University of Manchester

School of Computer Science

Comp60242: Mobile Computing

B2: ‘Towards understanding 4G’

Barry Cheetham

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 1
Timetable (Comp60242’10): Thursdays(Feb 4 – Mar 11)

W1: 09:00–09:20 Welcome 09:20 -10:10 Barry1

10:30-11:20 Nick1 11:30-12:20 Intro to OPNET (Nick)
12:30-13:00 Brief intro to Lab 14:00-16:00 OPNET lab
16:00-16:50 Barry2
W2: 09:00-09:50 Barry3 10:00-13:00 OPNET Lab
14:00-14:50 Nick2 15:00-15:50 Nick3
16:00-16:50 Barry4
W3: 09:00-09:50 Barry5 10:00-13:00 Assess OP-LAB

14:00-14:50 Nick4 15:00-15:50 Nick5

16:00-16:50 Barry6
W4: 09:00-09:50 Nick6 10:00-10:20 Intro to EC Lab (Barry)
10:30-13:00 EC-Lab 14:00-14:50 Nick7
15:00-15:50 Nick8 16:00-16:50 Barry7
W5: 09:00-09:50 Nick9 10:00-13:00 EC-Lab
14:00-15:00 Guest 15:30-16:20 Barry8
W6: Error Control Assignment with
4/02/10 assessment
Comp60242: B2 of Lab-work 2
 1. Reminder of 3GPP-LTE
• Project to evolve from 3G-UMTS towards 4G.
• New standard: ‘3GPP-LTE-advanced’ by end of 2010.
• With parallel developments in nomadic technology (wireless
LANs etc.) this will achieve the 4G goals.
• New developments include:
+ IP for all voice (VoIP) & data (with seamless handover)
+ Enhanced precoding & forward error correction (FEC)
+ New radio transmission techniques (OFDMA & SC-FDMA)
+ Multiple antennas (MIMO)
+ Flexible spectrum usage, better security

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 3
 2. Radio transmission techniques

• Analogue modulation of a single carrier

• Digital modulation of a single carrier
• Digital modulation of multiple carriers
• Carrier may be a sine-wave

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 4
Amplitude modulation of a single carrier
Volts
t Sine-wave carrier
before modulation

Volts After modulation – its

amplitude (shape)
has been affected by
t
the data.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 5
 Single carrier AM
• Used since the invention of radio.
• Works for analogue (1G) modulation & could work for
digital modulation (2G).
• Simple, low power & its easy to detect the changes to
the sine-wave at the receiver.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 6
 Frequency modulation of single carrier
Volts
t Sine-wave carrier

Volts

After modulation –
t
frequency changed by
data

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 7
 Frequency shift keying (FSK)
• This is what we get if we use ‘single sine-wave carrier’
frequency modulation to transmit binary data.
• 2G – GSM (European standard) actually uses this
method.
• Amplitude remains constant – a great advantage.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 8
 Alternative SC technique - CDMA
• Instead of a sine-wave carrier, use a crazy wave-shape produced
by a pseudo-random sequence of ones & zeros.
• The pseudo-random sequence is a ‘code’.
• Transmitter & receiver both know the code
• So receiver knows what the wave-shape should be, & can work
out how it’s been modified by the data.
• Hence it can extract the data.
• If there’s more than one transmitter each uses a different code.
• This is ‘code division multiplexed access’ (CDMA).
• Used in USA for 2G (IS95 & CDMA2000).
• Used here for 3G - UTMS

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 9
 ‘Hedy Lamarr invented CDMA’
• Well she invented a form of
CDMA called frequency-hopping.
• She was an Austrian born
actress who met Adolf Hitler &
was the first actress to remove all
her clothes in a movie.
• She was awarded a patent for
radio technology used against
the Germans in WW2.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 10
 Multi-carrier modulation

