THIRD GENERATION (3G) MOBILE SYSTEMS

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................1

2. EVOLUTION OF THE MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY...................1

2.1. Access Technologies......................................................................................................1

2.2. First Generation (1G)...................................................................................................2
2.3. Second Generation (2G)...............................................................................................2
2.4. Second Generation Enhanced (2.5G)..........................................................................3
2.5. Third Generation (3G).................................................................................................3
2.6. Fourth Generation (4G)...............................................................................................4

3. THIRD GENERATION MOBILE PHONE TECHNOLOGY.................4

3.1. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)..............................................4

3.1.1. Mode of Operation..................................................................................................5
3.1.2. System Architecture................................................................................................5
3.1.3. Mobile Phone Network Registration......................................................................7
3.1.4. Data Coding And Spreading...................................................................................8
3.1.5. Power Control.........................................................................................................8
3.1.6. Handover Technique..............................................................................................9
3.2. CDMA2000..................................................................................................................10
3.3 Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA)..................................................10

4. CURRENT STATUS....................................................................................11

5. SUMMARY...................................................................................................12

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List of Acronyms
 3GPP: 3rd Generation Partners Project
 AT&T: American Telephone & Telegraph
 AuC: Authentication Centre
 CDMA : Code Division Multiple Access
 CN: Core Network
 CSD: circuit switched domain
 D-AMPS: Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System
 EDGE: Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution
 EIR: Equipment Identity Register
 EV-DO: Evolution of Data Optimizer (Only)
 FCC: Federal Communication Commission
 FDD: Frequency Division Duplex
 FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access
 GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node
 GMSC: Gateway MSC
 GPRS: General Packet Radio Service
 GSM: Global System for Mobile communication
 HLR: Home Location Register
 HSPA: High Speed Packet Access
 IDEN: Integrated Digital Enhanced Network
 IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity number
 IMT: International Mobile Telecommunication
 IMTS: Improved Mobile Telephone Service
 IP: Internet Protocol
 IS: Interim Standard
 ITU: International Telecommunication Union
 LTE: Long Term Evolution
 ME :Mobile Equipment
 MMS: Multimedia Messaging Service
 MSC: Mobile Switching Center
 MSISDN: Mobile Station International Integrated Services Digital Network
 OFDMA: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
 PDC: Personal Digital Cellular
 PLMN: Public Land Mobile Networks
 PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network
 RAN: Radio Access Network
 RNC: Radio Network Controller
 RTT: Radio Transmission Technology
 SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node
 SIM: Subscriber Identity Module
 SMSC: Serving Mobile Switching Centers
 TDD: Time Division Duplex
 TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access
 TD-SCDMA: Time Division Synchronous CDMA
 UE: User Equipment

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 USIM: Universal SIM
 VLR: Visitor Location Register
 VMS: Voice Mail Service
 WCDMA: Wideband CDMA

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1. Introduction
The American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) invented the first mobile telephony in 1947 in
US and got consent for the whole country by Federal Communication Commission (FCC).
It was car-bound radiotelephone system meant to connect mobile users in cars to the public fixed
network. This new technology brought a very high demand in the public especially in New York.
As a result, the waiting list for radiotelephony became so crowded due to limited frequency
spread spectrum resource. Later, the entrance of modern automatic mobile telecommunications
systems using cell structured offered a more efficient use of frequency space thereby reduced the
scarcity problem. [1, 2]

Development of newer and newer mobile phones has become an uninterrupted progress since the
initial invention. Even nowadays, the nature of our life style is being changed because of
entrance of walking and talking, workings on the train, and always in contact, never out of touch
– cell phones. It was estimated that there are a total of one billion mobile phones in the world in
2008. It means that it has a ratio of 1:6 i.e., one mobile phone was for every six people on the
planet. [3]

The rest part of this report is organized into different sections. In section 2, evolution of mobile
phone technology will be briefly described; in section 3, third generation mobile phone
technologies (which is the main concern of this report) will be discussed; in section 4, current
status of third generation mobile phones will be presented; and finally, the report will be
summarized.

