Wireless and Mobile

Communication Systems

Chapter One
Overview of Wireless and Mobile
Communication Systems

By : Amare K.
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Goal of the Chapter
To give an overview on what and why wireless communication

Assess impact of wireless communication in our daily life

Define basic terminologies, historic perspectives and evolution

of wireless communication

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Lecture Outlines
 Basic principles of wireless communication systems

 History of wireless communication systems

 Types and examples of wireless communication systems

 Trends in cellular radio communication systems

 Summary

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Used Acronyms
• ETSI: European telecommunication standard institute
• IMT: International mobile telecommunication
• DECT: Digital enhanced cordless telecommunication
• HSCSD: High speed circuit switched data
• GPRS: General packet radio service
• FOMA : Freedom of mobile multimedia access
• PDA : Personal digital assistant
• PDC: Personal digital cellular
• GEO: Geosynchronous satellite
• GPS : Global positioning systems
• LEO: Low earth orbit satellite
• UMTS: Universal mobile telecommunication systems
• ISM: Industrial, Scientific and Medical

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Class Activity
• Define wireless communication system and

• Explain the advantage and disadvantage of wireless

communication

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Basic Principles of Wireless Communications
 Transfer of information (voice, data, multimedia) over a distance
without the use of electrical wires
 Distances involved may be
• Short: e.g., remote control or
• Long: e.g., satellite communication
 Information is transmitted using electromagnetic waves(EMW)
• Suitable frequencies are: Case of Ethiopia ISM bands

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 Is a broadcast medium

• Multiple access methods are required

• Transmissions are prone to interference

 Wireless channel is unpredictable: e.g., mobility

• System design is more challenging in wireless than in wired

communication

• Additional channel optimization techniques are required.

 Adaptive modulation and equalization

 Coding and diversity

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 Wired Vs Wireless Networks

• No Mobility
• Delay in New Connections
• Security Hazards

• Prone to Failures ( Line Disconnection,

etc )
• Very less value added services

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 Merits of Wireless Communication

 Freedom from wires

 No cost of installing wires or rewiring

 No bunches of wires running here and there

 Instantaneous communication without the need for

physical connection setup (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMAX)

• These reasons drive the market ….

• Various emerging standards….IEEE 802.11,.15,.16,.20

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 Global coverage
 Communications can reach where wiring is infeasible or costly:
rural areas, old buildings, battle fields, outer spaces, vehicular
communications.

• Wireless Ad-hoc Networks

• Wireless Sensor Networks

 Stay connected

 Roaming: allows flexibility to stay connected anywhere and

anytime

 Rapidly growing market attests to public need for mobility and

uninterrupted access 10
Flexibility
 Stay connected: Any one, anywhere, anytime!
 Services reach you wherever you go (mobility)

• You don’t have to go to the lab to check your mail

 Connect to multiple devices simultaneously (no need for

physical connectivity)

• Increasing dependence on telecommunication services for

business and personal reasons

• Consumers and businesses are willing to pay for it

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 Challenges of Wireless Communication
 Bandwidth

 Scares spectrum and dictates low data rates

 Efficient use of finite radio spectrum

• E.g., cellular frequency reuse, medium access control

protocols, MIMO systems instead of single TX/RX antenna
systems, …..

 Reliability

 Low data rate because of interference

 Need interference minimizing or mitigating techniques

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 Power Management
 Mobility brings about battery operation

 Need efficient hardware, e.g., low power transmitters,

receivers, and signal processing tools

• Sleep mode

 Security problem

Shared/broadcast medium => low security

Privacy and authentication needed

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Consumer side challenges

 Providing integrated services

 Voi ce, data, multimedia over a single network

Service differentiation, priorities, resource scheduling required

One size fits of all protocols and designs do not work well

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Network supports user mobility

User location identification

 Handover analysis

 Impact of wireless channels: Fading & Doppler

Multipath leads to signal superposition at receiving antennas

High probability of data corruption: need for diversity schemes

 Quality of service (QoS)
 Unreliable links

Traffic patterns and network conditions constantly change

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Connectivity and coverage
Local networking
 Internetworking
 Regulatory issues

 Spectral allocation/regulation heavily impacts the evolution of

wireless technologies

 Worldwide spectrum controlled by ITU-R

 ITU auctions spectral blocks for set of applications

 Some spectrum set aside for universal use

 Cost & efficiency, …..

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 History of Wireless Communication Systems

Many people in history used light for communication

 150 BC smoke signals for communication;

(Polybius, Greece)

 Carrier Pigeons

 1794, optical telegraph, Claude Chappe

1895: G Marconi

 First demonstration of wireless telegraphy (digital!)

