Unit 1 :

Introduction to Wireless
Communication Systems

These slides contains copyrighted materials from - Wireless Communications:

Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, used as instructor resources.
What is Wireless Communication?
• Transmitting/receiving voice and data using
electromagnetic waves in free space.

 The information from sender to receiver is carried over

a well defined frequency band (channel).

 Each channel has a fixed frequency bandwidth and

capacity (bit rate).

 Different channels can be used to transmit information

in parallel and independently.

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Source : NPTEL Wireless lecture – Dr. Ranjan Bose (slide 28)
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Example
• Assume a spectrum of 120 kHz is allocated
over a base frequency for communication
between stations A and B.
• Each channel occupies 40 kHz.
Channel 1 (b- b+40)

Station A Channel 2 (b+40 – b+80) Station B

Channel 3 (b+80 – b+120)

4
• Can we allocate spectrum like that ?
No, its Idealized

• What can we do then?

Guard Bands

• How do you determine the width of the Guard

band?
Depends upon how sharp your receiver filter roll
off factor is !

5
 Types of Wireless Communication
• Mobile
Cellular Phones (GSM/ CDMA)
• Portable
IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi)
IEEE 802.15.3 (UWB)
• Fixed
IEEE 802.16 (Wireless MAN)

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Typical Frequencies
• FM Radio ~ 88 MHz
• TV Broadcast ~ 200 MHz
• GSM Phones ~ 900 MHz
• GPS ~ 1.2 GHz
• Bluetooth ~ 2.4 GHz
• WiFi ~ 2.4 GHz

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 Why Wireless?
• Benefits
– Mobility: Ability to communicate anywhere!!
– Easier configuration, set up and lower installation cost

• Difficulties
– Communication medium: Free space
• Noisy and unpredictable channel
• Broadcast channel, more user ->less BW per user
– Higher equipment cost
– Usually regulated spectrum and limited BW
• Techno-politic
– Need backbone systems in order to function properly

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 Challenges
• Efficient Hardware
– Low power transmitters, receivers
– Low power signal processing tools
• Efficient use of finite radio spectrum
– Cellular frequency reuse, medium access control
protocols
• Integrated Services
– Voice, data, multimedia over the same network
– Service differentiation, priorities, resource sharing

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 Challenges
• Network support for user mobility (mobile
scenarios)
– Location identification, Handoffs,..
• Maintaining quality of service over unreliable
links.
• Connectivity and coverage (internetworking)
• Cost efficiency

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 Challenges
• Fading
• Multipath
• Higher probability of data corruption
– Hence, need for stronger channel codes
• Need for stronger security mechanisms
– Privacy, Authentication.

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 Evolution of Mobile Radio
Communications
Major Mobile Radio Systems
1934 - Police Radio uses conventional AM mobile communication system.
1935 - Edwin Armstrong demonstrate FM
1946 - First public mobile telephone service - push-to-talk
1960 - Improved Mobile Telephone Service, IMTS - full duplex
1960 - Bell Lab introduce the concept of Cellular mobile system
1968 - AT&T propose the concept of Cellular mobile system to FCC.
1976 - Bell Mobile Phone service, poor service due to call blocking
1983 - Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), FDMA, FM
1991 - Global System for Mobile (GSM), TDMA, GMSK
1991 - U.S. Digital Cellular (USDC) IS-54, TDMA, DQPSK
1993 - IS-95, CDMA, QPSK, BPSK
 Example of Mobile Radio
Systems
• Examples
– Cordless phone
– Remote controller
– Hand-held walkie-talkies
– Pagers
– Cellular telephone
– Wireless LAN
• Mobile - any radio terminal that could be moves during operation
• Portable - hand-held and used at walking speed
• Subscriber - mobile or portable user

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• Classification of mobile radio transmission system
– Simplex: communication in only one direction
– Half-duplex: same radio channel for both transmission and
reception (push-to-talk)
– Full-duplex: simultaneous radio transmission and reception (FDD,
TDD)
• Frequency division duplexing uses two radio channel
– Forward channel: base station to mobile user
– Reverse channel: mobile user to base station

• Time division duplexing shares a single radio channel in time.

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 Paging Systems
• Conventional paging system send brief messages to a
subscriber
• Modern paging system: news headline, stock quotations, faxes,
etc.
• Simultaneously broadcast paging message from each base
station (simulcasting)
• Large transmission power to cover wide area.

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport,

15
pp12.
 Cordless Telephone System
• Cordless telephone systems are full duplex communication
systems.
• First generation cordless phone
– in-home use
– communication to dedicated base unit
– few tens of meters
• Second generation cordless phone
– outdoor
– combine with paging system
– few hundred meters per station

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport,

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pp13.
 Cellular Telephone Systems
• Provide connection to the PSTN for any user location within the radio
range of the system.
• Characteristic
– Large number of users
– Large Geographic area
– Limited frequency spectrum
– Reuse of the radio frequency by the concept of “cell’’.
• Basic cellular system: mobile stations, base stations, and mobile
switching center.

