Mobile Computing – Wireless Transmission

Wireless Transmission: It is based on the

frequencies selected
Frequencies needs to be regulated
Modulation is needed to transmit digital data via certain
frequencies.
Frequency and wavelength:
λ= c/f
Wavelength λ, speed of light c, frequency f

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Frequencies for radio transmission

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Usage of Different Frequencies
VLF, LF, MF, HF are not used for wireless
 E.g used by submarines so that it can penetrate water
VHF/UHF – ranges are used for mobile radio
 For TV
 Simple , small antena for cars
 Deterministic propagation characteristics, reliable connections
SHF and higher frequencies are used for radio links,
satellite communication
Microwave
Beam forming
Large bandwidth
Wireless LANs use frequencies in UHF to SHF range
Optical transmission e.g fibre optical links

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 Frequency Regulation
ITU : International Telecommunication Union
located at Geneva is responsible for worldwide
coordination of telecommunication activities
It handles frequency planning, regulation and
moderation
It takes care of periodic decision on frequency allocation
for different regions

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Frequency Regulation

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 Signals
Signal is a physical representation of data
It acts as a function of time and location
Signal parameters: parameters represent the value of
data
Classification
Continuous time/discrete time
Continuous values/discrete values
Analog signal = continuous time and continuous values
Digital signal = discrete time and discrete values
Signal parameters of periodic signals:
period T, frequency f=1/T, amplitude A, phase shift Φ

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Signals (Sign Wave & Fourier Signal)

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Signal (Analog & Digital Representation)

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 Different Representations of Signals
Signal Amplitude is represented in three forms:
Time domain
Frequency domain
Phase domain

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 Antennas
Antenna: It is used for the radiation and reception of
electromagnetic waves, coupling of wires for radio
transmission
Isotropic radiator: theoretical reference antenna
that radiates equal radiation in all directions (three
dimensions)
Real antenna: consists of directive effects (vertical
and horizontal)
Radiation pattern: measurement of radiation
around an antenna

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Isotropic Radiator

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 Antennas: simple dipoles
Real antennas: are not isotropic radiators but dipoles
with lengths λ/4 on car roofs or λ/2 as Hertzian dipole
Shape of antenna proportional to wavelength

Example: Radiation pattern of a simple Hertzian dipole

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 Antennas: directed and sectorized
They are used for microwave connections or base
stations for mobile phones (e.g radio coverage for
certain region)
Directed:

Sectorized:

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 Signal Propagation Ranges
Transmission Range
Communication possible
Low error rate
Detection Range
Detection of the signal possible
No communication possible
Interference Range
Signal may not be detected
Signal adds to the background noise

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 Signal Propagation Effects
Propagation in free space always travels like light
(straight line)
Receiving power is proportional to 1/d (d – distance
between sender and receiver)
Receiving power is influenced by following:
Fading (frequency dependent)
Shadowing
Reflection at large obstacles
Refraction depending on the density of a medium
Scattering at small obstacles
Diffraction at edges

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Signal Propagation Effects

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 Multipath Propagation
Signal can take many different paths between sender
and receiver due to reflection, scattering, diffraction
Time dispersion:
 Signal is dispersed over time
 Interference with neighbour symbols, Inter Symbol

Interference (ISI)
 Signal reaches the receiver but with phase shifted

 Distorted signal depending on the phases of different parts

Delay Spread: signals travelling along different paths

with different lengths arrive at the receiver at different
times.

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Multipath Propagation Example

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 Effects of Mobility
Channel characteristics change over time and location
Signal path change
Different delay variations of different signal parts
Different phases of signal parts
Two types of fadings
Short term fading:
 quick changes in the power received
Long term fading:
 slow changes in the power received

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 Multiplexing
Multiplexing: It describes how several users can share a medium
with minimum or no interference.
Goal: to make maximum use of shared medium
E.g highway example – highways with several lanes
 Many users (cars) use the same medium (highways) with no interference
(accidents). This is possible because of several lanes (space division
multiplexing).
 Also many users (cars) can use the same lane at different time (time division

multiplexing).
Four ways of multiplexing
Space (s)
Time (t)
Frequency (f )
Code (c)
Guard space: space between the interference ranges.

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Space Division Multiplexing

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 Frequency Division
Multiplexing
Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller
frequency bands.
Channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the
whole time
Advantages:
No dynamic coordination needed
Disadvantages:
Wastes bandwidth if the traffic is distributed unevenly
Inflexible

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Frequency Division
Multiplexing

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 Time Division Multiplexing
Channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount
of time
Advantages:
Only one carrier in the medium at any given time
High throughput
Disadvantages:
Requires precise synchronization

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Time Division Multiplexing

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 Frequency & Time Division Multiplexing
Combined
Combination of both: A channel gets a certain
frequency band for a certain amount of time
E.g GSM
Advantages:
Better protection against tapping
Protection against frequency selective interference
Higher data rates
Disadvantages:
Requires precise coordination

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Frequency & Time Division Multiplexing

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 Code Division Multiplexing
Each channel has a unique code.
All channels use the same spectrum at the same time.
Advantages:
Bandwidth efficient
No coordination and synchronization necessary
Good protection against interference and tapping
Disadvantages:
More complex signal generation

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Code Division Multiplexing

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 Modulation
Digital modulation
digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
Three techniques of modulation
 Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
 Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)

 Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

Modulation schemes consists of differences in spectral efficiency,

power efficiency, robustness
Need for Analog Modulation:
Shifts center frequency of baseband signal upto the radio carrier
Reasons to enhance baseband signal
Antennas are smaller in size
FDM technique shortcomings
Medium characteristics

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 Modulation Schemes
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Used in electronic communication for transmitting messages
with a radio wave.
Amplitude (signal strength) of the carrier wave is varied in
proportion to that of the message signal, such as an audio signal
Frequency Modulation (FM)
It is used for the encoding of information in a carrier wave by
changing the instantaneous frequency of the wave
Phase Modulation (PM)
It encodes the message signal as variations in the instantaneous
phases of a carrier wave.
The phase of a carrier signal is modulated to follow the
changing signal level of the message signal.

