Cellular Wireless Networks

outline

Cellular network: basic principles Cellular network organization Mobile Radio Propagation Effects Traffic Engineering First-Generation cellular: Analog Example: AMPS Second Generation Cellular Systems Basic characteristics TDMA (GSM) cellular architecture CDMA Third-Generation systems

Cellular Network Organization

Cellular Network

objectives

Cellular Network Organization

Use multiple low-power transmitters (100 W or less) Areas divided into cells

Each served by its own antenna Served by base station consisting of transmitter, receiver, and control unit Band of frequencies allocated Cells set up such that antennas of all neighbors are equidistant (hexagonal pattern)

Cell Shape

Cells are commonly represented by hexagons. Why hexagon? How about circle? How about square, or triangle?

Hexagonal Cells

Cellular systems issues

-cell sizing -Frequency reuse -Channel allocation strategies -Handover necessary Factors to determine cell size -No of users to be supported -Multiplexing and transmission techniques adopted.

100 m in cities to 35 km on the country side (GSM)

Cellular

Advantages:

higher capacity, higher number of users less transmission power needed more robust, decentralized base station deals with interference, transmission area etc. locally

Cellular

Problems:

fixed network needed for the base stations handover necessary interference with co-channel, adjacent-channel

Important Issues:

Cell sizing; Frequency reuse planning Channel allocation strategies

Bottom line: Attempt to maximize availability of channels in an area

Frequency Reuse

Adjacent cells assigned different frequencies to avoid interference or crosstalk Objective is to reuse frequency in nearby cells

10 to 50 frequencies assigned to each cell Transmission power controlled to limit power at that frequency escaping to adjacent cells The issue is to determine how many cells must intervene between two cells using the same frequency

Frequency reuse

The total number of channels are divided into K groups.

K is called reuse factor or cluster size.

Each cell is assigned one of the groups. The same group can be reused by two different cells provided that they are sufficiently far apart.

Example: K=7

Frequency Reuse

Assignment

Approaches to Cope with Increasing Capacity

Adding new channels Frequency borrowing frequencies are taken from adjacent cells by congested cells Cell splitting cells in areas of high usage can be split into smaller cells Cell sectoring cells are divided into a number of wedge-shaped sectors, each with their own set of channels Microcells antennas move to buildings, hills, and lamp posts

Cellular System Overview

Cellular Systems Terms

Base Station (BS) includes an antenna, a controller, and a number of receivers Mobile telecommunications switching office (MTSO) connects calls between mobile units -MSC (Mobile Switching Center). Two types of channels available between mobile unit and BS

Control channels used to exchange information having to do with setting up and maintaining calls. Related RCC and FCC Traffic channels carry voice or data connection between users

Cellular system concepts

Base stations (BS): implement space division multiplex

Each BS covers a certain transmission area (cell) Each BS is allocated a portion of the total number of channels available Cluster: group of nearby BSs that together use all available channels

Mobile stations communicate only via the base station, using FDMA, TDMA, CDMA

MTSO

Each MSC is a local switching exchange that handles switching of mobile user from one base station to another

Locating the current cell of a mobile user

Home Location Register (HLR): database recording the current location of each mobile that belongs to the MSC Visitor Location Register (VLR): database recording the cell of visiting mobiles

Interfacing with other MSCs and PSTN

MTSO

Network activity:

MSC determines current location of target mobile using HLR, VLR and by communicating with other MSCs Source MSC initiates a call setup message to MSC covering target area

MTSO Controlled Call between Mobile Users: steps

Mobile unit initialization

When mobile unit is turned on ,it scans to select the strongest setup control channel and monitors the channel

Mobile-originated call
Sends the number of called unit through the preselected setup channel..When idle is detected, mobile may send through corresponding reverse channel.

Paging
MTSO attempts to complete the connection to the called unit. .The MTSO sends paging message to certain BS and consequently to MU

Call accepted Ongoing call Handoff-

Additional Functions in an MTSO Controlled Call

Call blocking Call termination Call drop Calls to/from fixed and remote mobile subscriber

Mobile Radio Propagation Effects

Mobile Radio Propagation Effects

Signal strength Must be strong enough between base station and mobile unit to maintain signal quality at the receiver Must not be so strong as to create too much co-channel interference with channels in another cell using the same frequency band Fading Signal propagation effects may disrupt the signal and cause errors fading is deviation of the attenuation that a carriermodulated telecommunication signal experiences over certain propagation media.

