Public Authority for Applied Education and Training

366 Selective Topics in

Communication Engineering
Lecture Notes based on: Wireless Crash Course
By Paul Bedell

Presented By

Fatema Alali
 The Spectrum
Different applications operate Frequency Band: a specified range of
on different frequency bands. frequencies with upper and lower limits.

Channel: a medium for transmitting / receiving signals in specific frequency band.

 A channel has a certain capacity for transmitting information, often measured

by its bandwidth in Hz or its data rate in bits per second.
 RF Signals
The transmitted/received signals from stations are electromagnetic waves known as Radio
Frequency (RF) signals that propagate in free space at speed of light (c): 3×10 8 m/sec

RF signals with different frequencies have E = hf Planck's constant

h = 6.6 × 10−34 J · s
different energy and different wavelengths (λ). c = λf

v(r ) Wave Length (λ): Distance covered by one cycle.

λ
f λ
(Hz) (m)
1
f ∝
distance
(meters) 50 6M
300k 1k λ
200M 1.5
 Cellular / Mobile Phones
Mobile phones: a portable wireless device that allows users to make and receive calls.

Old Services:
 MTS
 IMTS For the these old services, One base station serves one call
 RCC

Question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
Use the link to write a short paragraph about each of the given old services

Cellular phones: a New Service for mobile phone that is based on cellular concept: frequency reuse and handoff

For cellular services, several base stations serve one call

Question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
Use the link to write a short paragraph frequency reuse and handoff
 Cellular Service
Geographic areas covered by the service are divided into repeated blocks of cells

Periodic
Pattern

 Each cell is covered by a base station

 Different numbered cells operate on different Frequencies
 Frequency Reuse
Same numbered cells operate on the same frequency (reuse frequency)

To ensure minimal interference, adjacent Same Operating

cells operate on different frequencies Frequency

Cells with the same operating

frequencies are separated by sufficient
D/R
distance characterized by the
distance-to-reuse ratio: D/R

Engineer Task: Adding cell base tower.

Determine the D/R ratio for existing system based on the over all
coverage area & power level of the transmitted signal.
 Call Handoff
Transferring ongoing calls to different frequencies when moving to
different cells without disconnecting the ongoing call.

Overlap radio coverage to ensure call

continuity through handoff process The ongoing call is maintained through
the frequency switching process via the
f1 f3 Mobile Switching Center: MSC

Call hand off requires all cell phones to

have frequency agility: ability to switch
from one frequency to the other.
f2
 Cell Base Station
Also known as Base Transceiver Station (BTS): a physical area that serves the
subscribers with a certain frequency band, different than the adjacent cells.

 BTS handle many simultaneous calls.

 When mobile phone users connect to the
wireless system, BTS is the first point in
transmitting calls, and final point in
receiving calls.
 Each base station includes many low-power
radio transmitter/receiver (transceiver).
 Cell size depends highly on the population
density of the area. More users, smaller cells
and less users, bigger cells.

BTS is referred to the cell’s coverage area, tower, equipment shelter,

antennas, coaxial cable and ALL equipments related to it.
 Cellular Frequency Allocation
Each region is given a certain (large) spectrum for its wireless system.

The process of subdividing the designated spectrum into (small) discrete

spectrum blocks is called Frequency Division Multiple Access: FDMA

The discrete spectrum blocks are used either for

In USA, the wireless spectrum
transmitting channels or receiving channels. NO
is 850 MHz Band
channel is used for both transmitting and receiving.
 Uplink: 824-846 MHz
 Uplink Channel: for mobile transmit to BTS
 Downlink : 869-894 MHz
 Downlink Channel: for BTS transmit to mobile

Question: https://halberdbastion.com/intelligence/mobile-networks/filter?f%5B0%5D=3g_frequency_bands%3A283&f%5B1%5D=region%3A326
Use the link to determine the wireless spectrum band (3G) with its uplink and downlink channels in Kuwait
 Wireless System Components
1 Mobile Phone 2 Base Station: Coverage area serving wireless subscribers.
The area is outlined on maps by hexagon shape.

Backhaul Network (Fixed Network): connects the different

3 base stations to the Base Station Controller (BSC), then to the MSC.