• Instead of one sine-wave carrier, use a large number all

at once.
• Spread the data among the carriers.
• One version of this is OFDM
• ‘Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing’.
• Widely used now for broadcasting, wireless LANs, etc.
• But not for cellular mobile networks until NOW!
• Hugely exciting developments here – in LTE
• More about this later

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 11
 Summary of radio techniques used
• 1G: Analogue modulation of SC
• 2G: Europe: FSK modulation
USA: CDMA
• 3G: (UMTS) Wide-band CDMA
• 4G: Versions of multi-carrier OFDM
(OFDMA & SC-FDMA)
• WLAN 802.11n : OFDM
• WiMAX 802.16m: OFDM
• Digital TV & radio: OFDM

(Despite its name, SC-FDMA really is a form of OFDM)

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 12
 3. Wireless LANs, PANs & WANs
• Now part of the plan for 4G technology
• Provide ‘nomadic’ wireless access to Internet at ‘hot-spots’.
• Cannot provide universal connection.
• Nomadic – wandering from ‘hot-spot’ (oasis?) to ‘hot-spot’.
• Between hot-spots is cellular ‘desert’
• Higher bit-rates at oasis, lower in desert.
• Access points are like base-stations.
• Available radio spectrum shared among many users.
• Horizontal handover between WLAN access points & also
‘vertical’ handover to/from cellular base-stations needed.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 13
 Access-points, antennas & nomadic users
LAN B B

Access
Access Why 2 antennas?
point
point

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 14
 Co-existence of networks & handover
Integration of mobile networks: PANs,
LANs, MANS & WANs
(From Schiller)

WAN

vertical
handover
W-MAN

W-LAN horizontal
handover

W-PAN

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 15
Standards for Wireless LANs, PANs & WANs

• For WLANs, IEEE802.11 standard (wi-fi) predominates

• Uses license-free radio bands centred on 2.4 & 5 GHz.
• Many variations: IEEE802.11a, b, g, e, n
• Higher data-rates than cellular
• Higher frequency bands used & shorter distances.
• Different ways of sharing the spectrum (multiplexing)
• European ‘Hiperlan 1& 2’ standards largely obsolete.
• IEEE802.15 & Bluetooth PANs - short range < 10 metres.
• IEEE802.16 ( WIMAX) for longer range (WANs)

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 16
 Orig IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard
• Published in 1997 for 1 & 2 Mb/s in 2.4 GHz band
• ‘Spectral spreading’ mandatory to increase bandwidth &
reduce power-spectral density (watts/Hz).
• Two methods:
(i) FHSS: Freq-hopping
Hop carrier frequency in pseudo random pattern known at receiver.
(ii) DSSS Direct sequence
Instead of ‘1’ & ‘0’ send ‘10110111000’ & ‘01001000111’
Multiplies bit-rate by eleven.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 17
 Later IEEE802.11 standards
IEEE 802.11a : Multi-carrier in 5 GHz band
64 carriers in parallel.
Up to 54 Mb/s. Great for multi-path.
IEEE 802.11b : Operates in 2.4 GHz band
Same as 802.11 for preamble / header
Achieves higher bit-rate for payload
IEEE802.11g: (Nov 2001)
Extension to IEEE802.11b in 2.4 GHz band
OFDM payload option at up to 54Mb/s
Same preamble/header as IEEE802.11

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 18
 IEEE802.11e

• Finalised in 2005 as ‘quality of service’ extension of standard.

• Highest bit-rate remains 54 Mb/s.

