SESSION 1

RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION

1.0 Radio-wave Propagation Overview

Radio communication is established between two distant points when radio waves leaving a conductor of
suitable length (a transmitting antenna) are picked up at the receiving end by another conductor of suitable
length (the receiving antenna). The transmitting antenna radiates RF power into free space, in the form of
an electromagnetic wave. The electromagnetic wave travels with the speed of light.
Thus, in a radio communication system, the propagation of the modulated signal is accomplished by
means of a transmitting antenna whose major functions are:
(i) To convert the electrical modulated signal into an electromagnetic field. In this capacity, the
transmitting antenna acts as an “impedance-transforming’ transducer, matching the impedance
of the antenna to that of free space.
(ii) To radiate the electromagnetic energy in desired directions.
At the receiver, the receiving antenna whose function is the opposite of that of the transmitting antenna
converts the electromagnetic field into an electrical signal from which the modulated signal is extracted.
In addition, the receiving antenna may be required to suppress radiation originating from directions where
it is not wanted.
Signals are affected in many ways by objects in their path and by the media through which they travel.
Radio signal propagation is thus of vital importance to anyone designing or operating a radio system. The
properties of the path by which the radio signals will propagate govern the level and quality of the received
signal. Reflection, refraction, diffraction etc. may occur. The resultant signal may also be a combination
of several signals that have travelled by different paths. These may add constructively or destructively,
and in addition to this the signals travelling via different paths may be delayed causing a distortion of the
resultant signal. It is therefore very important to know the likely radio propagation characteristics that are
likely to prevail.
The distances over which radio signals may propagate vary considerably. There are different ranges to
consider including:
 Transmission range: Within a certain radius of the transmitting antenna, transmission is possible,
that is, a receiver receives the signals with an error rate low enough to be able to communicate and
can also act as sender.
 Detection range: Within this radius (larger than the transmission radius), detection of the
transmission is possible, that is, the transmitted power is large enough to differ from background
noise. However, the error rate is too high to establish communication.
 Interference range: Within a third even larger radius, the sender may interfere with other transmission
by adding to the background noise. A receiver will not be able to detect the signals, but the signal
may disturb other signals.

1.1 Radio Propagation Modes

There are a number of modes or paths by which the radio waves travel from transmitting antenna to
receiving antenna. These relate to the effects of the media through which the signals propagate. The more
important of these modes are:

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 Ground wave propagation: A ground or surface wave travels from transmitting antenna to the
receiving antenna along the surface of the earth, and tends to follow the earth's curvature, as depicted
in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Ground wave Propagation

The earth being a good conductor of electricity absorbs electrical energy from the ground wave as it
glides along the surface of the earth. Energy is also absorbed from the ground wave by intervening
objects like trees, buildings and hills etc. The wave therefore gets weaker and weaker as it travels
along the surface of the earth till it is no longer useful. The distance over which the ground wave can
provide good communication is, therefore, limited. The absorption of energy also depends on the
frequency of the ground wave, that is, the absorption increases with the frequency of the radio waves.
Ground-wave propagation is strongest at the low- and medium frequency ranges, up to about 2 MHz.
The best known example of ground wave communication is AM radio.
 Sky wave propagation: A sky-wave signal is one that is radiated by the antenna into the upper reaches
of the atmosphere (ionosphere) where it is bent or reflected back to earth. Here the radio signals are
modified and influenced by the action of the free electrons which were liberated by ultraviolet
radiation from the sun. This effect is most pronounced in the 2 – 30 MHz range. Many international
broadcasts such as BBC, DW-TV, and VOA, as well as amateur radio use these sky waves.

Figure 1.2: Ionospheric Propagation

 Line-of-sight propagation (LOS): This method of propagation is by direct or space waves. A direct
wave travels in a straight line directly from the transmitting antenna to the receiving antenna. They
are neither reflected nor do they follow the curvature of the earth. Line-of-sight communications by
direct wave is characteristic of most radio signals with a frequency above approximately 30 MHz.
This is particularly true of VHF, UHF and microwave signals. Mobile phone systems, satellite
systems, cordless telephones etc. use these frequencies.

In addition to these categories, many short range radio communications or wireless systems have radio
propagation scenarios that do not fit neatly into these categories. Many mobile communications systems
along with Wi-Fi and cellular systems for example need to have their radio propagation models generated
for office, or urban situations.

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1.1.1 Areas That Affect Radio Propagation
Different areas of the atmosphere and other areas affect radio propagation and radio communications
signals. As realised, radio signals travel by several means and have a lot of interaction in the course of
propagation. Some of these are impairments that tend to affect the signal in its travels. Some are as listed
below.

1.1.2 Impairments
 Attenuation
 Shadowing
 Fading
 Reflection
 Free space loss
 Noise
 Atmospheric absorption
 Multipath
 Refraction

Attenuation
 Strength of signal falls off with distance over transmission medium
 Attenuation factors for unguided media:
o Received signal must have sufficient strength so that circuitry in the receiver can interpret
the signal
o Signal must maintain a level sufficiently higher than noise to be received without error

Shadowing
 It is an extreme form of attenuation, which involves blocking of radio signals due to large obstacles
 Signals with higher frequencies behave like light where even small obstacles like walls may block
the signal.

Fading:
 It describes variations in signal strength that occur at a receiver during the time a signal is being
received. Fading may occur at any point where both the ground wave and the sky wave are received.
The two waves may arrive out of phase, thus producing a cancellation of the usable signal.
Reflection
 Occurs when a propagating EM wave impinges upon a smooth surface with very large dimensions
compared to the RF signal wavelength (λ), e.g. huge buildings, mountains, surface of the earth etc.
 The incident wave bounces back without penetrating the media but the reflected signal is not as strong
as the original, as objects can absorb some of the signal’s power.
 Ray attenuates by factors that depend on the frequency, angle of incidence, nature of medium (material
properties, thickness etc.)

Diffraction
 It is the bending of the wave path when the waves meet an obstruction.
 Occurs when the radio path between the transmitter and receiver is obstructed by a dense body with
large dimensions compared to λ, causing secondary waves to be formed behind the obstructing body.
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 Accounts for RF energy travelling from transmitter to receiver without an LOS path between the two.
 Results in propagation into shadowed regions since the diffracted field can reach the receiver which
is not in line-of-sight of the transmitter.
 Suffers a loss much greater than that experienced by reflection or transmission because it is more of
a secondary source.

Scattering
 This occurs when a radio wave impinges on either a large rough surface or any surface whose
dimensions are on the order of λ or less, causing the reflected energy to spread out (scatter) in all
directions.
 In an urban environment, typical signal obstructions that yield scattering are lampposts, street signs,
and foliage.

1.2 Radiowave Propagation and the Atmosphere

The way that radio signals propagate, or travel from the radio transmitter to the radio receiver is governed
to a great degree by the regions of the atmosphere through which they pass. Without the action of the
atmosphere it would not be possible for radio communications signals to travel around the globe on the
short wave bands, or travel greater than only the line of sight distance at higher frequencies.

1.3 Layers of the Atmosphere

The atmosphere can be split up into a variety of different layers according to their properties. The lowest
is the troposphere that extends to a height of 10 kilometres. Above this, at altitudes between 10 and 50
km is the stratosphere. This contains the ozone layer at a height of around 20 km. Above the stratosphere,
is the mesosphere extending from an altitude of 50 km to 80 km, and above this is the thermosphere where
temperatures rise dramatically.
There are two main layers that are of interest from a radio communications viewpoint. The first is the
troposphere that tends to affect radio frequencies above 30 MHz. The second is the ionosphere. This is a
region which crosses over the boundaries of the meteorological layers and extends from around 60 km up
to 700 km. Here the air becomes ionised, producing ions and free electrons. The free electrons affect radio
communications and radio signals at certain frequencies, typically those radio frequencies below 30 MHz,
often bending them back to Earth so that they can be heard over vast distances around the world.

1.3.1 Troposphere
The lowest of the layers of the atmosphere is the troposphere. This extends from ground level to an altitude
of 10 km. It is within this region that the effects that govern our weather occur. It is found that low clouds
occur at altitudes of up to 2 km whereas medium level clouds extend to about 4 km. The highest clouds
are found at altitudes up to 10 km whereas modern jet airliners fly above this at altitudes of up to 15 km.
Within the troposphere there is generally a steady fall in temperature with height and this has a distinct
bearing on some radio propagation modes and radio communications that occur in this region. The fall in
temperature continues in the troposphere until the tropopause is reached. This is the area where the
temperature gradient levels out and then the temperature starts to rise. At this point the temperature is
around -500 C.
The refractive index of the air in the troposphere plays a dominant role in radio signal propagation and
the radio communications applications that use tropospheric radiowave propagation. This depends on the
temperature, pressure and humidity. When radio communications signals are affected this often occurs at
altitudes up to 2 km.

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 Figure 1.3: Regions of the Atmosphere

1.3.2 The Ionosphere

The ionosphere is an area where there is a very high level of free electrons and ions. It is found that the
free electrons affect radio waves and hence they have a marked effect on radio communications in many
instances. Although there are low levels of ions and electrons at all altitudes, the number starts to rise
noticeably at an altitude of around 30 km. However it is not until an altitude of approximately 60 km is
reached that it rises to a sufficient degree to have a major effect on radio signals.
The overall way in which the ionosphere operates involves ultraviolet radiation from the sun striking the
molecules in the upper atmosphere. This radiation is sufficiently intense that when it strikes the gas
molecules some electrons are given sufficient energy to leave the molecular structure. This leaves a
molecule with a deficit of an electron or an ion, and a free electron.
At very high altitudes the gases are very thin and only low levels of ionisation are created. As the radiation
penetrates further into the atmosphere the density of the gases increases and accordingly the numbers of
molecules being ionised increase. However when molecules are ionised the energy in the radiation is
reduced, and even though the gas density is higher at lower altitudes the degree of ionisation becomes
less because of the reduction of the level of ultraviolet light.
The ionosphere is often thought of as a number of distinct layers in terms of its radio communications
properties. Whilst it is very convenient to think of the layers as separate, in reality this is not quite true.
Each layer overlaps the others with the whole of the ionosphere having some level of ionisation. These
layers are given designations D, E, and F1 and F2.

Description of the Layers in the Ionosphere

D layer: The D layer is the lowest of the layers of the ionosphere. It exists at altitudes around 60 to 90
km. It is present during the day when radiation is received from the sun. However the density of the air
at this altitude means that ions and electrons recombine relatively quickly. This means that after sunset,
electron levels fall and the layer effectively disappears. This layer tends to attenuate signals that pass
through it.
E layer: The next layer is the E layer. This exists at an altitude of between 100 and 125 km. This layer
reflects radio signals and also undergoes some attenuation. In view of its altitude and the density of the
air, electrons and positive ions recombine relatively quickly. This occurs at a rate of about 4 times that of
the F layers that are higher up where the air is less dense. This means that after nightfall the layer virtually
disappears although there is still some residual ionisation. There are a number of methods by which the
ionisation in this layer is generated. It depends on factors including the altitude within the layer, the state

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of the sun, and the latitude. However X-rays and ultraviolet produce a large amount of the ionisation light,
especially that with very short wavelengths.
F layer: The F layer is the most important region for long distance HF communications. During the day
it splits into two separate layers. These are the F1 and F2 layers, the F1 being lower than F2. At night these
two layers merge to give one layer (F layer). The altitudes of the layers vary considerably with the time
of day, season and the state of the sun. Like the D and E layers, the level of ionisation falls at night, but
in view of the much lower air density, the ions and electrons combine much slowly and the F layer decays
much less. Accordingly it is able to support radio communications, although changes are experienced
because of the lessening of the ionisation levels. The figures for the altitude of the F layers are more
variable than those for the lower layers, changing greatly with time and the state of the Sun.

1.4 Concept of Free Space Propagation Model for Mobile Communication

The free space propagation model is a model which is used to predict received signal strength at a
particular location when the transmitter and receiver have a clear, unobstructed line-of-sight path between
them. For example, satellite communication systems and microwave line-of-sight radio links, typically
undergo free space propagation. Like other most large-scale radio-wave propagation models, the free
space radio-waves propagation model predicts that the received power decays as a function of the
transmitter-receiver separation distance raised to some power (i.e. a power law function).

Some Other Terminologies Associated with Radio Propagation

1.4.1 Wavefront
It is a plane joining all points of equal phase.

1.4.2 Isotropic Point Source

It is a point source in free space where E-M waves are radiated equally (uniformly) in all directions. This
results in a spherical wavefront. Although the wavefront is spherical in nature, any small area of it at a
large distance from the point source can be thought of as a plane wavefront.

Wavefront 3

Wavefront 4
Wavefront 1

Wavefront 2

Figure 1.4: Radiation of EM waves

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1.4.3 Power Density
The signal strength received from sound, radio and light transmitters reduces as the distance from the
transmitter increases. In free space, all EM waves obey the inverse square law which states that:
The power density of an EM wave is proportional to the inverse of the square of r (where r is the distance
or radius from the source). It may be defined as the radiated power per unit area.

Mathematically,
Considering an isotropic source radiating a total power denoted by 𝑃𝑇 measured in watts, the radiated
power passes uniformly through a sphere of surface area 4𝜋𝑟 2, where r is the distance (in metres) from
the source. The power density denoted by 𝜌 (in watts per square metre), at any point on the surface of the
sphere is given by
𝑃𝑇
𝜌= (1.1)
4𝜋𝑟 2
PT = transmitted power
From figure 1.4 if wavefront 2 is twice the distance of wavefront 1 from the source, then its power density
is just one-fourth that of the wavefront 1. This means, doubling the distance from a transmitter means that
the power density of the radiated wave at that new location is reduced to one quarter of its previous value.

Example 1.1
Calculate the power density in watts per square meter on (earth) from a 10W satellite source that is 24,000
miles from earth.

Solution 1.1
𝑃𝑇 = 10 𝑊, 𝑟 = 24,000 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠 = 24,000 × 1.609 × 1000 𝑚 = 38,616,000m
𝑃𝑇 10
𝜌= =
4𝜋𝑟 2 4𝜋×(38616000)2

= 5.34 × 10−16 𝑊/𝑚2

Example 1.2
At 20 km in free space from an isotropic source, the power density is 200 𝜇𝑊/𝑚2 , calculate the power
density 30 km away from this source.

Solution 1.2
𝑟1 = 20 𝑘𝑚; 𝜌1 = 200 𝜇𝑊/𝑚2 ;
𝑃𝑇 𝑃𝑇
Power density, 𝜌 = ⟹ 200 × 10−6 =
4𝜋𝑟 2 4𝜋(20×103 )2
⟹ 𝑃𝑇 = 4𝜋 × 8 × 104
Hence at a distance 30 𝑘𝑚
4𝜋×8×104
𝜌=
4𝜋(30×103 )2

= 88.89 𝜇𝑊/𝑚2

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Example 1.3
For satisfactory communication between a certain satellite and ground station, a minimum received power
required is 3.7 × 10−12 𝑊 . The equivalent area of the receiving antenna used at ground station is
8000 𝑚2. Assuming that the satellite is at a height of 36000 𝑘𝑚, from ground, calculate the transmitted
power required from the satellite.

Solution 1.3
𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 3.7×10−12
𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝜌 = = 𝑊/𝑚2
𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 8000
𝑃𝑇
Now, power density, 𝜌 =
4𝜋𝑟 2

∴ 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑃𝑇 = 𝜌 × 4𝜋𝑟 2

3.7×10−12
= × 4𝜋 × (36000 × 103 )2
8000
= 7.532 𝑊

1.4.4 Characteristic (Surge) Impedance

A transmission line’s characteristic impedance, also variously called surge impedance or resistance is a
special characteristic that is not affected by either the line’s length or the frequency at which the line is
operated.
The characteristic impedance of any transmission line is determined by the distributed inductance (of the
conductors) and the distributed capacitance (between the conductors) of the line.

1.4.5 Characteristic Impedance of Free Space

The strength of the electric field, ε (in volts per metre), at a distance, r, from a point source is given by
√30𝑃𝑇
𝜀= (1.2)
𝑟
PT = originally transmitted power (in watts)

Now, power density, ρ, and the electric field, ε are related to impedance in the same way that power and
voltage relate in an electric circuit. Thus
𝜀2
𝜌= (1.3)
𝜏
Where,𝝉, is the characteristic impedance of the medium conducting the wave.
For free space, substituting equations (1.1) and (1.2) into (1.3)
2
√30𝑃𝑇 30𝑃𝑇
( )
𝑟 𝑟2
𝜏= 𝑃𝑇 = 𝑃𝑇
4𝜋𝑟2 4𝜋𝑟2

= 120𝜋 or 𝜏 = 377Ω

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Also,
The characteristic impedance of an EM wave-conducting medium is provided by

𝜇
𝜏=√ (1.4)
𝜀
Where, 𝜇, is the medium’s permeability and, 𝜀, is the medium’s permittivity
Now for free space
𝜇0 = 1.26 × 10−6 𝐻/𝑚 and 𝜀0 = 8.85 × 10−12 𝐹/𝑚

𝜇 1.26×10−6
𝜏=√ =√
𝜀 8.85×10−12

𝜏 = 377Ω

Thus free space has characteristic impedance just as does a transmission line.

1.4.6 Antenna Gain and Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP)

Antenna gain gives a measure of the gain of the antenna with respect to a reference antenna, usually an
𝜆
isotropic radiator and sometimes the half-wave dipole, 2 antenna.

ρi W/m2

Antenna
ρα
ρ
W/m2
ρ

Figure 1.5: Isotropic radiator Figure 1.6: Radiation diagram of antenna

(radiates equally in all directions)

With reference to an isotropic radiator,

𝜌𝛼
𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐺 =
𝜌𝑖
Where 𝜌𝛼 = power density radiated by the antenna in the given direction
𝜌𝑖 = power density radiated by an isotropic radiator,
at the same distance and when both antennas are fed with the same power.

Thus at a distance r metres when the power supplied to an antenna of gain G is P watts, then
𝑃
The isotropic power density at r, 𝜌𝑖 =
4𝜋𝑟 2
And the power density of the actual antenna at r,
𝐺𝑃
𝜌𝛼 = 𝐺𝜌𝑖 = (1.5)
4𝜋𝑟 2

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The product of antenna gain and total radiated power, GP is known as the effective isotropic radiated
power (EIRP).
The product expresses the maximum power radiated by the antenna in the given direction as if it were
acting as an isotropic source.
𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 = 𝐺 × 𝑃 [antenna gain x radiated power] (1.6)
Antenna gain and EIRP are usually quoted in dBs and dBWs
Antenna gain 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝐺
EIRP in dBW = 10 log (GP) dBW

Example 1.4
a) Define the term effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP).
b) A transmitting antenna has a gain of 30 dB and transmits an output power level of 200 W.
Calculate the EIRP.

Solution 1.4
a) 𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 = 𝐺 × 𝑃
Where G = antenna gain and P = total power radiated
b) 𝑃𝑡 = 200 𝑊, 𝐺𝑡 = 30 𝑑𝐵 = 1030⁄10 = 1000 𝑊

𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 = 200 × 1000

= 200000 W or 53 dBW

1.4.7 Effective Aperture of an Antenna and Relation with Gain

Effective aperture, 𝐴𝑒 , is that fictitious area which acts as a total absorber of radiation and receives a
power equal to that actually received by the antenna and which is transferred to a receiver correctly
matched to the antenna.
Effective aperture is directly related to antenna gain and is given by
4𝜋
𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝐺 = 𝐴𝑒 1.7
𝜆2
Where λ = wavelength of radiated power
Now, if
A = physical area of antenna aperture
𝜂 = aperture efficiency (also known as illumination efficiency or antenna efficiency)
Then 𝐴𝑒 = 𝜂𝐴
4𝜋
Hence gain, 𝐺 = (𝜂𝐴)
𝜆2

Example 1.5
Calculate the effective aperture and gain of a parabolic dish of diameter, D = 2.4m at a frequency of 6
GHz. The aperture/illumination efficiency of the antenna is 55%

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Solution 1.5
𝜋𝐷2 𝜋×2.42
Physical area of antenna aperture, 𝐴 = = = 4.52 m2
4 4
Effective aperture, Ae = 𝜂A = 0.55 x 4.52
= 2.49 m2
𝑐 3×108
Wavelength, 𝜆 = = = 0.05𝑚
𝑓 6×109
4𝜋 4×3.142×2.49
Antenna gain, 𝐺 = 2 (𝜂𝐴) =
𝜆 0.052
G = 12,516
In dB, = 10 log 𝐺 = 41𝑑𝐵

1.4.8 Friss Free-Space Equation

𝜆 2
𝑃𝑅 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 𝐺𝑅 × ( ) (1.8)
4𝜋𝑟

Where
PT = transmitter power GT = transmitter antenna gain
𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 = effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) GR = receiver antenna gain 𝑟=
distance between transmitting and receiving antennas 𝜆 = wavelength of the carrier signal

Derivation:
𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇
Power density at receiver, 𝜌𝑟 =
4𝜋𝑟 2
Total power picked up by receiver antenna is the product of this power density and the antenna’s effective
area denoted by 𝐴𝑒 i.e.
𝑃𝑅 = 𝜌𝑟 × 𝐴𝑒 (1.9)
But effective aperture is related to gain as
4𝜋 𝜆2
𝐺𝑅 = 𝐴𝑒 or 𝐴𝑒 = 𝐺𝑅
𝜆2 4𝜋

𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 𝜆2 𝜆 2
𝑃𝑅 = × 𝐺𝑅 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × ( ) × 𝐺𝑅
4𝜋𝑟 2 4𝜋 4𝜋𝑟
Equation (1.8) is the Friss free-space equation.

1.4.9 Path Loss for the Free Space Model

The free space path loss is used in many areas for predicting radio signal strengths expected in a radio
system. Although it does not hold for most terrestrial situations, it is still useful in several situations. It is
also useful as the basis for understanding many real life radio propagation situations.
The path loss model is a basic parameter for many RF calculations. For example, it can be used as a first
approximation for many short range calculations or as a first approximation for a number of areas where
there are few obstructions.

