MOBILE COMPUTING (KCA051)

MCA 2nd Year

UNIT-I
Introduction, Issues in mobile computing, Overview of wireless telephony, Cellular
concept, GSM- air interface, channel structure; Location management- HLR-VLR,
hierarchical, handoffs; Channel allocation in cellular systems, CDMA, GPRS, MAC for
cellular system

INTRODUCTION
The rapidly expanding technology of cellular communication, wireless LANs, and
satellite services will make information accessible anywhere and at any time. In the near
future, tens of millions of people will carry a portable palmtop or laptop computer.
Smaller units, often called personal digital assistants or personal communicators, will
run on a batteries and may have only small memory, larger ones will be powerful laptop
computers will be equipped with a wireless connection to the fixed part of the network
and perhaps, to other mobile computers. The main vision for the emerging mobile and
personal communication services and system is to enable communication with a person,
at any time, at any place and in any form.

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Mobility-Mobility of the system refers to as physical movement of the both user and
terminal
Two types of Mobility
1. User Mobility or Personal Mobility – users communicate (wireless) “anytime,
anywhere, with anyone”. It means that user can access the same service at
different locations. This is the dynamic association between terminal and user.
Example- Roaming and call forwarding.
2. Device or Terminal Mobility- devices can be connected anytime, anywhere to the
network. It means that the mobile terminal can access telecommunication
services from any location even when it is in motion. This shows a static
relationship between the network and the device. Example – Mobile phones.

Wireless- wireless means without wires. It describes the communication between

sender and receiver without establishing any physical connection between them.

Characteristics of communication devices

A communication device can exhibit any one of the following characteristics:

 Fixed and wired: This configuration describes the typical desktop computer in an
office. Neither weight nor power consumption of the devices allow for mobile
usage. The devices use fixed networks for performance reasons.
 Mobile and wired: users carry the laptop from one place to another, reconnecting
to the network via the telephone network and a modem.
 Fixed and wireless: This mode is used for installing networks, e.g., in historical
buildings to avoid damage by installing wires, or at trade shows to ensure fast
network setup.
 Mobile and wireless: This is the most interesting case. No cable restricts the user,
who can roam between different wireless networks.

Mobile Computing [SHORT QUESTION]

Mobile Computing can be defined as computing environment over physical mobility.
The computing environment is mobile and moves along with the user. The user of a
mobile computing environment will be able to access data or information from any
device in any network while on move. The mobile computing allows a user to perform a
task from anywhere and anytime by a computing device.

The mobile computing is used in different context with different names. Some common
names of mobile computing are-
1. Nomadic Computing- The computing environment is nomadic and moves along
with the mobile users.

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 2. Anywhere, Anytime Information- This is the generic definition of ubiquity, where
information is available anywhere, all the time.
3. Virtual Home Environment (VHE) - It is an environment that a user can
experience in an foreign networks as they have in their home network.
4. Pervasive Computing- A computing environment which is pervasive in nature and
can be made available in any environment.
5. Ubiquitous Computing- In this a user will be able to use both local and remote
services.
6. Global Service Portability- Making a service portable and available in every
environment.

APPLICATIONS OF MOBILE COMPUTING [SHORT QUESTION]

 Vehicles
o transmission of news, road condition, weather, music via DAB
o personal communication using GSM
o position via GPS
o local ad-hoc network with vehicles close-by to prevent accidents, guidance
system, redundancy
o vehicle data (e.g., from busses, high-speed trains) can be transmitted in
advance for maintenance
 Emergencies
o early transmission of patient data to the hospital, current status, first
diagnosis
o Replacement of a fixed infrastructure in case of earthquakes, hurricanes,
fire etc.
o crisis, war, ...
 Travelling salesmen
o direct access to customer files stored in a central location
o consistent databases for all agents
o mobile office
 Replacement of fixed networks
o remote sensors, e.g., weather, earth activities
o flexibility for trade shows
o LANs in historic buildings
 Entertainment, education,
o outdoor Internet access
o intelligent travel guide with up-to-date location dependent information
o ad-hoc networks for multi user games

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Mobile and Wireless devices
The following list of given examples of mobile and wireless devices graded by increasing
performance (CPU, memory, display, input devices, etc.)
 Sensor: Wireless device is represented by a sensor transmitting state information.
one example could be a switch, sensing the office door.
 Embedded Controller: Many applications already contain a simple or sometimes
more complex controller. Keyboards, mouse, headsets, washing machines, coffee
machines, hair dryers and TV sets are just some examples.
 Pager: As a very simple receiver, a pager can only display short text messages, has
a tiny display, and cannot send any messages.
 Mobile Phone- Mobile phone can send and receive voice, data message.
 Personal Digital Assistant: PDAs typically accompany a user and offer simple
versions of office software (calendar, notepad, mail). Pocket computer: The next
steps towards full computers are pocket computers offering tiny keyboards, color
displays, and simple versions of programs found on desktop computers (text
processing, spreadsheets etc.)
 Notebook/laptop: Laptops offer more or less the same performance as standard
desktop computers; they use the same software - the only technical difference
being size, weight, and the ability to run on a battery. If operated mainly via a
sensitive display (touch sensitive or electromagnetic), the device are also known
as notepads or tablet PCs.