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport,

17
pp14.
• Communication between the base station and mobiles is
defined by the standard common air interface (CAI)

– forward voice channel (FVC): voice transmission from base

station to mobile
– reverse voice channel (RVC): voice transmission from
mobile to base station
– forward control channels (FCC): initiating mobile call from
base station to mobile
– reverse control channel (RCC): initiating mobile call from
mobile to base station

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 Cellular Technology: Evolution
First generation:
Based on analog technology, uses a single base station to
communicate with a single portable terminal.(e.g., Advance Mobile
Phone Services - AMPS)
Second generation:
Based on digital modulation and advanced call processing
capabilities . (e.g., Global System for Mobile - GSM , IS-95 and
Cordless Telephone - CT2).
Third generation:
To provide a single set of standards that can meet a wide range of
wireless applications (Multimedia) and provide universal access
throughout the world.(e.g., WCDMA, CDMA-2000, etc.)
Fourth generation:
To enable usage over IP platform – packet switching based (e.g.,
Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), Mobile WiMAX)

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Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport,
20
pp10.
Timing diagram illustrating how a call to a mobile user initiated by a landline subscriber is
established.
Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp16.

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Timing diagram illustrating how a call initiated by a mobile is established
Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp17.

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 Cellular Systems-Basic Concepts
• Cellular system solves the problem of spectral congestion.
• Offers high capacity in limited spectrum.
• High capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage area of
each BS to a small geographical area called cell.
• Replaces high powered transmitter with several low power
transmitters.
• Each BS is allocated a portion of total channels and nearby
cells are allocated completely different channels.
• All available channels are allocated to small no of neighboring
BS.
• Interference between neighboring BSs is minimized by
allocating different channels.

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 Cellular Systems-Basic Concepts
• Same frequencies are reused by spatially
separated BSs.
• Interference between co-channels stations is
kept below acceptable level.
• Additional radio capacity is achieved.
• Frequency Reuse-Fix no of channels serve an
arbitrarily large no of subscribers

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 Cellular Concept
• used by service providers to improve the efficiency of a cellular
network and to serve millions of subscribers using a limited radio
spectrum
• After covering a certain distance a radio wave gets attenuated and
the signal falls below a point where it can no longer be used or cause
any interference
• A transmitter transmitting in a specific frequency range will have
only a limited coverage area
• Beyond this coverage area, that frequency can be reused by another
transmitter.
• The entire network coverage area is divided into cells based on the
principle of frequency reuse

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 Frequency Reuse
• The design process of selecting and allocating
channel groups for all of the cellular base
stations within a system is called frequency
reuse or frequency planning.
• Cell labeled with same letter use the same set
of frequencies.
• Cell Shapes:
• Circle, Square, Triangle and Hexagon.
• Hexagonal cell shape is conceptual , in reality
it is irregular in shape
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 Frequency Reuse
 Cell Geometry :
 Frequency Reuse
 Hexagonal cell shape is conceptual & is a simplistic model of radio
coverage for each base station.
 As the radiation from antenna is circular, thus there is fading on the
edges of triangle & Square.
 But in Hexagon shape, there is lesser fading on the edges.
 When using hexagonal shaped cell, base station areas are depicted as
either being in centre of cell i.e. Central Excited Cell or on the 3 edges
of the 6 cell vertices i.e. Edge Excited Cell.
 For Central Excited Cell, Omni-directional antennas are used.
 For Edge Excited Cell, Sectored-directional antennas are used.

