74 International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology Method for Analysis of System Coverage and Capacity for a GSM Based Cellular Network C.A.D Pahalson 1 | N.S. Tarkaa 2 | G.A.Igwue 3 1, 2, 3 Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria To Cite this Article C.A.D Pahalson, N.S. Tarkaa and G.A.Igwue, “Method for Analysis of System Coverage and Capacity for a GSM Based Cellular Network”, International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology, Vol. 05, Issue 08, August 2019, pp.: 74-87. Article Info Received on 10-July-2019, Revised on 08-August-2019, Accepted on 14-August-2019, Published on 19-August-2019. The cellular concept is a system level idea in which a single, high power transmitter is replaced with many low power transmitters to support many users and the service area is divided into cells. Users communicate via radio links to base stations in the cells. Base stations are distributed over the coverage area of the service provider, and the same part of the available frequency spectrum can be used at multiple base stations as long as the interference situation enables communication at sufficient quality. Performance degradation in the network affects the end users who depend on their personal communicating devices which come with different features and capabilities that demand a lot from the underlying network. The key characteristics of the cellular network provide the requisite inputs used by network designers to achieve coverage, capacity and quality of service for the subscribers. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of system coverage and capacity using network parameters and operational data collected from a GSM network from the Apapa area of Lagos State of Nigeria. The methodology employed and the results obtained are quite revealing. KEYWORDS: Network capacity, Frequency reuse, Path loss models, Sectorization, System coverage Copyright © 2019 International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology All rights reserved. I. INTRODUCTION Cellular networks are now entering a new phase, driven by some major evolutional trends. Mobile technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) have truly altered people’s lifestyles and expectations all over the world. Since the advent of mobile communications, the technology has evolved independently in different countries, principally in Europe, North America and Japan. The different standards are based mainly on frequency spectrum, modulation techniques, multiple access methods, and speech compression techniques. Prominent among the different types of cellular systems that have evolved are Frequency Modulation (FM) based on the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) of the USA; Analog/digital frequency division multiple access (FDMA); Digital narrow band Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) that is standardized as GSM in Europe, as IS-95 system in North America and now developed as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000IX by Qualcomm in the U.S. Among the existing cellular networks, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) is the most popular cellular communication system all around the world [1]. GSM is comprised of several functional entities, whose functions and interfaces are specified. These entities of the GSM network intercommunicate to give the total functions and ABSTRACT Available online at: http://www.ijmtst.com/vol5issue08.html International Journal for Modern Trends in Science and Technology ISSN: 2455-3778 :: Volume: 05, Issue No: 08, August 2019