Interconnection to PSTN* & internet: a link that

4 MSC 5 connects wireless calls to land line calls and vise versa.

*PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network

 BTS Main Components
Shelter
Cabinet for housing Antenna & transceivers
electronic equipment for Each tower can host
BTS operation several transceivers

Tower for mounting transceivers

Can be replaced by high roof tops
like ones for hotels and water
tanks
Coaxial Cables
Connects the mounted
transceivers to the on ground
shelter
 Antennas Main Classes
Omnidirectional Antenna Directional Antenna

BTS main transceiver

for cell coverage is an
omnidirectional
antenna

antenna which radiates equal antenna which radiates equal

radio power in all directions radio power in a specific direction
 Enhancers
Boost the signal from the BTS (Donor) to cover dead spots with weak service.

Pickup Antenna
Donor BTS
Highly directional antenna to
Main service
provide service at certain dead
provider
spot

Fiber Optic Cable

Feed the donor
signal to the
enhancer
 RF Signals Properties

Refraction: Rays bend/tilt through medium

(change direction)

Diffraction: Rays bend/move around

obstacles with size of the incident
wavelength (change shape)

Reflection: Rays bounce off obstacles

(opposite direction)
 RF Signals Impairments: Ducting
Signal get trapped in a horizontal layer in the lower atmosphere.

Duct Channel is created between two

layers of air with different temperature

Ducting causes long distance

propagation of radio signals
outside the BTS boundaries.

 Signal fading inside the cell

 Signal interference outside the cell
Solution:
Down tilting the BTS antenna toward the ground
 RF Signals Impairments: Absorption
Propagated signals get absorbed by objects they hit like buildings and trees.

Absorbed signals cause signal fading and

less coverage area

Solution:
 Decrease distance between different BTS
 Use higher gain antennas
 Use higher signal power for coverage area
 RF Signals Impairments: Free Space Loss
Signal fades as it propagate in space.

Signal with no attenuation Signal with attenuation

(Unrealistic Signals) (Realistic Signals)
x(t,d)
x(t,d) 1
α∝
λ distance
distance α ∝f

Attenuation Factor : α

Solution:
Increase the number of BTS for a given coverage area
 RF Signals Impairments: Multipath Fading
Also known as Rayleigh fading, signal scatters to different paths due reflection causing
scattered signal arrival at different times and added at the receiver with different phases

In phase
Strong Signal
addition

Out phase
Weak Signal
addition

Solution:
 Control phase of desired signals
 Diversity in transceivers
 System Interference
Interference occurs between signal with similar/close frequencies.

Cochannel Interference: occurs between two cells with the same operating
frequency band due to improper D/R ratio and/or excessively high gain antennas.

Adjacent Channel Interference: occurs between adjacent cells with very close frequencies
in the same block. For example, cell 1 with 990 MHz and cell 5 with 1000 MHZ

Intermodulation Interference: occurs when signals from different frequencies mix and
produce new unwanted signal with new frequency similar to the one of adjacent cell.
 RF Channelization
Assigned spectrum breaks up into discrete portions.

Paired Channels: wireless calls require TWO paired channels: uplink and down link.
Note: Cellular paired channels are separated by unused frequency band: Guard Band

Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) Time Division Duplexing (TDD)

Paired channels each of different frequency Paired channels both of the same frequency

Question:
Which channelization scheme is used for cellular calls: FDD or TDD?

Control Channel: data channel for wireless system administrative tasks:

 Call set up and handoff
 Collect data for billing
 Measures calls traffic
 Bluetooth
Short range, low cost wireless technology for communication between electronic devices.

Bluetooth Operating Frequency: 2.5GHz (license-free)

Bluetooth Features:
 Wireless data transfer range 10 meter ~ 100 meter
 No signal reflection: passes through obstacles
 Low cost technology
 Available spectrum around the globe.

Question:
What is the origin of the word Bluetooth?
 Ultra Wideband (UWB)
Digital pulse wireless transmission of large amount of data over ultra wide spectrum.

