LECTURE 1

INTRODUCTION TO WIRELESS
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

References:
• Bernhard (Chapter 1, 4, 6-14)
• Rappaport (Chapter 1)
• Prasad (Chapter 1)
• Kaaranen (Chapter 1)
 INTRODUCTION
 Wireless communication is the transfer of
information (voice or data) using electromagnetic
waves over a distance through wireless medium or
channel.

.
 Wireless Communication
 Advantages
– Cost independent of terrain and distance
– Suitable for incremental capacity enhancement, i.e.
flexible planning
– Reduced maintenance effort, i.e. better reliability
– Ease of installation and maintenance, i.e. suitability for
temporary or emergency services
– Dynamic use of medium, i.e. trunking capability
– Mobility
– Suitable for multiple operators, i.e. service liberalization
 Wireless Communication
 Limitations
– Capacity limited by frequency allocation, i.e. cellular
design is expensive
– Margin has to be provided for multipath propagation
effect and interferences, i.e. expensive for normal
urban application
– Power source required at terminal end
– Generally very low transmission rates for higher
numbers of users
 Wavelength of Some Technologies
 Electromagnetic waves
 Travel at speed of light (c = 3x10 8 m/s)
 Has a frequency (f) and wavelength (l)
 c=fxl
 Higher frequency means higher energy photons
 GSM Phones:
 frequency ~= 900 MHz
 wavelength ~= 33cm
 PCS Phones
 frequency ~= 1.8 GHz
 wavelength ~= 16.7 cm
 Bluetooth:
 frequency ~= 2.4 GHz
 wavelength ~= 12.5 cm
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 The frequency spectrum is a scarce resource and
must be managed efficiently.
104 102 100 10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 10-10 10-12 10-14 10-16

Radio Micro Cosmic

IR UV X-Rays
Spectrum wave Rays

104 106 108 1010 1012 1014 1016 1018 1020 1022 1024
1MHz ==100m
100MHz ==1m
10GHz ==1cm
Visible light < 30 KHz VLF
30-300KHz LF
300KHz – 3MHz MF
3 MHz – 30MHz HF
30MHz – 300MHz VHF
300 MHz – 3GHz UHF
3-30GHz SHF
> 30 GHz EHF
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Frequency Bands

 VHF (30 MHz - 300 MHz)

– VHF Mid Band (70 - 87.5 MHz)
– VHF High Band (148 - 174 MHz)

 UHF (300 MHz - 3 GHz)

– UHF Band (403 - 420 MHz)
– UHF Band (450 - 520 MHz)
– UHF Band 900 MHz (820 - 960 MHz)
– UHF Band 1.9 GHz (1880 - 1900 MHz)
 What is Mobility

 Initially Internet and Telephone Networks is

designed assuming the user terminals are
static
No change of location during a call/connection
A user terminals accesses the network always from
a fixed location
Wireless communication
 Two aspects of mobility:
 Mobile

 any radio terminal that could be moved during

operation.
 More recently, mobile is a radio terminal that is
attached to a high speed mobile platform
 e.g., a cellular telephone in a fast moving vehicle
 Portable:

a radio terminal that can be hand-held and used by

someone at walking speed
 e.g., a walkie-talkie or cordless telephone inside home
Degrees of Mobility
 Walking Users
Low speed
Small roaming area
Usually uses high-bandwidth/low-latency access

 Vehicles
High speeds
Large roaming area
Usually uses low-bandwidth/high-latency access
Uses sophisticated terminal equipment (cell
phones)
Type of Wireless communication
 Mobile
Cellular phone GSM/CDMA2000/1x
 Portable
 IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.15.3 (UWB)
 Fixed
 IEEE 802.16 (Wireless MAN or WiMAX)

 Wireless vs Mobile:
 Wireless does not necessarily mean mobile, but
 Mobile means wireless
 Transmission Mode
 Simplex transmission
– Only one way communication
– Paging Systems.
 Half duplex transmission
– Two ways communication, but one at a time; not
simultaneously.
– “Push-to-talk” and ‘release-to-listen” are fundamental
features.
 Full duplex transmission
– Two-way simultaneous in both directions
– By providing two simultaneous but separate channels
(FDD) or
– different time slots on a single radio channels (TDD).
Frequency Carries/Channels
 The information from sender to receiver is carried
over a well defined frequency band.
 This is called a channel