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 Frequency Reuse
 The design process of selecting & allocating channel groups for all the cellular
base stations with in a system is called Frequency Reuse or Frequency
Planning.
 Frequency Reuse Distance : Minimum distance b/w co-channel cells required
to keep co-channel interference below certain threshold.
 Each cellular base station
is allocated a group of radio
channels to be used within
a small geographic area
called Cell.
 Base station of adjacent cells
are assigned channel group
which contains completely
different channels than
neighboring cells.
Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 59.
 If N cells which collectively use the complete set of available frequencies is
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called a cluster.
 Frequency Reuse
 The base station antennas are designed to achieve the desired coverage within
the particular cell.
 By limiting the coverage of a cell, the same group of channels may be used to
cover different cells that are separated from one- another by large distances
enough to keep interference level within tolerable limit.
 After how many cells two cells assigned the same frequency to use, frequency
Reuse concepts is used.
 Consider a cellular system which has a total of ‘S’ duplex channels (total no. of
channels in a cluster).
If each cell is allocated a group of ‘K’ channels & if S channels are divided among N
cells into unique & disjoint channel groups.
Total number of available radio channels in a cluster can be given as:
S = KN
If a cluster is replicated M times within a system, total number of duplex channel
‘C’ can be used as a measure of capacity & is given as:
C = MS
C= MKN
 Capacity of a cellular system is directly proportional to number of times a cluster
is replicated in a fixed service area.
 Frequency Reuse
 Factor ‘N’  called cluster size.
 let total number of channel allocated for a cluster is S = 395.
 let N = 7 (N= number of cells in a cluster), it means 395/7 = 57 frequencies is
possible an average per cell to characterizing the frequency reuse.
 Frequency Reuse factor of a cellular system is = 1/N (since each cell within a
cluster is only assigned 1/N of total available channels in the system)
 N = Cluster size is given by : N = i2 + j2 + i.j (i & j are integers)
 For i=1, j=1, then N = 3. i.e. one cluster has 3 cells.
 N may be = 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16, 19 etc.
 d = distance b/w centre of two adjacent cells, R = Radius of cell
D = Minimum distance b/w centre of cells that use same channels or
frequency band (co-channels)
 Frequency reuse distance: D2 = 3R2 (i2 + j2 + i.j)
D2 = 3R2 .N
D = (3N)1/2. R or D/R = (3N)1/2
As d = 31/2 .R D/d = (N)1/2
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 Locating co-channel Cell
To find the nearest co-channel neighbors of a particular cell, one must do the
following:

a) Move i cells along any chain of hexagon.

b) Turn 60o counter clockwise & move j cells.

Figure 3.2 Method of locating co-channel cells in a cellular system.

In this example, N = 19 (i.e., i = 3, j = 2). (Adapted from [Oet83] © IEEE.)

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 60.

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Effect of cluster size N

 Channels unique in same cluster, repeated over clusters

 Keep cell size same

 large N : weaker interference, but lower capacity

small N: higher capacity, more interference ,need to


maintain certain S/I level
 Frequency reuse factor: 1/N

each cell within a cluster assigned 1/N of the total

available channels
 In most of the upcoming networks, frequency reuse

factor is 1.

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Problem

Source : Wireless Communications:

Principles and Practice, Theodore S.
Rappaport, pp 61.

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 Channel Assignment Strategies (CAS)
• Frequency reuse scheme
– increases capacity
– minimize interference

• Fixed channel assignment

– each cell is allocated a predetermined set of voice channel
– any new call attempt can only be served by the unused channels
– the call will be blocked if all channels in that cell are occupied
• Dynamic channel assignment
– channels are not allocated to cells permanently.
– allocate channels based on request.
– reduce the likelihood of blocking, increase capacity. 35
 Fixed Channel Assignment Strategy
(FCAS)
• In FCAS each cell is assigned a predetermined set of voice channels
• Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the unused
channel in that particular cell
• If all the channels in the cell are occupied, the call is blocked. The
user does not get service.
• In variation of FCA, a cell can borrow channels from its neighboring
cell if its own channels are full.

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 Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA)
• Voice channels are not allocated to different cells permanently.
• Each time a call request is made, the BS request a channel
from the MSC.
• MSC allocates a channel to the requesting cell using an
algorithm that takes into account
– likelihood of future blocking
– The reuse distance of the channel ( should not cause
interference)
– Other parameters like cost
• DCA reduce the likelihood of blocking and increases capacity
• Requires the MSC to collect realtime data on channel
occupancy and traffic distribution on continous basis.
• DCA is more complex (real time), but reduces likelihood of
blocking 37
 Handoff
 When a mobile moves into a different cell while conversation is in progress,
the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new channel belonging to new
base station is known as Handoff.
 Handoff operation not only involves identifying a new base station, but also
requires that the voice & control signals be allocated to channels with the new
base station.
 Handoff must be performed successfully & as infrequently as possible.
 For this system designer must specify an optimum signal level at which to
initiate a handoff.
 Once a particular signal level is specified as the minimum usable signal for
acceptable voice quality at the base station receiver, a slightly stronger signal
level is used as a threshold at which a handoff is made.
 This margin (Threshold) is given by:
∆ = Pr(HANDOFF) - Pr (MIN. USABLE)
 Handoff .

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 63.

 Handoff
 ∆ can’t be too large or too small.
Case 1: if ∆ is too large, unnecessary handoffs are there, which burden the MSC.
Case 2: if ∆ is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete a handoff
before a call is lost due to weak signal conditions.
 Call Drop event can happen:
Case 1: When there is an excessive delay by the MSC in assigning a handoff.
Excessive delay may occur during:
1) High traffic density, due to computational loading at the MSC
2) Due to the fact that no channels are available on any of the
nearby base stations.
Case 2: When the threshold ∆ is set too small for the handoff time in the
system.
 Dwell Time : The time over which a call be maintained within a cell without
handoff is called “Dwell Time”. (after the handoff threshold)
 Types of Handoff
1) Intra-cell-Intra BSC Handover
2) Inter-cell-Intra BSC Handover
3) Inter-cell-Inter BSC Handover
4) Inter MSC Handover
1) Intra-cell-Intra BSC Handover : Smallest of the Handover is the intra-cell
handover where the subscriber is handed over to another traffic channel
(generally in another frequency) with in same cell.