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Free Space Path Loss (FSPL) Basics
FSPL is the loss in signal strength when an electromagnetic wave travels over a line-of-sight path in free
space. Thus there are no obstacles that might cause the signal to be reflected refracted, or cause additional
attenuation.
The FSPL calculations only look at the loss of the path itself. Other factors relating to transmitter power,
antenna gains or the receiver sensitivity levels are normally addressed when calculating a link budget.
To understand the free space path loss, imagine a signal spreading out from a transmitter. It moves away
from the source spreading out in the form of a sphere. As it does so, the surface area of the sphere
increases. As this will follow the law of the conservation of energy, as the surface area of the sphere
increases, so the intensity of the signal must decrease. Hence, it is found that the signal decreases in a
way that is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of the radio signal.
𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙 = 1⁄(𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)2 (1.10)

Free Space Path Loss Formula

(i) The path loss is proportional to the square of the distance between the transmitter and receiver.
(ii) The signal level is also proportional to the square of the frequency in use.
𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿 = (4𝜋𝑟⁄𝜆)2 = (4𝜋𝑟𝑓 ⁄𝑐 )2 (1.11)
Where: 𝑟 is the distance of the receiver from the transmitter (metres)
λ is the signal wavelength (metres)
𝑓 is the signal frequency (Hertz)
𝑐 is the speed of light in a vacuum (metres per second)
In dB
𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿 (𝑑𝐵) = 20 log10 (𝑟) + 20 log10 (𝑓) + 32.44 (1.12)
Where
𝑟 is the distance of the receiver from the transmitter (km)
𝑓 is the signal frequency (MHz)

Effect of Antenna Gain on Path Loss Equation

Equation (1.12) does not include any component for antenna gains. It is assumed that the antenna gain is
unity for both the transmitter and receiver. In reality, though, all antennas will have a certain amount of
gain and this will have an overall effect. Any antenna gain will reduce the "loss" when compared to a
unity gain system.
The path loss for the free space model when antenna gains are included can be expressed as
𝑃
𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿(𝑑𝐵) = 10 log10 (𝑃𝑇 )
𝑅

𝐺𝑇 𝐺𝑅 𝜆2
⟹ 𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿(𝑑𝐵) = −10 log10 ( )
(4𝜋)2 𝑟 2

4𝜋𝑟 2
𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿(𝑑𝐵) = −10 log10 (𝐺𝑇 𝐺𝑅 ) + 10 log10 ( ) (1.13)
𝜆
Or 𝐹𝑆𝑃𝐿 (𝑑𝐵) = 20 log10 (𝑟) + 20 log10 (𝑓) + 32.44 − 𝐺𝑇 − 𝐺𝑅 (1.14)

12
NB:
(i) The minus sign associated with the first term in equation (1.13) signifies the fact that this term
represents a “gain”
(ii) Increasing the distance r separating the receiving antenna from the transmitting antenna causes
the free-space loss to increase, which in turn, compels the radio communication link to be operated
at lower frequencies so as to maintain the path loss at a manageable level.
(iii) The Friss free-space equation enables us to calculate the path loss for specified values of power
gains 𝐺𝑇 and 𝐺𝑅 , the carrier wavelength, 𝜆, and distance, 𝑟.

Equation (1.14) is an essential tool that is required when making calculations for radio and wireless
systems either manually or within applications such as wireless survey tools, etc. It helps to determine the
signal strengths that may be expected in many scenarios. It is also applicable to satellite systems where
the paths conform closely to the totally free space scenarios.

13
 SESSION 2
SHADOWING AND RAYLEIGH FADING LOSSES

2.0 Radio Signal Path Loss

Radio signal path loss is an important element in the design of any radio communications system or
wireless system. The radio signal path loss will determine many elements of the radio communications
system in particular the transmitter power, and the antennas, especially their gain, height and general
location. The radio path loss will also affect other elements such as the required receiver sensitivity, the
form of transmission used and several other factors.
The signal path loss can often be determined mathematically and these calculations are often undertaken
when preparing coverage or system design activities. These depend on knowledge of the signal
propagation properties.
Accordingly, path loss calculations are used in many radio and wireless survey tools for determining
signal strength at various locations. These wireless survey tools are being increasingly used to help
determine what radio signal strengths will be, before installing the equipment. For cellular operators radio
coverage surveys are important because the investment in a macrocell base station is high. Also, wireless
survey tools provide a very valuable service for applications such as installing wireless LAN systems in
large offices and other centres because they enable problems to be solved before installation, enabling
costs to be considerably reduced. Accordingly there is an increasing importance being placed onto
wireless survey tools and software.

2.1 Signal Path Loss Basics

The signal path loss is essentially the reduction in power density of an electromagnetic wave or signal as
it propagates through the environment in which it is travelling.
There are many reasons for the radio path loss that may occur:
 Free space loss: It occurs as the signal travels through space. Without any other effects attenuating
the signal it will still diminish as it spreads out. This can be thought of as the radio communications
signal spreading out as an ever increasing sphere. As the signal has to cover a wider area, conservation
of energy tells us that the energy in any given area will reduce as the area covered becomes larger.
 Absorption losses: This occur if the radio signal passes into a medium which is not totally transparent
to radio signals. This can be likened to a light signal passing through transparent glass.
 Diffraction: Diffraction losses occur when an object appears in the path. The signal can diffract
around the object, but losses occur. The more rounded the object the higher the loss. Radio signals
tend to diffract better around sharp edges.
 Multipath: In a real terrestrial environment, signals will be reflected and they will reach the receiver
via a number of different paths. These signals may add or subtract from each other depending upon
the relative phases of the signals. If the receiver is moved the scenario will change and the overall
received signal will be found to vary with position. Mobile receivers (e.g. cellular phones) will be
subject to this effect which is known as Rayleigh fading.
 Terrain: The terrain over which signals travel has a significant effect on the signal. Thus hills which
obstruct the path will considerably attenuate the signal, often making reception impossible.
Additionally at low frequencies the composition of the earth will have a marked effect. For example
on the Long Wave band, it is found that signals travel best over more conductive terrain, e.g. sea paths
or over areas that are marshy or damp. Dry sandy terrain gives higher levels of attenuation.
 Buildings and vegetation: For mobile applications, buildings and other obstructions including
vegetation have a marked effect. Not only will buildings reflect radio signals, they will also absorb

14
 them. Cellular communications are often significantly impaired within buildings. Trees and foliage
can attenuate radio signals, particularly when wet.
 Atmosphere: The atmosphere can affect radio signal paths. At lower frequencies (30 – 50 MHz), the
ionosphere has a significant effect, reflecting (or more correctly refracting) them back to Earth. At
frequencies above 50 MHz the troposphere has a major effect, refracting the signals back to earth as
a result of changing refractive index. For UHF broadcast this can extend coverage to approximately a
third beyond the horizon.
These reasons represent some of the major elements causing signal path loss for any radio system.

2.2 Predicting Path Loss

One of the key reasons for understanding the various elements affecting radio signal path loss is to be
able to predict the loss for a given path, or to predict the coverage that may be achieved for a particular
base station, broadcast station, etc.
Although prediction or assessment can be fairly accurate for the free space scenarios, for real life
terrestrial applications it is not easy as there are many factors to take into consideration, and it is not
always possible to gain accurate assessments of the effects they will have. Despite this, there are wireless
survey tools and radio coverage prediction software programs that are available to predict radio path loss
and estimate coverage. A variety of methods are used to undertake this.
Most path loss prediction models are derived making use of a combination of analytical and empirical
schemes. The empirical approach is based upon fitting curves or analytical expressions which recreate a
set of measured data. This has the advantage of taking into account all propagation factors, both known
and unknown, through actual field measurements. Over a period of time, few classical propagation models
have been invented, that are now utilised to predict large-scale coverage for mobile communication
systems design. Most path loss predictions are made using techniques outlined below:
 Statistical methods: Statistical methods of predicting signal path loss rely on measured and averaged
losses for typical types of radio links. These figures are entered into the prediction model which is
able to calculate the figures based around the data. A variety of models can be used dependent upon
the application. This type of approach is normally used for planning cellular networks, estimating the
coverage of PMR (Private Mobile Radio) links and for broadcast coverage planning.
 Deterministic approach: This approach to radio signal path loss and coverage prediction utilises the
basic physical laws as the basis for the calculations. These methods need to take into consideration
all the elements within a given area and although they tend to give more accurate results, they require
much additional data and computational power. In view of their complexity, they tend to be used for
short range links where the amount of required data falls within acceptable limits.

2.2.1 Path Loss Models for Megacellular Areas

Megacellular areas are those where the communication is over extremely large cells spanning hundreds
of kilometres. Megacells are mostly served by mobile satellites (usually low-earth orbiting – LEO). The
path loss is usually the same as that of free space, but the fading characteristics are somewhat different.

2.2.2 Path Loss Models for Macrocellular Areas

They span a few kilometres to tens of kilometres, depending on the location. These are the traditional
“cells” corresponding to the coverage area of a base station associated with traditional cellular telephony
base stations. The frequency of operation is mostly around 900 MHz, but that of 1800 to 1900 MHz are
also considered for such cells. There have been extensive measurements in a number of cities and
locations of the received signal strength in a macrocellular areas. The most popular of these measurements
being that of Okumura who determined a set of path loss curves as a function of distance in 1968 for a
range of frequencies between 100 MHz and 1920 MHz. Okumura also identified the height of the base
15
station antenna, ℎ𝑏 , and the height of the mobile antenna, ℎ𝑚 as important parameters. Masaharu-Hata
created empirical which was a good fit to the measurements taken by Okumura for transmitter – receiver
separations 𝑑 of more than 1 𝑘𝑚. The expressions for path loss developed by Hata are called the Okumura
– Hata models or simply the Hata models. Table 2.1 provides these models.

Table 2.1: Okumura – Hata Models for Macrocellular Path Loss

General Formulation:
𝐿𝑝 = 69.55 + 26.16 log 𝑓 − 13.82 log ℎ𝑏 − 𝑎(ℎ𝑚 ) + [44.9 − 6.55 log ℎ𝑏 ] log 𝑑 (I)
Where 𝑓 is in MHz, ℎ𝑏 and ℎ𝑚 are in metres, and 𝑑 is in km
And 𝑎(ℎ𝑚 ) = antenna height correction factor
Range of Values
Centre frequency, 𝑓 in MHz 150 − 1500 𝑀𝐻𝑧
ℎ𝑏 (in metres) 30 – 200
ℎ𝑚 (in metres) 1 – 10
Large City 150 ≤ 𝑓 ≤ 200 𝑀𝐻𝑧 8.29[log(1.54ℎ𝑚 )]2 − 1.1
𝑎(ℎ𝑚 ) in dB Medium City 200 < 𝑓 ≤ 1500 𝑀𝐻𝑧 3.2 [log(11.75ℎ𝑚 )]2 − 4.97
Small City 150 ≤ 𝑓 < 1,500 𝑀𝐻𝑧 [1.1 log 𝑓 − 0.7]ℎ𝑚 − (1.56 log 𝑓
− 0.8)
Suburban Areas Formulation:
Use equation (I) and subtract correction factor given by:
𝐾𝑟 (𝑑𝐵) = 2[log(𝑓𝑐 )⁄28]2 + 5.4 (II)

Example
Determine the path loss of a 900 𝑀𝐻𝑧 cellular system operating in a Medium city from a base station
with the height of 100 𝑚 and mobile station installed in a vehicle with antenna height of 2 m. The distance
between the mobile and the base station is 4 km.

Solution
𝐿𝑝 = 69.55 + 26.16 log 𝑓 − 13.82 log ℎ𝑏 − 𝑎(ℎ𝑚 ) + [44.9 − 6.55 log ℎ𝑏 ] log 𝑑
And 𝑎(ℎ𝑚 ) = 3.2 [log(11.75ℎ𝑚 )]2 − 4.97
= 3.2 [log(11.75 × 2)]2 − 4.97 = 1.045 𝑑𝐵

𝐿𝑝 = 69.55 + 26.16 log 900 − 13.82 log 100 − 1.045 + [44.9 − 6.55 log 100] log 4
= 137.3 dB

2.2.3 Path Loss Models for Microcellular Areas

Microcells are cells that span hundreds of metres to approximately a kilometre and are usually supported
by below rooftop level base station antennas mounted on lampposts or utility poles. They are deployed in
streets in urban areas where tall buildings create urban canyons. There is little or no propagation of signals
through buildings, and the propagation characteristics are quite complex, with the signals affected by
reflection from buildings and the ground and scattering from nearby vehicles.

2.3 Multipath Propagation

Multipath propagation represents a real situation in any terrestrial radio scenario. While the direct or line
of sight path is normally the main wanted signal, a radio receiver will receive many signals resulting from
the signal taking a large number of different paths. These paths may be the result of reflections from
buildings, mountains or other reflective surfaces including water, etc. that may be adjacent to the main

16
path. Additionally other effects such as ionospheric reflections give rise to multipath propagation as does
tropospheric ducting.
The multipath propagation resulting from the variety of signal paths that may exist between the transmitter
and receiver can give rise to interference in a variety of ways including distortion of the signal, loss of
data and multipath fading.
At other times, the variety of signal paths arising from the multipath propagation can be used to advantage.
Schemes such as MIMO use multipath propagation to increase the capacity of the channels they use. With
increasing requirements for spectrum efficiency, the use of multipath propagation for technologies such
as MIMO is able to provide significant improvements in channel capacity that is much needed.

2.3.1 Multipath Propagation Basics

Multipath radio signal propagation occurs on all terrestrial radio links. The radio signals not only travel
by the direct line of sight path, but as the transmitted signal does not leave the transmitting antenna in
only the direction of the receiver, but over a range of angles even when a directive antenna is used. As a
result, the transmitted signals spread out from the transmitter and they will reach other objects: hills,
buildings reflective surfaces such as the ground, water, etc. The signals may reflect of a variety of surfaces
and reach the receiving antenna via paths other than the direct line of sight path.

2.3.2 Multipath Fading

Signals are received in a terrestrial environment, i.e. where reflections are present and signals arrive at
the receiver from the transmitter via a variety of paths. The overall signal received is the sum of all the
signals appearing at the antenna. Sometimes these will be in phase with the main signal and will add to
it, increasing its strength. At other times they will interfere with each other. This will result in the overall
signal strength being reduced.
At times there will be changes in the relative path lengths. This could result from either the transmitter or
receiver moving, or any of the objects that provides a reflective surface moving. This will result in the
phases of the signals arriving at the receiver changing, and in turn this will result in the signal strength
varying. It is this that causes the fading that is present on many signals.
It can also be found that the interference may be flat, i.e. applied to all frequencies equally across a given
channel, or it may be selective, i.e. applying more to some frequencies across a channel than others.

2.3.3 Interference Caused By Multipath Propagation

Multipath propagation can give rise to interference that can reduce the signal to noise ratio and reduce bit
error rates for digital signals. One cause of a degradation of the signal quality is the multipath fading
already described. However there are other ways in which multipath propagation can degrade the signal
and affect its integrity.
One of the ways which is particularly obvious is when driving in a car and listening to an FM radio. At
certain points the signal will become distorted and appear to break up. This arises from the fact that the
signal is frequency modulated and at any given time, the frequency of the received signal provides the
instantaneous voltage for the audio output. If multipath propagation occurs, then two or more signals will
appear at the receiver. One is the direct or line-of-sight signal, and another is a reflected signal. As these
will arrive at different times because of the different path lengths, they will have different frequencies,
caused by the fact that the two signals have been transmitted by the transmitter at slightly different times.
Accordingly when the two signals are received together, distortion can arise if they have similar signal
strength levels.
Another form of multipath propagation interference that arises when digital transmissions are used is
known as Inter Symbol Interference, ISI. This arises due to delay caused by the extended path length of
the reflected signal. If the delay is significant proportion of a symbol, then the receiver may receive the
17
direct signal which indicates one part of the symbol or one state, and another signal which is indicating
another logical state. If this occurs, then the data can be corrupted.
One way of overcoming this is to transmit the data at a rate the signal is sampled, only when all the
reflections have arrived and the data is stable. This naturally limits the rate at which data can be
transmitted, but ensures that data is not corrupted and the bit error rate is minimised. To calculate this the
delay time needs to be calculated using estimates of the maximum delays that are likely to be encountered
from reflections.
Using the latest signal processing techniques, a variety of methods can be used to overcome the problems
with multipath propagation and the possibilities of interference.

Figure 2.1: How Inter-symbol Interference Can Be Avoided

2.3.4 OFDM and Multipath Propagation

In order to meet the requirements to transmit large amounts of data over a radio channel, it is necessary
to choose the most appropriate form of signal bearer format. One form of signal which lends itself to radio
data transmissions in an environment where reflections may be present is Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplex, OFDM. An OFDM signal comprises a large number of carriers, each of which are modulated
with a low bit rate data stream. In this way the two contracting requirements for high data rate
transmission, to meet the capacity requirements, and low bit rate to meet the inter-symbol interference
requirements can be met.
Note on OFDM:
OFDM is a form of transmission that uses a large number of close spaced carriers that are modulated with
low rate data. Normally these signals would be expected to interfere with each other, but by making the
signals orthogonal to each another there is no mutual interference. This is achieved by having the carrier
spacing equal to the reciprocal of the symbol period. This means that when the signals are demodulated
they will have a whole number of cycles in the symbol period and their contribution will sum to zero,
thus, there is no interference contribution. The data to be transmitted is split across all the carriers and
this means that by using error correction techniques, if some of the carriers are lost due to multi-path
effects, then the data can be reconstructed. Additionally having data carried at a low rate across all the
carriers means that the effects of reflections and inter-symbol interference can be overcome. It also means
that single frequency networks, where all transmitters can transmit on the same channel can be
implemented. OFDM is the modulation format that is used for many of today's data transmission formats.
The applications include 802.11n Wi-Fi, LTE (Long Term Evolution for 3G cellular
telecommunications), LTE Advanced (4G), WiMAX and many more. The fact that OFDM is being
widely used demonstrates that it is an ideal format to overcome multipath propagation problems.

2.3.5 MIMO
While multipath propagation creates interference for many radio communications systems, it can also be
used to advantage to provide additional capacity on a given channel. Using a scheme known as MIMO,

18
multiple input multiple output, it is possible to multiply the data capacity of a given channel several times
by using the multipath propagation that exists.
Note on MIMO:
MIMO provides a way of utilising the multiple signal paths that exist between a transmitter and receiver
to significantly improve the data throughput available on a given channel with its defined bandwidth. By
using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver along with some complex digital signal processing,
MIMO technology enables the system to set up multiple data streams on the same channel, thereby
increasing the data capacity of a channel.
In view of the advantages that MIMO offers, many current wireless and radio communications schemes
are using it to make far more efficient use of the available spectrum. The disadvantage to MIMO is that
it requires the use of multiple antennas, and with modern portable equipment such as cell phones being
increasingly small, it can be difficult to place two sufficiently spaced antennas onto them.
Multipath propagation is an issue for any radio communications system. Ranging from the short range
wireless communications such as Wi-Fi through the cellular and longer range data schemes such as
WiMAX through to VHF links where tropospheric propagation may affect the signal path, through to HF
systems using the ionosphere for reflections. In all of these systems, the effects of multipath propagation
can be seen and experienced. Any form of communications, therefore has to be able to accommodate the
effects of the multipath propagation in one way or another.

2.4 Multipath Fading

Fading generally refers to the degradation of the signal at the receiver. There are four main fading effects
related to physical conditions:
• Attenuation due to distance;
• Attenuation due to environmental features;
• Multipath fading.
• Rayleigh fading;
Naturally, as a receiver moves away from the transmitter or places large objects between itself and the
transmitter, the signal level will decrease and lower the call quality. When the subscriber moves a
significant distance away from the transmitter, the fading that occurs is called large-scale path loss, as the
attenuation is due to the distance. Shadowing generally refers to a type of fading that occurs when the
subscriber moves behind a large object or perhaps in a tunnel or the like. These two fades are generally
an obstacle to all wireless systems, although some systems are able to overcome the problem easier than
others.
Multipath fading (MF) is another type of fading caused by interference between two or more waves
leaving the transmitter at the same time, but taking different paths to the receiver and thus arriving at the
receiver at different times. This can cause the signals to have different phases as they enter the receiver,
and this will cause a destructive process, lowering the actual received level. It should be understood that
the multipaths can arrive in phase, and thus they would add constructively—a sought-after condition.
MF affects most forms of radio communications links in one form or another. It can be detected on many
signals across the frequency spectrum from the HF bands right up to microwaves and beyond. It is
experienced not only by short wave radio communications where signals fade in and out over a period of
time, but it is also experienced by many other forms of radio communications systems including cellular
telecommunications and many other users of the VHF and UHF spectrum. MF occurs in any environment
where there is multipath propagation and there is some movement of elements within the radio
communications system.
This may include the radio transmitter or receiver position, or in the elements that give rise to the
reflections. The multipath fading can often be relatively deep, i.e. the signals fade completely away,
whereas at other times the fading may not cause the signal to fall below a useable strength.
19
MF may also cause distortion to the radio signal. As the various paths that can be taken by the signals
vary in length, the signal transmitted at a particular instance will arrive at the receiver over a spread of
times. This can cause problems with phase distortion and intersymbol interference when data
transmissions are made. As a result, it may be necessary to incorporate features within the radio
communications system that enables the effects of these problems to be minimised.

2.4.1 Multipath Fading Basics

Multipath fading is a feature that needs to be taken into account when designing or developing a radio
communications system. In any terrestrial radio communications system, the signal will reach the receiver
not only via the direct path, but also as a result of reflections from objects such as buildings, hills, ground,
water, etc that are adjacent to the main path.
The overall signal at the radio receiver is a summation of the variety of signals being received. As they
all have different path lengths, the signals will add and subtract from the total dependent upon their
relative phases.
At times there will be changes in the relative path lengths. This could result from either the radio
transmitter or receiver moving, or any of the objects that provides a reflective surface moving. This will
result in the phases of the signals arriving at the receiver changing, and in turn this will result in the signal
strength varying as a result of the different way in which the signals will sum together. It is this that causes
the fading that is present on many signals.

2.4.2 Selective and Flat Fading

Multipath fading can affect radio communications channels in two main ways. This can be the way in
which the effects of the multipath fading are mitigated.
 Flat fading: This form of multipath fading affects all the frequencies across a given channel either
equally or almost equally. When flat multipath fading is experienced, the signal will just change in
amplitude, rising and falling over a period of time, or with movement from one position to another.
 Selective fading: This occurs when the multipath fading affects different frequencies across the
channel to different degrees. It will mean that the phases and amplitudes of the signal will vary across
the channel. Sometimes relatively deep nulls may be experienced, and this can give rise to some
reception problems. Simply maintaining the overall amplitude of the received signal will not
overcome the effects of selective fading, and some form of equalisation may be needed. Some digital
signal formats, e.g. OFDM are able to spread the data over a wide channel so that only a portion of
the data is lost by any nulls. This can be reconstituted using forward error correction techniques and
in this way it can mitigate the effects of selective multipath fading.
Selective multipath fading occurs because even though the path length will be changed by the same
physical length (e.g. same number of metres, miles, etc.) this represents a different proportion of a
wavelength. Accordingly the phase will change across the bandwidth used. Selective fading can occur
over many frequencies. It can often be noticed when medium wave broadcast stations are received in
the evening via ground wave and sky wave. The phases of the signals received via the two means of
propagation change with time and this causes the overall received signal to change.
Selective multipath fading is also experienced at higher frequencies, and with high data rate signals
becoming commonplace wider bandwidths are needed. As a result nulls and peaks may occur across
the bandwidth of a single signal.

2.4.3 Cellular Multipath Fading

Cellular telecommunications is subject to multipath fading. There are a variety of reasons for this. The
first is that the mobile station or user is likely to be moving, and as a result the path lengths of all the
signals being received are changing. The second is that many objects around may also be moving.

20
Vehicles and people will cause reflections that will have a significant effect on the received signal.
Accordingly multipath fading has a major bearing on cellular telecommunications.
Often the multipath fading that affects cellular phones is known as fast fading because it occurs over a
relatively short distance. Slow fading occurs as a cell phone moves behind an obstruction and the signal
slowly fades out.
The fast signal variations caused by multipath fading can be detected even over a short distance. Assume
a frequency of 2 GHz (e.g. a typical approximate frequency value for many 3G phones). The wavelength
can become 𝜆 = 𝑐/𝑓 = 3 x 108 / 2 x 109 = 0.15 metres
To move from a signal being in phase to a signal being out of phase is equivalent to increasing the path
length by half a wavelength or 0.075m. This is a simplified example but in reality the situation is far more
complicated with signals being received via many paths. However it does give an indication of the
distances involved to change from an in-phase to an out of phase situation.

