Introduction to Mobile Computing

Ch1-Introduction to Mobile Computing

1.1 Concept of Mobile Communication

Mobile communication is one form of wireless communication, in mobile communication

users can communicate with each other while on move. We can define wireless
communication as “Wireless communication is the transfer of information between two
or more points that are not connected by an electrical conductor.”

1.2 Different generations of wireless technology

The cellular wireless Generation (G) generally refers to a change in the nature of the
system, speed, technology and frequency. Each generation have some standards,
capacities, techniques and new features which differentiate it from the previous one.

 1G OR FIRST GENERATION TECHNOLOGY(ANALOG)

The first generation wireless mobile communication system is an analog technology

developed in 1980s.It was used for voice services and was based on technology called
as Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS).The AMPS system was frequency
modulated and used frequency division multiple access (FDMA) with a channel
capacity of 30KHz and frequency band of 824-894MHz.It supports a speed up to
2.4kbps

 2G OR SECOND GENERATION TECHNOLOGY (DIGITAL)

The second generation wireless mobile communication system is a digital technology

introduced in late 1980s.It uses digital signals for voice transmission and has a speed
of 64kbps.The bandwidth of 2G is 30-200KHz.2G provides services such as short
message services(SMS),picture messages and multimedia message services(MMS).It
uses digital modulation schemes such as Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA) and
Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA).TDMA allows division of signals into time
slots. CDMA provides each user with a special code to communicate over a multiplex
physical channel.TDMA technologies like GSM, PDC, iDEN, IS-136 and CDMA
technology like IS-95 are used. GSM(Global System for Mobile Communication) is
the most widely used 2G mobile standard.

 3G OR THIRD GENERATION TECHNOLOGY

The third generation wireless mobile communication system was introduced in

2000.The goal of 3G systems was to offer increased data rates from 144 kbps to 384
kbps in wide coverage areas and 2Mbps in local coverage areas. 3G offers advanced

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services to the users as compared to 1G and 2G.Along with voice communication it

includes data services, access to TV/videos, Web browsing, e-mail, video
conferencing, paging, fax and navigational maps. It has a bandwidth of 15-20MHz
used for high speed internet, video chatting, etc. A 3G mobile system was defined by
an organization called 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) which fulfils the
IMT-2000 standards. It was called as UMTS(Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System).

 4G OR FOURTH GENERATION TECHNOLOGY

The fourth Generation mobile system was introduced in the late 2000s and was all IP
based network system. The main goal of 4G technology is to provide high speed, high
quality, high capacity, security and low cost services for voice and data services,
multimedia and internet over IP.The reason for the transition to all IP is to have a
common platform to all the technologies developed so far. It has the capability
100Mbps and 1Gbps of .To use 4G mobile network, multimode user terminals should
be able to select the target wireless system. To provide wireless services anytime and
anywhere, terminal mobility is a key factor in 4G.Terminal mobility implies
automatic roaming between different wireless networks. The 4G technology integrate
different existing and future wireless technologies(e.g. OFDM, MC-CDMA, LAS-
CDMA and Network-LMDS) to provide freedom of movement and uninterrupted
roaming from one technology to another.LTE(Long Term Evolution) and
WiMAX(Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access) are considered as 4G
technologies

1.3 Basics of cell, cluster and frequency reuse concept

The frequency reuse concept led to the development of cellular technology as originally
conceived by AT&T and Bell Labs way back in 1947. The essential characteristics of this
reuse are as follows:
 The area to be covered is subdivided into radio zones or cells (Figure 1.1).Though in
reality these cells could be of any shape, for convenient modeling purposes these are
modeled as hexagons. Base stations are positioned at the center of these cells.
 Each cell i receives a subset of frequencies fbi from the total set assigned to the
respective mobile network. To avoid any type of co-channel interference, two
neighboring cells never use the same frequencies.
 Only at a distance of D (known as frequency reuse distance), the same frequency
from the set fb, can be reused. Cells with distance D from cell i; can be assigned
one or all the frequencies from the set fbi belonging to cell i
 When moving from one cell to another during an ongoing conversation, an automatic
channel change occurs. This phenomenon is called handover. Handover maintains an
active speech and data connection over cell boundaries.
The regular repetition of frequencies in cells result in a clustering of cells. The clusters
generated in this way can consume the whole frequency band. The size of a cluster is
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defined by k, the number of cells in the cluster. This also defines the frequency reuse
distance D. Figure 1.1 shows an example of cluster size of 4.

