Traffic performance of a large-zone mobile network overlaid with spot macrocells

Usually, private mobile communications networks are operated with a large‐zone configuration having a radius of several tens of kilometers. However, the available frequency band is limited, and a technique must be developed in order to satisfy the increasing demand for channels. This paper considers an improvement of the traffic characteristics in which multiple macrocells are arranged spotwise in the high‐traffic‐density areas in a large zone, and the frequency is reused among the macrocells. It is shown by theoretical investigation and by simulation that traffic characteristics can be improved by sharing channels among the large zone and macrocells. The concept of logical cell is introduced in order to realize flexible placement of macrocells, and the effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 87(9): 18–27, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecja.10207