 Long wave transmission, high transmission power necessary (>

200kw)
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1907: Commercial transatlantic connections

 huge base stations (30 antennas, each 100m high)

 1915: Wireless voice transmission New York -San Francisco

 1920: Discovery of short waves by Marconi

 reflection at the ionosphere

 smaller sender and receiver, possible due to the invention of

the vacuum tube (1906, Lee DeForest and Robert von Lieben)

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 1933: Frequency modulation (FM) introduced by E. H.
Armstrong

 FM has been the primary modulation technique for mobile

communication systems until late 80

 1979 : NMT at 450MHz (Scandinavian countries)

1982: Start of GSM-specification

 Goal: Pan-European digital mobile phone system with

roaming

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 1983 : Start of the American AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
System, analog)

 1984 : CT-1 standard (Europe) for cordless telephones

1991 : Specification of DECT

 Digital European Cordless Telephone (today: Digital Enhanced

Cordless Telecommunications)

 1880-1900MHz, ~100-500m range, 120 duplex channels,

1.2Mbit/s data transmission, voice encryption, authentication,
up to several 10000 user/km2, used in more than 50 countries.

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1992 : Start of GSM

 In D as D1 and D2, fully digital, 900MHz, 124 channels

Automatic location, hand-over, cellular

 Roaming: in Europe - now worldwide in more than 170 countries

Services: data with 9.6kbit/s, FAX, voice, ...

 1996 : HiperLAN (High Performance Radio Local Area Network)

 ETSI, standardization of type 1: 5.15 - 5.30GHz, 23.5Mbit/s

 Recommendations for type 2 and 3 (both 5GHz) and 4 (17GHz)

as wireless ATM-networks (up to 155Mbit/s)

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1997: Wireless LAN - IEEE802.11
IEEE standard, 2.4 - 2.5GHz and infrared, 2Mbit/s
 Already many (proprietary) products available in the beginning
1998: Specification of GSM successors
 For UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) as
European proposals for IMT-2000
 1998 : Iridium
 66 satellites (+6 spare), 1.6GHz to the mobile phone
 1999: Standardization of additional wireless LANs
 IEEE standard 802.11b, 2.4-2.5GHz, 11Mbit/s
 Bluetooth for piconets, 2.4Ghz, <1Mbit/s
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1999: Decision about IMT-2000

 Several members of the family: UMTS, cdma2000, DECT

1999: Start of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and i-mode

First step towards a unified Internet/mobile communication system

Access to many services via the mobile phone

 2000 : GSM with higher data rates

 HSCSD offers up to 57.6kbit/s

 First GPRS trials with up to 50 kbit/s (packet oriented!)

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2000: UMTS auctions/beauty contests

Hype followed by disillusionment (approx. 50 B$ payed in

Germany for 6 UMTS licences)

 2001: Start of 3G systems

 Cdma2000 in Korea, UMTS in Europe, Foma (almost UMTS)

in Japan

 2005: Broadband wireless

 First public WiMAX/IEEE 802.16 last mile experiments

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Types and examples of wireless communication

Types of Wireless Communication

Radio Transmission

 Easily generated, Omni-directionally travel long distances

Easily penetrate buildings

 Problems

• Frequency dependent

• Relatively low-bandwidth for data communication

• Tightly licensed by governments

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Microwave Transmission

 Widely used for long distance communication

Give higher SNR ratio

Relatively inexpensive

 Problems

• Don’t pass through building well: LOS communication

• Weather and frequency dependent

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 Infrared and Millimetre Wave Transmission

 Widely used for millimetre waves : above 30 GHz

Unable to pass through solid objects

 Used for indoor Wireless LANs, not for outdoors: 10m range

 May need a production of new devices

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 Light Wave Transmission
 optical signal such as laser

 Unidirectional, easy to install, don’t require license

 Connect two LANs in two buildings via laser mounted on the

roofs

 Has better bandwidth

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 Examples of Wireless Networking
1. Cellular systems : Architecture

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 Geographic region divided into cells
 Frequency/timeslots/codes are reused at spatially separated
locations
 Co-channel interference between same frequency using cells
 Shrinking cell size increases capacity as well as networking
burden
 Cell edges are determined based on
 Link budget: total power emitted and received
 Number of users
 Interference: dictates re-use factor
 Handoff takes place during roaming
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 Basic Terminologies:
 Mobile station (MS)
 A station in the cellular radio service intended for use while in
motion at unspecified locations
 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
 BSs are located at the centre or edge of a coverage region,
consists of transmitter and receiver antennas, and are
mounted on top of towers
 Provides gateway functionality between wireless and wired
links
 BSs coordinate handoff and control functions
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 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
 Switching center which coordinates the routing of calls in a
large service area

