Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 69

Wireless Communication Network

Technology and Evolution First Edition


Shilin Wang
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmeta.com/product/wireless-communication-network-technology-and-evol
ution-first-edition-shilin-wang/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Digital Signal Processing for Wireless Communication


using Matlab (Signals and Communication Technology)
E.S. Gopi

https://ebookmeta.com/product/digital-signal-processing-for-
wireless-communication-using-matlab-signals-and-communication-
technology-e-s-gopi/

Evolution of Wireless Communication Ecosystems The


ComSoc Guides to Communications Technologies Suat
Secgin

https://ebookmeta.com/product/evolution-of-wireless-
communication-ecosystems-the-comsoc-guides-to-communications-
technologies-suat-secgin/

Machine Type Communication for Maritime Internet of


Things From Concept to Practice Wireless Networks
Michael Mao Wang

https://ebookmeta.com/product/machine-type-communication-for-
maritime-internet-of-things-from-concept-to-practice-wireless-
networks-michael-mao-wang/

Wireless Communication: Advancements and Challenges


(Wireless Communications and Networking Technologies)
1st Edition Prashant Ranjan

https://ebookmeta.com/product/wireless-communication-
advancements-and-challenges-wireless-communications-and-
networking-technologies-1st-edition-prashant-ranjan/
Business Database Technology 2nd Edition Shouhong Wang
Hai Wang

https://ebookmeta.com/product/business-database-technology-2nd-
edition-shouhong-wang-hai-wang/

Wireless Communication with Artificial Intelligence:


Emerging Trends and Applications (Wireless
Communications and Networking Technologies) 1st Edition
Anuj Singal (Editor)
https://ebookmeta.com/product/wireless-communication-with-
artificial-intelligence-emerging-trends-and-applications-
wireless-communications-and-networking-technologies-1st-edition-
anuj-singal-editor/

Multifunctional Antennas and Arrays for Wireless


Communication Systems (Wiley - IEEE) 1st Edition

https://ebookmeta.com/product/multifunctional-antennas-and-
arrays-for-wireless-communication-systems-wiley-ieee-1st-edition/

Blockchain Technology for IoT and Wireless


Communications 1st Edition Gajula Ramesh

https://ebookmeta.com/product/blockchain-technology-for-iot-and-
wireless-communications-1st-edition-gajula-ramesh/

Cross Technology Coexistence Design for Wireless


Networks Junmei Yao

https://ebookmeta.com/product/cross-technology-coexistence-
design-for-wireless-networks-junmei-yao/
Wireless Communication
Network Technology
and Evolution
B1948 Governing Asia

This page intentionally left blank

B1948_1-Aoki.indd 6 9/22/2014 4:24:57 PM


Wireless Communication
Network Technology
and Evolution

Shilin Wang
Nanjing Institute of Communication Engineering, China

Yunfei Cai
Shenzhen TCL New Technology Co., Ltd, China

Youyun Xu
Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, China

Yuanyang Cai
Purdue University Northwest, USA

World Scientific
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


Names: Wang, Shilin, 1938– author. | Cai, Yunfei, author. | Xu, Y (Youyun), author. |
Cai, Yuanyang, author.
Title: Wireless communication network technology and evolution / Shilin Wang,
Nanjing Institute of Communication Engineering, China, Yunfei Cai, Shenzhen TCL
New Technology Co., Ltd, China, Youyun Xu, Nanjing University of Posts &
Telecommunications, China, Yuanyang Cai, Purdue University Northwest, USA.
Other titles: 880-01 Yi dong tong xin wang de yan jin. English
Description: Singapore ; Hackensack, NJ : World Scientific, [2022] | “Originally published in
Chinese by Publishing House of Electronics Industry Co., Ltd.” |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021059120 | ISBN 9789811245053 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9789811245060 (ebook for institutions) | ISBN 9789811245077 (ebook for individuals)
Subjects: LCSH: Mobile communication systems. | 5G mobile communication systems.
Classification: LCC TK5103.2 .W3684 2022 | DDC 621.382/12--dc23/eng/20220204
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021059120

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data


A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

移动通信网的演进
Originally published in Chinese by Publishing House of Electronics Industry Co., Ltd.
Copyright © 2020 Publishing House of Electronics Industry Co., Ltd.

Copyright © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.


All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance
Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy
is not required from the publisher.

For any available supplementary material, please visit


https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12496#t=suppl

Desk Editors: Vishnu Mohan/Steven Patt

Typeset by Stallion Press


Email: enquiries@stallionpress.com

Printed in Singapore

Vishnu Mohan - 12496 - Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution.indd 1 14/2/2022 8:50:44 am
6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Foreword
by Pin Zhang

Wireless communication has become an indispensable basic method for


the transmission and exchange of human language, text, pictures, images,
data, symbols and other information. In the past 100 years, it has wit-
nessed and promoted human progress and social development, and it will
continue to play a role in information interaction in the process of human
progress toward intelligent communication.
The invention and application of the telegraph in the mid-19th century
fundamentally changed the way of mail delivery and remote information
sharing for thousands of years. The continuous advancement of wireless
communication technology in the 20th century had made radio broadcast-
ing, fax and television widely popular. People sitting at home can know
what major events are happening around the world, and they can listen
and appreciate the songs and dances, customs and historical culture and
arts from all parts of the world. Especially in the recent decades, with the
integrated development of modern information and communication tech-
nologies (ICT) such as wireless communication and computer networks,
the interconnection of people has achieved “global roaming, always
online”, which can be described as thousands of miles in a flash and hori-
zons within easy reach.
Behind the provision of this convenient service is the huge investment
in ICT infrastructure and the continuous development of wireless com-
munication network technology for decades, including cellular mobile
communication networks, wireless local area networks, wireless sensor

b4433-FM.indd 5 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

vi  Foreword by Pin Zhang

networks and the Internet of things. The communication network exists in


the form of a giant system and continues to explode. Therefore, whether
as an individual or as a group, it is difficult for people to control this sys-
tem alone or master all technologies by using one’s own power. Then,
how can a student or engineering technician in the ICT professional field
with limited time and energy quickly understand the wireless communica-
tion network technology? In addition to the necessary professional basic
training, it is essential for them to find a few comprehensive and profes-
sional technical books to read. This is exactly the purpose for which
Professor Shilin Wang led the compilation of Wireless Communication
Network Technology and Evolution.
Professor Wang and the other coauthors of this book have long been
engaged in teaching and scientific research in related fields such as wire-
less communications and computer networks in universities. They also
have rich experience in the design and product development of wireless
mobile communications systems in the industry. Based on a large number
of cutting-edge technical literature and academic books on wireless com-
munication networks, they combined their own teachings and practical
experiences, with full scanning and focused analysis, to explain the wire-
less communication network technologies’ past and present, design ideas,
key points, application methods, evolution processes and reasons. The
contents of this book mainly focus on cellular mobile communication,
wireless local area network (Wi-Fi), and wireless Internet of things
(NB-IoT, eMTC).
The beginning of this book goes straight to the technical topic without
any deviations. Each chapter begins with a brief summary, and the narra-
tive style of this teaching plan is reflected in the subsequent chapters. This
is one of the key features of this book.
The authors of this book closely follow the trends of the world and
systematically introduce the technical principles and evolution of cellular
communication networks, wireless local area networks and the Internet
of Things. The three network technologies are integrated, and both com-
mon technologies and individual technologies are written, so that readers
can clearly recognize the similarities and differences of the three net-
works. There are not only basic principles and formulas but also technical
analysis, intuitive illustrations and interpretations, as well as experiences

b4433-FM.indd 6 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Foreword by Pin Zhang  vii

and cases throughout the book, thus explaining the profound things in a
simple way. I believe this book can bring readers a wealth of knowledge
and enjoyment as well as a distinctive reading experience. This book is
very useful for engineering and technical personnel and university
students.

Ping Zhang
Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering
Professor of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

b4433-FM.indd 7 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


B1948 Governing Asia

This page intentionally left blank

B1948_1-Aoki.indd 6 9/22/2014 4:24:57 PM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Foreword
by Qihui Wu

When it comes to wireless communication, people naturally think of 4G


or 5G. Indeed, these, which are the fourth- or fifth-generation wireless
mobile communication systems, are the most successful representatives of
the progress of wireless communication technology in the recent decades
and one of the most powerful technological promoters of social innova-
tion. However, wireless communication network technologies are not
only limited to cellular mobile communications but also wireless local
area networks, wireless sensor networks and the Internet of things.
In only 40 years, the mobile communication network has progressed
from the first generation (1G) to the fifth generation (5G), enabling peo-
ple’s communication and information sharing to gradually break time and
geographical limitations and realize the interconnection of people to
people and people to things at any time and anywhere, and is now moving
toward the Internet of Everything. With the evolution of mobile commu-
nication networks, wireless local area networks and the Internet of Things
network have also developed. Although the application scenarios of these
three networks are different from the other, under the perspective of
­wireless communication, many technologies and development trends are
similar, such as transmission waveform (OFDM), high-order modulation
(MPSK, QAM), channel coding (LDPC, HARQ), multi-antenna
­technology, frame structure and physical resource structure.
The authors of this book refer to these three networks as wireless
communication networks and integrate these into one book. This may be

ix

b4433-FM.indd 9 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

x  Foreword by Qihui Wu

the reason why the authors chose the title of the book Wireless
Communication Network Technology and Evolution, which is one of the
core focus points of this book. Chapters 1 and 2 mainly discuss the same
technologies used in these three networks. Chapters 3−7 discuss the
­technologies used in different application scenarios of local area net-
works, Internet of Things and 5G, respectively. In the chapter on 5G
technology, not only the relevant content of the R15 version but also the
characteristics of the R16 version are discussed in detail. It also introduces
the Starlink technology from the perspective of eliminating the digital
divide, thus echoing the concept of air, space and ground integrated devel-
opment of future wireless mobile communication networks (6G) to a
certain extent.
The narratives of this book are all based on physical concepts. The
authors combine their own experiences and selectively analyze several
key technologies that restrict the performance of wireless communication
networks. Although there are only limited mathematical problems
involved, the authors always formulate profound interpretations close to
the core concepts to enable more natural and smooth reading. This is
another important characteristic of this book.
The authors of this book used to be my seniors and they have long
been engaged in teaching and scientific research in professional direc-
tions, such as wireless communication and computer networks. Later, all
of them worked in TCL Corporation and were engaged in the design,
construction and maintenance of mobile phones, Wi-Fi and private
networks. The academic research results and practical development
­
­experience accumulated by the authors are also reflected in this book,
which is another key feature of this book.
I believe that the publication of this book will provide great help to
related professional teachers, engineering and technical personnel,
­undergraduates and graduate students.

