Question

Question: Explain why the square and circle shapes cells for cellular communications are not appropriate as compared to hexagonal shape cells

Answer 1

Explanation on why the square and circle shapes cells for cellular communications and its architecture are not appropriate as compared to hexagonal shape cells:

Hexagonal shaped cells cover an entire area without overlapping. Whereas the circular approximation or circular shaped cells must partially overlap to avoid gaps. The circular shaped cells do not cover the whole network coverage area. Also, in general, there is an impact of the cell shapes on the estimation of specific performance metrics. The hexagonal shaped cells or approximation is very often employed and implemented in planning and analysis of wireless or specifically cellular networks because of its flexibility and convenience. Also, there is an impact of the shape of the cells on performance degradation due to co-channel interference and on RF signal attenuation or path loss attenuation.

A hexagonal model turns out to be more accurate for network planning and design as they consider hexagonal–shaped cells. Comparatively, the inradius approximation compared with the circumradius one results closer to the hexagonal approximation approach. Practically, the hexagonal approximation usage instead of the circular–cell approximation usage is more suitable for the simulations and wireless networks planning activities when hexagonal–shaped cells are implemented.

When circles are arranged together, you would find many areas between circles or rather between 4 immediately adjacent circles, i.e., at the center of four circles which is created and which will not be covered by any circle. These areas are called the blackspots, no nearby circle covers these areas with their signals reaching them. Whereas, hexagon approximation which is also called the beehive structure has advantages and resolves all the issues found in circular or square shaped cells approximation. In Hexagonal shaped cells or approximation, the distance from center to any point is same and the all the cells are arranged such that no blackspots exist. Also, the frequency reuse in the hexagonal approximation is possible using the hexagonal shaped cells.