Channel allocation in Cellular System

Channel allocation deals with the allocation of channels to cells in a cellular network. Once the channels are allocated, cells may then allow users within the cell to communicate via the available channels. 

Channels in a wireless communication system typically consist of time slots, frequency bands and/or CDMA pseudo noise sequences, but in an abstract sense, they can represent any generic transmission resource. 

There are three major categories for assigning these channels to cells (or base-stations). They are

• Fixed Channel Allocation, 
• Dynamic Channel Allocation and 
• Hybrid Channel Allocation which is a combination of the first two methods.

Fixed Channel Allocation

        Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) systems allocate specific channels to specific cells. This allocation is static and can not be changed. For efficient operation, FCA systems typically allocate channels in a manner that maximizes frequency reuse. Thus, in a FCA system, the distance between cells using the same channel is the minimum reuse distance for that system. 

The problem with FCA systems is quite simple and occurs whenever the offered traffic to a network of base stations is not uniform. Consider a case in which two adjacent cells are allocated N channels each. There clearly can be situations in which one cell has a need for N+k channels while the adjacent cell only requires N-m channels (for positive integers k and m). In such a case, k users in the first cell would be blocked from making calls while m channels in the second cell would go unused. Clearly in this situation of non-uniform spatial offered traffic, the available channels are not being used efficiently.

Dynamic Channel Allocation
In DCA systems, no set relationship exists between channels and cells. Instead, channels are part of a pool of resources. Whenever a channel is needed by a cell, the channel is allocated under the constraint that frequency reuse requirements can not be violated. There are two problems that typically occur with DCA based systems.

• First, DCA methods typically have a degree of randomness associated with them and this leads to the fact that frequency reuse is often not maximized unlike the case for FCA systems in which cells using the same channel are separated by the minimum reuse distance. 

• Secondly, DCA methods often involve complex algorithms for deciding which available channel is most efficient. These algorithms can be very computationally intensive and may require large computing resources in order to be real-time. 

Hybrid Channel Allocation Schemes

The third category of channel allocation methods includes all systems that are hybrids of fixed and dynamic channel allocation systems. 

Channel Borrowing is one of the most straightforward hybrid allocation schemes. Here, channels are assigned to cells just as in fixed allocation schemes. If a cell needs a channel in excess of the channels previously assigned to it, that cell may borrow a channel from one of its neighboring cells given that a channel is available and use of this channel won't violate frequency reuse requirements.