2. Evolution of the Mobile Phone Technology

The demand for mobile telephony has grown largely with increased pace of transmission speed
and all-around services since their introduction in early 1950s in Europe, United States, and
Japan. Mobile telecommunication technologies have developed in successive generations. So far,
Mobile phone generations have gone through First, Second, Second Enhanced (as a transition
between Second and Third Generations), Third, and Fourth (future mobile phones) Generations.
This sequence of generations is characterized by increasing transmission speed and richer
content of the message. [2]

The progress in cellular systems has been related with the use of different access technologies
that enable multiple users to have access to the cellular system and use it simultaneously. So, it is
worth discussing the access technologies to clearly understand the evolutions of mobile
technologies. Therefore, in the subsequent subsections, first, access technologies will be
described briefly and then the generations of mobile phone technologies will be discussed.

2.1. Access Technologies

There are three main multiple access technologies that are used in cellular systems ranging from
First Generation to Third Generation. These are known as Frequency Division Multiple Access
(FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA). [14]

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Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
FDMA is an access method where the entire bandwidth is divided into frequencies and each of
which is assigned to a single subscriber (user). Here, the assigned frequency will be closed for
other subscribers until the initial conversation is completed. This access method has been used
by analog systems.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

TDMA is an access scheme where access to the entire bandwidth is divided into time slots and
subscribers are assigned the bandwidth at different time slots. This improves the spectrum
capacity when compared to that of FDMA.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

CDMA is an access scheme that is based on spread spectrum technology where the entire
bandwidth is used by all subscribers at the same time. Here, a chip code is used to distinguish
one subscriber’s data from the other. CDMA improves the spectrum capacity when compared to
both FDMA and TDMA.

2.2. First Generation (1G)

1G mobile phone networks use analog circuit-switched technology and provide voice calls only.
These networks have limited regional scope mostly confined to national boundaries. Advanced
Mobile Phone System (AMPS) is a 1G standard that was first launched by US in 1982 and it
allows users to make voice calls within one country [4, 5]. Since 1G is based on FDMA
technology, there is wastage of bandwidth and accommodation of less number of subscribers
within a cell.

2.3. Second Generation (2G)

2G mobile phones were first developed at the end of the 1980s with basic facilities of digital
voice and text messaging. Compared to 1G, 2G systems also provide better quality and higher
capacity at lower cost to consumers as it is based on TDMA and CDMA access technologies.
The main 2G standards are:
 Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is TDMA-based and originated in
Europe but later used worldwide.
 Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN) is TDMA-based and it is a proprietary
network used by Nextel in the United States and Telus Mobility in Canada.
 Interim Standard-136 (IS-136), which was earlier known as Interim Standard-54 (IS-54)
also known as Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS) is TDMA-based
(commonly referred simply as TDMA in the US) and it is used in the Americas.
 Interim Standard-95 (IS-95) also known as cdmaOne is CDMA-based (commonly
referred simply as CDMA in the US) and it is used in America and parts of Asia.
 Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) is TDMA-based and it is used exclusively in Japan.

[4, 5, 6]

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Among the 2G mobile phone standards, GSM is an open and more popular standard for mobile
phones in the world. GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile
phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. Mobile
phones connect to GSM by searching for cells in the immediate cellular network. GSM networks
operate in four different radio frequencies: 850, 900, 1800 and 1950MHz. Most GSM networks
operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Some countries in America use the 850 MHz and
1900 MHz bands because the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands were already allocated. Most
new GSM phones support three or all of these frequencies but older once tended to support one
or two of the frequencies so their roaming is limited in some areas only. [6].

2.4. Second Generation Enhanced (2.5G)

2.5G is used to describe 2G systems that have implemented some feature of 3G systems like
multimedia messaging and mobile Internet. It makes use of some of the existing 2G
infrastructure in GSM and CDMA networks. Common 2.5G standards are:

 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet switched service available on the GSM
mobile phone network. GPRS connection helps mobile phones to be always connected
and be able to transfer data immediately. Users are billed on the basis of the amount of
data transferred than on the time spent after being connected. GPRS is often described as
2.5G, with data downloaded at higher speeds than Circuit Switched Domain (CSD) at
around 32-48 Kbps.
 Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is a digital mobile phone technology
which acts as an enhancement to 2G and 2.5G GPRS networks. EDGE can function on
any network with GPRS deployed on it as far as the necessary upgrade is implemented. It
can carry data at speeds of up to 236.8 Kbps and therefore meets the International
Telecommunication Union’s (ITU's) requirement for a 3G network.