Fig. 1.1 Cell Clusters in GSM.

1.4 Noise and its effects on mobile

This unwanted signal is called noise. Noise is a random signal that exists in a
communication system.
Noise may be put into following two categories.
1. External noises, i.e. noise whose sources are external.
External noise may be classified into the following three types:
i. Atmospheric noises
ii. Extraterrestrial noises
iii. Man-made noises or industrial noises.
2. Internal noise in communication, i.e. noises which get, generated within the receiver
or communication system.
Internal noise may be put into the following four categories.
i. Thermal noise or white noise or Johnson noise
ii. Shot noise.
iii. Transit time noise
iv. Miscellaneous internal noise.
External noise cannot be reduced except by changing the location of the receiver or the
entire system. Internal noise on the other hand can be easily evaluated Mathematically
and can be reduced to a great extent by proper design. As already said, because of the fact

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that internal noise can be reduced to a great extent, study of noise characteristics is a very
important part of the communication engineering.

Effects of noise on mobile communication:

 Degrades system performance (Analog and digital)
 Receiver cannot distinguish signal from noise
 Efficiency of communication system reduces

1.5 Understanding GSM and CDMA

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple
Access) are two dominant technologies for mobile communication. These two
technologies differ in the way calls and data travel over the mobile phone networks take
place. On comparing both the technologies GSM has some limitation when the call
quality is concerned but still has more flexibility and an easy implementation relative to
the CDMA technology. The major difference between the two lies in terms of the
technology they use, security factors, their global reach and the data transfer speeds.
Difference between GSM and CDMA are:

GSM CDMA
Stands for Global System for Mobile Code Division Multiple Access
communication
Storage Type SIM (subscriber identity Internal Memory
module) Card
Global market 75% 25%
share
Frequency Multiple (850/900/1800/1900 Single (850 MHz)
band MHz)
Dominance Dominant standard worldwide Dominant standard in the U.S.
except the U.S.
Data transfer GPRS/EDGE/3G/4G/LTE EVDO/3G/4G/LTE
Network Every cell has a corresponding There is one physical channel and
network tower, which serves the a special code for every device in
mobile phones in that cellular the coverage network. Using this
area. code, the signal of the device is
multiplexed, and the same
physical channel is used to send
the signal.
International Most Accessible Less Accessible
roaming
Network SIM specific. User has option to Handset specific
service select handset of his choice.

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1.6 Basics of GSM architecture and services like voice call, SMS, MMS, LBS, VAS

1.6.1 Basics of GSM architecture

GSM is based on a set of standards, formulated in the early 1980s. In 1982, the
Conference of European Posts and Telegraphs (CEPT) formed a study group called the
Groupe Special Mobile ( GSM) to study and develop a pan-European mobile system,
which was later rechristened as Global System for Mobile Communication. The proposed
GSM system had to meet certain business objectives.

GSM uses a combination of FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) and TDMA
(Time Division Multiple Access). The GSM system has an allocation of 50 MHz
(890-915 MHz and 935-960 MHz) bandwidth in the 900 MHz frequency band. Using
FDMA, this band is divided into 124 ( 125 channels, 1 not used) channels each with a
carrier bandwidth of 200 KHz. Using TDMA, each of these channels is then further
divided into 8 time slots. Therefore, with the combination of FDMA and TDMA we can
realize a maximum of 992 channels for transmit and receive. In order to be able to serve
hundreds of thousands of users, the frequency must be reused. This is done through cells.

Fig. 1.2 Architecture of GSM

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GSM ENTITIES:
The GSM technical specifications define different entities that form the GSM network by
defining their functions and interface requirements. The GSM network can be divided
into four main groups.
 The Mobile Station (MS). This includes the Mobile Equipment (ME) and the
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).
 The Base Station Subsystem (BSS). This includes the Base Transceiver Station
(BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC).
 The Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS). This includes Mobile Switching
Center (MSC), Home Location Register (HLR), Visitor Location Register (VLR),
Equipment Identity Register (EIR), and the Authentication Center (AUC).
 The Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS). This includes the Operation and
Maintenance Center (OMC).

I) Mobile Station
Mobile Station is the technical name of the mobile or the cellular phone. In early days
mobile phones were a little bulky and were sometimes installed in cars like other
equipments. Even the handheld terminals were quite big. Though the phones have
become smaller and lighter, they are still called Mobile Stations. MS consists of two
main elements:
• The mobile equipment or the mobile device. In other words, this is the phone
without the SIM card.
• The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).

