WIRELESS NETWORKS

Wireless communication is the fastest growing segment of communication industry. It

has captured the attention of media and public. Cellular systems have experienced exponential
growth over the last decade and there are currently around two billion users worldwide.
History of wireless communication: The first wireless networks were developed in the pre
industrial age. These systems transmitted information over the line of sight distance using smoke
signals, torch signaling, flashing mirrors, signal flares or semaphore flags etc.
The first electric wireless network was telegraph (invented by Samuel Morse in 1838).
Later Telegraph was replaced by Telephone. Marconi invented first radio transmission in 1895.
This technology advanced rapidly to enable transmissions over large distances with better
quality, less power and smaller, cheaper devices.
Today most radio systems are digital in nature. But, early radio transmission was done
using analog signals. A digital radio can transmit a continuous bit stream or it can transmit them
in groups of bits called packets. This is called packet radio. The first packet radio network was
ALOHANET, which was developed at the University of Hawaii in 1971. Here computer sites at
seven campuses spread out in four islands could communicate with a central computer. The
network used star topology. ALOHANET incorporated first sets of protocols for channel access
and routing in packet radio systems. DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency)
tried to use ad hoc network for communication in the battlefield. However, the disadvantage was
its low speeds of the order of 20kbps. Hence, these services almost disappeared in the 1990s and
were replaced by cellular communication.
Another important communication in 1990s was wired Ethernet technology which was
first introduced in 1970s. Ethernet became popular due to its high speed capacity of 10Mbps. In
1985 FCC enabled the commercial development of wireless LAN services for Industrial,
Scientific and Medical uses (ISM). Initial ISM band suffered from technical issues like
interference and incompatibility between LAN and ISM band. As a result first wireless LAN had
very poor performance and very high cost. Presently we are using wireless LANs based on the
family of 802.11 standards which have better performance. Today, wireless LAN have become
very popular due to their convenience and freedom from wires. However, many LAN are not
bandwidth intensive. i.e. they have limited bandwidth and speed. Presently wired internet is
available with speeds in hundreds of Gbps but wireless networks have a speed at the most 1-
10Gbps (in 5G mobile).
Most successful application of wireless networking has been the cellular telephone
system. The very first system came as early as 1915 when wireless voice transmission between
New York and San Francisco was established. Public mobile telephone service was introduced in
1946 across 25 cities in US. These systems used a central transmitter to cover a metropolitan
area. Even after 30 years this network could support only 543 users.
AT&T Bell Laboratories developed a system where the same frequency can be used by
more than one users (frequency reuse) using smaller power to the transmitters. Hence large
number of users could be accommodated. The first analog cellular system started in 1983 in
Chicago. Within no time the demand for the cellular service exploded and this led to the
development of new technologies in cellular domain.
Second generation cellular service started in early 1990s. They provided messaging
service, data services such as email, internet etc. apart from voice services. However, the spread
of mobile technology led to formation of many incompatible standards. For example, within US
there were 3 standards and Japan, Europe had different standards. Presently, mobile telephones
are multimode ie., they can operate with multiple incompatible standards.

Another important development in wireless communication was satellite communication.

Satellite systems are characterized by the height of the satellite orbit. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are
at a height of 2000 km, medium-earth orbit (MEOs) are at average altitude of 9000km and
geostationary satellite orbits are at 36000 km from the surface of the earth. The time for one
complete revolution around the earth depends on the height of the satellite. The first satellite
deployed was Soviet Union’s Sputnik in 1957. US had its first satellite launched in 1960 called
Echo-1. First geostationary satellite was launched in 1963 by NASA. GEOs dominated the
communication satellites services for commercial and government services. Using geostationary
or geosynchronous satellites large areas and also remote areas on the earth (where cellular or
landline telephone has not reached) could be connected with other parts. Satellite communication
is very popular broadcast entertainment and offer hundreds of TV channels round the clock
round the globe.
Wireless generations and standards
In the past few decades, mobile wireless technologies have experience 4 or 5 generations of
technology revolution and evolution, namely from 0G to 4G. Current research in mobile wireless
technology concentrates on advance implementation of 4G technology and 5G technology.
Currently 5G term is not officially used.
0G Wireless technology
0G refers to pre-cell phone mobile telephony technology, such as radio telephones that some
had in cars before the advent of cell phones. Mobile radio telephone systems preceded modern
cellular mobile telephony technology. Since they were the predecessors of the first generation of
cellular telephones, these systems are called 0G (zero generation) systems.
1G: Analog Cellular Networks
The main technological development that distinguished the First Generation mobile phones from
the previous generation was the use of multiple cell sites, and the ability to transfer calls from
one site to the next as the user travelled between cells during a conversation. The first
commercially automated cellular network (the 1G generations) was launched in Japan by NTT in
1979. In 1984, Bell Labs developed modern commercial cellular technology, which employed
multiple, centrally controlled base stations (cell sites), each providing service to a small area (a
cell). The cell sites would be set up such that cells partially overlapped. In a cellular system, a
signal between a base station (cell site) and a terminal (phone) only need be strong enough to
reach between the two, so the same channel can be used simultaneously for separate
conversations in different cells. As the system expanded and neared capacity, the ability to
reduce transmission power allowed new cells to be added, resulting in more, smaller cells and
thus more capacity. It is an analog cellular network.