Qihui Wu
Professor of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Yangtze River Scholar Professor of Chinese Ministry of Education

b4433-FM.indd 10 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Preface

Wireless communication technologies, which are updated to a new


­generation in about every 10 years, are dedicated to obtaining faster
­network speeds and more functions for mobile devices not only in 1G, 2G
(GSM), 2.5G (GPRS), 2.75G (EDGE), 3G (WCDMA), 3.5G (HSPA),
3.75G (HSPA+), 4G (LTE-A) and nowadays 5G (IMT-2020) but also in
future 6G wireless communication network.
Remember beepers or the very first generation of mobile phones?
Well, the author remembers them clearly. It was 1992 when the author
constructed a wireless paging station in Guangdong, China. At that time,
we took our mobile phones and climbed all over the hills of the Pearl
River Delta (PRD) and installed the U-band wireless relay transceiver and
the V-band radio frequency (RF) transmitter. We climbed towers of hun-
dreds of meters to install the RF antennas and adjusted the paging system
until the Beep Pager (BP) machine was able to communicate. At that time,
the mobile phones that we used were actually called the 1G mobile phone,
and the wireless paging system built by our paging station was a one-way
system that can only transmit a few messages in one direction.
In 1999, which was also the first year that we abandoned the paging
station and entered the TCL age, the author bought his first digital mobile
phone which is regarded as the 2G mobile phone now. In addition to mak-
ing phone calls, it could also send text messages. Until the year 2008, the
author could not remember how many mobile phones he had changed
because they were replaced in almost one to two years. There were brands
such as Nokia, TCL, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson and others. After that,
mobile phones could even connect to the Internet, even though the

xi

b4433-FM.indd 11 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xii  Preface

connection speed was too slow. Such phones are called the 2.5G (GPRS)
mobile phones.
After 2008, smartphones have appeared and replaced the old mobile
phones, which made online Internet access possible, but the connection
speed was still not ideal. This generation of mobile phones is called the
3G mobile phone. At that time, we used the dual-mode mobile phone
which supports GSM cards and WCDMA cards presented by the China
Unicom. Such dual SIM cards and dual standby mobile phones were actu-
ally only transitional products.
After only a few years, a new standard mobile phone, which is the 4G
(TD-LTE) mobile phone, had appeared around 2011. This kind of phone
had greatly increased the network speed, which is nearly eight times faster
than 3G, and is being widely used nowadays. The author first used the
TCL mobile phone provided by the China Mobile for free (in fact, it is not
free, it needs to be bundled with a one-year call fee) and later switched to
iPhone and Huawei mobile phones.
With the rapid increase in the number of mobile phone users and con-
nected devices, more and more 4G users started using a large amount of
data networks at the same time, thus putting great pressure on the net-
work. To solve this problem, 5G communication network came into being.
As the next-generation wireless communication technology, 5G can run at
GB-level speed, process GB-level data traffic and is 10 times faster than
4G. For example, downloading a full HD movie via 5G network can be
done in just a few seconds or even faster. 5G will also become the basis
of future instruments and equipment, thus making VR, autonomous
­driving, Internet of Things, smart home, cloud services and other applica-
tion scenarios that we cannot imagine right now a reality.
But what exactly is 5G? 5G is the fifth-generation mobile communi-
cation technology. According to the requirements of the ITU, the 5G
(IMT-2020) standard developed by 3GPP includes three scenarios:
enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communica-
tion (mMTC) and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC).
For example, 5G can support GB per second data rate, 3D video, ultra-HD
display screen, cloud service, cloud entertainment, augmented reality
(AR), industrial automation, business-critical applications, autonomous
vehicles, smart homes, smart cities, smart voice and other application
environments. At the same time, 5G can also improve the peak data rate,
user-experienced data rate, mobility connection density, network energy
efficiency, spectrum efficiency, and regional traffic capacity and so on.

b4433-FM.indd 12 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Preface  xiii

Although the research of 5G is still in progress, we can already see several


underlying technologies for 5G, such as millimeter wave, small cell,
­massive MIMO, beamforming, and full duplex.
With these technologies, the efficiency of 5G can be greatly improved.
But to truly enter the 5G communication era, the continuous evolution of
the current 4G LTE technology is required because in the early stages of
5G, both 5G and 4G should coexist. The advantage of such a coexistence
is that, since the signal convergence of the 4G system is well constructed,
5G can use 4G as the base layer and function as the system enhancement
layer which ensures a better user communication experience. But com-
pared to the ultra-high bandwidth and speed of 5G, 4G LTE also needs to
maintain a sufficient and powerful level to power up 5G, which introduces
the concept of GB-level LTE by improving the speed of 4G into 1 Gbps.
By supporting GB-level LTE mobile terminals, the user’s connection
experience can be significantly improved, especially in virtual reality,
content streaming, cloud storage, and high-fidelity video and music cach-
ing. Taking virtual reality as an example, a GB-level LTE network can
fully support immersive and fluent scene VR video streaming, allowing
users to experience an unprecedented VR experience. Taking cloud stor-
age as an example, GB-level LTE network allows opening files on the
cloud as fast as opening them locally. As GB-level LTE network continues
to develop in the future, it is expected that cloud storage will replace local
storage. As an important milestone on the road to 5G, GB-level LTE will
benefit the entire industry in many ways. For us, it also means opening the
first door to the road toward 5G.
From the perspective of evolution, this book describes the develop-
ment of radio networks with cellular radio networks (from 1G to 5G),
wireless local area networks (WLAN) and narrowband Internet of Things
(NB-IoT) as the main content and related technical measures to meet vari-
ous application requirements. The top focus point of this book is 5G wire-
less communication.
To ensure a better reading experience, Chapter 1 introduces the basic
principles of communication networks. Chapter 2 explains the evolution
process, evolution theories and technical measures from 1G to 4G and
also supplements some basic concepts which are involved in this book,
including basic concepts of 4G and Wi-Fi networks. Chapter 3 describes
the history, current situation and application examples of Wi-Fi develop-
ment and looks forward to the future of Wi-Fi. Chapter 4 introduces the
evolution history of the Internet of Things and several protocols, focusing

b4433-FM.indd 13 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xiv  Preface

on NB-IoT and its applications. Chapter 5 summarizes three application


scenarios and eight major performance indicators and related technologies
of 5G and discusses the main technical issues in the physical layer of the
5G access network. Chapter 6 introduces several core technologies of 5G.
Chapter 7 compares the 5G research and application in China and the
United States and finally the prospect of 6G.
This book is recommended for readers, including enterprise engi-
neers, managers, and college-level, undergraduate, master’s or other ICT
students.
Chapters 1, 2, 5 and 7 are written by Shilin Wang. Chapters 3 (includ-
ing 3.3 by Yuanyang Cai from Purdue University Northwest, USA) and
Chapter 6 are written by Yunfei Cai, and Chapter 4 is jointly written by
Shilin Wang and Yunfei Cai. Yuanyang Cai completed this book, taking
care of the key processes including text entry, chart formula preparation,
typesetting, and Youyun Xu reviewed the manuscript.

b4433-FM.indd 14 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to all those who helped us ­during
the writing of this book.

Yuhan Zhang (MASc) and Xin Ru (MASc) from Nanjing University


of Posts and Telecommunications;

Dr. Jiasheng Xu from Shanghai Jiaotong University;

Dr. Shenghong Lin, Dr. Huawei Tong, Dr. Tianyou Li and


Dr. Xinzhong Su from Nanjing University of Posts and
Telecommunications;

Dr. Xiaochen Xia from Nanjing Institute of Communication


Engineering;

Dr. Rui Jiang, Dr. Dapeng Li, Dr. Jian Chen, Dr. Xiaoming Wang,
Dr. Li Wei and Dr. Haiming Li from Nanjing University of Posts and
Telecommunications;

Xiaofei Zhao, a senior researcher at IoT think tank, Minjie Fan, a


senior lecturer at Huawei Global Training Center and Liqing Feng, a
senior lecturer at Huawei Global Training Center;

Professor Zhongmin Gan, Dr. Zhili Wang, Professor Qilin Fu and


Dr. Jian Wang;

xv

b4433-FM.indd 15 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xvi  Acknowledgments

Professor Guyu Hu, Professor Yingfa Zhang, Professor Jingxia Liu,


General Manager Wenbin Ling, Chairman Jian Kou, Professor Ming
Zhang, Professor Ting Yang, Professor Chang Tian, Senior Engineer
Xianghua PU, Senior Engineer Daqing Wang and Senior Engineer
Jiayi Wang.

We would also like to thank Ms. Yingling Lin and Hong Lin (MA) for
their concern and support.
Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Academician
Ping Zhang, Professor Qihui Wu, Chief Engineer Kailong Wang, Professor
Guiyou Gao, Deputy Chief Engineer Hongwu Wang and Researcher
Xiaochuan Dang for writing the preface and recommending this book
amidst their busy schedules.

b4433-FM.indd 16 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

About the Authors

Shilin Wang is a Professor of Nanjing Institute


of Communication Engineering and a technical
consultant of TCL Industrial Research Institute
and TCL mobile communication company. Since
1992, he has enjoyed the national special allow-
ance for life. Due to outstanding achievements in
scientific research, he has received second-class
merit twice and also won the following awards
for his works:

(1) four scientific and technological progress awards;


(2) state Council’s A-class Product Award for bank data, voice and fax
private network;
(3) the built-in antenna of mobile phone that won the national application
patent;
(4) in 1987, his book Modern Digital Modulation Technology won the
second prize of national natural science for excellent books;
(5) four papers were published in the International Conference on
Communications (ICC), one in the Journal of Electronic Science and
Technology, and more than 10 articles in Telecommunication Science;
(6) in 2015, he compiled modern digital modulation and its application in
(i) constant envelope modulation and modern digital modulation and
its application in (ii) high-order modulation, which has been highly
praised by readers.

xvii

b4433-FM.indd 17 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xviii  About the Authors

Yunfei Cai was graduated from Nanjing Institute of


Communication Engineering, and is a Senior
Engineer of Computer Science. With rich experi-
ence in ICT planning and construction, he has been
engaged in IT systems and wireless data network
construction for a long time; especially in TCL, he
served as a senior manager focusing on the compa-
ny’s website, mailbox, intranet, WAN, WLAN,
Data Center, audio and video conference system,
VPN, desktop office virtualization, cloud, multime-
dia global intranet and other systems of planning, construction, operation
and IT services. He participated in the construction of bank data, voice
and fax private network, and won First Class Award of the State Council.
From 1992 to 1998, he was responsible for the preparation, operation and
maintenance of Dongjiang Paging Station in the Pearl River Delta. In
2015, he participated in the compilation of “modern digital modulation
and its application”: (i) constant envelope modulation and modern digital
modulation and its application; (ii) high-order modulation.