[6]

2.5. Third Generation (3G)

The first 3G network was deployed in Japan in 2001[4] but according to the information in web
[7] in Ethiopia, it was launched as of January 2009 with limited services.

Efforts made towards achieving 3G

Even before the success of GSM and 2G systems, there was a feeling that the standards of that
time were inadequate in terms of bandwidth and service capabilities. With this in mind, various
researches were initiated by different organizations towards air interface, which was the
bottleneck of bandwidth. An organization named Special mobile Group (SMG) of European
Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) came up with five candidate standards in 1997
(WCDMA, WTDMA, TDMA/FDMA, OFDMA, and Opportunity Driven Multiple Access –
ODMA). Of these, ETSI selected two: WCDMA for paired spectrum (frequency band) and
WTDMA for unpaired spectrum.

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Similarly, three other systems (multi carrier cdma2000, UWC136, and Digital Enhanced
Cordless Telecommunications (DECT)) were proposed by other three groups (3 rd Generation
Partnership Project 2 (3GGP2), Universal Wireless Communication Consortium (UWCC), and
ETSI DECT). Thus, five different radio interface systems were proposed. The initial goal, as
predicted by ITU, was to have a single radio interface that provides global roaming. However,
because of technical and other reasons, a set of five standards were adopted for 3G networks.
These standards fall under the umbrella of International Mobile Telecommunications 2000
(IMT-2000). IMT200 refers to set of radio interface standards that fulfill the requirements of 3G
standards.[9]

3G provides faster communication services anytime and anywhere with seamless global
roaming. 3G technology supports 144 Kbps bandwidth with high speed movement like
connection in cars, 384 Kbps for people walking and 2 Mbps for stationary indoor users. It is
mainly based on CDMA technology. [4, 6] Although network service coverage makes a
difference, some of the most common applications of 3G mobile phones are video calling, high
speed Internet access, picture and video messaging, high quality games, mobile TV, global
positioning, and mobile commerce.

Common standards of 3G mobile phones include Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA2000,

and Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA).(The details will be discussed in section
3).

2.6. Fourth Generation (4G)

4G, also known as beyond 3G, is under development with promised increased speed in data
transmission. The expected speeds for 4G will be between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. [12]
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is being considered as a multiple
access scheme for the 4G cellular technologies; the main standards being Long Term Evolution
(LTE) and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA). [13]

3. Third Generation Mobile Phone Technology

Wireless communication is becoming very important in the communication business because of

fast Internet growth and users’ need for the services to be available every time and everywhere.
With the introduction of the Third Generation systems, Second Generation capabilities such as
voice and low/medium data rate, are extended by adding multimedia capabilities, high bit rate
and packet data access. [16]

In this section, the three main 3G mobile phone technologies that are mentioned in section 2.5
will be described giving more focus on WCDMA and briefing the other two in short as size of
the report limits to discuss all in detail.

3.1. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)

WCDMA is superior of GSM, GPRS and EDGE based cellular technology. As the introduction
of GPRS and EDGE fulfills some requirements of WCDMA, the transition from GSM to
WCDMA architecture did not require a large instantaneous investment. WCDMA uses wideband
code division multiple access method over a wide frequency band to provide high-speed

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multimedia and efficient voice services. Its documentation and specification is managed by Third
Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) which is a global co-operation between six
organizational partners: Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), China
Communications Standards Association (CCSA), European Telecommunications Standards
Institute (ETSI), Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS),
Telecommunication Technology Association (TTA) and Telecommunication Technology
Committee (TTC). [15]

The subsequent subtopics do not tend to give a complete detail of the technology behind
WCDMA; rather it gives some description about WCDMA’s mode of operation, system
architecture, mobile phone registration, power control methods, data coding and spreading, and
handover techniques.

