Advanced Communication Systems Module 6

MODULE 6

Introduction to Multiple Access, FDMA, TDMA, Spread Spectrum multiple

Access, space division multiple access, CDMA, OFDM

Wireless Networking, Difference between wireless and fixed telephone

networks, development of wireless networks, fixed network transmission
hierarchy, traffic routing in wireless networks, wireless data services,
Wireless standards,

GSM system architecture, radio link aspects, network aspects

Introduction to new data services like High Speed Circuit Switched Data
(HSCSD), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Digital Enhanced Cordless
Telecommunications (DECT) , Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution
(EDGE), Ultra wideband systems (UWB), Push To Talk (PTT) technology,
Mobile IP

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INTRODUCTION TO MULTIPLE ACCESS

 Multiple access schemes are used to allow many mobile users to share
simultaneously a finite amount of radio spectrum.
 The sharing of spectrum is required to achieve high capacity by simultaneously
allocating the available bandwidth to multiple users.
 In wireless communications systems, it is often desirable to allow the subscriber to
send simultaneously information to the base station while receiving information
from the base station. Fm example, in conventional telephone systems, it is possible
to talk and listen simultaneously, and this effect, called duplexing.
 Duplexing may be done using frequency or time domain techniques.
 Frequency division duplexing (FDD)
o It provides two distinct bands of frequencies for every user.
o The forward band provides traffic from the base station to the mobile, and
the reverse band provides traffic from the mobile to the base.
o In FDD, any duplex channel actually consists of two simplex channels, and
a device called a duplexer is used inside each subscriber unit and base
station to allow simultaneous radio transmission and reception on the
duplex channel pair.
o The frequency split between the forward and reverse channel is constant
throughout the system, regardless of the particular channel being used.
 Time division duplexing (TDD)
o It uses time instead of frequency to provide both a forward and reverse
link.
o If the time split between the forward and reverse time slot is small, then
the transmission and reception of data appiars simultaneous to the user.
o TDD allows communication on a single channel (as opposed to requiring
two simplex or dedicated channels) and simplifies the subscriber
equipment since a duplexer is not required.

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Multiple access techniques can be:

o Frequency division multiple access (FDMA)
o time division multiple access (TDMA)
o code division multiple access (CDMA)
 These techniques can be grouped as narrowband and wideband systems, depending
upon how the available bandwidth is allocated to the users.

Narrowband Systems
 The term narrowband is used to relate the bandwidth of a single channel to the
expected coherence bandwidth of the channel.
 In a narrowband multiple access system, the available radio spectrum is divided
into a large number of narrowband channels.
 The channels are usually operated using FDD.
 To minimize interference between forward and reverse links on each channel, the
frequency split is made as great as possible within the frequency spectrum, while
still allowing inexpensive duplexers and a common transceiver antenna to be used
in each subscriber unit.
 In narrowband FDMA, a user is assigned a particular channel which is not shared by
other users in the vicinity, and if FDD is used (that is, each channel has a forward
and reverse link), then the system is called FDMA/FDD.
 Narrowband TDMA allows users to share the same channel but allocates a unique
time slot to each user in a cyclical fashion on the channel, thus separating a small
number of users in time on a single channel.
 For narrowband TDMA, there generally are a large number of channels allocated
using either FDD or TDD, and each channel is shared using TDMA.
 Such systems are called TDMA/FDD or TDMA/TDD access systems.
Wideband systems
 In wideband systems, the transmission bandwidth of a single channel is much
larger than the coherence bandwidth of the channel.
 Thus, multipath fading does not greatly affect the received signal within a wideband
channel, and frequency selective fades occur in only a small fraction of the signal
bandwidth.
 In wideband multiple access systems, the users are allowed to transmit in a large
part of the spectrum.
 A large number of transmitters are also allowed to transmit on the same channel.
 TDMA allocates time slots to the many transmitters on the same channel and allows
only one transmitter to access the channel at any instant of time, whereas spread
spectrum CDMA allows all of the transmitters to access the channel at the same
time.
 TDMA and CDMA systems may use either FDD or TDD multiplexing techniques.
 In addition to FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA, two other multiple access schemes are used
for wireless communications
o packet radio (PR)
o space division multiple access (SDMA).

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FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (FDMA)

 Frequency division multiple access (FDMA) assigns individual channels to
individual users.

 It can be seen from Figure 8.2 that each user is allocated a unique frequency band or
channel. These channels are assigned on demand to users who request service.
 During the period of the call, no other user can share the same frequency band.
 In FDD systems, the users are assigned a channel as a pair of frequencies; one
frequency is used for the forward channel, while the other frequency is used for the
reverse channel.
 The features of FDMA are as follows:
1. The FDMA channel carries only one phone circuit at a time.
2. If an FDMA channel is not in use, then it sits idle and cannot be used by other
users to increase or share capacity. It is essentially a wasted resource.
3. After the assignment of a voice channel, the base station and the mobile
transmit simultaneously and continuously.
4. The bandwidths of FDMA channels are relatively narrow as each channel
supports only one circuit per carrier
5. The symbol time is large as compared to the average delay spread.
6. The complexity of FDMA mobile systems is lower when compared to TDMA
systems
7. Since FDMA is a continuous transmission scheme, fewer bits are needed for
overhead purposes (such as synchronization and framing bits) as compared
to TDMA.
8. FDMA systems have higher cell site system costs as compared to TDMA
systems and the need to use costly bandpass filters to eliminate spurious
radiation at the base station.
9. The FDMA mobile unit uses duplexers since both the transmitter and receiver
operate at the same time. This results in an increase in the cost of FDMA
subscriber units and base stations.
10. FDMA requires tight RF filtering to minimize adjacent channel interference.

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Nonlinear Effects in FDMA

 In a FDMA system, many channels share the same antenna at the base station.
 The power amplifiers or the power combiners, when operated at or near saturation
for maximum power efficiency, are nonlinear.
 The nonlinearities cause signal spreading in the frequency domain and generate
intermodulation (IM) frequencies.
 IM is undesired RF radiation which can interfere with other channels in the FDMA
systems.
 Spreading of the spectrum results in adjacent-channel interference.
 Intermodulation is the generation of undesirable harmonics. Harmonics generated
outside the mobile radio band cause interference to adjacent services, while those
present inside the band cause interference to other users in the mobile system
The number of channels that can be supported by FDMA is,

Where : total spectrum allocation

: guard band allocated at the edge of the allocated spectrum,
: channel bandwidth.

TIME DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (TDMA)

 TDMA systems divide the radio spectrum into time slots, and in each slot only one
user is allowed to either transmit or receive.

 It can be seen from Figure 8.3 that each user occupies a cyclically repeating time
slot, so a channel may be thought of as particular time slot that reoccurs every
frame, where N time slots comprise a frame.
 TDMA systems transmit data in a buffer-and-burst method, thus the transmission
for any user is noncontinuous.

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 This implies that, unlike in FDMA systems which accommodate analog FM, digital
data and digital modulation must be used with TDMA. The transmission from
various users is interlaced into a repeating frame structure as shown in Figure 8.4.

 It can be seen that a frame consists of a number of slots. Each frame is made up of a
preamble, an information message, and tail bits.
 In TDMA/TDD, half of the time slots in the frame information message would be
used for TDMA/FDD systems, an identical or similar frame structure would be used
solely for either forward or reverse transmission, but the carrier frequencies would
be different for the forward and reverse links.
 In general, TDMA/FDD systems intentionally induce several time slots of delay
between the forward and reverse time slots of a particular user, so that duplexers
are not required in the subscriber unit.
 In a TDMA frame, the preamble contains the address and synchronization
information that both the base station and the subscribers use to identify each
other.
 Guard times are utilized to allow synchronization of the receivers between different
slots and frames.
 Different TDMA wireless standards have different TDMA frame structures.
 The features of TDMA include the following:
1. TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users, where each
user makes use of nonoverlapping time slots. The number of time slots
per frame depends on several factors, such as modulation technique,
available bandwidth, etc.
2. Data transmission for users of a TDMA system is not continuous, but
occurs in bursts. This results in low battery consumption, since the
subscriber transmitter can be turned off when not in use (which is most
of the time).
3. Because of discontinuous transmissions in TDMA, the handoff process is
much simpler for a subscriber unit.

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4. TDMA uses different time slots for transmission and reception, thus
duplexers are not required.
5. Adaptive equalization is usually necessary in TDMA systems, since the
transmission rates are generally very high as compared to FDMA
channels.
6. In TDMA, the guard time should be minimized. If the transmitted signal at
the edges of a time slot are suppressed sharply in order to shorten the
guard time, the transmitted spectrum will expand and cause interference
to adjacent channels.
7. High synchronization overhead is required in TDMA systems because of
burst transmissions. TDMA transmissions are slotted, and this requires
the receivers to be synchronized for each data burst. In addition, guard
slots are necessary to separate users and this result in the TDMA systems
having larger overheads as compared to FDMA.
8. In TDMA, it is possible to allocate different numbers of time slots per
frame to different users.

 Efficiency of TDMA:
o The efficiency of a TDMA system is a measure of the percentage of
transmitted data that contains information as opposed to providing
overhead for the access scheme.
o The frame efficiency ηf, is the percentage of bits per frame which contain
transmitted data

The frame efficiency can be found as follows.

The number of overhead bits per frame is

where, Nr : number of reference bursts per frame,

Nt : number of traffic bursts per frame,
br : number of overhead bits per reference burst
bp : is the number of overhead bits per preamble in each slot,
bg : number of equivalent bits in each guard time interval.

The total number of bits per frame is

where Tf : frame duration

R : channel bit rate.

The frame efficiency ηf is thus given as

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Number of channels in TDMA system — The number of TDMA channel slots that can
be provided in a TDMA system is found by multiplying the number of TDMA slots per
channel by the number of channels available and is given by

where m is the maximum number of TDMA users supported on each radio channel.

SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS(SSMA)

 SSMA uses signals which have a transmission bandwidth that is several orders of
magnitude greater than the minimum required RF bandwidth.
 A pseudo-noise (PN) sequence converts a narrowband signal to a wideband noise-
like signal before transmission.
 SSMA
o Provides immunity to multipath interference and robust multiple access
capability.
o Is not very bandwidth efficient when used by a single user.
o Since many users can share the same spread spectrum bandwidth
without interfering with one another, spread spectrum systems become
bandwidth efficient in a multiple user environment.
 There are two main types of spread spectrum multiple access techniques
o frequency hopped multiple access (FH)
o Direct sequence multiple access (DS)(also called CDMA).