Effects of device portability

 Power consumption
o limited computing power, low quality displays, small disks due to limited
battery capacity
o CPU: power consumption
 Loss of data
o higher probability, has to be included in advance into the design (e.g.,
defects, theft)
 Limited user interfaces
o compromise between size of fingers and portability
o integration of character/voice recognition, abstract symbols
 Limited memory
o limited value of mass memories with moving parts
o Flash-memory
Advantages of Mobile Computing
o Location Flexibility
o Saves Time
o Enhanced Productivity
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 o Ease of Research
o Entertainment
o Streamlining of Business Processes
Disadvantages of Mobile Computing
o Insufficient Bandwidth
o Security standards
o Power Consumption
o Potential Health Hazards

CHALLENGES OF MOBILE COMPUTING [SHORT QUESTION]

Challenges in mobile computing can be categorized into three major areas as:
communication, mobility, and portability.

1. Mobility The ability to change location while connected to the network increases
the volatility of some information due to this there are certain challenges that it
has to face these are:-
(a) Address Migration As people move, their mobile computers will use different
network addresses. Hence the network has to configure itself to the new
environment each time.
(b) Location Management Due to mobility of mobile user or devices changes
frequently. So the following task are to be done:-
(i) Look up’s (Track user’s call)
(ii)Updates (Update user’s position and data)

(c) Security Risk It is so easy to connect wireless link , the security of wireless
communication can be compromised much more easily than that of wired
communication
(d) Heterogeneity:-As the system keeps moving in a variety of environment,
mobile computers encounter more heterogeneous network connections.

2. Wireless Communication Mobile computer require wireless network access.

Wireless communication is more difficult to achieve than wired communication
because the surrounding environments interact with the signal blocking paths and
introducing noise and echoes.
(a) Disconnections: Network failure is one of greater concern to mobile
computing designs than traditional designs.
(b) Lower Bandwidth and Variable Bandwidth Wireless networks deliver lower
bandwidth than wired networks with much greater variation in the network.
(c) Cost of Networks:- As the setup of wireless network is much costlier than
wired network.

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 3. Portability The availability of mobile devices depends on their power supply. A
mobile phone can live up to five days but a laptop can only for few hours.
(a) Low Power. Batteries are the largest single source of weight in a portable
computer. Minimizing power consumption can improve portability by reducing
battery and lengthening the life of a charge.
(b) Risks to Data Making computers portable increases the risk of physical
damage, unauthorized access, loss and theft.
(c) Small User Interface and storage capacity: - For smaller and more portable
devices current windowing techniques are inadequate. It is impractical to have
several windows open at the same time. Storage space on a portable
computer is limited by physical size and power requirements.

Issues in Mobile Computing [IMP LONG QUESTION]

 Software Issues-Mobile system are location dependent. The location of mobile
elements and their point of attachment to the fixed network change as they
move. Due to mobility the tracking of user call and updating of user’s position to
done frequently.
 Technical Issues-Mobile computing devices needs suitable and compatible
solutions to support any application eg download email, connect to internet, and
create and critical documents. Mobile elements rely on battery. Concern for
power consumption must span various levels in hardware and software design.
 Network Issues- For connectivity between mobile device and wireless LAN to
access supported e-mail, internet services, mobile devices needs The Network
Interface Card (NIC).
 User Interface Issues- The small –size of screen memory disk capacity and wide
variety of input devices used on mobile computers is also issue.
 Security Issues- Security is focused on network security, system security
information and physical security. Security issues applied on following
technologies: firewalls, authentication servers, biometric, cryptography and
VPN’s.
 Mobility- The location of mobile elements and therefore their point of
attachment to fixed network changes as they move. In location management the
search cost to locate mobile elements is added to the cost of each communication
involving them.
 Wireless Medium-Wireless networks are more expensive, offer less bandwidth
and less reliable then wire line networks.
 Portability of Mobile Elements-Mobile elements are easier to be accidently
damage, stolen or lost.

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  Communication- Mobile Hosts connect with mobile support station (MSS)
through wireless network. Wireless network does not have the capacity as fixed
network.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MOBILE COMPUTING [IMP SHORT QUESTION]

1. User Mobility: - User should be able to move from one physical location to
another location and use the same service.
2. Network Mobility: - User should be able to move from one network to another
network and use the same service.
3. Bearer Mobility: - They are responsible for transmission of data between two
user network interfaces. In bearer mobility user should be able to move from one
bearer to another and use the same service. For different types of network there
are different types of transport bearers.
4. Device Mobility: - User should be able to move from one device to another and
use the same service. Example –A user using desktop computer at home use
laptop or palmtop away from home to access the same application.
5. Service Mobility- user should be able to move from one service to another.
6. Host Mobility- The user device can be either a client or service. In case of host
mobility the mobility of IP needs to be taken care off.

Advantages of Mobile Computing [AKTU SHORT QUESTION]

The Following are the major advantages of Mobile Computing −

 Location Flexibility
A user can work without being in a fixed position. Their mobility ensures that they
are able to carry out numerous tasks at the same time and perform their stated
jobs.

