Lecture 4

Frequency reuse
Dr. Mohammed Usman
Cellular system basics
Mobile communication system
Required to cover large geographical area
Can a single base station serve an entire geographical area?
NO
Why not?
High transmit power to serve users at the edge of the coverage
area
More problems for battery limited mobile stations
Not economically feasible
Any other problem?
Number of simultaneous users that can be served by the
system?
Limited spectrum limited no. of channels limited
number of simultaneous users
Cellular system basics
Entire service area is divided into smaller cells, each
served by its own base station
TWO main advantages
Lower transmit power levels
Available spectrum can be reused in multiple cells
spaced sufficiently far apart increase capacity
Hexagonal cells
Area of hexagonal cell = (33/2)xR
2

Cells allocated different sets of frequency channels

Cellular system
Cluster: Group of cells using
completely different sets of
frequency channels
Cluster size (K): No. of cells in a
cluster
Co-channel cells: Cells using the
same channel sets
Re-use distance (D): distance
between centres of two co-
channel cells
Cell radius (R): Distance from the
centre of cell to cell edge
R
D
K R D q ratio use 3 / Re = =
Illustration: Cellular system boosts capacity
Consider a single high power transmitter that can support
40 voice channels over an area of 140 km
2
with the available
spectrum. If this area is divided into seven smaller cells,
each supported by lower power transmitters so that each
cell supports 30% of the channels, determine the total
number of channels available in the cellular system
Solution:
No. of channels per cell = 30% x 40 = 12
Total No. of channels in the cellular system = 12 x 7 = 84
A BW of 40 channels is transformed into an equivalent BW
of 84 channels by using cellular concept
More channels more capacity (using the same BW)
Hence, improved spectral efficiency of the system
Allocate channels to cells such that adjacent frequencies do
not lie in adjacent cells
Cell size (R)
Cell size depends on landscape and capacity
requirements
Vary from few tens of meters (for high user
density) to several kilometers (low user density)
Smaller cell size more channels per unit area
But smaller cell size more frequent hand-offs
Practical choice of cell size: choose cell size such
that no. of channels per unit area is comparable to
the no. of users to be served in that area
Cell size and system capacity
Assume a cellular system with 32 cells and a cell radius
of 1.6 km, a total spectrum allocation that supports 336
traffic channels and a reuse pattern of 7 (i.e. cluster
size K=7). Calculate the total service area covered by
this configuration and the total system capacity
assuming hexagonal cells
Solution: To calculate total service area
Total No. of cells in given area = 32
Cell radius R = 1.6 km
Cell area = (33/2)xR
2
= (33/2) x 1.6
2
= 6.65 km
2
Total coverage area = Area of cell x No. of cells = 6.65 x
32 =212.83 km
2
213 km
2
Cell size and system capacity
Solution: To calculate system capacity
Reuse pattern (Cluster size K) = 7
Total no. of channels allocated = 336
No. of channels per cell = 336/7 = 48
Total system capacity = no. of channels per cell x no. of
cells = 48 x 32 = 1536 channels

Now consider that the cell size is reduced such
that the total area is covered by 128 cells instead of
32. Find the radius of the new cell and the new
system capacity

Cell size and system capacity
Solution: To calculate new cell radius
Area of new cell = 213/128 = 1.66 km
2
i.e. (33/2)xR
2
= 1.66 R = 0.8 km
Cell radius is halved in the new setting
New system capacity = 48 x 128 = 6144 channels
Keeping the number of channels per cell same and
reducing the cell size (increase the no. of cells), system
capacity is significantly increased
Smaller cell size introduces two problems
More frequent hand-offs
Co-channel cells will be located closer to each other
(also depends on cluster size)

Cluster size (K) and system capacity
Total no. of available channels get shared by cells in a
cluster
Cluster is then repeated to cover the entire service area
A mobile communication system is allocated 25
MHz spectrum and uses RF channels of 25 kHz
BW. (a).Calculate the total no. of channels in the
system. (b). The total coverage area is divided into
20 cells and if the cluster size K=7, determine the
system capacity (c). If the cluster size is now
reduced to K=4, what is the new system capacity

