UNIT-VI

WIRELESS SYSTEMS AND STANDARDS

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this unit, students will be able to

 Understand the difference between analog and digital cellular systems.
 Understand the operation of GSM and NA-TDMA systems.
 Know the features of CDMA cellular system.

Syllabus: AMPS and ETACS, United States digital cellular standards (IS-54
and IS-136), Global system for mobile communications, CDMA digital
cellular standard (IS-95).

The evolution of wireless systems from voice-centric circuit-switched

systems to data-centric packet-switched systems is discussed. The first-
and second-generation wireless systems were designed primarily for voice
service. The data rate supported by these systems is very limited. The
2.5G systems were developed to retrofit second-generation systems to
support higher data rate applications. The third-generation systems are
designed to meet the demands of the Internet era. A wide range of IP-
based services is provided using these systems

Learning Material
 In an analog system, the signals applied to the transmission media are
continuous functions of the message waveform. In the analog system, the
amplitude, the phase, or the frequency of a sinusoidal carrier can be
continuously varied in accordance with the voice or the message. In digital
transmission systems, the transmitted signals are discrete in time, amplitude,
phase, or frequency, or in a combination of any two of these parameters.

GSM has two objectives:

1. Pan-European roaming, which offers compatibility throughout the

European continent.

2. Interaction with the integrated service digital network (ISDN), which offers
the capability to extend the single-subscriber-line system to a multi
service system with various services currently offered only through
diverse telecommunications networks.

GSM ARCHITECTURE:

 GSM consists of many subsystems, such as the mobile station (MS), the
base station subsystem (BSS), the network and switching subsystem
(NSS), and the operation subsystem (OSS) as shown in figure 6.1

 Mobile Station: The MS includes mobile equipment (ME) and a

subscriber identity module (SIM).ME does not need to be personally
assigned to one subscriber. The SIM is a subscriber module which stores
all the subscriber-related information.

 When a subscriber’s SIM is inserted into the ME of an MS, that MS belongs

to the subscriber, and the call is delivered to that MS.

Figure 6.1: External Environment of BSS

Base Station Subsystem. The BSS connects to the MS through a radio

interface and also connects to the NSS.
  The BSS consists of a base transceiver station (BTS) located at the
antenna site and a base station controller (BSC) that may control several
BTSs.

 The BTS consists of radio transmission and reception equipment similar to

the ME in an MS.

 A transcoder/rate adaption unit (TRAU) carries out encoding and speech

decoding and rate adaptation for transmitting data.

 GSM uses the open system interconnection (OSI). There are three common
interfacesbased on OSI (Figure 6.2): a common radio interface, called air
interface, between the MS and BTS, an interface A between the MSC and
BSC, and an A-bis interface between the BTS and BSC.

 With these common interfaces, the system operator can purchase the
product of manufacturing company A to interface with the product of
manufacturing company B.

Figure 6.2: Functional Architecture and Principal interfaces

 Network and Switching Subsystem: NSS (see figure 6.3) in GSM uses an
intelligent network (IN). A signaling NSS includes the main switching functions of
GSM.
 NSS manages the communication between GSM users and other
telecommunications users.

 NSS management consists of:

Mobile service switching center (MSC):Coordinates call set-up to and from

GSM [Link] MSC controls several BSCs.

Interworking function (IWF):A gateway for MSC to interface with external

networks for communication with users outside GSM, such as packet-switched
public data network (PSPDN) or circuit-switched public data network (CSPDN).
The role of the IWF depends on the type of user data and the network to which it
interfaces.

Home location register (HLR): Consists of a stand-alone computer without

switching capabilities, a database which contains subscriber information, and
information related to the subscriber’s current location, but not the actual
location of the subscriber.

A subdivision of HLR is the authentication center (AUC). The AUC manages the
security data for subscriber authentication. Another sub-division of HLR is the
equipment identity register (EIR) which stores the data of mobile equipment (ME)
or ME-related data.

Visitor location register (VLR): Links to one or more MSCs, temporarily

storing subscription data currently served by its corresponding MSC, and holding
more detailed data than the HLR. For example, the VLR holds more current
subscriber location information than the location information at the HLR.

Gateway MSC (GMSC):In order to set up a requested call, the call is initially
routed to a gateway MSC, which finds the correct HLR by knowing the directory
number of the GSM subscriber.

The GMSC has an interface with the external network for gatewaying and the
network also operates the full Signaling System 7 (SS7) signaling between NSS
machines.

Signaling transfer point (STP):It is an aspect of the NSS function as a stand-

alone node or in the same equipment as the MSC. STP optimizes the cost of the
signaling transport among MSC/VLR, GMSC, and HLR.
 Figure 6.3: NSS External environment

Operation Subsystem:

OSS have three functions:

(1) network operation and maintenance functions,

(2) subscription management, including charging and billing, and

(3) mobile equipment management.

