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CHAPTER 1 :
OVERVIEW OF WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION
 Outline
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 The Wireless Vision

 Technical Challenges
 Current Wireless Systems
 Emerging Wireless Systems
 Spectrum Regulation
 Standards
 Wireless History
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Ancient Systems: Smoke Signals, Carrier Pigeons, …

⚫
 Radio was invented in the 1880s by Marconi
⚫ Many sophisticated military radio systems were
developed during and after WW2
⚫ Cellular has enjoyed exponential growth since
1988, with almost 5 billion users worldwide today
⚫ Ignited the wireless revolution
⚫ Voice, data, and multimedia ubiquitous
⚫ Use in third world countries growing rapidly
⚫ Wifi also enjoying tremendous success and growth
⚫ Wide area networks (e.g. Wimax) and short-range
systems other than Bluetooth (e.g. UWB) less successful
 Future Wireless Networks
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Ubiquitous Communication Among People and Devices

Next-generation Cellular
Wireless Internet Access
Wireless Multimedia
Sensor Networks
Smart Homes/Spaces
Automated Highways
In-Body Networks
All this and more …
 Challenges
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 Network Challenges
 Scarce spectrum
 Demanding/diverse applications
 Reliability BT
FM/XM
 Ubiquitous coverage
 Seamless indoor/outdoor operation GPS
Cellular
 Device Challenges DVB-H
 Size, Power, Cost
 Multiple Antennas in Silicon Apps WLAN
 Multiradio Integration Processor
 Coexistance
Media Wimax
Processor
 Current Wireless Systems
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 Cellular Systems
 Wireless LANs
 Convergence of Cellular and WiFi
 WiGig and Wireless HD
 Satellite Systems
 Zigbee radios
 Cellular Phones
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Everything wireless in one device

- Gbps rates, low latency, 99% coverage indoors and out

 Cellular Systems:
Reuse channels to maximize capacity
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 Geographic region divided into cells

 Frequency/timeslots/codes reused at spatially-separated
locations.
 Co-channel interference between same color cells
 Base stations coordinate handoff and control functions
 Shrinking cell size increases capacity, as well as networking
burden
BASE
STATION
The Future Cellular Network: Hierarchical
Architecture

Today’s architecture 10x Lower COST/Mbps

MACRO: solving • 3M Macrocells serving 5 billion users
initial coverage• Anticipated 1M small cells per year
issue, existing
network

PICO: solving (more

street, enterprise with WiFi
& home Offload)
coverage/capacit
y issue

10x CAPACITY Near 100%

Improvement COVERAGE
Macrocell Picocell Femtocell

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Future systems require Self-Organization (SON) and WiFi Offload
SON Premise and Architecture

Node Self Mobile Gateway

Installation Healing Or Cloud

SoN
Initial Server
Measurements

Self SON Self

Measurement Server
Configuration Optimization
IP Network

X2 X2 SW
➢ SON is part of 3GPP/LTE standard X2
X2 Agent

Small cell BS

Macrocell BS
 Green” Cellular Networks
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Pico/Femto
How should cellular
Coop
MIMO systems be redesigned
Relay
for minimum energy?

Research indicates that

significant savings is possible
 Minimize energy at both the mobile and base station via
 New Infrastructures: cell size, BS placement, Picos, relays
 New Protocols: Cell Zooming, Coop MIMO, Scheduling, Sleeping, Relaying
 Low-Power (Green) Radios: Radio Architectures, Modulation, coding, MIMO
 WiGig and Wireless HD
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 New standards operating in 60 GHz band

 Data rates of 7-25 Gbps
 Bandwidth of around 10 GHz (unregulated)
 Range of around 10m (can be extended)
 Uses/extends 802.11 MAC Layer
 Applications include PC peripherals and displays for
HDTVs, monitors & projectors
 Satellite Systems
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 Cover very large areas

 Different orbit heights
 GEOs (39000 Km) versus LEOs (2000 Km)

 Optimized for one-way transmission

 Radio and movie broadcasts

 Most two-way systems struggling or bankrupt

 Global Positioning System (GPS) use growing

 Satellite signals used to pinpoint location
 Popular in cell phones, PDAs, and navigation devices
 IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee Radios
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 Low-Rate WPAN
 Data rates of 20, 40, 250 Kbps
 Support for large mesh networking or star clusters
 Support for low latency devices
 CSMA-CA channel access
 Very low power consumption
 Frequency of operation in ISM bands
15
Tradeoffs

802.11n
3G
Rate
802.11g/a

Power
802.11b

UWB

Bluetooth
ZigBee Range
 Spectrum Regulation
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 Spectrum a scarce public resource, hence allocated

 Spectral allocation in US controlled by FCC
 FCC auctions spectral blocks for a set of applications.
 Some spectrum set aside for universal use
 Worldwide spectrum controlled by ITU-R

Innovations in regulation being considered worldwide

in multiple cognitive radio paradigms
 Standards
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 Interacting systems require standardization

 Companies want their systems adopted as standard
 Alternatively try for de-facto standards

 IEEE standards often adopted

 Process fraught with inefficiencies and conflicts
 Worldwide standards determined by ITU-T
 In Europe, ETSI is equivalent of IEEE
 Emerging Systems*
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 Cognitive radio networks

 Ad hoc/mesh wireless networks
 Sensor networks
 Distributed control networks
 The smart grid
 Biomedical networks