Wireless Communication: An Overview
Wireless Communication: An Overview
Mihir Dam
Department of Electronics, Vidyasagar College for Women, University of Calcutta
I. INTRODUCTION
The concept of mobile wireless communication was first developed by the bell laboratories in
1960. Wireless communication technology has been investigated by many researcher [1-11]. This
technology is developed at a very rapid growth due to the increasing number of subscribers. This
development in wireless systems is started when the “cellular concept” came in picture [5]. In
today’s life the mobile phone is very essential electronic gadget. The mobile phone technology is
evolved from cellular concept; therefore the mobile phone is also referred to as “Cell-phone” or
simply “cell”. In earlier period, the pagers are used in place of mobile phone for transmitting
information from one place to another [5]. But this communication only contains data signals and not
a single voice signal. The wireless communication is a robust, viable voice and data transport
mechanism. It should be able to support voice as well as the higher data traffic.
In the next subsequent sections the older first generation systems to latest fourth generation
technologies are discussed.
The first generation mobile systems are based on analog technology [5]. The first technology uses
frequency modulation (FM) and frequency division duplexing (FDD), frequency division multiple
access (FDMA) [1, 5]. The common signalling channels were used in first generation wireless
systems. Due to the use of analog technology the analog speech signals are provided by the first
generation wireless systems. The data transmission between base station and mobile user was
insufficient and the low data rate necessitates the next generation wireless systems. The first
generation systems are relies on analog systems therefore, the transmission is not secure whereas the
second generation systems uses digital modulation so, provides secure transmission of data. The
standard 1G technologies are-
A. AMPS
AMPS is the first U.S. wireless telephone system called advanced mobile phone system. It system
uses 7-cell reuse pattern with provisions for sectoring and cell splitting to increase capacity when
needed. AMPS uses frequency modulation (FM) and frequency division duplex (FDD) for radio
transmission. In the United States transmissions from mobile to base stations (reverse link) use
frequency between 824-849MHz, while base station transmits to mobile (Forward link) using
frequencies between 869-894 MHz. It uses FDMA multiple access, Channel bandwidth is 30 KHz.
B. ETACS
European Total Access Communication systems (ETACS) was developed in mid-1980’s and is
virtually identical to AMPS except its channel bandwidth is 25 KHz. Another difference between
AMPS and ETAC is how the telephone number of each subscriber (called the mobile identification
number or MIN) is formatted for different section of Europe.
A. Cordless Telephony:
Cordless telephone systems are full duplex communication systems that use radio to connect a
portable handset to a dedicated base station, which is then connected to a dedicated telephone line
with a specific telephone number on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In first
generation cordless telephone systems (manufactured in the 1980s), the portable unit communicates
only to the dedicated base unit and only over distances of a few tens of meters. Early cordless
telephones operate solely as extension telephones to a transceiver connected to a subscriber line on
the PSTN and are primarily for in-home use. Second generation cordless telephones have recently
been introduced which allow subscribers to use their handsets at many outdoor locations within
urban centers such as London or Hong Kong. Modem cordless telephones are sometimes combined
with paging receivers so that a subscriber may first be paged and then respond to the page using the
cordless telephone. Cordless telephone systems provide the user with limited range and mobility, as
it is usually not possible to maintain a call if the user travels outside the range of the base station.
Typical second generation base stations provide coverage ranges up to a few hundred meters. Figure
1. illustrates a cordless telephone system.
B. PAGING SYSTEM :
Paging systems are communication systems that send brief messages to a subscriber. Depending
on the type of service, the message may be either a numeric message, an alphanumeric message, or a
voice message. Paging systems are typically used to noti& a subscriber of the need to call a
particular telephone.