Handoff Performance Metrics

Call blocking probability probability of a new call being blocked Call dropping probability probability that a call is terminated due to a handoff Call completion probability probability that an admitted call is not dropped before it terminates Probability of unsuccessful handoff probability that a handoff is executed while the reception conditions are inadequate

Handoff Performance Metrics

Handoff blocking probability probability that a handoff cannot be successfully completed Handoff probability probability that a handoff occurs before call termination Rate of handoff number of handoffs per unit time Interruption duration duration of time during a handoff in which a mobile is not connected to either base station Handoff delay distance the mobile moves from the point at which the handoff should occur to the point at which it does occur

Strategies Used to Determine Instant of Handoff

Relative signal strength-The mu is handed off from BS A to BS B when the signal strength at B first exceeds that at A. Relative signal strength with threshold-Handoff only occurs if(1) the signal at current BS is sufficiently weak less than predefined threshold. Prediction techniques

Power Control

Design issues making it desirable to include dynamic power control in a cellular system

Received power must be sufficiently above the background noise for effective communication Desirable to minimize power in the transmitted signal from the mobile

Reduce co-channel interference, alleviate health concerns, save battery power

In SS systems using CDMA, its desirable to equalize the received power level from all mobile units at the BS

Types of Power Control

Open-loop power control

Depends solely on mobile unit No feedback from BS Not as accurate as closed-loop, but can react quicker to fluctuations in signal strength Adjusts signal strength in reverse channel based on metric of performance BS makes power adjustment decision and communicates to mobile on control channel

Closed-loop power control

Traffic Engineering

Traffic Engineering

Ideally, available channels would equal number of subscribers active at one time In practice, not feasible to have capacity handle all possible load For N simultaneous user capacity and L subscribers

L < N nonblocking system L > N blocking system

Blocking System Performance Questions

Probability that call request is blocked? What capacity is needed to achieve a certain upper bound on probability of blocking? What is the average delay? What capacity is needed to achieve a certain average delay?

Traffic Intensity

Load presented to a system:

A = h

= mean rate of calls attempted per unit time h = mean holding time per successful call A = average number of calls arriving during average holding period, for normalized

History -It all started like this

First telephone (photophone) Alexander Bell, 1880 The first car mounted radio telephone 1921

Going further

1946 First commercial mobile radiotelephone service by Bell and AT&T in Saint Louis, USA. Half duplex(PTT) In the 1960s, the system was improved to a two-channel system, called the improved mobile telephone system (IMTS) 1973 First handheld cellular phone Motorola. First cellular net Bahrein 1978

First-Generation cellular: Analog

Generation Gap

Generation #1 Analog [routines for sending voice] All systems are incompatible No international roaming Little capacity cannot accommodate masses of subscribers

First-Generation

Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)

In North America, two 25-MHz bands allocated to AMPS (869-894MHz & 824-849MHz)

One for transmission from base to mobile unit One for transmission from mobile unit to base

Each band split in two to encourage competition (accommodate two operators in each market) 416 channels (395 & 21 control) Frequency reuse exploited Cell size (radius) 2 to 20km

First-Generation Analog

Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)

Channel bandwidth: 30 kHz Voice (traffic) channel modulation: FM Control channel modulation: FSK (10kbps) Support for data transmission only by use of a modem

Amps phone

-Includes a Numeric assignment module (NAM) in read only memory . -Nam contain telephone no and phone serial no. When turned on it transmits its own phone number and serial to MTSO.

Second Generation Cellular Systems

Goals of 2nd Generation Systems

Second generation systems were to address the needs: Provide higher quality signals Higher data rates for support of digital services Higher capacity

Differences Between 1st & 2nd Generation Systems

Digital traffic channels

first-generation systems are almost purely analog; secondgeneration systems are digital all second generation systems provide encryption to prevent eavesdropping second-generation digital traffic allows for detection and correction, giving clear voice reception second-generation systems allow channels to be dynamically shared by a number of users

Encryption

Error detection and correction

Channel access

Dynamic channel sharing

Multiple channels per cell Each channel dynamically shared by a number of users using

TDMA or CDMA Leads to more efficient utilization of the frequency spectrum

TDMA

It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. Users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using his own time slot. Allows multiple stations to share the same transmission medium (e.g. radio frequency channel) while using only a part of its channel capacity

2ND Generation

In the USA, two standards are used for second generation systems: IS95 (CDMA) and IS-136 (D-AMPS). Europe consolidated to one system called the global system for mobile communications (GSM). Japan uses a system called personal digital cellular (PDC).