 Saves Time
The time consumed or wasted while travelling from different locations or to the
office and back, has been slashed.

 Enhanced Productivity
Users can work efficiently and effectively from whichever location they find
comfortable. This in turn enhances their productivity level.

 Ease of Research
Research has been made easier, since users earlier were required to go to the
field and search for facts and feed them back into the system. It has also made it

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 easier for field officers and researchers to collect and feed data from wherever
they are without making unnecessary trips to and from the office to the field.

 Entertainment
Video and audio recordings can now be streamed on-the-go using mobile
computing. It's easy to access a wide variety of movies, educational and
informative material.

 Streamlining of Business Processes

Business processes are now easily available through secured connections. Looking
into security issues, adequate measures have been put in place to ensure
authentication and authorization of the user accessing the services.

Disadvantages of Mobile Computing

1. Insufficient Bandwidth-wireless communication is characterized by insufficient
bandwidth. That is, the channel capacity typically available in wireless systems is
much lower than what is available in wired network due to the limited spectrum.
2. Security Standards- Security is greater concern in wireless systems than in wired
systems since information may be travelling in free space.
3. Power Consumption-Mobile nodes are battery operated & hence have limited
power available.
4. Transmission Interferences- Weather, terrain and the range from the nearest
signal point, all can interface with signal reception.
5. Potential health hazards- More car accidents are related to drivers who were
talking through a mobile device.
6. Human Interface with devices-Screen and keyboards tend to be small, which may
make them harder to use. Alternative input methods such as speech or
handwriting recognition requires training.

Wireless Communication- It is transfer of information without use of wires. The

distance involved may be short or long. The term is often shortened to “wireless”. It
encompasses various types of fixed, mobile and portable two-way radios, cellular
telephones, personal digital assistance (PDA) and wireless networking.
Other examples of wireless technology include GPS units, garage door openers, wireless
mouse, keyboards and headset, satellite, television and cordless telephones.

Wireless Services
 Cellular telephones and pagers
 Global Positioning System(GPS)
 Cordless Computer peripherals

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  Cordless Telephone Sets.
 Satellite Television.

Applications of wireless Communication

 Security system
 Television remote control
 Cellular telephone (Phone and Modem)
 Wi-Fi
 Wireless Energy Transfer
 Computer Interface Devices

Overview of wireless telephony

Wireless telephony is a telephone service based on signaling over radio frequencies
without using wires. It include mobile phones, wireless local loop (WLL), microwave,
satellite and radio based telephony.
Evolution of new wireless standards to support the convergence of video, voice and
data communications. Wireless telephony is the technology that operates by
transmission of information through space; there is no physical or fixed connection in
between sender and receiver devices. By using the wireless telephony peoples can be
transceivers the information from airplanes, driving cars, swimming pools and while
jogging in the park. A wireless telephony can be used like a local area network (LAN)
with voice capability and can be part of a larger network or can be connected into the
telephone system. Wireless telephony come in two basic varieties: Cordless phones
(sometimes called portable telephone) and Mobile phones (sometimes called cell
phones).There are many factors that can be used to characterize wireless technologies:
 Spectrum or range of frequencies in which the network operates.
 Transmission speeds supported.
 Frequency division multiple access(FDMA), Time division multiple access(TDMA)
 Architectural implementation such as enterprise based, fixed or mobile.

Features of wireless telephony:

1) High Capacity Load Balancing: The origin of wireless telephony to cover the
smartphones, tablets, e-readers devices, etc.
2) Scalability: The growth rate in popularity of new wireless gadgets has will only
continue to grow.
3) Mobility: Wireless telephony is more popular for their mobility features that
assigning and controlling the wireless links for network connections.
4) Centralized Management: In current high technology world wireless telephony
are much more complex and it may consist of hundreds or even thousands of
access points.
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 5) Quality of Service/Application Prioritization: Quality of service simply means
that wireless telephony system should be able to determine what uses are most
important to their network.

Generations of Wireless Technology [IMP LONG QUESTION]

 1G (The First Generation):- The first generation of wireless technology uses the
analog technology it support voice traffic. It uses FDMA (Frequency Division
Multiple Access) technology for modulation. Eg- AMPS (Advance Mobile Phone
Service) in US.

 2G (The Second Generation):- 2G uses digital multiple access technology. It uses a

combination of TDMA and FDMA technologies.2G support voice, paging, data and
fax services. Eg- GSM. In 2G technology voice is digitized over a circuit. In 1G and
2G networks data is transacted over circuits. This technology is called Circuited
switched data (CSD).

 2.5G (2G+ Second Generation Plus):-As upgrades to 2G technologies,2.5G

technologies were developed to provide more bandwidth for higher rates.2.5G
uses High-Speed –Circuit-Switched data (HSCSD) technology, which is basically an
extension of GSM technology that can offer the throughput of up to 384kbps.2.5G
offers more bandwidth than 2G,it is less than that offered by 3G.

