Cell in wireless communication is the geographical region that is covered by a transmission facility.
What is Cell in Wireless Communication?
Cell in wireless communication technologies, the geographical region that is covered by a transmission facility. The term «cell» is most often used in reference to cellular phone technology, but it can also be used in reference to the coverage areas for transmission of cordless telephones, satellite transmissions, wireless local area networks (LANs), packet radio, and paging technologies.
How does Cell work?
Cells range in size from a few dozen meters to thousands of kilometers in diameter, depending on the technology being used, the power of the transmission station, and the terrain topography.
The following table summarizes typical cell size ranges for different wireless communication technologies. These figures are only approximate because wireless technologies are constantly evolving.
Satellite-based systems have by far the largest cell sizes and are rapidly increasing in popularity. Cellular phone technologies in rural areas typically use cells with a radius of 10 to 50 kilometers, while cells in urban areas range in size from 1 to 10 kilometers.
For highly dense urban areas, cell sizes as small as 100 meters can be used, especially in high-tier Personal Communications Devices (PCD) cellular technologies.
Cell Radius Measures by Technology
| Wireless Technology | Cell Radius |
| Wireless LANs | 10 to 100 meters |
| Cellular telephone | 0.1 to 50 kilometers |
| PCD | 0.1 to 1 kilometer |
| Satellite-based | 1000 kilometers or more |
Roaming
When a mobile caller using a cell phone passes from one cell to another, the cellular phone system transfers the call to the system servicing the adjacent cell, a process called roaming.