Youyun Xu was graduated from Shanghai Jiao


Tong University with a PhD degree in Information
and Communication Engineering in 1999. He is
currently a Professor at Nanjing University of
Posts and Telecommunications and is serving as the
Deputy Director of National Engineering Research
Center of Communications and Networking. He has
decades of experiences in mobile communication
technology and R&D. Currently, he is in charge of
a Sino-Spain international cooperation project
under the National Key R&D Program. His current research interests
include new generation wireless mobile communication systems
(B5G/6G), new generation railway mobile communications, advanced
channel coding and modulation techniques, multiuser information theory
and radio resource management, wireless sensor networks, cognitive
radio networks, and M2M communications. He is also the IEEE and a
senior member of the Chinese Institute of Electronics.

b4433-FM.indd 18 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

About the Authors  xix

Yuanyang Cai was a graduate student major in


Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue
University Northwest USA. He focuses on digital
signal processing, deep learning network and auto-
matic control. He obtained the bachelor’s degree in
Electrical Engineering and Intelligent Control from
North University of China. He has experience in
experiments and projects of communication theory,
network security, network communication and big
data. During his graduate study, he published sev-
eral conference papers on fault signal detection, emotion recognition and
so on. Now, under the guidance of Dr. Lizhe-Tan, he focuses on building
and modifying the one-dimensional CNN network to reduce the computa-
tional complexity.

b4433-FM.indd 19 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


B1948 Governing Asia

This page intentionally left blank

B1948_1-Aoki.indd 6 9/22/2014 4:24:57 PM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents

Foreword by Pin Zhangv


Foreword by Qihui Wuix
Prefacexi
Acknowledgmentsxv
About the Authorsxvii

Chapter 1 Mobile Communication Basics 1


1.1 Methods to Improve Data Transmission Rate 2
1.1.1 Adoption of high-order modulation 2
1.1.1.1 Phase Shift Keying (PSK) 3
1.1.1.2 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM ) 8
1.1.2 Adoption of MIMO technology 12
1.1.2.1 What is MIMO? 12
1.1.2.2 Types of MIMO 13
1.1.2.3 Principle of spatial reuse 15
1.1.3 Adoption of carrier aggregation technology 17
1.1.4 Development of new frequency bands 19
1.2 Methods of Anti-Symbol Interference 20
1.2.1 Transmission characteristics of wireless channel 21
1.2.1.1 Multipath effect 21
1.2.1.2 Doppler shift 24
1.2.2 OFDM working principle 26
1.2.2.1 OFDM modulator 26
1.2.2.2 OFDM demodulator 30

xxi

b4433-FM.indd 21 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxii  Contents

1.2.2.3 Guard interval and cyclic prefix 30


1.2.2.4 Channel estimation for OFDM system 33
1.2.2.5 OFDMA multiple access mode 36
1.2.2.6 OFDM parameters 36
1.3 Error Control Method 39
1.3.1 FEC code 41
1.3.2 CRC code 41
1.3.2.1 CRC encoding 41
1.3.2.2 CRC decoding 48
1.3.3 HARQ 49
1.3.3.1 What is HARQ? 49
1.3.3.2 What is HARQ for soft merge? 50
1.3.3.3 Link rate adaptation and soft combination
HARQ53
1.3.3.4 Comparison of HARQ and ARQ 53
1.4 Diagram of Baseband Chip 54
1.5 RF Chip Diagram 60
1.6 BB Chip and RF Chip Interface 63
1.7 LTE Frame Structure and Resource Configuration 64
1.7.1 Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) 65
1.7.1.1 Downlink 65
1.7.1.2 Uplink 70
1.7.2 Time Division Duplex 75
1.7.2.1 Frame structure 75
1.7.2.2 Resource grid 78
1.8 Terminal Category 80
1.9 LTE RF Frequency Band and Bandwidth 81
1.9.1 LTE frequency band 81
1.9.2 LTE-specified channel bandwidth 83
1.9.3 Location of RF carrier frequency 83
1.10 How to Choose the Modulation Order of MQAM 84
1.11 4G Network Architecture 87
1.11.1 Network composition 88
1.11.2 Core network 89
1.11.3 Radio access network 91
1.11.3.1 RAN architecture 91
1.11.3.2 RAN protocol stack 92
1.11.3.3 User plane protocol stack 93
1.11.3.4 Control plane protocol stack 105

b4433-FM.indd 22 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxiii

Chapter 2 Evolution from 1G to 4G 111


2.1 Introduction 111
2.2 Channel Capacity — Shannon Formula 117
2.2.1 Application of Shannon’s formula in mobile
communication 117
2.2.2 Strategies to improve system data transmission rate 118
2.3 Technical Measures Adopted in the Evolution 120
2.3.1 2G technical measures 120
2.3.2 3G technical measures 121
2.3.3 4G technical measures 122
2.4 Working Principle of Carrier Aggregation (CA) 123
2.4.1 The background of proposing CA 123
2.4.2 Carrier aggregation scheme 124
2.4.3 Data aggregation scheme 128
2.4.4 Bit error rate performance of CA 129
2.5 Several Basic Concepts 131
2.5.1 Diversity and multiplexing 131
2.5.2 Transmitting data rate 132
2.5.3 Throughput of receiving end data 132
2.5.4 Streaming media 133
2.5.5 Data traffic 134
2.5.6 Network speed 135
2.5.7 Billing methods of network operators 140
2.5.8 Application of Wi-Fi in Smart Home 142
2.5.9 Icon 143
2.5.10 Terminal category 143
2.5.11 User surfing process 144
2.5.11.1 4G network architecture 144
2.5.11.2 Data transmission process in LTE
network146
2.5.12 VoLTE 153

Chapter 3 Evolution of Wireless Local Area Network 155


3.1 The Past and Present of Wi-Fi 155
3.1.1 The origin of Wi-Fi 155
3.1.2 Enhance Wi-Fi speed 158
3.1.3 GB-level Wi-Fi 160

b4433-FM.indd 23 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxiv  Contents

3.2 Comparison of Wi-Fi (4/5/6) 163


3.2.1 Protocol 164
3.2.2 Modulation 166
3.2.3 Bandwidth and frequency band 170
3.2.4 Spatial stream 172
3.2.5 Wi-Fi data rate algorithm 172
3.2.6 OFDMA 175
3.3 Home Wi-Fi Router Penetrates Wall and Networking Solution 181
3.3.1 The problem of Wi-Fi penetrating walls 181
3.3.2 Wi-Fi protocol and spectrum 182
3.3.2.1 2.4 GHz frequency band 182
3.3.2.2 5 GHz frequency band 183
3.3.3 Router’s data rate estimation 185
3.3.4 The emergence of dual-band routers 186
3.3.5 Why Wi-Fi signal is often not strong enough? 188
3.3.6 How can I improve the Wi-Fi signal? 190
3.3.6.1 Scene 1 190
3.3.6.2 Scene 2 194
3.4 Enterprise Wi-Fi Networking Scheme and Applications 200
3.4.1 Overview of enterprise Wi-Fi networking and
applications200
3.4.2 Wi-Fi construction requirements 201
3.4.3 Principles of network construction 203
3.4.4 Network architecture 204
3.4.5 Scenario-based solutions 205
3.4.5.1 Wireless office scenario 205
3.4.5.1.1 Secure access authentication 205
3.4.5.1.2 Wi-Fi intelligent attendance 207
3.4.5.1.3 Internal information security assurance 208
3.4.5.1.4 Internet behavior control 210
3.4.5.1.5 Flow control/network optimization 211
3.4.5.1.6 Wired and wireless integration 212
3.4.5.1.7 Smart security network card 212
3.4.5.2 Wireless warehouse and production workshop
scenario213
3.4.5.2.1 Device access security 213
3.4.5.2.2 Mobile zero-roaming networking with
the same frequency 215
3.4.5.2.3 Forklift wireless monitoring 216

b4433-FM.indd 24 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxv

3.4.5.2.4 Wi-Fi smoke detector system 217


3.4.5.2.5 Wi-Fi voice system 218
3.4.5.2.6 Integration with MES system 219
3.4.5.2.7 RFID asset tracking management 219
3.4.5.3 Staff dormitory scenario 221
3.4.5.3.1 Coverage 221
3.4.5.3.2 Certification and charging scheme 223
3.4.5.4 Smart energy management solution 223
3.4.5.4.1 Network architecture 224
3.4.5.4.2 Electricity consumption statistics and
data analysis 224
3.4.5.4.3 Power consumption strategy 225
3.4.5.4.4 Data security guarantee 226
3.4.6 Wireless stability solution 226
3.4.6.1 Smart radio frequency 226
3.4.6.1.1 Smart RF power adjustment 226
3.4.6.1.2 Smart channel optimization 227
3.4.6.2 Smart load balancing 227
3.4.6.2.1 Frequency band load balancing 227
3.4.6.2.2 Load balancing between access points 227
3.4.6.2.3 Dynamic load guidance (anti-terminal
sticking)228
3.4.6.3 Radio air interface optimization 228
3.4.6.4 High-density optimization 229
3.4.6.5 Broadcast optimization 229
3.5 Wireless Customer Premise Equipment 229
3.6 Looking to the Future of Wi-Fi 231

Chapter 4 Evolution of the Internet of Things 233


4.1 The Past and Future of Internet of Things 234
4.1.1 The origin of the Internet of Things 234
4.1.2 America: Smart Earth 235
4.1.3 Germany: Industry 4.0 236
4.1.4 China: Perceive China and made in China (2025) 236
4.2 Overview of the IoT 238
4.2.1 Definition of the IoT 238
4.2.2 Architecture of the IoT 239
4.2.3 Classification of the IoT 239
4.2.4 Typical applications of the IoT 240

b4433-FM.indd 25 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxvi  Contents

4.3 Brief Introduction to Zigbee, LoRa and Sigfox 241


4.3.1 Zigbee 241
4.3.2 Long Range Radio (LoRa) 242
4.3.3 Sigfox 243
4.3.4 Wi-Fi 243
4.3.5 Ultra-Wide Band 244
4.3.6 Cat 1 244
4.3.7 C-V2X and LTE-V2X 245
4.3.8 (2/3/4/5) G IoT 245
4.4 NB-IoT 246
4.4.1 Evolution of NB 246
4.4.2 Typical application of NB 247
4.4.3 NB design ideas 249
4.4.4 NB network 250
4.4.4.1 NB network architecture 250
4.4.4.2 NB service data transmission path 252
4.4.4.3 CP scheme protocol stack 253
4.4.4.4 UP scheme protocol stack 254
4.4.4.5 Short message transmission scheme 254
4.4.4.6 Working frequency band (radio frequency) 256
4.4.5 Physical layer 256
4.4.5.1 Working mode 257
4.4.5.2 Downlink 259
4.4.5.3 Uplink 260
4.4.6 How to realize the four key technical requirements
of NB 263
4.4.6.1 Enhanced uplink coverage 263
4.4.6.2 Terminal low power consumption 270
4.4.6.3 Terminal low cost 272
4.4.6.4 Large connection 274
4.5 eMTC 275
4.5.1 Typical applications of eMTC 275
4.5.2 The design idea of eMTC 276
4.5.3 Evolution of eMTC 277
4.5.4 Comparison of eMTC and NB system performance 277
4.5.5 Comparison of eMTC and NB terminal performance 280
4.5.6 Comparison of four types of cellular IoT performance 280

b4433-FM.indd 26 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxvii

4.6 NB Application Example: NB Smart Water Meter 280


4.6.1 NB smart water meter 282
4.6.1.1 Common disadvantages in the water industry 282
4.6.1.2 Problems of traditional smart water meters 283
4.6.1.2.1 Data transmission security issues 284
4.6.1.2.2 Power consumption issues 284
4.6.1.2.3 Network coverage issues 284
4.6.1.2.4 Access problems with a large number
of water meters 284
4.6.1.3 NB smart water meter practice 285
4.6.1.4 Technical advantages of NB smart water meter 286
4.6.2 NB smart water meter solution 289
4.6.2.1 NB smart water meter overall solution 289
4.6.2.1.1 Terminal layer 289
4.6.2.1.2 Network layer 289
4.6.2.1.3 Cloud computing platform 290
4.6.2.1.4 IoT platform 290
4.6.2.1.5 Application layer 291
4.6.2.2 Advantages of NB smart water meter solution 291
4.6.2.2.1 Better signal coverage in 800 Mbps
frequency band 291
4.6.2.2.2 Private network services ensure safe
and reliable data transmission 291
4.6.2.2.3 Intelligent network is perceivable
and manageable 292
4.6.2.2.4 IoT platform enables rapid
construction and deployment of water
applications292
4.7 NB Becomes a 5G Technical Standard 292
4.8 Future of the IoT 295
4.9 NB-IoT Standard Progress 296

