Chapter Four

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

And
Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN)

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Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSTN)

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 Lecture outlines

Public Switch Telephone Network(PSTN)

 Introduction.
 Evolution of PSTN.
 PSTN Networks and Network Elements.
 PSTN Transport Infrastructure.

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 Introduction

 The PSTN consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave

transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites,
and undersea telephone cables, all interconnected by switching
centers, thus allowing most telephones to communicate with each
other.

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 Evolution of the Telephone

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 PSTN Networks and Network Elements.

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 PSTN Networks and Network Elements . . .

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 PSTN Architecture
 The PSTN includes a number of transmission links and nodes.
There are basically four types of nodes:
 CPE nodes
 Switching nodes
 Transmission nodes
 Service nodes.
 CPE nodes generally refer to the equipment that's located at the
customer site.
 Main function:
 to transmit and receive user information
 to exchange control information with the network

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 Switching nodes : interconnect transmission facilities at various
locations and route traffic through a network.
The switching nodes include:
 The Local Exchange
 The Tandem Office
 The Toll Office
 The International Gateway

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 PSTN Transport Network Infrastructure
• The transport network includes two main
infrastructures.

 The first is the PDH, also known as T-carrier, E-carrier,

and J-carrier wideband transmission standards.

 The second infrastructure of the transport network is

the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH; ITU
terminology)also known as Synchronous Optical
Network (SONET; ANSI terminology).

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 Public Land Mobile Networks
(PLMN)

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 Lecture outlines
 Introduction
 The cellular Concept
 Frequency reuse
 Handover
 GSM Overview and Services
 GSM Network Architecture
 Mechanisms to Support a Mobile Environment
 CDMA Technology
 IS-95
 IMT-2000
 CDMA Network Architecture

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 Public Land Mobile Networks
(Cellular Networks)
Introduction
Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) refers to a cellular network that
has land and radio based sections.
 This network consists of:
 Mobile station (MS): A device used for communication over the
network.
• Base station transceiver (BST): A transmitter/receiver used to
transmit/receive signals over the network.

 Mobile switching center (MSC): Sets up and maintains calls made

over the network.
 Base station controller (BSC): Communication between a group of
BSTs and a single MSC is controlled by the BSC
 Public switched telephone network (PSTN): Section of the
network that is land based
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 Issues Vital to Cellular Networks
•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
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 Network Cells
• the entire network coverage area is divided into cells based on
the principle of frequency reuse
• A cell = basic geographical unit of a cellular network; is the area
around an antenna where a specific frequency range is used; is
represented graphically as a hexagonal shape, but in reality it is
irregular in shape.
• when a subscriber moves to another cell, the antenna of the new
cell takes over the signal transmission
• A cluster is a group of adjacent cells, usually 7 cells; no frequency
reuse is done within a cluster
• the frequency spectrum is divided into sub bands and each sub
band is used within one cell of the cluster
• In heavy traffic zones cells are smaller, while in isolated zones
cells are larger.

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 Types of Cells
• Macrocell – their coverage is large (aprox. 6 miles in
diameter); used in remote areas, high-power
transmitters and receivers are used.

• Microcell – their coverage is small (half a mile in

diameter) and are used in urban zones; low-powered
transmitters and receivers are used to avoid
interference with cells in another clusters .

• Picocell – covers areas such as building or a tunnel

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 Other cellular concepts

• Handover : moving a call from one zone (from the

transmitter-receiver from one zone) to another zone
due to subscriber’s mobility.

• Roaming: allowing the subscriber to send/receive calls

outside the service provider’s coverage area

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 Cellular network components

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 Cellular network components . . .
• BTS (Base Transceiver Station) – main component of a cell
and it connects the subscribers to the cellular network; for
transmission/reception of information it uses several antennas
spread across the cell.

• BSC (Base Station Controller) – it is an interface between

BTSs and it is linked to BTSs by cable or microwave links; it
routes calls between BTSs; it is also connected to the MSC.

• MSC (Mobile Switching Center) – the coordinator of a cellular

network, it is connected to several BSCs, it routes calls between
BSCs; links the cellular network with other networks like PSTN
through fiber optics, microwave or copper cable

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Components of a cellular phone (MSU – Mobile Subscriber Unit)

• Radio transceiver – low power radio transmitter and receiver

• Antenna, usually located inside the phone

• Control circuitry – formats the data sent to and from the BTS;
controls signal transmission and reception

• Man-machine interface – consists from a keypad and a

display; is managed by the control circuitry.

• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) – integrated circuit card

that stores the identity information of subscriber

• Battery, usually Li-ion, the power unit of the phone

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 The cellular Concept
Frequency Reuse
• Proposed by Bell Labs 1971
• Is a method used by service providers to improve the efficiency of
a cellular network and to serve millions of subscribers using a
limited radio spectrum
• Is based on the fact that after a distance a radio wave gets
attenuated and the signal falls bellow a point where it can no
longer be used or cause any interference
• a transmitter transmitting in a specific frequency range will have
only a limited coverage area
• beyond this coverage area, that frequency can be reused by
another transmitter

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 • Cells with the
same number
have the same set
of frequencies

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 Cellular System - Architecture

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 Cell Shape – Why hexagon?
• The hexagonal shape is a simplistic assumption

(a) is theoretical coverage area and

(b) measured coverage area where red, blue, green, and yellow
indicate signal strength, in decreasing order
• Footprint: Actual radio coverage and obtained experimentally
• Actual shape is random and depends on the environment
• Circular : theoretical.
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 Cell Shape – Required

• Geometric shape that approximates

the theoretical shape?
• Shape whose non overlapping and
repetitive placement covers an entire
region?
• Possible shapes
• Triangles, squares, hexagons
• Which one to choose?
• Hexagon!

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 Cell Shape
• Hexagonal cell is conceptual, however, it is universally adopted
for most theoretical treatment because
• Hexagons are a geometric shape that approximates a circle
(for Omni-directional radiation)
• Using a hexagon geometry, fewest number of cells can cover the
entire geographic region
• When using hexagon to model coverage areas
• Center-excited cell: Base station (BS) depicted as being in the center of the cell
• Omni-directional antenna is used
• Edge-excited cell: on three of the six cell vertices
• Sectored direction antenna is used

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 Frequency Reuse
• Assume a city of 10 Million mobile users.
• Let every user is allocated a radio spectrum for analog speech of
4 kHz bandwidth.
• Thus the required bandwidth is 4 kHz * 10 Million users = 40 GHz!
• Clearly impractical!
• No other services possible using a radio transmission
• Most of the spectrum will be unused most of the time.
• Cellular radio systems rely on intelligent allocation and reuse of channels
through out the coverage area.
• Available group of channels are assigned to a cluster
• Same group of frequencies are reused to cover another cell separated by
a large enough distance, i.e., there is a tradeoff.
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 Hexagon Reuse Clusters

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 7-cell reuse pattern (i=1,j=2)

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 12-cell reuse pattern (i=2,j=2)

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 19-cell reuse pattern (i=3,j=2)

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 Cellular Coverage Representation

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 Frequency Reuse Example
Example: Consider a
cluster of 7 cells
• Same color labeled
cells use the same
frequency
• Frequency reuse factor
is 1/7 since each cell
contains one-seventh
of the total available
channels.
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 Cell Capacity and Reuse – Example-1

• Assume that:
• 50 MHz is available for forward channels
• GSM is deployed
• Each channel is 200 kHz
• In GSM, TDMA is used so that 8
simultaneous calls can be made on each
channel and N=4
• How large is the channel (K)?
• How many forward calls can be made
simultaneously for the deployment containing
28 cells as in the figure?

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 Cell Capacity and Reuse - Example
Solution:
• There are 50 MHz / 0.2 MHz = 250 channels per cluster
• With N = 4, then k = 250/4 = 62.5
• With 62.5 channels, 8(62.5) = 500 simultaneous calls can be made
in each cell
• There are 28 cells on the cell map in Figure, so the total forward
calls is 28(500) = 14,000 calls can be made simultaneously

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 Cell Capacity and Reuse – Example-2
• Suppose 33 MHz BW allocated to particular FDD cellular system, where two 25
KHz simplex channel to provide full duplex for voice/data
1. Compute the number of channels per cell if a system uses.
2. Assume 1 MHz of spectrum is allocated to control channels. Give a distribution
of voice and control channels. (Exercise).
• Four-cell reuse
• Seven-cell reuse
• Twelve-cell reuse
• Solution: Given that
• Total BW = 33 MHz, channel BW = 25 KHz x 2 = 50 KHz/duplex channel
• S = 33,000/50 = 660 channels
• For N = 4, k = 660 / 4 ≈ 165 channels
• For N = 7, k = 660 / 7 ≈ 95 channels
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• For N = 12, k = 660 / 12 ≈ 55 channels
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 Factors limiting frequency reuse

Interference
 Interference is a major limiting factor in the performance
of cellular systems.
 It causes degradation of signal quality.
 It introduces bit errors in the received signal.
 Bit errors are partly recoverable by means of channel
coding and error correction mechanisms.
 Mobile stations and base stations are exposed to different
interference situation.

