Cellular Networks

Overview
Data Rates
2 Mbps

1 Mbps 3G
(144Kbps to 2Mbps)

100 Kbps
2.5G
(10-150Kbps)
10 Kbps
2G
(9.6Kbps)
1 Kbps
1G
(<1Kbps)

1980 1990 2000 2010

Years
 Cellular networks: From 1G to 3G
• 1G: First generation wireless cellular: Early 1980s
– Analog transmission, primarily speech: AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
Systems) and others
• 2G: Second generation wireless cellular: Late 1980s
– Digital transmission
– Primarily speech and low bit-rate data (9.6 Kbps)
– High-tier: GSM, IS-95 (CDMA), etc
– Low-tier (PCS): Low-cost, low-power, low-mobility e.g. PACS
• 2.5G: 2G evolved to medium rate (< 100kbps) data
• 3G: future Broadband multimedia
– 144 kbps - 384 kbps for high-mobility, high coverage
– 2 Mbps for low-mobility and low coverage
• Beyond 3G: research in 4G
 Issues Vital to cellular
•Frequency allocation
•Licensed
•Many providers
•Multiple Access
•Many users
•Wide area of coverage
•Traffic management
•Location management
•High mobility (in cars, trains)
•Multiple suppliers
•Handoff management, roaming
•General principles
• Handled differently by different generations
 Multiple Access Techniques: How to allocate users

Session4

Session2
Session3
Session4
Session1
Frequency
Session3
Frequency

Session2
Session1
Time
Time Time Division
Frequency Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
Multiple Access (FDMA) 2G TDMA
1G Cellular (AMPS) All sessions 3G TDMA
Frequency

based on a
code

Time
2G CDMA (IS-95) Code Division
3G CDMA Multiple Access (CDMA)
Cell 1
A Cellular Network

Mobile Public
Telephone Switched
Switching Telephone
Cell 2 Center Network
(MTSC) (PSTN)

HLR VLR

Mobile User Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

Cordless connection HLR = Home Location Register

Wired connection VLR = Visitor Location Register

Overview of Location Services
 Cell-id based location.
 assigned an id of the cell that you are in.
 cell-id is stored in a database.
 As you move from one cell to another, you are assigned a different cell-
id and the location database is updated.
 most commonly used in cellular networks. (HLR, VLR)
 Neighborhood polling: Connected mobile units only move to adjacent cells
 Angle of arrival (AOA). the angle at which radio waves from your device
"attack" an antenna is used to calculate the location of the device.
 Time taken. In this case, the time taken between the device and the
antenna is used to calculate the location of the device.
 Network assisted Global Positioning System (GPS). a GPS chip is
installed inside a phone and thus the location of the user is tracked .
 Cellular System
Cell 1

Mobile Public
Telephone Switched
Switching Telephone
Cell 2
Center Network
(MTSC) (PSTN)
HLR VLR

Handoffs (typically 30 mseconds):

1. At any time, mobile station (MS) is in one cell and under the control of a BS
2. When a MS leaves a cell, BS notices weak signal
3. BS asks surrounding BSs if they are getting a stronger signal
4. BS transfers ownership to one with strongest signal
5. MTSO assigns new channel to the MS and notifies MS of new boss
 Frequency Reuse
The concept of frequency reuse is based on assigning to
each cell a group of radio channels used within a small
geographic area
Cells are assigned a group of channels that is completely
different from neighbouring cells
The coverage area of cells is called the footprint and is
limited by a boundary so that the same group of channels can
be used in cells that are far enough apart
 Frequency Reuse
• Cells with the
same number have
the same set of
frequencies

Frequency Reuse
 Frequency Reuse using 7
frequencies allocations

f2
f7 f3 f2
f1 f7 f3
f6 f4 f1
f2 f5 f6 f4
f7 f3 f2 f5
f1 f7 f3 f2
f6 f4 f1 f7 f3
f5 f6 f4 f1
f5 f6 f4
f5

Each cell is generally 4 to 8 miles in diameter with a lower limit

around 2 miles.
Problem with Smaller Clustersize

Interfering cells are closer by when clustersize is smaller.

