Wireless Communication Systems Practice Test: Cellular Concept - System Design Fundamentals — Flashcards

The cellular concept is a system-level idea that involves replacing a single, high power transmitter with many low power transmitters. Each low power transmitter provides coverage to a small portion of the service area. 

The cellular concept is a major breakthrough in solving the problem of spectral congestion and user capacity. It offers very high capacity in a limited spectrum allocation without any major technological changes. 

Here are some other fundamentals of cellular system design:

Frequency reuse
This is the process of using the same radio frequencies on base stations and other radio transmitter sites within a geographic area.

Cell splitting
This is the process of splitting a mobile cell into several smaller cells. This is usually done to make more voice channels available to accommodate traffic growth in the area covered by the original cell.

Handoff
This is the process of transferring an active call from one cell to another as the mobile unit moves from the first cell to the other cell without disconnecting the call. 

A cellular communication system consists of four major components:
A public switched telephone network (PSTN)
A mobile telephone switching office (MTSO)
Cell sites with antenna systems
Mobile subscriber units (MSU)

Topics include: Frequency Reuse, Channel Strategies, Handoff Strategies, System Capacity, Service Trunking, & Coverage Improvement.