Sinusoidal
Narrow Band (NB)
Covers less than 10%
of the center frequency
NB with high power level

WB Wide Band (WB)

Covers 20% ~ 110% of
the center frequency
NonSinusoidal with low power level

UWB Features:
 Wide bandwidth (more than 1.5GHz)
 Short range transfer for large amount of data
 Low power levels → Reduced interference
 No reflection → Pass through obstacles
 Antenna Gain
Antenna gain is a measure of how much vertical radiation is compressed, and how much
horizontal radiation is spread.
3dB 1 0dB
L∝
f
L ∝λ

6dB

Higher antenna gain implies

wider horizontal coverage area, Note: Antenna’s length (L)
NOT higher power output! is proportional with its
Maximum power level for BTS antenna is 500W operating wavelength (λ)
 Sectorization
Subdividing one cell into sectors, each of which is covered by a directional antennas from
the same BTS to increase system capacity without adding new cells.

f1 f2

One cell reuse

3 frequencies
Directional
Antennas
f1 f2

Major Disadvantage:
f3 f3 Cochannel Interference
 Smart Antennas
An antenna array for managing cochannel interference by focused transmission at users.

Switched Beam System Adaptive Array System

User

Finite number of fixed Infinite number of dynamic

patterns switched optimally to Pattern adjusted to user in
user location real time manner
 Spectrum Limitations
The spectrum assigned for wireless systems is fixed → Limited Capacity for users
Two users can NOT share the same frequency at the same time in a given cell

Strategies to increase capacity are known as multiple access methods

Multiple access methods are schemes to divide and

allocate the assigned spectrum among users.

Multiple Access Methods

 Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
 Multiple Access Methods
FDMA: Spectrum divided to channels
among users: each call occupies
certain frequency (limited capacity)
Analog Technology
TDMA: channels divided to time slots
among users: each call occupies channel
at a certain time (increased capacity)
Digital Technology

CDMA: Spectrum is encrypted and shared among

users: each call has a unique code (large capacity)
Digital Technology
 Analog vs. Digital

10
1

time
-10

Analog Signal Digital Signal

Possible Values: Possible Values: 0, 1.

10, -10, 1, 0, -0.025. 9.9999, 9.998, -7.32,………..

Infinite Values Finite Values

 Digital System Advantages
Digital wireless technologies have many advantages over analog wireless systems

Increased user capacity Produce clean noiseless signals

Lower coast Produce smaller hand sets (mobile phones)

Improved call handoff More security almost impossible to hack

Reduced signal interference

 TDMA
Multiple users share the same channel at different times

Time slots are equally divided with very short periods Tslot (~50m seconds)
Each user occupies the channel for Tslot seconds, then channel is switched
for another user to occupy for the same Tslot.

Tslot is too small and switching too fast → users can NOT feel the switching process
Both users feel like they’re using the same channel simultaneously (at the same time)

Note: Some Time slots are assigned as Uplink, while some are Downlink channels

TDMA is FDD
 CDMA
Digital spread spectrum technology where users share same spectrum and each calls
identified with unique code.

Spread Spectrum Features:

 Use the same spectrum for all users
 Send calls over wide bands with low power levels
 Immune to interference and external noise

Spread Spectrum Implementation:

 Frequency Hopping: call is send over different carrier
frequencies that switches rapidly and randomly.
For CDMA, all cells use
the same spectrum
 Direct Sequencing: call is encoded with Pseudo Noise (PN) (frequency), where each
where (noise + call) bandwidth >> call bandwidth
cell has different PN codes.
 CDMA Architecture
CDMA features produce improved operation of the overall wireless system.

Power Control: control the power of the BTS and mobile phone over the coverage area.
If phone is close to BTS, power is reduced. If phone is far, power increases.

Rake Receivers: to make use of multipath fading, multiple receivers aggregate the
different phased signals to combine them into one composite signal.

Soft Hand off: since all cells use the same spectrum, a call can be covered by more than
one cell simultaneously (no need to break the call to switch it from one cell to the other)

Cell Breathing: output power is adjusted according to the noise level (lower power output
for higher noise level). This cause the coverage area to expand (high power) or shrink
(low power) accordingly, like it’s breathing.
 Global System for Mobile (GSM)
Unified wireless system based on TDMA legacy to enable all phones to operate anywhere
within the system coverage area (Europe).

The main feature of GSM is the Subscriber Identity Module: SIM

SIM is a micro controller which holds GSM operating program with

customer and carrier-specific data storage.

SIM card associates wireless subscription with a memory module

SIM card provides authentication, information storage and subscriber
account information. SIM cards works with any GSM mobile

Note: 3G technology is based on both GSM and CDMA technologies