OE-7.2 The Cellular Concept & System Capacity
You can apply frequency reuse and channel assignment strategies, describe handoff, and analyse how co-channel interference limits system capacity.
Frequency reuse is the founding idea of mobile telephony: divide the territory into cells, reuse the same frequencies far enough apart, and a limited spectrum serves unlimited subscribers. The tension is immediate - smaller reuse distance means more capacity and more interference, so cluster size is the central design knob. Handoff and power control are the mechanisms that keep the compromise stable while users move.
Work through these
Frequency reuse and cluster size
The idea the whole industry rests on: use the same frequency again far enough away. Cluster size is the one number that sets both capacity and interference, so start here.
Channel assignment strategies
How a channel gets given to a call, fixed in advance or on demand. The comparison is a trade between simplicity and how well the capacity is used.
Handoff strategies
Keeping a call alive as the user moves between cells. It is the problem that makes a cellular network hard rather than merely a set of radios.
Co-channel interference and system capacity
The price of reusing frequencies, and the calculation that decides whether the price is acceptable. This is the item that turns the first one into a design.
Adjacent channel interference
Interference from the neighbouring channel rather than the distant reused one. A filtering problem rather than a geometry problem, which is why it is treated separately.
Power control for reducing interference
Turning the power down as far as the link allows, which helps everyone. It is the cheapest capacity improvement available and it is why phones do it constantly.
Sign in to keep your progress.
Free resources
We haven't checked most of these for screen reader use yet.
Links last checked 30 Aug 2026.
Stuck here?
Ask a mentor. A real person answers, and they can see exactly which topic you're on. Usually within a couple of working days.
Checking your session…
Topics shown in module order.