 Channels Reuse
• Cell structure can reuse frequency only when
certain distance is maintained between cells that
use the same channels.
• Fixed frequency assignment:
– certain frequencies are assigned to a certain cell
– problem: different traffic load in different cells
• Dynamic frequency assignment:
– base station chooses frequencies depending on the
frequencies already used in neighbor cells
– more capacity in cells with more traffic
– assignment can also be based on interference
measurements
 Interference
• Co-channel interference
– Signals from cells that share a channel cause co-
channel interference
– Can’t remove it by increasing power.
• Adjacent channel interference
– Signals from adjacent cells cause this.
– Use filter to reduce it
• But, available channels decrease for incoming
calls.
Geometry of Hexagonal Cell

30 degrees
First Tier
Interfering cells
 Co-channel interference
• It is a function of q = D/R where R is the cell
radius and D is the co-channel separation distance.
• Notice D is a function of n and S/I where n is the
number of interfering channels in the first tier and
S/I is signal to interference ratio.
• In a fully equipped hexagonal-shaped system n is
always 6.
• Standard 7 cells sharing system (N = 7)

f3
f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
f1 f4
f3 f7 f1
f2
 Other Common Channel Sharing
f3 f3 f3
f2 f2
f1 f1 f1
f3 f3 3 cell cluster
f2 f2 f2
f1 f1
f3 f3 f3

f2 f3 f7
f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
7 cell cluster f1 f4
f3 f7 f1
f2 f3
f6 f5 f2

f2 f2 f2
f1 f f1 f f3
h f3 h 1
3
h1 2
g2 h3
h1 2
g2 h3 g2 3 cell cluster
g1 g1 g1
g3 g3 g3 with 3 sector antennas
 Handoff
• What happens when a user is mobile?
- Especially when crossing a cell boundary while
continuing the call.
• Handoff strategy is invoked.
– Find a new base station
– Process handoff
– higher priority over new call invocation
 Who and When
• Who initiates handoff
– Network directed ( tower determines )
– Terminal assisted ( user helps the tower)
– Terminal directed ( user determines )
• When to initiate handoff
– When the mean signal (over some
predetermined time) is below some threshold
 Types of Handoff
• Hard handoff
– Mobile user is passed between disjoint towers
that assign different frequency or adapt
different air-interface technology
• Soft handoff
– Mobile user communicates to two towers
simultaneously and the signal is treated as a
multipath signal
 High priority for Handoff
• Fraction of available channels is kept for
handoff purpose. These channels are called
guard channel.
 Other problems with handoff
• High speed vehicles can cross many
“small” cells in a short time.
– Umbrella cell. Large cell with a powerful
tower to handle high speed vehicles
• Another problem is called cell dragging.
– Happens when the user moves slowly away
from the cell and the tower didn’t recognize it
due to strong average signal.
 Improving Capacity
• Sectoring
• Cell splitting
– Process of subdividing a congested cell into
smaller cells.
– Each has its own base station
– Smaller antenna and reduced transmission
power
– These smaller cells are called microcells
 Generations
• 1G - First generation (Analog and FM)
• 2G - Second generation (Digital, TDMA,
CDMA)
• 3G - Third generation (Multi-media)
• 4G - Fourth generation (?)
 North American Systems
Generation

1st AMPS

2nd NAMPS TDMA CDMA

 AMPS Architecture
• Advanced Mobile Phone System

Land Lines

Mobile Land Mobile Public

station station Telephone Switched
Switching Telephone
Office Network
 Operation Frequency
• Original Spectrum ( 40 MHz)
A B A B
1 666
• Expanded Spectrum (additional 10 MHz)

A A B A B A A B A B

832 Channels
 Channel Allocation
• Each channel gets 30KHz.
• So a call takes two channels
– Forward channel (tower to mobile)
– Reverse channel (mobile to tower)
• Spectrum is divided into two bands
– A and B bands
– Two cellular operating licenses
– Each authorized to use 416 channels (expanded)
 Control Channels
• 42 channels (21 in each band) are called
control channels
– Carry only system information
– Receiver tunes to the control channel
– Use this channel to establish contact with tower
and determine what channel to use for
conversation.
 Power Control
• AMPS terminal can transmit at 6 or 8
different power levels
– Increase in steps of 4dB
– Message from Base Station control the power
level of active terminal
– Typically power remains the same during a
converstion
– DTX (Discontinuous Transmission) where the
power varies depending upon speech activity
 AMPS Identifiers
Notation Name Size Description
bits
MIN Mobile Identifier 34 Assigned by company to
subscriber
ESN Electronic serial no. 32 Assigned by manufacturer