3.1.1. Mode of Operation

The WCDMA system uses two types of modes of operation: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)
and Time Division Duplex (TDD).

FDD is primarily used for wide area voice channels and data services where the uplink and
downlink are on different frequencies. In case of FDD, since the receiver and the transmitter use
different frequencies, it is possible to transmit and receive signals simultaneously. In FDD, to
protect the transmission and reception signals not to interfere with each other, sufficient channel
separation known as guard band is needed between the signals. [14]

However, the TDD channels are typically used for systems that do not have dual frequency
bands or have limited spectrum. In TDD mode, the uplink and downlink are split into time slots
so that the base stations and the mobiles transmit alternately on the same frequency. Sometimes
there may be a need to alter the balance between the uplink and the downlink; for instance, if
more data is carried in the downlink - may be as a result of Internet surfing, video downloads
and the like - then it will be preferable to allocate more capacity to it to make the system more
efficient. But this is not possible in FDD since the spectrums are fixed by an authority. In TDD, a
time gap, known as a guard interval, is needed to separate successive uplinks and downlinks so
that there will not be interference between them. [14]

3.1.2. System Architecture

The network for WCDMA is composed of three main components. These are the User
Equipment (UE), the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the Core Network (CN) [15, 24]. The
system architecture is shown in figure 3.1

User Equipment
The UE is a mobile station and has two parts: the Mobile Equipment (ME) and the Subscriber
Identity Module (SIM) card. In the case of WCDMA, the SIM is termed as Universal Subscriber
Identity Module (USIM).

ME is a portable hand held device .It is used to transmit voice and data and monitors power and
signal quality of surrounding cells for optimum handover (Handover will be discussed later in
the report).

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SIM card stores a unique number called International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number.
IMSI is a numeric string where the first three digits represent the country where the SIM is from,
the next three or two digits represent the operator in that specific country and the remaining
digits represent the subscriber’s identity in his home-network. It is used while authenticating
with the network [15, 24, 29]. Other information that is stored in USIM includes shared secret
information (used for authentication), user’s phone book and a list of preferred and prohibited
Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN).

Radio Access Network

The main purpose of the WCDMA’s Radio Access Network is to provide a connection between
the user equipment and the Core Network. It is composed of radio base stations (also known as
Node Bs) and Radio Network Controllers (RNCs).

The Node B handles the radio transmission and reception to/from the user equipments over the
radio interface (also known as Uu), modulation/demodulation, CDMA physical channel coding,
error handling etc. It also communicates with the Radio Network Controller via the Iub interface.
One Radio Base Station can handle a number of UEs. [15, 24, 19]

The RNC controls most of the RAN functions like radio resource control, admission control,
channel allocation, power control, making different handover decisions and congestion control
(handover and power control will be discussed later in the report). RNC also connects voice calls
to Serving Mobile Switching Centers (SMSCs) and data sessions to packet data service nodes of
the Core Network [15, 24, 19].

Core Network
The Core Network of WCDMA is responsible for switching and routing calls and data
connections to external networks. It is based upon the combination of the circuit switched
elements used for GSM plus the packet switched elements that are used for GPRS and EDGE.
Thus, the CN is divided into circuit switched and packet switched domains. Some of the circuit
switched elements are SMSC and Gateway MSC (GMSC). The SMSC is used to establish and
release connections and to switch voice calls. It is connected to the RAN system. The GMSC
provides external connectivity to networks like the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

Packet switched elements are Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and Gateway GPRS Support
Node (GGSN). The SGSN keeps track of the location of an individual UE and performs security
functions and access control. It is connected to the RAN system. The GGSN performs the task of
an IP router to send packets to external packet networks such as the Internet. It also provides
firewall and filtering functionality to protect the integrity of the Core Network.

The CN also includes four databases: Authentication Center (AuC), Home Location Register
(HLR), Equipment Identity Register (EIR) and Visitor Location Register (VLR) that are shared
by both circuit switched and packet switched domains.