II) The Base Station Subsystem

The BSS (Base Station Subsystem) connects the Mobile Station and the NSS
(Network and Switching Subsystem). It is in charge of the transmission and reception
for the last mile. The BSS can be divided into two parts:
• The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or Base Station in short.
• The Base Station Controller (BSC).
The Base Transceiver Station corresponds to the transceivers and antennas used in
each cell of the network. In a large urban area, a large number of BTSs are potentially
deployed. A BTS is usually placed in the center of a cell. Its transmitting power
defines the size of a cell. The BTS houses the radio transmitter and the receivers that
define a cell and handles the radio-link protocols with the Mobile Station. Each BTS
has between one and sixteen transceivers depending on the density of users in the cell.

Base Station Controller is the connection between the BTS and the Mobile service
Switching Center (MSC). The BSC manages the radio resources for one or more
BTSs. It handles handovers, radio-channel setup, control of radio frequency power
levels of the BTSs, exchange function, and the frequency hopping.

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III) The Network and Switching Subsystem

The central component of the Network Subsystem is the Mobile Switching Center
(MSC). It does multiple functions:
 It acts like a normal switching node for mobile subscribers of the same network
(connection between mobile phone to mobile phone within the same network).
 It acts like a normal switching node for the PSTN fixed telephone (connection
between mobile phone to fixed phone).
 It acts like a normal switching node for ISDN.
 It provides all the functionality needed to handle a mobile subscriber, such as
registration, authentication, location updating, handovers and call routing.
 It includes databases needed in order to store information to manage the mobility
of a roaming subscriber.

The MSC together with Home Location Register (HLR) and Visitor Location Register
(VLR) databases, provide the call-routing and roaming capabilities of GSM. The HLR
is considered a very important database that stores information of subscribers
belonging to the covering area of a MSC.

The VLR can be considered a temporary copy of some of the important information
stored in the HLR. VLR is similar to a cache, whereas HLR is the persistent storage.
The VLR contains selected administrative information borrowed from the HLR,
necessary for call control and provisioning of the subscribed services. This is true for
each mobile currently located in the geographical area controlled by a VLR.

1.6.2 GSM voice call service

GSM voice call can be classified into two main categoreies:
1. Mobile originated call
2. Mobile terminated call

Mobile originated call

Mobile call origination is the process of initiating a communication session by a

mobile device. Mobile origination typically occurs when a user dials a telephone
number and presses the SEND button.

When initiating a call, a mobile telephone attempts to gain service from the GSM
system by transmitting a system access request and indicating the access request is a
call origination type. The access type is indicated by a 3-bit code that is contained in
the access request message.

This figure shows a functional diagram of how a mobile telephone initiates a call to a
GSM network.

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Fig. 1.3 Mobile originated call

Mobile terminated call

Mobile Terminated call or Mobile call reception is the process of the GSM system
sending paging messages on a paging control channel to alert mobile devices that they
are receiving a call. Mobile devices listen for paging messages with their
identification code (IMSI number or TMSI) on a paging channel.

Fig. 1.4 Mobile terminated call

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1.6.3 SMS service of GSM

Today SMS is the most popular data bearer/service within GSM with an average of
one billion SMS messages (at the end of 2002) transacted every day around the world,
with a growth of on an average half a billion every month. The SS=#=7 signaling
channels are always physically present but mostly unused, be it during an active user
connection or in the idle state. It is, therefore, quite an attractive proposition to use
these channels for transmission of used data. SMS uses the free capacity of the
signaling channel. Each short message is up to 160 characters in length when 7-bit
English characters are used. It is 140 octets when 8-bit characters (some European
alphabets) are used, and 70 characters in length when non-Latin alphabets such as
Arabic, Chinese or Hindi are used (70 characters of 16 bit Unicode).

SMS are basically of two types, SM MT (Short Message Mobile Terminated Point-to-
Point), and SM MO (Short Message Mobile Originated Point-to-Point). SM MT is an
incoming short message from the network side and is terminated in the MS. SM MO
is an outgoing message, originated in the user device (MS), and forwarded to the
network for delivery. For outgoing message, the path is from MS to SC via the VLR
and the IWMSC function of the serving MSC, whereas for incoming message the path
is from SC to the MS via HLR and the GMSC function of the home MSC.