2.4.4 Ionospheric Multipath Fading

Short wave radio communications is renowned for its fading. Signals that are reflected via the ionosphere
vary considerably in signal strength. These variations in strength are primarily caused by multipath fading.
When signals are propagated via the ionosphere it is possible for the energy to be propagated from the
transmitter to receiver via very many different paths. This is because the profile of the electron density of
the ionosphere, which causes the signals to be refracted, is not smooth and as a result any signals entering
the ionosphere will be scattered and will take a variety of paths to reach a particular receiver. With changes
in the ionosphere causing the path lengths to change, this will result in the phases changing and the overall
summation at the receiver changing.
The changes in the ionosphere arise from a number of factors. One is that the levels of ionisation vary,
although these changes normally occur relatively slowly, but nevertheless have an effect. Also there are
winds or air movements in the ionosphere. As the levels of ionisation are not constant, any air movement
will cause changes in the profile of the electron density in the ionosphere and it will affect the path lengths.

2.4.5 Tropospheric Multipath Fading

The troposphere affects many signals using frequencies at VHF and above. The signal is refracted as a
result of the changes in refractive index occurring. This can cause signals to travel beyond the line of
sight. However under some circumstances relatively abrupt changes in refractive index occurring as a
result of weather conditions can cause the distances over which signals travel to be increased. Signals
may then be "ducted" by the ionosphere over distances up to a few hundred kilometres.
When signals are ducted in this way, they will be subject to multipath fading. Here, heat rising from the
Earth's surface will ensure that the path is always changing and signals will vary in strength. Typically
these changes may be relatively slow with signals falling and rising in strength over a period of a number
of minutes.
Multipath fading is a feature of many radio communications links. Multipath fading occurs as a result of
the many signal paths that are in existence on all terrestrial radio communications links whether they are
used for applications such as cellular telecommunications, mobile radio, or for HF or VHF radio
communications.

2.5 Rayleigh Fading

Rayleigh fading is the name given to the form of fading that is often experienced in an environment where
there is a large number of reflections present. The Rayleigh fading model uses a statistical approach to
analyse the propagation, and can be used in a number of environments.

21
The Rayleigh fading model is normally viewed as a suitable approach to take when analysing and
predicting radio wave propagation performance for areas such as cellular communications in a well built
up urban environment where there are many reflections from buildings, etc. HF ionospheric radio wave
propagation where reflections (or more exactly refractions) occur at many points within the ionosphere is
also another area where Rayleigh fading model applies well. It is also appropriate to use the Rayleigh
fading model for tropospheric radio propagation where also there are many reflection points and the signal
may follow a variety of different paths.
The Rayleigh propagation model is most applicable to instances where there are many different signal
paths, none of which is dominant. In this way all the signal paths will vary and can have an impact on the
overall signal at the receiver.

2.5.1. Rayleigh Fading Basics

The Rayleigh fading model is particularly useful in scenarios where the signal may be considered to be
scattered between the transmitter and receiver. In this form of scenario there is no single signal path that
dominates and a statistical approach is required to do the analysis of the overall nature of the radio
communications channel.
Rayleigh fading is a model that can be used to describe the form of fading that occurs when multipath
propagation exists. In any terrestrial environment a radio signal will travel via a number of different paths
from the transmitter to the receiver. The most obvious path is the direct, or line- of-sight path.
However there will be very many objects around the direct path. These objects may serve to reflect,
refract, etc. the signal. As a result of this, there are many other paths by which the signal may reach the
receiver.
When the signals reach the receiver, the overall signal is a combination of all the signals that have reached
the receiver via the multitude of different paths that are available. These signals will all sum together, the
phase of the signal being important. Dependent upon the way in which these signals sum together, the
signal will vary in strength. If they were all in phase with each other, they would all add together. However
this is not normally the case, as some will be in phase and others out of phase, depending upon the various
path lengths, and therefore some will tend to add to the overall signal, whereas others will subtract.
As there is often movement of the transmitter or the receiver this can cause the path lengths to change
and accordingly the signal level will vary. Additionally if any of the objects being used for reflection or
refraction of any part of the signal moves, then this too will cause variation. This occurs because some of
the path lengths will change and in turn this will mean their relative phases will change, giving rise to a
change in the summation of all the received signals.

The Rayleigh fading model can be used to analyse radio signal propagation on a statistical basis. It
operates best under conditions when there is no dominant signal (e.g. direct line of sight signal), and in
many instances cellular telephones being used in a dense urban environment fall into this category. Other
examples where no dominant path generally exists are for ionospheric propagation where the signal
reaches the receiver via a huge number of individual paths. Propagation using tropospheric ducting also
exhibits the same patterns. Accordingly all these examples are ideal for the use of the Rayleigh fading or
propagation model.

22
 SESSION 3
MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

3.0 Introduction
In virtually all communications systems there is a requirement for several users to share a common
channel resource at the same time. This resource could be the high-speed optical fibre links between
continents, the frequency in a cellular telephone system, or the twisted pair ‘ethernet’ cable in the office.
For multiple users to be able to share a common resource in a managed and effective way requires some
form of access protocol that defines when or how the sharing is to take place and the means by which
messages from individual users are to be identified upon receipt. This sharing process is known as
multiplexing in wired communication systems, and multiple access in wireless digital communications.
This means that multiplexing takes place locally (e.g. on a PCB within an assembly, or even within a
facility) and multiple access takes place remotely (e.g. multiple users need to share the use of a satellite
transponder). In other words, multiple access is a signal transmission situation which is used to allow
many mobile users to share simultaneously a finite amount of radio spectrum.

3.1 Multiplexing

This is the process of simultaneously transmitting two or more individual signals over a single
communications channel. It has the effect of increasing the number of communications channels so that
more information can be transmitted. Most of the transmission systems in the telecommunications
network contain more capacity than is required by a single user. It is economically feasible to utilize the
available bandwidth of optical fibre or coaxial cable or a radio system in a single high-capacity system
shared by multiple users. Multiplexing is not only a fundamental mechanism in communication systems
but also in everyday life. It describes how several users can share a medium with minimum or no
interference. The concept of a simple multiplexer is illustrated in Figure 3.1. Multiple input signals are
combined by the multiplexer into a single composite signal that is transmitted over the communications
medium. Alternatively, the multiplexed signals may modulate a carrier before transmission. At the other
end of the communications link, a demultiplexer is used to sort out the signals into their original form

. 1 link, n channels .
n inputs . MUX DEMUX n outputs
.
. .

Figure 3.1: Multiplexing

Three classes of multiplexing / multi-user access techniques will be considered in this session: techniques
where individual users are identified by assigning different frequency slots, techniques where users are
given different time slots, and techniques where users are given the same time and general frequency
slots, and are identified by different codes. Some of the multiple-access techniques that have emerged as
a result of satellites communications however, are space division and polarization division.
23
3.2 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM)

Frequency division multiplexing (FDM) describes schemes to subdivide the frequency dimension into
several non-overlapping frequency bands as shown in Figure 3.2. Here, specified sub-bands of frequency
are allocated. Each channel is now allotted its own frequency band as indicated. Senders using a certain
frequency band can use this band continuously. Again guard spaces are needed to avoid frequency band
overlapping (also called adjacent channel interference).

FDM was used extensively in the early telephone multi-user communication systems, and is perhaps the
most intuitive form of resource sharing.

f5

Frequency Band 3
f4
Guard Band
f3
Frequency Frequency Band 2
f2
Guard Band
f1
Frequency Band 1
fo
Time
Figure 3.2: Frequency Division Multiplexing

If a channel, such as a cable, has a transmission bandwidth B Hz, and individual users require b Hz to
achieve their required information rate, then the channel in theory should be able to support B/b users
simultaneously. This is made possible by using Bandpass modulation (i.e. ASK, FSK, and PSK) and
placing each user in an adjacent slot of available bandwidth. Immediately, we see that the efficiency of
frequency multiplexing is governed by how effectively the transmission bandwidth is constrained by each
user. It is also dependent on how good (selective) the ‘de-multiplexing’ system is at filtering out the
modulation corresponding to each user.

With frequency division multiplexing, the data rate and hence the modem design for each user remains
unchanged by the requirement to operate a multi-user system, and the only additional circuitry is for
frequency conversion to the assigned slot. The user will typically be assigned the frequency slot for the
duration of the message.

This scheme is used for radio stations within the same region, where each radio station has its own
frequency. This very simple multiplexing scheme does not need complex coordination between sender
and receiver; the receiver only has to tune in to the specific sender.
However, this scheme also has disadvantages. While radio stations broadcast 24 hours a day, mobile
communication typically takes place for only a few minutes at a time. Assigning a separate frequency for
each possible communication scenario would be tremendous waste of (scarce) frequency resources.
Additionally, the fixed assignment of a frequency to a sender makes the scheme very inflexible and limits
the number of senders.

24
 3.2.1 FDM Concept
Figure 3.3 shows a general block diagram of an FDM system. Each signal to be transmitted feeds a
modulator circuit. The carrier for each modulation, fi is on a different frequency. The carrier frequencies
are usually equally spaced from one another over a specific frequency range. Each input signal is given a
portion of the bandwidth.

m1(t) Subcarrier modulator s1(t)

f1

m2(t) Subcarrier modulator s2(t)

f2

mb(t) s(t)
Ʃ
Transmitter
fc

Composite baseband FDM signal

modulating signal

mn(t) Subcarrier modulator sn(t)

fn

Figure 3.3: The transmitting end of an FDM

system
The modulator outputs containing the sideband information are added together in a linear mixer, where
all the signals are simply added together algebraically. The resulting output signal is composite of all
carriers containing their modulation. The signal is then used to modulate a radio transmitter. Alternatively,
the composite signal itself may be transmitted over the single communications channel.

The receiving portion of the system is as observed in Figure 3.4. A receiver picks up the signal and
demodulates it into the composite signal. This is sent to a group of Bandpass filters (BPF), each centred
on one of the carrier frequencies. Each filter passes only its channel and rejects all others. A channel
demodulator then recovers each original input signal.
S1 (t) m1 (t)
Bandpass filter, f1 Demodulator, f1

S2 (t) m2 (t)
Bandpass filter, f2 Demodulator, f2
S (t) Main mb (t)
Receiver

FDM signal Composite baseband

signal
Sn (t) mn (t)
Bandpass filter, fn Demodulator, fn

Figure 3.4: The receiving end of an FDM system

25
3.2.2 FDMA Operation
FDMA is widely used in wireless communications systems where the radio environment creates several
challenges for any multiple access method owing to the unpredictable and time varying nature of the
communications channel. One of the biggest challenges is the very large variations in received signal
power that arise from users in different frequency slots due to the so-called near-far effect.
For example, a radio user that is very near to a base-station receiver will produce a much stronger signal
than that from a distant (far) user operating on the extreme of the communication range. Typical variations
in power can be up to 100 dB. If the strong signal is producing any out-of- band radiation in the slot
occupied by the weak signal, this can easily swamp the weak signal corrupting the communications.

3.2.3 Power Control in FDMA systems

As the near-far problem can be so dominant in wireless FDMA operation, the most effective technique
for alleviating the problem is to attempt to level out the signal power from each user at the receiver site.
If each user was able to fully control the output power from its own transmitter, and assuming that it knew
the path loss to the receiver, then it could adjust its own power to ensure a fixed minimum (yet sufficient)
level from all users at the receiving site.
Determining the path loss is the key problem but it is possible in a duplex link for the remote user to
measure the power received from the base-station site and hence calculate the path loss in the ‘downlink’.
However, unless the user is stationary and operating on the same frequency for transmit and receive, this
does not necessarily translate to the path loss in the ’uplink’ direction. For example, the remote user could
be receiving in a frequency selective fade, in which case the unit would overestimate the path loss
involved. Alternatively the uplink could be subject to a frequency selective fade and the unit not generate
sufficient transmit power.
A solution to this problem is to operate a closed loop power control system whereby the base-station unit
monitors the signal power from each remote unit and issues commands to increase or decrease
transmission power accordingly.
It is advantageous to combine FDMA with time-division duplexing (TDD) to avoid simultaneous
reception and transmission that would require insulation between receive and transmit antennas. In this
scenario, the base station and the portable take turns using the same frequency band for transmission.
Nevertheless, combining FDMA and frequency division duplex is possible in principle, as is evident from
the analog FM-based systems deployed throughout the world since the early 1980s.

3.2.4 Features of FDMA

(a) FDMA requires high-performing filters in the radio hardware, in contrast to TDMA and CDMA.
(b) FDMA is not vulnerable to the timing problems that TDMA has. Since a predetermined frequency
band is available for the entire period of communication, stream data (a continuous flow of data
that may not be packetized) can easily be used with FDMA.
(c) Each user transmits and receives at different frequencies as each user gets a unique frequency slot.
(d) If an FDMA channel is not in use, then it sits idle and cannot be used by other users to increase
capacity. It means channel cannot be shared when in idle condition.
(e) FDMA requires tight RF filtering to minimise adjacent channel interference.
(f) The complexity of FDMA systems are lower than TDMA systems even though this is changing
as processing of digital signals are easy in TDMA systems.

26
3.2.5 Advantages of FDMA
(a) It allows much faster data rates over air.
(b) The bandwidth of the transmitter and receiver circuitry is kept to a minimum

3.2.6 Disadvantage of FDMA

The major disadvantage in a wireless environment is the susceptibility of any individual narrow frequency
slot to frequency selective fading which can cause loss of signal for that user – usually on a temporary
basis.
Examples of FDMA used include the first generation cellular telephones and the majority of two-way
radio systems in use by taxi companies, trucking fleets, emergency services and so on.

3.2.7 Number of Channels in FDMA System

The number of channels that can be simultaneously supported in a FDMA system is given by:
𝐵𝑡 −2𝐵𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑
𝑁= ....................................................................................................................... (3.1)
𝐵𝑐
Where:
𝐵𝑡 = 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐵𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 = 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑚
𝐵𝑐 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ

Example 3.1
If Bt is 12.5 MHz, Bguard is 10 kHz, and Bc is 30 kHz, find the number of channels available in an FDMA
system.

Solution 3.1
The number of channels available in the FDMA system is given as
12.5×106 −2(10×103 )
N= = 416
30×103

3. 3 Time Division Multiplexing / Time Division Multiple Access (TDM/TDMA)

TDM is a technique whereby one can transmit a number of different signals over the same transmission
medium (coaxial cable, twisted pair, fibre-optic cable etc.) in non-overlapping time slots. Each user
channel uses a wider frequency band but only a small fraction of time, one time slot in each frame. Thus,
signals occupy the same frequency band but are easily separated based on their time of arrival.
This is a more flexible scheme for typical mobile communications. Here a channel is given the whole
bandwidth for a certain amount of time i.e., all senders use the same frequency but at different points in
time. Again, guard spaces, which now represent time gaps, have to separate the different periods when
the senders use the medium.
In addition to the user channels, framing information is needed for the switching circuit at the receiver
that separates the user channels (time slots) in the demultiplexer. When the demultiplexer detects the
frame synchronisation word, it knows that this is the start of a new frame and the next time slot contains
the information of user channel 1. If two transmissions overlap in time, this is called co-channel
interference. To avoid this type of interference, precise synchronization between different senders is
necessary.
27
This is clearly a disadvantage, as all senders need precise clocks, or alternatively, a way has to be found
to distribute a synchronization signal to all senders. For a receiver tuning in to a sender this does not just
involve adjusting the frequency, but involves listening at exactly the right point in time. However, this
scheme is quite flexible as one can assign more sending time to senders with a, heavy load and less to
those with a light load.
This method of TDM is used in high-capacity transmission systems such as optical line systems but also
in digital cellular networks where we call it time-division multiple access (TDMA). One user occupies
one time slot of a frame, and the time-division principle allows multiple users to access the network at
the same time using the same carrier frequency.

3.3.1 PCM Frame Structure

As an example to get a clear view of TDM, we now look at the most common frame structure in
telecommunications networks, namely, the primary rate 2,048-kbps frame used in the European standard
areas. This is the basic data stream that carries speech channels and ISDN-B channels through the network
and it is called E-1. The corresponding North American primary rate is 1.544 Mbps, which carries 24
speech channels and it is known as DS1 or T1.
In the European scheme, the primary rate frame is built up in digital local exchanges that multiplex 30
speech or data channels at bit rate of 64 kbps into the 2,048-kbps data rate.

(a) US : DS-1 Transmission Format

1 frame = 193 bits; 125 µsec
Time slot 1 Time slot 2 Time slot 24
F 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
τ
Framing
channel
Figure 3.5: TDM Frame Structure of a DS-1

Interface at 1.544 Mbps, that is, 8 × 24 + 1 = 193

193𝜏 = 125 × 10−6
1 193
But data rate = = = 1.544 𝑀𝑏𝑝𝑠 (3.2)
𝜏 125×10−6

(b) European : E-1 Transmission Format

1 frame = 256 bits; 125 µsec
Time slot 0 Time slot 1 Time slot 2 Time slot 31
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Figure 3.6: TDM Frame Structure of a E-1

Interface at 2.048 Mbps

One time slot (TS0) is used for frame synchronization and one (TS 16) for signalling.
Data rate: 8,000 1/s * 8 bits * 32 = 2,048 kbps
PCM-coded speech is transmitted as 8-bit samples 8,000 times a second, which makes up a 64-kbps data
rate. These eight-bit words from different users are interleaved into a frame at a higher data rate. The
2,048-kbps frame contains 32 time slots, and 30 of them are used for speech or 64-kbps data. These voice
channels or data channels are synchronously multiplexed into a 2-Mbps data stream.

28
3.3.2 Basic System Operation of TDMA
The basic principle behind is that the user has access to a modem operating at a rate several times that
TDM required to support his own data throughput, such that he can send his information in a time slot
that is shorter than his own message transaction. Other users can then be assigned similar time slots on
the same channel. Clearly if the data rate on the channel is W bits/s, and each individual user requires
only b bits/s, then the system can support W/b simultaneous users.
In many TDM systems, users are assigned a time slot for the duration of their call whether they require it
or not. Thus, if the user is generating voice traffic, or typing at a keyboard, a time slot will be assigned
regularly regardless of whether the person is speaking or a key has been pressed, and it is very likely that
the channel capacity is being ‘wasted’(this is equally true of the FDMA systems).
In order to maximise the use of a channel resource under these circumstances, packet based transmission
is now common on wired links, where the user is not given a fixed repeated time slot ‘on demand’. This
system works well provided time slot availability can be guaranteed for real-time applications – video,
voice etc.

3.3.3 TDMA in a Wireless Environment

Just as for FDMA, the wireless environment provides particular challenges to TDMA operation. Again,
the ‘near-far’ effect comes into play, with signals from a distant user taking longer to arrive at the base-
station than those from a near user. In order to accommodate these delays, guard-times are required
between time slots, both to accommodate the variable delay between near and far users, and also to allow
for timing errors in the start of a time slot transmission by any individual user.
The near-far problem also gives rise to the same signal strength fluctuations in the base-station receiver
as identified for FDMA, but in this case there is no problem with adjacent channel interference as no user
is operating concurrently with another. The receiver is however, required to react very rapidly to the
changing power level from users in different time slots and power control of each user is commonly
applied to alleviate this problem.

3.3.4 TDMA Frame Structure

Deducing from 3.3.1, a frame consists of a number of slots. Each frame is made up of a preamble, an
information message, and trail bits. In TDMA, half of the time slots in the frame information message
would be used for the forward link channels and other for reverse link channels. In general, TDMA
systems induce several time slots of delay between the forward and reverse slots for a particular user, so
that duplexers are not required in the subscriber unit.
In a TDMA frame, the preamble contains the address and synchronisation information that both the base
station and subscribers use to identify each other. Guard times are utilised to allow synchronisation of the
receivers between different slots and frames.

Preamble Information Message Trail bits

Slot 1 Slot 2 - - - - - - - - - Slot N

Trail Bits Sync Bits Information Data Guard Bits

Figure 3.6: TDMA Frame Structure
29
3.3.4 Example of a TDMA System
The GSM digital cellular system is a very good example of a TDMA-based air interface that has been
designed to cope with the challenges of the wireless environment. GSM incorporates a reference word
within each frame for channel equalization, necessary to overcome the multipath delay problems. The
system also uses a technique known as time slot advance, where the remote unit measures the time delay
for information to be sent on the downlink from base station to mobile. The system then automatically
advances the start time of its own uplink transmission in order to compensate for the uplink time delay.
This technique, together with each mobile taking a master timing reference from the base station, allows
the guard-times between TDMA slots to be minimised and also alleviates the need for an accurate and
costly timing reference in the cellular handsets.
The GSM frame format is such that eight users are assigned to the same transmission frequency, and
hence eight time slots are provided in each frame, to be repeated regularly in subsequent frame. Each user
must transmit information at a rate of 270 kbps within the 200 kHz bandwidth allowed, even though the
individual user data rate from the voice coder is only 13kbps.
The throughput of each modem is thus much higher than required to support the users’ data.

3.3.5 Features of TDMA

(a) TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users, where each user uses the overlapping
time slots.
(b) Data transmission for users of a TDMA system is not continuous, but it occurs in bursts. This
results in lower battery consumption.
(c) TDMA uses different time slots for transmission and reception, thus duplexers are not required.
(d) In TDMA, handoff process is much simpler for a subscriber because of discontinuous
transmission.
(e) In TDMA, the rate of transmission is very high as compared to FDMA.
(f) In TDMA, synchronisation is required and the time for synchronization or guard time should be
minimum.
(g) TDMA systems require large overheads (framing bits) as compared to FDMA because of
discontinuous or burst transmission.

3.3.6 Advantages and Disadvantages of TDMA Operation

Advantages
An advantage of TDMA operation is the ease with which users can be given variable data rate services
by simply assigning them multiple slots. E.g. a GSM user could be given all eight time slots within a
frame, giving a total fully coded user rate of 8 × 9600 bps = 76800 bps (this assumes that the users’
equipment has sufficient processing power to process all eight time slots simultaneously).
A second advantage of TDMA is the commonality in the base-station of the transmitting hardware of all
time slot users. There is only one power amplifier required to support multiple users (albeit with a wider
modulation bandwidth)

Disadvantages
One of the more challenging aspects of TDMA operation is the establishment of system timing in order
to ensure correct time slot arrival and framing and to cope with variable path delays in the wireless
systems. TDMA also requires each user terminal to support a much higher data rate than the user
information rate. This implies faster processing for modulation and demodulation, wider bandwidth in
the TX/RX section and in particular requires a higher peak power rating for the power amplifier in a
wireless application compared with an FDMA.

30
3.3.7 Number of Channels in TDMA System
The number of 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:
𝑚(𝐵𝑡 −2𝐵𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 )
N= ………………………………………………………………………….. (3.3)
𝐵𝑐
where m is the maximum number of TDMA users supported on each radio channel.
Note that two guard bands, one at the low end of the allocated frequency band and one at the high end,
are required to ensure that users at the edge of the band do not “bleed over” into an adjacent radio service.

Example 3.2
Consider GSM, which is a TDMA/FDD system that uses 25 MHz for the forward link, which is broken
into radio channels of 200 kHz. If 8 speech channels are supported on a single radio channel, and if no
guard band is assumed, find the number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in GSM.