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 SOURCES OF INTERFERENCE

 Another mobile in the same cell.

 A call in progress in the neighboring cell.
 Other base stations operating on the same frequency.
 Any non-cellular system which leaks energy into the
cellular frequency band.

TYPES OF INTERFERENCE
There are two types of system generated interference
1. Co-channel interference
2. Adjacent channel interference

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Co-Channel Interference
 This type of interference is due to frequency reuse , i.e. several
cells use the same set of frequency.
 These cells are called co-channel cells.
 To reduce co-channel interference, co-channel cells must be
physically separated by a minimum distance to provide
sufficient isolation due to propagation or reduce the footprint
of the cell.

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Adjacent-Channel Interference
 Interference resulting from signals which are adjacent in
frequency to the desired signal is called adjacent channel
interference.
 Adjacent channel interference results from imperfect
receiver filters which allow nearby frequencies to leak into
the passband.
 Adjacent channel interference can be minimized through
careful filtering and channel assignments.
 By keeping the frequency separation between each channel
in a given cell as large as possible , the adjacent interference
may be reduced considerably.
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 COUNTERING INTERFERENCE
1. POWER CONTROL
 RF power control is employed to minimise the transmit
power required by MS or BS while maintaining the quality of
the radio links.
 By minimising the transmit power levels, interference to co-
channel users is reduced.
2. SECTORIZATION
 For 120 degrees sectored site as compared to an omni site
almost 1/3rd interference is received in the uplink.
 The more selective and directional is the antenna, the
smaller is the interference.
 Reduction in interference results in higher capacity in both
links.
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 Increasing capacity

1. Adding new channels

2. Frequency borrowing
 frequencies are taken from adjacent cells by congested cells

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3. Cell splitting
 cells in areas of high usage can be split into
smaller cells
4. Cell sectoring
 cells are divided into a number of wedge-shaped
sectors, each with their own set of channels
5. Microcells
– antennas move to buildings, hills, and lamp
posts

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 Handoff
• The process of transferring a call, which is in progress from
one channel or BS to another is called handoff or handover
• Handoff is required when a MS moves into a different cell
• MSC facilitates the transfer
• In general, handoff involves
• Identifying the new BS
• Allocation of voice and control channels in the new BS
• Prioritize handoff requests over call initiation requests
when allocating unused channels in a cell site

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 Handoff Region – Power Strength

• By looking at the variation of signal strength from either

base station, it is possible to decide on the optimum area
where handoff can take place

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 Handoff
• Handoffs must be performed
• Successfully
• As infrequently as possible, and
• Must be imperceptible to the user
• To meet these requirements, a minimum usable signal level must
be specified for acceptable voice quality at the base station
• If the received power drops too low prior to handoff, the call will be
dropped so that users complain about dropped calls.

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 GSM Overview and Services
Development of Mobile Telecommunication Systems

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 Development of Mobile Telecommunication Systems . . .
• 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: Broadband multimedia
– 144 kbps - 384 kbps for high-mobility, high coverage
– 2 Mbps for low-mobility and low coverage
• Beyond 3G: there is 4G (>=20Mpbs)

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 Cellular Network Services

• voice communication

• Short Messaging Service (SMS)

• Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

• Global Positioning System (GPS)

• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) – to access

the Internet
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 Architecture of the GSM system
• Components
• MS: mobile station
• Mobile Equipment (ME)
• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

• BSS: base station subsystem

• Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
• Base Station Controller (BSC)

• Network Subsystem
• Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
• Home Location Register (HLR)
• Visitor Location Register (VLR)
• Authentication Center (AUC)
• Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

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 Architecture of the GSM system . . .
• Subsystems
• RSS (Radio subsystem): covers all radio aspects
• Components: Base station subsystem + mobile station
• NSS (Network and switching subsystem): call forwarding,
handover, switching
• OSS (operation subsystem): management of the network
• Jointly forming a GSM network
• Multiple GSM networks can exist and interwork (run by providers)

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 Ingredients 1: Mobile Phones

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 Ingredients 2: Antennas, Basestations

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 Ingredients 3: Infrastructure-1

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 Ingredients 3: Infrastructure-2

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 Mobile Station (MS)
1. Mobile Equipment
– Portable, hand held device
– Uniquely identified by an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment
Identity)
– Voice and data transmission
– Power level : 0.8W – 20 W
– 160 character long SMS.

2. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

– Smart card contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
– Allows user to send and receive calls and receive other subscribed
services
– Protected by a password or PIN
– Can be moved from phone to phone – contains key information to
activate the phone

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 Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
1. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
– Encodes, encrypts , multiplexes ,modulates and feeds
the RF signals to the antenna.
– Communicates with Mobile station and BSC
2. Base Station Controller (BSC)
– Assigns Frequency and time slots for all MS’s in its area
– Handles call set up
– It communicates with MSC and BTS

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 Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)
1. Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
• Heart of the network

• Manages communication between GSM and other networks

• Call setup function and basic switching

• Call routing

• Billing information and collection

• Mobility management

- Registration

- Location Updating

• MSC does gateway function while its customer roams to other network by
using HLR/VLR.
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 Network Switching Subsystem(NSS) . . .
2. Home Location Registers (HLR)

- permanent database about mobile subscribers in a large

service area (generally one per GSM network operator)
- database contains IMSI, prepaid/postpaid, roaming
restrictions, supplementary services.

3. Visitor Location Registers (VLR)

- Temporary database which updates whenever new MS

enters its area, by HLR database
- Controls those mobiles roaming in its area

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 Network Switching Subsystem(NSS) . . .
4. Authentication Center (AUC)
- Protects against intruders in air interface
- Maintains authentication keys and algorithms and
provides security.
- Generally associated with HLR

5. Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

- Database that is used to track handsets using the IMEI
(International Mobile Equipment Identity)
- Only one EIR per PLMN (public land mobile network )

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 GSM uplink/downlink frequency bands used

• uplink and downlink take place in different time slots using TDMA
• uplink and downlink channels have a bandwidth of 25 MHz
• these channels are further split up in a 124 carrier frequencies (1 control channels
and the rest as traffic channels); each carrier frequency is spaced 200 KHz apart to
avoid interference
• these carrier frequencies are further divided by time using TDMA and each time slot
lasts for 0.577 ms.

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 GSM frequency bands – FDD operation

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 GSM Call Processing
1. Initializing a call
1. when the cell phone is turned on it scans all the available frequencies for the
control channel
2. all the BTS in the area transmit the FCCH, SCH and BCCH that contain the BTS
identification and location
3. out of available beacon frequencies from the neighboring BTSs, the cell phone
chooses the strongest signal
4. based on the FCCH of the strongest signal, the cell phone tunes itself to the
frequency of the network
5. the phone send a registration request to the BTS
6. the BTS sends this registration request to the MSC via the BSC
7. the MSC queries the AUC and EIR databases and based on the reply it
authenticates the cell phone
8. the MSC also queries the HLR and VLR databases to check whether the cell is in its
home area or outside
9. if the cell phone is in its home area the MSC gets all the necessary information
from the HLR if it is not in its home area, the VLR gets the information from the
corresponding HLR via MSCs
10. then the cell phone is ready to receive or make calls.
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2. Making a call
1. when thee phone needs to make a call it sends an access request
(containing phone identification, number) using RACH to the BTS; if
another cell phone tries to send an access request at the same time the
messages might get corrupted, in this case both cell phones wait a
random time interval before trying to send again
2. then the BTS authenticates the cell phone and sends an acknowledgement
to the cell phone
3. the BTS assigns a specific voice channel and time slot to the cell phone and
transmits the cell phone request to the MSC via BSC
4. the MSC queries HLR and VLR and based on the information obtained it
routes the call to the receiver’s BSC and BTS
5. the cell phone uses the voice channel and time slot assigned to it by the BTS
to communicate with the receiver

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3.Receiving a call
1. when a request to deliver a call is made in the network, the MSC or the
receiver’s home area queries the HLR; if the cell phone is located in its
home area the call is transferred to the receiver; if the cell phone is
located outside its home area, the HLR maintains a record of the VLR
attached to the cell phone
2. based on this record, the MSC notes the location of the VLR and indicated
the corresponding BSC about the incoming call
3. the BSC routes the call to the particular BTS which uses the paging channel
to alert the phone
4. the receiver cell phone monitors the paging channel periodically and once
it receives the call alert from the BTS it responds to the BTS
5. the BTS communicates a channel and a time slot for the cell phone to
communicate
6. now the call is established

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 Reading Assignment
 CDMA Technology
 IS-95
 IMT-2000
CDMA Network Architecture

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 GROUP ASSIGNMENT
TITLE ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
1. LTE
2. WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS
3. ADHOC NETWORKS
4. SATELLITE NETWORKS
5. FIBER EVERYWHERE
6. COGNITIVE NETWORKS
7. CYBERSECURITY
8. GREEN COMMUNICATIONS
9. MOLECULAR COMMUNICATIONS
10. Artificial intelligence
11. Li-Fi
12. Photonics
13. Laser Communication
14. IOT(internet of things)
15. Massive Mimo
16. Smart Antenna

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 End of Slide

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