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Modulation & Demodulation

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Digital Modulation Techniques
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Very simple
Low bandwidth requirements
One amplitude is represented by binary 0 other with 1
Very susceptible to interference
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Assigns one frequency f1 to the binary 1 and other f2 to binary 0
It is implemented by switching between two oscillators (f1 & f2)
It needs larger bandwidth
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)
Uses shifts in the phase of a signal to represent data.

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Modulation Techniques - Example

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 Spread Spectrum
Spread Spectrum: Narrow band signal is spread into a
broad band signal (larger frequency range)
Advantage: to provide resistance to narrowband
interference.
 Narrow band interference: frequency dependent fading can
wipe out narrow band signals for duration of the interference.
 Broad band signal improves the strength and quality of the
signal while traversing

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Effects of spreading and interference

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Spreading-Despreading process
Step 1: narrowband signal from sender of user data
Step 2: senders spreads the user signal
Converts narrowband signal into a broadband signal.
While spreading of the signal power of the signal reduces
Step 3: during transmission, narrowband & broadband
interference add to the signal
Sum of interference and user signal is received at the receiver end
Step 4: receiver despreads the user signal.
Converts the spread user signal into narrowband signal again,
while spreading the narrowband interferenceand leaving the
broadband interference.
Step 5: receiver applies a bandpass filter to cut off frequencies
left and right of the narrowband signal.

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 Narrowband Interference without spread
spectrum
With narrowband interference channel quality
reduces.
Receiver cannot reconstruct the signal

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 Spread Spectrum to avoid Narrowband
Interference
All narrowband signals are spread into broadband
signals.
Uses CDM technique that allows each signal to apply its
own code to recover the signal.

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 Cellular Systems
Cellular systems work on the concept of SDM
Each transmitter (base station) covers a certain area (cell)
Cell radii can vary from tens of meters in building, and
hundreds of meters in cities.
Mobile stations communicate only via the base station
A basic analog cellular system, consists of three
subsystems: a mobile unit, a cell site, and a mobile
telephone switching office (MTSO)
The cell site provides interface between the MTSO and
the mobile units.
 It has a control unit, radio cabinets, antennas, a power plant,
and data terminals.

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 Cellular Subsystems
Mobile Unit
Radio frequency – receiver/transmitter, digital signal processing,
analog/digital conversion, control processor, SIM, power control & battery
Cell Site
It is cell tower or cellular base station where antennas and electronic
communication equipments are placed
Used to transmit cell phone signals to and from the mobile phone back to
the receiver.
It includes transmitters/receivers, GPS, backup power sources, base
transceiver station (BTS)
Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)
It contains the switching equipment or mobile switching center for routing
mobile phone calls.
It also contains the equipment for controlling the cell sites that are
connected to the MSC (Mobile Switching Center)

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 Cellular Systems
A cellular communication system consists of four major
components:
public switched telephone network (PSTN)
mobile telephone switching office (MTSO)
cell sites with antenna systems
mobile subscriber units (MSU).
Cell phones use radio waves to communicate.
Radio waves transport digitized voice or data in the form of
oscillating electric and magnetic fields- electromagnetic
field (EMF)
Radio waves carry the information and travel in air at the
speed of light.
Cell phones transmit radio waves in all directions

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Cellular Communication Components
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
It provides infrastructure and services for public
telecommunication
It is operated by national, regional, or local telephony
operators
It carries voice calls from phone through the network to the
recipient's
Mobile Telephone Twitching Office (MTSO
Cell sites
Mobile Subscriber Units (MSU).
It consists of a control unit and a transceiver that transmits
and receives radio transmissions to and from a cell site
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Cell Structure (Advantages & Disadvantages)
Advantages of cell structures:
Higher capacity, higher number of users
Less transmission power needed
More robust decentralized
Base station deals with interference, transmission area
locally
Disadvantages:
Fixed network needed for the base stations
Handover (changing from one cell to another) necessary
Interference with other cells

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 Cell Cluster Pattern
Cells are combined in clusters
E.g 3 cells or 7 cells clusters
All cells within a cluster use disjointed sets of
frequencies.

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Cell Cluster Pattern – Sectorized Antenna
Sectorized Antenna: - To reduce interference (under
traffic conditions i.e number of users per km)
E.g use of three sector s per cell in a cluster with three
cells.

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 Channel Allocation Strategies
Fixed Channel Allocation:
Certain frequencies are assigned to a certain cell
Used in GSM system
Drawback:
 Different traffic load in different cells
 E.g heavy load in one cell and light load in other

Borrowing Channel Allocation:

Cells with more traffic are dynamically allotted more
frequencies.
Frequencies can be assigned to cells
Borrowed frequencies can be blocked in the surrounding
cells.
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 Cell Breathing
 Cellular systems using CDM instead of FDM
 Users are separated through the code
 Cell size depends on the current load.
 Drawback with CDM
 Since CDM is used as more users join, the load increases
 CDM cells are said to ‘breath’
 If the load increases the cell shrinks.
 Reason: higher noise if more users join the cell
 Try to reduce the strength of the cell, that results some users out
of the transmission range

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