 In this case, BSC controlling the cell makes the decision to perform
handover.
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 Types of Handoff
2) Inter-cell-Intra BSC Handover :
 The subscriber moves from cell1 to cell 2 but within BSC.
 In this case, the handover process is carried out by the BSC.
 Traffic connection with cell 1 is released when the connection with cell 2 is
setup successfully.

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 Types of Handoff
3) Inter-cell-Inter BSC Handover :
 The subscriber moves from cell1 to cell 2 which is served by another BSC.
 In this case, handover
process is carried out by
the MSC, but the decision
to make the handover is
still done by the first BSC.
 Traffic connection
with the first BSC & BTS
is released when the
connection with the new
BSC & BTS is setup
successfully.

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 Types of Handoff
4) Inter MSC Handover :
 The subscriber moves from cell1 to cell 2 which is served by another MSC.
 In this case, handover
process is carried out by
the GMSC.
 Traffic connection
with the first BTS-BSC-MSC
is released when the
connection with the new
BTS-BSC-MSC is setup
successfully.

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 Classification of Handoff
 Handoff can be classified as:
1) Hard Handoff
2) Soft Handoff
1) Hard Handoff :
 Also known as Break Before Make.
 It is one in which the channel in the source cell is released & only then the
channel in the target cell is engaged.
 Thus the connection to the source is broken before the connection to the
target is made.
 Hard handoffs are intended to be
instantaneous in order to minimize
the disruption to the call.
 It is not necessary that there is
always a connection b/w base station
& mobile station.

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 Classification of Handoff
2) Soft Handoff :
 Also known as Make Before Break.
It is one in which the channel in the source cell is retained & used for a
while in parallel with the channel in target cell.
 Thus the connection to the target is established before the connection to
the source is broken.
 In this kind of handoff, there is
always a connection b/w base station
& mobile station.

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 Strategies of Handoff
1) Network Assisted Handoff
2) Mobile Assisted Handoff
1) Network Assisted Handoff :
 Used by 1G Analog cellular system.
 In this Handoff, Base station constantly monitors the signal strength of
each mobile user & report to MSC, which makes the decision to handoff.
 In addition to measuring the RSSI (Radio Signal Strength Measurement) of
the calls in progress with in the cell, a spare receiver in each base station
called Locator Receiver, is used to scan & determine signal strength of the
mobile user which are in neighboring cells.
 The Locator receiver is controlled by the MSC & is used to monitor the
signal strength of user in neighboring cells which appear to be in need of
handoff & records all RSSI values to the MSC.

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 Strategies of Handoff
2) Mobile Assisted Handoff : (MAHO)
 In this Handoff, every Mobile station measures the received power from
surrounding base stations & continuously reports the result to serving base
station.
 A handoff is initiated when the power received from a base station of the
neighboring cell begin to exceed the power received from current base
station by the certain level or for a certain period of time.
 MAHO method enables the calls to be handed over b/w the base station at a
much faster rate than 1G system.
 Since handoff measurements are made by each mobile & the MSC no longer
constantly monitors signal strength, therefore burden on the MSC is reduced.
 MAHO is particularly suited for micro-cellular environment where handoffs
are more frequently.

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 Prioritizing Handoff / Guard Channel Concept

 Here some of the channels of total available channels is reserved for handoff
request from on-going calls which may be handed-off into the cell.
 Guard channels however offer efficient spectrum utilization when dynamic
channel assignment strategies, which minimize the number of required guard
channels by efficient demand-based allocation are used.
Queuing of handoff request :
 It is another method to decrease the probability of forced termination of calls
due to lack of available channels.
 Queuing of handoffs is possible due to the fact there is a finite time interval
b/w the time the received signal level drops below the handoff threshold &
the time the call is terminated due to insufficient signal level.

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 Practical Handoff Considerations
• Problems occur because of a large range of mobile velocities
– pedestrian vs. vehicle user
– A pedestrian never requires handoff during the call, but if high speed user
passes constantly b/w very small cells, MSC gets burdened quickly.
• Small cell sizes and/or micro-cells → larger # handoffs
• MSC load is heavy when high speed users are passed between very small
cells
• Umbrella Cells
– use different antenna heights and Tx power levels to provide large and
small cell coverage
– multiple antennas & Tx can be co-located at single location if necessary
(saves on obtaining new tower licenses)
– large cell → high speed traffic → fewer handoffs
– small cell → low speed traffic
– example areas: interstate highway passing through urban center, office
park, or nearby shopping mall

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 Umbrella Cells

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 67.