AuC is used to validate the SIM Card being used by the Mobile Station. Complex mathematical
calculations are performed by using shared secrete information stored in the SIM card and AuC
then authentication occurs only if the results of these two calculations agree.

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The HLR is the central database for all the subscribers which contain details on the identity of
each subscriber, the services to which they have access and the locations where the subscriber
was last registered. The IMSI is linked to Mobile Station International Integrated Services
Digital Network (MSISDN) number in the HLR. MSISDN is the subscriber's mobile number
which is used for dialing. So when you call your friend, you call the MSISDN number of the
mobile; then the call is translated back to the IMSI at the HLR; once the IMSI is identified, the
HLR verifies the subscription records to ensure that the call can be delivered to the last known
location of the Mobile Station.[15,29,19]

VLR is a temporary database used to store the roaming subscriber information. It is updated
whenever a new UE enters its area using information in the HLR database. It Controls those
mobiles roaming in its area thereby reduces number of queries to HLR which needs international
signaling.

EIR stores information which is used to ensure that a ME is valid and authorized to function on
the PLMN. It uses International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the mobile for
verification. This facility allows the network operator to identify any subscriber that is using a
lost or stolen ME.

Figure 3.1: System Architecture of WCDMA [30]

3.1.3. Mobile Phone Network Registration

Any cellular telecommunication network, not only needs to provide quick and efficient service
for its customers but it also needs to be able to offer high levels of security for the user and the
network. Proper management of phone registration and call set up is at the heart of achieving
this. Hence, the general principle of doing it for WCDMA is described as follows:

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Once a mobile phone is switched on, there needs to be some means of standard communication
within the cellular network by which the mobile phone is able to access the network. By making
communication with a mobile phone, the network should be able to know where the phone is
even a call is not to be made instantly.

When a mobile phone is switched on, it takes few seconds to be ready for use. This delay is
partly from the process of the software start-up and mainly from registration process within the
network. The first step, among several aspects of registration for the mobile phone, is to make
contact with the base station by using paging or control channel to indicate its presence.

Next, the mobile phone has to be registered in order to have access to and use the network.
A register or database is used to keep track of users allowed to use a given network. With
mobiles often being able to access all the channels available in a country, it is required to have
methods of ensuring that the mobile is registered with the correct network, and the account is
valid. It is also required for billing purposes. To achieve this, the AuC is used.

Once accepted by the network, HLR and VLR databases are required to keep track of the mobile
phones so that the network knows where it is at any time; so that calls can be routed to the
correct base station or general area of the network. These databases are used to store the last
known location of the mobile. Thus, at registration, the database is updated and then periodically
the mobile phone updates its position. Even the mobile is in its idle mode, it will periodically
communicate with the network to update its position and status. When the mobile is going to
switched off, it sends a detach message which informs the network that it is switching off, and
enables the network to update the last known position for the mobile. [14]

3.1.4. Data Coding and Spreading

In WCDMA raw data to be sent is parceled up into small packets having a marker attached with
each packet to identify to which connection it belongs. And then the packets are spread across
the available frequency band. Finally the packets are reassembled in the correct order at the
receiving end. By supplying different spreading codes to different users, several users are able to
utilize the same frequency without mutual interference. This is a much more efficient way of
transmitting data, allowing 3G networks to deliver larger files like pictures and even video at
much faster speeds. [10, 11]

3.1.5. Power control

In WCDMA system, UEs use equal power level of signals to communicate with the base station
within a given cell. If not, a problem like near-far-effect and signal interference in the boundary
of a cell by adjacent cells may happen. Near-far-effect is a situation where a UE further away
from the base station can not be serviced since its transmission is overshadowed by a UE that is
closer to the base station during uplink as shown in figure 3.2. A UE at the boundary of the cell
may get signals from the adjacent cells that interferes the signal from the current cell in the down
link. Here, one of the purposes of the power control is to avoid these problems.