Frequency Flopped Multiple Access (FHMA)

 Frequency hopped multiple access (FHMA) is a digital multiple access system in

which the carrier frequencies of the individual users are varied in a pseudorandom
fashion within a wideband channel.
 The digital data is broken into uniform sized bursts which are transmitted on
different carrier frequencies.
 The instantaneous bandwidth of any one transmission burst is much smaller than
the total spread bandwidth.
 The pseudorandom change of the carrier frequencies of the user randomizes the
occupancy of a specific channel at any given time, thereby allowing for multiple
access over a wide range of frequencies.
 In the FH receiver, a locally generated PN code is used to synchronize the receivers
instantaneous frequency with that of the transmitter.
 At any given point in time, a frequency hopped signal only occupies a single,
relatively narrow channel since narrowband FM or FSK is used.
 The difference between FHMA and a traditional FDMA system is that the frequency
hopped signal changes channels at rapid intervals.

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 If the rate of change of the carrier frequency is greater than the symbol rate then
the system is referred to as a fast frequency hopping system. If the channel changes
at a rate less than or equal to the symbol rate, it is called slow frequency hopping.
 A fast frequency hopper may thus be thought of as an FDMA system which employs
frequency diversity.
 FHMA systems often employ energy efficient constant envelope modulation.
Inexpensive receivers may be built to provide noncoherent detection of FHMA. This
implies that linearity is not an issue, and the power of multiple users at the receiver
does not degrade FHMA performance.
 A frequency hopped system
o provides a level of security
o is somewhat immune to fading

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

 In code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, the narrowband message signal is
multiplied by a very large bandwidth signal called the spreading signal.
 The spreading signal is a pseudo-noise code sequence that has a chip rate which is
orders of magnitudes greater than the data rate of the message.

 All users in a CDMA system, as seen from Figure 8.5, use the same carrier frequency
and may transmit simultaneously.
 Each user has its own pseudorandom codeword which is approximately orthogonal
to all other codewords.
 The receiver performs a time correlation operation to detect only the specific
desired codeword.
 All other codewords appear as noise due to decorrelation.
 For detection of the message signal, the receiver needs to know the codeword used
by the transmitter.
 Each user operates independently with no knowledge of the other users.

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 In CDMA, the power of multiple users at a receiver determines the noise floor after
de-correlation.
 If the power of each user within a cell is not controlled such that they do not appear
equal at the base station receiver, then the near-far problem occurs.
 The near-far problem occurs when many mobile users share the same channel. In
general, the strongest received mobile signal will capture the demodulator at a base
station.
 In CDMA, stronger received signal levels raise the noise floor at the base station
demodulators for the weaker signals, thereby decreasing the probability that
weaker signals will be received.
 To combat the near-far problem, power control is used in most CDMA
implementations.
 Power control is provided by each base station in a cellular system and assures that
each mobile within the base station coverage area provides the same signal level to
the base station receiver.
 This solves the problem of a nearby subscriber overpowering the base station
receiver and drowning out the signals of far away subscribers.
 Power control is implemented at the base station by rapidly sampling the radio
signal strength indicator (RSSI) levels of each mobile and then sending a power
change command over the forward radio link.
 Despite the use of power control within each cell, out-of-cell mobiles provide
interference which is not under the control of the receiving base station.

The features of CDMA including the following:

o Many users of a CDMA system share the same frequency. Either TDD orFDD
may be used.
o Unlike TDMA or FDMA, CDMA has a soft capacity limit. Increasing the number
of users in a CDMA system raises the noise floor in a linear manner. Thus,
there is no absolute limit on the number of users in CDMA. Rather, the system
performance gradually degrades for all users as the number of users is
increased, and improves as the number of users is decreased.
o Multipath fading may be substantially reduced because the signal is spread
over a large spectrum. If the spread spectrum bandwidth is greater than the
coherence bandwidth of the channel, the inherent frequency diversity will
mitigate the effects of small-scale fading.
o Channel data rates are very high in CDMA systems. Consequently, the symbol
(chip) duration is very short and usually much less than the channel delay
spread. Since PN sequences have low autocorrelation, multipath which is
delayed by more than a chip will appear as noise. A RAKE receiver can be
used to improve reception by collecting time delayed versions of the required
signal.
o Since CDMA uses co-channel cells, it can use macroscopic spatial diversity to
provide soft handoff. Soft handoff is performed by the MSC, which can
simultaneously monitor a particular user from two or more base stations.

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The MSC may chose the best version of the signal at any time without
switching frequencies.
o Self-jamming is a problem in CDMA system. Self-jamming arises from the fact
that the spreading sequences of different users are not exactly orthogonal,
Hence in the despreading of a particular PN code, non-zero contributions to
the receiver decision statistic for a desired user arise from the transmissions
of other users in the system.
o The near-far problem occurs at a CDMA receiver if an undesired user has a
high detected power as compared to the desired user.

Hybrid Spread Spectrum Techniques

In addition to the frequency hopped and direct sequence, spread spectrum multiple
access techniques, there are certain other hybrid combinations that provide certain
advantages. These hybrid techniques are described below.

 Hybrid FDMAJCDMA (FCDMA)

o This technique can be used as an alternative to the DS-CDMA techniques
discussed above.

o Figure 8.6 shows the spectrum of this hybrid scheme.

o The available wideband spectrum is divided into a number of subspectras
with smaller bandwidths.
o Each of these smaller subchannels becomes a narrowband CDMA system
having processing gain lower than the original CDMA system.
o Advantage : required bandwidth need not be contiguous and different
users can be allotted different subspectrum bandwidths depending on
their requirements.
o The capacity of this FDMA/CDMA technique is calculated as the sum of
the capacities of a system operating in the subspectra

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 Hybrid Direct Sequence/Frequency Hopped Multiple Access (DS1 FHMA)

o This technique consists of a direct sequence modulated signal whose
center frequency is made to hop periodically in a pseudorandom fashion.

o figure 8.7 shows the frequency spectrum of such a signal.

o Direct sequence, frequency hopped systems have an advantage in that
they avoid the near-far effect.
o frequency hopped CDMA systems are not adaptable to the soft handoff
process since it is difficult to synchronize the frequency hopped base
station receiver to the multiple hopped signals.
 Time Division CDMA (TCDMA)
o In a TCDMA (also called TDMA/ CDMA) system, different spreading codes
are assigned to different cells.
o Within each cell, only one user per cell is allotted a particular time slot.
Thus at any time, only one CDMA user is transmitting in each cell.
o When a handoff takes place, the spreading code of the user is changed to
that of the new cell.
o Using TCDMA has an advantage in that it avoids the near-far effect since
only one user transmits at a time within a cell.
 Time Division Frequency Hopping (TDFH)
o This multiple access technique has an advantage in severe multipath or
when severe co-channel interference occurs.
o The subscriber can hop to a new frequency at the start of a new TDMA
frame, thus avoiding a severe fade or erasure event on a particular
channel.
o This technique has been adopted for the GSM standard, where the
hopping sequence is predefined and the subscriber is allowed to hop only
on certain frequencies which are assigned to a cell.
o This scheme also avoids co-channel interference problems between
neighbouring cells if two interfering base station transmitters are made to
transmit on different frequencies at different times.

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SPACE DIVISION MU!TIPLE ACCESS (SDMA)

 Space division multiple access (SDMA) controls the radiated energy for each user in
space.
 It can be seen from Figure 8.8 that SDMA serves different users by using spot beam
antennas. These different areas covered by the antenna beam may be served by the
same frequency (in a TDMA or CDMA system) or different frequencies (in an FDMA
system).

 Sectorized antennas may be thought of as a primitive application of SDMA.

 In the future, adaptive antennas will likely be used to simultaneously steer energy
in the direction of many users at once and appear to be best suited for TDMA and
CDMA base station architectures
 The reverse link presents the most difficulty in cellular systems for several reasons .
i) the base station has complete control over the power of all the
transmitted signals on the forward link. However, because of the different
radio propagation paths between each user and the base station, the
transmitted power from each subscriber unit must be dynamically
controlled to prevent any single user from driving up the interference
level for all other users.
ii) transmit power is limited by battery consumption at the subscriber unit,
therefore there are limits on the degree to which power may be
controlled on the reverse link. If the base station antenna is made to
spatially filter each desired user so that more energy is detected from
each subscriber, then the reverse link for each user is improved and less
power is required.
 Adaptive antennas used at the base station (and eventually at the subscriber units)
promise to mitigate some of the problems on the reverse link.

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 In the limiting case of infinitesimal beamwidth and infinitely fast tracking ability,
adaptive antennas implement optimal SDMA, thereby providing a unique channel
that is free from the interference of all other users in the cell.
 With SDMA, all users within the system would be able to communicate at the same
time using the same channel.
 a perfect adaptive antenna system would be able to track individual multipath
components for each user and combine them in an optimal manner to collect all of
the available signal energy from each user. The perfect adaptive antenna system is
not feasible since it requires infinitely large antennas.

OFDM
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a digital multi-carrier
modulation scheme that extends the concept of single subcarrier modulation by
using multiple subcarriers within the same single channel.
 Rather than transmit a high-rate stream of data with a single subcarrier, OFDM
makes use of a large number of closely spaced orthogonal subcarriers that are
transmitted in parallel.
 Each subcarrier is modulated with a conventional digital modulation scheme (such
as QPSK, 16QAM, etc.) at low symbol rate.
 However, the combination of many subcarriers enables data rates similar to
conventional single-carrier modulation schemes within equivalent bandwidths.
 In FDM different streams of information are mapped onto separate parallel
frequency channels.
 Each FDM channel is separated from the others by a frequency guard band to reduce
interference between adjacent channels.
 The OFDM scheme differs from traditional FDM in the following interrelated ways:
1. Multiple carriers (called subcarriers) carry the information stream,
2. The subcarriers are orthogonal to each other, and
3. A guard interval is added to each symbol to minimize the channel delay spread
and intersymbol interference.
ADVANTAGES
1. OFDM is an efficient way to deal with delay spread.
2. OFDM is robust against narrowband interference.
3. In single carrier system, a single fade or interferer can cause the entire link to
fail, but in multicarrier system, only a small percentage of the sub-carriers will be
affected.
4. OFDM is possible to significantly enhance the capacity by adapting the data rate
per subcarrier according to the SNR of that particular subcarrier.
5. OFDM makes single - frequency networks possible, which is especially attractive
for broadcasting applications.
DISADVANTAGES
1. OFDM is sensitive to frequency offset and phase noise.