GSM Channels: GSM channels are classified as Physical and Logical channels.

Physical Channels: There are three kinds of physical channels, also called
traffic channels (TCHs):

1. TCH/F (full rate): Transmits a speech code of 13 kbps or three data-

mode rates, 12, 6, and 3.6 kbps.

2. TCH/H (half rate): Transmits a speech code of 7 kbps or two data

modes, 6 and 3.6 kbps.

3. TCH/8 (one-eighth rate): Used for low-rate signaling channels, common

channels, and data channels.

Logical channels:

1. Common channels: All the common channels are embedded in different

traffic channels. They are grouped by the same cycle (51 x 8 BP), where BP
stands for burst period (i.e.,time slot which is 577ms)

2. Downlink common channels:There are five downlink unidirectional

channels, shared or grouped by a TCH.

(i) Frequency correction channel (FCCH)repeats once every 51x8 BPs;used

to identify a beacon frequency.
 (ii) Synchronization channel (SCH)follows each FCCH slot by 8 BPs.

(iii) Broadcast control channel (BCCH)is broadcasted regularly in each cell

and received by all the mobile stations in the idle mode.

(iv) Paging and access grant channel (PAGCH)is used for the incoming call
received at the mobile station. The access grant channel is answered from the
base station and allocates a channel during the access procedure of setting up a
call.

(v) Call broadcast channel (CBCH).Each cell broadcasts a short message for
2s from the network to the mobile station in idle mode. Half a downlink TCH/8 is
used, and special CBCH design constraints exist because of the need for
sending two channels (CBCH and BCCH) in parallel.

 The mobile station (MS) finds the FCCH burst, then looks for an SCH burst on the
same frequency to achieve synchronization. The MS then receives BCCH on
several time slots and selects a proper cell, remaining for a period in the idle
mode.

3. Uplink common channels: The random-access channel (RACH) is the only

common uplink channel. RACH is the channel that the mobile station chooses to
access the [Link] are two rates: RACH/F (full rate, one time slot every 8 BP),
and RACH/H (half rate, using 23 time slots in the 51 x 8 BP cycle, where 8 BP
cycle [i.e. a frame] is 4.615ms).

4. Signaling channels: All the signaling channels have chosen one of the
physical channels, and the logical channels names are based on their logical
functions.

5. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH):A slow-rate TCH used for

signaling

transport and used for non urgent procedures, mainly handover decisions. It

uses one- eighth rate. The TCH/F is always allocated with SACCH. This

combined TCH and SACCH is denoted TACH/F.

1. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH): Indicates cell establishment,

authenticates subscriber or commands a handover.

2. Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH):Occasionally the

connection between a mobile station and the network is used solely for
 passing signaling information and not for calls. This connection may be at the
user's demand or for other management operations such as updating the unit's
location. It operates at a very low rate and uses a TCH/8 channel.

Note:The different modes of GSM channels are as follows:

1. Channel mode

2. Dedicated mode

3. Idle mode

1. Channel modes:Because of the precious value of the radio spectrum,

individual users cannot have their own TCH at all times.

2. Dedicated mode:Uses TCH during call establishment and uses SACCH to

perform location updating in the dedicated mode. TCH and SACCH are dedicated
channels for both uplink and downlink channels.

3. Idle mode:During non call activities, the five downlink channels are in the
idle mode: FCCH; SCH; BCCH, which is broadcasting regularly; PAGCH and CBCH,
which sends one message every 2 s. During idle mode, the mobile station listens
to the common downlink channels, and also uses SDCCH (uplink channel) to
register a mobile location associated with a particular base station to the
network.

GSM Bursts:

There are several kinds of bursts:

1. The normal burst used in TCH.

2. The access burst used on the RACH in the uplink direction.

3. The F and S bursts: The Frequency burst is used on the FCCH and has the
simplest format. All of the 148 bits are zero, producing a pure sine wave.
 Five S (Synchronization) bursts in each 51 x 8 BP cycle are used on the
SCH. One S burst is shown below:

Architecture of NA-TDMA System (IS-136):

 After GSM, IS-54 was created in US to support dual mode access

capability (analog and digital transmission).IS-136 is a revised version of IS-54.
We refer to the system as NA-TDMA(Figure 6.4).

 The NA-TDMA architecture is similar to GSM architecture. The only

difference is that in NA-TDMA, there is only one common interface, which is the
radio interface as shown in Figure.