Chapter 5 5G Overview 299


5.1 Three Application Scenarios of 5G Network 299
5.1.1 eMBB 300
5.1.1.1 3D video (VR and AR) 301
5.1.1.2 UHD video 303

b4433-FM.indd 27 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxviii  Contents

5.1.2 URLLC 309


5.1.2.1 Technical measures adopted to achieve
ultra-low latency 310
5.1.2.2 Measures to achieve ultra-high reliability 316
5.1.3 massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) 317
5.1.3.1 mMTC application examples 317
5.1.3.2 Features of mMTC IoT 318
5.1.3.3 Technical requirements for mMTC IoT 318
5.2 Eight 5G Performance Indicators 319
5.2.1 Peak rate (Gbps) 319
5.2.2 User experience rate (Mbps or Gbps) 319
5.2.3 Spectrum efficiency (bps/Hz) 320
5.2.4 Mobility (km/h) 320
5.2.5 Air interface delay (ms) 320
5.2.6 Connection density (number of devices/km2)320
5.2.7 Energy efficiency (b/J is the number of bits per joule) 320
5.2.8 Traffic density (Mbps/m² ) 321
5.3 5G Working Frequency Band 321
5.3.1 Relationship between 5G frequency band number and
4G frequency band number 322
5.3.2 The reason for n77 including n78 322
5.3.3 Supplementary frequency band 323
5.3.4 Frequency bands that 5G NR will preferentially use 324
5.3.5 Description of mmWave frequency band 324
5.4 5G Networking Solution 327
5.4.1 LTE dual connectivity architecture 329
5.4.2 User plane 330
5.4.3 Control plane 330
5.4.4 Series 3 331
5.4.5 Series 7 332
5.4.6 Series 4 332
5.4.7 Voice processing methods in 5G 333
5.4.7.1 2/3G 334
5.4.7.2 4G 334
5.4.7.3 5G 335
5.5 5G Network Architecture 337
5.5.1 5G core network architecture 337
5.5.2 5G radio access network architecture 340
5.5.2.1 Access network interface 340
5.5.2.2 Radio access network protocol architecture 342

b4433-FM.indd 28 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxix

5.5.3 5G mobility management 346


5.5.3.1 Mobility in idle state and inactive state 347
5.5.3.2 Mobility in the connected state 349
5.6 5G NR Physical Layer 349
5.6.1 5G NR design idea 349
5.6.2 Modulation 351
5.6.3 Waveform 354
5.6.3.1 NR uplink/downlink transmission waveform 355
5.6.3.2 Sidelink and wireless backhaul 355
5.6.3.3 Power spectral density of OFDM waveform 356
5.6.4 Physical resources 358
5.6.4.1 Physical resource structure 359
5.6.4.2 Physical resource parameter set 361
5.6.4.3 NR frame structure 364
5.6.4.4 NR mini-slot 367
5.6.5 Application of NR parameter set 369
5.6.5.1 Synchronization error 369
5.6.5.2 Service reuse 377
5.6.5.3 Cell size, working frequency band and mobility 377
5.6.6 RF channel bandwidth 379
5.6.6.1 Working frequency band 379
5.6.6.2 Electromagnetic wave radiation limit 380
5.6.6.3 Base station channel bandwidth 381
5.6.6.4 Channel frequency band utilization 384
5.6.6.5 NR carrier aggregation 387
5.6.6.6 Partial bandwidth of NR terminal 389
5.6.7 LTE/NR dual connection base station deployment plan 391
5.6.8 LTE/NR spectrum coexistence 394
5.6.9 NR duplex mechanism 396
5.6.10 NR physical signal 397
5.6.11 NR multi-antenna technology 401
5.6.11.1 Diversity 401
5.6.11.2 Space reuse 405
5.6.11.3 Beamforming 413
5.6.12 NR non-orthogonal multiple access 418
5.6.12.1 Overview of multiple access 418
5.6.12.2 Comparison of channel capacity of two
multiple access methods 422
5.6.12.3 Several non-orthogonal multiple access methods 424
5.6.13 Summary of key technologies at the physical layer 427

b4433-FM.indd 29 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxx  Contents

5.7 NR Terminal Access Process 427


5.7.1 Cell search 427
5.7.2 Random access 432
5.8 Communication Equation and Path Loss 434
5.8.1 Communication equation 434
5.8.2 Estimation of path loss 435
5.9 Application of High-Frequency Band in 5G 437
5.9.1 The research and development of the high-frequency
band is divided into several stages 437
5.9.2 High-frequency band performance characteristics 438
5.9.3 High-frequency band use cases and deployment
methods438
5.9.3.1 Use cases 438
5.9.3.2 Deployment method 440
5.9.4 5G NR high-frequency band-related technologies 440
5.10 5G Millimeter Wave Technology 446
5.10.1 Introduction to 5G millimeter wave technology 446
5.10.1.1 5G millimeter wave is the inevitable
direction of communication technology
evolution446
5.10.1.2 The globally coordinated allocation of
5G millimeter wave spectrum is steadily
advancing 447
5.10.1.3 5G millimeter wave has begun commercial
deployment 447
5.10.1.4 5G millimeter wave is strongly supported by
policies in China 448
5.10.1.5 Progress of 5G millimeter wave standards 449
5.10.2 Advantages of 5G millimeter wave technology 451
5.10.2.1 Rich frequency resources and huge
bandwidth451
5.10.2.2 Easy to combine beamforming technology 452
5.10.2.3 Very low latency can be achieved 453
5.10.2.4 Can support dense cell deployment 455
5.10.2.5 High-precision positioning is possible 455
5.10.2.6 High device integration 456
5.10.3 Challenges and solutions faced by 5G millimeter
technology456
5.10.3.1 5G millimeter wave coverage optimization 456
5.10.3.2 5G millimeter wave mobility management 460

b4433-FM.indd 30 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxxi

5.10.3.3 5G millimeter wave product realization 461


5.10.3.4 5G millimeter wave test 464
5.10.3.5 Coexistence of 5G millimeter wave
and low frequency 466
5.10.3.6 Implementation of 5G millimeter wave
flexible air interface 467
5.10.4 Application scenarios and successful cases
of 5G millimeter wave 469
5.10.4.1 Indoor and outdoor transportation hubs,
venues and other hot spots 469
5.10.4.2 Industry applications (especially the
Industrial Internet) 472
5.10.4.3 Wireless broadband access (FWA, Fixed
Wireless Access) in homes and office
buildings 476
5.10.5 5G millimeter wave summary 479

Chapter 6 Main Key Technologies in 5G 483


6.1 Core Network 483
6.1.1 NFV and SDN 484
6.1.1.1 Several benefits of NFV and SDN 484
6.1.1.2 NFV function and architecture 485
6.1.1.3 SDN function and architecture 487
6.1.2 Network slicing 489
6.1.3 Multi-access edge computing 489
6.1.4 Service-based architecture (SBA) 491
6.1.5 Control and User Plane Separation 493
6.1.5.1 Control plane 495
6.1.5.2 User plane 496
6.1.6 Evolution of network architecture 498
6.2 Bearer Network (Fronthaul Network and Backhaul Network) 500
6.2.1 Backhaul 500
6.2.2 Fronthaul 501
6.3 Radio Access Network 501
6.3.1 Cloud Radio Access Network 501
6.3.2 New modulation and coding technology 505
6.3.2.1 LDPC code 506
6.3.2.2 Polar code 508
6.3.2.3 Performance comparison of the three channel
codes509

b4433-FM.indd 31 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

xxxii  Contents

6.3.3 Ultra-dense HetNet and small cell 517


6.3.4 Software-defined radio 518
6.3.5 Cognitive radio 518
6.3.6 Self-organizing network 519
6.3.7 Device-to-device communication 519
6.3.8 Massive MIMO 520
6.3.9 Millimeter wave 521
6.3.10 Waveform and multiple access technology 523
6.3.11 In-band full duplex 523
6.3.12 Carrier aggregation 524
6.3.13 Dual connection 524
6.3.14 Low latency technology 526
6.3.15 Low-power wide-area network technology (LPWA) 526
6.3.16 Satellite communications 527

Chapter 7 The Situation and Development of 5G


and Future 6G 529
7.1 Current Situation of 5G in China 529
7.1.1 Frequency band of 5G 529
7.1.2 5G networking solution 530
7.1.3 5G network functions 532
7.2 Current Situation of 5G in the United States 535
7.2.1 The US’s 5G is built to make up the drawback of
low coverage density of 4G and broadband networks 535
7.2.2 The US favors NSA solution, while China clearly
adopts SA solution 536
7.3 R16 Version of 5G 537
7.3.1 3GPP R15 537
7.3.2 3GPP R16 539
7.4 5G R17 Version 540
7.5 The Future of 6G 543
7.5.1 What is the main driving force for the evolution
from 5G to 6G? 543
7.5.2 What is 6G? 544
7.5.3 6G network performance indicators and potential key
technologies544
7.5.3.1 6G network performance indicators 544
7.5.3.2 6G potential key technologies 545

b4433-FM.indd 32 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Contents  xxxiii

7.5.4 Brief description of 6G white book 551


7.5.4.1 6G triggers life changes 551
7.5.4.2 Performance surpasses 5G 100 times 552
7.5.4.3 Technical problems still need to be solved 553
7.6 Starlink 554
7.6.1 Starlink project in the United States 554
7.6.2 China’s Starlink project 556
7.6.2.1 Shanzhi Chen suggested the development
of China’s LEO satellite communications:
Compatible with 5G, integrate with 6G 558
7.6.2.2 LEO satellite communication is currently
complementary to 5G 558
7.6.2.3 China’s current development of LEO satellite
communications is the reuse and compatibility
of 5G technical standards 561
7.6.2.4 China’s strategy for developing satellite
communications: Two strive and two
cooperation563
7.6.2.5 Future satellite communications: Integration
into 6G 564
7.6.2.6 The world’s first 6G test satellite 565

Abbreviation 567
Appendix 579
References589
Index591

b4433-FM.indd 33 2/15/2022 10:37:58 AM


B1948 Governing Asia

This page intentionally left blank

B1948_1-Aoki.indd 6 9/22/2014 4:24:57 PM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Chapter 1

Mobile Communication Basics

This chapter discusses the basics of mobile communication. To combine


with practical application, we use the physical layer in the Long-Term
Evolution (LTE) air interface (radio interface) as an example for discus-
sion because the physical layer protocol almost covers the main basic
knowledge in mobile communication.
The protocol architecture of the radio interface is shown in Figure 1.1
(see Figure 1.58 for details). The ellipse between the different layers is the
Service Access Point (SAP). The physical layer is the bottom layer of the
Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model. It provides several
physical channels for high-level services:

• Transmit various media data of the MAC sub-layer.


