Wireless Communications and

Cellular Network
Fundamentals

David Tipper
Associate Professor
Graduate Telecommunications and Networking
Program University of Pittsburgh
Telcom 2700 Slides 4

Cellular Concept
Proposed by Bell Labs 1971
Geographic Service divided into
smaller “cells”

Neighboring cells do not use same

set of frequencies to prevent
interference

Often approximate coverage

area of a cell by a idealized
hexagon

Increase system capacity

by frequency reuse. 2
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 Cellular Networks
• Propagation models represent cell as a circular area
• Approximate cell coverage with a hexagon - allows easier
analysis
• Frequency assignment of F MHz for the system
• The multiple access techniques translates F to T traffic
channels
• Cluster of cells K = group of adjacent cells which use all of the
systems frequency assignment

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Cellular Concept
• Why not a large radio tower and large service area?
– Number of simultaneous users would be very limited
(to total number of traffic channels T)
– Mobile handset would have greater power
requirement
• Cellular concept - small cells with frequency reuse
– Advantages
• lower power handsets
• Increases system capacity with frequency reuse
– Drawbacks:
• Cost of cells
• Handoffs between cells must be supported
• Need to track user to route incoming call/message

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 Cellular Concept (cont)
• Let T = total number of duplex channels
K cells = size of cell cluster (typically 1, 4, 7,12, 21)
N = T/K = number of channels per cell
• For a specific geographic area, if clusters are
replicated M times, then total number of
channels
– system capacity = M x T
Choice of K determines distance between cells
using the same frequencies – termed co-channel
cells
– K depends on how much interference can be
tolerated by mobile stations and path loss
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Cell Design - Reuse Pattern

• Example: cell cluster size K = 7, frequency
reuse factor = 1/7, assume T = 490 total
channels, N = T/K = 70 channels per cell
B Assume T = 490 total channels,
G C
A K = 7, N = 70 channels/cell
F
Clusters are replicated M=3
D times
A B E
G C
F G D C A System capacity
B E
= 3x490 = 1470 F D
total channels
E

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 Cluster Size
From geometry of grid of hexagons only 1
certain values of K are possible if replicating 1
cluster with out gaps 1
K = i2 + ij + j2 where i and j are non-negative
1 2
integers
12 1 3 4 5
4 6 6 7
5 9 5 1
1 8 1 8
0 2 0 11 K = 7 (i =2, j =1) 1
11 7 7
3 1 3 12
12 6 6 4
4 5 4 9 3 1
9 1 K = 4 (i =2, j=0) 2 4
1 1 3 1
0 8 K = 12 (i=2, j=2) 4 2
1 3 1
2
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Cellular Concepts
• To find co-channel neighbors of a cell, move i cells along any
chain of hexagons, turn 60 degrees counterclockwise, and move j
cells (example: i=2, j=2, K=12)

K = i2 + ij + j2
r = cell radius
Area of hexagon = 2.61 r2
d = distance to co-
channel cell
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 Cellular Concepts
• From hexagonal geometry
d  r 3K
• The quantity d/r is called the co-channel reuse ratio d / r  3K

K = i2 + ij + j2
r = cell radius
Area of hexagon = 2.61 r2
d = distance to co-channel
cell
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Frequency Reuse
RSSI, dBm SITE SITE B
A
-60

-90

C/I
-120
Distance

d 10
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 Frequency Reuse
Relate cluster size to carrier to co-
channel interference ratio C/I at the B
B
edge of a cell A
A
propagation model of the form B
Pr = Pt Ld- B
B
L = constant depending on frequency, A
A
d = distance in meters, A
 = path loss coefficient,
Then at edge of a cell in center of B
B
network the C/I is given by A
P Lr  
 A
  
C 1 r
t 6
I 6  d 
 P Ld  
t K = 19
ji

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Frequency Reuse
Solving for d/r results in Example: Consider cellular
system with a C/I requirement of
C/I = 18 dB and a suburban
6C 
1/
d  propagation environment with 
  I 
r = 4 , determine the minimum
cluster size.
18 dB  18 = 10log(x) 
1.8 = log(x)  x = 101.8 
Remember d / r  3K ,
X = 63.0957,
which results in
2/ K = 1/3 x (6 x 63.0957)0.5 =
6.4857 ,
K 16C
 