2G: Digital Networks:

In the 1990s, the 'second generation' (2G) mobile phone systems emerged, primarily using the
GSM standard. These 2G phone systems differed from the previous generation in their use of
digital transmission instead of analog transmission, and also by the introduction of advanced
and fast phone-to-network signaling. The rise in mobile phone usage as a result of 2G was
explosive and this era also saw the advent of prepaid mobile phones.
The second generation introduced a new variant to communication, as SMS text messaging
became possible, initially on GSM networks and eventually on all digital networks. Soon SMS
became the communication method of preference for the youth. Today in many advanced
markets the general public prefers sending text messages to placing voice calls.
Some benefits of 2G were Digital signals require consume less battery power, so it helps
mobile batteries to last long. Digital coding improves the voice clarity and reduces noise in the
line. Digital signals are considered environment friendly. Digital encryption has provided
secrecy and safety to the data and voice calls. The use of 2G technology requires strong digital
signals to help mobile phones work properly.

2.5G- using GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) :

This technology is a cellular wireless technology developed in between its predecessor, 2G, and
its successor, 3G. GPRS could provide data rates from 56 kbit/s up to 115 kbit/s. It can be used
for services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Multimedia Messaging
Service (MMS), and for Internet communication services such as email and World Wide Web
access.
2.75 – EDGE is an abbreviation for Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution. EDGE
technology is an extended version of GSM. It allows the clear and fast transmission of data and
information up to 384kbit/s speed.
3G - High speed IP data networks
As the use of 2G phones became more widespread and people began to use mobile
phones in their daily lives, it became clear that demand for data services (such as access to the
internet) was growing. Furthermore, if the experience from fixed broadband services was
anything to go by, there would also be a demand for ever greater data speeds. The 2G technology
was nowhere near up to the job, so the industry began to work on the next generation of
technology known as 3G. The main technological difference that distinguishes 3G technology
from 2G technology is the use of packet switching rather than circuit switching for data
transmission.
The high connection speeds of 3G technology enabled a transformation in the industry:
for the first time, media streaming of radio and even television content to 3G handsets became
possible.
 In the mid 2000s an evolution of 3G technology began to be implemented, namely High-
Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). It is an enhanced 3G mobile telephony
communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G,
3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA
deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.0 Mbit/s. Further speed increases
are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s
with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards.