 In a cellular radio system, the MSC connects the BS and MS to

the PSTN (telephone network)

o 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
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 Handoff/ Handover

 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
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 Channel types
 Control (forward and reverse) channel:
 Radio channel used for transmission of call setup, call request,
call initiation and other beacon and control purposes

 Downlink (forward) voice channel:

 Radio channel used for transmission of information from the

base station to the mobile

 Uplink (reverse) voice channel:

 Radio channel used for transmission of information from

mobile to base station
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 Duplexing and Multiplexing Techniques

 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 and capacity (bit-

rate)

 Different frequency bands (channels) can be used to transmit

information in parallel and independently

 Duplexing and multiplexing techniques are required

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 Duplexing

 Given a single pair of communicating peers, duplexing describes

rules when each peer is allowed to send to the other one

 Using the resources like : FDD, TDD

 Multiplexing

 Given several pairs, multiplexing describes when which pair,

using which resources (eg. TDMA, FDMA, CDMA ), is allowed
to communicate

 Main resources: Time, frequency, (+ some others)

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 Duplexing Types for Cellular Systems

 Simplex, half- and full-duplex variants of duplexing

 Simplex:

 Is a one way communication, i.e., one source transmits and the

other only receives

 Example: remote control, radio broadcast

 To enable two-way communication, we can use

• Frequency as in FDD or

• Time as in TDD

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 Half duplex systems

 Communication systems which allow two-way communication

by using the same radio channel for both transmission and
reception

 At any given time, the user can either transmit or receive

information

 Use one frequency band but peers transmit one after the other,
called TDD

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 Full Duplex Systems

 Communication systems which allow simultaneous two-way

communication

 Transmission and reception is typically on two different

channels (FDD)

 Downlink and uplink channels use different frequency bands.

 Providing two simultaneous but separate channels to both

users by using FDD or TDD

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 Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD):
 Supports two way communication with two distinct radio channels.

 One channel is transmitted downstream from the BS to the MS.

 The second is used in the upstream direction and supports

transmission from the MS to the BS.

 Hence simultaneous transmission in both directions is possible.

 To mitigate self-interference between upstream and downstream

transmissions, a minimum amount of frequency separation must
be maintained between the frequency pair.

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 Time Division Duplexing (TDD):

 TDD uses a single frequency band to transmit signals in both

downstream and upstream directions.

 TDD operates by toggling transmission directions over a time

interval.

 This toggling takes place very rapidly and is imperceptible

to the user.

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 Multiplexing
 Used for sharing radio resources

 Multiplexing: Gives a means to

regulate access to a resource

that is shared by multiple users

 The switching element that serves as a

controller

 Main resources to be shared

 Time, frequency, (+some others)

 Techniques

 TDMA, FDMA, SDMA, CDMA

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2. Personal Area Networks ( PANs)
 Network of devices carried by an individual person
 Music player, cell phone, laptops ....
 Networks that connect devices within a small range
 Typically on the order of 10-100 meters
 Application areas
 Data and voice access points
• Real-time voice and data transmissions
 Cable replacement
• Eliminates need for numerous cable attachments
 Ad-hoc networking
• Device with PAN radio can establish connection with
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another when in range
 Wireless Personal Area Networks(PANs)
 Cable replacement RF technology (low cost)

 Short range (10m, extendable to 100m)

 Operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band

 Widely supported by telecommunications, PC, and consumer

electronics companies

 Provides an ad-hoc approach to enable various devices to

communicate.

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 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
 Network between devices in close physical proximity (offices,
homes, …), usually stationary or moving at low speed, provide
access to fixed infrastructure
 Good options for coffee shops, airports, libraries to provide internet
connection (connect “local” computers in 100m range)

 The term Wi-Fi is widely used

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 Channel access is shared (random access)
 WLANs provide license-free, low-power short-range data
communication

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 WLAN Standards
 802.11b

 Standard for 2.4GHz ISM band

 Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)

 Data Rate: 5.5 - 11 Mbps for approximately 100 m range

 802.11a/g

 Standard for 5GHz band /also 2.4GHz

 OFDM in 20 MHz with adaptive rate/codes

 Data rate: 54 Mbps for approximately 100 m range

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 802.11n (recently approved)

 Standard in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands

 Adaptive OFDM/MIMO in 20/40 MHz (2-4 antennas)

 Data rate up to 600Mbps for approximately in 100 m range

 Other advances in packetization , antenna use, etc.