GSM (Global System for mobile Communications)

Before GSM the countries of Europe used a number of incompatible 1st generation cellular phone technologies GSM enabled same subscriber units to be used throughout the continent. GSM so successful that it soon spread to other continents

GSM Network Architecture

Mobile station Base Station Subsystem Network Subsystem Radio link aspects TDMA Format

GSM Network Architecture

GSM STRUCTURE

Mobile Station

Mobile station communicates across Um interface (air interface) with base station transceiver in same cell as mobile unit Mobile equipment (ME) physical terminal, such as phones. ME includes radio transceiver, digital signal processors and subscriber identity module (SIM). SIM Removable plastic card Stores Network Specific Data such as list of carrier frequencies and current Location Area ID (LAI). Stores International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) + ISDN Stores Personal Identification Number (PIN) & Authentication Keys. Also stores short messages, charging information, telephone book etc. SIMs roam, not necessarily the subscriber devices

GSM identifiers

International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI): unique 15 digits assigned by service provider = home country code + home GSM network code + mobile subscriber ID + national mobile subscriber ID International mobile station equipment identity (IMEI): unique 15 digits assigned by equipment manufacturer = type approval code + final assembly code + serial number + spare digit Temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI): 32-bit number assigned by VLR to uniquely identify a mobile station within a VLRs area

LAI

Location Area Identifier of an LA of a PLMN(public land mobile network) Based on international ISDN numering plan

Country Code (CC): 3 decimal digits Mobile Network Code (MNC): 2 decimal digits Location Area Code (LAC) : maximum 5 decimal digits

Is broadcast regularly by the BTS on broadcast channel Within LA, individual cells are uniquely identified with Cell Identifier (CI). LAI + CI = Global Cell Identity

Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

BSS consists of base station controller and one or more base transceiver stations (BTS) Each BTS defines a single cell

Includes radio antenna, radio transceiver and a link to a base station controller (BSC) Cell radius may be between 100m and 35km

BSC reserves radio frequencies, manages handoff of mobile unit from one cell to another within BSS, and controls paging. The BSC may be collocated with BTS or control several BTSs (hence multiple cells)

Network Subsystem (NS)

NS provides link between cellular network and public switched telecommunications networks

Controls handoffs between cells in different BSSs Authenticates users and validates accounts Enables worldwide roaming of mobile users

Central element of NS is the mobile switching center (MSC)

MSC
The Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC) is at the center of the GSM system. It has direct access to the Base Station System and the relevant databases and other networks. MSC's functions include: Setting up a call, routing, controlling and terminating a speech connection. Controlling location updating and handovers. Handling the subscriber's supplementary services. Collecting charging and accounting information.

Mobile Switching Center (MSC) Databases

Home location register (HLR) database stores information about each subscriber that belongs to it Visitor location register (VLR) database maintains information about subscribers currently physically in the region Authentication center database (AuC) used for authentication activities, holds encryption keys Equipment identity register database (EIR) keeps track of the type of equipment that exists at the mobile station Gateway MSC (GMSC)- Connects mobile network to a fixed network and other cellular networks.

Outgoing Call
MS sends dialled number to BSS 2. BSS sends dialled number to MSC 3,4 MSC checks VLR if MS is allowed the requested service.If so,MSC asks BSS to allocate resources for call. 5 MSC routes the call to GMSC 6 GMSC routes the call to local exchange of called user 7, 8,
1.