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 Figure 3.2: Power control for near-far-effect

In order to maximize the number UEs in the given cell, the power control in uplink should make
the signal powers from different UEs nearly equal. And also in downlink, to decrease the
interference to UEs in other cells, the power control must keep the signal at minimal required
level. To achieve these, the power control uses two techniques: open loop and closed loop
technique. [25, 15, 19]

At the instant, the UE access the base station, before any communication between the mobile
station and base station is established, an open loop technique is used. Based on the signal
received from the base station, the UE decides the power level for transmission in the uplink
direction. It means, when UE receives lower signal power, it understands that it is far away from
the base station as a result the UE requires higher power level for transmission with the BS.

Once communication is established between UE and the base station, closed loop power control
is used. Closed loop uses transmission signal in one direction to adjust signal strength for further
transmission in the same direction by using a feedback mechanism. In the feedback mechanism,
for instance to adjust an uplink signal, after a transmission signal from the UE is received, the
base station measures the quality of the signal and sends back power adjustment command to the
UE. According to the feedback, the UE steps up or down the power level. The same approach is
used for adjusting downlink signal. Measurement on the quality of signal is made in short time
slot to overcome inaccuracy that may result from delay on the feedback. As the name implies,
mobiles are mobile that results in change of position or path which needs signal level to be
adjusted for proper communication. With closed loop this continual change will not be a problem
any more. [25, 15, 19]

3.1.6. Handover Technique

As described earlier with 3G systems, it is possible to make and receive calls anywhere any time.
Handovers are a key concept in providing this mobility. It enables a user to travel from one cell
to another cell while having a seamless connection. Generally a handover is performed when the
quality of the link between the base station and the mobile terminal on the move is decreasing.
The user equipment continuously makes power measurements of a list of neighboring cell sites
and returns to the Node B that it currently communicates. The Node B communicates the
information to the RNC. The RNC examines the power measurements to determine weather the
current link has fallen below a given level and another better radio channel is available, if it is so
it initiates the handover. There are basically three types of handover (handoff) techniques: hard,
soft and softer. WCDMA system most commonly uses the soft and softer handover techniques.

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Hard handover is a technique used when the UE moves out of range of one base station, the call
has to be handed over another frequency channel in the nearby base station. Since there is a
frequency channel difference, simultaneous reception of both channels is not possible. Therefore
it is necessary to finish the current communication before the beginning of a new
communication. This may create a short physical break or pause; but may not be detected by the
user. This kind of handover is experienced by systems that use FDMA or TDMA methods.

Soft handover is a technique that was not available on the previous generations of mobile phone
systems. In WCDMA systems since it is possible to have adjacent cell sites on the same
frequency (a frequency reuse factor of one), it is possible for the UE to receive the signals from
two or more adjacent cells at once. Therefore, when a handover is required the low strength link
is removed and the strong one is used with no pause.

Softer handover is a special case of soft handover where the radio links that are added and
removed belong to different sectors in the same Node B. [15, 17]

3.2. CDMA2000
CDMA2000 is a cellular standard which has evolved from the IS-95(cdmaOne) standard and
extensively deployed in US and S.Koria. It is family of 3G standards and a member of the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) International Mobile Telecommunication 2000
(IMT-2000). It has characteristics of fast data rates, always-on data service, and improved voice
network capacity (more people can use each tower at the same time). [26] CDMA2000 has two
branches namely CDMA20001xRTT (Radio Transmission Technology) and cdma2000 1xEV-
DO (IS-856). [27, 23]

CDMA20001xRTT
It was the first IMT-2000 technology deployed worldwide, in October 2000. CDMA2000 1xRTT
(CDMA2000 1x) was recognized by the ITU as an IMT-2000 standard in November 1999. For
circuit-switched voice communications, 1x(1xRTT) is an efficient wide area network technology
and it supports packet data speeds of up to 307 kbps in a single 1.25 MHz channel. [28] The
designation "1x", meaning "1 times Radio Transmission Technology", indicates a duplex pair of
1.25 MHz radio channels.[22]