SID System identifier 15 Assigned by regulators to a

geographical service area
SCM Station class mark 4 Capability of a mobile
station
SAT Supervisory audio * Assigned by operating
tone company to each BST
DCC Digital color code 2 Same as above
 Frequency Assignments

Europe
1710 MHz 1785 1805 1885

US
1850 1910 1930 1990

Japan
1895 1918
 0G Wireless
• Mobile radio telephones were used for military communications in early
20th century
• Car-based telephones first introduced in mid 1940s
– Single large transmitter on top of a tall building
– Single channel used for sending and receiving
– To talk, user pushed a button, enabled transmission and disabled reception
– Became known as “push-to-talk” in 1950s
– CB-radio, taxis, police cars use this technology
• IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone System) introduced in 1960s
– Used two channels (one for sending, one for receiving)
– No need for push-to-talk
– Used 23 channels from 150 MHz to 450 MHz
 First-Generation Cellular
• Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) invented at Bell Labs
and first installed in 1982
• Used in England (called TACS) and Japan (called MCS-L1)
• Key ideas:
– Exclusively analog
– Geographical area divided into cells (typically 10-25km)
– Cells are small: Frequency reuse exploited in nearby (not adjacent) cells
– As compared to IMTS, could use 5 to 10 times more users in same area by
using frequency re-use (divide area into cells)
– Smaller cells also required less powerful, cheaper,smaller devices
 Cell Design
E
F D
E
F D A
G C
A
G C B
B E
F D
A
G C
B
•Cells grouped into a cluster of seven
•Letters indicate frequency use
•For each frequency, a buffer of two cells is used before reuse
•To add more users, smaller cells (microcells) are used
•Frequencies may not need to be different in CDMA (soft handoff)
 Cellular Network Organization
• Cell design (around 10 mile radius)
– Served by base station consisting of transmitter, receiver, and
control unit
– Base station (BS) antenna is placed in high places
(churches, high rise buildings) -
• Operators pay around $500 per month for BS
– 10 to 50 frequencies assigned to each cell
– Cells set up such that antennas of all neighbors are equidistant
(hexagonal pattern)
• In North America, two 25-MHz bands allocated to AMPS
– One for transmission from base to mobile unit
– One for transmission from mobile unit to base
Approaches to Increase Capacity
• Adding/reassigning channels - some channels
are not used
• Frequency borrowing – frequencies are taken
from adjacent cells by congested cells
• Cell splitting – cells in areas of high usage
can be split into smaller cells
• Microcells – antennas move to buildings,
hills, and lamp posts
 Security Issues with 1G
• Analog cellular phones are insecure
• Anyone with an all band radio receiver can listen in (many
scandals)
• Theft of airtime:
– all band radio receiver connected to a computer
– can record 32 bit serial number and phone number of
subscribers when calling
– can collect a large database by driving around
– Thieves go into business - reprogram stolen phones and
resell them
 Second Generation Cellular
• Based on digital transmission
• Different approaches in US and Europe
• US: divergence
– Only one player (AMPS) in 1G
– Became several players in 2G due to competition
– Survivors
• IS-54 and IS-135: backward compatible with AMPS frequency allocation (dual mode
- analog and digital)
• IS-95: uses spread spectrum
• Europe: Convergence
– 5 incompatible 1G systems (no clear winner)