4G- Growth of mobile broadband

Consequently, the industry began looking to data-optimized 4th-generation technologies,
with the promise of speed improvements up to 10-fold over existing 3G technologies. It is
basically the extension in the 3G technology with more bandwidth and services offers in the
3G. The expectation for the 4G technology is basically the high quality audio/video streaming
over end-to-end Internet Protocol. The first two commercially available technologies billed as
4G were the WiMAX standard and the LTE standard, first offered in Scandinavia by
TeliaSonera.
One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically from 3G was in its
elimination of circuit switching, instead employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a
treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming audio media, utilizing packet
switching over internet, LAN or WAN networks via VoIP.
4G LTE data transfer speed can reach peak download 100 Mbit/s, peak upload 50
Mbit/s, WiMAX offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink.
5G -wireless technology
5th generation wireless technology is expected to be launched officially in late 2019 or
early 2020. This will impact the entire mobile network and brings in a new era of
technology. 5G technology will combine the concept of the internet of things (IoT). It is
stated that 5G will work on 802.11 standards. The internet speed in 5G is expected to be
1Gbps to several Gbps. The major research is going on to support machine to machine
communication (IoT) with lower cost, lower battery consumption and lower latency than
4G equipment.
5G wireless technology uses Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) network with higher
bandwidth at low energy levels. Bandwidth is of 4Gbps. It uses small antenna and
technology. 5G will be the single unified standard for different wireless network,
including LAN/MAN/WAN, wwww (worldwide wireless web), unified IP and seamless
combination of broadband. Since unified standard is used over different types of
networks we can interconnect them easily. 5G technology is more intelligent technology
which interconnects the entire world without limits. It is designed to provide unbelievable
and extraordinary data capabilities. There are no barriers of borders of countries. For
example if a teacher in India writes on a blackboard then it can be displayed in other parts
of the world.
Current wireless Systems
1. Cellular Telephone System: Cellular systems provide two way voice and data
communication with regional, national or international coverage. Today the system has
evolved to support lightweight handheld mobile terminals operating inside and outside
building at both pedestrian and vehicle speeds.
The basic principle behind cellular system is frequency reuse. Here same
frequency is used repeatedly after a certain distance and after certain cells. The coverage
area of a cellular system is divided into non-overlapping cells where some set of channels
is assigned to each cell. This same channel set is used in another cell some distance away
as shown in the figure. The operation within the cell is controlled by a centralized base
station. There are two types of interference produced by the users.
Co- channel interference: Two cells having the same set of frequency are called co-
channels and the interference between them is called co-channel interference. Unlike
thermal noise co-channel interference can’t be reduced by increasing the transmit power
because increasing the transmit power in one cell increases the possibility of that cell’s
transmission interference with another cells transmission. To reduce co-channel
interference, co-channels must be separated by a certain minimum distance.
Adjacent channel interference: This occurs when transmission from adjacent channels
interfere with each other. Adjacent channel interference results from imperfect filters in
receivers that allow nearby frequencies to enter the receiver. Adjacent channel
interference is most prevalent when an adjacent channel is transmitting very close to a
mobile receiver and at the same time the mobile unit is trying to receive the transmission
from the base station.
This interference can be reduced by using perfect frequency filters and maintaining a
reasonable frequency difference between channels in a given cell.
Initial cellular system designs were mainly driven by the high cost of base stations.
Hence early cellular systems used a relatively small number of cells to cover an entire
city or region. The cell base station were placed on tall buildings or mountains and
transmitted with very high power with cell coverage areas of several square miles. These
large cells are called Macro cells. Cellular systems in urban areas now mostly use smaller
cells with base stations close to street level transmitting at much lower power. These
smaller cells are called microcells or Pico cells depending on their size. The smaller cells
increased the cell capacity in areas with high user density and the reduced size and cost of
base station.
The reduction in size of the cell poses some difficulties. For example the signal
reaches the receiver very fast in a small cell hence hand off must be processed very
quickly. Also location management becomes very complicated since there are more cells
within a given area where a mobile may be located.

Block diagram of a cellular system:

All base stations in a given geographical area are connected via a high-speed
communications link to a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO), as shown in Figure
1.2. The MTSO acts as a central controller for the network, allocating channels within
each cell, coordinating handoffs between cells when a mobile traverses a cell boundary,
and routing calls to and from mobile users. The MTSO can route voice calls through the
public switched telephone network (PSTN) or provide Internet access. A new user
located in a given cell requests a channel by sending a call request to the cell’s base
station over a separate control channel. The request is relayed to the MTSO, which
accepts the call request if a channel is available in that cell. If no channels are available
then the call request is rejected. A call handoff is initiated when the base station or the
mobile in a given cell detects that the received signal power for that call is approaching a
given minimum threshold. In this case the base station informs the MTSO that the mobile
requires a handoff, and the MTSO then queries surrounding base stations to determine if
one of these stations can detect that mobile’s signal. If so then the MTSO coordinates a
handoff between the original base station and the new base station. If no channels are
available in the cell with the new base station then the handoff fails and the call is
terminated. A call will also be dropped if the signal strength between a mobile and its
base station drops below the minimum threshold needed for communication due to
random signal variations.
2. Cordless Phones: Cordless phones first appeared in the late 1970s which were
originally designed to provide a low cost, low mobility wireless connection to the PSTN
i.e. short wireless link to replace the cord connecting a telephone base unit and its
handset. Initially only one phone handset was allowed to connect to each base unit (land
line phone), but now, multiple handset for each landline phone is also possible. In Europe
and Asia digital cordless phone systems have evolved to provide coverage over much
wider areas, both in and away from the home and are similar to cellular telephone system.
In Europe and Asia second generation of digital cordless phones (CT-2, for cordless
telephone, 2G) have an extended range of use beyond a single residence or office. Within
a home these systems operate as conventional cordless phones. To extend the range
beyond home, tele points or phone points are mounted in places where people gather, like
shopping malls, busy streets, train stations and airports. Cordless phones registered with
tele points provider can place a call whenever they are in range of a tele points. Calls
cannot be received from the tele points since the network has no routing support for
mobile users. Also it is to be noted that hand off is not supported by CT-2. Tele point
services became very popular in 1990s but their demand decreased as cellular mobile
phone became popular.
Another evolution of cordless telephone designed for office buildings is the European
DECT system (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication). It provides the local
mobility support for users in private branch exchange (PBX). In DECT base stations are
deployed throughout a building and each base station is attached though a controller to
the PBX of the building. Handsets communicate to the nearest base station in the building
and callers are handed off as a user walks between base stations.
A more advanced cordless telephone system emerged in Japan which is called
Personal Handyphone System (PHS). This is similar to cellular system with widespread
base stations supporting handoff and call routing between base stations. This new service
became very popular but it suffered decline after cellular operators slashed their price.
The main difference between cellular service and PHS service is that PHS cannot handle
handoff at vehicle speeds. The data speed of PHS was impressive upto 1Mbps.