number or travel to a known location to receive further instructions. In modern paging systems,
news headlines, stock quotations, and faxes may be sent. A message is sent to a paging subscriber via
the paging system access number (usually a toll-free telephone number) with a telephone keypad or
modem. The issued message is called a page. The paging system then transmits the page throughout
the service area using base stations which broadcast the page on a radio carrier. Paging systems vary
widely in their complexity and coverage area. While simple paging systems may cover a limited
range of 2 km to 5 km, or may even be confined to within individual buildings, wide area paging
systems can provide worldwide coverage. Though paging receivers are simple and inexpensive, the
transmission system required is quite sophisticated. Wide area paging systems consist of a network
of telephone lines, many base station transmitters, and large radio towers that simultaneously
broadcast a page from each base station (this is called simulcasting). Simulcast transmitters may be
located within the same service area or in different cities or countries. Paging systems are designed
Special Winter School (E-Seat), UGC-HRDC, CU Page 2
to provide reliable communication to subscribers wherever they are; whether inside a building,
driving on a highway, or flying in an airplane. This necessitates large transmitter powers (on the
order of kilowatts) and low data rates (a couple of thousand bits per second) for maximum coverage
from each base station. Figure 2 shows a diagram of a wide area
paging system.
It is very popular and widely used 2G technologies by most of the subscribers. The popular features
of GSM is short messaging service(SMS). SMS allows the users to send a data in alphanumerical
format to the other user by simply dialling the users mobile phone number. The uplink
frequency(from base station to mobile station) is 890-915 MHz and downlink frequency (from
mobile station to base station) is 935-960 MHz. The carrier separation for GSM is 200KHz and
bandwidth of GSM is 25MHz. It uses time division multiple access technique along with the
frequency division duplexing. In GSM the 0.3 gaussian minimum shift key (GMSK) modulation is
used at the data rate of 270.833kbps. The voice channels per carrier is 8 and the frame period is
4.615ms.
The following diagram shows the GSM netwrok along with the added elements:
The MS and the BSS communicate across the Um interface. It is also known as the air interface or
the radio link. The BSS communicates with the Network Service Switching (NSS) center across the
A interface.
GSM Network Areas
In a GSM network, the following areas are defined:
Cell: Cell is the basic service area; one BTS covers one cell. Each cell is given a Cell Global Identity
(CGI), a number that uniquely identifies the cell.
Location Area: A group of cells form a Location Area (LA). This is the area that is paged when a
subscriber gets an incoming call. Each LA is assigned a Location Area Identity (LAI). Each LA is
served by one or more BSCs.
MSC/VLR Service Area: The area covered by one MSC is called the MSC/VLR service area.
PLMN: The area covered by one network operator is called the Public Land Mobile Network
(PLMN). A PLMN can contain one or more MSCs.
GSM Addressing and Identifiers
GSM treats the users and the equipment in different ways. Phone numbers, subscribers, and
GSM Operations:
Once a Mobile Station initiates a call, a series of events takes place. Analyzing these events can give
an insight into the operation of the GSM system.
Mobile Phone to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) :
When a mobile subscriber makes a call to a PSTN telephone subscriber, the following sequence of
events takes place:
1. The MSC/VLR receives the message of a call request.
2. The MSC/VLR checks if the mobile station is authorized to access the network. If so, the mobile
station is activated. If the mobile station is not authorized, then the service will be denied.
3. MSC/VLR analyzes the number and initiates a call setup with the PSTN.
4. MSC/VLR asks the corresponding BSC to allocate a traffic channel (a radio channel and a
timeslot).
5. The BSC allocates the traffic channel and passes the information to the mobile station.
6. The called party answers the call and the conversation takes place.
7. The mobile station keeps on taking measurements of the radio channels in the present cell and the
neighbouring cells and passes the information to the BSC. The BSC decides if a handover is
required. If so, a new traffic channel is allocated to the mobile station and the handover takes place.
If handover is not required, the mobile station continues to transmit in the same frequency.
This 3G technology is backward compatible to 2G CDMA technique i.e. IS-95 and 2.5G technique
i.e.IS-95 B. The CDMA -2000 standard uses both FDD and TDD duplexing methods.The 3G –
CDMA 2000 implies a single 1.25 MHz radio channel. The data rate is up to 2 Mbps.
V. FOURTH GENERATION:
The fourth generation mobile communication system is developed after the third generation (3G)
mobile phone standards. A fourth generation system (4G) provides various features which are not
involved in Third generation standards or any other generation before 3G (i.e. first generation and
second generation) [3, 4, 6-11]. The features included in 4G are Video conferencing, gaming
services, IP telephony, high definition (HD) mobile TV. It also provides Internet access facility at a
very rapid speed which is known as mobile ultra-broadband internet access. Some of the key
technologies required for 4G are briefly described below:
MIMO uses signal multiplexing between multiple transmitting antennas (space multiplex) and time
or frequency. It is well suited to OFDM, as it is possible to process independent time symbols as
soon as the OFDM waveform is correctly designed for the channel. This aspect of OFDM greatly
simplifies processing. The signal transmitted by m antennas is received by n antennas. Processing of
the received signals may deliver several performance improvements range, quality of received signal
and spectrum efficiency. In principle, MIMO is more efficient when many multiple path signals are
received. The performance in cellular deployments is still subject to research and simulations.