• Transmit various control signaling of the RRC sub-layer.
• Transmit the measured wireless channel state information to the RRC
sub-layer.
• In addition to serving the higher layers, the physical layer also needs to
transmit various reference signals generated by the physical layer itself.

These physical channels are all wireless channels. Now, we discuss


the various problems that occur in the transmission of data in the
wireless channel and the technical measures adopted to solve these
problems.
It should be pointed out that the whole discussion process is based on
physical concepts as the main and quantitative analysis as the supplement.

b4433-Ch01.indd 1 2/15/2022 10:33:11 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

2  Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Layer3 Radio Resource Control Sub-layer (RRC)


High-
Logical level

Control/Measure
channel
Layer2 Media Access Control Sub-layer (MAC)

Transport
channel
Bottom-
Layer1 Physical layer
level

Figure 1.1   Radio interface protocol architecture.

Since the discussed questions have a strong causal relationship, the read-
ing will be natural and smooth.

1.1 Methods to Improve Data Transmission Rate


With the development of mobile communication, the data rate through the
MAC sub-layer is increasing. Therefore, the data rate of the physical
channel in the physical layer is increasing, that is, the bandwidth of the
transmitted data becomes wider. However, the physical channel band-
width used to transmit data is limited, which is assigned by the National
Radio Regulatory Agency (China’s National Radio Regulatory Agency is
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), and cannot be
increased as we want. In this case, it happens that the data signal is larger
than the channel bandwidth, making it unable to transmit the data signal
from the physical channel. To solve this problem, four methods are dis-
cussed separately in the following sections.

1.1.1 Adoption of high-order modulation


When the data bandwidth BWS is greater than the channel bandwidth
BWC, in order to ensure that the data can still be transmitted, we can nar-
row the bandwidth of the data output by the source and make it smaller
than or equal to the channel bandwidth. Mathematically, this method is
called mapping, and in the communication system, this method is called
high-order modulation, as shown in Figure 1.2.
The function of mapping is to transform the input binary bit sequence
into m-ary symbol sequence. A symbol in m-ary contains several binary

b4433-Ch01.indd 2 2/15/2022 10:33:11 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Mobile Communication Basics  3

Input Rb Mapping Output Rs


Binary bit sequence (High-order modulation) M-ary symbol sequence

Figure 1.2   Mapping diagram.

Binary bit sequence Rb 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0


(a)
10
Hexadecimal symbol
sequence Rs
(b) 2

Figure 1.3  Binary mapping (2–16). In (b), 2 and 10 are the amplitudes of


hexadecimal symbols (see Figure 1.9(a)).

bits. As a result, the output symbol rate Rs (symbols/sec) is less than the
input bit rate Rb (bits/sec). In this way, the bandwidth of the symbol
sequence, that is, the symbol signal, is narrowed.
Figure 1.3 shows an example of the conversion from binary to hexa-
decimal. It can be seen from the figure that when high-level modulation
inputs four bits, it outputs one symbol, and one symbol contains four bits
of information. There are totally 16 combinations (in hexadecimal system,
it can be expressed as (O–F)H). Therefore, high-order modulation corre-
spondingly outputs 16 different symbols, and the modulator order M is 16.
Obviously, the number of binary bits contained in a symbol output by
high-order modulation is

n = log2 M(1.1)

There are two high-order modulations used in mobile communica-


tions, which are discussed separately in the following sections.

1.1.1.1 Phase Shift Keying (PSK)


(i) PSK constellation diagram: Figure 1.4 shows the constellation dia-
grams of two-phase shift keying (BPSK), four-phase shift keying (QPSK)
and eight-phase shift keying (8PSK). We use QPSK as an example to
illustrate the meaning of constellations.

b4433-Ch01.indd 3 2/15/2022 10:33:11 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

4  Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

y y
y
01 00 011 001
-A +A A φ 010 000
i
π /4 x
0 x 0 0 x
110 100
1 0 11 10 111 101

M=2 M=4 M=8


Log22=1(bits) Log24=2 Log28=3 (bits)
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1.4   PSK constellation diagram: (a) BPSK, (b) QPSK and (c) 8PSK.

• The black dots · in the figure are called signal points. For QPSK, it
represents the position of the four different 4-ary symbols output by the
modulator in the Cartesian coordinate system. The number of signal
points in the figure is equal to the modulation order M.
• The connection between signal points and the origin of the coordinate
is called signal vector. The length of the vector is the amplitude A of
the signal point (symbol). The angle between the vector and the x-axis
is the initial phase of the vector φi (such as π/4 in the figure).
• The binary bit group near the signal point (for example, 00, 01, 11 and
01 in the figure) indicates that the signal point is generated by this
group of binary bits after mapping. For example, the signal point φi =
π/4 in the figure is generated by bit 00. Therefore, all signal points in
the figure have a fixed correspondence with the binary bit group.

(ii) PSK signal expression table: It can be seen from Figure 1.4 that all
signal points of PSK modulation are uniformly (equal arc length) distrib-
uted on a circle with radius A (A is actually determined by the transmis-
sion power. The larger the power, the larger A, and vice versa). It can be
seen that the amplitude in the PSK signal is the same, but the initial phase
is different, which is determined by the binary bit group. Therefore, PSK
signal uses phase to carry information, while the amplitude carries no
information. The output PSK signal can be expressed as

S(t) = A cos(2πf0t + φi) (1.2)

b4433-Ch01.indd 4 2/15/2022 10:33:11 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Mobile Communication Basics  5

where f0 is the carrier frequency.

0,π (BPSK)

φ i = π /4, 3π /4, 5π /4, 7π /4 (QPSK)

π /8, 3π /8, 5π /8, 7π /8, 9π /8,11π /8,13π /8,15π /8 (8PSK)

(iii) PSK signal demodulator method: The PSK coherent demodulator is


shown in Figure 1.5. Following are the three main issues discussed here:

(1) Principle of coherent demodulator: It can be seen from the S(t) of


(1.2) that PSK demodulator first adjusts the early phase φi of S(t) and then
uses the constellation shown in Figure 1.4 to directly get the binary bit
from φi. It can be seen that coherent demodulation only needs to solve the
following two problems:

• Get the initial phase φi of the input signal: The multiplier and LPF in the
figure are used to extract φi. The multiplier has two inputs: one inputs
cos(2πf0t + φi) + I(t), and the other inputs the local coherent carrier
cos(2πf0t) provided by the receiver. When the interference I(t) is not con-
sidered, it differs from the input signal cos(2πf0t + φi) only by the factor of
the initial phase φi. When the two signals are multiplied and the output

Demodulator

Input f (φi )
Multiplier
cos(2π f 0t + φ i) + I (t ) Baseband
Output
LPF PGA
processing

Level to offset DC drift


Carrier Local coherent carrier
extraction cos(2π f 0t )
LPF (Low Pass Filter)
PGA (Programming Gain Amplifier)
I(t) is the interference

Figure 1.5   PSK coherent demodulator.

b4433-Ch01.indd 5 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

6  Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

waveform after low-pass filtering is shown in Figure 1.6(a) (BPSK wave-


form is used as an example in this figure), it can be seen that when the “0”
code is input, the half-wave output by the multiplier is positive, its DC
component is > 0, and the output is positive after LPF filtering; when “1”
code is input, the output half-wave of multiplier is negative, its DC com-
ponent is < 0, and the output is negative after LPF filtering.
• Use the value of f(φi) to solve the binary bit: The baseband processor in
Figure 1.5 is used to solve this problem. According to the characteris-
tics of f(φi), it is not difficult to see that the baseband processor is actu-
ally a level judge, where the decision level is 0 volts, and the decision
rule is as follows:

When f(φi) > 0 volts, the decider outputs a “0” code.

When f(φi) < 0 volts, the decider outputs a “1” code. (1.3)

Binary sequence 0 1
t

i 0
S(t) cos ( 0t+0)

cos ( 0 t+π)

Local coherent carrier


cos ( 0 t)

Multiplier output

LPF output f ( 0
i ) volts
(a)
0
Decision level volts
Decider output
(b) 0 1

Figure 1.6   Principle of BPSK coherent demodulation.

b4433-Ch01.indd 6 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Mobile Communication Basics  7

The waveform is shown in Figure 1.6(b), and the figure shows the
basic principle of the coherent demodulator.

(2) How the local coherent carrier cos(ω0t) is obtained: From the above
analysis, we know that to achieve the coherent demodulation shown in
Figure 1.5, the receiver must provide a local (receiver) coherent carrier,
which can be obtained in the following two ways:

Extract the local coherent carrier directly from the input signal:
• 
This is the method used in Figure 1.5. Since the input signal S(t) =
cos(ω0t + φi) (I (t) is not considered), as long as φi is eliminated, the
result is the local coherent carrier cos(ω0t). The way to eliminate φi is to
undergo a nonlinear transformation. Take BPSK as an example, pro-
cessing the double frequency operation on S(t) can get cos
2(ω0t + φi), so that φi = 0 or π, and 2φi = 0 or 2π. So, cos 2(ω0t + φi) =
cos 2(ω0t). Then by dividing cos 2(ω0t) by two, we can obtain the local
coherent carrier cos(ω0t). Similarly, for QPSK and 8PSK, by quadruple
and octave processing, respectively, we can also obtain the local coher-
ent carrier.
Send pilot signal: In addition to transmitting the modulated signal, the
• 
transmitter also transmits a pilot signal. The configuration of the two in
the frequency domain is shown in Figure 1.7.

Theoretically, it has been proved that modulated signal with sym-


metrical frequency spectrum can be produced after modulation with
binary sequence such as 0 or 1. There is no discrete component of carrier
( fo) in its power spectral density. Therefore, an unmodulated carrier fre-
quency can be inserted at the position of the carrier, which is called a pilot.
The pilot signal is transmitted simultaneously with the modulated signal.
It can be seen that the local coherent carrier cos(ω0t) can be obtained by


Modulated signal power
spectral density

f
fo(Pilot frequency)

Figure 1.7   Diagram of inserting pilot frequency.

b4433-Ch01.indd 7 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

8  Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

filtering with a narrowband filter with a center frequency of fo at the


receiver. The second-generation CDMA IS-95 protocol uses such a
method of pilot insert.

(3) DC drift and methods to offset DC drift [7]: It can be seen from
Figure 1.5 that the multiplier is actually a mixer. The two input signals of
the mixer are of the same frequency. Therefore, the intermediate fre-
quency output by the mixer is zero intermediate frequency, which is DC.
In theory, the isolation between these two input terminals should be ∞. In
fact, it is only a few decibels. This means that the two input signals leak
each other. Especially the local coherent carrier leaks to the input signal
of the multiplier due to the strong signal. Both local coherent carrier and
signal leaking produce a zero-IF signal at the output of the multiplier. This
mixing phenomenon is called self-mixing. Since the level of leakage is
unstable, the zero-IF signal intensity generated by self-mixing is drifting,
thus it is called the DC drift. Obviously, the signal level output by the LPF
will also drift. This kind of drifting indefinite level is detrimental to the
subsequent work of the arbiter. Therefore, we must try to eliminate the
DC drift caused by self-mixing. The method used for this is to insert a
PGA amplifier between the LPF and the baseband processor, and the base-
band processor extracts a level that changes with the DC drift and controls
the gain of PGA, thereby making the PGA output a more stable signal
level.