Solution 3.2
The number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in GSM is given as:
8×25 𝑀𝐻𝑧
N= = 1000
200 𝑘𝐻𝑧
Thus GSM can accommodate 1000 simultaneous users

Example 3.3
If GSM uses a frame structure where each frame consists of 8 time slots, and each time slot contains
156.25 bits, and data is transmitted at 270.833 kbps in channel, find:
(a) The time duration of a bit
(b) The time duration of a slot,
(c) The time duration of a frame, and
(d) How long must a user occupying a single time slot wait between two successive transmissions.

Solution 3.3
1
(a) The time duration of a bit, Tb = = 3.692 μs
270.833 𝑘𝑏𝑝𝑠
(b) The time duration of a slot, 𝑇𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑡 = 156.25 × 𝑇𝑏 = 0.577 ms
(c) The time duration of a frame, 𝑇𝑓 = 8 × 𝑇𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑡 = 4.615 ms
(d) A user has to wait 4.615 ms, the arrival of a new frame, for its next transmission.

Example 3.4
If a normal GSM time slot consists of 4 trailing bits, 8.25 guard bits, 24 synchronisation bits, and two
traffic bursts of 60 bits of data, find the frame efficiency.

3.4 Code Division Multiplexing / Code Division Multiple Access

While FDM is well known from the early days of radio transmission and TDM is used in connection with
many applications, code division multiplexing (CDM) can be said to be a relatively new scheme in
commercial communication systems. Traditionally, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems
have been used almost exclusively by the military as a means of operating covert radio communications
in the presence of high levels of interference. In recent years, the interference immunity of CDMA for
multi-user communications, together with its very good spectral efficiency characteristics, has been seen
to offer distinct advantages for public cellular type communications.
There are two very distinct types of CDMA system, classified as direct sequence CDMA and frequency
hopping CDMA. Both of these systems involve transmission bandwidths that are many times that required

31
by an individual user, with the energy of each user’s signal spread with time throughout this wide channel.
Consequently these techniques are often referred to as spread spectrum systems

3.4.1 Frequency Hopped CDMA

Frequency hopping involves taking the narrow bandpass signals for individual users and constantly
changing their positions in frequency with time. In a frequency selective fading environment, the benefit
of changing frequency like this is to ensure that any one user’s signal will not remain within a fade for
any prolonged period of time. Clearly, for frequency hopping to be effective, the users must hop over a
bandwidth significantly wider than notch caused by frequency selective fading. In order to ensure that
individual users never (or rarely) hop onto the same frequency slot at the same time, causing mutual
interference, the carrier frequencies are assigned according to a predetermined sequence or code.
Frequency hopping is most effective if a fast hopping rate is used (several thousand times per second) so
that the communications are not corrupted by fading or mutual interference for any length of time. This
however brings problems in the design of fast switching synthesizers and broadband power amplifiers,
which in practice put an upper limit on the hopping rate.
Hopping makes a system less vulnerable to discrete narrowband interference and near-far effect problems.

Example of Frequency Hopped CDMA

Even though GSM European Digital Cellular is classed as a TDMA system, it also has provision within
the standard to change frequency on a frame-by-frame basis, making it a modest rate (1 / 4.165 = 240
hops/second) frequency hopping CDMA system.
The motivation for adding the extra complexity of hopping to GSM is twofold. Firstly, the 200 kHz
channel bandwidth of GSM is not sufficient to ensure that it will always be significantly wider than the
coherence bandwidth of the multipath environment, and thus not corrupted by narrowband fading.
Secondly, if there is a strong interference source on any given channel, the hopping process will ensure
that frames are only corrupted on an occasional basis.

3.4.2 Direct Sequence CDMA

In direct sequence CDMA, the narrowband signals from individual users are spread continuously and
thinly over a wide bandwidth using a spreading sequence. By mixing the narrowband user data signal
with a locally generated well-defined wideband signal, the user energy is spread to occupy roughly the
same bandwidth as the wideband source. The wideband spreading signal is generated using a pseudo-
random sequence generator clocked at a very high rate (termed the chipping rate).
De-spreading of the signal is necessary in the receiver in order to recover the narrowband user data
modulation and this is accomplished by mixing the received signal with an identical, accurately timed
pseudo-random sequence. This correlation process has the effect of reversing the spreading action in the
transmitter. De-spreading will only occur, however, if the correct sequence is used at both ends of the
link, and if the two sequences are time aligned.
Multi-user operation is achieved in direct sequence CDMA by assigning each user a different spreading
code. Only that portion of the wideband spectral energy that has been spread by the same code as used in
the receiver will be detected. Users are thus able to coexist in the same bandwidth and time space on the
channel.
Like frequency hopping, spread spectrum CDMA overcomes the problem of frequency selective fading
by ensuring that most of the spread signal energy falls outside the fading ‘notches’.

Example of Direct Sequence CDMA

The most widely adopted CDMA radio system was pioneered by QUALCOM, a California-based
company, and is now embodied in the IS-95 standard for cellular telephone applications. This ‘air

32
interface’ is a direct sequence CDMA design spreading user voice or data signal over a 1.25 MHz channel
bandwidth.
The maximum user data rate per spreading code is 9600 bps, which is then channel coded up to 19200
bps in the forward channel (base to mobile), and 28,800 bps in the reverse channel (mobile to base). In
the reverse channel, the 28.8 kbps coded data is mapped onto 64 orthogonal symbol states known as
WALSH functions, giving a symbol rate of 4800 symbol/second. This narrowband symbol stream is then
spread using a unique identifying spreading code for every mobile unit – called the long code, clocking
at a rate of 1.2288 million chips/second. The long code is a pseudo-random sequence of length 242 – 1
bits. This means that there are 242 – 1 = 4398046511103 possible different code sequences, enough for
all the mobiles in the world!
The spread baseband sequence in IS-95 must then be modulated onto the carrier frequency for
transmission. In both the forward and reverse link channels, two further second short code (PN - Pseudo-
random Noise) sequences are superimposed onto identical versions of the spread baseband stream, which
are then filtered to restrict the signal bandwidth. The specification calls for a stop band rejection of better
than 40 dB at 740 kHz.
These two filtered spread baseband data streams form inputs to a QPSK modulator. In the forward path,
this is a standard QPSK approach; however in the reverse link, offset QPSK (OQPSK) is used.

3.4.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of CDMA

Advantages
1. User signal could be spread well beyond the frequency selective fading bandwidth. This is clearly
advantageous for coping with this unique problem in wireless communications.
2. It provides protection from narrowband interfering signals (these are spread by the ‘de-spreading’
process in a direct sequence CDMA receiver).
3. Very flexible in accommodating variable user data capacity. Each user in a spread spectrum
CDMA system can increase their modulation rate and local narrowband modulation bandwidth
without affecting other users when it is spread.

Disadvantages of CDMA
Wideband spreading of signals, whether it be with ‘frequency hopping’ or ‘direct sequence’ techniques,
has a penalty in terms of the signal-processing overhead involved with such high rate and bandwidth
transmission. Power control has also been identified as a critical issue in maximizing the number of users
that can be supported on a given common frequency channel.
CDMA also requires a large amount of bandwidth to be available in a contiguous block (spread spectrum
only) in order to ensure that sufficient spreading can be obtained to mitigate the frequency selective fading
and to ensure that there is sufficient coding gain in the system.

3.5 Combined Multiple Access Systems

3.5.1 Examples of FDMA/TDMA Combinations
We have already seen some examples of digital communication systems exploiting combinations of
multi-user access techniques. GSM, although primarily a TDMA system, requires several 200 kHz
frequency channels (each carrying eight time slots) in order to provide a practical high capacity cellular
system and can thus be viewed as an FDMA system also.
The TETRA (Trans European Truncked Radio Access) system exploits a three time slot TDMA structure
with FDMA channels spaced at 25 kHz spacing.

33
3.5.2 Examples of FDMA/CDMA and FDMA/FDMA Combinations
An example of a FDMA/CDMA combination is IS-95 cellular system which uses spread spectrum over
1.25 MHz channels, with a number of these wideband channels being used to make up a typical cellular
service.
The GSM system employs both a TDMA and frequency hopped CDMA technique.

3.6 Spectral Efficiency

An efficient use of the frequency spectrum is the most desirable feature of a mobile communications
system. To realize an efficient use of a spectrum, a number of techniques have been proposed or already
implemented. Some of these techniques employed to improve spectral efficiency include: reduction of
the channel bandwidth, information compression, variable bit-rate control, and improved channel
assignment algorithms.
Spectral efficiency of a mobile communications system also depends on the choice of a multiple access
scheme. A precise measure of spectral efficiency enables one to estimate the capacity of a mobile
communications system and allows one to set up a minimum standard as a reference of measure.

3.6.1 Multiple Access Spectral Efficiency (MASE)

In FDMA, users share the radio spectrum in the frequency domain. In FDMA, the multiple access for
speech efficiency is reduced because of guard bands between channels also because of signaling channels.
In TDMA, the efficiency is reduced because of guard time and synchronization sequence.
MASE is defined as the ratio of the total time-frequency domain dedicated for voice transmission to the
total time-frequency domain available to the system. Thus, MASE is a dimensionless number with an
upper limit of unity.

FDMA Spectral Efficiency

For FDMA, MASE is given as
𝐵 𝑁
𝜂𝑎 = 𝐵𝑐 𝑇 ≤ 1…………………………………………………………………………………….. (3.4)
𝑊
where
𝜂𝑎 = multiple access spectral efficiency
Bc = channel spacing (MHz)
Bw = bandwidth of the system (MHz)
NT = total number of voice channels in the covered area.

Example 3.5
In the North American Narrowband analogue channelized cellular system, the one-way bandwidth (Bw)
of the system is 12.5 MHz. The channel spacing is 30 kHz and the number of signalling channels (carries
data to correct frequency/Doppler shift in FDMA or timing errors in TDMA) is 21. Calculate multiple
access spectral efficiency for FDMA.

Solution 3.5
Bw = 12.5 MHz; Bc = 30 kHz
12.5×1000
Number of 30 – kHz channels = = 416
30
Number of voice channels (NT) = 416 – 21 = 395

34
 30×395
Thus 𝜂𝑎 = = 0.948
12.5×1000

TDMA Spectral Efficiency

For the wideband TDMA, multiple access spectra efficiency is given as:
𝜏𝑀
𝜂𝑎 = 𝑇 𝑡 ……………………………………………………………………………………. (3.5)
𝑓
Where
𝜏 = duration of a time slot,
Tf = frame duration, and
Mt = number of time slots per frame

In equation (3.5), it is assumed that all users share the total available bandwidth. For the narrowband
TDMA schemes, the total band is divided into a number of sub-bands, each using the TDMA technique.
For the narrowband TDMA system, frequency domain efficiency is not unity, as the individual user
channel does not use the whole frequency band available to the system. The efficiency of the narrowband
TDMA system is given as:
𝜏𝑀𝑡 𝐵𝑢 𝑁𝑢
𝜂𝑎 = ( )( ) …………………………………………………………………………….. (3.6)
𝑇𝑓 𝐵𝑤
where:
Bu = bandwidth of an individual user during his or her time slot and
Nu = number of users sharing the same time slot in the system, but having access to different
frequency sub-bands.

Example 3.6
In the North American Narrowband TDMA cellular system, the one-way bandwidth of the system is 12.5
MHz. the channel spacing is 30 kHz, and there are 395 total voice channels in the system. The frame
duration is 40 ms, with 6 time slots per frame. The system has an individual user data rate of 16.2 kbps in
which the speech with error protection has a rate of 13 kbps. Calculate the efficiency of the TDMA system.

Solution 3.6
13 40
The time slot duration, 𝜏 = (16.2) × ( 6 )
= 5.35 ms

13
Note: (16.2) is a reduction factor as not all the time slot is used in case of speech because it is used for
error protection data.
𝑇𝑓 = 40 ms; 𝑀𝑡 = 6; 𝑁𝑢 = 395; 𝐵𝑢 = 30 kHz; and 𝐵𝑤 = 12.5 MHz

5.35×6 30×395
From 3.6, 𝜂𝑎 = ×
40 12500
= 0.76

35
 SESSION 4
GSM SYSTEM
4.0 Introduction
The GSM system is the most widely used cellular technology in the world today. It has been a successful
cellular phone technology for various reasons including the ability to roam worldwide with the certainty
of being able to operate on GSM networks in exactly the same way.
GSM originally stood for Groupe Specialé Mobile, but as it became a worldwide cellular technology its
meaning was changed to Global System for Mobile Communications. Since its deployment in 1991, the
use of GSM has grown steadily. More than 5 billion people worldwide use the GSM family of
technologies, available in more than 219 countries worldwide, with a market share of about 90 percent.
Although it took 12 years for GSM to gain 1 billion customers (February 2004), it was only another 2.5
years before its subscribers passed the 2 billion mark (June 2006), less than two years to exceed 3 billion
customers (April 2008) and reached more than 5 billion in 2011. GSM has also quickly become the
fastest-growing wireless technology in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

It was designed as a second generation (2G) cellular phone technology. One of the basic aims was to
provide a system that would enable greater capacity to be achieved than the first generation analogue
systems. GSM achieved this by using a digital TDMA, which allowed more users to be accommodated
within the available bandwidth. In addition to this, ciphering of the digitally encoded speech was adopted
to retain privacy. Using the analogue cellular technologies it was possible for anyone with a scanner
receiver to listen to calls.
Voice calls are the primary function for the GSM cellular system and also supports a variety of other data
services. These services are supported with user data rates up to 9.6 kbps. Services including Group 3
facsimile, videotext and teletex. One service that has grown enormously is the short message service.
Developed as part of the GSM specification, it was also incorporated into other cellular technologies. It
allows bi-directional messaging, store and forward delivery, and it also allows alphanumeric messages of
a reasonable length.
The GSM cellular technology had a number of design aims when the development started:
 It should offer good subjective speech quality
 It should have a low phone or terminal cost and the terminals should be handheld
 The system should support international roaming and also offer ISDN compatibility
All these were provided for by the GSM technology. The system describes the air interface and also the
network or infrastructure technology. By adopting this approach it is possible to define the operation of
the whole network to enable international roaming as well as enabling network elements from different
manufacturers to operate alongside each other. GSM uses 200 kHz RF channels. These are time division
multiplexed to enable up to 8 users to access each carrier. In this way it is a TDMA / FDMA system.
The base transceiver stations (BTSs) are organised into small groups, controlled by a base station
controller (BSC) which is typically co-located with one of the BTSs. These form the base station
subsystem (BSS). Further into the core network is the main switching area known as the mobile switching
centre (MSC). Associated with it are the home location register (HLR) and the visitor location register
(VLR) which track the location of mobiles and enable calls to be routed to them. Additionally there is the
Authentication Centre (AuC), and the Equipment Identity Register (EIR) that are used in authenticating
the mobile before it is allowed onto the network and for billing. Then also, is the mobile itself, termed the
mobile equipment (ME) which the end user sees.
One feature that was first implemented on GSM was the use of a Subscriber Identity Module. This card
carried with it the user’s identity and other information to allow the user to upgrade a phone very easily,
while retaining the same identity on the network. It was also used to store other information such as
"phone book". This item alone has allowed people to change phones very easily, and this has fuelled the
phone manufacturing industry and enabled new phones with additional features to be launched.
36
Table 4.1 summarises the main points of the GSM system specification, showing some of the highlight
features of technical interest.
Table 4.1 Specification Summary for GSM Cellular System
Multiple access technology FDMA / TDMA
Duplex technique FDD
Uplink frequency band 933 – 960 MHz (basic 900 MHz band only)
Downlink frequency band 890 – 915 MHz (basic 900 MHz band only)
Channel spacing 200 kHz
Modulation GMSK
Speech coding Various - original was RPE-LPT/13
Speech channels per RF channel 8
Channel data rate 270.833 kbps
Frame duration 4.615 ms

4.1 GSM History

GSM cell or mobile phone system was arguably the most popular in the world. The handsets are widely
available and the networks are robust and reliable. The system is also feature-rich with applications such
as SMS text messaging, international roaming, SIM cards etc. It is also being enhanced with technologies
including GPRS and EDGE. This level of success has taken many years and is the result of both technical
development and international cooperation. The GSM history involves the cooperation across Europe.
The first cell phone systems that were developed were analogue systems. They used frequency-modulated
carriers for the voice channels and data was carried on a separate shared control channel. Two of the
major systems that were in existence were the AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) that was used in
the USA and other countries and TACS (Total Access Communications System) that was used in the UK
as well as other countries around the world.
The first system to be commercially deployed was the Nordic Mobile Telephone system (NMT). This
was developed by a consortium of companies in Scandinavia and proved that international cooperation
was possible.
The success of these systems proved to be their downfall. The use of all the systems installed around the
globe increased dramatically and the effects of the limited frequency allocations were soon noticed. To
overcome these, a number of actions were taken. A system known as E-TACS or Extended-TACS was
introduced giving the TACS system further channels. In the USA another system known as Narrowband
AMPS (NAMPS) was developed.

4.1.1 New Approaches

Neither of these approaches proved to be the long-term solution as cellular technology needed to be more
efficient. With the experience gained from NMT system, showing that it was possible to develop a system
across national boundaries, and with the situation in Europe lending itself to international co-operation, a
new Pan-European System was to be developed. This was the beginning of the GSM.
In 1982, under the auspices of the Conference of European Posts and Telegraphs, Groupe Specialé Mobile
(GSM) was formed to study and develop a pan-European public land mobile system. Basic criteria like
good subjective speech quality, low terminal and service cost, support for international roaming, ability

37
to support handheld terminals, support for range of new services and facilities, spectral efficiency, and
ISDN compatibility, were set down for the new GSM system to meet.
In February 1987, decisions about the exact nature of the cellular technology were taken, after all parties
involved had been working toward a digital system. Nevertheless significant hurdles, such as methods for
encoding the speech within a sufficiently narrow bandwidth had to be overcome, and this posed a
significant risk to the project. Nevertheless the GSM system had been started.

4.1.2 GSM Launch Dates

A launch date for the GSM system of 1991 was set for an initial launch of a service using the new cellular
technology with limited coverage and capability to be followed by a complete roll out of the service in
major European cities by 1993 and linking of the areas by 1995.
In 1989, under the auspices of the newly formed European Telecommunications Standards Institute
(ETSI), the specification took place. It provided functional and interface descriptions for each of the
functional entities defined in the system. The aim was to provide guidance for equipment from different
manufacturers to be interoperable. The result of the specification work was a set of documents of more
than 6000 pages. Nevertheless the resultant phone system provided a robust, feature-rich system. The first
roaming agreement was signed between Telecom Finland and Vodafone in the UK, being the beginning
of the realisation of the vision of a pan-European network.
The launch rather took place in the latter part of 1992. However, by the end of 1993, GSM had attracted
over a million subscribers and there were 25 roaming agreements in place. The growth continued and the
next million subscribers were soon attracted.
GSM had been planned as an European system, however the first indication that the success of GSM was
spreading occurred when the Australian network provider, Telstra signed the GSM MOU.

4.1.3 Frequencies
It had been intended that GSM would operate on frequencies in the 900 MHz cellular band but in
September 1993, the British operator Mercury One-to-One launched a network named DCS 1800 which
operated at frequencies in the 1800 MHz band. DCS 1800 was later changed to GSM as it was the same
cellular technology but operating on a different frequency band. In view of the higher frequency used, the
distances the signals travelled were slightly shorter but this were compensated for by additional base
stations. Also, in the USA a portion of spectrum at 1900 MHz was allocated for cellular usage in 1994.
The licensing body, FCC, did not legislate which technology should be used, and accordingly this enabled
GSM to gain a foothold in the US market. This system was known as PCS 1900.
With GSM being used in many countries outside Europe this reflected the true nature of the name which
had been changed from Groupe Specialé Mobile to Global System for Mobile communications. The
number of subscribers grew rapidly and by the beginning of 2004 the number had reached 1 billion.
Figures continued to rise, reaching and then well exceeding the 5 billion mark.

4.2 GSM Network Architecture

The GSM technical specifications define the different elements within the GSM network architecture. It
also defines the ways in which these elements interact to enable the overall network operation to be
maintained. The network architecture is now well established and with other later cellular systems
established and other new ones being deployed, the basic GSM network architecture has been updated to
interface to the network elements required by these systems. The elements described below perform the
same functions as they did when the original GSM system was launched in the early 1990s.

38
4.2.1 GSM Network Architecture Elements
The network architecture defined in the GSM specifications can be grouped into four main areas:
 Mobile station (MS)
 Base-station subsystem (BSS)
 Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS)
 Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS)

Figure 4.1: Simplified GSM Network Architecture

Mobile station
Mobile station (MS), mobile equipment (ME), or as they are widely known, cell or mobile phones, are
the section of a GSM cellular network that the user sees and operates. In recent years their size has fallen
dramatically while the level of functionality has greatly increased.
There are a number of elements to the cell phone, although the two main elements are the main hardware
and the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).
The hardware itself contains the main elements of the mobile phone including the display, case, battery,
and the electronics used to generate the signal. It also contains a number known as the International
Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). This is installed in the phone at manufacture and "cannot" be changed.
It is accessed by the network during registration to check whether the equipment has been reported as
stolen.
The SIM contains the information that provides the identity of the user to the network. It contains variety
of information including a number, known as the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).

Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) is a section of the GSM network architecture that is fundamentally
associated with communicating with the mobiles on the network. It consists of two elements:
 Base Transceiver Station (BTS): The BTS used in a GSM network comprises the radio transmitter
receivers, and their associated antennas that transmit and receive to directly communicate with the
mobiles. The BTS is the defining element for each cell. The BTS communicates with the mobiles and
the interface between the two is known as the Um interface with its associated protocols.
 Base Station Controller (BSC): The BSC forms the next stage back into the GSM network. It controls
a group of BTSs, and is often co-located with one of the BTSs in its group. It manages the radio
resources and controls items such as handover within the group of BTSs, allocates channels and the
like. It communicates with the BTSs over what is termed the Abis interface.

39
Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)
The GSM network subsystem contains a variety of different elements, and is often termed the core
network. It provides the main control and interfacing for the whole mobile network. The major elements
within the core network include:
 Mobile Switching services Centre (MSC): The main element within the core network area of the
overall GSM network architecture is the MSC. The MSC acts like a normal switching node within a
PSTN or ISDN, but also provides additional functionality to enable the requirements of a mobile user
to be supported. These include registration, authentication, call location, inter-MSC handovers and call
routing to a mobile subscriber. It also provides an interface to the PSTN so that calls can be routed
from the mobile network to a phone connected to a landline. Interfaces to other MSCs are provided to
enable calls to be made to mobiles on different networks.
 Home Location Register (HLR): This database contains all the administrative information about each
subscriber along with their last known location. In this way, the GSM network is able to route calls to
the relevant base station for the MS. When a user switches on his phone, the phone registers with the
network and from this it is possible to determine which BTS it communicates with so that incoming
calls can be routed appropriately. Even when the phone is not active (but switched on) it re-registers
periodically to ensure that the network (HLR) is aware of its latest position. There is one HLR per
network, although it may be distributed across various sub-centres for operational reasons.
 Visitor Location Register (VLR): This contains selected information from the HLR that enables the
selected services for the individual subscriber to be provided. The VLR can be implemented as a
separate entity, but it is commonly realised as an integral part of the MSC, rather than a separate entity.
In this way access is made faster and more convenient.
 Equipment Identity Register (EIR): The EIR is the entity that decides whether a given mobile
equipment may be allowed onto the network. Each mobile equipment has a number known as the
International Mobile Equipment Identity. This number, as mentioned above, is installed in the
equipment and is checked by the network during registration. Dependent upon the information held in
the EIR, the mobile may be allocated one of three states - allowed onto the network, barred access, or
monitored in case its problems.
 Authentication Centre (AuC): The AuC is a protected database that contains the secret key also
contained in the SIM card. It is used for authentication and for ciphering on the radio channel.
 Gateway Mobile Switching Centre (GMSC): It is the point to which a ME terminating call is initially
routed, without any knowledge of the MS's location. The GMSC is thus in charge of obtaining the
MSRN (Mobile Station Roaming Number) from the HLR based on the MSISDN (Mobile Station
ISDN number, the "directory number" of a MS) and routing the call to the correct visited MSC. The
"MSC" part of the term GMSC is misleading, since the gateway operation does not require any linking
to an MSC.
 SMS Gateway (SMS-G): The SMS gateway is the term that is used to collectively describe the two
Short Message Services Gateways defined in the GSM standards. The two gateways handle messages
directed in different directions. The SMS-GMSC (Short Message Service Gateway Mobile Switching
Centre) is for short messages being sent to an ME. The SMS-IWMSC (Short Message Service Inter-
Working Mobile Switching Centre) is used for short messages originated with a mobile on that
network. The SMS-GMSC role is similar to that of the GMSC, whereas the SMS-IWMSC provides a
fixed access point to the Short Message Service Centre.

Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS)

The OSS or operation support subsystem is an element within the overall GSM network architecture that
is connected to components of the NSS and the BSC. It is used to control and monitor the overall GSM

40
 network and it is also used to control the traffic load of the BSS. It must be noted that as the number of
BS increases with the scaling of the subscriber population some of the maintenance tasks are transferred
to the BTS, allowing savings in the cost of ownership of the system.

4.3 GSM Network Interfaces

The network structure within the GSM standard, as well as the interface between the different elements
of the GSM network is defined. This facilitates the information interchanges that take place. It also
enables to a large degree that network elements from different manufacturers can be used. However, as
many of these interfaces were not fully defined until after many networks had been deployed, the level of
standardisation may not be quite as high as many people might like.
i. Um interface It is the "air" or radio interface standard that is used for exchanges between a mobile
(ME) and a base station (BTS / BSC). For signalling, a modified version of the ISDN LAPD, known
as LAPDm is used.
ii. Abis interface This is a BSS internal interface linking the BSC and a BTS, and it has not been
totally standardised. The Abis interface allows control of the radio equipment and radio frequency
allocation in the BTS.
iii. A interface The A interface is used to provide communication between the BSS and the MSC.
The interface carries information to enable the channels, timeslots and the like to be allocated to the
mobile equipments being serviced by the BSSs. The messaging required within the network to
enable handover etc to be undertaken is carried over the interface.
iv. B interface The B interface exists between the MSC and the VLR. It uses a protocol known as the
MAP/B protocol. As most VLRs are collocated with an MSC, this makes the interface purely an
"internal" interface. The interface is used whenever the MSC needs access to data regarding a MS
located in its area.
v. C interface The C interface is located between the HLR and a GMSC or a SMS-G. When a call
originates from outside the network, i.e. from the PSTN or another mobile network it has to pass
through the gateway so that routing information required to complete the call may be gained. The
protocol used for communication is MAP/C, the letter "C" indicating that the protocol is used for
the "C" interface. In addition to this, the MSC may optionally forward billing information to the
HLR after the call is completed and cleared down.
vi. D interface The D interface is situated between the VLR and HLR. It uses the MAP/D protocol to
exchange the data related to the location of the ME and to the management of the subscriber.
vii. E interface The E interface provides communication between two MSCs. The E interface
exchanges data related to handover between the anchor and relay MSCs using the MAP/E protocol.
viii. F interface The F interface is used between an MSC and EIR. It uses the MAP/F protocol. The
communications along this interface are used to confirm the status of the IMEI of the ME gaining
access to the network.
ix. G interface The G interface interconnects two VLRs of different MSCs and uses the MAP/G
protocol to transfer subscriber information, during e.g. a location update procedure.
x. H interface The H interface exists between the MSC the SMS-G. It transfers short messages and
uses the MAP/H protocol.
xi. I interface The I interface can be found between the MSC and the ME. Messages exchanged over
the I interface are relayed transparently through the BSS.
Although the interfaces for the GSM cellular system may not be as rigorously defined as many might like,
they do at least provide a large element of the definition required, enabling the functionality of GSM
network entities to be defined sufficiently.

41
4.4 GSM Radio Air Interface, GSM Slot and Burst
One of the key elements of GSM development was the development of the air interface. Many
requirements were placed on the system, and many of these had a direct impact on the air interface.
Elements including the modulation, GSM slot structure, burst structure etc. were all devised to provide
the optimum performance. Careful attention was paid to the modulation format, and the way in which the
system is time division multiplexed. For example, the modulation format for the GSM air interface had a
direct impact on battery life and the time division format adopted enabled the cell phone handset costs to
be considerably reduced as detailed later.

4.4.1 GSM Signal and GMSK Modulation Characteristics

The core of any radio based system is the format of the radio signal itself. The carrier is modulated using
a form of phase shift keying known as Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK). GMSK was used for
the GSM system for a variety of reasons:
 It is resilient to noise when compared to many other forms of modulation.
 Radiation outside the accepted bandwidth is lower than other forms of phase shift keying.
 It has a constant power level which allows higher efficiency RF power amplifiers to be used in
the handset, thereby reducing current consumption and conserving battery life.
The nominal bandwidth (channel bandwidth and spacing) for the GSM signal using GMSK is 200 kHz.
As GMSK modulation has been used, the unwanted or spurious emissions outside the nominal bandwidth
are sufficiently low to enable adjacent channels to be used from the same base station. Each base station
will be allocated a number of carriers to enable it to achieve the required capacity.
The data transported by the carrier serves up to eight different users under the basic system by splitting
the carrier into eight time slots. The basic carrier is able to support a data throughput of approximately
270 kbps, but as some of this supports the management overhead, the data rate allotted to each time slot
is only 24.8 kbps. In addition to this error correction is required to overcome the problems of interference,
fading and general data errors that may occur. This means that the available data rate for transporting the
digitally encoded speech is 13 kbps for the basic vocoders.

4.4.2 GSM Slot Structure and Multiple Access Scheme

GSM uses a combination of both TDMA and FDMA techniques. The FDMA element involves the
division by frequency of the (maximum) 25 MHz bandwidth into 124 carrier frequencies spaced 200 kHz
apart. The carriers are then divided in time, using a TDMA scheme. This enables the different users of
the single radio frequency channel to be allocated different times slots. They are then able to use the same
RF channel without mutual interference. The slot is then the time that is allocated to the particular user,
and the GSM burst is the transmission that is made in this time.
Each slot, and hence GSM burst lasts for 0.577 ms (15/26 ms). Eight of these burst periods are grouped
into a TDMA frame. This lasts for 4.615 ms (i.e.120/26 ms) and it forms the basic unit for the definition
of logical channels. One physical channel is one burst period allocated in each TDMA frame.

GSM Slot Structure

The GSM slot is the smallest individual time period that is available to each mobile. It has a defined
format because a variety of different types of data are required to be transmitted. Although there are
shortened transmission bursts, the slot is normally used for transmitting 148 bits of information. This data
can be used for carrying voice data, control and synchronisation data.
In the slot structure, the timing of the slots in the uplink and the downlink are not simultaneous, and there
is a time offset between the transmit and receive. This offset in the slot timing is deliberate and it means
that a mobile which is allocated the same slot in both directions does not transmit and receive at the same
time. This considerably reduces the need for expensive filters to isolate the transmitter from the receiver.
It also provides a space saving.
42
 Figure 4.2: GSM Slots showing Offset between Transmit and Receive

GSM Burst
The GSM burst, or transmission can fulfill a variety of functions. Some are used for carrying data while
others are used for control information. As a result a number of different types of GSM burst are defined.
 Normal burst uplink and downlink
 Synchronisation burst downlink
 Frequency correction burst downlink
 Random Access (Shortened Burst) uplink

GSM Normal Burst

This GSM burst is used for the standard communications between the base station and the mobile, and
typically transfers the digitised voice data.
The structure of the normal GSM burst is exactly defined and follows a common format. It contains data
that provides a number of different functions:
i. 3 tail bits: These tail bits at the start of the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to ramp up
its power
ii. 57 data bits: This block of data is used to carry information, and often contains the digitised voice
data although on occasions it may be replaced with signalling information in the form of the Fast
Associated Control CHannel (FACCH). The type of data is indicated by the flag that follows the
data field
iii. 1 bit flag: This bit within the GSM burst indicates the type of data in the previous field.
iv. 26 bits training sequence: This training sequence is used as a timing reference and for
equalisation. There is a total of eight different bit sequences that may be used, each 26 bits long.
The same sequence is used in each GSM slot, but nearby base stations using the same radio
frequency channels will use different ones, and this enables the mobile to differentiate between
the various cells using the same frequency.
v. 1 bit flag Again this flag indicates the type of data in the data field.
vi. 57 data bits Again, this block of data within the GSM burst is used for carrying data.
vii. 3 tail bits These final bits within the GSM burst are used to enable the transmitter power to ramp
down. They are often called final tail bits, or just tail bits.
viii. 8.25 bits guard time At the end of the GSM burst there is a guard period. This is introduced to
prevent transmitted bursts from different mobiles overlapping. As a result of their differing
distances from the base station.

Figure 4.3: GSM Normal Burst

43
GSM Synchronisation Burst
The purpose of this form of GSM burst is to provide synchronisation for the mobiles on the network.
i. 3 tail bits: Again, these tail bits at the start of the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to ramp
up its power
ii. 39 bits of information:
iii. 64 bits of a Long Training Sequence:
iv. 39 bits Information:
v. 3 tail bits Again these are to enable the transmitter power to ramp down.
vi. 8.25 bits guard time: to act as a guard interval.

Figure 4.4: GSM Synchronisation Burst

GSM Frequency Correction Burst

With the information in the burst all set to zeros, the burst essentially consists of a constant frequency
carrier with no phase alteration.
i. 3 tail bits: Again, these tail bits at the start of the GSM burst give time for the transmitter to ramp
up its power.
ii. 142 bits all set to zero:
iii. 3 tail bits Again these are to enable the transmitter power to ramp down.
iv. 8.25 bits guard time: to act as a guard interval.

Figure 4.5: GSM Frequency Correction Burst

GSM Random Access Burst

This form of GSM burst is used when accessing the network and it is shortened in terms of the data
carried, having a much longer guard period. This GSM burst structure is used to ensure that it fits in the
time slot regardless of any severe timing problems that may exist. Once the mobile has accessed the
network and timing has been aligned, then there is no requirement for the long guard period.

i. 7 tail bits: The increased number of tail bits is included to provide additional margin when
accessing the network.
ii. 41 training bits:
iii. 36 data bits:
iv. 3 tail bits Again these are to enable the transmitter power to ramp down.
v. 69.25 bits guard time: The additional guard time, filling the remaining time of the GSM burst
provides for large timing differences.

Figure 4.6: GSM Random Access Burst

44
4.5 GSM Frame Structure
The GSM system has a defined frame structure to enable the orderly passage of information. This structure
establishes schedules for the predetermined use of timeslots. This enables both the mobile and the BS to
communicate not only the voice data, but also signalling information without different data becoming
intermixed and both ends of the transmission knowing exactly what types of information are being
transmitted.
The GSM frame structure provides the basis for the various physical channels used within GSM, and
accordingly it is at the heart of the overall system.

4.5.1 Basic GSM Frame Structure

The basic element in the GSM frame structure is the frame itself. This comprises the eight slots, each
used by different users within the TDMA system. The slots for transmission and reception for a given
mobile are offset in time so that the mobile does not transmit and receive at the same time.

Figure 4.7: GSM Frame Consisting of Eight Slots

The basic GSM frame defines the structure upon which all the timing and structure of the GSM messaging
and signalling is based. The fundamental unit of time is the burst period and it lasts for approximately
0.577 ms (15/26). 8 of these burst periods are grouped into what is known as a TDMA frame. This lasts
for approximately 4.615 ms (i.e.120/26) and it forms the basic unit for the definition of logical channels.
One physical channel is one burst period allocated in each TDMA frame.
In simplified terms the base station transmits two types of channel, namely traffic and control.
Accordingly the channel structure is organised into two different types of frame, one for the traffic on the
main traffic carrier frequency, and the other for the control on the beacon frequency.

GSM Multiframe
The GSM frames are grouped together to form multiframes and in this way it is possible to establish a
time schedule for their operation and the network can be synchronised.
There are several GSM multiframe structures:
 Traffic multiframe: The Traffic Channel frames are organised into multiframes consisting of 26
bursts and taking 120 ms. In a traffic multiframe, 24 bursts are used for traffic. These are numbered 0
to 11 and 13 to 24. One of the remaining bursts is then used to accommodate the SACCH, the
remaining frame remaining free. The actual position used alternates between position 12 and 25.
 Control multiframe: The Control Channel multiframe comprises 51 bursts and occupies 235.4 ms.
This multiframe is subdivided into logical channels which are time-scheduled. These logical channels
and functions include the following:
o Frequency correction burst
o Synchronisation burst
o Broadcast channel (BCH)
o Paging and Access Grant Channel (PACCH)
o Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)

45
GSM Superframe
Multiframes are then constructed into superframes taking 6.12 seconds. These consist of 51 traffic
multiframes or 26 control multiframes. As the traffic multiframes are 26 bursts long and the control
multiframes are 51 bursts long, the different number of traffic and control multiframes within the
superframe, brings them back into line again taking exactly the same interval.

GSM Hyperframe
Above this 2048 superframes (i.e. 211 ) are grouped to form one hyperframe which repeats every 3 hours
28 minutes 53.76 seconds. It is the largest time interval within the GSM frame structure.

Figure 4.8: GSM Frame Structure Summary

Within the GSM hyperframe there is a counter and every time slot has a unique sequential number
comprising the frame number and time slot number. This is used to maintain synchronisation of the
different scheduled operations with the GSM frame structure. These include functions such as:
 Frequency hopping: Frequency hopping is a feature that is optional within the GSM system. It can
help reduce interference and fading issues, but for it to work, the transmitter and receiver must be
synchronised so they hop to the same frequencies at the same time.
 Encryption: The encryption process is synchronised over the GSM hyperframe period where a
counter is used and the encryption process will repeat with each hyperframe. However, it is unlikely
that the cellphone conversation will be over 3 hours and accordingly it is unlikely that security will
be compromised as a result.

4.6 GSM Frequencies and Frequency Bands

Although it is possible for the GSM cellular system to work on a variety of frequencies, the GSM standard
defines GSM frequency bands and frequencies for the different spectrum allocations that are in use around
the globe. For most applications the GSM frequency allocations fall into three or four bands, and therefore
it is possible for phones to be used for global roaming.
While the majority of GSM activity falls into just a few bands, for some specialist applications, or in
countries where spectrum allocation requirements mean that the standard bands cannot be used, different
allocations may be required. Accordingly for most global roaming dual band, tri-band or quad-band
phones will operate in most countries, although in some instances phones using other frequencies may be
required.

46
4.6.1 GSM Band Allocations and Usage
There is a total of 14 recognised GSM frequency bands. These are defined in 3GPP TS 45.005.
The usage of the different frequency bands varies around the globe although there is a large degree of
standardisation. The GSM frequencies available depend upon the regulatory requirements for the
particular country and the ITU region in which the country is located.
As a rough guide Europe tends to use the GSM 900 and 1800 bands as standard. These bands are also
generally used in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
For North America the USA uses both 850 and 1900 MHz bands, the actual band used is determined by
the regulatory authorities and is dependent upon the area. For Canada the 1900 MHz band is the primary
one used, particularly for urban areas with 850 MHz used as a backup in rural areas.
For Central and South America, the GSM 850 and 1900 MHz frequency bands are the most widely used
although there are some areas where other frequencies are used.

Table 4.2: Recognised GSM Frequency Bands

Uplink Downlink
Band Comments
(MHz) (MHz)
380 380.2 - 389.8 390.2 - 399.8
410 410.2 - 419.8 420.2 - 429.8
450 450.4 - 457.6 460.4 - 467.6
480 478.8 - 486.0 488.8 - 496.0
710 698.0 - 716.0 728.0 - 746.0
750 747.0 - 762.0 777.0 - 792.0
810 806.0 - 821.0 851.0 - 866.0
850 824.0 - 849.0 869.0 - 894.0
900 890.0 - 915.0 935.0 - 960.0 P-GSM, i.e. Primary or standard GSM allocation
900 880.0 - 915.0 925.0 - 960.0 E-GSM, i.e. Extended GSM allocation
900 876.0 - 915 921.0 - 960.0 R-GSM, i.e. Railway GSM allocation
900 870.4 - 876.0 915.4 - 921.0 T-GSM
1800 1710.0 - 1785.0 1805.0 - 1880.0
1900 1850.0 - 1910.0 1930.0 - 1990.0

4.6.2 GSM Multiband Phones

In order that cell phone users are able to take advantage of the roaming facilities offered by GSM, it is
necessary that the cell-phones are able to cover the bands of the countries which are visited.
Today most phones support operation on multiple bands and are known as multi-band phones. Typically
most standard phones are dual-band phones. For Europe, Middle East, Asia and Oceania these would
operate on GSM 900 and 1800 bands and for North America, etc dual band phones would operate on
GSM 850 and 1900 frequency bands.
To provide better roaming coverage, tri-band and quad-band phones are also available. European tri-band
phones typically cover the GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 bands giving good coverage in Europe as well as
moderate coverage in North America. Similarly North America tri-band phones use the 900, 1800 and
1900 GSM frequencies. Quad band phones are also available covering the 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz
GSM frequency bands, i.e. the four major bands and thereby allowing global use.
47
4.7 GSM Power Control and Power Class
The power levels and power control of GSM MEs are of great importance because of the effect of power
on the battery life. Also to group MEs into groups, GSM power class designations have been allocated to
indicate the power capability of various MEs. Additionally, the power of the GSM MEs is closely
controlled so that the battery of the mobile is conserved, and also the levels of interference are reduced
and performance of the base station is not compromised by high power local mobiles.

4.7.1 GSM Power Levels

The base station controls the power output of the mobile, keeping the GSM power level sufficient to
maintain a good signal to noise ratio, while not too high, to reduce interference, overloading, and also to
preserve the battery life.
A table of GSM power levels is defined, and the base station controls the power of the mobile by sending
a GSM "power level" number. The mobile then adjusts its power accordingly. In virtually all cases the
increment between the different power level numbers is 2dB. The accuracies required for GSM power
control are relatively stringent. At the maximum power levels they are typically required to be controlled
to within ± 2 dB, whereas this relaxes to ± 5 dB at the lower levels.

4.7.2 GSM Power Class

Not all mobiles have the same maximum power output level. In order that the base station knows the
maximum power level number that it can send to the mobile, it is necessary for the base station to know
the maximum power it can transmit. This is achieved by allocating a GSM power class number to a
mobile. This GSM power class number indicates to the base station the maximum power it can transmit
and hence the maximum power level number the base station can instruct it to use.

4.7.3 GSM Power Amplifier Design Considerations

One of the main considerations for the RF power amplifier design in any mobile phone is its efficiency.
The RF power amplifier is one of the major current consumption areas. Accordingly, to ensure long
battery life it should be as efficient as possible. It is also worth remembering that as mobiles may only
transmit for one eighth of the time, i.e. for their allocated slot which is one of eight, the average power is
an eighth of the maximum.

4.8 GSM Logical and Physical Channels

GSM uses a variety of channels in which the data is carried. In GSM, these channels are separated into
physical channels and logical channels. The Physical channels are determined by the timeslot, whereas
the logical channels are determined by the information carried within the physical channel. It can be
further summarised by saying that several recurring timeslots on a carrier constitute a physical channel.
These are then used by different logical channels to transfer information. These channels may either be
used for user data (payload) or signalling to enable the system to operate correctly.

Common and Dedicated Channels

The channels may also be divided into common and dedicated channels. The forward common channels
are used for paging to inform a mobile of an incoming call, responding to channel requests, and
broadcasting bulletin board information. The return common channel is a random access channel used by
the mobile to request channel resources before timing information is conveyed by the BSS.
The dedicated channels are of two main types: those for signalling, and those for traffic. The signalling
channels are used for maintenance of the call and for enabling call set up, providing facilities such as
handover when the call is in progress, and finally terminating the call. The traffic channels handle the
actual payload.
48
4.9 GSM Audio Codec / Vocoder
Audio codecs or vocoders are universally used within the GSM system. They reduce the bit rate of speech
that has been converted from its analog format into a digital format to enable it to be carried within the
available bandwidth for the channel. Without the use of a speech codec, the digitised speech would occupy
a much wider bandwidth than would be available.
Different forms of audio codec or vocoder are available, and the GSM system supports a number of them,
such as, the RPE-LPC, half rate, and AMR codecs. The performance of each voice codec is different and
they may be used under different conditions, although the AMR codec is now the most widely used. Also
the newer AMR wideband (AMR-WB) codec is being introduced into many areas, including GSM.

4.9.1 Vocoder / Codec Basics

Vocoders or speech codecs are used within many areas of voice communications. If speech were digitised
in a linear fashion it would require a high data rate that would occupy a very wide bandwidth. As
bandwidth is normally limited in any communications system, it is necessary to compress the data to send
it through the available channel. Once through the channel it can then be expanded to regenerate the audio
in a fashion that is as close to the original as possible. To meet the requirements of the codec system, the
speech must be captured at a high enough sample rate and resolution to allow clear reproduction of the
original sound. It must then be compressed in such a way as to maintain the fidelity of the audio over a
limited bit rate, error-prone wireless transmission channel.
Audio codecs or vocoders can use a variety of techniques, but many modern audio codecs use a technique
known as linear prediction. In many ways this can be likened to a mathematical modelling of the human
vocal tract. To achieve this, the spectral envelope of the signal is estimated using a filter technique. Even
where signals with many non-harmonically related signals are used it is possible for voice codecs to give
very large levels of compression. A variety of different codec methodologies are used for GSM codecs:
 CELP: The CELP or Code Excited Linear Prediction codec is a vocoder algorithm that was originally
proposed in 1985 and gave a significant improvement over other voice codecs of the day. The basic
principle of the CELP codec has been developed and used as the basis of other voice codecs including
ACELP, RCELP, VSELP, etc. As such the CELP codec methodology is now the most widely used
speech coding algorithm. Accordingly CELP is now used as a generic term for a particular class of
vocoders or speech codecs and not a particular codec.
The main principle behind the CELP codec is that it uses a principle known as "Analysis by Synthesis".
In this process, the encoding is performed by perceptually optimising the decoded signal in a closed
loop system. One way in which this could be achieved is to compare a variety of generated bit streams
and choose the one that produces the best sounding signal.
 ACELP codec: The ACELP or Algebraic Code Excited Linear Prediction codec. The ACELP codec
or vocoder algorithm is a development of the CELP model. However the ACELP codec codebooks
have a specific algebraic structure as indicated by the name.
 VSELP codec: The VSELP or Vector Sum Excitation Linear Prediction codec. One of the major
drawbacks of the VSELP codec is its limited ability to code non-speech sounds. This means that it
performs poorly in the presence of noise. As a result this voice codec is not now as widely used, other
newer speech codecs being preferred and offering far superior performance.