 3G (The Second Generation):-3G refers generically to category of next generation

mobile networks which operate at a higher frequency bandwidth and have a
larger channel bandwidth. This enable 3G networks to support very high data
rates up to 2 Mbps.3G refers to the radio network and RF technology and does
not affect the switching core. The switching infrastructure for 3G is still based on
MSCs and the TDM model.

 3G+(Third Generation Plus)- 3G+ refers to an advanced level of 3G that

introduces the concept of all IP-switching core. An all IP-switching core means
that IP replaces the TDM based MSC infrastructure with IP-based transport an IP-
based signaling. An example of 4G is wimax.

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 Wireless Systems Technologies [IMP LONG QUESTION]

1. Satellite technology: A satellite is a wireless receiver transmitter that is placed in

orbit around the earth. Currently there are hundreds of satellites operating in
orbit. These satellites are used for wide variety of purpose such as weather
forecasting, television broadcasting, radio communications and Global positioning
System (GPS). There are three types of communication satellite systems that are
categorized according to the orbit.

(i) GEO: Geostationary Satellite orbits (GEO) is a term for satellite which is
placed in a geostationary orbital slot. These satellite are placed 22300
(approx.) miles up directly above the equator.

(ii) LEO: Low-Earth Orbit Satellite (LEO) systems uses a large number of
satellites each in a circular orbit at a constant attitude of a few hundred
miles.

(iii) MEO: Middle Earth Orbiting Satellite (MEO) operates much like LEO’s
although in slightly higher orbits. MEO satellites orbit a distance between
18000 km and 11000 km.

2. Analog technology: Analog system used today frequency modulated systems.

This means that conversion is carried by a modulation of frequency of carrier
wave.

(i) FDMA: Frequency Division multiple Access (FDMA) is one of the most
common multiplexing procedures. The available frequency band is divided
into channels of equal bandwidth, so that each communication is carried on
a different frequency. With FDMA, each channels can be assigned to only
one users at a time.

3. Digital Technology: All digital cellular services uses multiplexing to enable devices
to share wireless channels. Digital cellular services are being implemented
differently in the US

(i) TDMA: Time Division multiple Access (FDMA) is a more expensive

technique compared to FDMA as needs precise synchronization between
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 the transmitter and the receiver. In a TDMA system, the whole frequency
bandwidth is subdivided into sub-bands using FDMA techniques. TDMA
technique is then used in each of these sub-bands to offer multiple access.

(ii) CDMA: Code Division multiple Access (CDMA) is a broadband system.

CDMA uses spread spectrum technique where each subscriber uses the
whole band width.

(iii) SDMA: Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) is a technique where we

use different part of the space form multiplexing. SDMA is used in radio
transmission and is more used in satellite communication to optimize the
use of radio spectrum by using directional properties of antennas.

(iv) GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is digital

transmission technique which is combination of FDMA and TDMA.

(v) CDPD: Cellular Digital packet data (CDPD) is specification for supporting
wireless access to the internet and other packet-switched networks.

(vi) DETCT: Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication (DECT) is a digital

wireless telephone technology for cordless phones.

(vii) WLL: Wireless Local loop (WLL) is basically the use of radio to provide a
telephone connection to the home. It is sometimes called radio.

(viii) GPS: Global Positioning System(GPS) is a system that allow us to figure out
precisely where we are anywhere on the earth.

Wireless networks in comparison to fixed networks

Higher loss-rates due to interference

 emissions of, e.g., engines, lightning

Restrictive regulations of frequencies

 frequencies have to be coordinated, useful frequencies are almost all
occupied Low transmission rates

 local some Mbit/s, regional currently, e.g., 9.6kbit/s with GSM .Higher
delays, higher jitter

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  connection setup time with GSM in the second range, several hundred
milliseconds for other wireless systems

Lower security, simpler active attacking

 radio interface accessible for everyone, base station can be simulated, thus
attracting calls from mobile phones

Always shared medium

 secure access mechanisms important

MULTIPLEXING [Important long question]

Multiplexing is a mechanism in communication systems that describes how several
users can share a medium with minimum or no interference.
One example, is highways with several lanes. Many users (car drivers) use the same
medium (the highways) with hopefully no interference (i.e., accidents). This is possible
due to the provision of several lanes (space division multiplexing) separating the traffic.
In addition, different cars use the same medium (i.e., the same lane) at different points
in time (time division multiplexing).

Multiplexing has 4 dimensions

 space (si)
 time (t)
 frequency (f)
 code (c)

1. Space Division Multiplexing (SDM): This is commonly known as SDM. In SDM

each set of sender and receiver is given a space that is used by only that particular
sender and receiver. The space between the interference ranges is called guard
space. The figure below shows six communication channels, k1 to k6. The
channels k1 to k3 are mapped onto three spaces s1 to s3 which early separate the
channels and prevent the interferences range from overlapping. For remaining
channels (k4 to k6) three additional spaces would be needed.

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 Space Division Multiplexing (SDM)

This multiplexing scheme is used in old analog telephone system where each subscriber
given a separate pair of copper wires to the local exchange. Another example is FM
radio station where the transmission ranges is limited to certain region.

2. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM): In Frequency division multiplexing (FDM)

the frequency dimension is subdivided into a number of non-overlapping
frequency bands. As shown in figure entire frequency band is divided into a
number of frequency bands and the channels k1 to k6 are allocated a separate
frequency band. Senders using a certain frequency band can use this band
continuously.
Again, guard spaces are needed to avoid frequency band overlapping (also called
adjacent channel interference). This scheme is used for radio stations within the
same region, where each radio station has its own frequency.

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 Advantages
 No dynamic coordination is necessary.
 It also works for both analog and digital signals.
Disadvantages
 There is the wastage of bandwidth is the traffic is distributed unevenly.
 Very inflexible and limits the number of senders.
 Guard space is required.

3. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM): In time division multiplexing scheme a channel

gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of time ie all senders use the same
frequency but at different points in time . Again, guard spaces, which now
represent time gaps. In the figure below the time is divided into slots and a
channels k1 gets the entire spectrum for a time slot periodically.

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 Advantages

 Only one carrier in the medium at any time.

 Throughput is high for many users.
Disadvantages

 Precise synchronization of clock is necessary.

4. Code Division Multiplexing (CDM): In CDM multiple users are allocated different
codes to access the same channel. CDM is first used in military applications due to
its internet security features. Figure Shows how all the channels ki use the same
frequency at the same time for transmission. Separation is now achieved by
assigning each channel its own ‘code’ guard spaces are realized by using codes
with necessary ‘distance’ in code space.
Advantages

 Bandwidth Efficient
 Secure
 No coordination and synchronization necessary
 Good protection against interference and tapping.

Disadvantages

 Precise power control is required

 More complex signal regeneration
 Lower user data rates.

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 k1 k k3 k4 k5 k6 C
2

Spread Spectrum [Important long question]

In a conventional transmission systems, the information is modulated with a carrier
signal and transmitted through a medium. During this transmission all power of the
signal is transmitted centered around a particular frequency. This frequency represents
a specific channel and generally has a very narrowband. In spread spectrum we spread
the transmission power over the complete band. In spread spectrum the transmission
signal bandwidth is much higher than the information bandwidth. All spread spectrum
systems can be viewed as two steps modulation process. First the data to be
transmitted is modulated. Second the carrier is modulated by the spreading code,
causing it to spread over a large bandwidth.
The general procedure of spreading a spectrum is as follows:-
Step 1: Choose an idealized narrow band signal from a sender of user data.

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Step 2: The sender now spreads the signal i.e conversion from narrowband to
broadband. The energy required for transmission of the signal remains the same but the
frequency range increases.
Step 3: During transmission the narrowband and broadband interference add up to the
signal, sum of user signal and interference is received by the receiver.
Step 4: The receiver knows how to de-spread the signal that is, converting the signal
back to the narrowband signal.
Step 5: Finally the user can reconstruct the original data.

There are two methods for spreading a signal:

(i) DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)
(ii) FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum)

DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) [Important long question

DSS systems take a user bit stream and perform an XOR of the signal with pseudo-
random number (chipping sequence). A user bit stream is taken in which each bit has
duration tb the chipping sequence consist of smaller pluses called chips with duration t c.
This chipping is also called pseudo noise.
The spreading factor determines the bandwidth of the resulting signal. If the original
signal needs a bandwidth w, the resulting signal needs s·w after spreading the resulting
signal where s given by:
s = tb/tc
For example- suppose we have a user data 01 and the chipping sequence selected is
011010101110101,then resulting signals is obtained by XORing both the signals

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Spreading with DSSS

DSSS Transmitter: The steps involved in DSSS transmitter are:

1. First step is digital modulation
2. The spread signal is then modulated with a radio carrier.
3. The radio carrier then shifts this signal to the carrier frequency, this signal is
transmitted.

DSSS transmitter

DSSS Receiver: The DSSS receiver is little more complex than the transmitter it has to
perform the inverse functions of the two transmitter modulation steps. But noise and
multipath propagation require additional effort to reconstruct the original data.

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DSSS Receiver

Advantages of DSSS

 reduces frequency selective fading in cellular frequency

 Many base stations can detect and recover the signal.
 base station scan use the same frequency range
 Handoff is soft.

Disadvantages of DSSS

 precise power control necessary

FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) [IMPORTANT]

Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) systems, the total available bandwidth is
split into many channels of smaller bandwidth plus guard spaces between the
channels. Transmitter and receiver stay on one of these channels for a certain time and
then hop to another channel. This system implements FDM and TDM. The pattern of
channel usage is called the hopping sequence, the time spend on a channel with a
certain frequency is called the dwell time.

Two versions of FSSS

 Fast Hopping:
several frequencies per user bit are there that is the transmitter changes
the frequency several times during the transmission of a single bit.
 Slow Hopping:
several user bits per frequency are there that is the transmitter uses one
frequency for several bits periods.

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Slow and fast Frequency Hopping
FSSS Transmitter
The steps involved at FSSS transmitter are as follows
1. Firstly, the user data is modulated using any of the digital to analog modulation
scheme.
2. From the first step a narrowband signal is received, after that frequency hopping is
performed based on hopping sequence. Then a second modulator is used to
generate a spread spectrum signal that is to be transmitted.