3  I  Since K must be an integer round
up to nearest feasible cluster
size
=> K = 7 12
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 Frequency Assignment
• Typical C/I values used in Example: You are operating a cellular
practice are 13-18 dB. network with 25KHz NMT traffic channels
• Once the frequency reuse cluster 1 through 12. Labeling the traffic
size K determined frequencies channels as {f1, f2, f3, f4, f5, f6, f7, f8,
must be assigned to cells f9, f10, f11, f12}
• Must maintain C/I pattern Place the traffic channels in the cells
below such that a frequency reuse cluster
between clusters.
size of 4 is used and adjacent channel
• Within a cluster – seek to interference is minimized
minimize adjacent channel
interference
• Adjacent channel interference is
interference from frequency
adjacent in the spectrum

f1 f2
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Sectoring
1
2
3 1
• Sectoring 2
3
• used to improve the C/I ratio
• make cluster size K smaller

• Use directional antennas rather than omni-directional 120 sectoring

• cell divided into 3 (120o sectoring) or 6 (60o sectoring) equally

sized sectors

•Frequencies/traffic channels assigned to cells must partitioned

into 3 or 6 disjoint sets

• Reduces the number of co-channel cells causing interference

• Disadvantages: need intra-cell handoff, increases complexity

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 Sectoring
1
2
3 1
2
3
5
5
7
120 sectoring
5 2 6
5
3 1 5
4
5
5

120o sectoring reduces number of interferers

from 6 to 2
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Sectored Frequency Planning

• Example: Allocate
frequencies for a GSM
operator in U.S. PCS B-
block who uses a 7 cell
frequency reuse pattern with
3 sectors per cell
• Use a Frequency Chart –
available from FCC web site
• Groups frequencies into 21
categories Cells A-G and
sectors 1-3 in each cell

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 Sectored Frequency Planning
• Example: Allocate frequencies for a 1G Analog AMPS operator in
cellular B-block who uses a 7 cell frequency reuse pattern with 3
sectors per cell
• Use a Frequency Chart – available from FCC web site
– Groups frequencies into 21 categories Cells 1-7 and sectors A-B in each
cell

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Cellular Network Traffic

• Large time of day variations in the traffic
• Spatial variations in the traffic
 Traffic Engineering
• Given or N = T/K traffic channels per cell – what
is grade of service (GoS) or how many users can
be supported for a specific GoS
• Required grade of service?
– Usually 1-2% blocking probability during busy hour
– Busy hour may be
1. busy hour at busiest cell
2. system busy hour
3. system average over all hours
• Basic analysis called Traffic Engineering or
Trunking
– same as circuit switched telephony
– use Erlang B and Erlang C Models

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Traffic Engineering
• Estimate traffic distribution?
– Traffic intensity is measured in Erlangs (mathematician AK Erlang)
– One Erlang = completely occupied channel,
– Example: a radio channel occupied for 30 min. per hour carries 0.5
Erlangs
• Traffic intensity per user Au
Au = average call request rate x average holding time =  x th
• Total traffic intensity = traffic intensity per user x number of
users = Au x nu
• Example 100 subscribers in a cell

20 make 3 calls/hour for ½ min => 20 x 3x .5/60 = .5E

60 make 1 call/hour for 1 min => 60 x 1 x 1/60 = 1E

100 users produce 3.5 E load or 35mE per user

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 Erlang B Model M/M/C/C queue

• The system has a finite capacity of size C, customers

arriving when all servers busy are dropped  stable
system
• Blocked calls cleared model (BCC)
• Assumptions
– C identical servers process customers in parallel.
– Customers arrive according to a Poisson process with mean
rate 
– Customer service times exponentially distributed with mean
rate 1/
– Offered load in Erlangs is a = 

 e   (1  Pb )
 e

 Pb 21
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M/M/C/C
• Let i denote the steady state probability of i customers in the system,
then the state transition diagram for n(t) is given by

2
 
3 (C 1) C
flow out state j = flow in state j
 0   j 0
1

 j  j  1  ( j  j 1  j C
( ) j
1
1)  j C

( C  ) c   c  1 

Normalization condition   j  1
j 0

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 M/M/C/C
Probability of a customer being blocked B(c,a)

ac
B(c,a) c c! n
a
 
n0 n!
B(c,a)  Erlang’s B formula, Erlang’s blocking formula
Erlang B formula can be computed from the recursive
formula

a  B ( c  1,
B(c,a) 
a)
c  a  B ( c  1, a )
Usually determined from table or charts – many software programs
Example for 100 users with a traffic load of 3.5 E – how many channels
are need in a cell to support 2% call blocking ?
From Erlang B table with 2% call blocking need 8 channels
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Traffic Engineering Erlang B table

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 Traffic Engineering

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M/M/C/C

Other performance metrics can be related to Erlang B formula B(c,a)

The carried load
 Effective throughput of the system
e    (1  B (c,
a ))
Mean server utilization a
 e  c  (1  B (c,
a ))
Mean number in the system
L  a (1  B (c, a ))