4.9.2 GSM Audio Codecs / Vocoders

A variety of GSM audio codecs / vocoders are supported. These have been introduced at different times,
and have different levels of performance.
Codec name Bit rate (kbps) Compression technology
Full rate 13 RPE-LPC
EFR 12.2 ACELP

49
Codec name Bit rate (kbps) Compression technology
Half rate 5.6 VSELP
AMR 12.2 - 4.75 ACELP
AMR-WB 23.85 - 6.60 ACELP

GSM Full Rate / RPE-LPC codec

The RPE-LPC or Regular Pulse Excited - Linear Predictive Coder was the first speech codec used with
GSM. The speech codec is based upon the regular pulse excitation LPC with long term prediction. The
basic scheme is related to two previous speech codecs, namely: RELP, Residual Excited Linear Prediction
and to the MPE-LPC, Multi Pulse Excited LPC. The advantages of RELP are the relatively low
complexity resulting from the use of baseband coding, but its performance is limited by the tonal noise
produced by the system. The MPE-LPC is more complex but provides a better level of performance. The
RPE-LPC codec provided a compromise between the two, balancing performance and complexity for the
technology of the time.

GSM EFR - Enhanced Full Rate codec

Later another vocoder called the Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) vocoder was added in response to the poor
quality perceived by the users of the original RPE-LPC codec. This new codec gave much better sound
quality and was adopted by GSM. Using the ACELP compression technology it gave a significant
improvement in quality over the original LPC-RPE encoder. It became possible as the processing power
that was available increased in mobile phones as a result of higher levels of processing power combined
with their lower current consumption.

GSM Half Rate codec

The GSM standard allows the splitting of a single full rate voice channel into two sub-channels that can
maintain separate calls. By doing this, network operators can double the number of voice calls that can
be handled by the network with very little additional investment. To enable this facility to be used a half
rate codec must be used. The half rate codec was introduced in the early years of GSM but gave a much
inferior voice quality when compared to other speech codecs. However it gave advantages when demand
was high and network capacity was at a premium.
The GSM Half Rate codec uses a VSELP codec algorithm. It codes the data around 20 ms frames each
carrying 112 bits to give a data rate of 5.6 kbps. This includes a 100 bps data rate for a mode indicator
which details whether the system believes the frames contain voice data or not. This allows the speech
codec to operate in a manner that provides the optimum quality. The Half Rate codec system was
introduced in the 1990s, but in view of the perceived poor quality, it was not widely used.

GSM AMR Codec

The AMR, Adaptive Multi-rate codec is now the most widely used GSM codec. It was adopted by 3GPP
in October 1988 and it is used for both GSM and circuit switched UMTS / WCDMA voice calls.
The AMR codec provides a variety of options for one of eight different bit rates. The bit rates are based
on frames that are 20 ms long and contain 160 samples. The AMR codec uses a variety of different
techniques to provide the data compression. The ACELP codec is used as the basis of the overall speech
codec, but other techniques are used in addition to this. Discontinuous transmission is employed so that
when there is no speech activity the transmission is cut. Additionally Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is
used to indicate when there is only background noise and no speech. Additionally to provide the feedback
for the user that the connection is still present, a Comfort Noise Generator (CNG) is used to provide some
background noise, even when no speech data is being transmitted. This is added locally at the receiver.
The AMR codec has a total of eight rates: eight are available at full rate (FR), while six are available at
half rate (HR). This gives a total of fourteen different modes.
50
The lower frequency band uses an ACELP codec algorithm, although a number of additional features
have been included to improve the subjective quality of the audio. Linear prediction analysis is performed
once per 20 ms frame. Also, fixed and adaptive excitation codebooks are searched every 5 ms for optimal
codec parameter values.
The higher frequency band adds some of the naturalness and personality features to the voice. The audio
is reconstructed using the parameters from the lower band as well as using random excitation. As the level
of power in this band is less than that of the lower band, the gain is adjusted relative to the lower band,
but based on voicing information. The signal content of the higher band is reconstructed by using a linear
predictive filter which generates information from the lower band filter.
Bit rate
Notes
(kbps)
This is the lowest rate for AMR-WB. It is used for circuit switched connections for GSM
6.60 and UMTS and is intended to be used only temporarily during severe radio channel
conditions or during network congestion.
This gives improved quality over the 6.6 kbps rate, but again, its use is only recommended
8.85
for use in periods of congestion or when during severe radio channel conditions.
This is the main bit rate used for circuit switched GSM and UMTS, offering superior
12.65
performance to the original AMR codec.
Higher bit rate used to give cleaner speech and is particularly useful when ambient audio
14.25
noise levels are high.
Higher bit rate used to give cleaner speech and is particularly useful when ambient audio
15.85
noise levels are high.
Higher bit rate used to give cleaner speech and is particularly useful when ambient audio
18.25
noise levels are high.
Higher bit rate used to give cleaner speech and is particularly useful when ambient audio
19.85
noise levels are high.
23.05 Not suggested for full rate GSM channels.
Not suggested for full rate GSM channels, and provides speech quality similar to that of
23.85
G.722 at 64 kbps.
Not all phones equipped with AMR-WB will be able to access all the data rates - the different functions
on the phone may not require all to be active for example. As a result, it is necessary to inform the network
about which rates are available and thereby simplify the negotiation between the handset and the network.
To achieve this there are three different AMR-WB configurations that are available:
 Configuration A: 6.6, 8.85, and 12.65 kbit/s
 Configuration B: 6.6, 8.85, 12.65, and 15.85 kbit/s
 Configuration C: 6.6, 8.85, 12.65, and 23.85 kbit/s
It can be seen that only the 23.85, 15.85, 12.65, 8.85 and 6.60 kbit/s modes are used. Based on listening
tests, it was considered that these five modes were sufficient for a high quality speech telephony service.
The other data rates were retained and can be used for other purposes including multimedia messaging,
streaming audio, etc.

4.10 GSM Handover or Handoff

One of the key elements of a mobile phone or cellular telecommunications system is that the system is
split into many small cells to provide good frequency re-use and coverage. However as the mobile moves
out of one cell to another it must be possible to retain the connection. The process by which this occurs
is known as handover or handoff. The term handover is more widely used within Europe, whereas handoff
tends to be used more in North America. Either way, handover and handoff are the same process.

51
4.10.1 Requirements for GSM Handover
The process of handover within any cellular system is of great importance, and if performed wrongly can
result in the loss of the call. Dropped calls are annoying to users and if the number rises, customer
dissatisfaction increases and they are likely to change to another network. Accordingly GSM handover
was an area to which particular attention was paid when developing the standard.

4.10.2 Types of GSM Handover

Within the GSM system there are four types of handover that can be performed for GSM only systems:
 Intra-BTS handover: This form of GSM handover occurs if it is required to change the frequency
or slot being used by a mobile because of interference, or other reasons. In this form of handover,
the mobile remains attached to the same BTS, but changes the channel or slot.
 Inter-BTS Intra BSC handover: This form of GSM handoff occurs when the mobile moves out
of the coverage area of one BTS but into another controlled by the same BSC. In this instance the
BSC is able to perform the handover and it assigns a new channel and slot to the mobile, before
releasing the old BTS from communicating with the mobile.
 Inter-BSC handover: When the mobile moves out of the range of cells controlled by one BSC, a
more involved form of handover has to be performed, handing over not only from one BTS to
another but one BSC to another. For this the handover is controlled by the MSC.
 Inter-MSC handover: This form of handover occurs when changing between networks. The two
MSCs involved negotiate to control the handover.

4.10.3 GSM Handover Process

Although there are several forms of GSM handover as detailed above, as far as the mobile is concerned,
they are effectively seen as very similar. There are a number of stages involved in undertaking a GSM
handover from one cell or base station to another.
In GSM which uses TDMA techniques the transmitter only transmits for one slot in eight, and similarly
the receiver only receives for one slot in eight. As a result the RF section of the mobile could be idle for
6 slots out of the total eight. This is not the case because during the slots in which it is not communicating
with the BTS, it scans the other radio channels looking for beacon frequencies that may be stronger or
more suitable. In addition to this, when the mobile communicates with a particular BTS, one of the
responses it makes is to send out a list of the radio channels of the beacon frequencies of neighbouring
BTSs via the Broadcast Channel (BCCH).
The mobile scans these and reports back the quality of the link to the BTS. In this way it assists in the
handover decision. This form of handover is known as Mobile Assisted Hand Over (MAHO).
The network knows the quality of the link between the mobile and the BTS as well as the strength of local
BTSs as reported back by the mobile. It also knows the availability of channels in the nearby cells. As a
result it has all the information it needs to be able to make a decision about whether it needs to hand the
mobile over from one BTS to another.
If the network decides that it is necessary for the mobile to hand over, it assigns a new channel and time
slot to the mobile. It informs the BTS and the mobile of the change. The mobile then retunes during the
period it is not transmitting or receiving, i.e. in an idle period.
A key element of the GSM handover is timing and synchronisation. There are a number of possible
scenarios that may occur dependent upon the level of synchronisation.
 Old and new BTSs synchronised: In this case the mobile is given details of the new physical
channel in the neighbouring cell and handed directly over. The mobile may optionally transmit
four access bursts. These are shorter than the standard bursts and thereby any effects of poor

52
 synchronisation do not cause overlap with other bursts. However in this instance where
synchronisation is already good, these bursts are only used to provide a fine adjustment.
 Time offset between synchronised old and new BTS: In some instances there may be a time offset
between the old and new BTS. In this case, the time offset is provided so that the mobile can make
the adjustment. The GSM handover then takes place as a standard synchronised handover.
 Non-synchronised handover: When a non-synchronised cell handover takes place, the mobile
transmits 64 access bursts on the new channel. This enables the base station to determine and
adjust the timing for the mobile so that it can suitably access the new BTS. This enables the mobile
to re-establish the connection through the new BTS with the correct timing.

4.10.4 Inter-System Handover

With the evolution of standards and the migration of GSM to other 2G technologies including to 3G
UMTS / WCDMA as well as HSPA and then LTE, there is the need to handover from one technology to
another. Often the 2G GSM coverage will be better than the others and GSM is often used as the fallback.
When handovers of this nature are required, it is considerably more complicated than a straightforward
only GSM handover because they require two technically very different systems to handle the handover.
These handovers may be called intersystem handovers or inter-RAT handovers as the handover occurs
between different radio access technologies. The most common form of intersystem handover is between
GSM and UMTS / WCDMA. Here there are two different types:
 UMTS / WCDMA to GSM handover: There are two further divisions of this category of handover:
o Blind handover: This form of handover occurs when the base station hands off the mobile
by passing it the details of the new cell to the mobile without linking to it and setting the
timing, etc of the mobile for the new cell. In this mode, the network selects what it believes
to be the optimum GSM based station. The mobile first locates the broadcast channel of
the new cell, gains timing synchronisation and then carries out non-synchronised inter-cell
handover.
o Compressed mode handover: using this form of handover the mobile uses the gaps I
transmission that occur to analyse the reception of local GSM base stations using the
neighbour list to select suitable candidate base stations. Having selected a suitable base
station the handover takes place, again without any time synchronisation having occurred.

 Handover from GSM to UMTS / WCDMA: This form of handover is supported within GSM and
a "neighbour list" was established to enable this occur easily. As the GSM / 2G network is
normally more extensive than the 3G network, this type of handover does not normally occur
when the mobile leaves a coverage area and must quickly find a new base station to maintain
contact. The handover from GSM to UMTS occurs to provide an improvement in performance
and can normally take place only when the conditions are right. The neighbour list will inform the
mobile when this may happen.

53
 SESSION 5
UNIVERSAL MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

5.0 Introduction
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the third generation (3G) successor to the
second generation GSM based cellular technologies which also include GPRS, and EDGE. Although
UMTS uses a totally different air interface, the core network elements have been migrating towards the
UMTS requirements with the introduction of GPRS and EDGE. In this way the transition from GSM to
the UMTS architecture did not require such a large instantaneous investment.
Because UMTS uses Wideband CDMA to carry the radio transmissions, it is often referred to as
WCDMA. It is also gaining a third name, 3GSM, because it is a 3G migration for GSM.

3GPP UMTS Specifications and Management

In order to create and manage a system as complicated as UMTS/WCDMA it is necessary to develop and
maintain a large number of documents and specifications. These are managed by a group known as 3GPP
(the Third Generation Partnership Programme). This is a global co-operation between 6 organisational
partners - ARIB, CCSA, ETSI, ATIS, TTA and TTC.
The scope of 3GPP was to produce globally applicable Technical Specifications and Technical Reports
for a 3rd Generation Mobile Telecommunications System. This would be based upon the GSM core
networks and the radio access technologies that they support (i.e., Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
(UTRA) both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes). Since it was
originally formed, 3GPP has also taken over responsibility for the GSM standards as well as looking at
future developments including LTE (Long Term Evolution) and the 4G technology known as LTE
Advanced.

UMTS Capabilities
UMTS uses Wideband CDMA, as the radio transmission standard. It employs a 5 MHz channel
bandwidth. Using this bandwidth it has the capacity to carry over 100 simultaneous voice calls, or it is
able to carry data at speeds up to 2 Mbps in its original format. However with the later enhancements of
HSDPA and HSUPA included in later releases of the standard the data transmission speeds have been
increased to 14.4 Mbps. Many of the ideas that were incorporated into GSM have been carried over and
enhanced for UMTS. Elements such as the SIM have been transformed into a far more powerful USIM
(Universal SIM). In addition to this, the network has been designed so that the enhancements employed
for GPRS and EDGE can be used for UMTS.
A new introduction for UMTS is the specifications that allow both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)
and Time Division Duplex (TDD) modes. The first modes to be employed are FDD modes where the
uplink and downlink are on different frequencies. The spacing between them is 190 MHz for Band 1
networks being currently used and rolled out.
However the TDD mode where the uplink and downlink are split in time with the base stations and the
mobiles transmitting alternately on the same frequency is particularly suited to a variety of applications.
It also performs well where small cells are to be used. As a guard time is required between transmit and
receive, this will be smaller when transit times are smaller as a result of the shorter distances being
covered. A further advantage is that far more data is carried in the downlink as a result of internet surfing,
video downloads and the like. This means that it is often better to allocate more capacity to the downlink.
However when a TDD system is used it is possible to alter the balance between downlink and uplink
transmissions to accommodate this imbalance and thereby improve the efficiency. In this way TDD
systems can be highly efficient when used in picocells for carrying Internet data. The TDD systems have
not been widely deployed, but this may occur more in the future. In view of its character, it is often
referred to as TD-CDMA (Time Division CDMA).

54
The UMTS system as observed in Table 5.1 offered a significant improvement in capability over the
previous 2G services.
Table 5.1: Specification Summary for UMTS
Parameter Specification
Data rate 2048 kbps low range, 384 kbps urban and outdoor
RF channel bandwidth 5 MHz
Multiple access scheme CDMA
Duplex schemes FDD and also TDD

5.1 History of UMTS 3G

With GSM being developed and deployed, the development community started to look at the next cellular
developments which would provide greater functionality and greater levels of efficiency. The UMTS 3G
history shows that despite many setbacks, it was able to become established as the major 3G technology
providing new standards in cellular telecommunications performance, functionality, and convenience.
UMTS became the dominant 3G technology, setting the foundations for a single worldwide 4G standard
in future years.

5.1.1 3G Beginnings and IMT-2000

The International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 standard is actually a family of standards for 3G
wireless communications. It defines the broad outlines and requirements for standards that can be called
3G standards. It was set in place by the International Telecommunications Union (Radio Communications
section), ITU-R. A working group was set up and also the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference
(WARC'92) allocated 230 MHz of spectrum between 1885 and 2025 and 2110 and 2200 MHz.
A number of organizations recognized the need for a global standard for the next generation of mobile
telecommunications services; ETSI in Europe moved towards what they termed their Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System, UMTS and in Japan the forerunner of the Association of Radio Industries
and Businesses, ARIB undertook a study. To enable a single standard to be adopted the ITU-R requested
each regional Standards Development Organisation (SDO) to submit proposals for a Radio Transmission
Technology. As a result, between 1996 and 1998 companies and regional SDOs worked towards their
proposal submissions. A total of 17 different proposals were submitted, of which 11 were for terrestrial
systems and 6 were for satellite systems. The evaluation of the proposals was completed in 1998 but in
early 1999 it was necessary to gain some form of consensus. Once this was completed the specification
for the radio Transmission Technology was released at the end of 1999.
Important proposals submitted included:
 UMTS / WCDMA: The UMTS using WCDMA was the successor to the highly successful GSM
system that was initially deployed around Europe, but was spreading rapidly worldwide.
 CDMA2000: This scheme was the successor to the cdmaOne system defined under Interim Standard
IS-95 which was the first system to be deployed using CDMA technology.
 TDS-CDMA: This was a scheme developed in China that adopted many elements of the GSM /
UMTS technology but was optimised for Time Division Duplex.
Of the main IMT-2000 systems, history has shown that UMTS has become the most widely deployed of
the 3G systems. It offered global roaming as well as being designed to enable more applications than
many of its competitors. Also as it followed on from GSM, it had a very wide base on which to build.

55
5.1.2 3GPP and 3GPP2 History
In 1998 the various SDOs interested in UMTS came together to form the 3GPP by signing the 3rd
Generation Partnership Project Agreement. The scope of 3GPP was to produce technical specifications
and reports for a 3G system based on evolved GSM core networks, and the resulting radio access
technology, i.e. both FDD and TDD versions of UMTS. The work on the UMTS standard progressed
rapidly and the first release, known as Release 99 took place in 1999. Further releases have appeared
periodically since then to incorporate additional changes and additions to the standards including High
Speed Downlink Packet Access - HSDPA, High Speed Uplink Packet Access, HSUPA, and LTE.
The success of 3GPP subsequently led to it taking on the maintenance and development of the GSM,
GPRS and EDGE technical specifications. It then undertook the development of the 3G LTE and LTE
Advanced technical specifications and reports. A similar organisation, known as 3GPP2, was set up to
develop and manage the standards and reports for the CDMA2000 cellular telecommunications system.

5.1.3 3GPP Release Dates and Contents

After the first release for the 3GPP standard took place in 1999, a number of further releases have taken
place, each introducing changes to correct problems, and adding further functionality (Table 5.2).
Table 5.2: Summary of 3GPP Release Dates and Contents
3GPP Release
Summary
Release date
Release 99 1999 First release of the UMTS standard
Release 4 2001 Release 4 (originally Release 2000) added features including an all-IP core network
Release 5 2002 This 3GPP release introduced the IP Multimedia Subsystem, IMS and, HSDPA
Integrated the operation of UMTS with WLAN networks and added enhancements to
Release 6 2004
IMS, Generic Access Network, GAN, and added High Speed Packet Uplink Access.
Improvements to QoS for applications such as VoIP. Also detailed upgrades for High
Release 7 2007 Speed Packet Access Evolution, HSPA, as well as changes for EDGE and also
provided interfaces to enable operation with Near Field Communication technology.
3GPP Details for LTE System Architecture Evolution, SAE, an all-IP network architecture
2008
Release 8 providing capacity and low latency required for LTE and future evolutions.
3GPP End This added further enhancements to the SAE as well as allowing for WiMax and
Release 9 2009 LTE/UMTS interoperability.
Release 10 2010 This release of the 3GPP standard detailed the 4G LTE advanced technology.

Note: Pre-Release 98 releases refer to pre 3G, i.e. GSM, GPRS, EDGE standards.

Fig 5.1: 3GPP Family Technology Evolution

5.1.4 3G Spectrum Auctions

One of the main disasters that took place in the telecom industry in Europe was the sale of spectrum for
the 3G licenses. With operators moving towards the development and deployment of the forthcoming 3G
56
services auctions were set up in 2000. Although a similar 3G spectrum auction had been abandoned
previously in the USA because the operators felt the costs were too high, Europe still went ahead.
However the European governments, particularly the UK and Germany looked at the sale as an
opportunity for levying a windfall tax. Accordingly the network operators took risks and incurred huge
debt that would take many years to pay off even assuming that 3G was a great success. In the UK a total
of £ 22.5 billion was raised and around £ 30 billion in Germany. On top of the crippling debts incurred
for the spectrum, network operators also had to invest in the 3G infrastructure and its deployment. As a
result they were very keen to see 3G developments speeded up so that they could start to see a return on
their investment and the interest charges they were paying.

5.1.5 UMTS 3G Deployments History

With GSM reaching the 1 billion subscriber mark, the first deployments of UMTS started. One of the
holding factors in some of the deployments was the fact that few handsets were available. Using CDMA
technology as well as having many new features, developers had difficulty in matching the handset
requirements and functionality to the IC technology that was available. Battery consumption was a major
issue. As a result, many operators had to delay their deployments.
Some milestones were however achieved to show that progress was being made:
In September, 1998, the first call was completed in DoCoMo's trial network at the Nokia R&D
establishment near Tokyo. In Feb., 1999 Nokia tested what was claimed to be the first WCDMA call
through the PSTN at the Nokia test network in Finland using a WCDMA terminal, WCDMA base station
subsystem and Nokia GSM Mobile with switching centres connected to the PSTN.
In April, 2001, Ericsson and Vodafone UK claimed to have made the world's first WCDMA voice call
over commercial network but NTT DoCoMo launched a trial 3G service June, 2001 and the first
commercial WCDMA 3G mobile network in October. Still in December, 2001, the first commercial
European network was opened for business by Telenor, although no handsets were available immediately.
On 3rd March, 2003, (03-03-03), the UK operator 3 launched the first 3G service in the UK.

5.2. UMTS/WCDMA Network Architecture

The UMTS network architecture is required to provide a greater level of performance to that of the GSM
network. However as many networks had migrated through the use of GPRS and EDGE, they already had
the ability to carry data. Accordingly many of the elements required for the WCDMA/UMTS network
architecture were seen as a migration. This considerably reduced the cost of implementing the UMTS
network as many elements were in place or needed upgrading. With one of the major aims of UMTS is
being able to carry data, the UMTS network architecture was designed to enable a considerable
improvement in data performance over that provided for GSM.

5.2.1 UMTS Network Constituents

The UMTS network architecture can be divided into three main elements:
a) User Equipment (UE): The User Equipment or UE is the name given to what was previous termed
the mobile, or cell phone. The new name was chosen because the considerably greater functionality
that the UE could have. It could also be anything between a mobile phone used for talking to a data
terminal attached to a computer with no voice capability.
b) Radio Network Subsystem (RNS): The RNS is the equivalent of the previous Base Station Subsystem
in GSM. It provides and manages the air interface for the overall network.
c) Core Network: The core network provides all the central processing and management for the system.
It is the equivalent of the GSM Network Switching Subsystem.
The core network is then the overall entity that interfaces to external networks including the public phone
network and other cellular telecommunications networks.