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2. OFDM has a relative large peak- to - average power ratio , which tends to reduce
the power efficiency of the RF amplifier.

OFDM SYSTEM MODEL

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WIRELESS NETWORKING
 The demand for personal communications is driving the development of new
networking techniques that accommodate mobile voice and data users who move
throughout buildings, cities, or countries.

 Consider the cellular telephone system shown in Figure 9.1. The cellular telephone
system is responsible for providing coverage throughout a particular territory,
called a coverage region or market.
 The interconnection of many such systems defines a wireless network capable of
providing service to mobile users throughout a country or continent.
 To provide wireless communications within a particular geographic region (a city,
for example), an integrated network of base stations must be deployed to provide
sufficient radio coverage to all mobile users.
 The base stations, in turn, must be connected to a central hub called the mobile
switching center (MSC).
 The MSC provides connectivity between the public switched telephone network
(PSTN) and the numerous base stations, and ultimately between all of the wireless
subscribers in a system.
 The PSTN forms the global telecommunications grid which connects conventional
(landline) telephone switching centers (called central offices) with MSCs
throughout the world.
 Fibre optic transport architectures are used to connect radio ports, base stations,
and MSCs.

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 To connect mobile subscribers to the base stations, radio links are established using
a carefully defined communication protocol called common air interface (CAI).
 The CAI specifies exactly how mobile subscribers and base stations communicate
over radio frequencies and also defines the control channel signalling methods.
 The CAI must provide a great deal of channel reliability to ensure that data is
properly sent and received between the mobile and the base station, and as such
specifies speech and channel coding.
 At the base station, the air interface portion (i.e., signalling and synchronization
data) of the mobile transmission is discarded, and the remaining voice traffic is
passed along to the MSC on fixed networks.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WIRELESS AND FIXED TELEPHONE NETWORKS

 Transfer of information in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) takes
place over landline trunked lines (called trunks) comprised of fiber optic cables,
copper cables, microwave links, and satellite links.
 The network configurations in the PSTN are virtually static, since the network
connections may only be changed when a subscriber changes residence and
requires reprogramming at the local central office (CO) of the subscriber.
 Wireless networks, on the other hand, are highly dynamic, with the network
configuration being rearranged every time a subscriber moves into the coverage
region of a different base station or a new market.
 While fixed networks are difficult to change, wireless networks must reconfigure
themselves for users within small intervals of time (on the order of seconds) to
provide roaming and imperceptible handoffs between calls as a mobile moves
about.
 The available channel bandwidth for fixed networks can be increased by installing
high capacity cables (fiberoptic or coaxial cable), whereas wireless networks are
constrained by the small RF cellular bandwidth provided for each user.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

 The PSTN is a highly integrated communications network that connects over 70%
of the world's inhabitants. Every telephone in the world is given calling access over
the PSTN.
 Each country is responsible for the regulation of the PSTN within its borders.
 In the PSTN, each city or a geographic grouping of towns is called a local access and
transport area (LATA).
 Surrounding LATAs are connected by a company called a local exchange carrier
(LEC).
 A LEC is a company that provides intralata telephone service, and may be a local
telephone company, or may be a telephone company that is regional in scope.

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 A long distance telephone company collects toll fees to provide connections

between different LATAs over its long distance network.
 These companies are referred to as interexchange carriers (IXC), and own and
operate large fiber optic and microwave radio networks which are connected to
LECs throughout a country or continent.

 Figure 9.3 is a simplified illustration of a local telephone network, called a local

exchange.
 Each local exchange consists of a central office (CO) which provides PSTN
connection to the customer premises equipment (CPE) which may be an individual
phone at a residence or a private branch exchange (PBX) at a place of business.
 The CO may handle as many as a million telephone connections. The CO is
connected to a tandem switch which in turn connects the local exchange to the
PSTN.
 The tandem switch physically connects the local telephone network to the point of
presence (POP) of trunked long distance lines provided by one or more IXC s.
Sometimes IXC s connect directly to the CO switch to avoid local transport charges
levied by the LEC.
 Figure 9.3 also shows how a PBX may be used to provide telephone connections
throughout a building or campus.
 A PBX allows an organization or entity to provide internal calling and other in-
building services, as well as private networking between other organizational sites,
in addition to conventional local and long distance services which pass through the
CO.
 Telephone connections within a PBX are maintained by the private owner, whereas
connection of the PBX to the CO is provided and maintained by the LEC.

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Limitations in Wireless Networking

 A wireless communications system is extremely complex when compared with
local, fixed telephone network,.
 The the wireless network requires an air interface between base stations and
subscribers to provide telephone grade communications under a wide range of
propagation conditions and for any possible user location.
 To assure adequate area coverage, the deployment of many (sometimes hundreds)
of base stations throughout a market is necessary, and each of these base stations
must be connected to the MSC.
 The MSC must eventually provide connection for each of the mobile users to the
PSTN. This requires simultaneous connections to the LEC, one or more IXCs, and to
other MSCs via a separate cellular signaling network.
 Extremely hostile and random nature of the radio channel: since users may request
service from any physical location while travelling over a wide range of velocities,
the MSC is forced to switch calls gradually between base stations throughout the
system.
 The radio spectrum available for this purpose is limited, thus wireless systems are
constrained to operate in a fixed bandwidth to support an increasing number of
users over time.
 As wireless systems grow, the necessary addition of base stations increases the
switching burden of the MSC.

Merging Wireless Networks and the PSTN

 Throughout the world, first generation wireless systems (analog cellular and
cordless telephones) were deployed in the early and mid 1980's. As first generation
wireless systems were being introduced, revolutionary advances were being made
in the design of the PSTN by landline telephone companies.
 Until the mid 1980s, most analog landline telephone links throughout the world
sent signaling information along the same trunked lines as voice traffic. That is, a
single physical connection was used to handle both signaling traffic (dialed digits
and telephone ringing commands) and voice traffic for each user.
 The overhead required in the PSTN to handle signaling data on the same trunks as
voice traffic was inefficient, since this required a voice trunk to be dedicated during
periods of time when no voice traffic was actually being carried.
 The advantage of a separate but parallel signaling channel allows the voice trunks
to be used strictly for revenue-generating voice traffic, and supports many more
users on each trunked line.
 Thus, during the mid 1980s, the PSTN was transformed into two parallel networks
o one dedicated to user traffic, and
o one dedicated to call signaling traffic.
This technique is called common channel signaling.
 Common channel signaling is used in all modern telephone networks. Most recently,
dedicated signaling channels have been used by cellular MSCs to provide global

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signaling interconnection, thereby enabling MSCs throughout the world to pass

subscriber information.
 In first generation cellular systems, common signalling channels were not used, and
signaling data was sent on the same trunked channel as the voice user.
 In second generation wireless systems, however, the air interfaces have been
designed to provide parallel user and signaling channels for each mobile, so that
each mobile receives the same features and services as fixed wireline telephones in
the PSTN.

DEVELOPMENT OF WIRELESS NETWORKS

First Generation Wireless Networks
 First generation cellular and cordless telephone networks are based on analog
technology.
 All first generation cellular systems use FM modulation, and cordless telephones
use a single base station to communicate with a single portable terminal.
 All first generation systems use the transport architecture shown in Figure 9.4.

 In first generation cellular networks, the system control for each market resides in
the MSC
 MSC’s :
o maintains all mobile related information and controls each mobile
handoff.
o performs all of the network management functions, such as call handling
and processing, billing, and fraud detection within the market.
o is interconnected with the PSTN via landline trunked lines (trunks) and a
tandem switch.
o also are connected with other MSCs via dedicated signalling channels for
exchange of location, validation, and call signalling information.
 In modern cellular telephone systems, long distance voice traffic is carried on the
PSTN, but the signalling information used to provide call set-up and to inform MSCs
about a particular user is carried on the SS7 network.
 First generation wireless systems provide analog speech and inefficient, low-rate,
data transmission between the base station and the mobile user. However, the
speech signals are usually digitized using a standard, time division multiplex format

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for transmission between the base station and the MSC and are always digitized for
distribution from the MSC to the PSTN.
 The global cellular network is required to keep track of all mobile users that are
registered in all markets throughout the network, so that it is possible to forward
incoming calls to roaming users at any location throughout the world. When a
mobile user's phone is activated but is not involved in a call, it monitors the
strongest control channel in the vicinity. When the user roams into a new market
covered by a different service provider, the wireless network must register the user
in the new area and cancel its registration with the previous service provider so
that calls may be routed to the roamer as it moves through the coverage areas of
different MSCs.
Second Generation Wireless Networks
 Second generation wireless systems employ digital modulation and advanced call
processing capabilities. Examples of second generation wireless systems include the
Global System for Mobile (GSM), the TDMA and CDMA U.S. digital standards (the
Telecommunications Industry Association IS-54 and 15-95 standards), Second
Generation Cordless Telephone (CT2), the British standard for cordless telephony,
the Personal Access Communications System (PACS) local loop standard, and Digital
European Cordless Telephone (DECT), which is the European standard for cordless
and office telephony.
 Second generation wireless networks have introduced new network architectures
that have reduced the computational burden of the MSC. GSM has introduced the
concept of a base station controller (BSC) which is inserted between several base
stations and the MSC. In PACS(WACS, the BSC is called a radio port control unit.
 This architectural change has allowed the data interface between the base station
controller and the MSC to be standardized, thereby allowing carriers to use
different manufacturers for MSC and BSC components.
 All second generation systems use digital voice coding and digital modulation.
 The systems employ dedicated control channels within the air interface for
simultaneously exchanging voice and control information between the subscriber,
the base station, and the MSC while a call is in progress.
 Second generation systems also provide dedicated voice and signaling trunks
between MSCs, and between each MSC and the PSTN.
 In contrast to first generation systems, which were designed primarily for voice,
second generation wireless networks have been specifically designed to provide
paging, and other data services such as facsimile and high-data rate network access.
 The network controlling structure is more distributed in second generation
wireless systems, since mobile stations assume greater control functions.
 In second generation wireless networks, the handoff process are mobile-con trolled
and is known as mobile assisted handoff (MAHO).
 The mobile units in these networks perform several other functions not performed
by first generation subscriber units, such as received power reporting, adjacent
base station scanning, data encoding, and encryption.