 The NA-TDMA uses the intelligent network. All the components such as
HLR, VLR, AUC, and EIR are the same as used in GSM. In developing the NA-
TDMA system, there were two phases:

 First phase: To commonly share the 21 set-up channels that are used for
the analog system. The first-phase system is only for voice transmission. Both
modes, AMPS and digital, are built in the same unit. The handoff procedure has
to take care of the following four features:

1. AMPS cell to AMPS cell

2. TDMA cell to TDMA cell

3. AMPS cell to TDMA cell

4. TDMA cell to AMPS cell

Second phase:

(1) To generate new digital set-up channels (they were in the voice band) to
access to TDMA voice channels so that a digital stand-alone unit can be
provided.

(2) specify a data-service signal protocol for transmitting data.

 Fig.6.4: NA-TDMA Architecture

TDMA Frame Structure :

 In NA-TDMA, the set-up channels are analog channels shared with the
AMPS system. Onedigital channel (a 30-kHz TDMA channel) contains 25
frames per second.

 Each frame is 40-mslong and has 6 time slots. Each time slot is 6.66-ms
long. One frame contains 1944 bits (972 symbols), as shown in figure 6.5.

Fig.6.5 : TDMA Frame Structure

  Each slot contains 324 bits (162 symbols) and the duration between bits is
20.57 μs. Therefore, one radio channel is transmitted at 48.6 kbps but
only 24,000 symbols per second over the radio path. Each frame consists
of 6 time slots.

 Frame Length: There are two frame lengths, full rate and half rate.

 Each full-rate traffic channel shall use two equally spaced time slots of the
frame.

Channel 1 uses time slots 1 and 4

Channel 2 uses time slots 2 and 5

Channel 3 uses time slots 3 and 6

 Each half-rate traffic channel shall use one time slot of the frame:

Channel 1 uses time slot 1

Channel 2 uses time slot 2

Channel 3 uses time slot 3

Channel 4 uses time slot 4

Channel 5 uses time slot 5

Channel 6 uses time slot 6

 Frame Offset: At the mobile station, the offset between the reverse and
forward frame timing(without time advanced applied), is

Forward frame = reverse frame + (1 time slot + 44 symbols)

= reverse frame + 206 symbols

Hence The time slot (TS) 1 of frame N (in forward link) occurs 206 symbol
periods after TS 1 of frame N in the reverse link.

CDMA Digital Cellular System (IS-95):

 The IS-95 standard describes a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

system in which the audio band data signal is multiplied by a high rate
spreading signal.

 This spreading signal is formed from a pseudo-noise code sequence, which

is then multiplied by a Walsh code for maximum orthogonality to (ie. to
have low cross-correlation with) the other codes in use in that cell.
 Typically, CDMA pseudo-noise sequences are very long, thereby giving
excellent cross correlation characteristics.

 The IS-95 system can be thought of as having many layers of protection

against interference. It allows many users to co-exist, with minimal mutual
interference.

 The forward channel(Figure 6.6) carries information from the base station
to the mobile unit; the reverse channel carries information from the
mobile unit to the base station.

 The forward channels are between 869 and 894 MHz, while the reverse
channels are between 824 and 849 Mhz.

 Within these bands, four sub-bands are available for CDMA, of widths 1,
0.1, 9 and 10 MHz; in the U.S., 1.25 MHz sub-bands near 849 and 894 MHz
are employed.

 All cells in the same area can employ the same spectral band, because the
various signals are sorted out by the spread spectrum process rather than
by frequency discrimination.

Fig.6.6: Forward CDMA Channel

Forward channel transmission sequence:

1. Convolution encoder: Encodes the data from one stream to two,

doubling the nominal rate from 9.6kpbs to 19.2 kbps, 4.8 kbps data to 9.6
kbps, etc.

2. Repetition circuit: Repeats coded symbols, so lower rate encoded data

is increased from 9.6, 4.8 or 2.4 kbps to 19.2 kbps.

3. Block Interleaver: Reads data into the rows of a 24 x 16 array, and out
of the columns; introduces a 20 msec delay, but spreads important bits (as
produced by modern speech encoders) over time as proof against deep
fades or noise bursts.

4. Data scrambling :The data are Modulo 2 added to every 64 th bit of a

pseudo-noise (PN) sequence created from a 42 bit shift register. (The
resulting 242-1 bits repeat once per century after initiation.) The data rate
at this point is still 19.2 kbps.

5. Power control : Every 1.25 msec, or 24 data symbols, a power control bit
is inserted, in order to instruct the mobile unit to raise or lower its power
(to equalize the power received from every mobile unit in the cell.) The
location of the power control bit is determined from the PN sequence.

6. Orthogonal covering : The 19.2 kbps data are spread with a 1.2288
Mbps Walsh function, so that each one bit data symbol is spread by 64
Walsh chips. The Walsh function provides 64 mutually orthogonal binary
sequences, each of length 64.