• New QoS-related categories (background, video, voice).
• Rules for dealing with prioritized data queues & scheduling.
• Never commercialised in UK (like 802.11a)
• Features incorporated into latest version 802.11n.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 19
 IEEE 802.11n

• Incorporates all previous versions, including 802.11e

• Maximum bit-rate increased to 600Mb/s by:
+ Using more OFDM multi-carriers: 52 instead of 48.
+ Increasing number of error control (FEC) options.
+ Reducing duration of OFDM ‘guard bands’.
+ Introducing multiple antennas & MIMO.
+ Allowing bandwidth to be increased (controversially)
• There are other improvements including:
+ ‘fast MCS’ for improved rate adaptation
+ ‘LDPC’ coding for FEC & better security
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 20
 Bluetooth
• Short range ‘piconet’ for computer peripherals etc.
• Personal area network (PAN)
• Not originally an IEEE standard;
• Now part of IEEE802.15
• Operates in 2.4 GHz band over 10 metres.
• FHSS over 80 carriers: 160 hops /s
• Binary FSK at 1Mb/s.
• Problems with 802.11b transmissions in range.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 21
 WIMAX
• New technology for ‘last mile’ as alternative to cable.
• Also wireless comms over wireless WANs & MANs
• Related to IEEE802.16 (MANs) & 802.20 (MBWA).
• ‘IEEE802.16e & m’ referred to as ‘mobile WIMAX’.
• WIMAX has 3 stages.
1. ‘Point-to-point’ line of sight, linking of buildings.
2. Delivery of ‘last mile’ wireless broadband access
3. Mobile-WIMAX to allow PCs to communicate with
WIMAX base stations over distances of miles.
• WIMAX (802.11m) will be part of 4G.
• Long-range & will likely use licensed radio spectrum.
• Can use WiMax in unlicensed spectrum, however.
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 22
 Wi-Max compared with Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi is for shorter ranges of up to a few hundred of meters,
• Currently uses unlicensed radio spectral bands.
• Provides access to a WLAN rather than WAN or MAN.
• WLAN will cover an area within a single building.
• MAN may extend over a whole city - WAN even wider.
• Wi-Fi used by organisations to provide mobile access to the
Internet from convenient ‘hot-spots’.
• WiMAX can provide data links analogous to the speech &
data links provided by cell-
phones.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 23
 4. Compare cellular mobile networks & WLANs

• Cellular mobile telephony strongly ‘connection orientated’

• Aim to simulate circuit connections with low delay.
• Expensive licensed radio frequency bands.
• Lower data rates & longer distances.

• WLANs are packet orientated

• Higher delay packet based multiplexing (usually by contention)
• Free unlicensed radio frequency bands.
• Higher data rates & shorter distances.
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 24
 WLAN advantages

• No need for hot-spot providers to pay for radio usage.

• Equipment cheap & easy to use.
• User can set up his own WLAN, e.g. at home.
• Institutions can provide WLAN access economically.
• Can provide telephony as well as data communication.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 25
 WLAN disadvantages

• Use of unlicensed freq bands means uncontrolled access.

• Impossible to guarantee quality of service.
• Congestion expected with VoIP & multimedia.
• Contention based access inefficient for speech & multi-media

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 26
 5. Some mobile computing issues
• Improving energy efficiency & battery technology.
• The ongoing ‘mobile phone safety’ debate.
• Marketing strategies now & in the future.
• ‘Towards 4G’
• See Schiller for a survey & historical background.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 27
 Low power mobile computing technology
• Traditionally, two types of processor:
 RISC devices such as the ARM
 DSP devices such as the TMS320C50
• Later versions of ARM have DSP capability.
• Highly optimised fixed point coding needed for DSP
operations: compression, error control coding, etc.
• High energy efficiency essential for battery powered
devices.
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 28
 Ad-hoc Wireless LANs

•WLANs with access points are ‘Infrastructure type’.

•Provision also for ‘ad-hoc’ WLANs where devices just come
together & inter-communicate on a peer-to-peer basis..