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Third Generation Wireless Networks

 The aim of third generation wireless networks is to provide a single set of standards
that can meet a wide range of wireless applications and provide universal access
throughout the world.
 In third generation wireless systems, the distinctions between cordless telephones
and cellular telephones will disappear, and a universal personal communicator (a
personal handset) will provide access to a variety of voice, data, and video
communication services.
 Third generation systems will use the Broadband Integrated Services Digital
Network (B-ISDN) to provide access to information networks, such as the Internet
and other public and private databases.
 Third generation networks will carry many types of information (voice, data, and
video), will operate in varied regions (dense or sparsely populated regions), and
will serve both stationary users and vehicular users traveling at high speeds.
 Packet radio communications will likely be used to distribute network control while
providing a reliable information transfer.

FIXED NETWORK TRANSMISSION HIERARCHY

 Wireless networks rely heavily on landline connections.
 For example,
o the MSC connects to the PSTN and SS7 networks using fiberoptic or
copper cable or microwave links.
o Base stations within a cellular system are connected to the MSC using
line-of-sight (LOS) microwave links, or copper or fiber optic cables.
 These connections require high data rate serial transmission schemes in order to
reduce the number of physical circuits between two points of connection.
 Several standard digital signaling (DS) formats form a transmission hierarchy that
allows high data rate digital networks which carry a large number of voice channels
to be interconnected throughout the world.
 These DS formats use time division multiplexing (TDM).
o The most basic DS format in the U.S. is called DS-O, which represents one
duplex voice channel which is digitized into a 64 kbps binary PCM format.
o The next DS format is DS-1, which represents twenty four full duplex DS-0
voice channels that are time division multiplexed into a 1.544 Mbps data
stream (8 kbps is used for control purposes).
 Related to digital transmission hierarchy is the T(N) designation, which is used to
denote transmission line compatibility for a particular DS format.
 DS-1 signaling is used for a T1 trunk, which is a popular point-to-point network
signalling format used to connect base stations to the MSC.
 T1 trunks digitize and distribute the twenty four voice channels onto a simple four-
wire full duplex circuit.
 Level 0 represents a duplex 64 kbps voice channel, whereas level 1 concentrates
thirty channels into a 2.048 Mbps TDM data stream.

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 Typically, coaxial or fibre optic cable or wideband microwave links are used to
transmit data rates in excess of 10 Mbps, whereas inexpensive wire (twisted pair)
or coaxial cable may be used for slower data transfer.
 When connecting base stations to a MSC, or distributing trunked voice channels
throughout a wireless network, T1 (DS1) or level 1 links are most commonly used
and utilize common-twisted pair wiring. DS-3 and higher rate circuits are used to
connect MSCs and COs to the PSTN.

TRAFFIC ROUTING IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

 The amount of traffic capacity required in a wireless network is highly dependent
upon the type of traffic carried.
 For example, a subscriber's telephone call requires dedicated network access to
provide real-time communications, whereas control and signaling traffic may be
bursty in nature and may be able to share network resources with other bursty
users. Alternatively, some traffic may have an urgent delivery schedule while some
may have no need to be sent in real-time.
 The type of traffic carried by a network determines the routing services, protocols,
and call handling techniques which must be employed.
 Two general routing services are provided by networks.
o connection-oriented services (virtual circuit routing), and
o connectionless services (datagram services).
 In connection-oriented routing,
o the communications path between the message source and destination is
fixed for the entire duration of the message, and a call set-up procedure is
required to dedicate network resources to both the called and calling
parties.
o Since the path through the network is fixed, the traffic in connection-
oriented routing arrives at the receiver in the exact order it was
transmitted.
o A connection-oriented service relies heavily on error control coding to
provide data protection in case the network connection becomes noisy.
o If coding is not sufficient to protect the traffic, the call is broken, and the
entire message must be retransmitted from the beginning.
 Connectionless routing:
o does not establish a firm connection for the traffic, and instead relies on
packet-based transmissions.
o Several packets form a message, and each individual packet in a
connectionless service is routed separately.
o Successive packets within the same message might travel completely
different routes and encounter widely varying delays throughout the
network.
o Packets sent using connectionless routing do not necessarily arrive in the
order of transmission and must to be reordered at the receiver.

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Advanced Communication Systems Module 6

o Because packets take different routes in a connectionless service, some

packets may be lost due to network or link failure, however others may
get through with sufficient redundancy to enable the entire, message to
be recreated at the receiver.
o Thus, connectionless routing often avoids having to retransmit an entire
message, but requires more overhead information for each packet.
o Packet overhead information includes the packet source address, the
destination address, the routing information, and information needed to
properly order packets at the receiver.
o In a connectionless service, a call set-up procedure is not required at the
beginning of a call, and each message burst is treated independently by
the network.

Circuit Switching
 First generation cellular systems provide connection-oriented services for each
voice user.
 Voice channels are dedicated for users at a serving base station, and network
resources are dedicated to the voice traffic upon initiation of a call.
 That is, the MSC dedicates a voice channel connection between the base station and
the PSTN for the duration of a cellular telephone call.
 A call initiation sequence is required to connect the called and calling parties on a
cellular system.
 When used in conjunction with radio channels, connection-oriented services are
provided by a technique called circuit switching, since a physical radio channel is
dedicated ("switched in to use") for two-way traffic between the mobile user and
the MSC, and the PSTN dedicates a voice circuit between the MSC and the end-user.
 As calls are initiated and completed, different radio circuits and dedicated PSTN
voice circuits are switched in and out to handle the traffic.
 Circuit switching establishes a dedicated connection (a radio channel between the
base and mobile, and a dedicated phone line between the MSC and the PSTN) for the
entire duration of a call.
 Despite the fact that a mobile user may hand off to different base stations, there is
always a dedicated radio channel to provide service to the user, and the MSC
dedicates a fixed, frill duplex phone connection to the PSTN.
 Wireless data networks are not well supported by circuit switching, due to their
short, bursty transmissions which are often followed by periods of inactivity. Often,
the time required to establish a circuit exceeds the duration of the data
transmission.
 Circuit switching is best suited for dedicated voice-only traffic, or for instances
where data is continuously sent over long periods of time.

Packet Switching
 Connectionless services exploit the fact that dedicated resources are not required
for message transmission.

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 Packet switching (also called virtual switching) is the most common technique used
to implement connectionless services and allows a large number of data users to
remain virtually connected to the same physical channel in the network.
 Since all users may access the network randomly and at will, call set-up procedures
are not needed to dedicate specific circuits when a particular user needs to send
data.
 Packet switching breaks each message into smaller units for transmission and
recovery.
 When a message is broken into packets, a certain amount of control information is
added to each packet to provide source and destination identification, as well as
error recovery provisions.

 Figure 9.7 illustrates the sequential format of a packet transmission.

o The packet consists of header information, the user data, and a trailer.
o The header specifies the beginning of a new packet and contains the
source address, destination address, packet sequence number, and other
muting and billing information.
o The user data contains information which is generally protected with
error control coding. The trailer contains a cyclic redundancy checksum
which is used for error detection at the receiver.

 Figure 9.8 shows the structure of a transmitted packet

 Transmitted packet consists of five fields:

o The flag bits: are specific bit sequences that indicate the beginning and
end of each packet.
o The address field: contains the source and the destination address for
transmitting messages and for receiving acknowledgments.
o The control field: defines functions such as transfer of
acknowledgments, automatic repeat requests (ARQ), and packet
sequencing.

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o The information field : contains the user data and may have variable
length.
o The frame check sequence field: or the CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)
that is used for error detection.
 In contrast to circuit switching, packet switching provides excellent channel
efficiency for bursty data transmissions of short length.
 An advantage of packet-switched data is that the channel is utilized only when
sending or receiving bursts of information. This benefit is valuable for the case of
mobile services where the available bandwidth is limited.

The X.25 Protocol

 X.25 protocols
o was developed by CCITT to provide standard connectionless network
access (packet switching) protocols for the three lowest layers (layers 1,
2, and 3) of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model.
o provide a standard network interface between originating and
terminating subscriber equipment (called data terminal equipment or
DTE), the base stations (called data circuit –terminating equipment or
DCE), and the MSC (called the data switching exchange or DSE).
o used in many packet radio air-interfaces, as well as in fixed networks.

 Figure 9.9 shows the hierarchy of X25 protocols in the OSI model.
o The Layer 1 protocol deals with the electrical, mechanical, procedural,
and functional interface between the subscriber (DTE). and the base
station (DCE).
o The Layer 2 protocol defines the data link on the common air-interface
between the subscriber and the base station.
o Layer 3 provides connection between the base station and the MSC, and is
called the packet layer protocol. A packet assembler disassembler (PAD)
is used at Layer 3 to connect networks using the X.25 interface with
devices that are not equipped with a standard X25 interface.

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 The X.25 protocol does not specify particular data rates or how packet switched
networks are implemented.
 X.25 provides a series of standard functions and formats which give structure to the
design of software that is used to provide packet data on a generic connectionless
network.

WIRELESS DATA SERVICES

 Circuit switching is inefficient for dedicated mobile data services such as facsimile
(fax), electronic mail (e-mail), and short messaging.
 First generation cellular systems that provide data communications using circuit
switching have difficulty passing modem signals through the audio filters of
receivers designed for analog, FM, common air-interfaces. Inevitably, voice filtering
must be deactivated when data is transmitted over first generation cellular
networks, and a dedicated data link must be established over the common air-
interface.
 The demand for packet data services has, until recently, been significantly less than
the demand for voice services, and first generation subscriber equipment design
has focused almost solely on voice-only cellular communications.
 However, in 1993, the U.S. cellular industry developed the cellular digital packet
data (CDPD) standard to coexist with the conventional voice only cellular system.
 In the 1980s, two other data-only mobile services called ABDIS and RMD were
developed to provide packet radio connectivity throughout a network.

Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD)

 CDPD is a data service for first and second generation U.S. cellular systems.
 CDPD provides mobile packet data connectivity to existing data networks and other
cellular systems without any additional bandwidth requirements.
 CDPD directly overlays with existing cellular infrastructure and uses existing base
station equipment, making it simple and inexpensive to install.
 CDPD does not use the MSC, but rather has its own traffic routing capabilities.
 CDPD occupies voice channels purely on a secondary; non interfering basis, and
packet channels are dynamically assigned (hopped) to different cellular voice
channels as they become vacant, so the CDPD radio channel varies with time.
 each CDPD channel is duplex in nature. The forward channel serves as a beacon and
transmits data from the PSTN side of the network, while the reverse channel links
all mobile users to the CDPD network and serves as the access channel for each
subscriber. Collisions may result when many mobile users attempt to access the
network simultaneously.
 CDPD supports broadcast, dispatch, electronic mail, and field monitoring appli
cations.
 CDPD transmissions are carried out using fixed-length blocks.
 Two lower layer protocols are used in CDPD.
 The mobile data link protocol (MDLP):

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o is used to convey information between data link layer entities (layer 2

devices) across the CDPD air interface.
o provides logical data link connections on a radio channel by using an
address contained in each packet frame.
o also provides sequence control to maintain the sequential order of frames
across a data link connection, as well as error detection and flow control.
 The radio resource management protocol (RRMP) :
o is a higher, layer 3 protocol used to manage the radio channel resources
of the CIJPD system and enables an M-ES to find and utilize a duplex radio
channel without interfering with standard voice services
o handles base-station identification and configuration messages for all M-
ES stations, and provides information that the M-ES can use to determine
usable CDPD channels without knowledge of the history of channel usage.
o also handles channel hopping commands, cell handoffs, and M-ES change
of power commands.
 Table 9.2 lists the link layer characteristics for CDPD.

 Figure 9.10 illustrates a typical CDPD network.

 Note that the subscribers (the mobile end system, or M-ES) are able to connect
through the mobile data base stations (MDBS) to the Internet via intermediate
systems (MD-IS), which act as servers and routers for the subscribers. In this way,
mobile users are able to connect to the Internet r the PSTN.

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 Through the I-interface, CDPD can carry either Internet protocol (IP) or OSI
connectionless protocol (CLNP) traffic.

Advanced Radio Data Information Systems (ARDIS)

 It is a private network service provided by Motorola and IBM
 It is based on MDC 4800 and RD-LAP (Radio Data Link Access Procedure) protocols.
 ARDIS provides 800 MHz two-way mobile data communications for short-length
radio messages in urban and in-building environments, and for users travelling at
low speeds.
 Short ARDIS messages have low retry rates but high packet overhead, while long
messages spread the overhead over the length of the packet but have a higher retry
rate.
 ARDIS has been deployed to provide excellent in-building penetration, and large-
scale spatial antenna diversity is used to receive messages from mobile users.
 When a mobile sends a packet, many base stations which are tuned to the
transmission frequency attempt to detect and decode the transmission, in order to
provide diversity reception for the case when multiple mobiles contend for the
reverse link.
 In this manner, ARDIS base stations are able to insure detection of simultaneous
transmissions, as long as the users are sufficiently separated in space. Table 9.3 lists
some characteristics for ARDIS.

RAM Mobile Data (RMD)

 It is a public, two-way data service based upon the Mobitex protocol developed by
Ericsson.
 RAM provides street level coverage for short and long messages for users moving in
an urban environment.
 RAM has capability for voice and data transmission, but has been designed primarily
for data and facsimile, Fax messages are transmitted as normal text to a gateway
processor, which then converts the radio message to an appropriate format by
merging it with a background page.
 Thus, the packet-switched wireless transmission of a normal length message instead
of a much larger fax image, even though the end-user receives what appears to be a
standard fax.

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 Table 9.4 lists some characteristics of the RAM mobile data service.

WIRELESS STANDARDS

GSM SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE

 The GSM architecture consists of three major interconnected subsystems that

interact with themselves and with users through certain network interface.
 The subsystems are Base Station Subsystem (BSS), Network Switching Subsystem
(NSS) and Operational Support Subsystem (OSS). Mobile Station (MS) is also a
subsystem but it is considered as a part of BSS.

1. Mobile Station (MS): Mobile Station is made up of two entities.

A. Mobile equipment (ME):
 It is a portable, vehicle mounted, hand held device.
 It is uniquely identified by an IMEI number.
 It is used for voice and data transmission.
 It also monitors power and signal quality of surrounding cells for
optimum handover.
 160 characters long SMS can also be sent using Mobile Equipment.

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B. Subscriber Identity module (SIM):

 It is a smart card that contains the International Mobile Subscriber
Identity (IMSI) number.
 It allows users to send and receive calls and receive other subscriber
services.
 It is protected by password or PIN.
 It contains encoded network identification details. it has key information
to activate the phone.
 It can be moved from one mobile to another.

2. Base Station Subsystem (BSS):

o It is also known as radio subsystem
o provides and manages radio transmission paths between the mobile station
and the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC).
o also manages interface between the mobile station and all other subsystems of
GSM.
o It consists of two parts.

A. Base Transceiver Station (BTS):

 It encodes, encrypts, multiplexes, modulates and feeds the RF signal to the
antenna.
 It consists of transceiver units.
 It communicates with mobile stations via radio air interface and also
communicates with BSC via Abis interface.

B. Base Station Controller (BSC):

 It manages radio resources for BTS. It assigns frequency and time slots for
all mobile stations in its area.
 It handles call set up, transcoding and adaptation functionality handover
for each MS radio power control.
 It communicates with MSC via A interface and also with BTS.

3. Network Switching Subsystem (NSS):

o it manages the switching functions of the system and allows MSCs to
communicate with other networks such as PSTN and ISDN.
o It consist of
A. Mobile switching Centre:
 It is a heart of the network. It manages communication between GSM
and other networks.
 It manages call set up function, routing and basic switching.
 It performs mobility management including registration, location
updating and inter BSS and inter MSC call handoff.
 It provides billing information.

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 MSC does gateway function while its customers roam to other

network by using HLR/VLR.
B. Home Location Registers (HLR):
 It is a permanent database about mobile subscriber in a large service
area.
 Its database contains IMSI, IMSISDN, prepaid/post-paid, roaming
restrictions, supplementary services.
C. Visitor Location Registers (VLR):
 It is a temporary database which updates whenever new MS enters its
area by HLR database.
 It controls mobiles roaming in its area. It reduces number of queries to
HLR.
 Its database contains IMSI, TMSI, IMSISDN, MSRN, location, area
authentication key.

D. Authentication Centre:
 It provides protection against intruders in air interface.
 It maintains authentication keys and algorithms and provides security
triplets (RAND, SRES, Ki).
E. Equipment Identity Registry (EIR):
 It is a database that is used to track handset using the IMEI number.
 It is made up of three sub classes- the white list, the black list and the
gray list.

4. Operational Support Subsystem (OSS):

o It supports the operation and maintenance of GSM and allows system
engineers to monitor, diagnose and troubleshoot all aspects of GSM system.

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o It supports one or more Operation Maintenance Centres (OMC) which are

used to monitor the performance of each MS, Bs, BSC and MSC within a GSM
system.
o It has three main functions:
 To maintain all telecommunication hardware and network
operations with a particular market.
 To manage all charging and billing procedures
 To manage all mobile equipment in the system.

RADIO LINK ASPECTS

 The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which manages the

international allocation of radio spectrum (among many other functions), allocated
the bands 890-915 MHz for the uplink (mobile station to base station) and 935-960
MHz for the downlink (base station to mobile station) for mobile networks in
Europe.
 Since this range was already being used in the early 1980s by the analog systems of
the day, the CEPT had the foresight to reserve the top 10 MHz of each band for the
GSM network that was still being developed. Eventually, GSM will be allocated the
entire 2x25 MHz bandwidth.
 Since radio spectrum is a limited resource shared by all users, a method must be
devised to divide up the bandwidth among as many users as possible.
 The method chosen by GSM is a combination of Time- and Frequency-Division
Multiple Access (TDMA/FDMA).
 The FDMA part involves the division by frequency of the (maximum) 25 MHz
bandwidth into 124 carrier frequencies spaced 200 kHz apart.
 One or more carrier frequencies are assigned to each base station. Each of these
carrier frequencies is then divided in time, using a TDMA scheme.
 The fundamental unit of time in this TDMA scheme is called a burst period and it
lasts 15/26 ms (or approx. 0.577 ms). Eight burst periods are grouped into a TDMA
frame (120/26 ms, or approx. 4.615 ms), which forms the basic unit for the
definition of logical channels. One physical channel is one burst period per TDMA
frame.
 Channels are defined by the number and position of their corresponding burst
periods.

Channel Structure

 Each user transmits a burst of data during the time slot assigned to it.
 These data bursts may have one of the formats given in figure below.

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The structure of most common time slot burst is shown in the figure below.

 A total of 156.25 bits is transmitted in 0.577 milliseconds, giving a total bit rate of
270.833kbps.
 There are three other types of bursts structure for frame and carrier
synchronization and frequency correction.

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 The 26 bit training sequence is used for equalization.

 The 8.25 bit guard time allows for some propagation time delay in the arrival of
bursts.
 Each group of eight time slots is called a TDMA frame, which is transmitted every
4.615 ms.
 These TDMA frames are further grouped into mutltiframes to carry control signals.
There are two types of multiframes-containing 26 or 51 TDMA frames.
 26 frame multiframes contains 24 Traffic Channels (TCH) and 2 Slow Associated
Control Channels (SACCH) which supervise each call in progress.
 SACCH in frame 12 contains 8 channels, one for each of the eight connections
carried by the TCHs.
 SACCH in frame 25 is not currently used, but will carry 8 additional SACCH channels
when half rate traffic is implemented.
 A Fast Associated Control Channels (FACCH) works by stealing slots from a traffic
channel to transmit power control and handover signalling messages.the channel
stealing is done by setting one of the control bits in the time slot burst.
 In addition to the associated control channels, there are several other control
channels as given below:
o Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH): Continually broadcasts, on the
downlink, information including base station identity, frequency
allocations, and frequency-hopping sequences.
o Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH) and Synchronisation Channel
(SCH) : Used to synchronise the mobile to the time slot structure of a cell
by defining the boundaries of burst periods, and the time slot numbering.
Every cell in a GSM network broadcasts exactly one FCCH and one SCH,
which are by definition on time slot number 0 (within a TDMA frame)
o Random Access Channel (RACH) : Slotted Aloha channel used by the
mobile to request access to the network.
o Paging Channel (PCH) :Used to alert the mobile station of an incoming
call.
o Access Grant Channel (AGCH) : Used to allocate an SDCCH to a mobile
for signalling (in order to obtain a dedicated channel), following a request
on the RACH.

