18759: Wireless Networks

Cellular and GPS

Homework Assignment 3 [100 points]
Out Date: 23th March
Due Date: 02nd April
Question 1: Short Answers (1 or 2 paragraphs) [20 points]
1) Distinguish soft and hard handover.
2) Why is there a handover margin instead of a handover point?
3) Explain the problem of inter-cell interference
4) Explain cell splitting and when it may be used.
5) How is data rate increased from G1 networks to G2, and from G2 to G3? What motivated this in-
crease?
Solutions:
1) hard handover
Break-before-make: channel in initial cell is released and only then the channel in
the new cell is engaged.
Soft handover
make-before-make: mobile terminal maintains connections between source cell
and others in parallel. Depending on signal uality! it may drop the source cell.
"iven that the mobile terminal is connected to multiple base stations! the risk of a
call drop during handover is reduced.
#) $f using a handover point! the signal variations would lead to a ping-pong effect. $t
also allows to define different values for handover during a call %in which it is
desirable to maintain the connection to the same base station as &long as
possible')! and handover during idle periods.
() $nter-cell interference happens essentially due to the the freuency reuse
techniues. $f the freuency reuse factor is small! the distance between co-channel
cells may not be sufficient to avoid interference.
)) *ell-splitting is a techniue that subdivides one cell in smaller cells! with the
ob+ective of increasing the capacity within the region of the original cell site. ,his
is done by ad+usting the transmission power and reducing the antenna height!
which allows for an increase in the number of times channels are reused.
Question 2: Cellular capacity [30 points]
On the Super bowl weekend, it is anticipated that the number of users in the vicinity of the
stadium will increase dramatically. A cellular service provider decides to put up a new base
station near the stadium to accommodate the expected increase in demand. It is anticipated
that the user density will increase to 600 users/km.
1) If, on average, each user makes 1 call every 2 hours and each call lasts for 4 minutes, calculate
how many channels a service provider would need to allocate to this new cell in order to keep
the GoS at 2%. Assume that the area of this new cell is 3 km.
2) With the same assumption, if 120 sectoring is used, calculate the total number of channels
needed for this new cell.
3) Does the system gain or lose trunking efficiency with the cell sectoring approach?
Solution:
(a) The traffic intensity per user given in this case is
Au = _u .1/ = (1/1!"in)#$"in=1/%! &rlang/user
The nu"'er of users in the area is
( = )!! users/*"+ # % *"+ = 1,!! users/cell
Thus- the total traffic intensity is
A = Au # (=1/%! &rlang/user # 1,!! users/cell = )! &rlang/cell
.eferring to a &rlang / ta'le- for 0oS = 1 an2 A = )! &rlang- the nu"'er of
channels
re3uire2 is 41.
(') 5n this case- there are % sectors in a cell. 5t "eans that the average
nu"'er of users in one
sector is 1,!!/% = )!!. Thus- the total traffic intensity in one sector is
A = Au # (=1/%! &rlang/user # )!! users/cell = ! &rlang/cell
.eferring to a &rlang / ta'le- for 0oS = 1 an2 A = )! &rlang- the nu"'er of
channels re3uire2 for each sector is ,. Thus the total nu"'er of channels
re3uire2 for the ne6 cell is ,#% = ,$.
(c) The syste" actually loses the trun*ing efficiency. As seen in part (a)- 41
channels are re3uire2
for supporting the propose2 traffic in part (a) 6hereas it 6ill re3uire totally
,$ channels
in part (').
Question 2: Call Blocking Probability [20 points]
1) Old wireless systems used a single base station located in the middle of a coverage area. As-
sume that there are 100 subscribers and that each subscriber makes, on the average, 2 calls in
a 24-hour period. Calls are exponentially distributed with mean of 3 minutes. If there is a single
channel in the system, what is the probability of a call being blocked? What is the probability of
blocking if there are 3 channels in the system? Assume call arrival is Poisson. (Clue: Erlang-B)
2) Assume now that the coverage area is served by two channels. Someone proposes to divide
the coverage into two "cells," each cell with a single channel. How will be the blocking probabili-
ty affected? Please explain. (Assume users are uniformly distributed).
Solution:
-: is defined as the arrival rate of new calls.
.: is the holding time.
/0 -.. is the total traffic in erlang.
1: 122 users
-0#3#) clls3hours4 .0(352 hour
/n013#)2: /0 1226 /n 0 731#
%/). 8or *0 14 9r:Blocking; 0 2.#<)11=5
8or *0 #4 9r:Blocking; 0 2.27==(5=
8or *0 (: 9r:Blocking; 0 2.22=<77#
%B). /0726/n 0 73#)
8or *0 14 9r:Blocking;0 2.1=#)1(=<
,he probability of blocking is increased or the trunking efficiency is decreased.
Question 4: GPS [15 points]
1) What is the minimum number of Satellites you need to estimate the position of a location using
GPS?
2) Is there a benefit in using more satellites? Please explain your answer.
3) Why is multi-path a problem in GPS localization?
Solution:
%a) ( satellites are used %at least) for a (D fi> in general in "9S. Distances are measured
from each of these satellites and the receiver. Data from a single satellite narrows
position down to a large area of the earth?s surface. /dding data from a second satellite
narrows position down to the region where two spheres overlap. /dding data from a third
satellite provides relatively accurate position. $ntersection of these spheres is the
trilateration method to obtain a more accurate #-D fi>.
%b) .owever ( satellites are not really enough to provide high degree of accuracy! the
reason is that satellites have very accurate atomic clocks compared to the lesser accurate
clocks at the receivers! $n order to solve this discrepancy and to compensate for the
inaccurate clock in "9S receivers a )th satellite is needed.
%c) ,he distance from a satellite to the receiver is calculated via the delay of the signal.
@ultipath can increase the delay! resulting in errors in the estimation of the distance.
Question 5: True of False
[+3 for correct answer, -1.5 for incorrect answer] [15 points]
Briefly justify your answer (1-2 sentences)
Cell sectoring is dividing a cell into small sectors using transmit power control. True False
In a cellular network the mean rate of calls is different from the traffic intensity
of the network
True False
A soft handoff is also known as a break-before-make handoff because the
new connection is established after ending the previous connection. True False
Grade of service can be viewed independently from the perspective of incom-
ing and outgoing calls.
True False
There is a requirement to do Medium Access Control at the receiver and for
the tags in RFID.
True False
Solution:
%1) 8alse: @icrocells are completely different approach to increase channel capacity
which uses transmit power control.
%#) ,rue: ,he mean rate of calls when multiplied with the mean holding time of a call
gives you the traffic intensity. .ence they are different metrics.
%() 8alse: ,he e>planation is that of hard handoff.
%)) ,rue: ,he grade of service is not necessarily eual in both directions or between
the source-destination pairs and hence can be viewed independently from the
view of incoming and outgoing calls.
%7) 8alse: $t is usually assumed that there is only one reader! however @/* is indeed
needed for the tags.