FSSS Receiver
The receiver has to simply perform the reverse operation of the transmitter it takes
the broadband signal and demodulates it for which it is required to know the
hopping sequence and thus, reconstructs the original data.

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Advantages of FSSS
 Simple to implement
 frequency selective fading and interference limited to short period
 uses only small portion of spectrum at any time

Disadvantages of FSSS
 It is not as robust as DSSS
 simpler to detect

Cellular Concepts
The cellular concept was developed and introduced by the Bell Laboratories in the early
1970s. One of the most successful initial implementations of the cellular concept was
the advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), which has been available in the United
States since 1983.
A cellular system is a high capacity land mobile system in which available frequency
spectrum is partitioned into discrete channels which are assigned in groups to
geographic cells covering a cellular Geographic Service Area (GSA). The discrete
channels are capable of being reused in different cells within the service area.

Advantages of cellular systems

 Higher capacity: Implementing SDM allows frequency reuse. If one transmitter is
far away from another, i.e., outside the interference range, it can reuse the same
frequencies.
 Less transmission power: The power aspects are not a big problem for base
stations, they are indeed problematic for mobile stations. A receiver far away
from a base station would need much more transmit power than a receiver which
is near the base station.

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  Local interference only: Having long distances between sender and receiver
results in even more interference problems. With small cells, mobile stations and
base stations only have to deal with ‘local’ interference.
 Robustness: Cellular systems are decentralized and so, more robust against the
failure of single components. If one antenna fails, this only influences
communication within a small area.

Disadvantages of cellular systems

 Infrastructure needed: Cellular systems need a complex infrastructure to connect
all base stations.
 Handover needed: The mobile station has to perform a handover when changing
from one cell to another.
 Frequency planning: To avoid interference between transmitters using the same
frequencies, frequency planning is needed.

Cellular System Architecture

The amount of frequency spectrum available for

Cells

Cells are basic geographical units of the cellular network. Cells are a base stations
transmitting over small geographic areas that represented as hexagons.

Clusters

A cluster is a group of cells. All cells within a cluster use disjoint set of frequencies.
No channels are reused with a cluster.

Frequency reuse

The concept of frequency reuse is based on assigning to each cell a group of radio
channels used within a small geographic area. Cells are assigned a group of channels
that is completely different from neighbouring cells. The coverage area of cells is
called the footprint.

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Cell Splitting

 Cell splitting is the process of subdividing a congested cell into smaller cells,
 Each with its own base station and a corresponding reduction in antenna
height and transmitter power.
 Cell splitting increases the capacity of a cellular system since it increases the
number of times that channels are reused.

Hand over/Hand off

In cellular telecommunications, the terms handover or handoff refers to the

process of transferring ongoing call or data connectivity from one Base Station to
other Base Station. When a mobile moves into the different cell while the
conversation is in progress then the MSC (Mobile Switching Center) transfer the call
to a new channel belonging to the new Base Station.

Clusters in Cellular System

The frequencies allocated to the service are reused in regular pattern of areas called
cells. Each cell is covered by a base station. These cells are set-up in hexagonal form.
To ensure that mutual interference between users remains minimal to a harmful
level, adjacent cells use different frequencies. A Set of C different frequencies
{f1,f2…Fc} are used for each cluster of C adjacent cells.

Three Cell cluster

In three cell cluster, three cells combine to form a cluster, here three frequencies
are reused and C= 3, with hexagonal cells. All cells within a cluster use disjoint sets
of frequencies. In the figure one cell in the cluster uses set f1 , another cell f2 and
the third cell f3.

Seven Cell Cluster

Similarly in sever cell cluster, seven cells combine to form a cluster, here C=7, with
hexagonal cells. In the fig {f1,f2,…..f7} disjoint set of frequencies are shown to form
a Cluster.
By using these schemes the total bandwidth for the system is C times the bandwidth
occupied by a single cell. To reduce interference the sectorized antennas can be
used. Fig. shows three cell clusters with three sectors per cell.

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 Cell breathing

In CDMA-based Cellular networks, cell breathing is a mechanism which allows

overloaded cells to offload subscriber traffic to neighbouring cells by changing the
geographic size of their service area.

Channel Allocation Scheme

In cellular the wireless networks, the channel allocations schemes are required to
allocate channels to base stations and access point and to avoid co-channel
interference among nearby cells. Channel allocation deals with the allocation of
channels to cells in a cellular network. Once the channels is allocated, cells may then
allow users to communicate via available channels, within the cell. There are three major
categories for assigning these channels to cells (or base stations).

I. Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA): Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) systems allocate
specific channels to specific cells. This allocation is static and cannot be changed.
For efficient operation, FCA systems typically allocate channels in a manner that
maximizes frequency reuse. Here the number of channels is fixed for a particular cell.
II. Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA): (DCA) attempts to solve the problem for FCA
systems when offered traffic is non-uniform. In dynamic channel allocation the
frequencies can only be borrowed, the total number of channels are assigned
independent of all architecture. In DCA it is possible to freely assign frequencies
to cells.
III. Hybrid Channel Allocation (DCA): In this scheme both the concepts of FCA and DCA
are used, here in HCA, there is a fixed set of channels for each cell, but channels are
also allocated from a global pool in case of shortage.