3. Wireless LANs: Wireless LAN provide high speed data within a small region e.g., a
campus or small building, as users move from place to place. These WLANs operate
with a frequency which is unlicensed. That is those in ISM bands at 900 MHz, 2.4GHz
and 5.8GHz. Another band meant for WLAN is U-NII (Unlicensed National Information
Infrastructure) at 5GHz. No license is required from FCC to operate in this band of
frequency. The difficulty in this system is the presence of interference due to different
users in the limited band.
Initially many companies with different incompatible protocols operated in
26MHz spectrum of 900 MHz ISM band. Both star and peer to peer network were used
with speed upto 1-2Mbps. Motorola’s Altair service provided a data rate upto 6Mbps in
18GHz band. However, higher cost and higher loss at 18GHz made the service unviable
commercially and was discontinued within a few years.
Second generation of wireless LAN operated with 80MHz of 2.4GHz ISM band. The
wireless LAN standard for this frequency band was developed which is called IEEE
802.11b. The range of LAN was around 150m and data rate was 1.6Mbps. Many
products and even laptops came with integrated 802.11b wireless LAN cards.
Companies, governments and universities have installed 802.11b base stations in places
like airport, hotels offices, coffee houses etc. for free usage. Two additional standards
in 802.11b were developed to provide higher data rates than 802.11b. 802.11a wireless
LAN standard operates with 300 MHz of spectrum in 5 GHz U-NII band. This is a
standard based on multicarrier modulation and provides 20 to 70 Mbps data rate. Also
it can accommodate more users. Another standard is 802.11g which is also a multicarrier
type with a speed of 54Mbps. In fact many wireless LAN cards are capable of accessing
all three standards.

In Europe Wireless LAN development revolves around the HIPERLAN (high

performance radio LAN) standard. The first HIPERLAN standard called HIPERLAN
type-1, is similar to the IEEE 802.11a wireless LAN standard with data rates of 20Mbps.

Wide area Wireless Data services: Wide area wireless data services provide wireless
data to high mobility users over a very large coverage area. In these systems, a given
geographical region is serviced by base station mounted on towers, rooftops or
mountains. Initial Wide area wireless data services had very low data rates below
10kbps. However, the data rate increased upto 76kbps in due course.
The cellular digital packet data (CDPD) system is a wide area wireless data service
overlayed on the analog cellular telephone network. CDPD shares the FDMA voice
channels of the analog systems since many of these channels are idle due to the growth
of digital cellular. However, the new systems are replacing CDPD as they have more data
transfer rate.
4. Broadband Wireless Access: This type of wireless system provides high rate
wireless communication between a fixed access point and multiple terminals. These
systems were initially proposed to support interactive video service to the home, but the
application then started providing high speed data access (in tens of Mbps) to the internet.
Also high speed Internet services were provided to home and business. In US, two
frequency bands were used for these systems:
1. Part of the 28GHz spectrum for local distribution system (LMDS- local multipoint
distribution system) and
2. Band in 2GHz spectrum for metropolitan distribution system (MMDS- multipoint
multichannel distribution system). LMDS is meant for wireless broad band service
providers and MMDS is for delivering one hundred digital video TV channels along
with telephony and access to interactive services such as Internet. In Europe a similar
system is developed called Hiperaccess.
Another player in broadband wireless technology is WiMAX (World
Interoperability for Microwave Access) which is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard.
WiMAX was popular with wireless LAN and 3G cellular service. However, after 4G
revolution it is finding difficult to compete with LTE and there are only a few countries
that support this serviced.