Incoming Call

1. Calling a GSM subscribers 2. Forwarding call to GSMC 3. Signal Setup to HLR 4. 5. Request MSRN from VLR 6. Forward responsible MSC to GMSC 7. Forward Call to current MSC 8. 9. Get current status of MS 10.11. Paging of MS 12.13. MS answers 14.15. Security

Radio link aspects

Spectral allocation:

25MHz for base-to-mobile (935-960MHz) 25MHz for mobile-to-base (890-915MHz) Other bands have been defined

Combination of FDMA and TDMA used Channel bandwidth 200kHz resulting in 125 full duplex channels Modulation used
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

Number of channels in GSM

Freq. Carrier: 200 kHz TDMA: 8 time slots per freq carrier No. of carriers = 25 MHz / 200 kHz = 125 Max no. of user channels = 125 * 8 = 1000 Considering guard bands = 124 * 8 =

TDMA Format Time Slot Fields

Trail bits allow synchronization of transmissions from mobile units Encrypted bits encrypted data Stealing bit - indicates whether block contains data or is "stolen for urgent control data Training sequence used to adapt parameters of receiver to the current path propagation characteristics

Strongest signal selected in case of multipath propagation

Guard bits used to avoid overlapping with other bursts

GSM Speech Signal Processing

GSM Signaling Protocol Architecture

Functions Provided by Protocols

Protocols above the link layer of the GSM signaling protocol architecture provide specific functions:

Radio resource management Mobility management Connection management Mobile application part (MAP) BTS management

GSM Enhancements
To enhance the current data capabilities of GSM, operators and infrastructure providers have specified new extensions to GSM Phase II. These extensions are: High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD): by using several circuit channels. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to provide packet radio access to external packet data networks (such as X.25 or Internet) Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE): using a new modulation scheme to provide up to three times higher throughput (for HSCSD and GPRS) Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS): a new wireless technology using new infrastructure deployment.

Characteristics of GSM Standard

Fully digital system using 900,1800 MHz frequency band. TDMA over radio carriers(200 KHz carrier spacing. 8 full rate or 16 half rate TDMA channels per carrier. User/terminal authentication for fraud control. Encryption of speech and data transmission over the radio path. Full international roaming capability. Low speed data services (upto 9.6 Kb/s). Compatibility with ISDN. Support of Short Message Service (SMS).

Advantages of GSM over Analog system

Capacity increases Reduced RF transmission power and longer battery life. International roaming capability. Better security against fraud (through terminal validation and user authentication). Encryption capability for information security and privacy. Compatibility with ISDN,leading to wider range of services

CDMA Cellular

CDMA Cellular

Each cell allocated a frequency bandwidth split into forward and reverse Transmission is in form of direct sequence spread spectrum (DS-SS) DS-SS uses a chipping code Multiple access provided by assigning orthogonal chipping codes to multiple uses

Advantages of CDMA Cellular

Frequency diversity frequency-dependent transmission impairments have less effect on signal Multipath resistance chipping codes used for CDMA exhibit low cross correlation and low autocorrelation. ( a version of the signal that is delayed by more

than a chip interval does not interfere with the dominant signal as much as in other cases)

Privacy privacy is inherent since spread spectrum is obtained by use of noise-like signals Graceful degradation system only gradually degrades as more users access the system

Drawbacks of CDMA Cellular

Self-jamming arriving transmissions from multiple users not aligned on chip boundaries unless users are perfectly synchronized Near-far problem signals closer to the receiver are received with less attenuation than signals farther away Soft handoff requires that the mobile acquires the new cell before it relinquishes the old; this is more complex than hard handoff used in FDMA and TDMA schemes

Mobile Wireless CDMA Design Considerations

RAKE receiver when multiple versions of a signal arrive more than one chip interval apart, RAKE receiver attempts to recover signals from multiple paths and combine them

This method achieves better performance than simply recovering dominant signal and treating remaining signals as noise

Soft Handoff mobile station temporarily connected to more than one base station simultaneously

Principle of RAKE Receiver

Types of Channels Supported by Forward Link

Pilot (channel 0) - allows the mobile unit to acquire timing information, provides phase reference and provides means for signal strength comparison Synchronization (channel 32) - used by mobile station to obtain identification information about cellular system Paging (channels 1 to 7) - contain messages for one or more mobile stations Traffic (channels 8 to 31 and 33 to 63) the forward channel supports 55 traffic channels

Forward Traffic Channel Processing Steps

Speech is encoded at a rate of 8550 bps Additional bits added for error detection Data transmitted in 2-ms blocks with forward error correction provided by a convolutional encoder Data interleaved in blocks to reduce effects of errors Data bits are scrambled, serving as a privacy mask

Forward Traffic Channel Processing Steps (cont.)

Power control information inserted into traffic channel DS-SS function spreads the 19.2 kbps to a rate of 1.2288 Mbps using one row of 64 x 64 Walsh matrix Digital bit stream modulated onto the carrier using QPSK modulation scheme

Third-Generation systems

General goals

The third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, after 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, "IMT-2000". Technology enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency.