– European PTT development of GSM (uses new frequency and completely
digital communication)
 Advantages of Digital
Communications for Wireless
• Voice, data and fax can be integrated into a
single system
• Better compression can lead to better
channel utilization
• Error correction codes can be used for
better quality
• Sophisticated encryption can be used
 Differences Between First and
Second Generation Systems
• Digital traffic channels – first-generation systems are
almost purely analog; second-generation systems are
digital
• Encryption – all second generation systems provide
encryption to prevent eavesdropping
• Error detection and correction – second-generation
digital traffic allows for detection and correction, giving
clear voice reception
• Channel access – second-generation systems allow
channels to be dynamically shared by a number of users
Integrating Data Over Cellular
• Direct access to digital channel
• Voice and data using one handset
• PCS 1900 (GSM-1900)
– 9.6 kbps circuit switched data
– 14.4 kbps under definition
– Packet mode specified
– Short message service
• IS-95-based CDMA
– 13 kbps circuit switched data
– Packet mode specified
– Short message service
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)
• Completely designed from scratch (no backward compatability)
• Uses 124 channels per cell, each channel can support 8 users through
TDM (992 users max)
• Some channels used for control signals, etc
• Several flavors based on frequency:
– GSM (900 MHz)
– GSM 1800 (called DCS 1800)
– GSM 1900 (called DCS 1900) - used in North America
• GSM 1900 phone only works in North America.
• In Europe, you can transfer your SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)
card to a phone of the correct frequency. This is called SIM-roaming.
 GSM (2G-TDMA)
• Circuit mode data
– Transparent mode
– Non-transparent mode using radio link protocol
– Data rate up to 9.6kb/s
• Short message service
– Limited to 160 characters
• Packet mode data: Plans for GSM Phase 2+
• Architecture specification very detailed (500 pages)
• Defines several interfaces for multiple suppliers
Mobile Station and Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
Mobile station
• Mobile station communicates across Um interface (air interface) with
base station transceiver in same cell as mobile unit
• Mobile equipment (ME) – physical terminal, such as a telephone or PCS
– ME includes radio transceiver, digital signal processors and subscriber identity
module (SIM)
• GSM subscriber units are generic until SIM is inserted
– SIMs roam, not necessarily the subscriber devices
BSS
• BSS consists of base station controller and one or more base transceiver
stations (BTS)
• BSC reserves radio frequencies, manages handoff of mobile unit from
one cell to another within BSS, and controls paging
 Network Subsystem Center
Mobile Switching Center (MSC) is at core; consists of
several databases
• Home location register (HLR) database – stores
information about each subscriber that belongs to it
• Visitor location register (VLR) database – maintains
information about subscribers currently physically in the
region
• Authentication center database (AuC) – used for
authentication activities, holds encryption keys
• Equipment identity register database (EIR) – keeps track
of the type of equipment that exists at the mobile station
 GSM Location Services
6 2
9
BTS Terminating Gateway
10 MSC MTSC Public 1
10 10 Switched
9 10 7 8 5 3 Telephone
4 Network
(PSTN) 10
VLR HLR
5