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 Typical handoff parameters

– Analog cellular (1st generation)

• threshold margin △ ≈ 6 to 12 dB
• total time to complete handoff ≈ 8 to 10 sec

– Digital cellular (2nd generation)

• total time to complete handoff ≈ 1 to 2 sec
• lower necessary threshold margin △ ≈ 0 to 6 dB
• enabled by mobile assisted handoff

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 Interference & System Capacity
 Source of interference :
 Another mobile in the same cell.
 A call in progress in a neighboring cell.
 Other base stations operating in the same frequency band.
 Any non-cellular system which inadvertently leaks energy into cellular
frequency band.
 Effects of Interference
• Interference in voice channels causes
– Crosstalk
– Noise in background
• Interference in control channels causes
– Error in digital signaling, which causes
• Missed calls
• Blocked calls
• Dropped calls

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 Interference & System Capacity
Co-Channel Interference & System Capacity :
 Frequency reuse implies that in a given coverage area there are several cells
that use the same set of frequencies. These cells are called Co-Channel cells &
interference b/w signals from these cells is called Co-Channel Interference.
 Unlike, thermal noise which can be overcome by increasing the SNR (signal-
to-noise ratio), Co-Channel interference can not be combated by simply
increasing the carrier power of a transmitter, because an increase in carrier
transmit power increases the interference to neighboring co-channel cells.
 To reduce co-channel interference, co-channel cells must be physically
separated by a minimum distance to provide sufficient isolation due to
propagation.
R  Radius of a cell
D  distance b/w centers of the nearest
co-channel cells.
Therefore by increasing the ratio D/R, separation
b/w co-channel cells relative to the coverage distance of a cell is increased.
Thus interference is reduced.
 Interference & System Capacity
 Q  Co-Channel Reuse ratio, is related to cluster size shown in table. For
Hexagonal geometry

Table Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 69.

 A small value of Q provides larger capacity, Since the cluster size N is small.
 A large value of Q improves the Transmission Quality, Due to smaller level
of co-channel interference.
Therefore a Trade-off must be made b/w these two objectives in actual
cellular design.
 Interference & System Capacity
 Let io be the number of co-channel interfering cells.
Then, the signal-to-interference ratio (S/I or SIR) for a mobile receiver which
monitors a forward channel can be expressed as:

where S is the desired signal power from the desired base station & Ii is the
interference power caused by the ith interfering co-channel cell base station.
 Average Power Received Pr at a distance d from the transmitting antenna is
approximated by:

where Po is the power received at a close-in reference point in the far field
region of the antenna at a small distance do from the transmitting antenna & n
is the path loss exponent.
 Interference & System Capacity
 Now consider the forward link where the desired signal is the serving base
station & where the interference is due to co-channel base station.
 If Di is the distance of the
ith interfere from the mobile,
the received power at a given
mobile due to the ith interfering
cell will be proportional to
(Di)-n .
 When transmit power of each
base station is equal & the path
Loss exponent is the same
throughout the coverage area,
S/I for a mobile can be approximated as:

---------(A)
Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and
Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 71.
 Interference & System Capacity
 If the interfering base stations are equidistant from the desired base station &
if this distance is equal to the distance D b/w cell centers, then

S/I relates to the cluster size N, which in turns determine the capacity of the
system. From equation C= M.K.N.
 For US, AMPS cellular system which uses FM & 30 kHz channels, subjective
tests indicate that sufficient voice quality is provided when S/I is greater than or
equal to 18dB.
 In order to meet this requirement, the cluster size N should be at least 6.49
(=7), assuming path loss exponent n=4.
 For a seven cell cluster, with the mobile unit at the cell boundary, the mobile is
a distance D-R from the two nearest co-channel interfering cell & is exactly
D+R/2, D, D-R/2 and D+R from the other interfering cells in the first tier.
 S/I ratio for the worst case can be closely approximated as (n=4)
 Interference & System Capacity

This equation can be rewritten in terms of the co-channel reuse ratio Q, as

-------(B)
 For N=7, the co-channel reuse ratio Q is 4.6 and the worst case S/I is
approximated as 49.56 (17dB) using equation (B), where as an exact solution
using equation (A) yields 17.8dB. Hence for a seven-cell cluster, the S/I ratio is
slightly less than 18dB for the worst case.

To design the cellular system for proper performance in the worst case , it
would be necessary to increase N to the next larger size
Co-channel interference determines link performance, which in turn dictates
the frequency reuse plan and the overall capacity of cellular systems
 Problem

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 72.