1.1.1.2 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM )


(i) Why do we need QAM? It can be seen from the constellation in
Figure 1.4 that the M signal points of PSK are evenly (equally spaced)
distributed on a circle. In order to increase the data transmission rate, it
can be seen from (1.1) that we can increase the modulation level M. For
example, we can use 16PSK modulation with M = 16. At this time, 16 sig-
nal points will be evenly arranged on a circle, that is, another signal point
will be added between any two adjacent signal points in Figure 1.4(c).
When the radius of the circle does not change (that is, the transmit power
does not change), the distance between two adjacent signal points of
16PSK is twice as small as that of 8PSK. Obviously, as M increases, the
denser the signal points arranged on the circle, the smaller the distance
between two adjacent signal points. The straight-line distance between

b4433-Ch01.indd 8 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


6"×9" b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Mobile Communication Basics  9

signal points on the constellation diagram is called the Euclidean distance,


and the influence of the decrease in Euclidean distance is illustrated in
Figure 1.8. Figure 1.8(a) shows a certain signal point on the transmitting
circle, which is an ideal signal point without any interference and noise.
The corresponding signal vector has only one amplitude and one initial
phase, so it is called an aggregated signal point. Figure 1.8(b) shows the
receiver signal point, which is affected by various interference and noise.
Since the values ​​of interference and noise are random, the position of the
signal point on the constellation diagram is also uncertain, and this signal
point is a divergent signal point. Obviously, the magnitude and phase of
the corresponding vector of the divergent signal point are also random.
This means that each signal point at the receiver is a diverging signal
point. When the Euclidean distance between two adjacent signal points is
reduced, the two diverging signal points may be interwoven with each
other. Therefore, the normal judgment of these two signal points can eas-
ily be mistaken. It can be seen that for PSK modulation, when the trans-
mitter power is constant, the demodulation bit error rate Pb will increase
as the modulation order M increases, or the effectiveness of system trans-
mission will increase. However, the reliability of system transmission has
decreased. Therefore, for PSK, the increase of M is limited. In practice,
the maximum of M is 8, that is, 8PSK.
The fundamental reason for the limited increase in PSK modulation
M is that PSK only uses the phase of the signal vector to carry informa-
tion, while the amplitude of the signal vector is of constant amplitude and
does not carry information. Therefore, M signal points can only be distrib-
uted on one circle. This method of arranging signal points makes it impos-
sible to make full use of the signal plane formed by the x-axis and the
y-axis.
To fully utilize the signal plane, both the amplitude and phase of the
signal vector in QAM modulation carry information. In this way, M signal
points are not distributed on a circle. Under such configuration, the

(a) (b)

Figure 1.8   Signal points of the transmitter and receiver: (a) gathered signal points at the
transmitter and (b) divergent signal point at the receiver.

b4433-Ch01.indd 9 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


b4433   Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution
6"×9"

10  Wireless Communication Network Technology and Evolution

Euclidean distance between adjacent signal points may not necessarily


decrease as M increases, which is the biggest advantage of QAM. In
order to highlight the difference between QAM and PSK, QAM is
called quadrature amplitude modulation or amplitude and phase joint
modulation.

(ii) QAM constellation: QAM modulation can also be written as MQAM,


where the first M is the modulation order, which is called multiple quadra-
ture amplitude modulation and M = 2n. When n is an even number, the
shape of the constellation is a rectangle (square). When n is an odd num-
ber, the shape of the constellation is a cross. Figure 1.9 shows two exam-
ples of constellation diagrams.
In practice, n is an even number, so the constellation diagrams are all
rectangular. At present, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM and 1024QAM are
used in mobile communication networks and wireless local area
networks.

(iii) Rectangular constellation QAM signal demodulation method: We


take 16QAM in Figure 1.9(a) as an example to illustrate the QAM
signal demodulation method. It can be seen from the figure that each
signal point corresponds to four bits a1a2b1b2. Each signal point has a
certain projection value (±1, ±3) on the y-axis and x-axis, respectively.

(a) (b)

Figure 1.9   QAM constellation: (a) rectangle; (b) cross shape.

b4433-Ch01.indd 10 2/15/2022 10:33:12 AM


Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Kingman stood up. Apparently the lawyer believed that his
pronouncement would carry more weight by looming over the
smiling, easy-going faces of his parties-of-the-second-part. "I am
prepared to negotiate with your legal department; offering them, and
you, the full rights to the transmission tube. This will include full
access to any and all discoveries, improvements, and/or changes
made at any time from its discovery to the termination of this
contract, which shall be terminated only by absolute mutual
agreement between Terran Electric and Venus Equilateral.
"In return for this, Venus Equilateral will permit Terran Electric to
exploit the solar beam tube fully and freely, and exclusively—"
"Make that slightly different," said Channing. "Terran Electric's rights
shall prevail exclusively—except within the realm of space, upon
man-made celestial objects, and upon the satellites and minor
natural celestial bodies where sub-relay stations of the Interplanetary
Communications Company are established."
Kingman thought that one over. "In other words, if the transport
companies desire to use the solar beam, you will hold domain from
the time they leave an atmosphere until they again touch—"
"Let's not complicate things," smiled Don cheerfully. "I like
uncomplicated things."
Kingman smiled wryly. "I'm sure," he agreed with fine sarcasm. "But I
see your point. You intend to power the communications system with
the solar beam. That is natural. Also, you feel that a certain amount
of revenue should be coming your way. Yes, I believe that our legal
departments can agree."
"So let's not make the transport companies change masters in mid-
space," smiled Don.
"You are taking a lot on your shoulders," said Kingman. "We wouldn't
permit our technicians to dictate the terms of an agreement."
"You are not going to like Venus Equilateral at all," laughed Don. "We
wouldn't permit our legal department to dabble in things of which
they know nothing. Years ago, when the first concentric beam was
invented, which we now use to punch a hole in the Heaviside Layer,
communications was built about a group of engineers. We held the
three inner planets together by the seat of our pants, so to speak,
and nurtured communications from a slipshod, hope-to-God-it-gets-
through proposition to a sure thing. Funny thing, but when people
were taking their messages catch as catch can, there was no reason
for legal lights. Now that we can and do insure messages against
their loss, we find that we are often tied up with legal red tape.
"Otherwise, we wouldn't have a lawyer on the premises. They serve
their purpose, no doubt, but in this gang, the engineers tell the
attorneys how to run things. We shall continue to do so. Therefore
you are speaking with the proper parties, and once the contract is
prepared by you, we shall have an attorney run through the
whereases, wherefores, and parties of the first, second, and third
parts to see that there is no sleight of hand in the microscopic type."
"You're taking a chance," warned Kingman. "All men are not as
fundamentally honest as Terran Electric."
"Kingman," smiled Channing, "I hate to remind you of this, but who
got what just now? We wanted the transmission tube."
"I see your point. But we have a means of getting power out of the
sun."
"We have a hunk of that, too. It would probably have been a mere
matter of time before some bright bird at Terran found the thing as it
was."
"I shall see that the contract gives you domain over man-made
objects in space—including those that occasionally touch upon the
natural celestial objects. Also the necessary equipment operating
under the charter of Venus Equilateral, wherever or whenever it may
be, including any future installations."
"Fine."
"You may have trouble understanding our feelings. We are
essentially a space-born company, and as such we can have no one
at the helm who is not equipped to handle the technical details of
operations in space." Channing smiled reminiscently. "We had a so-
called efficiency expert running Venus Equilateral a couple of years
ago, and the fool nearly wrecked us because he didn't know that the
airplant was not a mass of highly complicated, chemical reaction
machinery instead of what it really is. Kingman, do you know what an
airplant is?"
"Frankly, no, I should imagine it is some sort of air-purifying device."
"You'll sit down hard when I tell you that the airplant is just what it is.
Martian saw grass! Brother Burbank tossed it out because he
thought it was just weeds, cluttering up the place. He was allergic to
good engineering, anyway."
"That may be good enough in space," said Kingman, "but on Terra,
we feel that our engineers are not equipped to dabble in the legal
tangles that follow when they force us to establish precedent by
inventing something that has never been covered by a previous
decision."
"O.K.," said Don. "Every man to his own scope. Write up your
contract, Kingman, and we'll all climb on the band wagon with our
illiterary X's."

In Evanston, north of Chicago, the leaves changed from their riotous


green to a somber brown, and fell to lay a blanket over the earth.
Snow covered the dead leaves, and Christmas, with its holly, went
into the past, followed closely by New Year's Eve with its hangover.
And on a roof by the shore of Lake Michigan, a group of men stood
in overcoats beside a huge machine that towered above the great
letters of the Terran Electric Company sign that could be seen all the
way from Gary, Indiana.
It was a beautiful thing, this tube; a far cry from the haywire thing that
had brought solar power to Venus Equilateral. It was mounted on
gimbals, and the metal was bright-plated and perfectly machined.
Purring motors caused the tube to rotate to follow the sun.
"Is she aligned?" asked the project engineer.
"Right on the button."
"Good. We can't miss with this one. There may have been
something sour with the rest, but this one ran Venus Equilateral—the
whole relay station—for ten days without interruption."
He faced the anxious men in overcoats. "Here we go," he said, and
his hand closed upon the switch that transferred the big tube from
test power to operating power.
The engineer closed the switch, and stepped over to the great,
vaned, air-cooled ammeter shunt. On a panel just beyond the shunt
the meter hung—
At Zero!
"Um," said the project engineer. "Something wrong, no doubt."
They checked every connection, every possible item in the circuit.
"Nothing wrong!"
"Oh, now look," said the project engineer. "This isn't hell, where the
equipment is always perfect except that it doesn't work."
"This is hell," announced his assistant. "The thing is perfect—except
that it doesn't work."
"It worked on Venus Equilateral."
"We've changed nothing, and we handled that gadget like it was
made of cello-gel. We're running the same kind of voltage, checked
on standard voltmeters. We're within one-tenth of one percent of the
original operating conditions. But—no power."
"Call Channing."
The beams between Terra and Venus Equilateral carried furious
messages for several hours. Channing's answer said: "I'm curious.
Am bringing the experimental ship to Terra to investigate."
The project engineer asked: "Isn't that the job they hooked up to use
the solar power for their drive?"
His assistant said: "That's it. And it worked."
"I know. I took a run on it!"
Channing was taking a chance, running the Relay Girl to Terra, but
he knew his ship, and he was no man to be overcautious. He drove it
to Terra at three G, and by dead reckoning, started down into Terra's
blanket of air, heading for the Terran Electric plant which was
situated on the lake shore.
Then down out of the cloudless sky came the Relay Girl in a free fall.
It screamed with the whistle of tortured air as it fell, and it caught the
attention of every man that was working at Terran Electric.
Only those on the roof saw the egg-shaped hull fall out of the sky
unchecked; landing fifteen hundred yards offshore in Lake Michigan.
The splash was terrific.
"Channing—!" said the project engineer, aghast.
"No, look there—a lifeship!"
Cautiously sliding down, a minute lifeship less than the size of a
freight car came to a landing in the Terran Electric construction yard.
Channing emerged, his face white. He bent down and kissed the
steel grille of the construction yard fervently.
Someone ran out and gave Channing a brown bottle. Don nodded,
and took a draw of monstrous proportions. He gagged, made a face,
and smiled in a very wan manner.
"Thanks," he said shakily. He took another drink, of more
gentlemanly size.
"What happened?"
"Dunno: Was coming in at three G. About four hundred miles up, the
deceleration just quit. Like that! I made it to the skeeter, here, in just
about enough time to get her away with about two miles to go.
Whoosh!"
Don dug into his pocket and found cigarettes. He lit up and drew
deeply. "Something cockeyed, here. That stoppage might make me
think that my tube failed; but—"
"You suspect that our tube isn't working for the same reason?"
finished the project engineer.
"Yes. I'm thinking of the trick, ultra-high powered, concentric beams
we have to use to ram a hole through the Heaviside Layer. We start
out with three million watts of sheer radio frequency and end up with
just enough to make our receivers worth listening to. Suppose this
had some sort of Heaviside Layer?"
"In which case, Terran Electric hasn't got solar power," said the
project engineer. "Tim, load this bottle into the Electric Lady, and
we'll see if we can find this barrier." To Channing, he said: "You look
as though you could stand a rest. Check into a hotel in Chicago and
we'll call you when we're ready to try it out."
Channing agreed. A shave, a bath, and a good night's sleep did
wonders for his nerves, as did a large amount of Scotch. He was at
Terran Electric in the morning, once more in command of himself.
Up into the sky went the ship that carried the solar tube. It remained
inert until the ship passed above three hundred and forty miles. Then
the ammeter needle swung over, and the huge shunt grew warm.
The tenuous atmosphere outside of the ship was unchanged, yet the
beam drew power of gigantic proportions.
They dropped again. The power ceased.
They spent hours rising and falling, charting this unknown barrier
that stopped the unknown radiation from bringing solar power right
down to earth. It was there, all right, and impervious. Above,
megawatts raced through the giant shunt. Below, not even a
microammeter could detect a trace of current.
"O.K., Don," said the project engineer. "We'll have to do some more
work on it. It's nothing of your doing."
Mark Kingman's face was green again, but he nodded in agreement.
"We seem to have a useless job here, but we'll think of something."
They studied the barrier and established its height as a constant
three hundred and thirty-nine, point seven six miles above Terra's
mythical sea level. It was almost a perfect sphere, that did not
change with the night and day, as did the Heaviside Layer. There
was no way to find out how thick it was, but thickness was of no
importance, since it effectively stopped the beam.
Then as Don Channing stepped aboard the Princess of the Sky to
get home again, the project engineer said: "If you don't mind, I think
we'll call that one the Channing Layer!"
"Yeah," grinned Don, pleased at the thought, "and forever afterward
it will stand as a cinder in the eye of Terran Electric."
"Oh," said the project engineer, "we'll beat the Channing Layer."
But the project engineer was a bum prophet—