Speech coding

 GSM is a digital system, so speech signals, which is inherently analog, has to be

digitized.
 The method employed by ISDN, and by current telephone systems for multiplexing
voice lines over high speed trunks and optical fiber lines, is Pulse Coded Modulation
(PCM).
 The output stream from PCM is 64 kbps, too high a rate to be feasible over a radio
link.
 The 64 kbps signal, although simple to implement, contains much redundancy.

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 The GSM group studied several speech coding algorithms on the basis of subjective
speech quality and complexity before arriving at the choice of a Regular Pulse
Excited -- Linear Predictive Coder (RPE--LPC) with a Long Term Predictor loop.
 Basically, information from previous samples, which does not change very quickly,
is used to predict the current sample.
 The coefficients of the linear combination of the previous samples, plus an encoded
form of the residual, the difference between the predicted and actual sample,
represent the signal.
 Speech is divided into 20 millisecond samples, each of which is encoded as 260 bits,
giving a total bit rate of 13 kbps. This is the so-called Full-Rate speech coding.
 This provides improved speech quality using the existing 13 kbps bit rate.

Channel coding and modulation

 Because of natural and man-made electromagnetic interference, the encoded
speech or data signal transmitted over the radio interface must be protected from
errors.
 GSM uses convolutional encoding and block interleaving to achieve this protection.
 The exact algorithms used differ for speech and for different data rates. The method
used for speech blocks will be described below.
 The speech codec produces a 260 bit block for every 20 ms speech sample.
 From subjective testing, it was found that some bits of this block were more
important for perceived speech quality than others.
 The bits are thus divided into three classes:
 Class Ia 50 bits - most sensitive to bit errors
 Class Ib 132 bits - moderately sensitive to bit errors

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 Class II 78 bits - least sensitive to bit errors

 Class Ia bits have a 3 bit Cyclic Redundancy Code added for error detection. If an
error is detected, the frame is judged too damaged to be comprehensible and it is
discarded. It is replaced by a slightly attenuated version of the previous correctly
received frame.
 These 53 bits, together with the 132 Class Ib bits and a 4 bit tail sequence (a total of
189 bits), are input into a 1/2 rate convolutional encoder of constraint length 4.
 Each input bit is encoded as two output bits, based on a combination of the previous
4 input bits.
 The convolutional encoder thus outputs 378 bits, to which are added the 78
remaining Class II bits, which are unprotected. Thus every 20 ms speech sample is
encoded as 456 bits, giving a bit rate of 22.8 kbps.
 To further protect against the burst errors common to the radio interface, each
sample is interleaved.
 The 456 bits output by the convolutional encoder are divided into 8 blocks of 57
bits, and these blocks are transmitted in eight consecutive time-slot bursts.
 Since each time-slot burst can carry two 57 bit blocks, each burst carries traffic
from two different speech samples.
 each time-slot burst is transmitted at a gross bit rate of 270.833 kbps. This digital
signal is modulated onto the analog carrier frequency using Gaussian-filtered
Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK).
 GMSK was selected over other modulation schemes as a compromise between
spectral efficiency, complexity of the transmitter, and limited spurious emissions.
 The complexity of the transmitter is related to power consumption, which should
be minimized for the mobile station.
 The spurious radio emissions, outside of the allotted bandwidth, must be strictly
controlled so as to limit adjacent channel interference, and allow for the co-
existence of GSM and the older analog systems (at least for the time being).
Multipath equalization
 At the 900 MHz range, radio waves bounce off everything - buildings, hills, cars,
airplanes, etc. Thus many reflected signals, each with a different phase, can reach an
antenna.
 Equalization is used to extract the desired signal from the unwanted reflections. It
works by finding out how a known transmitted signal is modified by multipath
fading, and constructing an inverse filter to extract the rest of the desired signal.
This known signal is the 26-bit training sequence transmitted in the middle of every
time-slot burst.
Discontinuous transmission
 Minimizing co-channel interference is a goal in any cellular system, since it allows
better service for a given cell size, or the use of smaller cells, thus increasing the
overall capacity of the system.
 Discontinuous transmission (DTX) is a method that takes advantage of the fact that
a person speaks less that 40 percent of the time in normal conversation, by turning
the transmitter off during silence periods.

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 An added benefit of DTX is that power is conserved at the mobile unit.

 The most important component of DTX is, of course, Voice Activity Detection. It
must distinguish between voice and noise inputs, a task that is not as trivial as it
appears, considering background noise.
 If a voice signal is misinterpreted as noise, the transmitter is turned off and a very
annoying effect called clipping is heard at the receiving end. If, on the other hand,
noise is misinterpreted as a voice signal too often, the efficiency of DTX is
dramatically decreased.
 Another factor to consider is that when the transmitter is turned off, there is total
silence heard at the receiving end, due to the digital nature of GSM.
 To assure the receiver that the connection is not dead, comfort noise is created at
the receiving end by trying to match the characteristics of the transmitting end's
background noise.
NETWORK ASPECTS

 Ensuring the transmission of voice or data of a given quality over the radio link is
only part of the function of a cellular mobile network.
 A GSM mobile can seamlessly roam nationally and internationally, which requires
that registration, authentication, call routing and location updating functions exist
and are standardized in GSM networks.
 In addition, the fact that the geographical area covered by the network is divided
into cells necessitates the implementation of a handover mechanism.
 These functions are performed by the Network Subsystem, mainly using the Mobile
Application Part (MAP) built on top of the Signalling System No. 7 protocol.

Figure 3. Signalling protocol structure in GSM

 The signalling protocol in GSM is structured into three general layers depending on
the interface, as shown in Figure 3.
 Layer 1 is the physical layer, which uses the channel structures discussed above
over the air interface.
 Layer 2 is the data link layer. Across the Um interface, the data link layer is a
modified version of the LAPD protocol used in ISDN, called LAPDm. Across the A
interface, the Message Transfer Part layer 2 of Signalling System Number 7 is used.
 Layer 3 of the GSM signalling protocol is itself divided into 3 sublayers.

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o Radio Resources Management : Controls the setup, maintenance, and

termination of radio and fixed channels, including handovers.
o Mobility Management : Manages the location updating and registration
procedures, as well as security and authentication.
o Connection Management : Handles general call control, and manages
Supplementary Services and the Short Message Service.
 Signalling between the different entities in the fixed part of the network, such as
between the HLR and VLR, is accomplished throught the Mobile Application Part
(MAP).
Handover
 In a cellular network, the radio and fixed links required are not permanently
allocated for the duration of a call. Handover, or handoff, is the switching of an on-
going call to a different channel or cell.
 The execution and measurements required for handover form one of basic
functions of the RR layer.
 There are four different types of handover in the GSM system, which involve
transferring a call between:
o Channels (time slots) in the same cell
o Cells (Base Transceiver Stations) under the control of the same Base Station
Controller (BSC),
o Cells under the control of different BSCs, but belonging to the
same Mobile services Switching Center (MSC), and
o Cells under the control of different MSCs.
 The first two types of handover, called internal handovers, involve only one Base
Station Controller (BSC). To save signalling bandwidth, they are managed by the
BSC without involving the Mobile services Switching Center (MSC), except to notify
it at the completion of the handover.
 The last two types of handover, called external handovers, are handled by the MSCs
involved.
Location updating
 MSC provides the interface between the GSM mobile network and the public fixed
network.
 Form the fixed network’s point of view, the MSC is just another switching node.
 However, switching is a little more complicated in a mobile network since the MSC
has to know where the mobile is currently roaming, and in GSM it could even be
roaming in another country.
 The way GSM accomplishes location updating and call routing to the mobile is by
using tow location registers – the Home Location Register(HLR) And The Vistor
Location Register(VLR).
 Location updating is initiated by the mobile when, by monitoring the broadcast
control channel, it notices that the location area broadcast is not the same as the
one previously stored in mobile’s memory.
 An update request and IMSI or previous TMSI is sent to the new VLR via the new
MSC.

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 A mobile station roaming number (MSRN) is allocated and sent to the mobile’s HLR
by the new VLR.
 The MSRN is a regular telephone number that routes the call to the new VLR and is
subsequently translated to the TMSI of the mobile.
 The HLR sends back the necessary call control parameters, and also send a cancel
message to the old VLR, so that the previous MSRN can be reallocated.
 Finally, a new TMSI is allocated and sent to the mobile, to identify it in future paging
or call initiation requests.
Authentication and security
 Since the radio medium can be accessed by anyone, authentication of users to prove
that they are who they claim to be, is a very important element of a mobile network.
 Authentication involves two functional entities, the SIM card in the mobile, and
the Authentication Center (AC).
 Each subscriber is given a secret key, one copy of which is stored in the SIM card
and the other in the (AC).
 During authentication, the AC generates a random number that it sends to the
mobile.
 Both the mobile and the AC then use the random number, in conjuction with the
subscriber's secret key and a ciphering algorithm, to generate a signed response
(SRES) that is sent back to the (AC).
 If the number sent by the mobile is the same as the one calculated by the (AC), the
subscriber is authenticated.

GENERAL PACKET RADIO SERVICE (GPRS)

 GPRS architecture works on the same procedure like GSM network, but, has
additional entities that allow packet data transmission.
 This data network overlaps a second-generation GSM network providing packet
data transport at the rates from 9.6 to 171 kbps.
 Along with the packet data transport the GSM network accommodates multiple
users to share the same air interface resources concurrently.
Following is the GPRS Architecture diagram:

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 GPRS attempts to reuse the existing GSM network elements as much as possible,
but to effectively build a packet-based mobile cellular network, some new network
elements, interfaces, and protocols for handling packet traffic are required.
 Therefore, GPRS requires modifications to numerous GSM network elements as
summarized below:
GSM Network Element Modification or Upgrade Required for GPRS.
Mobile Station (MS) New Mobile Station is required to access GPRS
services. These new terminals will be backward
compatible with GSM for voice calls.
BTS A software upgrade is required in the existing Base
Transceiver Station(BTS).
BSC The Base Station Controller (BSC) requires a software
upgrade and the installation of new hardware called
the packet control unit (PCU). The PCU directs the data
traffic to the GPRS network and can be a separate
hardware element associated with the BSC.
GPRS Support Nodes (GSNs) The deployment of GPRS requires the installation of
new core network elements called the serving GPRS
support node (SGSN) and gateway GPRS support node
(GGSN).
Databases (HLR, VLR, etc.) All the databases involved in the network will require
software upgrades to handle the new call models and
functions introduced by GPRS.
GPRS Mobile Stations
 New Mobile Stations (MS) are required to use GPRS services because existing GSM
phones do not handle the enhanced air interface or packet data.
 A variety of MS can exist, including a high-speed version of current phones to
support high-speed data access, a new PDA device with an embedded GSM phone,
and PC cards for laptop computers.
 These mobile stations are backward compatible for making voice calls using GSM.
GPRS Base Station Subsystem
 Each BSC requires the installation of one or more Packet Control Units (PCUs) and a
software upgrade.
 The PCU provides a physical and logical data interface to the Base Station
Subsystem (BSS) for packet data traffic.
 The BTS can also require a software upgrade but typically does not require
hardware enhancements.
 When either voice or data traffic is originated at the subscriber mobile, it is
transported over the air interface to the BTS, and from the BTS to the BSC in the
same way as a standard GSM call.
 However, at the output of the BSC, the traffic is separated; voice is sent to the
Mobile Switching Center (MSC) per standard GSM, and data is sent to a new device
called the SGSN via the PCU over a Frame Relay interface.