61
 Adjacent Channel Interference
• Results from imperfect receiver filters, allowing nearby frequencies to leak
into pass-band.
• Can be minimized by careful filtering and channel assignments.
• Channels are assigned such that frequency separations between
channels are maximized.
• For example, by sequentially assigning adjacent bands to different
cells
• Total 832 channels, divided into two groups with 416 channels each.
• Out of 416, 395 are voice and 21 are control channels.
• 395 channels are divided into 21 subsets, each containing almost 19
channels, with closet channel 21 channels away
• If N=7 is used, each cell uses 3 subsets, assigned in such a way that each
channel in a cell is 7 channels away.

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 Learning Objectives
• Concept of Trunking
• Key definitions in Trunking /Traffic Theory
• Erlang-(unit of traffic)
• Grade of Service
• Two Types of Trunked Systems
• Trunking Efficiency

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 Trunking & Grade of Service
• Cellular radio systems rely on trunking to accommodate a
large number of users in a limited radio spectrum.

• Trunking allows a large no of users to share a relatively small

number of channels in a cell by providing access to each user,
on demand, from a pool of available channels.

• In a trunked radio system (TRS) each user is allocated a

channel on a per call basis, upon termination of the call, the
previously occupied channel is immediately returned to the
pool of available channels.

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 Key Definitions
• Setup Time: Time required to allocate a radio channel to a
requesting user
• Blocked Call: Call which cannot be completed at the time of
request, due to congestion(lost call)
• Holding Time: Average duration of a typical call. Denoted by H(in
seconds)
• Request Rate: The average number of calls requests per unit time(
λ)
• Traffic Intensity: Measure of channel time utilization or the average
channel occupancy measured in Erlangs. Dimensionless quantity.
Denoted by A
• Load: Traffic intensity across the entire Trunked Radio System
(Erlangs)

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 Erlang-a unit of traffic
• The fundamentals of trunking theory were developed by Erlang, a
Danish mathematician, the unit bears his name.
• An Erlang is a unit of telecommunications traffic measurement.
• Erlang represents the continuous use of one voice path.
• It is used to describe the total traffic volume of one hour
• A channel kept busy for one hour is defined as having a load of one
Erlang
• For example, a radio channel that is occupied for thirty minutes
during an hour carries 0.5 Erlangs of traffic
• For 1 channel
– Min load=0 Erlang (0% time utilization)
– Max load=1 Erlang (100% time utilization)

66
 Erlang-a unit of traffic
• For example, if a group of 100 users made 30 calls in one hour, and
each call had an average call duration(holding time) of 5 minutes,
then the number of Erlangs this represents is worked out as
follows:

• Minutes of traffic in the hour = number of calls x duration

• Minutes of traffic in the hour = 30 x 5 = 150
• Hours of traffic in the hour = 150 / 60 = 2.5
• Traffic Intensity= 2.5 Erlangs

67
 Traffic Concepts
• Traffic Intensity offered by each user(Au): Equals average call
request rate multiplied by the holding time(service time)
Au=λH(Erlangs)

• Total Offered Traffic Intensity for a system of U users (A):

A =U*Au(Erlangs)

• Traffic Intensity per channel, in a C channel trunked system

Ac=U*Au/C(Erlangs)

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 Trunking & Grade of Service
• In a TRS, when a particular user requests service and all the
available radio channels are already in use , the user is blocked or
denied access to the system. In some systems a queue may be used
to hold the requesting users until a channel becomes available.
• Trunking systems must be designed carefully in order to ensure that
there is a low likelihood that a user will be blocked or denied
access.
• The likelihood that a call is blocked, or the likelihood that a call
experiences a delay greater than a certain queuing time is called
“Grade of Service” (GOS)’’.

69
 Trunking & Grade of Service
• Grade of Service (GOS): Measure of ability of a user to access a
trunked system during the busiest hour. Measure of the congestion
which is specified as a probability.

• The probability of a call being blocked

• Blocked calls cleared(BCC) or Lost Call Cleared(LCC) or Erlang B
systems

• The probability of a call being delayed beyond a certain amount of

time before being granted access
• Blocked call delayed or Lost Call Delayed(LCD) or Erlang C systems

70
 Blocked Call Cleared Systems
• When a user requests service, there is a minimal call set-up time
and the user is given immediate access to a channel if one is
available

• If channels are already in use and no new channels are available,

call is blocked without access to the system

• The user does not receive service, but is free to try again later

• All blocked calls are instantly returned to the user pool

71
 Modeling of BCC Systems
• The Erlang B model is based on following assumptions :
– Calls are assumed to arrive with a Poisson distribution
– There are nearly an infinite number of users
– Call requests are memory less ,implying that all users, including blocked users,
may request a channel at any time
– All free channels are fully available for servicing calls until all channels are
occupied
– The probability of a user occupying a channel(called service time) is
exponentially distributed. Longer calls are less likely to happen
– There are a finite number of channels available in the trunking pool.
– Inter-arrival times of call requests are independent of each other

72
 Modeling of BCC Systems
• Erlang B formula is given by
Pr[blocking]= (AC/C ! )

• where C is the number of trunked channels offered by a trunked

radio system and A is the total offered traffic.

