Why shape of cell is hexagonal in cellular network?

Answer 1

In a cellular System a land area is divided into regular shaped cells, which can be hexagonal, square, circular or some other irregular shapes, although hexagonal cells are conventional.

This is because there are some criteria for the cell shape, which are

1. Geometric shape

2. Area without overlap

3. Area of the cell

And the eligible shapes for these criteria are Square, circle, equilateral triangle & hexagon.

The Geometric shape & Area without overlap is satisfied by a hexagon,square, equilateral triangle as they can be fitted in a manner where there is no area of overlap. The circle on the other hand would overlap (which implies interference of signals) or leave gaps (which means loss of coverage in those areas) when not overlapping.

When the area factor is considered a circle has the highest area however it does not satisfy the second criteria of overlap. Therefore we have to consider a shape which fits correctly and also has maximum area.

For this purpose we shall compare the area of the remaining shapes to the area of circle to see which has the maximum area.

The area of an equilateral triangle to a circle approx = 17.77%

The area of a square to a circle approx = 63.7%

The area of a hexagon to a circle approx = 83%

Which means hexagon has the highest coverage area after a circle from the lot.

Thus of the lot hexagon satisfies all the conditions which is why the shape of a cell is hexagonal in cellular network.