Average delay in the system 1

W 

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 Traffic Engineering Example
• Consider a single analog cell tower with 56 traffic channels, when all
channels are busy calls are blocked. Calls arrive according to a
Poisson process at a rate of 1 call per active user an hour. During the
busy hour 3/4 the users are active. The call holding time is
exponentially distributed with a mean of 120 seconds.
• (a) What is the maximum load the cell can support while providing 2%
call blocking?
From the Erlang B table with c= 56 channels and 2% call blocking the
maximum load = 45.9 Erlangs
• (b) What is the maximum number of users supported by the cell during
the busy hour?
Load per active user = 1 call x 120 sec/call x 1/3600 sec = 33.3 mErlangs
Number active users = 45.9/(0.0333) = 1377
Total number users = 4/3 number active users = 1836
• Determine the utilization of the cell tower 
  c = 45.9/56 = 81.96%

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Erlang C M/M/C Model

• C identical servers processes customers in parallel.
• Customers arrive according to a Poisson process with
mean rate 
• Customer service times exponentially distributed with
mean rate 1/
• Infinite system capacity – all customers are eventually
served – if servers are busy customers queue up
• Blocked calls delayed model (BCD)

 

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 M/M/C

The server utilization ()

 
C 

The traffic intensity (a)  offered load (Erlangs)


a
The stability requirement

  Ca  1  a C
With traffic intensity a Erlangs, C is the minimum number of servers for stability.

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M/M/C
Let i denote the steady state probability of i customers in the
system, then the state transition diagram for n(t) is given by
     

2
 3 (C  1) C C
Flow Balance equations

 0  1 j0

(  j ) j   j 1  ( j  1) j 1jC

1 jC


(  C ) condition
Normalization j   j 1 
  C
1 j 1
j
j 0
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M/M/C
Probability of a customer being delayed C(c,a) is important metric

ac


C(c, a)  j   n 1)!(c  ca)

(c
c j c1
a a
 n!  (c 1)!(c 
n0 a)
C(c,a)  Erlang’s C formula, Erlang’s delay formula

In the telephone system, C(c,a) represents a blocked call delayed (BCD)

Widely used to determine call center staffing
Difficult to compute due to factorials - several software packages built
around it (see links on web site)
Tables and plots available (table on class web page)

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Erlang C model
Tables and plots available
 Erlang C Plots

number of
servers
C(c,a)

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Erlang C Model
Other performance measures expressed in terms of C(c,a)

a
L q   
c  a   C ( c , a )
L Lq a

1
Lq C ( c , a )
Wq  
 c a
1
W Wq  

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 Erlang C model

Distribution of the waiting time in the queue

 
P wq  t  1  C (c, a)  e  c (1
 )t
The pth percentile of the time spent waiting in the queue tp

 1  p 
 ln 
C(c,a)
t p  c (1  )

Note: p > 1 - C(c,a)

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Traffic Engineering Example 2

• A telephone company has five operators to handle inquires for directory
assistance. Inquires arrive according to a Poisson process with an
average rate of  = 4.5 calls/minute. The time to process an inquiry is
exponentially distributed with a mean of 1/ = 1 minute/call. If an
arriving call sees all operators busy it is placed on hold until an
operator becomes free.
(a) What is the probability that a caller will have to wait on hold?
The offered load in Erlangs is 4.5 calls/min * 1 min/call = 4.5 erlangs with 5
operators from the Erlang C graphs given in the class handout the probability a
caller will be delayed = C(c,a) = .75 computing an exact value from the Erlang
C formula one gets C(5,4.5) = .7625
(b) What is the 95 percentile of the time on hold?
note  = a/c = 4.5/5 = .9, p = .95
 ln  yields tp = 5.4491 minutes
 1 p 
t C(c,a)
p  c  (1  )
 Traffic Engineering Example 3

• A service provider receives unsuccessful call attempts to wireless

subscribers at a rate of 5 call per minute in a given geographic
service area. The unsuccessful calls are processed by voice mail and
have an average mean holding time of 1 minute. When all voice mail
servers are busy – customers are placed on hold until a server
becomes free.
• Determine the minimum number of servers to keep the percentage of
customers placed on hold  or equal to 1%
The offered load is a = 5 call per minute x 1 minute/call = 5
From the Erlang C tables 13 servers are needed.
• Determine the .995% of the delay in access the voice
servers
• With p = .995, p = .01, c = 13, and  = 1
ln   C(c,a)

1 
C(c,a)  yields tp = .0866 minute = 5.2 secs
t 
c(1 )
p

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Summary
• Cellular Concept
– Small cells
– Frequency Reuse
• Frequency Planning
– Assignment of frequencies to cells
– Maintain C/I requirements
• Traffic Engineering
– Erlang B model
– Erlang C model
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