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GPRS Support Nodes

Following two new components, called Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GSNs) and,
Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) are added:

Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)

 The Gateway GPRS Support Node acts as an interface and a router to external
networks. It contains routing information for GPRS mobiles, which is used to
tunnel packets through the IP based internal backbone to the correct Serving
GPRS Support Node.
 The GGSN also collects charging information connected to the use of the
external data networks and can act as a packet filter for incoming traffic.
Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)
 The Serving GPRS Support Node is responsible for authentication of GPRS
mobiles, registration of mobiles in the network, mobility management, and
collecting information on charging for the use of the air interface.
Internal Backbone
 The internal backbone is an IP based network used to carry packets between
different GSNs.
 Tunnelling is used between SGSNs and GGSNs, so the internal backbone does not
need any information about domains outside the GPRS network.
 Signalling from a GSN to a MSC, HLR or EIR is done using SS7.

DIGITAL ENHANCED CORDLESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS (DECT)

 Digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) is a digital wireless

technology for telephony that is used both for home and business. Unlike analog
cordless phones, which have a very limited range, DECT phones can operate on a
longer range.
 The DECT standard was created by the European Telecommunications Standards
Institute (ETSI) in the late 1980s. The standard was created to offer a more
economical alternative to the existing wireless and cordless solutions through a
secure digital protocol.
 Two components make up a DECT system: a mobile handset and a base station
called a radio fixed part, which is connected to a telephone network.
 The DECT system accesses a fixed network using radio waves.
 It uses time division multiple access (TDMA) and time division duplex technologies,
which typically use 10 radio frequency channels between 1880 to 1930 MHz.
 DECT may also provide more than voice communications as it can be used to
transmit data using DECT packet radio service (DPRS) and multimedia access
profile (MMAP).
 This allows the system to be used as a wireless LAN and for wireless Internet
access.
 DECT's services are compatible with the Global System for Wireless
Communications (GSM) and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).

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 Distance coverage for DECT based system is between about 30-100 meters.
 It operates at about 1.88GHz to 1.9GHz Radio frequency carrier band, providing a
bandwidth of about 20MHz.
 The access technology for resource allocation here is TDD/TDMA/FDMA. For know
more on TDD,TDMA and FDMA refer following links.
 Data transmission rate of about 1.152 Mbps is achieved.

 RF Carrier frequency -1.88 to 1.9GHz

 Access -TDD/TDMA/FDMA
 Channel Spacing-1.728 MHz
 No. of carriers-10
 Modulation techniques supported in DECT- Gaussian, FSK, 4PSK, 8PSK, 16-QAM,
64-QAM
 Bit rate-32 Kbps
 Time slots - 2 x 12 ( upstream, downstream)
 Channel Allocation Method - Dynamic

HIGH SPEED CIRCUIT SWITCHED DATA (HSCSD)

 HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data) is essentially a new high speed

implementation of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) data transfer.
 Four times faster than GSM, with a transfer rate of up to 57.6Kbps
 This speed makes it comparable to many fixed-line telecommunications networks
and will allow users to access the Internet and other data communication services
using GSM network.

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 HSCSD operates across a GSM network, and therefore no extra hardware is required
by a mobile communications operator to offer the service, just a network software
upgrade.
 In a GSM network single slots are allocated to each user, which has a standard data
transfer rate of 9.6Kbps.
 In HSCSD, users are allocated multiple slots so that the transmission speed can be
drastically increased, with some service providers offering rates of up to 57.6Kbps.
 This enables internet access at the same speed of many dial-up modem services
across fixed line networks.
 It relaxes the error control coding algorithms originally specified in GSM standard
for data transmissions.
 HSCSD bundles up to 8 GSM traffic channels into one high speed channel.
 HSCSD is a circuit switching technology, i.e. very suitable for constantly high data
rates , but not for varying data rates.

 A new functionality is introduced at the network and MS to provide the functions of

combining and splitting the data into separate data streams which will then be
transferred via n channels at the radio interface, where n = 1, 2, 3, ... 8.
 Once split, the data streams shall be carried by the n full rate traffic channels, called
HSCSD channels.
 However, logically the n full rate traffic channels at the radio interface belong to the
same HSCSD configuration, and therefore they shall be controlled as one radio link
by the network for the purpose of cellular operations
 The different user data sub streams carried on the radio channels shall be mapped
over the A interface, and vice versa.
 On the A and E interfaces, the use of resources is restricted to one 64 kbps circuit by
multiplexing the data streams into one A interface circuit.

ENHANCED DATA RATE FOR GLOBAL EVOLUTION (EDGE)

 Enhanced data for global evolution (EDGE) is a high-speed mobile data standard,
it is used to enable second-generation global system for mobile communication
(GSM) and time division multiple access (TDMA) networks to transmit data at up
to 384 kilobits per second (Kbps).

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 EDGE provides speed enhancements by changing the type of modulation used

and making a better use of the carrier currently used.
 It enables a greater data-transmission speed by implementing an eight-phase-
shift keying (8 PSK) modulation instead of Gaussian minimum-shift keying
(GMSK).


 EDGE is a technology that gives GSM Networks the capacity to handle services
for 3G.
 EDGE was developed to enable the transmission of large amounts of data at peak
rates of up to 472kbps.
 Users should experience average speeds of 80 kbps to 130 kbps.
 EDGE devices are backwards compatible with GPRS.
 Although EDGE reuses the GSM carrier bandwidth and time slot structure and
air interface for efficiently providing high bit rates,
 EDGE uses the same TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) frame structure,
logic channel and 200 kHz carrier bandwidth as today's GSM networks.

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Features
 It was standardized by 3GPP as a part of GSM family and was deployed in GSM
networks in 2003.
 The other names for EDGE are Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS) and IMT-Single Carrier
(IMT-SC).
 It is compatible with any packet – switched application. It is also backward –
compatible, i.e. compatible with existing or older versions.
 It enables data to be sent over a GSM TDMA systems at speeds of 384Kbps. GSM
uses the modulation technique called Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK).
EDGE achieves increased bit rate by using 8PSK modulation scheme.
 In order to shift from GSM to GSM EDGE, additional network elements are
incorporated to enable IP based data transfer. The two main additional nodes
required are −
 Gateway GPRS Service Node (GGSN)
 Serving GPRS Service Node (SGSN)
 GSM EDGE compatible mobile handsets are required to avail the service.

ULTRA WIDEBAND SYSTEMS (UWB)

 As the name implies UWB, ultra wide band technology, is a form of transmission
that occupies a very wide bandwidth.
 Typically this will be many Gigahertz, and it is this aspect that enables it to carry
data rates of Gigabits per second.
 However the very high bandwidth used also allows the power spectral density to be
very low, and the power limits on UWB are being strictly limited by the regulatory
bodies.
 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) provides an interesting new technology for shortrange
ultra-high speed communications in the frequency band 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz.
 It supports a bit rate greater than 100 Mbps within a 10-meter radius for wireless
personal area communications.

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 The advantages of UWB include low-power transmission, robustness for multi-path

fading and low power dissipation.
 The low power transmission of the UWB is the key characteristic that might allow it
to coexist with other wireless networking standards such as 802.11 LAN, 802.16
MAN and WAN.
 UWB systems could also suffer from interference from other wireless technologies
that exist in the vicinity of operation, but this problem can be mitigated by using
adaptive selection of frequency bands in multi band UWB systems.
 The main types of UWB systems are:
(i) Imaging systems that include ground penetration radars (GPR),wall and through
wall imaging, medical imaging, and surveillance systems;
(ii) Vehicular radar systems; and
(iii) Communications and measurements systems.
 UWB, ultra wideband technology has been approved for indoor and short range
outdoor communication, but with restrictions on the frequencies over which the
transmission can spread as well as the power limits.
 This will enable the UWB ultra wideband transmissions to communicate
successfully, but without affecting existing 'narrowband' transmissions.
 Two UWB, ultra wideband technologies
1. Carrier free direct sequence ultra wideband technology:
This form of ultra-wideband technology transmits a series of impulses. In
view of the very short duration of the pulses, the spectrum of the signal
occupies a very wide bandwidth.
2. MBOFDM, Multi-Band OFDM ultra wideband technology:
This form of ultra wideband technology uses a wide band or multiband
orthogonal frequency division multiplex (MBOFDM) signal that is
effectively a 500 MHz wide OFDM signal.
 This is 500 MHz signal is then hopped in frequency to enable it to occupy a
sufficiently high bandwidth.

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PUSH TO TALK (PTT) TECHNOLOGY

 Push to talk (PTT), is a means of instantaneous communication commonly

employed in wireless cellular phone services that uses a button to switch a device
from voice transmission mode to voice reception mode.
 The operation of phones used in this way is similar to "walkie talkie" use.
 PTT switches a phone from full duplex mode, where both parties can hear each
other simultaneously, to half duplex mode, where only one party can speak at one
time.
 Multiple parties to the conversation may also be included.
 In addition, a PTT system typically allows only one person to speak at a time (via
half-duplex communication).
 While PTT systems and services have evolved to provide more capabilities, the key
benefit of PTT has remained the same: highest efficiency of mobile voice
communication not available from any other communication tools.
 With PTT, the caller can simply select a contact or a group/ channel, press the PTT
button, speak, and then release the PTT button to get his voice message delivered
instantly.
 There is no need to go through the traditional lengthy voice-call process of dialing,
network switching and routing, and waiting for the other party to answer.
 High-performance PTT solutions can deliver sub-second call set-up and latency to
ensure instantaneous communication.
 PTT as an application has been delivered primarily through:
• Land mobile radio (LMR)
• Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (IDEN)
• Broadband PTT (PTT over mobile broadband)
• Mission-Critical PTT (MCPTT)
 Text messaging and e-mail can also be used for group communications.