5. Satellite Networks: Commercial satellite systems are another important wireless

communication systems. As seen earlier, there are many types of orbits such as LEO,
MEO and GEO. Geosynchronous systems include Inmarsat and OmniTRACS. Inmarsat
is a family of analog voice transmission system in remote areas. For example, Inmarsat
is used by journalists to provide live reporting from remote locations such as war
zones, natural calamity sites, sports stadium, etc., They use a small parabolic dish
antenna and other systems of small size. Qualcomm’s OmniTRACS provides two way
communication as well as location tracking.
Geosynchronous satellites for live coverage have a few disadvantages such as
requirement of high power, time delay and low data speeds. For these reasons Lower
Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are used for voice and data communication. LEO systems
require 30 - 80 satellites to provide global coverage. Many systems were thought of in
1990s. Most ambitious of them was Motorola’s Iridium Constellation (one set and one
number for global communication). However, the project was cancelled after a few
years, because of high cost of launch and maintenance of the satellites. Hence, LEO
systems are used to complement the terrestrial communication. Presently there is only
one service that provides global communication through a set of 44 LEO satellites. It is
an American company called Globalstar. It provides voice and low-speed data
services in around 120 countries.
Most important use for satellite system is broadcasting of video and audio over
large geographic regions. Satellite TV and satellite radio have come so popular all over
the world. Satellites are best suited for broadcasting since they cover a large area on the
earth (large footprint).

MODERN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Wireless and Personal Area Networks PAN
There are many short distance personal area networks used which eliminate the
need for inconvenient wired cables. Most important of them are Zigbee, Bluetooth and
Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), which have emerged to support a wide range of short
distance wireless network applications. These specifications are compatible with IEEE-
802.15 standards. ZigBee is an open global standard for wireless technology designed
to use low-power digital radio signals for personal area networks. ZigBee operates on
the IEEE 802.15.4 specification and is used to create networks that require a low data
transfer rate, energy efficiency and secure networking. ZigBee is primarily used for
two-way communication between a sensor and a control system. Like Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi, it is a short-range communication and offers connectivity up to 100 meters. On
the other end, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are high data rate standards which support the
transfer of media files, software, etc.
The difference between the WiFi module and zigbee module.
ZigBee is a low energy consumption WAN technology based on IEEE-802.15.4 in
2.4GHz mostly. Hence, ZigBee is a low-power, low data rate, and close proximity (i.e.,
personal area) wireless ad hoc network. It is a standards-based wireless technology
developed to enable low-cost, low-power wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and
internet of things (IoT) networks.

Bluetooth is a short-range wireless communication technology that allows devices such

as mobile phones, computers, and peripherals to transmit data or voice wirelessly over a
short distance. Developed in 1994, Bluetooth was intended as a wireless replacement
for cables. It uses the same 2.4GHz frequency as some other wireless technologies in the
home or office, such as cordless phones and WiFi routers. It creates a 10-meter (33-foot)
radius wireless network, called a personal area network (PAN) or piconet, which can
network between two and eight devices. This short-range network allows you to send a
page to your printer in another room, for example, without having to run an unsightly
cable. Bluetooth uses less power and costs less to implement than Wi-Fi. Its lower power
also makes it far less prone to suffering from or causing interference with other
wireless devices in the same 2.4GHz radio band. The Bluetooth 4.0 specification was
officially adopted on July 6, 2010. Bluetooth version 4.0 features include low energy
consumption, low cost, multivendor interoperability, and enhanced range. Unlike
Zigbee its data rate may go upto 1Mbps with a range of 10m to 100m.

Difference between Zigbee and Bluetooth:

1. Zigbee aims at automation whereas Bluetooth aims at connectivity of mobile
devices in close proximity.
2. Zigbee uses low data rates, low power consumption on small packet devices while
Bluetooth uses higher data rates, higher power consumption on large packet
devices.
3. Zigbee networks support longer range devices and more in number compared to
Bluetooth networks whose range is small.
4. Given Zigbee’s almost instant network with join times (pairing time) of 30
milliseconds. It is more suitable for critical applications while Bluetooth’s longer
join time is detrimental (3 seconds).

Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communication: GSM is the second generation
cellular system standard that was developed first in Europe. GSM is the first cellular
system to specify digital modulation and network level architectures and services.
Before GSM, European countries used different cellular standards throughout the
continent. Hence it was not possible for a subscriber to use the same mobile in other
countries. One of the most remarkable features of GSM is the Subscriber Identity
Module (SIM), which is a memory device that stores information such as the Subscribers
Identification number, the networks and countries where the subscriber is entitled to
service, privacy keys and other user specific information. Another remarkable feature of
GSM is its secure signal transmission. Unlike in FM cellular phone systems it is
virtually impossible to intercept the communication as the signals are encrypted.
GSM system Architecture: It consists of three major interconnected subsystems
that interact between themselves and with the user through certain network interface. The
subsystems are: Base Station or Base service station (BSS), network and Switching
subsystem (NSS) and operation support subsystem (OSS). The mobile station (MS) is
also a subsystem, but is usually considered to be part of BSS.
 BSS, also known as radio subsystem, provides and manages radio transmission
paths between the mobile station and the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC). The BSS
also manages the radio interface between MS and all other subsystems. Each BSS
consists of many Base stations controllers (BSCs) which connect the MS to the NSS via
the MSCs. The NSS manages the switching functions of the system and allows the
MSCs to communicate with other networks such as PSTN and ISDN. The OSS
supports the operation and maintenance of GSM.
The figure shows the block diagram of architecture of GSM system. The BSS consists
of many BSCs which connect to a single MSC, and each BSC typically controls upto
several hundred base transceiver Stations (BTSs). Some of the BTSs may be in the same
cell and others may be remotely distributed and physically connected to the BSC by
microwave link or dedicated leased lines. The handover between two BTSs under the
control of the same BSC are handled by the BSC and not the MSC. This reduces the
switching burden of the MSC.

The NSS handles the switching of GSM calls between external networks and
BSCs in the radio subsystem and is also responsible for managing and providing external
access to several customer databases. The MSC is the central unit in the NSS and controls
the traffic among all the BSCs. In the NSS, there are three different databases called
Home location register (HLR), visitor Location Register (VLR) and the Authentication
center (AUC). HLR is the database which contains subscriber information and location
information for each user who resides in the same city as MSC. Each subscriber is
assigned a unique International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). VLR is a database
which temporarily stores the IMSI and customer information for each roaming subscriber
who is visiting the coverage area of a particular MSC. Authentication Centre is a strongly
protected database which handles the authentication and encryption keys for every single
subscriber in the HLR and VLR. AUC contains a register called the Equipment Identity
Register (EIR) which identifies stolen or fraudulently altered phones that transmit
identity data that does not match with information contained in either the HLR or VLR.

Wireless Local Loop (WLL): There are many wireless technologies for subscriber
access. Wireless Local Loop or fixed wireless access is one such alternative wireless
technology that provides high speed two-way voice and data service.
The table below gives the comparison between WLL and other alternatives for fixed
subscriber support.
WLL configuration: A WLL provider services one or more cells. Each cell includes a
base station antenna which is mounted on top of a tall building or tower. Individual
subscribers have a fixed antenna mounted on a building or pole that has an unobstructed
line of sight to the base station antenna. From the base station there is a link which may
either be wired or wireless to a switching centre. The switching centre is typically a
telephone company local office which provides connections to the local and long distance
telephone networks. An internet service provider (ISP) may be associated at the switch or
connected to the switch by a high-speed link.

Advantages of WLL

 Cost: WLL are less expensive than wired systems. Although installation of
wireless network is expensive, it is less costly when compared to the laying of
kilometers of cables (underground and over the pole) and maintaining the wired
infrastructure.
 Installation time: WLL can be installed rapidly. Only time consuming process is
obtaining the permission to use the given frequency band and finding the suitable
elevated site for base station antenna. Hence, time required is only a fraction of the
time required to establish the wired system.
  Selective installation: Radio units are installed only for those subscribers who
want the service at a given time. But in wired system, cable is laid out in
anticipation of serving every subscriber in a local area.
 In US, the FCC has set aside 15 frequency bands for use in commercial fixed
wireless service, a frequencies of 2GHz to 40GHz. The new technique of
Orthogonal FDM (OFDM) is used in WLL.