Interlude:
Baffled and beaten, Mark Kingman returned to Terran Electric empty
handed. He hated science and the men who revelled in it, though he
was not above using science—and the men who revelled in it—to
further his own unscientific existence. The poetic justice that piled
blow upon blow on his unprotected head was lost on Mark Kingman
and he swore eternal vengeance.
With a say in the operations at Terran Electric, Kingman directed that
the engineers and scientists work furiously to discover something
about this strange radiation that made the energy beam possible,
that drove spacecraft across the void, and which now was drawing
power out of the sun to feed the requirements of men who owed
allegiance to Venus Equilateral.
Kingman was losing his sense of values. He accused Venus
Equilateral of trickery. Quietly, of course, for people had faith in the
operations of the relay station personnel and would stand for no
criticism. Because people found Venus Equilateral and all that went
with it both good and upstanding in the face of what Mark Kingman
believed, it infuriated him to the point of illegality.
And the evil fate that makes evil men appear to flourish smiled upon
Mark Kingman, while all that Channing had to fight back with was his
faith in the unchanging physical laws of science.
But Kingman thought he was smart enough to beat Venus
Equilateral at their own business!
BEAM PIRATE
Mark Kingman was in a fine state of nerves. He looked upon life and
the people in it as one views the dark-brown taste of a hangover. It
seemed to him at the present time that the Lord had forsaken him,
for the entire and complete success of the solar beam had been left
to Venus Equilateral by a sheer fluke of nature.
Neither he, nor anyone else, could have foreseen the Channing
Layer, that effectively blocked any attempt to pierce it with the
strange, sub-level energy spectrum over which the driver tube and
the power-transmission tube worked, representing the so-called
extremes of the spectrum.
But Venus Equilateral, for their part, was well set. Ships plied the
spaceways, using their self-contained power only during atmospheric
passage, and paid Venus Equilateral well for the privilege. The relay
station itself was powered on the solar beam. There were other relay
stations that belonged to the Interplanetary Communications
Company; Luna, Deimos and Phobos, and the six that circled Venus
in lieu of a satellite; all were powered by the solar beam. The solar
observatory on Mercury used but little power, so the needs of the
observatory became the sole income for Terran Electric's planetary
rights of the solar beam, since Mercury owned no air of its own.
Mark Kingman was beginning to feel the brunt of Channing's
statement to the effect that legal-minded men were of little
importance when it came to the technical life in space, where men's
lives and livelihood depended more on technical skill than upon the
legal pattern set for their protection in the complex society of
planetary civilization.
He swore vengeance.
So, like the man who doggedly makes the same mistake twice in a
row, Kingman was going to move Heaven, Hell, and three planets in
an effort to take a swing at the same jaw that had caught his fist
between its teeth before.
Out through the window of his office, he saw men toiling with the big
tube on the far roof; the self-same tube that had carried the terrific
load of Venus Equilateral for ten days without interruption and with
no apparent overload. Here on Terra, its output meter, operating
through a dummy load, showed not the slightest inclination to leave
the bottom peg and seek a home among the higher brackets.
So Kingman cursed and hated himself for having backed himself into
trouble. But Kingman was not a complete fool. He was a brilliant
attorney, and his record had placed him in the position of Chief
Attorney for Terran Electric, which was a place of no mean
importance. He had been licked on the other fellow's ground, with
the other fellow's tools.
He picked up papers that carried, side by side, the relative assets of
Venus Equilateral and Terran Electric. He studied them and thought
deeply.
To his scrutiny, the figures seemed about equal, though perhaps
Venus Equilateral was a bit ahead.
But—he had been licked on the other fellow's ground with the other
fellow's weapons. He thought that if he fought on his own ground
with his own tools he might be able to swing the deal.
Terran Electric was not without a modicum of experience in the tools
of the other fellow. Terran Electric's engineering department was
brilliant and efficient, too; at least the equal of Channing and Franks
and their gang of laughing gadgeteers. That not only gave him the
edge of having his own tools and his own ground, but a bit of the
other fellow's instruments, too. Certainly his engineering department
should be able to think of something good.
William Cartwright, business manager for Venus Equilateral,
interrupted Don and Walt in a discussion. He carried a page of stock
market quotations and a few hundred feet of ticker tape.
Channing put down his pencil and leaned back in his chair. Walt did
likewise, and said: "What's brewing?"
"Something I do not like."
"So?"
"The stock has been cutting didoes. We've been up and down so
much it looks like a scenic railway."
"How do we come out?"
"Even, mostly; but from my experience, I would say that some bird is
playing hooky with Venus Equilateral, Preferred. The common is
even worse."
"Look bad?"
"Not too good. It is more than possible that some guy with money
and the desire might be able to hook a large slice of V.E. Preferred. I
don't think they could get control, but they could garner a plurality
from stock outstanding on the planets. Most of the preferred stock is
in the possession of the folks out here, you know, but aside from
yourself, Walt, and a couple dozen of the executive personnel, the
stock is spread pretty thin. The common stock has a lot of itself
running around loose outside. Look!"
Cartwright began to run off the many yards of ticker tape. "Here,
some guy dumped a boatload at Canalopsis, and some other guy
glommed onto a large hunk at New York. The Northern Landing
Exchange showed a bit of irregularity during the couple of hours of
tinkering, and the irregularity was increased because some bright
guy took advantage of it and sold short." He reeled off a few yards
and then said: "Next, we have the opposite tale. Stuff was dumped at
Northern Landing, and there was a wild flurry of bulling at
Canalopsis. The Terran Exchange was just flopping up and down in
a general upheaval, with the boys selling at the top and buying at the
bottom. That makes money, you know, and if you can make the
market tick your way—I mean control enough stuff—your purchases
at the bottom send the market up a few points, and then you dump it
and it drops again. It wouldn't take more than a point or two to make
a guy rich, if you had enough stock and could continue to make the
market vacillate."
"That's so," agreed Don. "Look, Bill, why don't we get some of our
Terran agents to tinkering, too? Get one of our best men to try to
outguess the market. As long as it is being done systematically, he
should be able to follow the other guy's thinking. That's the best we
can do unless we go Gestapo and start listening in on all the stuff
that goes through the station here."
"Would that help?"
"Yeah, but we'd all land in the hoosegow for breaking the secrecy
legislation. You know. 'No one shall ... intercept ... transmit ...
eavesdrop upon ... any message not intended for the listener, and ...
shall not ... be party to the use of any information gained ... et
cetera.' That's us. The trouble is this lag between the worlds. They
can prearrange their bulling and bearing ahead of time and play
smart. With a little luck, they can get the three markets working just
so—going up at Northern Landing; down at Terra; and up again at
Canalopsis, just like waves in a rope. By playing fast and loose on
paper, they can really run things hell, west and crooked. Illegal,
probably, since they each no doubt will claim to have all the stock in
their possession, and yet will be able to sell and buy the same stock
at the same time in three places."
"Sounds slightly precarious to me," objected Cartwright.
"Not at all, if you figure things just right. At a given instant, Pete may
be buying at sixty-five on Venus; Joe might be selling like furious at
seventy-one on Mars; and Jimmy may be bucking him up again by
buying at sixty-five on Terra. Then the picture and the tickers catch
up with one another, and Joe will start buying again at sixty-five,
whilst Pete and Jimmy are selling at seventy-one. Once they get
their periodicity running, they're able to tinker the market for quite a
time. That's where your man comes in, Bill. Have him study the
market and step in at the right time and grab us all a few cheap
ones. Get me?"
"Sure," said Cartwright. "I get it. In that way, we'll tend to stabilize the
market, as well as getting the other guy's shares."
"Right. I'll leave it up to you. Handle this thing for the best interests of
all of us."
Cartwright smiled once again, and left with a thoughtful expression
on his face. Channing picked up the miniature of the power-
transmission tube and studied it as though the interruption had not
occurred. "We'll have to use about four of these per stage," he said.
"We'll have to use an input terminal tube to accept the stuff from the
previous stage, drop it across the low-resistance load, resistance
couple the stage to another output terminal tube where we can make
use of the coupling circuits without feedback. From there into the
next tube, with the high resistance load, and out of the power-putter-
outer tube across the desk to the next four-bottle stage."
"That's getting complicated," said Walt. "Four tubes per stage of
amplification."
"Sure. As the arts and sciences get more advanced, things tend to
get more complicated."
"That's essentially correct," agreed Walt with a smile. "But you're
foreguessing. We haven't even got a detector that will detect driver
radiation."
"I know, and perhaps this thing will not work. But after all, we've got
the tubes and we might just as well try them out just in case. We'll
detect driver radiation soon enough and then we might as well have
a few odd thoughts on how to amplify it for public use. Nothing could
tickle me more than to increase those three circles on our letterhead
to four. 'Planet to Planet, and Ship to Ship' is our hope. This one-way
business is not to my liking. How much easier it would have been if
I'd been able to squirt a call in to the station when I was floating out
there beyond Jupiter in that wrecked ship. That gave me to think,
Walt. Driver radiation detection is the answer."
"How so?"
"We'll use the detector to direct our radio beam, and the ship can
have a similar gadget coupled to their beam, detecting a pair of
drivers set at one hundred and eighty degrees from one another so
the thrust won't upset the station's celestial alignment. We can point
one of them at the ship's course, even, making it easier for them."
"Speaking of direction," said Walt thoughtfully, "have you figured why
the solar beam is always pointing behind Sol?"
"I haven't given that much thought. I've always thought that it was
due to the alignment plates not being in linear perfection so that the
