Multiplexing capacities in mobile air/ground radio communication systems employing cylindrical cells

Cylindrical cells represent actual service volumes used in terminal areas (airports) for air traffic control (ATC) communications between pilots and ground controllers. The channel capacities of two multiplexing protocols, namely CDM and FDM, for air/ground (A/G) mobile radio communication systems employing cylindrical cells are compared assuming a network of identical cylindrical cells and a dedicated radio channel per group of aircraft and its ground controller. Capacity of FDM depends mainly on the frequency reuse distance while the capacity of CDM depends on the self users interference. The paper shows that the capacity ratio of the two systems depends on the cell dimensions. It is concluded that FDM provides a higher capacity than CDM for all the cell dimension ranges considered