57
 Figure 5.2 UMTS Network Architecture Overview

5.2.2 User Equipment, UE

The UE is a major element of the overall UMTS network architecture. It forms the final interface with
the user. In view of the far greater number of applications and facilities that it can perform, the decision
was made to call it a user equipment rather than a mobile. However it is essentially the handset, which
having access to higher speed data communications, can be more versatile with many more applications.
It consists of a variety of different elements including RF circuitry, processing, antenna, battery, etc.
There are a number of elements within the UE that can be described separately:
 UE RF circuitry: The RF areas handle all elements of the signal, both for the receiver and for the
transmitter. One of the major challenges for the RF power amplifier was to reduce the power
consumption. The form of modulation used for W-CDMA requires the use of a linear amplifier. These
inherently take more current than non-linear amplifiers which can be used for the form of modulation
used on GSM. Accordingly to maintain battery life, measures were introduced into many of the
designs to ensure the optimum efficiency.
 Baseband processing: The baseband signal processing consists mainly of digital circuitry. This is
more complicated than that used in phones in previous generations. Again this has been optimised to
reduce the current consumption as far as possible.
 Battery: While current consumption has been minimised within the circuitry of the phone, there has
been an increase in drain on the battery. With users expecting the same lifetime between charging
batteries as experienced on the previous generation phones, this has necessitated the use of new and
improved battery technology. Now Lithium Ion (Li-ion) batteries are used. These phones to remain
small and relatively light while still retaining or even improving the overall life between charges.
 Universal Subscriber Identity Module: The UE contains a SIM card, although in the case of UMTS
it is termed a USIM. This is a more advanced version of the SIM card used in GSM, but embodies the
same types of information. It contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity number as well as
the Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN). Other information that the USIM holds
includes a preferred language to enable the correct information to be displayed, especially when
roaming, and a list of preferred and prohibited Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMN).
The USIM also contains a short message storage area that allows messages to stay with the user even
when the phone is changed. Similarly "phone book" numbers and call information of the numbers of
incoming and outgoing calls are stored.
The UE can take a variety of forms, but the most common format is still a version of a "mobile phone"
although having many data capabilities. Other broadband dongles are also being widely used.

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5.2.4 UMTS Radio Network Subsystem
This is the section of the UMTS / WCDMA network that interfaces to both the UE and the core network.
The overall radio access network, i.e. collectively all the Radio Network Subsystem is known as the
UTRAN UMTS Radio Access Network.
The Radio Network Subsystem comprises two main components:
 Radio Network Controller, RNC: This element of the radio network subsystem controls the Node
Bs that are connected to it. The RNC undertakes the radio resource management and some of the
mobility management functions, although not all. It is also the point at which the data encryption
/ decryption is performed to protect the user data from eavesdropping.
 Node B: Node B is the term used within UMTS to denote the base transceiver station. It contains
the transmitter and receiver to communicate with the UEs within the cell.
In order to facilitate effective handover between Node Bs under the control of different RNCs, the RNC
not only communicates with the Core Network, but also with neighbouring RNCs.

Figure 5.3: UMTS Radio Network Subsystem Architecture

5.2.5 UMTS Core Network

The UMTS core network architecture is a migration of that used for GSM with further elements overlaid
to enable the additional functionality demanded by UMTS.

Figure 5.4: UMTS Core Network

In view of the different ways in which data may be carried, the UMTS core network may be split into two
different areas:
(a) Circuit switched elements: These elements are primarily based on the GSM network entities and
carry data in a circuit switched manner, i.e. a permanent channel for the duration of the call. The circuit
switched elements of the UMTS core network architecture include the following network entities:
 Mobile switching centre (MSC): This is essentially the same as that within GSM, and it manages
the circuit switched calls under way.
 Gateway MSC (GMSC): This is effectively the interface to the external networks.
59
(b) Packet switched elements: These network entities are designed to carry packet data. This enables
much higher network usage as the capacity can be shared and data is carried as packets which are routed
according to their destination. The packet switched elements of the UMTS core network architecture
include the following network entities:
 Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN): This entity was first developed when GPRS was introduced,
and its use has been carried over into the UMTS network architecture. The SGSN provides a number
of functions within the UMTS network architecture.
o Mobility management When an UE attaches to the Packet Switched domain of the UMTS Core
Network, the SGSN generates MM information based on the mobile's current location.
o Session management: The SGSN manages the data sessions providing the required quality of
service and also managing what are termed the PDP (Packet data Protocol) contexts, i.e. the pipes
over which the data is sent.
o Interaction with other areas of the network: It is able to manage its elements within the network
only by communicating with other areas of the network, e.g. MSC and other circuit switched areas.
o Billing: The SGSN is also responsible for billing. It achieves this by monitoring the flow of user
data across the GPRS network. CDRs (Call Detail Records) are generated by the SGSN before
being transferred to the charging entities (Charging Gateway Function, CGF).
 Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN): Like the SGSN, this entity was also first introduced into the
GPRS network. The Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) is the central element within the UMTS
packet switched network. It handles inter-working between the UMTS packet switched network and
external packet switched networks, and can be considered as a very sophisticated router. In operation,
when the GGSN receives data addressed to a specific user, it checks if the user is active and then
forwards the data to the SGSN serving the particular UE.
Network elements that are associated with registration are shared by both domains and operate in the
same way that they did with GSM. The shared elements of the UMTS core network architecture include:
 Home location register (HLR): This database contains all the administrative information about each
subscriber along with their last known location. Hence, the UMTS network is able to route calls to
the relevant RNC/Node B. When an UE is switched on, it registers with the network and from this it
is possible to determine which Node B it communicates with so that incoming calls can be routed
appropriately. When the UE is switched on but not active it re-registers periodically to ensure that the
network (HLR) is aware of its latest position with their current or last known location on the network.
 Equipment identity register (EIR): The EIR is the entity that decides whether a given UE equipment
may be allowed onto the network. Each UE equipment has a number known as the International
Mobile Equipment Identity. This number, as mentioned above, is installed in the equipment and is
checked by the network during registration.
 Authentication centre (AuC) : The AuC is a protected database that contains the secret key also
contained in the user's USIM card.

5.3 UMTS / WCDMA Radio Air Interface

Physical layer within UMTS/WCDMA is totally different from that employed by GSM. It employs a
spread spectrum transmission in the form of CDMA rather than the TDMA transmissions used for GSM.
Additionally it uses different frequencies from those allocated for GSM.

5.3.1 UMTS Uplink and Downlink

The radio air interface is a full duplex system, hence direction could be uplink or downlink.
 Uplink: Also known as the reverse link, it is the link from the UE to the Node B or base station.
 Downlink: Also sometimes known as the forward link, and it is the link from the Node B to UE.
The terms Uplink and Downlink are the terms that are used with UMTS, and especially within Europe
whilst forward and reverse links are more commonly used with the CDMA2000 technologies and also
within North America.
60
 Figure 5.5: Uplink and Downlink Transmission Directions

5.3.2 UMTS Frequencies

There are currently six bands that are specified for use for UMTS/WCDMA although operation on other
frequencies is not precluded. However much of the focus for UMTS is currently on frequency allocations
around 2 GHz. At the World Administrative radio Conference in 1992, the bands 1885 – 2025 and 2110
– 2200 MHz were set aside for use on a worldwide basis by administrations wishing to implement
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000). The aim was that allocating spectrum on a
worldwide basis would facilitate easy roaming for UMTS/WCDMA users.
Within these bands the portions have been reserved for different uses:
 1920 - 1980 and 2110 - 2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, W-CDMA): Paired uplink and
downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz. An Operator needs 3 - 4 channels (2 × 15 MHz or 2 × 20
MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network.
 1900 - 1920 and 2010 - 2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA): Unpaired, channel
spacing is 5 MHz. Transmit and receive transmissions are not separated in frequency.
 1980 - 2010 and 2170 - 2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink.

5.3.3 Synchronisation
The level of synchronisation required for the WCDMA system to operate is provided from the Primary
Synchronisation Channel (P-SCH) and the Secondary Synchronisation Channel (S-SCH). These channels
are treated in a different manner by using synchronisation codes. The first is called the primary code and
is used on the P-SCH, and the second is named a secondary code and is used on the S-SCH.
The primary code is the same for all cells and is a 256 chip sequence that is transmitted during the first
256 chips of each time slot. This allows the UE to synchronise with the base station for the time slot.
Once the UE has gained time slot synchronisation it only knows the start and stop of the time slot, but it
does not know information about the particular time slot, or the frame. This is gained using the secondary
synchronisation codes. There is a total of 16 different secondary synchronisation codes. One code is sent
at the beginning of the time slot, i.e. the first 256 chips. It consists of 15 synchronisation codes and there
are 64 different scrambling code groups. When received, the UE is able to determine before which
synchronisation code the overall frame begins. Thus the UE is able to gain complete synchronisation.
The scrambling codes in the S-SCH also enable the UE to identify which scrambling code is being used
and hence it can identify the base station. The scrambling codes are divided into 64 code groups, each
having eight codes. This means that after achieving frame synchronization, the UE only has a choice of
one in eight codes and it can therefore try to decode the CPICH channel. Once it has achieved this it is
able to read the BCH information and achieve better timing and it is able to monitor the P-CCPCH.

5.3.4 UMTS Power Control

As with any CDMA system it is essential that the base station receives all the UEs at approximately the
same power level. If not, the UEs that are further away will be lower in strength than those closer to the
node B because of near-far effect. To overcome this, the node B instructs those stations closer, to reduce
their transmitted power, and those further away to increase theirs so that all stations will be received at
approximately the same strength. It is also important for node Bs to control their power levels effectively.
As the signals transmitted by the different node Bs are not orthogonal to one another it is possible that
61
signals from different ones will interfere. Accordingly their power is also kept to the minimum required
by the UEs being served.
Two techniques were employed to control power: open loop and closed loop. Open loop techniques are
used during the initial access before communication between the UE and node B has been fully
established. It simply operates by measuring the received signal strength and thereby estimating the
transmitter power required. As the transmit and receive frequencies are different, the path losses in either
direction will be different and therefore this method cannot be any more than a good estimate.
Once the UE has accessed the system and is in communication with the node B, closed loop techniques
are used. In each time slot, the signal strength is measured. As a result of this a power control bit is sent
requesting the power to be stepped up or down. This process is undertaken on both the up and downlinks.
One bit been assigned to power control means that the power will be continually changing. Once it has
reached approximately the right level then it would step up and then down by one level. In practice the
position of the mobile would change, or the path would change as a result of other movements and this
would cause the signal level to move, so the continual change is not a problem.

5.4 UMTS CDMA Technology

The use of CDMA in the form of Wideband CDMA, for use with the 3G UMTS system marked a distinct
change in the type of technology used for the multiple access scheme for a telecommunications system.
However it offered many advantages for both users and operators.
CDMA as a form of multiple access scheme, was first used on the cdmaOne system that was first deployed
in the USA in 1995, and has successors that were marketed under the CDMA2000 banner. The use of a
CDMA based technology for UMTS represented a further step forward in the use of CDMA.

5.4.1 CDMA for UMTS

The choice of CDMA for use with the third generation, 3G UMTS telecommunications system arose from
a variety of technical reasons. It offers significant advantages over the schemes used in the previous 2G
systems that were predominantly TDMA based schemes.
The main benefits of the use of CDMA as a multiple access scheme are:
 Improved spectral efficiency: The use of CDMA as the multiple access technology, combined with
the QPSK modulation format used provides significant improvements in terms of the spectral
efficiency. Figures for the performance improvements gained vary considerably dependent upon the
conditions. Some calculated estimates give figures as high as 3 or 4 times that of technologies such
as GSM, although in reality the benefits may be a bit less.
 Adjacent cells may use the same channel frequency: As a result of the way in which spread spectrum
signals such as CDMA operate.
 Improved handover: Within CDMA it is possible to do what is termed a "soft handover" where the
UE communicates with two base stations at the same time. This improves handover reliability.
 Enhanced security: The use of spread spectrum and the multiple spreading codes for CDMA
significantly reduces the possibility of eavesdropping, although within GSM eavesdropping of the
transmitted signal was not the problem.

5.4.2 UMTS CDMA Format

The data to be transmitted is encoded using a spreading code particular to a given user. In this way only
the desired recipient is able to correlate and decode the signal, all other signals appearing as noise. This
allows the physical RF channel to be used by several users simultaneously.
The data of a CDMA signal is multiplied with a chip or spreading code to increase the bandwidth of the
signal. For WCDMA, each physical channel is spread with a unique and variable spreading sequence.
The overall degree of spreading varies to enable the final signal to fill the required channel bandwidth.
As the input data rate may vary from one application to the next, so must the degree of spreading.

62
For the downlink the transmitted symbol rate is 3.84 M symbols per second. As the form of modulation
used is QPSK this enables two bits of information to be transmitted for every symbol, thereby enabling a
maximum data rate of twice the symbol rate or 7.68 Mbps. Therefore if the actual rate of the data to be
transmitted is 15 kbps then a spreading factor of 512 is required to bring the signal up to the required chip
rate for transmission in the required bandwidth. If the data to be carried has a higher data rate then a lower
spreading rate is required to balance this out. It is worth remembering that altering the chip rate does alter
the processing gain of the overall system and this needs to be accommodated in the signal processing as
well. Higher spreading factors are more easily correlated by the receiver and therefore a lower transmit
power can be used for the same symbol error rate.
The codes required to spread the signal must be orthogonal if they are to enable multiple users and
channels to operate without mutual interference. The codes used in W-CDMA are Orthogonal Variable
Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes, and they must remain synchronous to operate. As it is not possible to
retain exact synchronisation for this, a second set of scrambling codes is used to ensure that interference
does not result. This scrambling code is a pseudo-random number (PN) code. Thus there are two stages
of spreading. The first using the OSVF code and the second using a scrambling PN code. These codes are
used to provide different levels of separation. The OVSF spreading codes are used to identify the user
services in the uplink and user channels in the downlink whereas the PN code is used to identify the
individual node B or UE.
On the uplink there is a choice of millions of different PN codes. These are processed to include a masked
individual code to identify the UE. As a result there are more than sufficient codes to accommodate the
number of different UEs likely to access a network. For the downlink a short code is used. There are a
total of 512 different codes that can be used, one of which will be assigned to each node B.

5.5 UMTS / WCDMA Modulation

The modulation schemes used within the CDMA signal format have been chosen to optimise the
performance of the overall UMTS, WCDMA system. One major driver that influenced the choice of the
UMTS modulation formats was experience gained from 2G systems. However there are many other
requirements that need to be met in addition to this.

5.5.1 UMTS Modulation Schemes

There are several considerations that were taken into account when making the choice for the overall
format for the UMTS WCDMA modulation formats. Some of the considerations were:
 It is necessary to ensure that the data is carried efficiently over the available spectrum, and therefore
maximum use is made of the available spectrum, and hence the capacity of the system is maximized.
 The modulation scheme should be chosen to ensure that the efficiency of the RF power amplifier in
the handset or UE is made as high as possible. By enabling the power amplifier to be maximized,
less battery power is consumed for the same transmitted power. As battery power is of particular
importance to users, this is a key requirement.
 The modulation format should be chosen to avoid the audio interference caused to nearby electronic
equipment resulting from the pulsed transmission format used on many 2G systems such as GSM.
As the uplink and downlink have different requirements, the exact format for the modulation format used
on either direction is slightly different.
UMTS modulation schemes for both uplink and downlink, although somewhat different are both based
around phase shift keying formats. This provides many advantages over other schemes that could be used
in terms of spectral efficiency and other requirements.

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5.5.2 Downlink and Uplink Modulation
The UMTS modulation format for the downlink is more straightforward than that used in the uplink. The
downlink uses quadrature phase shift keying, QPSK. The modulation is used with time-multiplexed
control and data streams. While time multiplexing would be a problem in the uplink, where the
transmission in this format would give rise to interference in local audio systems, this is not so for the
downlink where Node B is sufficiently remote from any local audio related equipment to ensure that
interference is not a problem.
However the uplink uses two separate channels so that the cycling of the transmitter on and off does not
cause interference on the audio lines, a problem that was experienced on GSM. The dual channels (dual
channel phase shift keying) are achieved by applying the coded user data to the I or In-phase input to the
DQPSK modulator, and control data which has been encoded using a different code to the Q or quadrature
input to the modulator.

5.6 UMTS / WCDMA Channels

There are many UMTS channels that are used within the UMTS system. The data carried by the UMTS /
WCDMA transmissions is organized into frames, slots and channels. In this way all the payload data as
well as the control and status data can be carried in an efficient manner.
UMTS uses CDMA techniques (WCDMA) as its multiple access technology, but it additionally uses time
division techniques with a slot and frame structure to provide the full channel structure. A channel is
divided into 10 𝑚𝑠 frames, of 15 time slots each of 666 𝜇𝑠 length. On the downlink the time is further
subdivided so that the time slots contain fields that contain either user data or control messages.
On the uplink dual channel modulation is used so that both data and control are transmitted
simultaneously. Here the control elements contain a pilot signal, Transport Format Combination Identifier
(TFCI), Feed Back Information (FBI) and Transmission Power Control (TPC).
The channels carried are categorized into three: logical, transport and physical channels. The logical
channels define the way in which the data will be transferred, the transport channel along with the logical
channel again defines the way in which the data is transferred; the physical channel carries the payload
data and governs the physical characteristics of the signal.
The channels are organized such that the logical channels are related to what is transported, whereas the
physical layer transport channels deal with how, and with what characteristics. The MAC layer provides
data transfer services on logical channels. A set of logical channel types is defined for different kinds of
data transfer services.

5.7 UMTS TDD / TD WCDMA

UMTS TDD (UMTS - time division duplex) is a growing cellular technology. Although UMTS TDD or
TD WCDMA is not as widely deployed as the more popular UMTS FDD which is being deployed for the
3G mobile phone systems, UMTS TDD is nevertheless being widely used and providing a viable service
for many applications. In particular it is being used to provide mobile broadband data services, and other
applications may include its use in providing mobile TV applications. In this way, UMTS is a growing
cellular technology which will be far more widely used in the years to come.

5.7.1 TDD - Time Division Duplex

A communications system requires that communication is possible in both directions: to and from the
base station to the remote station. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved. The most
obvious is to transmit on one frequency and receive on another, the frequency difference between the two
transmissions being such that the two signals do not interfere. This is known as frequency division duplex
(FDD) and it is one of the most commonly used cellular schemes. It is also possible to use a single
frequency and rather than using different frequency allocations, use different time allocations.

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If the transmission times are split into slots, then transmissions in one direction take place in one time
slot, and those in the other direction take place in another. It is this scheme that is known as time division
duplex, TDD, and it is used for UMTS-TDD.

5.7.2 UMTS TDD / FDD Comparison

While UMTS TDD and UMTS FDD are both specified in the same standard and share very many
properties, there are naturally some differences.

Table 5.3: Some Differences between UMTS TDD and UMTS FDD
Parameter UMTS TDD UMTS FDD
Multiple access method TDMA, CDMA CDMA
Duplex method TDD FDD
Channel spacing 5 MHz[1] 5 MHz
Time slot structure 15 / 14 slots / frame 15 slots / frame
Frame length (ms) 10 10
Uplink: open loop 100 Hz or 200 Hz rate
Dedicated channel power control Fast closed loop 1500 Hz rate
Downlink: closed loop max 800 Hz rate

Note: For TD-SCDMA the channel spacing is 1.6 MHz

5.7.3 UMTS TDD Details

UMTS TDD uses many of the same basic parameters as UMTS FDD. The same 5 MHz channel
bandwidths are used. UMTS TDD also uses direct sequence spread spectrum and different users and what
can be termed "logical channels" are separated using different spreading codes. Only when the receiver
uses the same code in the correlation process, is the data recovered. In W-CDMA all other logical channels
using different spreading codes appear as noise on the channel and ultimately limit the capacity of the
system. In UMTS TDD, a scheme known as multi user detection (MUD) is employed in the receiver and
improves the removal of the interfering codes, allowing higher data rates and capacity.
In addition to the separation of users by using different logical channels as a result of the different
spreading codes, further separation between users may be provided by allocating different time slots.
There are 15 time slots in UMTS TDD. Of these, three are used for overhead such as signalling, etc and
this leaves 12 time slots for user traffic. In each timeslot there can be 16 codes. Capacity is allocated to
users on demand, using a two dimensional matrix of timeslots and codes.
In order for UMTS TDD to achieve the best overall performance, the transport format, i.e. the modulation
and forward error correction can be altered for each user. The schemes are chosen by the network, and
will depend on the signal characteristics in both directions. Higher order forms of modulation enable
higher data speeds to be accommodated, but they are less resilient to noise and interference, and this
means that the higher data rate modulation schemes are only used when signal strengths are high.

5.7.4 Spectrum Allocations for UMTS TDD

Standard allocations of radio spectrum have been made for 3G telecommunications systems in most
countries around the globe. In Europe and many other areas spectrum has been allocated for UMTS FDD
between 1920 MHz to 1980 MHz and 2110 MHz to 2170 MHz. For UMTS TDD spectrum is primarily
located between 1900 MHz and 1920 MHz and between 2010 MHz and 2025 MHz. In addition to this
there are some other allocations around 3 GHz.

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5.7.5 UMTS TDD Performance
UMTS TDD is able to support high peak data rates, e.g. HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access).
The scheme allows the use of a higher order modulation scheme called 16-QAM, which enables peak
rates of 10 Mbps per sector in commercial deployments. The next release increases the modulation to 64-
QAM, and introduces intercell interference cancellation (called Generalized MUD) and MIMO (multiple
in, multiple out). In combination, these increase the peak rate to 31 Mbps per sector.

5.8 3G TD-SCDMA
TD-SCDMA is an additional TDD version of UMTS. Devised in China, the system provides a number of
advantages in several applications. TD-SCDMA has been adopted as a 3G standard by the International
Telecommunications Union, and it is part of the 3GPP UMTS system being defined in the 3GPP
[Link]-SCDMA is also able to support IP services.
While similar in many ways to UMTS TDD, TD-SCDMA has a number of differences, and handsets for
the two systems would not be compatible unless the capability for both systems was specifically built into
them. As a further advantage, TD-SCDMA uses the same RAN as that used for UMTS. In this way it is
possible to run TD-SCDMA alongside UMTS, and thereby simplifying multi-system designs.

5.8.1 TD-SCDMA Basics

One of the key elements of TD-SCDMA is the fact that it uses a TDD approach. As seen with UMTS
TDD this has advantages in a number of areas, enabling the balance to be changed between uplink and
downlink to accommodate the different levels of data transfer. It also has advantages in terms of using
unpaired spectrum, spectrum efficiency for certain loads and it does not require expensive diplexers in
the handsets to enable simultaneous transmission on the uplink and downlink, although transmit / receive
switching times must be accommodated and can reduce the efficiency of the system.

5.8.2 TD-SCDMA Specification Overview

The TD-SCDMA standard provides many advantages. As already mentioned it has many similarities to
W-CDMA, although a summary of the basic features and specification is given in table 5.4.
Table 5.4: Basic Features and Specification of TD-SCDMA
Characteristic Figure
Bandwidth 1.6 MHz
Chip rate per carrier 1.28 Mcps
Spectrum spreading mode DS SF=1/2/4/8/16
Modulation QPSK
Frame structure Superframe 720 ms, Radio frame 10 ms, Subframe 5 ms
Uplink synchronisation 1/2 chip
Number of voice channels per carrier 48
Spectrum Efficiency 25Erl./MHz
Transmission rate provided by each carrier 1.971Mbps

5.9 UMTS/WCDMA Handover or Handoff

Handover or handoff is as important for UMTS as any other form of cellular telecommunications system.
As with any other cellular system it is essential that UMTS handover is performed seamlessly so that the
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user is not aware of any change. Any failures within the UMTS handover procedure will lead to dropped
calls which will in turn result in user dissatisfaction and ultimately leading to users changing networks,
thereby increasing the churn rate. It is worth noting that the two terms UMTS handover and handoff have
the same meaning depending on one being in Europe or North America.