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 802.11 WLAN standards summary

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 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs)
 Network covering a city, metropolitan areas
 “Last mile” application, usually at best low mobility
 Technologies
 Various IEEE 802.11 derivates
 Integration of fixed and mobile systems
 WiMAX: Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
• WiMAX/IEEE 802.16: competes with DSL
 IEEE 802.20 (???)

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 Wide Area Networks( WAN): Comparison

 Network covering country/continent/earth

 Anytime, anywhere connectivity

 Good for even highly mobile users

 Technologies

 Cellular systems (GSM, UMTS, HSDPA)

 Broadcast systems (DVB)

 Satellites systems

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3. Satellite Communication Systems
 Cover very large areas

 Very useful in sparsely populated areas, rural areas, sea,

mountain areas

 Limited quality voice/data transmission

 Has different orbit heights

 GEOs (36000 Km) versus LEOs (2000 Km)

 Optimized for one way transmission(Licence required to

transmit)

 Radio and movie broadcasts

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 Expensive base stations (satellite)

 Moving base stations unlike the cellular system

 Traditional Applications

 Weather satellite, Radio and TV broadcasting, Military satellite

 Telecommunication applications

 Global telephone connections, Backbone for global networks,

Global Positioning System (GPS)

 Iridium, Globalstar, Teledesic, Inmarsat:

 Are examples of LEO satellite constellation for satellite

phone and data communications
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4. Emerging Wireless Networks

 Ad-hoc Wireless Systems

 Wireless Sensor Networks

 Ultra Wideband (UWB) Systems

 Cognitive and Software Radio systems

 RFID Systems

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Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks( MANETs )
 Peer to peer communication without backbone infrastructure

 Topology is dynamic

 One challenge: Routing which can be multihope

 Fully connected with different links SINRs

 Example scenarios for MANETs

 Meetings
 Emergency or disaster relief situations
 Military communications
 Wearable computers
 Sensor networks
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 Ad-hoc networks provide a flexible network infrastructure for
many emerging applications

 Transmission, access, and routing strategies for these networks

are generally ad-hoc

 Cross layer design is critical and very challenging

 Energy constraints impose interesting design tradeoffs for

communication and networking

• Energy efficient routing protocol design

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 Ad-hoc network representation

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 Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are:

 A self-configuring , highly distributed network of lightweight sensor

nodes communicating among themselves using radio signals

 Deployed in large numbers to sense, monitor and understand the

physical world.

 Monitors the environment or system by measuring physical parameters

such as temperature, pressure, humidity.

 Provide a bridge between a real physical and virtual world.

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 Example system architecture of WSN

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 WSN characteristics
 Nodes powered by non-rechargeable batteries

 Data flows to central base station location

 Low per-node rates but up to 100,000 nodes

 Data highly correlated in time and space

 Nodes can cooperate in transmission, reception, compression, and

signal processing
 Standards:802.15.4 and ZigBee
• They are low-power protocols
• Performance is an issue
• Maximum distance is around 100 m
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Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Systems
 An emerging wireless communication technology that can

transmit data from100 Mb/s to 1000 Mb/s

 UWB transmits ultra-low power radio signals with very

narrow pulses (in nanoseconds)

 Because of its low power requirements, UWB is very difficult

to detect (hence secure)

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UWB has large fractional bandwidth

CDMA: 1.288Mcps/1.8 GHz

one “chip” 0.07% bandwidth

NB
6% bandwidth

Power Spectral Density (dB)

20% bandwidth

0 UWB

-40 100% bandwidth

Random noise signal

-80
3 6 9 12 15
Frequency (GHz)
67
 Why UWB?
 Exceptional multi-path immunity
 Low power consumption
 Large bandwidth
 Secure communication
 Low interference
 No need for license to operate

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Trends in Cellular Radio Communication Systems

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 First Generation (1G)

 Analog systems, mostly FM

• NMT, AMPS

 Voice traffic

 FDMA/FDD multiple access

Second Generation (2G)

 Digital systems

 Digital modulation

 Voice traffic

 TDMA/FDD and CDMA/FDD multiple access

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2.5G

 Digital systems

 Voice + Low-rate data service

Third Generation (3G)

 Digital

 Voice + high-rate data service

 Also multimedia transmission

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 Summary
 The wireless vision encompasses many exciting systems and
applications

• Existing and emerging systems provide excellent quality for

certain applications but may not be for the other

 However, challenges remain because of limited frequency,

interference, random nature of the wireless channel, demand for
additional services, …

• Multiple approaches are needed to overcome the challenges

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 Standards and spectral allocation heavily impact the evolution of
wireless technology

 In emerging technologies, technical challenges transcend across

all layers of the system design

• Cross layer design becomes a key theme for wireless

networks

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