Components of Cellular systems

The cellular system offers mobile and portable stations the same service provided
fixed stations over conventional wired loops. It has the capacity to serve tens of
thousands of subscriber in a major metropolitan area. The following network
elements are the part of a typical cellular telecommunication system.
 Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
 Base Station (BS)
 Mobile Station or Mobile Subscriber Unit (MSUs)
 Home Locator Register (HLR)
 Visitor Locator Register
 Authentication Center
 Equipment ldentity Register (EIR)

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(1) Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
The PSTN is made up of local networks, the exchange area networks, and other
networks that Interconnects telephone and other communication devices on a
worldwide basis.

(2) Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

Mobile Switching centre (MSC), usually located at mobile Telephone Switching office
(MTSO). The MTSO houses the mobile switching centre, field monitoring, and rely
stations for switching calls from cell sites to wire line central offices (PSTN).

(3) Base Station (BS)

The base station is the component of wireless network access infrastructure that
terminate the air interface over which the subscriber traffic is transmitted to and from a
mobile station (MS).

(4) Mobile Station (MS) or Mobile Subscriber Unit (MSU)

The mobile subscriber unit consists of a control unit and a transceiver that transmits and
receives radio transmissions to and from a cell site. The MS comprises all user
equipment and software needed for communication.

(5) Home Location Register (HLR)

HLR is a database that contains information about subscribers to a mobile network that
is maintained by a service provider. The HLR stores "permanent” subscriber information
including service profile, location information, and activity status of the mobile users.

(6) Visitor Location Register (VLR)

The VLR represents a temporary data store, and generally there is one VLR per MSC.
This register contains information about the mobile subscribers who are currently in the
service area covered by MSC of VLR.

(7)Authentication Center
It is generally associated with the HLR, it contains authentication parameters that are
used on initial location registration.

(8) Equipment identity Register (EIR)

The ElR maintains information to authenticate terminal equipment so that fraudlent,
stolen, or non-type-approved terminals can be identified and denied service.

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GSM (Global system for Mobile Communication) Cellular System

The GSM standard was developed by the Group Special Mobile in 1982.It is a globally
accepted standard for digital cellular communication.

Characteristics OF GSM
 Fully Digital system utilizing 900 MHz frequency band

 TDMA over radio carriers

 User/authentication for fraud control

 8 full rate or 16 half rate TDMA channels

 Encryption of Speech and data transmissions
 Full international roaming capability

 Low speed data services(upto 9.6 kbps)

 Compatible with ISDN

 Support for short message service(SMS)

GSM Architecture: GSM network structured as a hierarchical, complex system

architecture comprising many entities. A GSM system consists of three subsystems the
radio sub system (RSS) , network sub system(NSS) , switching sub system (NSS) and the
operation sub systems (OSS).

1. Radio Sub System: The RSS contains all the radio specific entities that is the
mobile station (MS) and the base station sub system (BSS). RSS contains three
entities these are:
(i) Base Station Sub System (BSS): A GSM network comprises many BSS each
controlled by a base station controller.
(ii) Base Transceiver Station (BTS): A BTS comprises all radio equipment’s that is
antennas, signal processing amplifiers.
(iii) Base Station Controller (BSC): It takes care of handoff from one BTS to another &
maintains appropriate power levels of the signal.
(iv) Mobile Station (MS): It consists of two components Mobile Equipment (ME) and
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).

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 2. Network and Switching Sub System (NSS): This is the heart of GSM and
responsible for connecting the wireless network.
i. Mobile Switching Center (MSC): The MSC performs the telephony switching
function of the system.
ii. Home Location Register (HLR): The HLR stores permanent subscriber
information including the service profile, location information, activity status.
iii. Visitor Location Register (VLR): VLR is a database that contains temporary
information’s about subscribers that is needed by MSC in order to service to
visiting subscriber. When a mobile station roams into a new MSC area, the VLR
connected to the MSC.

3. Operations Sub System (OSS): It contains the necessary functions for network
and maintenance.
i. Authentication Centre (AUC): AUC provides authentication and encryption
parameters that verify the user’s identity.
ii. Equipment Identity Register: The EIR is a database that contains all IMEI’s that is
it contains information about the identity of mobile equipment that prevents
from stolen and unauthorized access.

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 iii. Operations and Maintenance (OMC): The OMC is connected to all equipment in
the switching system and to the BSC. OMC functions are traffic monitoring,
status report of network entities, subscriber and security management and
billing.

Air Interface or Radio Interfaces

Um : It connects MS to BTS and contains all mechanism for wireless transmission.

Abis: This interface connects a BTS to a BSC. It carriers traffic and maintenance data.

A: The interface between BSC and MSC

O: It connects OMC to BSC and MSC.

GSM Services

GSM offers three basic types of services −

 Telephony services or teleservices
 Data services or bearer services
 Supplementary services

Teleservices

The abilities of a Bearer Service are used by a Teleservice to transport data. These
services are further transited in the following ways −

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Voice Calls
The most basic Teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. This includes full-rate
speech at 13 kbps and emergency calls, where the nearest emergency-service provider
is notified by dialing three digits.

