Cellular Radio Network
A Cellular Radio Network is a system of land based cells which allows portable transceivers’, such as mobile phones, to communicate with other transceivers over large geographical areas. A Cellular Radio Network allows this to happen even if the transceiver is moving between individual cells. Each of the cells communicates with a base station otherwise known as a cell site.
The advantage of a Cellular Radio Network over a network relying on a single transmitter is the fact that a series of cells can reuse a particular frequency for totally separate transmissions. With a single transmitter, one frequency only can be used to accommodate one transmission. If another adjacent cell uses that frequency, interference may be experienced.
A Cellular Radio Network is therefore split into roughly similar sized and shaped areas and no transmitter will use the same frequency as an adjacent cell. As long as there is at least one cell operating on a different frequency situated between the two transmitters operating on the same frequency, those two cells can operate on that particular frequency without any signal interference.
Mobile phone users are able to move between the cells of a Cellular Radio Network without knowing that they are changing frequencies because the hand-over or handoff system does not need to be manually switched.
The new base station will effectively tell the mobile phone that it needs to switch to a new channel, which it is capable of doing without interruption to communication.