Cluster size (K) and system capacity
Solution:
(a). No. of channels = Total BW/Channel BW = 25
MHz/25 kHz = 1000
(b). With K = 7, 1000 channels are divided between 7
cells
No. of channels per cell = 1000/7 = 142.85 = 142 channels
System capacity = No. of channels per cell x No. of cells
= 142 x 20 = 2840 channels
Effective BW = 2840 x 25 kHz = 71 MHz
(c). With K = 4, no. of channels per cell = 1000/4 = 250
System capacity = 250 x 20 = 5000 channels
Effective BW = 5000 x 25 kHz = 125 MHz
Cellular system
R
D
R
D
K = 7 K = 4
R R K R D 58 . 4 21 3 = = = R R K R D 46 . 3 12 3 = = =
Summary
Cellular concept boosts capacity
Effect of cell size
Smaller cell size higher capacity
Smaller cell size higher co-channel interference (for fixed
cluster size)
Smaller cell size higher hand-off rate
Effect of cluster size
Smaller cluster size more no. of channels per cell higher
capacity
Co-channel cells are closer to each other higher co-channel
interference
Design objective: Higher capacity and lower interference
Trade-off between capacity vs co-channel interference/hand-
off rate
Choose smallest K which will meet capacity requirement
while keeping co-channel interference below an acceptable
level
Co-channel interference
Co-channel interference is a function of re-use ratio q
C/I ratio due to single co-channel is


= 4, for TU scenarios
6 co-channel interferers in the first tier
C/I due to 6 interferers is


Assuming all values of D are equal and for TU

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Co-channel interference
R
D
First tier of interferers
Second tier of interferers
For =4, second tier of
interferers can be neglected
Co-channel interference
Typical design requirement is C/I > 18 dB i.e. C/I > 63.1


But

i.e K = 7 (next higher integer)
In order to satisfy the C/I threshold of 18 dB, cluster
size K = 7 is required
Next step is to determine the cell radius R
Depends on the no. of available channels and
subscriber density

41 . 4 1 . 63
6
4
= = q
q
48 . 6 41 . 4 3 = = = = K K
R
D
q
Determining Cell radius
Depends on
No. of available channels in the cell
User density
Offered traffic load
Consider a system with 210 channels and cluster size
K=7 and user density 1600 users/km
2
No. of channels per cell = 210/7 = 30
How much traffic load can 30 channels handle?
Need to calculate the offered traffic load in the busy
hour

Busy hour Traffic load
Assume W users per cell
A fraction of the W users make a call during the busy
hour
No. of calls during the busy hour Q = W
Average call duration = T minutes = T/60 hours
Offered traffic load A = QT (where T is in hours)
A = WT/60 erlangs
Associate an acceptable blocking probability B
Typical value of B is 2%
Relationship between A, B and No. of channels is given
by Erlang-B table
Busy hour Traffic load
Busy hour Traffic load
30 channels can support a traffic load of 21.9 erlangs
with a blocking probability of 2%
A = WT/60 erlangs
Mean call duration = 1.76 minutes (from extensive
measurements)
Assume 60% of the W users make a call during the
busy hour i.e. = 0.6
W = 60A/ T = (60 x 21.9)/(0.6 x 1.76) = 1244.3 1244
1244 users can be supported using 30 channels if
60% of the users make a call during the busy hour
with average call duration of 1.76 minutes and a
call blocking probability of 2%
Cell Radius
User density = Number of users/Area = 1244/R
2
Given user density = 1600/km
2
= 1.6 x 10
-3
users/m
2
1244/ R
2
= 1.6 x 10
-3
R = 497.6 m
For the given system under the given conditions, cell
radius of about 0.5 km must be used
NOTE: To calculate user density, the area is calculated
as R
2
(area of circle)
Area of hexagonal cell = (33/2)xR
2

Circular area gives a good estimate and used in
practice
CIR threshold
Recall: To achieve C/I threshold of 18 dB, cluster size of
7 is required
In practice, the situation is worse
For K = 7, mobiles at the edge of a cell experience C/I
of only about 14 dB (4dB below the actual threshold)
CIR can be improved by increasing K
Increasing K decreasing capacity decreasing
spectral efficiency
Alternative method to improve spectral efficiency -
cell sectoring (directional antennas)
Cell sectoring
No. of co-channel cells
reduced from 6 to 2
Interference reduced
CIR improved
Interference reduction
of about 5 dB achieved,
typically, as compared
to using omni-
directional antennas