculated as mean
value over the simulation time for every single user. Then, this mean value, is
used to calculate the mean over all the user for all the repetitions. Checking the
behavior for different numbers of users it is possible to appreciate the changing
of the CIR due to the different algorithms used and to the different number of
users as shown as in figure 6.2.

Figure 6.2: Comparison of the CIR level for different simulations

In this figure we can see that the various techniques developed in this re-
port permit to achieve a better CIR level. Comparing the case without any
Power Control with case with the Power Control, it is possible to appreciate
how much the PC can improve the CIR condition. This is possible due to the
theory predicted in chapter 3.2 where the PC algorithm is going to change the
value of power for all the BS which are transmitting on the same channel at
the same timeslot. It is also possible to appreciate the different improvements
made by Power Control and Intercell Scheduling. When the Intercell Schedul-
ing is active, a better CIR is reached according on the aim of this algorithm.
Due to the fewer timeslots available for each user, there is a smaller number of
users transmitting at the same time and this is reducing the interference. This
improvement is smaller than the one obtained from the Power Control and this
is an important point for the improvement of the entire system.

However, the best results showed in the figure are related to the "Power
Control without Intercell Scheduling" algorithm, but in the real condition this
could be a wrong result. The number of users considered during the entire
simulation is too small to appreciate the true behavior of the system. Because of
this, the Intercell Scheduling is not having such importance for the interference
optimization because 25 users are a very small number in the studied area of 9
cell.

69
 Furthermore, we can think that after a certain number of users, we will reach
a physical limit in the BSs which will result at a constant level of CIR. We can
also think that as the number of users increase further, PC will not anymore be
efficient and the CIR level will decrease.

70
6.3 Throughput
The throughput considered as a performance parameter, is used to establish
which is the most useful combination of algorithms in terms of sent data. It
is given by the carried traffic normalized to the capacity of the system as a
function of the load of the same system.

The most easy environment is given by a scenario in which there is neither

power control nor inter-cell scheduling; with this kind of scenario we are able
to compare the three different scheduling algorithms to check which is the one
that performs better. The following figure 6.3 compares all the used scheduling
technique within the system.

Figure 6.3: Throughput of scheduling algorithm

As said in 6.3, the system is not showing its entire features because of the
too small number of users that are not able to raise the system load above 20%.
This problem occurs also for the throughput representation. With a larger num-
ber of users, the system load should increase and it would be possible to see how
much traffic can be sent before reaching the saturation point. As the number of
user is increasing, the number of users which are waiting is also increasing. This
means that after a certain point the load will keep growing while the throughput
will be constant.

Anyway, for the small amount of traffic we find a better performance for the
FIFO algorithm. The second best algorithm is the CI technique. The difference
between those two algorithms began to be bigger with increasing load. The
behavior of the Proportional Fair Algorithm is different from our expectation

71
because it appears clearly that it is not a function of the amount of load, so it
remains always a constant value and this is not a proper behavior.

From figure 6.4 it is possible to compare the situation in which the inter-cell
scheduling is applied with the case where the Power Control is applied.

Figure 6.4: Throughput of inter-cell scheduling with or without PC

In this figure we can not see a really different behavior between the two
different setting, so we can conclude that the Power Control algorithm does not
influence the amount of carried traffic.

Another interesting comparison is between the system in which the same

time Power Control and inter-cell scheduling are implemented, with the one
with the same Power Control algorithm but without any inter-cell scheduling.
Figure 6.5 shows a considerable difference between the two systems; it is easy
to appreciate that the inter-cell scheduling decreases the throughput according
to our expectation because of the different number of available time-slots.

72
Figure 6.5: Throughput of inter-cell scheduling with or without PC

73
Chapter 7

Conclusion

Based on the initial purpose of this project, we can say that the demand
of high data rate is not a big problem for the GPRS/EDGE connection. As
said in the beginning of the Report, the coming out of multimedia applications
such as television or Internet on mobile stations, requires an optimization of the
connection. Now we know that this could be reached by using additional tech-
niques without having bad implications. Using algorithms in order to rise the
CIR while having the same behavior of the throughput is a very good starting
point for the optimization of the GPRS system.