 Each channel has a fixed frequency bandwidth (in

Hz) and Capacity (bit-rate)
 Different frequency bands (channels) can be used to
transmit information in parallel and independently.
Channel 1 (b - b+30)
Station A Channel 2 (b+30 - b+60) Station B
Channel 3 (b+60 - b+90)
 Example
 Assume a spectrum of 90 kHz is allocated over a base
frequency b for communication between stations A and B
 Assume each channel occupies 30 kHz.
 There are 3 channels
 Each channel is simplex (Transmission occurs in one way)
 For full-duplex communication:
o Use two different channels (front and reverse channels)
o Use time division in a channel

Channel 1 (b - b+30)
Station A Channel 2 (b+30 - b+60) Station B
Channel 3 (b+60 - b+90)
Duplexing Techniques
Duplexing

 Duplexing means separating the send and receive

signals (remember full-duplex).
 Usually the two parties that want to communication
in a duplex manner (both send and receive) are:
A mobile station (MS)
A base station (BS)
 Two famous methods for duplexing in cellular
systems are:
FDD: Frequency Division Duplex
TDD: Time Division Duplex
 Duplexing - FDD
 Uses a pair of frequency bands (two
simplex channels)– one for uplink and F
another for downlink BS MS
 A duplex channel consists of two Base R Mobile
simplex channel with different carrier Station Station
frequencies
 Forward band: carries traffic from
base station to mobile user.
 Reverse band: carries traffic from
mobile user to base station.

Reverse Forward
Channel Channel
fc,R fc,,F frequency

Frequency separation
Frequency separation should be carefully decided
Frequency separation is constant
 Duplexing - TDD
 A single radio channel (carrier
frequency) is shared in time in a BS MS
deterministic manner.
 The time is slotted with fixed slot length Base Mobile
(sec) Station Station
 Some slots are used for forward channel
(traffic from base station to mobile)
 Some slots are used for reverse channel
(traffic from mobile to base station)

Slot number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 …
channel F R F R F R F R ….

Reverse Forward
Channel Channel
Ti Ti+1 time

Time separation
 Duplexing – TDD versus FDD
 FDD
 FDD allocate individual radio frequencies for uplink and downlink.
 For example analog systems: AMPS
 More suitable for wide-area cellular networks: all 2G cellular systems GSM,
AMPS all use FDD
 At MS, requires good frequency separation filters – duplexer
 At BS, separate Tx & Rx are used to accommodate the two separate channels
 To facilitate FDD, it is necessary to separate the transmit and receive
frequency by about 5% of the nominal RF frequency,
 So that the duplexer provide sufficient isolation while being inexpensively
manufactured.
 TDD
– Can only be used in digital wireless systems (digital modulation).
– Requires rigid timing and synchronization
– Propagation delay limits cell size
 Mostly used in short-range and fixed wireless systems so that
propagation delay between base station and mobile do not change much
with respect to location of the mobile.
 Such as cordless phones and wireless LANs …
– very efficient for asymmetric traffic, e.g. internet download
Example - Frequency Spectrum
Allocation in U.S. Cellular Radio Service
Reverse Channel Forward Channel

991 992 … 1023 1 2 … 799 991 992 … 1023 1 2 … 799

824-849 MHz 869-894 MHz

Channel Number Center Frequency (MHz)

Reverse Channel 1 <=N <= 799 0.030N + 825.0
991 <= N <= 1023 0.030(N-1023) + 825.0

Forward Channel 1 <=N <= 799 0.030N + 870.0

991 <= N <= 1023 0.030(N-1023) + 870.0

(Channels 800-990 are unused)

Channel separation is 45 MHz
Multiple Access Schemes

 Multiple access protocol allows multiple users to

share a common resource in a managed and
effective way,
 Defines how or when the sharing is to take
place and the means for identifying individual
messages.
 Process is known as multiplexing in wired
networks and multiple access in wireless
communications.
Multiple Access Schemes
 FDMA, TDMA, CDMA, OFDMA
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