CDMA20001x EVDO
Although, Cdma2000 1xRTT brought packet switching to CDMA networks; Evolution of Data
Only (Optimizer) (EVDO) brought a significant enhancement on the packet switched
capabilities, and coexisting with many of the 1xRTT features. EVDO was released to further
increase data transmission rates up to 2.4 Mbps. Packet switched systems use the bandwidth
(network capacity) only when there is data to be transferred as a result conserves a resource.[27]

3.3 Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA)

TD-SCDMA was proposed by China Wireless Telecommunication Standards Group (CWTS)
and approved by the ITU in 1999 and the technology was developed by the Chinese Academy of
Telecommunications Technology (CATT) in collaboration with Datang and Siemens. [17, 21]

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TD-SCDMA uses TDD; and it does not require paired frequencies for the uplink and downlink
as a single channel is time multiplexed. Hence, it supports asymmetric uplink/downlink by
dynamically altering time slots allocated for uplink and downlink transmissions. [20] TD-
SCDMA also uses TDMA in addition to the CDMA used in WCDMA. This reduces the number
of users in each timeslot, which reduces the implementation complexity of multi-user detection,
but the non-continuous transmission also reduces coverage (because of the higher peak power
needed), mobility (because of lower power control frequency) and complicates radio resource
management algorithms. [20]

The synchronous in TD-SCDMA refers to the fact that uplink signals are synchronized at the
base station receiver, achieved by continuous timing adjustments. This reduces the interference
between users of the same timeslot using different codes thereby increasing system capacity, at
the cost of some hardware complexity in achieving uplink synchronization. [20]

4. Current Status
As 3G- WCDMA mobile technology is a recent technology in our country that has only counted
few months, currently its network coverage is only limited to forty-nine areas of Addis Ababa.
Furthermore only few of the potential services of 3G- WCDMA is available to customers. The
services that were not provided by the previous mobile phones but offered by 3G- WCDMA
includes:

 Make video telephony or video call in areas within network coverage.

 Get email services as well as download picture, music, video and similar data by
browsing the internet.
 Use a wider range of value added services.

The Ethiopians telecommunication corporation as posted in its website promises to launch

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and Voice Mail Service (VMS) shortly.[18]

5. Summary

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  The American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) invented the first mobile telephony in
1947 in US and got consent for the whole country by Federal Communication
Commission (FCC).
 Mobile phones have passed in different generations such as 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G.
Evolution of mobile phones from generation to generation showed an increment in speed,
capacity to transmit data, support more number of users with in a cell and more services
with improved quality.
 There are three main standards in 3G such as WCDMA, CDMA2000, and TD-SCDMA.
 WCDMA uses wideband code division multiple access method over a wide frequency
band to provide high-speed multimedia and efficient voice services.
 The WCDMA system uses two types of modes of operation: Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD) that uses different frequencies in the uplink and downlink and Time Division
Duplex (TDD) that the uplink and down link is made in different time slots in the same
frequency.
 The network for WCDMA is composed of three main components. These are the user
equipment (UE), the Radio Access Network (RAN) and the Core Network (CN). The UE
is the one that holds the SIM card. The RAN is used as an interface between the User
Equipment and the Core Network. The core network mainly performs routing and
switching of voice and data packets to the external network.
 To achieve security and access to network resources, a mobile phone has to be registered.
 WCDMA uses a spread spectrum method to transmit data by giving different code for
each subscriber’s packet.
 Power adjustments will be needed to overcome problems like the near-far- effect and
interference at the cell boundaries. This can be achieved by using power control methods
like open loop and closed loop techniques. In open loop a transmission signal in one
direction is used to adjust signal strength in the other direction but in closed loop a
transmission signal in one direction is used to adjust a signal in the same direction.
 WCDMA uses soft and softer handover techniques to achieve a seamless transition of
communication from one cell to another cell or from one sector to another sector with in
the same cell respectively. This helps to have smooth communication even during
mobility.
 CDMA2000 has characteristics of fast data rates, always-on data service, and improved
voice network capacity. Under CDMA2000 there are CDMA20001xRTT which is an
efficient wide area network technology for circuit switched voice communication; and
CDMA20001x EVDO brought a significant enhancement on packet switched data
transmission.

Reference

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