Why do people still use PTT?

 Talking is much faster than typing.
 The feedback loop of a voice call is much shorter than text-based communication.
 There are many situations where eyes and hands are tied up, making text or email
communication infeasible.

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MOBILE IP

Mobile IP (or MIP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard

communications protocol that is designed to allow mobile device users to move from
one network to another while maintaining a permanent IP address.
It enables the transfer of information to and from mobile computers, such as laptops
and wireless communications. The mobile computer can change its location to a
foreign network and still access and communicate with and through the mobile
computer’s home network.
Mobile IP – A technology which supports mobile data and applications that are dealing
with wireless connectivity. A user may now disconnect his computer in the office and
reconnect from another site within the same office or elsewhere.
Mobile IP or IP-Mobility Management (IP-MM) is an open standard communication
protocol defined by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that allows mobile device
users to move from one network to another without changing their IP address as a
change in the IP address will interrupt ongoing TCP/IP communications. Mobile IP is
an enhancement of the Internet Protocol (IP) which allows a node to change its point of
attachment to the Internet without needing to change its IP address.
Mobile IP is independent of the physical layer technology as the mobility functions are
performed at the network layer – any media that can support IP can support Mobile IP.

COMPONENTS OF A MOBILE IP NETWORK

Mobile IP has the following three components, as shown in Figure 1:

 Mobile Node
 Home Agent
 Foreign Agent

Figure 1 Mobile IP Components and Relationships

 Mobile Node: A device such as a cell phone, personal digital assistant, or laptop
whose software enables network roaming capabilities.

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 The Home Agent: A router on the home network serving as the anchor point for
communication with the mobile node; its tunnel packets from a device on the
Internet, called a correspondent node, to the roaming mobile node.
 The Foreign Agent: A router that may function as the point of attachment for the
mobile node when it roams to a foreign network delivers packets from the home
agent to the mobile node.

HOW MOBILE IP WORKS

The Mobile IP process has three main phases, which are discussed in the following
sections.
 Agent Discovery
A Mobile Node discovers its Foreign and Home Agents during agent discovery.
 Registration
The Mobile Node registers its current location with the Foreign Agent and Home
Agent during registration.
 Tunnelling
A reciprocal tunnel is set up by the Home Agent to the care-of address (current
location of the Mobile Node on the foreign network) to route packets to the Mobile
Node as it roams.
Agent Discovery
 During the agent discovery phase, the Home Agent and Foreign Agent advertise
their services on the network by using the ICMP Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP).
 The Mobile Node listens to these advertisements to determine if it is connected to
its home network or foreign network.
 The IRDP advertisements carry Mobile IP extensions that specify whether an agent
is a Home Agent, Foreign Agent, or both; its care-of address; the types of services it
will provide such as reverse tunneling and generic routing encapsulation (GRE);
and the allowed registration lifetime or roaming period for visiting Mobile Nodes.
Rather than waiting for agent advertisements, a Mobile Node can send out an agent
solicitation. This solicitation forces any agents on the link to immediately send an
agent advertisement.
 If a Mobile Node determines that it is connected to a foreign network, it acquires a
care-of address. Two types of care-of addresses exist:
o Care-of address acquired from a Foreign Agent
o Colocated care-of address
 A Foreign Agent care-of address is an IP address of a Foreign Agent that has an
interface on the foreign network being visited by a Mobile Node.
 A Mobile Node that acquires this type of care-of address can share the address with
other Mobile Nodes.
 A colocated care-of address is an IP address temporarily assigned to the interface of
the Mobile Node itself.
 A colocated care-of address represents the current position of the Mobile Node on
the foreign network and can be used by only one Mobile Node at a time.

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 When the Mobile Node hears a Foreign Agent advertisement and detects that it has
moved outside of its home network, it begins registration.
Registration
 The Mobile Node is configured with the IP address and mobility security association
(which includes the shared key) of its Home Agent.
 In addition, the Mobile Node is configured with either its home IP address, or
another user identifier, such as a Network Access Identifier.
 The Mobile Node uses this information along with the information that it learns
from the Foreign Agent advertisements to form a Mobile IP registration request.
 It adds the registration request to its pending list and sends the registration request
to its Home Agent either through the Foreign Agent or directly if it is using a
colocated care-of address and is not required to register through the Foreign Agent.
 If the registration request is sent through the Foreign Agent, the Foreign Agent
checks the validity of the registration request, which includes checking that the
requested lifetime does not exceed its limitations, the requested tunnel
encapsulation is available, and that reverse tunnel is supported.
 If the registration request is valid, the Foreign Agent adds the visiting Mobile Node
to its pending list before relaying the request to the Home Agent.
 If the registration request is not valid, the Foreign Agent sends a registration reply
with appropriate error code to the Mobile Node.
 The Home Agent checks the validity of the registration request, which includes
authentication of the Mobile Node.
 If the registration request is valid, the Home Agent creates a mobility binding (an
association of the Mobile Node with its care-of address), a tunnel to the care-of
address, and a routing entry for forwarding packets to the home address through
the tunnel.
 The Home Agent then sends a registration reply to the Mobile Node through the
Foreign Agent (if the registration request was received via the Foreign Agent) or
directly to the Mobile Node.
 If the registration request is not valid, the Home Agent rejects the request by
sending a registration reply with an appropriate error code.
 The Foreign Agent checks the validity of the registration reply, including ensuring
that an associated registration request exists in its pending list.
 If the registration reply is valid, the Foreign Agent adds the Mobile Node to its
visitor list, establishes a tunnel to the Home Agent, and creates a routing entry for
forwarding packets to the home address. It then relays the registration reply to the
Mobile Node.
 Finally, the Mobile Node checks the validity of the registration reply, which includes
ensuring an associated request is in its pending list as well as proper authentication
of the Home Agent.
 If the registration reply is not valid, the Mobile Node discards the reply.
 If a valid registration reply specifies that the registration is accepted, the Mobile
Node is confirmed that the mobility agents are aware of its roaming.

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 In the colocated care-of address case, it adds a tunnel to the Home Agent.
Subsequently, it sends all packets to the Foreign Agent.
 The Mobile Node reregisters before its registration lifetime expires.
 The Home Agent and Foreign Agent update their mobility binding and visitor entry,
respectively, during re-registration.
 In the case where the registration is denied, the Mobile Node makes the necessary
adjustments and attempts to register again. For example, if the registration is
denied because of time mismatch and the Home Agent sends back its time stamp for
synchronization, the Mobile Node adjusts the time stamp in future registration
requests.
 Thus, a successful Mobile IP registration sets up the routing mechanism for
transporting packets to and from the Mobile Node as it roams.
Tunneling
 The Mobile Node sends packets using its home IP address, effectively maintaining
the appearance that it is always on its home network. Even while the Mobile Node is
roaming on foreign networks, its movements are transparent to correspondent
nodes.
 Data packets addressed to the Mobile Node are routed to its home network, where
the Home Agent now intercepts and tunnels them to the care-of address toward the
Mobile Node.
 Tunneling has two primary functions:
o encapsulation of the data packet to reach the tunnel endpoint,
o decapsulation when the packet is delivered at that endpoint.
 The default tunnel mode is IP Encapsulation within IP Encapsulation.
 Optionally, GRE and minimal encapsulation within IP may be used.
 Typically, the Mobile Node sends packets to the Foreign Agent, which routes them
to their final destination, the Correspondent Node, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Packet Forwarding

 However, this data path is topologically incorrect because it does not reflect the true
IP network source for the data—rather, it reflects the home network of the Mobile
Node.

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 Because the packets show the home network as their source inside a foreign
network, an access control list on routers in the network called ingress filtering
drops the packets instead of forwarding them.
 A feature called reverse tunneling solves this problem by having the Foreign Agent
tunnel packets back to the Home Agent when it receives them from the Mobile Node.
See Figure 3.

Figure 3 Reverse Tunnel

 Tunnel MTU discovery is a mechanism for a tunnel encapsulator such as the Home
Agent to participate in path MTU discovery to avoid any packet fragmentation in the
routing path between a Correspondent Node and Mobile Node.
 For packets destined to the Mobile Node, the Home Agent maintains the MTU of the
tunnel to the care-of address and informs the Correspondent Node of the reduced
packet size.
 This improves routing efficiency by avoiding fragmentation and reassembly at the
tunnel endpoints to ensure that packets reach the Mobile Node.

SECURITY

 Mobile IP uses a strong authentication scheme for security purposes.

 All registration messages between a Mobile Node and Home Agent are required to
contain the Mobile-Home Authentication Extension (MHAE).
 The integrity of the registration messages is protected by a preshared 128-bit key
between a Mobile Node and Home Agent.
 The keyed message digest algorithm 5 (MD5) in "prefix+suffix" mode is used to
compute the authenticator value in the appended MHAE, which is mandatory.
 Mobile IP also supports the hash-based message authentication code (HMAC-MD5).
 The receiver compares the authenticator value it computes over the message with
the value in the extension to verify the authenticity.
 Optionally, the Mobile-Foreign Authentication Extension and Foreign-Home
Authentication Extension are appended to protect message exchanges between a
Mobile Node and Foreign Agent and between a Foreign Agent and Home Agent,
respectively.

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 Replay protection uses the identification field in the registration messages as a

timestamp and sequence number. The Home Agent returns its time stamp to
synchronize the Mobile Node for registration.
 Cisco IOS software allows the mobility keys to be stored on an authentication,
authorization, and accounting (AAA) server that can be accessed using TACACS+ or
RADIUS protocols. Mobile IP in Cisco IOS software also contains registration filters,
enabling companies to restrict who is allowed to register.
SOLUTION TO NETWORK MOBILITY
 Network mobility is enabled by Mobile IP, which provides a scalable,
transparent, and secure solution.
 It is scalable because only the participating components need to be Mobile IP
aware—the Mobile Node and the endpoints of the tunnel.
 No other routers in the network or any hosts with which the Mobile Node is
communicating need to be changed or even aware of the movement of the
Mobile Node.
 It is transparent to any applications while providing mobility. Also, the network
layer provides link-layer independence, interlink layer roaming, and link-layer
transparency.
 Finally, it is secure because the set up of packet redirection is authenticated.

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