 Dividing the entire frequency spectrum into smaller bands

 A frequency band (channel) is allocated for user for the entire
transmission time
 Requires guard band between channels
 Cannot readily support variable user data rates, fixed channel
width means fixed bit rate
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6

code
f

t
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

 FDMA,
– used in 1G systems (AMPS, CT-2, DECT),
– wastes spectrum

Total _ BW  guard _ band

no _ of _ ch 
channle _ BW
BT

BT  Bguard
no _ of _ ch 
Bc
Bc
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

 Entire spectrum is allocated for a channel some of the time

 For 2G systems (GSM, NA-TDMA, PDC)
 Advantages:
 Only one carrier in the medium at any given time
 Can readily support variable users data rates, by simply assigning
multiple time slots
 Common Tx component design,
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 only one power amplifier
 Disadvantages: code
– precise synchronization f
necessary
mBT  Bguard 
no _ of _ ch  o ts
Bc e sl
– m is no of time slots t m
Ti
Example TDMA System

 GSM is a good example of a TDMA system

GSM handsets transmit data at a rate of 270 kbps in a
200 kHz channel using GMSK modulation.
each frequency channel is divided into 8 time slots and
assigned 8 users,
 TDMA Frame
 TDMA used for the 2G, 2.5G, 2.75G air interface
 A frame length: 4.615 ms and it consists of

The transmission rate is 22.8 kbps, or 114 bits for time slots. Adding the overhead bits
such as tail bits (6), training bits (26), flag bits (2), and guard time bits (8), the total bits
of a traffic channel is 156 bits in one time slot of 0.577 ms
 TDMA and FDMA
 Combination of both methods
– A certain frequency band for a given amount of time is allocated
per channel
– Example: GSM
 Advantages:
– Improved protection against tapping
and frequency selective interference k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
– Higher data rates compared to code
multiplex code
 Disadvantages: f
– Requires precise
coordination

t
 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

 Each channel has a unique code.

k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
 All channels use the same
spectrum at the same time.
coding
 Advantages:
 Bandwidth efficient
 no need for coordination and synchronization
 good protection against interference and
tapping
f
 Disadvantages:
 Requires power control
 lower user data rates
 more complex signal regeneration
 Implemented using spread spectrum t

technology
 CDMA Classification
 CDMA Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
 CDMA Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum(FHSS)
 Carrier frequency changes periodically, after T sec
 Hopping pattern determined by spread code

Frequency

Direct sequence

Frequency hopping

Time
CDMA – FHSS
CDMA- DSSS
OFDMA
SC-FDMA
Wireless Systems Classification

 Walkie-Talkie/Radio phone
 Cordless Telephones
 Cellular Telephony (High-tier)
 Wide Area Wireless Data Systems (High-tier)
 High Speed Local and Personal Area Networks
 Paging Messaging Systems
 Satellite Based Mobile Systems
 3G Systems & beyond.
WALKIE TALKIE

 Push on and off

 Push-to-talk and release-to-listen
 Half duplex System
 Low quality
 Short distance,
 No privacy to users,
Cellular Telephone Systems
 Characterized by
– High mobility provision
– Wide-range.
– Accommodates a large number of users over a large
geographic area, within a limited frequency spectrum.
– Two-way wireless voice communication
– Handoff and roaming support
– Integrated with sophisticated PSTN
– High transmit power requires at the handsets (~2W)

38
Cellular Telephony - Architecture

Radio tower

PST N
T elephone
N etwork

Mobile Switching
Center

39
GSM Network Architecture - Overview

OMC, EIR,
AUC
HLR
GMSC
fixed network

VLR MSC MSC

VLR

BSC

BSC

RSS
GSM: Elements and Interfaces

radio cell
MS MS BSS

Um radio cell
BTS MS
RSS

BTS

Abis
BSC BSC

A
MSC MSC

NSS VLR VLR signaling

HLR GMSC ISDN, PSTN
IWF PDN
O

OSS EIR AUC OMC

GSM: System Architecture
radio network and switching fixed
subsystem (RSS) subsystem (NSS) partner networks