73
 Erlang B

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 81.

74
 Example 3.4
• How many users can be supported for 0.5% blocking probability for
the following number of trunked channels in a BCC system? (a) 5,
(b) 10,(c)=20. Assumed that each user generates 0.1 Erlangs of
traffic.
• Solution
• Given C=5, GOS=0.005, Au=0.1,
From graph/Table using C=5 and GOS=0.005,A=1.13
Total Number of users U=A/Au=1.13/0.1=11 users
• Given C=10, GOS=0.005, Au=0.1,
From graph/Table using C=5 and GOS=0.005,A=3.96
Total Number of users U=A/Au=3.96/0.1=39 users
• Given C=20, GOS=0.005, Au=0.1,
From graph/Table using C=20 and GOS=0.005,A=11.10
Total Number of users U=A/Au=11.10/0.1=110 users

75
 Erlang B Trunking GOS

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 79. 76

 BCC System Example
• Assuming that each user in a system generates a traffic intensity of
0.2 Erlangs, how many users can be supported for 0.1% probability
of blocking in an Erlang B system for a number of trunked channels
equal to 60.
• Solution 1:
System is an Erlang B
Au = 0.2 Erlangs
Pr [Blocking] = 0.001
C = 60 Channels
From the Erlang B figure, we see that
A ≈ 40 Erlangs
Therefore U=A/Au=40/0.02=2000users.

77
 Blocked Call Delayed(BCD) Systems
• Queues are used to hold call requests that are initially blocked
• When a user attempts a call and a channel is not immediately
available, the call request may be delayed until a channel becomes
available
• Mathematical modeling of such systems is done by Erlang C formula
• The Erlang C model is based on following assumptions :
• Similar to those of Erlang B
• Additionally, if offered call cannot be assigned a channel, it is placed
in a queue of infinite length
• Each call is then serviced in the order of its arrival

78
 Blocked Call Delayed Systems
• Erlang C formula which gives likelihood of a call not having
immediate access to a channel (all channels are already in use)

79
 Erlang C

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 82.

80
 Modeling of BCD Systems
• Probability that any caller is delayed in queue for a wait time
greater than t seconds is given as GOS of a BCD System
• The probability of a call getting delayed for any period of time
greater than zero is
P[delayed call is forced to wait > t sec]=P[delayed] x Conditional P[delay is
>t sec]

• Mathematically;
Pr[delay>t] = Pr [delay>0] Pr [delay>t| delay>0]
• Where P[delay>t| delay>0]= e(-(C-A)t/H)
Pr[delay>t] = Pr [delay>0] e(-(C-A)t/H)
– where C = total number of channels, t =delay time of interest, H=average
duration of call

81
 Trunking Efficiency
• Trunking efficiency is a measure of the number of users which can
be offered a particular GOS with a particular configuration of fixed
channels.
• The way in which channels are grouped can substantially alter the
number of users handled by a trunked system.
• Example:
• 10 trunked channels at a GOS of 0.01 can support 4.46
Erlangs, where as two groups of 5 trunked channels can
support 2x1.36=2.72 Erlangs of traffic
• 10 trunked channels can offer 60% more traffic at a specific
GOS than two 5 channel trunks.
• Therefore, if in a certain situation we sub-divide the total channels in a cell into
smaller channel groups then the total carried traffic will reduce with increasing
number of groups

82
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 As number of users increases, number of channel assigned to a cell become insufficient to
support large number of users. Therefore Cellular design techniques are required.
 The cellular design techniques which are required to provide more channels per unit
coverage area are:
1) Cell Splitting
2) Sectoring
3) Microcell Zone Concept
1) Cell Splitting :
 The process of subdividing a congested cell into smaller
cells, each with its own base station & a corresponding
reduction in antenna height & transmitted power.
 Cell splitting Reduces the transmitted power.
 The original base station A is surrounded by 6 new microcell.
 The smallest cells are added as to preserve the frequency reuse plan. Now G is placed
halfway b/w the 2 larger stations utilizing same channel set G.
 Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system:
• It increases the number of times that channel are reused. By defining new cells which
have a smaller radius than original cells & by installing smaller cell.
•Due to additional number of channels per unit area.
Figure Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 87.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 Area of bigger cell = A o = πR2
 Area of smaller cell = AN = π (R/2)2 = πR2/4
 4 AN = A o or AN = A o /4
 Therefore New Area is ¼ of the older area.