1. Call made to mobile unit (cellular phone) 6. Call routed to terminating MSC
2. Telephone network recognizes number 7. MSC asks VLR to correlate call to
and gives to gateway MSC the subscriber
3. MSC can’t route further, interrogates 8. VLR complies
user’s HLR 9. Mobile unit is paged
4. Interrogates VLR currently serving user 10. Mobile unit responds, MSCs convey
(roaming number request) information back to telephone
5. Routing number returned to HLR and
then to gateway MSC
Legend: MTSC= Mobile Telephone Service Center, BTS = Base Transceiver Station
HLR=Home Location Register, VLR=Visiting Location Register
 GSM Protocol Architecture

CM CM
MM
MM
BSSMAP BSSMAP

RRM RRM BTSM BTSM SCCP SCCP

LAPDm LAPDm LAPD LAPD MTP MTP

Radio Radio 64 Kbps 64 Kbps 64 Kbps
64Kbps
Mobile Base Station
Base Transceiver Mobile Service
Station Controller
Station Switching Center

BSSMAP = BSS Mobile Application part MM = Mobility Management

BTSM = BTS management MTP = Message Transfer Part
CM = Connection Management RRM = Radio Resources Management
LAPD = Link Access Protocol, D Channel SCCP = Signal Connection Control Point
Functions Provided by Protocols
• Protocols above the link layer of the GSM
signaling protocol architecture provide specific
functions:
– Radio resource management: controls setup,
termination and handoffs of radio channels
– Mobility management: location and security (MTSO)
– Connection management: connects end users
– Mobile application part (MAP): between HLR,VLR
– BTS management: management base system
 2G CDMA Cellular
IS-95 is the best known example of 2G with CDMA
Advantages of CDMA for Cellular
• Frequency diversity – frequency-dependent transmission
impairments have less effect on signal
• Multipath resistance – chipping codes used for CDMA
exhibit low cross correlation and low autocorrelation
• Privacy – privacy is inherent since spread spectrum is
obtained by use of noise-like signals
• Graceful degradation – system only gradually degrades
as more users access the system
 Drawbacks of CDMA Cellular
• Self-jamming – arriving transmissions from
multiple users not aligned on chip boundaries
unless users are perfectly synchronized
• Near-far problem – signals closer to the receiver
are received with less attenuation than signals
farther away
• Soft handoff – requires that the mobile acquires
the new cell before it relinquishes the old; this is
more complex than hard handoff used in FDMA
and TDMA schemes
Types of Channels Supported by
Forward Link
• Pilot (channel 0) - allows the mobile unit to acquire
timing information, provides phase reference and
provides means for signal strength comparison
• Synchronization (channel 32) - used by mobile
station to obtain identification information about
cellular system
• Paging (channels 1 to 7) - contain messages for one
or more mobile stations
• Traffic (channels 8 to 31 and 33 to 63) – the
forward channel supports 55 traffic channels
 Forward Traffic Channel Processing Steps
• Speech is encoded at a rate of 8550 bps
• Additional bits added for error detection
• Data transmitted in 2-ms blocks with forward error correction
provided by a convolutional encoder
• Data interleaved in blocks to reduce effects of errors
• Data bits are scrambled, serving as a privacy mask
• Power control information inserted into traffic channel
• DS-SS function spreads the 19.2 kbps to a rate of 1.2288 Mbps
using one row of 64 x 64 Walsh matrix
• Digital bit stream modulated onto the carrier using QPSK
modulation scheme
 Wireless Network Evolution to 3rd Generation
Enabling Technologies

3G
2 Mbps
CDMA Migration CDMA2000
3XRTT W-CDMA
1G-2G Migration (UMTS) (UMTS)
500 kbps
TDMA Migration

2.5G
150 Kbps EDGE
CDMA-2000
1XRTT
100 Kbps

GPRS
2G
50 Kbps

IS-95
10 Kbps 1G
GSM
1 Kbps AMPS

1980 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

• Fig 8-13
• Table 8-3
 2G Technologies
cdmaOne (IS-95) GSM, DCS-1900 IS-54/IS-136
PDC
Uplink Frequencies 824-849 (Cellular) 890-915 MHz (Eurpe) 800 MHz, 1500 Mhz
(MHz) 1850-1910 (US PCS) 1850-1910 (US PCS) (Japan)
1850-1910 (US PCS)
Downlink Frequencies 869-894 MHz (US 935-960 (Europa) 869-894 MHz (Cellular)
Cellular) 1930-1990 (US PCS) 1930-1990 (US PCS)
1930-1990 MHz (US 800 MHz, 1500 MHz
PCS) (Japan)
Deplexing FDD FDD FDD
Multiple Access CDMA TDMA TDMA
Modulation BPSK with Quadrature GMSK with BT=0.3 DQPSK
Spreading
Carrier Seperation 1.25 MHz 200 KHz 30 KHz (IS-136)
(25 KHz PDC)
Channel Data Rate 1.2288 Mchips/sec 270.833 Kbps 48.6 Kbps (IS-136)
42 Kbps (PDC)
Voice Channels per 64 8 3
carrier
Speech Coding CELP at 13Kbps RPE-LTP at 13 Kbps VSELP at 7.95 Kbps
EVRC at 8Kbps
 Alternatives to 3G Cellular
• Major technical undertaking with many organizational and
marketing overtones.
• Questions about the need for the additional investment for
3G (happy with 2.5G)
• Wireless LAN in public places such as shopping malls and
airports offer options
• Other high-speed wireless-data solutions compete with 3G
– Mobitex low data rates (nominally 8 Kbps), it uses a narrowband (2.5KHz) as
compared to 30 KHz (GSM) and 5 MHz (3G).
– Ricochet: 40 -128 kbps data rates. Bankruptcy
– Flash-OFDM: 1.5 Mbps (upto 3 Mbps)
 Major Mobile Radio Standards
USA
Standard Type Year Multiple Frequency Modulation Channe
Intro Access Band l
(MHz) BW
(KHz)
AMPS Cellular 1983 FDMA 824-894 FM 30