2G Cellular Services:
In the late 1990s 2G systems evolved in two directions: they used higher
frequencies and they were modified to support data services in addition to voice. Most of
the providers opted for 1900MHz band and each one had its own standard. Different
operators chose different standards, so GSM, IS-136, and IS-95 were all deployed at 1900
MHz in different parts of the country. This made nationwide roaming with a single phone
difficult. In fact, many of the initial digital cellphones included an analog AMPS mode in
case the digital system was not available. Europe allocated additional cellular spectrum in
the 1.8 GHz band. The standard for this frequency band, called GSM 1800 or DCS 1800
(for Digital Cellular System), uses GSM as the core standard with some modifications to
allow overlays of macro cells and microcells.
Note that second-generation cordless phones such as DECT (Digital Enhanced
Cordless Telecommunication)., the Personal Access Communications System (PACS),
and the Personal Handyphone System (PHS) also operate in the 1.9 GHz frequency band,
but these systems are mostly within buildings supporting private branch exchange (PBX)
services.
Once digital cellular became available, operators began incorporating data services in
addition to voice. The 2G systems with added data capabilities are sometimes referred to
as 2.5G systems. The enhancements to 2G systems made to support data services are
summarized in Table below. GSM systems followed several different upgrade paths to
provide data services. The simplest, called High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD),
allows up to 4 consecutive timeslots to be assigned to a single user, thereby providing a
maximum transmission rate of up to 56 Kbps. Circuit switching is quite inefficient for
data, so a more complex enhancement provides for packet switched data layered on top
of the circuit-switched voice. This enhancement is referred to as General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS). A maximum data rate of 170 Kbps is possible with GPRS when all 8
timeslots of a GSM frame are allocated to a single user. The data rates of GPRS are
further enhanced through variable-rate modulation and coding referred to as Enhanced
Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). EDGE provides data rates up to 384 Kbps with
a bit rate of 48-69.2 Kbps per timeslot. GPRS and EDGE are compatible with IS-136 as
well as GSM, and thus provide a convergent upgrade path for both of these systems.
The IS-95 standard was modified to provide data services by assigning multiple
orthogonal Walsh functions to a single user. A maximum of 8 functions can be assigned,
leading to a maximum data rate of 115.2 Kbps, although in practice only about 64 Kbps
is achieved. This evolution is referred to as the IS-95b standard.

Third Generation (3G) Systems:

The fragmentation of standards and frequency bands associated with 2G systems
led the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in the late 1990s to formulate a
plan for a single global frequency band and standard for third-generation (3G) digital
cellular systems. The standard was named the International Mobile Telephone 2000
(IMT-2000) standard. In addition to voice services, IMT-2000 was to provide Mbps data
rates for demanding applications such as broadband Internet access, interactive gaming
and high quality audio and video entertainment. Agreement on a single standard did not
materialize, with most countries supporting one of two competing standards: CDMA2000
(backward compatible with One) supported by the Third Generation Partnership Project 2
(3GPP2) and wideband (W-CDMA, backward compatible with GSM and IS-136)
supported by the Third Generation Partnership Project 1 (3GPP1). The main
characteristics of these two 3G standards are summarized in Table. CBMA2000 and W-
CDMA are not compatible standards, so a phone must be dual-mode to operate with both
systems.
The CDMA2000 standard builds on CDMA-One to provide an evolutionary path
to 3G. The core of the cdma2000 standard is referred to cdma2000 1X or cdma2000
1XRTT, indicating that the radio transmission technology (RTT) operates in one pair of
1.25 MHz radio channels, and is thus backwards compatible with CDMA One systems.
The CDMA2000 1X system doubles the voice capacity of CDMA-One systems and
provides high-speed data services with projected peak rates of around 300 Kbps, with
actual rates of around 144 Kbps. There are two evolutions of this core technology to
provide high data rates (HDR) above 1 Mbps: these evolutions are referred to as
CDMA2000 1XEV. The first phase of evolution, cdma2000 1XEV-DO (Data Only),
enhances the CDMA-One system using a separate 1.25 MHz dedicated high-speed data
channel that supports downlink data rates up to 3 Mbps and uplink data rates up to 1.8
Mbps for an averaged combined rate of 2.4 Mbps.
W-CDMA is the primary competing 3G standard to CDMA2000. It has been
selected as the 3G successor to GSM and in this context is referred to as the Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). W-CDMA is also used in the Japanese
FOMA and J-Phone 3G systems. These different systems share the W-CDMA link layer
protocol (air interface) but have different protocols for other aspects of the system such as
routing and speech compression. W-CDMA supports peak rates of up to 2.4 Mbps, with
typical rates anticipated in the 384 Kbps range. W-CDMA uses 5 MHz channels, in
contrast to the 1.25 MHz channels of cdma2000. An enhancement to W-CDMA called
High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) provides data rates of around 9 Mbps, and this
may be the starting point for 4th-generation systems.
4G and LTE technology:
Fourth Generation cellular technology is nothing but enhanced version of 3G. The
bandwidth available in 3G is high but not enough to qualify as a true mobile broadband
connection. For this new speed limits were put forward for the next generation (4G) i.e.,
100Mbps by ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union- radio communication
sector) in 2008. However, such high speed was unheard at that time. But research on
newer standards such as HSPA, HSPA+ increased the speed upto 42Mbps. This was
marketed as 4G by most of the service providers. In India Airtel, Idea etc. are marketing
enhanced 3G with HSPA+ as 4G services.
LTE or Long Term Evolution is new technology to increase the speed of data in
cellular communication. The concept was initiated in 2004 and first service started in
2009. LTE is a pure data based (packed switched) technology. All voice, Internet are
transmitted in packets of data. In 4G systems (non LTE), only data is packet switched but
voice is circuit switched. Hence, in non LTE 4G, as soon as call is made the system
changes to 3G or 2G mode. Therefore, data service (Internet service) will be lost for the
duration of call. But in LTE, even voice signals are transmitted in the form of data
packets. This is called Voice Over LTE or VoLTE.
There are a few advantages of LTE such as better voice quality (HD quality), better
Internet speed even when call is being made, very high speed upto 100Mbps and higher
battery life etc. LTE has further evolved into a enhance version of LTE-A which
increases data rate further.

5G technology:
5G is the next generation of mobile broadband that will eventually replace or at least
support 4G LTE connection. With 5G we will see exponentially faster download and
upload speeds. Latency (or the time taken for the devices to communicate with each
other) will also drastically decreases.
Unlike LTE, 5G operates on three different spectrum bands.
 Low band spectrum: It is described as sub 1GHz spectrum. This band is similar
to one used in LTE. They offer large coverage area and penetration. But there is
big drawback of limitation in speed at 100Mbps. T-Mobile of US is one of the key
players in this category.
  Mid-band spectrum: it provides faster coverage and lower latency than low band.
However, it fails to penetrate the buildings. The peak speeds may go upto 1Gbps.
Sprint, an American company is main player in this band. The carrier is using
massive MIMO to improve penetration and coverage area on the mid band.
Multiple antennas are used on a single box and they create multiple simultaneous
beams to different users. They will also use beam forming to improve 5G on the
mid band. Beams will locate and track the user so that energy is saved.

 High band spectrum: This is the most popular band and is often referred to an
mmWave. Here we get high speeds upto 10Gbps. But the disadvantage is that it
has low coverage area and building penetration is poor. AT&T and Verizon are
the key players in this band. The cell size will be very small due to small coverage
area.
Application areas of 5G:
1. Broadband Internet: The bandwidth and speed is very high which is useful in
high speed mobile broadband. This is very important as 4G is already saturated in
many cities and its speed is slowing up.
2. Autonomous Vehicles: Using 5G there will be self-driving vehicles which will
communicate with each other on the road and drive accordingly.
3. Public safety and infrastructure: The civic amenities can be remotely monitored
and controlled so that public safety and infrastructure management will be
improved.
 4. Remote control: Due low latency in 5G remote control of heavy machinery will
be reality. This will reduce the risk in hazardous environments. Moreover,
specialized technicians can control machinery from anywhere in the world.
5. Healthcare: Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) component of
5G could fundamentally change the health care. Telemedicine will be common,
remote recovery and physical therapy via Augmented Reality (AR), precision
surgery and remote surgery are possible using 5G.
6. Internet of Things (IoT): IoT is one of the most exciting features of 5G.With IoT
machines can communicate with each other, machine can respond to sensor
automatically and machine can connect and respond to the base station
automatically so that complete automation of any system is possible.
There are many companies which are ready to provide 5G services like Qualcomm,
Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, ZTE etc.

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