84
Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 89.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 As New Area is ¼ of the older area (now one bigger cell include
approximately 4 smaller cell), therefore the capacity of system is increased
by 4 times.
 Before Cell splitting :
Total BW available = 25MHz
Each user Required = 25kHz
Therefore
1 Antenna can serve = 25MHz / 25kHz = 1000 user.
 After Cell Splitting :
As older area is 4 times the newer area. i.e. we have now
4 new area = 1 older area
For one new area,
Total BW available = 25MHz
Each user Required = 25kHz
Therefore 1 Area can serve = 25MHz / 25kHz = 1000 user.
Therefore 4 Area can serve = 1000 * 4 = 4000 user.
i.e. Capacity is increased by 4 times, due to cell splitting.
85
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 let Pt1 ( Transmit Power at old cell boundaries)
 let Pt2 ( Transmit Power at new cell boundaries)
 let Pr1 (Required Power at old cell boundaries)
 let Pr2 (Required Power at new cell boundaries)
 n is the path loss exponent.
Pr1 = Pt1 (R) -n
Pr2 = Pt2 (R/2) -n
As frequency reuse plan for new microcells behave exactly as the
original cells.
Therefore Pr1 = Pr2
Therefore Pt1 (R) –n = Pt2 (R/2) -n
Pt1 / Pt2 = (1/2) -n
Taking log both side
10 log10 (Pt1 / Pt2) = n10 log10(2) = 3n
For n = 4, Pt1 / Pt2 = 12 dB
i.e. Transmitted Power is reduced by 12 dB with newer cell.
86
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
2) Sectoring :
 The technique for decreasing the co-channel interference & thus increasing
the system performance by using directional antenna is known as Sectoring .
 Sectoring Can be done at 60o & 1200 .

Sectoring- 60o Sectoring- 120o

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 90.
 Co-channel Interference in a cellular system may be decreased by replacing
a single Omni directional antenna at the base station by several directional
antenna, each radiating with in a specific sector.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 Antenna changed from Omni directional to Directional.
 Antenna are not placed near to each other, otherwise adjacent channel
interference get increased.
 By cell splitting,:
it increase the number of channels & this
is achieved by decreasing the cell radius
R & keeping Co-channel reuse ratio D/R
constant.
 it increase the number of channels & this
is achieved by keeping R constant & D/R decreased.
 Sectoring increases the S/I (signal to interference) ratio by using direction
antenna so that cluster size may be reduced.
 Capacity improvement is achieved by reducing the number of cells in a
cluster, thus increase the frequency reuse.
 To do all this, we have to reduce interference without decreasing the
transmit power.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
 When sectoring is employed,
the channels used in a particular
Cell are broken down into sectored
groups & are used only with in a
Particular sector.
 Assuming N=7 for the case 120o
Sector. The number of interference
In the first tier is reduced from 6 to 2.
This is because only 2 of 6 co-channel
Cells receive interference with a
Particular sectored group as shown.
 Out of 6 co-channel cells, 3 are on
Right & 3 are on Left of middle cell. Source : Wireless Communications: Principles
and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 91.
 With Omni directional antenna due to
Presence of 6 cells, they can interfere (in tier) with middle 5th block.
Now, only 2 antenna will interfere with the middle one, so the number is reduced to
2 from 6.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
3) Microcell Zone Concept :
Problem with sectoring 
 Even inside a cell, handoff is required.
 Load on the MSC increased.
 To overcome
this problem,
we divide the
cell into further
2-3 zones. This
technique is
known as Micro-
cell Zone Concept.
This concept is
introduced by
LEE.

Source : Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, Theodore S. Rappaport, pp 95.

 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system
Construction : Each of 3 or more zone sites are connected to a single base
station & share the same radio equipment (Base Station)as shown in figure.
 Zones are connected by coaxial cable, fiber optic cable or microwave link to
the base station.
 Multiple zones & a single base station Make up a cell.
 Operation : A mobile with in a cell, is served by
the zone with the strongest signal.
 This approach is superior to sectoring
since antennas are placed on the edges of
the cell & any BS channel may be assigned
to any zone by the base station.
 As mobile travels from one zone to another
within the cell, it retains the same channel.
 Unlike in sectoring, handoff is not required
at the MSC when the mobile travels b/w zones
within the cell.
 Improving Coverage & Capacity in Cellular system

 The base station simply switches the channel to a different zone site.
 Advantages:
1)Interference is reduced, as a given channel is active only in the particular
zone in which mobile is travelling.
2) Increase in capacity, without degradation in trunking efficiency caused by
sectoring.
3) While the cell maintains a particular coverage radius, the co-channel
interference in the cellular system is reduced since a large central base
station is replaced by several low powered transmitters on the edges of the
cell.
4)Decreased co-channel interference improves the signal quality.