The work done in this project has been based on two different algorithms
turned toward the interference optimization (PC and IS). After our simulations
it appears clear that the implementation of different algorithms has a consider-
able effect on the performance of our system in terms of carried traffic and CIR
level. One of the most important results is that a system in which there are no
added techniques, it is the most easy to create but is also the one that shows the
worst performance. On the other hand, a system with an inter-cell scheduling
(which is definitely not complex to obtain) can improve the CIR of the users
having a very small payment in terms of throughput. Moreover, another obser-
vation can be done about the Power Control algorithm: from our simulation it
is possible to notice that the introduction of the PC do not have a big effect on
the throughput behavior, and at the same time it has a very high improvement
of the CIR level; it means that its implementation, even if make the system
more complex, gives better results in term of interference optimization.

Future Work
A future work based on this report can be to investigate deeper the effect of
beamforming on interference in a multi-cell scenario. This will probably increase
the level of CIR as Power Control and inter-cell scheduling are doing. Moreover,
Smart inter-cell scheduling can also be integrated in a multi-cell scenario con-
taining more BSs to increase the CIR. Indeed in our scenario, containing 9 BSs,
a smart inter-cell scheduling will not be worth in comparison with the increase
of the complexity of this system. Moreover, additional techniques in term of
power control and scheduling can be implement and analyzed.

74
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List of Figures

2.1 GPRS architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 GPRS Layers organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.3 GPRS time slot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 GMSK modulation [2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 8-PSK modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.6 Modulation Coding scheme in EGPRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.7 Possible interference in multi-cell scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.8 Multi-cell scenario & division of a cell for the integer . . . . . . . 16

3.1 Ideal Power Control: (a) constant transmission power; in that case the re-
ceived power increases when MS approaches the BTS; (b) the transmission
power is reduced when the MT approaches the BTS; in this way the received
power is constant an equal to PRIF , minimizing the interference [5]. . . . . 20

4.1 Channel Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4.2 . . . . . . . .
Received signal strength by MS [2]. . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.3 Throughput vs CIR ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.4 Approximation of throughput vs CIR ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1 Diagram of the simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5.2 Creation of the clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.3 Illustration of wrap around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.4 Mobility model for 100 MSs in a cluster containing 36 cells . . . 47
5.5 Zoom in a cell to show the mobility model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.6 Wrap effect on the mobility label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.7 Shadowing map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.8 Modelling correlated shadow fading using a gaussian white pro-
cess and a first order low filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.9 Total path-gain between 3 MSs and all the BSs . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.10 Variation of the position of the MS responsible for the Rayleigh
fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.11 Variation of total path-gain of a MS linked to its BS . . . . . . . 54
5.12 Distance between the MS and its BS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.13 Number of pages per single user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.14 Number of object per single page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.15 Size of the object included in the pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.16 WWW traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.17 e-mail traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.18 Intercell scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

77
5.19 result of the C/I scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.20 result of the FIFO scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.21 result of the “proportional fair” scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

6.1 Diagram of the simulation techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6.2 Comparison of the CIR level for different simulations . . . . . . . 69
6.3 Throughput of scheduling algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.4 Throughput of inter-cell scheduling with or without PC . . . . . 72
6.5 Throughput of inter-cell scheduling with or without PC . . . . . 73

78
List of Tables

2.1 Different classes in the GPRS connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.2 List of different Coding Schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.1 delay classes and requirements for different packet sizes (see [14]) 29

4.1 assumed values for P0 and y for Lee’s propagation model (see [15]) 34
4.2 Some typical values for the deviation σX [17] . . . . . . . . . . . 35

5.1 Values used during the simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

5.2 First step of the simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

79
Appendix A

Glossar

8PSK 8-Phase Shifting Keying

AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
BER Bit Error Rate
BS Base Station
DOAs Directions-of-arrival
EDF Earliest deadline first
EGPRS Enhanced GPRS
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
FSK Frequency Shift Keying
GAM Generalized array manifold
GMSK Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

IB Inteference blocking
LCMV Linearly constrained minimum variance
M-PSK M-ary Phase Shifting Keying
MCMV Multiple constrained minimum variance

MMSE Minimum mean square error

PDP Packet Data Protocol
QoS Quality of Service
QoS Quality of service

80
SB Signal-blocking
SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio

SPS Static priority scheduling

SSF Short Scale Fading

81