Performance Evaluation of Spectrum Efficiency of a Cellular Wireless Network in Nigeria (Apapa Lagos, as a Case Study)

Abstract

Ever increasing demand for communication services has led to serious challenges to network operators to ensure acceptable Quality of Service (QoS) at minimum cost. The increasing number of subscribers and demand for greater variety of services make it difficult for network operators to provide the service varieties subscribers want while maintaining acceptable levels of quality of service. Spectrum is a precious commodity, knowing how efficiently different technologies and applications use it allows users and operators to make the best decisions on what wireless technology to deploy and in what configuration. Spectrum efficiency is an important parameter for accessing the frequency requirements of cellular mobile radio systems; radio channel capacity is a measure of the spectrum efficiency of a wireless system. The effect of cluster size, carrier to interference ratio and carried traffic in the spectrum efficiency are discussed. The fundamental figure of merit is the spectral efficiency was found to be 1.3698 fall within the regulator and defined items of Erlangs/MHz/Km2 proved to be adequate, comprehensive, and appropriate for cellular system. It is also observed that the smallest value of C/I ratio provides largest spectrum efficiency. Comparatively, the study of the 120° sectored and 60° sectored cells can be done in relation to non-sectored (omnidirectional, 360°) cells when a number of interfering base stations are considered. The performance of improvement of the 60° sectored provides better coverage performance than 120° sectored and Omni. Low C/I ratio will cause coverage issue including dropped calls, block calls, and other handset reception problem.