Videotext and Facsmile

Another group of teleservices includes Videotext access, Teletex transmission, Facsmile
alternate speech and Facsmile Group 3, Automatic Facsmile Group, 3 etc.

Short Text Messages

Short Messaging Service (SMS) service is a text messaging service that allows sending
and receiving text messages on your GSM mobile phone. In addition to simple text
messages, other text data including news, sports, financial, language, and location-
based data can also be transmitted.

Bearer Services

Data services or Bearer Services are used through a GSM phone. to receive and send
data is the essential building block leading to widespread mobile Internet access and
mobile data transfer.

Supplementary Services

Supplementary services are additional services that are provided in addition to

teleservices and bearer services. A brief description of supplementary services is given
here −
 Conferencing − It allows a mobile subscriber to establish a multiparty
conversation, i.e., a simultaneous conversation between three or more
subscribers to setup a conference call. This service is only applicable to normal
telephony.
 Call Waiting − this service notifies a mobile subscriber of an incoming call during
a conversation. The subscriber can answer, reject, or ignore the incoming call.
 Call Hold − this service allows a subscriber to put an incoming call on hold and
resume after a while. The call hold service is applicable to normal telephony.
 Call Forwarding − Call Forwarding is used to divert calls from the original
recipient to another number. It is normally set up by the subscriber himself. It
can be used by the subscriber to divert calls from the Mobile Station when the
subscriber is not available, and so to ensure that calls are not lost.

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  Call Barring − Call Barring is useful to restrict certain types of outgoing calls such
as ISD or stop incoming calls from undesired numbers. Call barring is a flexible
service that enables the subscriber to conditionally bar calls.
 Number Identification − There are following supplementary services related to
number identification −

Location Management in GSM:

Location management in GSM is performed with the help of two database Home
location register (HLR) and Visitor location Register (VLR)

1. Home Location Register (HLR): The HLR represents a centralized database that
has semi-permanent mobile subscriber information about the mobile subscribers.
The HLR is kept updated with the current locations of all its mobile subscribers,
including those who have roamed to another network operator within or outside
the country.
2. Visitor Location Register (VLR): The VLR represents a temporary data store,
generally there is one VLR per MSC. This register contains information about the
mobile subscribers who are currently in the service area covered by the MSC of
VLR, but whose HLR is elsewhere.

Hand OFF or Handover in GSM

In cellular system the term handoff refers to the process of transferring an

ongoing call or data from one channel to another channel while both channel are
the part of core network.

Reason for Handover

 When the mobile station moves out of range from the area covered by one
cell and entering the area covered by another cell.
 When the mobile station moves far away from BTS the received signal
decreases
 The wired infrastructure may decide that the traffic in one cell is too high.

Types of Handoff / Handover

(i) Intra-cell Handover: In this when a phone call in progress is redirected from its
current frequency to a new frequency.
(ii) Intra-cell, Intra-BSC Handover: the mobile station moves from one cell to
another, but stays within the control of same BSC.

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(iii) Inter BSC, Intra-MSC Handover: In this type of handover, the handover
performs between cells controlled by different BSCs, but these BSCs have a
common MSC that controls the handover.
(iv) Inter MSC Handover: A handover occurs between two cells belonging to
different MSCs. Here both MSCs perform the handover.

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Hard Hand off: It is one in which the channel in the source cell is released and only then
channel in the target cell is engaged.

Soft Hand off: It is one in which the channel in the source is retained and used for a
while in parallel with the channel in the target cell.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

GPRS is a packet based communication service for mobile device that allows data to be
sent and received across a mobile telephone network. GPRS is a mobile data service
available to users of GSM and IS-136 mobile phones. GPRS has ability to offer data
speed of 14.4 kbps to 115 kpbs, which allow for comfortable internet access. It allows
for short bursty traffic such as e-mail and web browsing as well as large volume of data.

GPRS architecture

GPRS uses the GSM architecture for voice. In order to offer packet data service through
GPRS, new class of network nodes need to be introduced as an upgrade to existing GSM
network. Those network nodes are called GPRS support nodes (GSN).

There are two types of support nodes SGSN (Service GSN) and GGSN (Gateway GSN).

(i) Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN): The SGSN task include routing,
handover, IP address assignment, packet switching, mobility management,
local link management, authentication and charging function.
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(ii) Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN): A GGSN acts as an interface between
the GPRS backbone network and the external packet data networks. GGSN
function is similar to that of a router in a LAN.
(iii) Connectivity between GGSN and SSGN: The connection between the two
GPRS support nodes is made with a protocol called GPRS Tunneling Protocol
(GTP).
(iv) Home Location Register (HLR): is a database that contains subscriber
information, when a device connects to the network. It needs enhancement
to register GPRS profile s and respond to queries originating from GSNs
regarding their profiles.
(v) Base Station Sub System (BSS): It needs enhancement to recognize and send
packet data. This includes BTS upgrade to allow transportation of user’s data
to the SGSN.

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