Useful for ‘sensor-nets’

Interesting routing problems

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 29
6. Convergence of voice & data (2 scenarios)
• BT '21st Century Network ' (21CN) will revolutionise
exchange-to-exchange telephone links by making them use IP. 
• Differences between telephone & computer links disappear.
• Difference between computer & telephone also disappears?
• BT has so far rebuilt around 10% of its IP network
• BT 'Fusion' & 'Openzone'-convergence of cellular & wi-fi. 
• Openzone hotspots allow wi-fi access.
• BT Fusion means that in Openzone hotspots you can use your wi-
fi enabled mobile phone for VoIP.
• Technical differences between mobile phones & computers will
disappear? 

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 30
 7. Protocols & Layers
• Protocols are defined in layers.
• Well-known description of computer-to-computer
communication is:
‘OSI Reference Model’.
• “Open Systems Interconnection”,
• Term invented by “International Standards
Organisation” in 1983.

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 31
 ‘7-layer’ OSI reference model
7) Application Layer 7) Application Layer

6) Presentation Layer 6) Presentation Layer

5) Session Layer 5) Session Layer

4) Transport Layer 4) Transport Layer

3) Network Layer 3) Network Layer

2) Data Link Layer 2) Data Link Layer

1) Physical Layer 1) Physical Layer

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 32
 TCP/IP Reference Model
• Similar to ‘7 layer OSI' model & pre-dates it.

Layer OSI Reference Model TCP/IP Reference Model

7 Application Layer
6 Application Layer
Presentation Layer
5 Session Layer
4 Transport Layer Transport Layer
3 Network Layer Internet Layer
2 Data Link Layer
Host-to-Network Layer
1 Physical Layer

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 33
 ‘5-layer’ TCP/IP Reference Model
• As seen in some text-books

Layer OSI Reference Model TCP/IP Reference Model

7 Application Layer
6 Presentation Layer Application Layer
5 Session Layer

4 Transport Layer Transport Layer

3 Network Layer Internet (IP) Layer

2 Data Link Layer Data Link Layer

1 Physical Layer Physical layer

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 34
 Examples of protocols in each layer
Application layer:
DHCP, DNS, http, POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, TELNET, FTP, SIP, etc.

Transport layer:
TCP, UDP, RTP, RTCP, DCCP, SSL, TLS, etc

Network layer:
IP (V4 & v6), IPSec, RSVP, etc.

Data-link layer:
Ethernet DLL, IEEE802.11 DLL, PPP, GPRS, etc.

Physical layer:
Ethernet & IEEE802.11 Phy layers, modems, RS232, SONET/DHL

4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 35
 8. Addressing
• Fixed telephone numbers & IP addresses ‘localised’
• ‘0161.xxx.nnnn calls always routed to Manchester.
• 130.088.xxx.xxx IP addresses routed to Man Univ.
• IP addresses like telephone numbers.
• Must change when you become mobile & change location.
• IP addresses assigned to network interface by institution.
• Can be done dynamically by ‘DHCP server’.
• Assigns IP addresses to fixed 64 bit MAC (Phy) addresses.
• May be different IP address every day.
• DHCP also supplies address of a DNS server.
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 36
 9. Problems & discussion points
1. What do the following have in common and why?:
(a) a commonly used spectral spreading technique,
(b) a piano, (c) Adolph Hitler and
(d) the first actress ever to appear nude on film.
2. How does a DSP microprocessor differ from a RISC and a general purpose
processor?
3. Why are DSP processors used in mobile phones and why are they
generally programmed in fixed point arithmetic?
4. Why is FSK (digital FM) better than ASK (digital AM)?
5. On slide 14, why do the APs each have 2 antennas spaced 12.5 cm apart?
6. What is the main advantage of multi-carrier modulation?
7. What is the main disadvantage of multi-carrier modulation?
8. Why is FEC coding more imortant for wireless than wired comms?
9. What is the difference between vertical & horiz handover?
10. As each device has a MAC (PHY) address, why do we need IP
addresses?
11. How are (i) MAC & (ii) IP addresses allocated?
12. Why do MAC addresses have 48 bits whereas IP addresses have 32 bits?
4/02/10 Comp60242: B2 37