MS MS
ISDN
PSTN
Um MSC

Abis
BTS
BSC EIR
BTS
SS7

HLR

BTS VLR
BSC ISDN
BTS A MSC PSTN
BSS IWF
PSPDN
CSPDN
GSM: System Architecture: Radio
Subsystem (RSS)
radio network and switching
subsystem subsystem  Components
– MS (Mobile Station)
MS MS – BSS (Base Station Subsystem):
consisting of
• BTS (Base Transceiver Station):
Um
sender and receiver
Abis • BSC (Base Station Controller):
BTS
controlling several transceivers
BSC MSC
BTS
 Interfaces
– Um : radio interface
– Abis : standardized, open interface
with 16 kbit/s user channels
A – A: standardized, open interface
BTS with
BSC MSC
BTS
64 kbit/s user channels
BSS
 GSM: Radio Subsystem (RSS)

 The RSS comprises the cellular mobile network up to the

switching centers. Components of RSS are:
– Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
 Base Transceiver Station (BTS): fixed radio components including
sender, receiver, several Tx/Rx antennas - if directed antennas are
used, one BTS can cover several cells, connects the simultaneous
mobile calls via wired lines or microwave links to BSC
Base Station Controller (BSC): switching between BTSs, controlling
BTSs, managing of network resources, mapping of radio channels (Um)
onto terrestrial channels (A interface)
BSS = BSC + sum(BTS) + interconnection
– Mobile Stations (MS)
• A station intended for use while in motion at unspecified locations.
• contains SIM card, a transceiver, an antenna, and control circuitry.
• May be handed over to any number of BSs throughout duration of a
call.
 GSM System Architecture: Network and
Switching Subsystem (NSS)
Network and Switching
subsystem (NSS) fixed partner  Components
networks  MSC (Mobile Services Switching
Center):
ISDN  IWF (Interworking Functions)
PSTN  Databases
MSC  HLR (Home Location Register)
 VLR (Visitor Location Register)
EIR
 EIR (Equipment Identity Register)
 fixed partner networks
SS7

HLR
 ISDN (Integrated Services Digital
Network)
VLR  PSTN (Public Switched Telephone
ISDN Network)
MSC
IWF
PSTN  PSPDN (Packet Switched Public Data
Net.)
PSPDN
CSPDN  CSPDN (Circuit Switched Public
Data Net.)
 Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS)

 NSS is the main component of the public mobile network

GSM
– switching, mobility management, interconnection to other
networks (including PSTN) via Gateway MSC (GMSC), system
control
 Components
– Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC)
controls all connections via a separated network to/from a mobile
terminal within the domain of the MSC - several BSCs can belong to a
MSC, signaling, billing, support of SMS, location management.
– Databases (important: scalability, high capacity, low delay)
• Home Location Register (HLR)
central master database containing user data, permanent and semi-
permanent data of all subscribers assigned to the HLR (one provider can
have several HLRs)
• Visitor Location Register (VLR)
local database for a subset of user data, including data about all user
currently in the domain of the VLR
Operation Subsystem (OSS)

 The OSS (Operation Subsystem) enables centralized

operation, management, and maintenance of all GSM
subsystems
 Components
– Authentication Center (AUC)
• generates user specific authentication parameters on request of a
VLR
• authentication parameters used for authentication of mobile
terminals and encryption of user data on the air interface within the
GSM system
– Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
• registers GSM mobile stations and user rights
• stolen or malfunctioning mobile stations can be locked and
sometimes even localized
– Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC)
• different control capabilities for the radio subsystem and the network
subsystem
 Cellular Telephony Systems
 Communication between BS and MS is defined by a
standard common air interface (CAI).
 CAI specifies four different channels.
– Forward voice channel (FVC).
– Reverse voice channel (RVC).
– Forward control channel (FCC).
– Reverse control channel (RCC).
Wireless System Definitions
– Subscriber
– A user who pays subscription charges for using a mobile
communication system
– Transceiver
– A device capable of simultaneously transmitting and
receiving radio signals
Wireless System Definitions

 Control Channel
– Radio channel used for transmission of call setup, call
request, call initiation and other beacon and control
purposes.
– FCC, RCC.