7. Quadrature spreading : The data are split into two bit streams, which
are Modulo 2 added to two different but well defined “Pilot” pseudo-noise
sequences generated from 15 bit shift registers. The code repeats 75
times every 2 seconds, or at 26.7 msec intervals.

8. Quadrature modulation : The binary I and Q outputs are mapped onto

four phases of a quadrature modulator, at ±π/4 and ±3π/4, using
quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK).

9. RF modulation : The baseband quadrature data are raised to the

forward cellular radio band, 869 to 894 MHz. The IS-95 channel occupies
 1.25 MHz within this band, the rest of which is occupied by other cellular
services such as AMPS.

Fig.6.7: Reverse CDMA Channel

Reverse channel transmission sequence:

Reverse CDMA channel is shown in figure 6.7.

1. Speech encoder : Produces nominal 9600 bps data stream, dynamically

reduced to 4800, 2400, or 1200 bps during pauses and gaps in speech;
quiet periods correspond to 1200 bps data.

2. Convolution encoder :Encodes the data from one stream to three,

tripling the data rate from 9.6 kpbs to 28.8 kbps, 4.8 kbps data to 14.4
kbps, etc.
3. Repetition circuit: Repeats coded symbols, so lower rate encoded data
is increased from 9.6, 4.8 or 2.4 kbps to 19.2 kbps.

4. Block Interleaver : Reads data into the columns of a 32 x 18 array, and

out of the rows; introduces a 20 msec delay, but spreads important bits
over time as proof against deep fades or noise bursts.

5. Orthogonal mapping : The 28.8 kbps data are split into sequential sets
of six bits each, which are mapped to one of 64 Walsh functions. The data
rate is therefore raised to 28.8 k x 64 chips/ 6 bits = 307.2 kpbs.

6. Burst Randomizing:The Walsh symbols are broken into groups of six,

each group being 1.25 msec in duration. These are collected into frames
of 16 power groups, or 1.25 msec x 16 = 20 msec. At 9600 bps, all 16
groups are transmitted; at 4800 bps, 8 randomly selected groups are
transmitted; at 2400 bps, 4 groups; at 1200 bps, 2 groups. The
transmitted groups are chosen randomly, according to a formula based on
14 bits of the PN sequence of the second last group in the previous frame.

7. Direct sequence spreading : The data are Modulo 2 added to every bit
of a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence created from a 42 bit shift register. The
PN sequence is generated at 1.2288 MHz, so each Walsh chip is spread by
four long code PN chips.

8. Quadrature spreading: The data are split into two bit streams, which
are Modulo 2 added to two different but well defined “Pilot” pseudo-noise
sequences generated from 15 bit shift registers.

9. Quadrature modulation : The binary I and Q outputs are mapped onto

four phases of a quadrature modulator, at ±π/4 and ±3π/4, using offset
quadrature phase shift keying (OQPSK). (The Q channel is shifted by half a
chip for improved spectral shaping.)

[Link] modulation: The baseband quadrature data are raised to the reverse
cellular radio band, 824 to 849 MHz. The IS-95 channel occupies 1.25 MHz
within this band, the rest of which is occupied by other cellular services such
as AMPS.
 UNIT-6 CMC

Assignment–Cum-Tutorial Questions

Section-A

1. Which of the following is the world’s first cellular system to specify

digital modulation and network level architecture?
a) GSM
b) AMPS
c) CDMA
d) IS-54

2. Which of the following does not come under the teleservices of

GSM?
a) Standard mobile telephony
b) Mobile originated traffic
c) Base originated traffic
d) Packet switched traffic

3. Which of the following memory device stores information such as

subscriber’s identification number in GSM?
a) Register
b) Flip flop
c) SIM
d) SMS

4. Which of the following feature makes impossible to eavesdrop on

GSM radio transmission?
a) SIM
b) On the air privacy
c) SMS
d) Packet switched traffic

5. Which of the following does not come under subsystem of GSM

architecture?
a) BSS
 b) NSS
c) OSS
d) Channel

6. Which of the following subsystem provides radio transmission

between mobile station and MSC?
a) BSS
b) NSS
c) OSS
d) BSC

7. The type of modulation that GSM uses

a)GMSK b)BPSK c)QPSK d)b and c

8. The following technology does not require the SIM card

a)CDMA B)GSM c)BOTH d)FDMA

9. 3G technology is a combination of

a)SDMA and TDMA b)GSM and WCDMA c)FDMA and GSM d)None

Section B

1. Draw the architecture of GSM and explain each block.

2. What are modes of different GSM channels?

3. List out different GSM channels.

4. Draw different GSM bursts.

5. Draw the frame structure of TDMA.

6. List salient features of CDMA cellular system.

7. Explain the sequence of steps in forward CDMA channel

transmission with a diagram.

8. Explain the sequence of steps in reverse CDMA channel

transmission with a diagram.