However, it is generally admitted that the gain in spectrum efficiency is directly related to the
minimum number of antennas in the link. HANDOVER AND MOBILITY Handover technologies
based on mobile IP technology have been considered for data and voice. Mobile IP techniques are
slow but can be accelerated with classical methods (hierarchical, fast mobile IP). These methods are
applicable to data and probably also voice. In single-frequency networks, it is necessary to reconsider
the handover methods. Several techniques can be used when the carrier to interference ratio is
negative (e.g. Variable Spreading Factor Orthogonal Frequency and code Division Multiplexing
(VSFOFDM), bit repetition), but the drawback of these techniques is capacity. In OFDM, the same
alternative exists as in CDMA, which is to use macro-diversity. In the case of OFDM, MIMO allows
macro-diversity processing with performance gains. However, the implementation of macro-
diversity implies that MIMO processing is centralized and transmissions are synchronous. This is not
as complex as in CDMA, but such a technique should only be used in situations where spectrum is
very scarce.
The fourth generation mobile systems uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM),
Multiple input multiple output (MIMO), software defined radio (SDR) technologies. The OFDM
technology is similar technology as FDM (Frequency division multiplexing) technology but a
technological difference is that in OFDM the subcarriers are orthogonally spaced to each other to
reduce the interference. It also reduces the Frequency selective fading and the cross-talk between sub
channels. One advantages of OFDM is that inter-carriers guard bands are not necessary. OFDM also
improves the spectral efficiency.
The second technology used in fourth generation standard is Multiple input multiple output
(MIMO). In this system the number of multiple antennas is used at transmitter and the number of
multiple antennas is used at receiver to improve the bit error rate (BER) and data rate so as to
maintain the system capacity. This technology provides a reliable communication.
To reduce the problems of global roaming the software defined radio (SDR) is developed. The
software defined radio technology implements the radio functionality as a software module running
on a generic hardware platform. This technology is advantageous because of its flexibility,
interoperability, connectivity and re-configurability.
References:
[1] Pereira, Vasco & Sousa, Tiago. “Evolution of Mobile Communications: from 1G to 4G”,
Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra, Portugal 2004.
[2] Fumiyuki Adachi, “Wireless past and Future: Evolving Mobile Communication Systems”.
IEICE Trans. Findamental, Vol. E84-A, No.1, January 2001.
[3] S. Y. Hui and K. H. Yeung, "Challenges in the Migration to 4G Mobile Systems," IEEE
Communication Magazine, vol. 41, no. 12, pp.54-59, Dec. 2003.
[4] Bill Krenik ,” 4G Wireless Technology: When will it happen? What does it offer?”, IEEE Asian
Solid-State Circuits Conference, November 3-5, 2008 / Fukuoka, Japan
[5] T. S. Rappaport, “Wireless communication Principles and Practices”,Third edition, PEARSON
Publication.
[6] V. Gazis, “Evolving Perspectives of 4th Generation Mobile Communication Systems,” IEEE
PIMRC 2002,Coimbra, Portugal, Sept. 2002.
[7] T. B. Zahariadis et al., “Global Roaming in Next-GenerationNetworks,” IEEE Commun. Mag.,
no. 2,pp. 145–51, Feb. 2002.
[8] J. Ibrahim. "4G Features", Bechtel Telecommunications Technical Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 11-
14, 2002.
[9] Y. Raivio. "4G - Hype or Reality", IEEE 3G Mobile Communication Technologies, Conference
Publication, No 477, pp 346-350, 2001.
[10] J. M. Pereira. "Fourth Generation: Now it is Personal!", Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio
Communications, vol. 2, pp. 1009-1016, 2000.
[11]Jamil.M.” 4G: The Future Mobile Technology” , in TENCON 2008 IEEE Region 10
Confererence, 19-21 Nov. 2008.