Fig. 1.4 Architecture of SMS

1.6.4 MMS service of GSM

In the third generation of messaging, the message content will be multimedia objects.
This is called Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS in short. An MMS message can
contain formatted text, graphics, data, animations, images, audio clips, voice
transmissions and video sequences.

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Though MMS is targeted for the 3G networks, it can work under a 2G or 2.5G
network as well. All it needs is a MMS handset and the MMS infrastructure.

Fig. 1.5 Architecture of MMS

 MMS Client: This is the entity that interacts with the user. It is an application on
the user's wireless device.
 MMS Relay: This is the system element that the MMS client interacts with. It
provides access to the components that provide message storage services. It is
responsible for messaging activities with other available messaging systems. The
SMS relay along with the MMS content server is referred to as MMSC (MMS
Controller).
 WAP Gateway: It provides standard WAP services needed to implement MMS.
 MMS Server: This is the content server, where the MMS content is generated
 Email Server: MMS can integrate seamlessly to the email system of Internet.

1.6.5 Location Based Service (LBS)

A location-based service (LBS) is a service that uses location data to control features.
Most of Location Based Services require several components.
1. Positioning systems – allow geographically localizing the mobile device both
outdoor and indoor using: satellite-based systems, Cell-ID, RFID, Bluetooth,
WiMax, Wireless LANs.
2. Communication Network – the wireless network that allows for transfer of data
between user (thought mobile device) and server (service provider). Nowadays it
is in most cases wireless internet (e.g. GPRS, 3G, 4G)
3. Service and Application Provider – the LBS provider, including the software
(e.g. GIS) and other distributed services and components that are used to resolve
the query and provide the tailored response to the user.

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4. Data and Content Provider – service providers will usually not store and
maintain all the information, which can be requested by users. Therefore
geographic base data and location information data will be usually requested from
the maintaining authority (e.g. mapping agencies) or business and industry
partners (e.g. yellow pages, traffic companies).
5. Mobile Devices – any portable device that has capabilities to utilize stated above
components of LBS, for example: mobile phones (including smartphones), tablets,
palmtops, personal navigation devices, laptops etc.

Applications of LBS:
 Marketing
 Emergency
 Information Services
 Navigation
 Location Based Social Media
 Mobile Location-Based Gaming
 Sports
 Billing
 Geotagging
 Tracking
 Augmented Reality

1.8 Architecture of Mobile Computing(3 tier)

Fig. 1.6 Three-tier Architecture of Mobile Computing

The network-centric mobile computing architecture uses a three-tier architecture Figure

1.6. In the three-tier architecture, the first layer is the User Interface or Presentation Tier.
This layer deals with user facing device handling and rendering. This tier includes a user
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system interface where user services (such as session, text input, dialog and display
management) reside. The second tier is the Process Management or Application Tier.
This layer is for application programs or process management where business logic and
rules are executed. This layer is capable of accommodating hundreds of users.

1.9 Design considerations for mobile computing

The mobile computing environment needs to be context-independent as well as context-

sensitive. In a mobile computing environment, context data is captured so that decisions
can be made about how to adapt content or behavior to suit this context. Mobility implies
that attributes associated with devices and users will change constantly. These changes
mean that content and behavior of applications should be adapted to suit the current
situation. There are many ways in which content and behavior can be adapted. Following
are some examples:
1. Content with context awareness Build each application with context awareness.
There are different services for different client context (devices). For example a bank
decides to offer mobile banking application through Internet, PDA and mobile phone
using WAP. These services are different and are http://www.mybank.com/inet.html,
http://www.mybank.com/palm.html and http://www.mybank.com/wap.wml,
respectively.
2. Content switch on context Another way is to provide intelligence for the adaptation
of content within the service. This adaptation happens transparent to the client. In this
case the service is the same for Internet, PDA and WAP. All access the bank's service
through http://www.mybank.com/. A intelligent piece of code identifies the agent to
decide what type of device or context it is. This intelligent code does the adaptation at
run time based upon the agent in hand. The simplest way to do this is to look at the
User-Agent value at the HTTP header and decide whether to route the request to http:/
/mybank.com/inet.html or http://www.mybank.com/palm.html or
http://www.mybank.com/wap.wml.
3. Content transcoding on context. Another way is to provide an underlying
middleware platform that performs the adaptation of the content based on the context
and behavior of the device. This adaptation happens transparent to the client and the
application. The middleware platform is intelligent enough to identify the context
either from the http parameters or additional customized parameters.

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