 Forward Channel
– Radio channel used for transmission of information from BS
to MS.
 Reverse Channel
– Radio channel used for transmission of information from MS
to BS
Wireless System Definitions

 Handoff
– The process of transferring a mobile station from one
channel or base station to another.
 Roamer
– A mobile station which operates in a service area (market)
other than that from which service has been subscribed.
 Page
– A brief message which is broadcast over the entire service
area, usually in simulcast fashion by many base stations at
the same time.
Figure 1.6 Timing diagram illustrating how a call to a mobile user initiated by a landline
subscriber is established.
Mobile Terminated Call
• 1: calling a GSM subscriber
• 2: forwarding call to GMSC
4
• 3: signal call setup to HLR HLR
5
VLR

• 4, 5: request MSRN from VLR 3 6

8 9
14 15
• 6: forward responsible 7
calling
MSC to GMSC station 1
PSTN
2
GMSC MSC

• 7: forward call to 10 10 13 10
• current MSC 16
• 8, 9: get current status of MS BSS BSS BSS
11 11 11
• 10, 11: paging of MS
• 12, 13: MS answers 11 12
17
• 14, 15: security checks
MS
• 16, 17: set up connection

4.53
Figure 1.7 Timing diagram illustrating how a call initiated by a mobile is established.
Mobile Originated Call
• 1, 2: connection request
• 3, 4: security check
• 5-8: check resources (free circuit)
• 9-10: set up call VLR

3 4
6 5
PSTN GMSC MSC
7 8
2 9
1
MS BSS
10

4.55
Thank You
 Major Mobile Radio Standards - USA

Standard Type Year Multiple Frequency Modulation Channel

Intro Access Band BW
(MHz) (KHz)

AMPS Cellular 1983 FDMA 824-894 FM 30

USDC Cellular 1991 TDMA 824-894 DQPSK 30

CDPD Cellular 1993 FH/Packet 824-894 GMSK 30

IS-95 Cellular/PCS 1993 CDMA 824-894 QPSK/BPSK 1250

1800-2000

FLEX Paging 1993 Simplex Several 4-FSK 15

DCS-1900 PCS 1994 TDMA 1850-1990 GMSK 200

(GSM)

PACS Cordless/PCS 1994 TDMA/FDMA 1850-1990 DQPSK 300

 Major Mobile Radio Standards - Europe

Standard Type Year Multiple Frequency Modulation Channel

Intro Access Band BW
(MHz) (KHz)

ETACS Cellular 1985 FDMA 900 FM 25

NMT-900 Cellular 1986 FDMA 890-960 FM 12.5

GSM Cellular/PCS 1990 TDMA 890-960 GMSK 200KHz

C-450 Cellular 1985 FDMA 450-465 FM 20-10

ERMES Paging 1993 FDMA Several 4-FSK 25

CT2 Cordless 1989 FDMA 864-868 GFSK 100

DECT Cordless 1993 TDMA 1880-1900 GFSK 1728

DCS-1800 Cordless/PCS 1993 TDMA 1710-1880 GMSK 200

Major Mobile Radio Standards - Japan
 Cellular Telephony Systems
 Mobile users and handsets
– Very complex circuitry and design
– May be handed over to any number of BSs throughout duration of a call.

 Base stations
– Supports several Tx/Rx antennas
– Serves as a bridge between all users in the cell.
– Connects the simultaneous mobile calls via wired lines or microwave links to
MSC
– ~1 million dollar
 Mobile switching centers (MSC)
 coordinates the activities of all of the base stations.
 connects the entire cellular system to the PSTN.
– A typical MSC handles 100,000 cellular subscribers and 5,000
simultaneous conversations at a time,
 Accommodates all billing and system maintenance functions, as well.
– In large cities, several MSCs are used by a single carrier
 Wireless System Definitions
 Mobile Station (MS)
– A station in the cellular radio service intended for use while in
motion at unspecified locations.
– contains a transceiver, an antenna, and control circuitry.
– They can be either hand-held personal units (portables) or
installed on vehicles (mobiles)

 Base Station (BS)

– A fixed station in a mobile radio system used for radio
communication with the mobile stations.
– Base stations are located at the center or edge of a coverage
region.
– They consists of radio channels and transmitter and receiver
antennas mounted on top of a tower.
Wireless System Definitions
– Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
– Switching center which coordinates the routing of calls in a
large service area.
– In a cellular radio system, the MSC is responsible for
connecting the cellular base stations and the mobiles to the
PSTN (telephone network).
– It is also called Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)
– Subscriber
– A user who pays subscription charges for using a mobile
communication system
– Transceiver
– A device capable of simultaneously transmitting and
receiving radio signals