USDC Cellular 1991 TDMA 824-894 DQPSK 30

CDPD Cellular 1993 FH/Packet 824-894 GMSK 30

IS-95 Cellular/PCS 1993 CDMA 824-894 QPSK/BPSK 1250

1800-2000
FLEX Paging 1993 Simplex Several 4-FSK 15
DCS-1900 PCS 1994 TDMA 1850-1990 GMSK 200
(GSM)
PACS Cordless/ 1994 TDMA/FDMA 1850-1990 DQPSK 300
PCS
 Major Mobile Radio Standards -
Europe
Standard Type Year Multiple Frequency Modulation Channe
Intro Access Band l
(MHz) BW
(KHz)
ETACS Cellular 1985 FDMA 900 FM 25

NMT-900 Cellular 1986 FDMA 890-960 FM 12.5

GSM Cellular/PCS 1990 TDMA 890-960 GMSK 200KHz

C-450 Cellular 1985 FDMA 450-465 FM 20-10

ERMES Paging 1993 FDMA4 Several 4-FSK 25

CT2 Cordless 1989 FDMA 864-868 GFSK 100

DECT Cordless 1993 TDMA 1880-1900 GFSK 1728

DCS-1800 Cordless/ 1993 TDMA 1710-1880 GMSK 200

PCS
• IEEE 802.11 vs 3G Cellular
 4G Systems
• Wireless networks with cellular data rates of 20 Mbits/second and
beyond.
• AT&T has began a two-phase upgrade of its wireless network on the
way to 4G Access.
• Nortel developing developing features for Internet protocol-based 4G
networks
• Alcatel, Ericsson, Nokia and Siemens found a new Wireless World
Research Forum (WWRF) for research on wireless communications
beyond 3G.
• Many new technologies and techniques (multiplexing, intelligent
antennas, digital signal processing)
• Industry response is mixed (some very critical)
 Engineering Issues
• Steps in MTSO controlled call
• TDMA design
• CDMA design
• Handoff
• Power control
• Traffic engineering
 Steps in an MTSO Controlled
Call between Mobile Users
• Mobile unit initialization
• Mobile-originated call
• Paging
• Call accepted
• Ongoing call
• Handoff
• Call blocking
• Call termination
• Call drop
• Calls to/from fixed and remote mobile subscriber
 Mobile Wireless TDMA Design
Considerations
• Number of logical channels (number of time slots
in TDMA frame): 8
• Maximum cell radius (R): 35 km
• Frequency: region around 900 MHz
• Maximum vehicle speed (Vm):250 km/hr
• Maximum coding delay: approx. 20 ms
• Maximum delay spread (m): 10 s
• Bandwidth: Not to exceed 200 kHz (25 kHz per
channel)
 Mobile Wireless CDMA Design
Considerations
• Soft Handoff – mobile station temporarily
connected to more than one base station
simultaneously
• RAKE receiver – when multiple versions of a
signal arrive more than one chip interval apart,
RAKE receiver attempts to recover signals from
multiple paths and combine them
– This method achieves better performance than simply
recovering dominant signal and treating remaining
signals as noise
 What is WiMax?
• Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access
• Last mile wireless broadband access
• Alternative to cable and DSL
• Deliver data, voice, video
• Support hundreds to thousands of
homes/business
• Defined by IEEE as 802.16
• Typical target environment:
• Targets fixed, portable, and mobile stations
• Environments with and without line of sight
• Cell radius of 3-10 kilometers
• Capacities of up to 40 Mbps per channel
• Mobile network deployments of up to 15
Mbps, 3 km radius
 Builds on and
Extends WiFi Technology
• Advantages of WiFi are:
• Easy to deploy, unlicensed spectrum, low
cost
• Supports (limited) mobility
• But WiMax needs to address the
following:
 WiFi limitations
• Susceptible to interference
• 802.11 targets short-range indoor operation
(mostly)
• Security is a concern
• Limited level of mobility
• WiMax is intended to complement WiFi
• WiMax Forum: promotes WiMax and looks
after interoperability
WiMax Deployment