power beam bends. They can make the thing turn a perfect right
angle, you know."
"Well, I've been toying with the resurrected heap you dropped into
Lake Michigan a couple of months ago, and I've got a good one for
you. You know how the beam seems to lock into place when we've
got it turned to Sol, not enough to make it certain, but more than
detectably directive?"
"Yep. We could toss out the motor control that keeps her face turned
to the sun."
"That's what I was hoping to gain—" started Walt, but he stopped as
the door opened and Arden entered, followed by a man and woman.
"Hello," said Walt in a tone of admiration.
"This is Jim Baler and his sister Christine," said Arden. "Baler, the
guy with the worried look on his face is my legally wedded souse—
no, spouse. And the guy with the boudoir gorilla gleam in his vulpine
eyes is that old vulture, Walt Franks."
Walt took the introduction in his stride and offered Christine his chair.
Arden stuck her tongue out at him, but Walt shrugged it off.
Channing shook hands with Jim Baler and then sought the "S"
drawer of his file cabinet. He found the Scotch and the soda, and
then grinned: "Should have the ice under 'I' but it's sort of perishable,
and so we keep it in the refrigerator. Arden, breach the 'G' drawer,
please, and haul out the glasses. I suppose we could refrigerate the
whole cabinet, but it wouldn't sound right if people heard that we
kept their mail on ice. Well—"
"Here's how, if we don't already know," said Walt, clinking glasses
with Christine.
"Walt earned that 'wolf' title honestly," laughed Arden, "he likes to
think. Frankly, he's a sheep in wolf's clothing!"
"What are his other attributes?" asked Christine.
"He invents. He scribbles a bit. He cuts doodles on tablecloths, and
he manages to get in the way all the time," said Don. "We keep him
around the place for his entertainment value."
"Why—"
"Quiet, Walter, or I shall explain the sordid details of the Walter
Franks Electron Gun."
"What was that one?" asked Christine.
"You really wouldn't want to know," Walt told her.
"Oh, but I would."
"Yeah," growled Franks, "you would!"
"Would you rather hear it from him or me?" Arden asked.
"He'll tell me," said Christine. Her voice was positive and assured.
"And that'll take care of that," said Arden. "But I think we interrupted
something. What were you saying about gaining, Walt?"
"Oh, I was saying that I was tinkering around with the Anopheles. We
hooked it up with the solar beam for power, and I got to wondering
about that discrepancy. The faster you go, the greater is the angular
displacement, and then with some measurements, I came up with a
bugger factor—"
"Whoa, goodness," laughed Christine. "What is a bugger factor?"
"You'll learn," said Arden, "that the boys out here have a language all
their own. I've heard them use that one before. The bugger factor is
a sort of multiplying, or dividing, or additive, or subtractive quantity.
You perform the mathematical operation with the bugger factor, and
your original wrong answer turns into the right answer."
"Is it accepted?"
"Oh, sure," answered Arden. "People don't realize it, but that string
of 4's in the derivation of Bode's law is a bugger factor."
"You," said Christine to Walt, "will also tell me what Bode's law is—
but later."
"O.K.," grinned Walt. "At any rate, I came up with a bugger factor
that gave me to think. The darned solar beam points to where Sol
actually is!"
"Whoosh!" exclaimed Channing. "You don't suppose we're tinkering
with the medium that propagates the law of gravity?"
"I don't know. I wouldn't know. Has anyone ever tried to measure the
velocity of propagation of the attraction of gravity?"
"No, and no one will until we find some way of modulating it."
Jim Baler smiled. "No wonder Barney was a little wacky when he got
home. I come out here to take a look around and maybe give a lift to
your gang on the transmission tube—and bump right into a
discussion on the possibility of modulating the law of gravity!"
"Not the law, Jim, just the force."
"Now he gets technical about it. You started out a couple of months
ago to detect driver radiation, and ended up by inventing a beam that
draws power out of the sun. Think you'll ever find the driver
radiation?"
"Probably."
"Yeah," drawled Arden. "And I'll bet a hat that when they do, they
won't have any use for it. I've seen 'em work before."
"Incidentally," said Christine, "you mentioned the Anopheles, and I
think that is the first ship I've ever heard of that hasn't a feminine
name. How come?"
"The mosquito that does the damage is the female," grinned Jim.
"The Mojave spaceyards owns a sort of tender craft. It has a couple
of big cranes on the top and a whole assortment of girders near the
bottom. It looks like, and is also called The Praying Mantis. Those
are also female: at least the ones that aren't afraid of their own
shadow are."
Channing said suddenly: "Walt, have you tried the propagation-time
of the solar beam on the Anopheles?"
"No. How would we go about doing that?"
"By leaving the controls set for one G, and then starting the ship by
swapping the tube energizing voltages from test power to operating
power."
"Should that tell us?"
"Sure. As we know, the amount of energy radiated from the sun
upon a spot the size of our solar tube is a matter of peanuts
compared to the stuff we must get out of it. Ergo, our beam must go
to Sol and collect the power and draw it back down the beam.
Measure the transit-time, and we'll know."
"That's an idea. I've got a micro-clock in the lab. We can measure it
to a hundred-millionth of a second. Anyone like to get shook up?"
"How?" asked Jim.
"Snapping from zero to one G all to oncet-like isn't too gentle. She'll
knock your eyes out."
"Sounds like fun. I'm elected."
"So am I," insisted Christine.
"No," said Jim. "I know what he's talking about."
"So do I," said Arden. "Don't do it."
"Well, what better have you to offer?" asked Christine unhappily.
"You and I are going down to the Mall."
Channing groaned in mock anguish. "Here goes another closet full of
female haberdashery. I'm going to close that corridor some day, or
put a ceiling on the quantity of sales, or make it illegal to sell a
woman anything unless she can prove that 'she has nothing to
wear!'"
"That, I'd like to see," said Walt.
"You would," snorted Arden. "Come on, Chris. Better than the best of
three worlds is available."
"That sort of leaves me all alone," said Don. "I'm going to look up
Wes Farrell and see if he's been able to make anything worth looking
at for a driver detector."
Don found Wes in the laboratory, poring over a complicated circuit.
Farrell was muttering under his breath, and probing deep into the
maze of haywire on the bench.
"Wes, when you get to talking to yourself, it's time to take a jaunt to
Joe's."
"Not right now," objected Wes. "I haven't got that hollow leg that your
gang seem to have developed. Besides, I'm on the trail of
something."
"Yes?" Channing forgot about Joe's, and was all interest.
"I got a wiggle out of the meter there a few minutes ago. I'm trying to
get another one."
"What was it like?"
"Wavered up and down like fierce for about a minute after I turned it
on. Then it died quick, and has been dead ever since."
"Could it have been anything cockeyed with the instruments?"
"Nope. I've checked every part in this circuit, and everything is as
good as it ever will be. No, something external caused that
response."
"You've tried the solar tube with a dynode of the same alloy as the
driver cathodes?"
"Uh-huh. Nothing at all. Oh, I'll take that back. I got a scratch. With a
pre-meter gain of about four hundred decibels, I read three micro-
microamperes. That was detected from a driver tube forty feet
across the room, running at full blast. I wondered for a minute
whether the opposing driver was doing any cancellation, and so I
took a chance and killed it for about a half second, but that wasn't it."
"Nuts. Does the stuff attenuate with distance?"
"As best as I could measure, it was something to the tune of
inversely proportional to the cube of the distance. That's not normal
for beams since it shows that the stuff isn't globularly radiated. But
the amplifier gain was hanging right on the limit of possible
amplification, and the meter was as sensitive as a meter can be
made, I think. You couldn't talk from one end of Venus Equilateral to
the other with a set like that."
"No, I guess you're right. Hey! Look!"
The meter took a sudden upswing, danced for a minute, and died
once more.
"What have you got in there? What did you change?"
"Oh, I got foolish and tried a tuned circuit across the output of one of
the miniature transmission tubes. It's far enough away from the big
beams and stuff at the north end so that none of the leakage can
cause trouble. Besides, I'm not getting anything like our beam
transmissions."
Channing laughed. "Uh-huh, looks to me like you're not getting much
of anything at all."
Farrell smiled wryly. "Yeah, that's so," he agreed. "But look, Don,
Hertz himself didn't collect a transcontinental short-wave broadcast
on his first attempt."
"If Hertz had been forced to rely upon vacuum tubes, his theories
couldn't have been formulated, I think," said Channing. "At least, not
by him. The easier frequencies and wave lengths are too long; a five
hundred meter dipole can't be set up in a small room for laboratory
tinkering. The kind of frequencies that come of dipoles a couple of
feet long, such as Hertz used, are pretty hard to work with unless
you have special tubes."
"Hertz had rotten detectors, too. But he made his experiments with
spark-gap generators, which gave sufficient high-peak transients to
induce spark-magnitude voltages in his receiving dipole."
"I'm not too sure of that tuned-circuit idea of yours, Wes. Go ahead
and tinker to your heart's content, but remember that I'm skeptical of
the standard resonance idea."
"Why?"
"Because we've been tinkering with driver tubes for years and years
—and we have also been gadgeting up detectors, radio hootnannies,
and stuff of the electronic spectrum all the way from direct current to
hard X-rays, and we have yet to have anything react to driver
radiation. Ergo, I'm skeptical."
The call bell rang for Channing, and he answered. It was Walt
Franks.
"Don," he said with a laugh in his voice, though it was apparent that
he felt slightly guilty about laughing, "got a 'gram from Addison, the
project engineer on the solar beam from Terran Electric. Says:
'Finally got through Channing Layer. Power by the megawatt hour in
great shape. But the atmosphere from the Channing Layer right
down to the snout of the tube is a dull red scintillation. Like the driver
tube trail—it ionizes the atmosphere into ozone. Power by the
megawatt, and ozone by the megaton.'"
"Ozone, hey? Lots of it?"
"Plenty, according to the rest of this. It looks to me like a sort of
'denatured' power system. There it is, all nice and potent, cheap, and
unlicensed. But the second swallow going down meets the first one
on the way back. Power they got—but the ozone they can't take; it's
poisonous like a nice dose of chlorine. Poor Terran Electric!"

Mark Kingman sat in the control room of a ship of space and worried.
Below the dome, Venus covered three-quarters of the sky, and it
circled slowly as the Terran Electric ship oscillated gently up and
down.

You might also like