Provide high speed wireless communications to support multimedia, data, and video in addition to voice

ITUs View of Third-Generation Capabilities

Voice quality comparable to the public switched telephone network 144 kbps data rate available to users in high-speed motor vehicles over large areas 384 kbps available to pedestrians standing or moving slowly over small areas Support for 2.048 Mbps for office use Symmetrical / asymmetrical data transmission rates Support for both packet switched and circuit switched data services

ITUs View of Third-Generation Capabilities

An adaptive interface to the Internet to reflect efficiently the common asymmetry between inbound and outbound traffic More efficient use of the available spectrum in general Support for a wide variety of mobile equipment Flexibility to allow the introduction of new services and technologies

Comparison with IEEE 802.11

Unlike IEEE 802.11 networks, 3G networks are wide area cellular telephone networks which evolved to incorporate high-speed internet access and video telephony. I EEE 802.11 networks are short range, highbandwidth networks primarily developed for data.

Alternative Interfaces

CDMA Design Considerations (SKIP)

Bandwidth limit channel usage to 5 MHz Chip rate depends on desired data rate, need for error control, and bandwidth limitations; 3 Mcps or more is reasonable Multirate advantage is that the system can flexibly support multiple simultaneous applications from a given user and can efficiently use available capacity by only providing the capacity required for each service

3G availability

By June 2007 the 200 millionth 3G subscriber had been connected. Out of 3 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide this is only 6.7%. In the countries where 3G was launched first - Japan and South Korea over half of all subscribers use 3G. In Europe the leading country is Italy with a third of its subscribers migrated to 3G. Other leading countries by 3G migration include UK, Austria and Singapore at the 20% migration level.

3G availability - Africa

In north Africa, the first service of 3G started in Morocco in late March 2006. Vodafone Egypt (also known as CLICK GSM) was to provide the service in Egypt in mid-2006. In early 2007, Vodacom Tanzania switched on its 3G HighSpeed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in Dar Es Salaam. It is the second country in Africa with such technology, after South Africa.

features

The most significant feature of 3G mobile technology is that it supports greater numbers of voice and data customers especially in urban areas and higher data rates at lower incremental cost than 2G. 3G uses .6 MHz channel carrier width to deliver significantly higher data rates and increased capacity compared to 2G networks.

2.5G and 2.7G

2G networks were built mainly for voice data and slow transmission. Due to rapid changes in user expectation, they do not meet today's wireless needs. "2.5G" (and even 2.75G) are technologies such as i-mode data services, camera phones, high-speed circuit-switched data (HSCSD) and General packet radio service (GPRS) were created to provide some functionality domains like 3G networks, but without the full transition to 3G network. They were built to introduce the possibilities of wireless application technology to the end consumers, and so increase demand for 3G services.

Network standardization

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defined the demands for 3G mobile networks with the IMT-2000 standard. An organization called 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has continued that work by defining a mobile system that fulfills the IMT-2000 standard. This system is called Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The evolution of the system will move forward with so called releases. Each release will introduce new features. The following features are examples of many others in these new releases.

3G evolution Release '99

64 kbit/s circuit switched 384 kbit/s packet switched Location services Call services: compatible with Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), based on Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)

3G evolution Release 4 Edge radio Multimedia messaging Improved location services IP Multimedia Services (IMS)

3G evolution Release 5 IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) IPv6 HSDPA

3G evolution Release 6 WLAN integration Multimedia broadcast and multicast Improvements in IMS HSUPA

Migration Paths

There are several different paths from 2G to 3G. In Europe the main path starts from GSM when GPRS is added to a system. From this point it is possible to go to the UMTS system. In North America the system evolution will start from Time division multiple access (TDMA), change to Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and then to UMTS. In Japan, two 3G standards are used: W-CDMA (compatible with UMTS) used by NTT DoCoMo and Softbank, and CDMA2000, used by KDDI. Transition to 3G was largely completed in Japan in 2006.

summary

Cellular network: basic principles Cellular network organization Mobile Radio Propagation Effects Traffic Engineering First-Generation cellular: Analog Frequency bands & their applications Second Generation Cellular Systems Basic characteristics TDMA Design GSM cellular architecture CDMA