5.9.1 UMTS Handover Types

Within UMTS it is possible to define a number of different types of handover or handoff. For purely inter
W-CDMA technology, there are three basic types of handover:
 Hard handover: This form of handover is essentially the same as that used for 2G networks
where one link is broken and another established.
 Soft handover: This form of handover is a more gradual and the UE communicates
simultaneously with more than one Node B or base station during the handover process.
 Softer handover: Not a full form of UMTS handover, but the UE communicates with more than
one sector managed by the same Node B.
 UMTS GSM inter RAT handover: This occurs when mobiles have to change between Radio
Access Technologies.
Each of the different types of handover is used on different occasion dependent upon the conditions.
Further details of each type of UMTS handover are given in the individual sections below.

5.9.2 UMTS Hard Handover

The name hard handover indicates that there is a "hard" change during the handover process. For hard
handover the radio links are broken and then re-established. Although it should appear seamless to the
user, there is always the possibility that a short break in the connection may be noticed by the user.
There are a number of basic stages of a hard handover:
1. The network decides a handover is required dependent upon the signal strengths of the existing
link, and the strengths of broadcast channels of adjacent cells.
2. The link between the existing Node B and the UE is broken.
3. A new link is established between the new Node B and the UE.
Although this is a simplification of the process, it is basically what happens. The major problem is that
any difficulties in re-establishing the link will cause the handover to fail and the call to be dropped.
UMTS hard handovers may be used in a number of instances:
 When moving from one cell to an adjacent cell that may be on a different frequency.
 When implementing a mode change, e.g. from FDD to TDD mode, for example.
 When moving from one cell to another where there is no capacity on the existing channel and a
change to a new frequency is required.
One of the issues facing UMTS hard handovers was also experienced in GSM. When usage levels are
high, the capacity of a particular cell that a UE is trying to enter may be insufficient to support a new user.
To overcome this, it may be necessary to reserve some capacity for new users. This may be achieved by
spreading the loading wherever possible - for example UEs that can receive a sufficiently strong signal
from a neighbouring cell may be transferred out as the original cell nears its capacity level.

5.9.3 UMTS Soft Handover

Soft handover is a form of handover that was enabled by the introduction of CDMA. Soft handover occurs
when a UE is in the overlapping coverage area of two cells. Links to the two base stations can be
established simultaneously and in this way the UE can communicate with two base stations. By having
more than one link active during the handover process, this provides a more reliable and seamless way in
which to perform handover.

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When the UE and Node B undertake a soft handover, the UE receives signals from the two Node Bs, and
combines them using the RAKE receiver capability available in the signal processing of the UE.
In the uplink the situation is more complicated as the signal combining cannot be accomplished in the
Node B as more than one Node B is involved. Instead, combining is accomplished on a frame by frame
basis. The best frames are selected after each interleaving period with the help of the outer loop power
control algorithm which measures the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the received uplink signals. This
information is then used to select the best quality frame.
Once the soft handover has been completed, the links to the old Node B are dropped and the UE continues
to communicate with the new Node B.
As can be imagined, soft handover uses a higher degree of the network resources than a normal link, or
even a hard handover. However this is compensated by the improved reliability and performance of the
handover process.

NB
A RAKE receiver is a form of radio receiver that has been made feasible in many areas by the use of
digital signal processing, DSP. It is often used to overcome the effects of multipath propagation. It
achieves this by using several sub-receivers known as "fingers" which are given a particular multipath
component. Each finger then processes its component and decodes it. The resultant outputs from the
fingers are then combined to provide the maximum contribution from each path. In this way rake receivers
and multipath propagation can be used to improve the signal to noise performance.
5.9.4 UMTS Softer Handover
This is really a special form of soft handover. It occurs when the new radio links that are added are from
the same Node B. This occurs when several sectors may be served from the same Node B, thereby,
simplifying the combining can be achieved within the Node B and not require linking further back into
the network. The handover is only possible when a UE can hear the signals from two sectors served by
the same Node B. This may occur as a result of the sectors overlapping, or more commonly as a result of
multipath propagation resulting from reflections from buildings, etc.
In the uplink, the signals received by the Node B, the signals from the two sectors can be routed to the
same RAKE receiver and then combined to provide an enhanced signal.
It is a little complicated in the downlink, because the different sectors of the Node B use different
scrambling codes. To overcome this, different fingers of the RAKE receiver apply the appropriate de-
spreading or de-scrambling codes to the received signals. Once it is done, they can be combined as before.
In view of the fact that a single transmitter is used within the UE, only one power control loop is active.
This may not be optimal for all instances but it simplifies the hardware and general operation.

5.9.5 Inter-RAT / Intersystem UMTS / GSM Handover

It is often necessary for the UMTS radio access network to handover to the 2G GSM network. These
handovers are given a variety of names including Inter-RAT handover as they are handing over between
different forms of Radio Access Technology, Intersystem Handover, and UMTS / GSM Handover. These
handovers may be required for one of a variety of reasons including:
 Limited UMTS coverage
 UMTS network busy whereas spare capacity is available on GSM network
The most common form of intersystem or inter-RAT handover is between UMTS and GSM. There are
two different types of inter-RAT handover:
 UMTS to GSM handover: There are two further divisions of this category of handover:

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 o Compressed mode handover: Using compressed mode handover the UE uses the gaps in
transmission that occur to analyse the reception of local GSM base stations. The UE uses the
neighbour list provided by the UMTS network to monitor and select a suitable candidate base
station. Having selected a suitable base station the handover takes place, but without any time
synchronisation having occurred.
o Blind handover: This form of handover occurs when the base station hands off the UE by
passing it the details of the new cell to the UE without linking to it and setting the timing, etc of
the mobile for the new cell. In this mode, the network selects what it believes to be the optimum
GSM based station. The UE first locates the broadcast channel of the new cell, gains timing
synchronisation and then carries out non-synchronised intercell handover.
 Handover from GSM to UMTS: This form of handover is supported within GSM and a "neighbour
list" was established to enable this occur easily. As the GSM / 2G network is normally more extensive
than the 3G network, this type of handover does not normally occur when the UE leaves a coverage
area and must quickly find a new base station to maintain contact. The handover from GSM to UMTS
occurs to provide an improvement in performance and can normally take place only when the
conditions are right. The neighbour list will inform the UE when this may happen.

5.9.6 UMTS Handover Methodology

The decisions about handover are generally handled by the RNC. It continually monitors information
regarding the signals being received by both the UE and Node B and when a particular link has fallen
below a given level and another better radio channel is available, it initiates a handover. As part of this
monitoring process, the UE measures the Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) and Received Signal
Strength Indicator (RSSI) and the information is then returned to the node B and hence to the RNC on the
uplink control channel.

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 SESSION 6
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES AND DATA NETWORK

6.0 Introduction
Data communications is the transmission of binary or digital information from one point to another. Data
communications systems permit the transfer of information between computers and also mobile
communication devices. Since any type of signal can be digitised, the transmission of voice, video, or
other traditionally analog information in binary form is also known as data communications. Because of
the low cost and effectiveness of digital techniques, data communications has become more widely used.
Connection from a computer to another through the data communications network requires a switching
function, which routes data frames or packets from the source host to the destination host. We introduce
next the basic alternatives for routing and, these functions are implemented into the data link layer or
network layer in the protocol hierarchy.

6.1 Circuit and Packet Switching

Data connections through a telecommunications network can be divided into different categories based
on the principle of how the communications circuit is built between the communicating devices. Data
communications through the telecommunications network may use three basic different types of circuits:
a. Leased or dedicated: The cost of a leased line is fixed per month and depends on the capacity and
length of the connection.
b. Circuit switched: The cost of switched service depends on the time the service is used, the data rate,
and the distance.
c. Packet switched: The cost is often fixed and depends on the interface data rate. In some packet-
switched networks cost may depend on the amount of transferred data. Agreements with the service
provider may specify other parameters that influence the cost, such as the maximum data rate or
average data rate.
For corporate data networks, the leased-line solution is often attractive when the LANs of offices in a
region need to be interconnected. The network operator provides a permanent circuit and the monthly
cost is fixed and depends only on the agreed-on data rate. Over long distances, however, leased lines
become expensive and switched service is often preferred. In such a service, several corporate networks
share transmission capacity and the cost of the backbone of the telecommunications network operator.
Within the switched category there are two subcategories, circuit- and packet-switched networks as shown
in Figure 6.1, both of which are used for data transmission. Figure 6.1 also shows some sample networks
and what switching principles they use.

6.1.1 Circuit Switching

Circuit-switched networks provide fixed bandwidth and very short and fixed delay. It is the primary
technology for voice telephone, video telephone and video conferencing. The disadvantage is that it is
inflexible for data communications where the demand for transmission data rate is far from constant
but varies extensively over short time scales. Some older generation data networks used the circuit
switching principle.
In the beginning a circuit-switched connection is dialled up by the data source. The routing is based on
the destination subscriber number given when the circuit is established. The connection is released after
the communication is over. During a conversation, the data capacity of the connection is fixed and it is
reserved only for this conversation regardless of whether the data capacity is used or not. At the end of
the call, the circuit is released. ISDN as well as the telephone network use the circuit-switching principle.
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 Data Transmission
through the Network

Leased Line Packet-Switched

Networks
Circuit-Switched
Networks
Network
Examples: Packet by packet
Telephone Virtual
Routing
Network Circuits
ISDN
Cellular Telephone
Networks LAN
Frame ATM Internet
Relay
Packet-Switched
Cellular Networks

Figure 6.1: Leased lines and circuit- and packet-switched

networks

6.2 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

ISDN is an international standard for end to end digital transmission of voice, data and signalling. It can
operate over copper based systems and allows the transmission of digital data over the
telecommunications networks, typically ordinary copper based systems and providing higher data speeds
and better quality than analogue transmission. The ISDN specifications provide a set of protocols that
enable the setup, maintenance and completion of calls.
ISDN provides a number of significant advantages over analogue systems:
a) In its basic form it enables two telephone calls to be made over the same line simultaneously.
b) Faster call connection. It typically takes a second to make connections rather than the much longer
delays experienced using purely analogue based systems.
c) Data can be sent more reliably and faster than with the analogue systems.
d) Noise, distortion, echoes and crosstalk are virtually eliminated.
e) The digital stream can carry any form of data from voice to faxes and internet web pages to data
files - this gives the name 'integrated services'

6.2.2 ISDN Configurations

There are two types of channel that are found within ISDN. These are the 'B' and 'D' channels. The B or
'bearer' channels are used to carry the payload data which may be voice and / or data, and the D or 'Delta'
channel is intended for signalling and control, although it may also be used for data under some
circumstances.
Additionally there are two levels of ISDN access that may be provided: BRI and PRI.
BRI (Basic Rate Interface) - This consists of two B channels, each of which provides a bandwidth of 64
kbps under most circumstances. One D channel with a bandwidth of 16 kbps is also provided. The
configuration is often referred to as 2B+D.
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The basic rate lines connect to the network using twisted pair of copper wires. The data can then be
transmitted simultaneously in both directions to provide full duplex operation. The data stream is carried
as two B channels, each of which carry 64 kbps. This data is interleaved with the D channel data and this
is used for call management: setting up, terminating of calls and some additional data to maintain
synchronisation and monitoring of the line.
The network end of the line is referred to as the 'Line Termination' (LT) while the user end acts as a
termination for the network and is referred to as the 'Network Termination' (NT). Within Europe and
Australia, the NT physically exists as a small connection box usually attached to a wall etc., and it converts
the two wire line (U interface) coming in from the network to four wires (S/T interface or S bus). The S/T
interface allows up to eight items or 'terminal equipments' to be connected, although only two may be
used at any time. The terminal equipments may be telephones, computers, etc., and they are connected in
a point-to-point configuration. In Europe the ISDN line provides up to about 1 watt of power that enables
the NT to be run, and also enables a basic ISDN phone to be used for emergency calls. In North America
a slightly different approach is adopted in that the terminal equipment may be directly connected to the
network in a point to point configuration as this saves the cost of a network termination unit, but it restricts
the flexibility. Additionally power is not normally provided.
PRI (Primary Rate Interface) - This configuration carries a greater number of channels than the Basic
Rate Interface and has a D channel with a bandwidth of 64 kbps. The number of B channels varies
according to the location. Within Europe and Australia a configuration of 30B+D has been adopted
providing an aggregate data rate of 2.048 Mbps (E1). For North America and Japan, a configuration of
23B+1D has been adopted. This provides an aggregate data rate of 1.544 Mbps (T1).
The primary rate connections utilise four wires - a pair for each direction. They are normally 120 Ω
balanced lines using twisted pair cable. Primary rate connections always use a point to point configuration
and are widely used to connect to Private Branch eXchanges (PBX) in an office etc. Typically this may
be used to provide a number of POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) or basic rate ISDN lines to the users.

6.3 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

ATM was developed to enable a single data networking standard to be used for both synchronous channel
networking and packet-based networking. ATM supports multiple levels of quality of service for packet
traffic. Thus, ATM can be thought of as supporting both circuit-switched networks and packet-switched
networks by mapping both bit-streams and packet-streams. It achieves this by sending data in a series or
stream of fixed length cells, each of which has its own identifier. These data cells are typically sent on
demand within a synchronous time-slot pattern in a synchronous bit-stream. Although this may not appear
to be asynchronous, the asynchronous element of the ATM, comes from the fact that the sending of the
cells themselves is asynchronous and not from the synchronous low-level bitstream that carries them.
One of the original aims of ATM was that it should provide a basis for Broadband Integrated Services
Digital Network (B-ISDN) to replace existing PSTN. Thus ATM standards include not only the
definitions for the Physical transmission techniques (layer 1), but also layers 2 and 3.
In addition to this, the development of ATM was focussed heavily on the requirements for
telecommunications providers rather than local data networking requirements, and as a result it is more
suited to large area telecommunications applications rather than smaller local area data network solutions,
or general computer networking.

6.3.1 Basic ATM System

Two basic elements to an ATM system. Any system can be made up of a number of each of these:
 ATM switch: This accepts the incoming cells or information "packets" from another ATM entity
which may be either another switch or an end point. It reads and updates the cell header
information and switches the information cell towards its destination

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  ATM end point: This element contains the ATM network interface adaptor to enable data
entering or leaving the ATM network to interface to the external world. Examples of these end
points include workstations, LAN switches, video codecs and many more items.
ATM networks can be configured in many ways. The overall network will comprise a set of ATM
switches interconnected by point-to-point ATM links or interfaces. Within the network there are two types
of interface and these are both supported by the switches. The first is UNI and this is used to connect
ATM end systems (such as hosts and routers) to an ATM switch. The second type of interface is known
as NNI. This connects two ATM switches.

6.3.2 ATM operation

In ATM the information is formatted into fixed length cells consisting of 48 bytes (each 8 bits long) of
payload data. In addition to this there is a cell header that consists of 5 bytes, giving a total cell length of
53 bytes. This format has been chosen because time critical data such as voice packets is not affected by
very long packets being sent. The data carried in the header comprises payload information as well as
what are termed virtual-circuit identifiers and header error check data.
ATM is what is termed connection orientated. This has the advantage that the user can define the
requirements that are needed to support the calls, and in turn this allows the network to allocate the
required resources. By adopting this approach, several calls can be multiplexed efficiently and ensuring
that the required resources can be allocated.
Two types of connection are specified for ATM:
 Virtual Channel Connections - this is the basic connection unit or entity. It carries a single stream
of data cells from the originator to the end user.
 Virtual Path Connections - is formed from a collection of virtual channel connections. A virtual path
is an end to end connection created across an ATM network. For a VPC, the network routes all cells
from the virtual path across the network in the same way without regard for the individual virtual
circuit connection. This results in faster transfer. The idea of VPCs are also used within the ATM
network itself to route traffic between switches

6.4 General Packet Radio System (GPRS) Technology

GSM was the most successful second generation cellular technology, but the need for higher data rates
spawned new developments to enable data to be transferred at much higher rates. The first system to make
an impact on the market was GPRS. GPRS technology enabled much higher data rates to be conveyed
over a cellular network when compared to GSM that was voice centric.
GPRS became the first stepping-stone on the path between the second-generation GSM cellular
technology and the 3G W-CDMA / UMTS system. With GPRS technology offering data services with
data rates up to a maximum of 172 kbps, facilities such as web browsing and other services requiring data
transfer became possible. Although some data could be transferred using GSM, the rate was too slow for
real data applications.

6.4.1 GPRS Benefits

The technology brings a number of benefits to users and network operators alike. It was widely deployed
to provide a realistic data capability via cellular telecommunications technology.
GPRS technology offered some significant benefits:
 Speed: One of the headline benefits of GPRS technology is that it offers a much higher data rate than
was possible with GSM. Rates up to 172 kbps are possible, although the maximum data rates
realistically achievable under most conditions will be in the range 15 - 40 kbps.

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 Packet switched operation: Unlike GSM which used circuit switched techniques, GPRS technology
uses packet switching in line with the Internet. This makes far more efficient use of the available
capacity, and it allows greater commonality with Internet techniques.
 Always on connectivity: GPRS offers an "Always On" capability. When using circuit switched
techniques, charges are based on the time a circuit is used, i.e. how long the call is. For packet switched
technology charges are for the amount of data carried as this is what uses the services provider's
capacity. Accordingly, always on connectivity is possible.
 More applications: The packet switched technology including the always on connectivity combined
with the higher data rates opens up many more possibilities for new applications. One of the chief
growth areas that arose from GPRS was the Blackberry form of mobile or PDA. This provided for
remote email applications along with web browsing, etc.
 Capex and opex: The Capital expenditure (capex) and operational expenditure (opex) are two major
concerns for operators. As GPRS was an upgrade to existing GSM networks, the capital expenditure
for introducing GPRS technology was not as high as deploying a complete new network. Additionally
opex was not greatly affected as the basic base station infrastructure remained basically the same. It
was mainly new core network elements that were required.
The GSM and GPRS elements of the system operate separately. The GSM technology still carries the
voice calls, while GPRS technology is used for the data. As a result voice and data can be sent and received
simultaneously.

6.4.2 GPRS and Packet Switching

The key element of GPRS technology is that it uses packet switched data rather than circuit switched data,
and this technique makes much more efficient use of the available capacity. This is because most data
transfer occurs in what is often termed a "bursty" fashion. The transfer occurs in short peaks, followed by
breaks when there is little or no activity.
Using a traditional approach a circuit is switched permanently to a particular user. This is known as a
circuit switched mode. In view of the bursty nature of data transfer it means that there are periods when
it will not be carrying data.
To improve the situation the overall capacity can be shared between several users. To achieve this, the
data is split into packets and tags inserted into the packet to provide the destination address. Packets from
several sources can then be transmitted over the link. As it is unlikely that the data burst for different users
will occur all at the same time, by sharing the overall resource in this fashion, the channel, or combined
channels can be used far more efficiently. This approach is known as packet switching, and it is at the
core of many cellular data systems, and in this case GPRS.

6.4.3 GPRS Network

GPRS and GSM are able to operate alongside one another on the same network, and using the same base
stations. However upgrades are needed. The network upgrades reflect many of those needed for 3G, and
in this way the investment in converting a network for GPRS prepares the core infrastructure for later
evolution to a 3G W-CDMA / UMTS.
The upgraded network, as described in later pages of this tutorial, has both the elements used for GSM as
well as new entities that are used for the GPRS packet data service.
The upgrades that were required for GPRS also formed the basis of the network required for the 3G
deployments (UMTS Rel 99). In this way the investment required for GPRS would not be a one off
investment used only on GPRS, it also formed the basis of the network for further developments. In this
way GPRS became a stepping stone used for the migration from 2G to 3G.

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6.4.4 GPRS Mobiles
Not only does the network need to be upgraded for GPRS, but new GPRS mobiles were also required. It
is not possible to upgrade an existing GSM mobile for use as a GPRS mobile, although GSM mobiles can
be used for GSM speech on a network that also carries GPRS. To utilise GPRS, new modes are required
to enable it to transmit the data in the required format. With the incorporation of packet data into the
network, this allowed far greater levels of functionality to be accessed by mobiles. As a result a new breed
to appear. These PDAs were able to provide email and Internet browsing, and they were widely used
especially by businesses as they allowed their key people to remain in touch with the office at all times.

6.4.5 Key GPRS Parameters

GPRS technology offered a significant improvement in the data transfer capacity over existing cellular
systems. It enabled many of the first email and web browsing phones such as PDAs, Blackberrys, etc. to
be launched. Accordingly GPRS technology heralded the beginning of a new era in cellular
communications where the mobile phone capabilities allowed significantly more than voice calls and
simple texts. GPRS enabled real data applications to be used and the new phones to become mobile
computers on the move allowing businessmen to be always in touch with the office and domestic users
to be able to use many more data applications.
The key parameters for the GPRS, are tabulated below:
Table 6.1: GPRS Highlights
Parameter Specification
Channel Bandwidth 200 kHz
Modulation type GMSK
Data handling Packet data
Max data rate 172 kbps

6.5 GSM EDGE Cellular Evolution Technology

EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) is an evolution to the GSM mobile cellular phone system. It
enables data to be sent over a GSM TDMA system at speeds up to 384 kbps. In some instances GSM
EDGE evolution systems may also be known as EGPRS, or Enhanced General Packet Radio Service
systems. Although strictly speaking a "2.5G" system, the GSM EDGE cellular technology is capable of
providing data rates that are a distinct increase on those that could be supported by GPRS.
EDGE evolution is intended to build on the enhancements provided by the addition of GPRS where packet
switching is applied to a network. It then enables a three-fold increase in the speed at which data can be
transferred by adopting a new form of modulation. GSM uses GMSK, but EDGE evolution changes the
modulation to 8PSK and thereby enabling a significant increase in data rate to be achieved.

6.5.1 GSM EDGE Basics

EDGE cellular technology is an upgrade to the existing GSM/GPRS networks, and can often be
implemented as a software upgrade to existing GSM/GPRS networks. This makes it a particularly
attractive option improving virtually 3G data rates for a small upgrade to an existing GPRS network.
EDGE evolution can provide data rates of up to 384 kbps, and this means that it offers a significantly
higher data rate than GPRS. There are a number of key elements in the upgrade from GSM or GPRS to
EDGE. The GSM EDGE technology requires a number of new elements to be added to the system:
 Use of 8PSK modulation: In order to achieve the higher data rates within GSM EDGE, the
modulation format can be changed from GMSK to 8PSK. This provides a significant advantage in
75
 being able to convey 3 bits per symbol, thereby increasing the maximum data rate. This upgrade
requires a change to the base station. Sometimes hardware upgrades may be required, although it is
often simply a software change.
 Base station: Apart from the upgrade to incorporate the 8PSK modulation capability, other small
changes are required to the base station. These are normally relatively small and can often be
accomplished by software upgrades.
 Upgrade to network architecture: EDGE provides the capability for IP based data transfer. As a
result, additional network elements are required. These are the same as those needed for GPRS and
later for UMTS. In this way the introduction of EDGE technology is part of the overall migration path
from GSM to UMTS.
The 2 main additional nodes required for the network are Gateway GPRS Service Node (GGSN) and
Serving GPRS Service Node (SGSN). The GGSN connects to packet-switched networks such as the
Internet and other GPRS networks. The SGSN provides the packet-switched link to mobile stations.
 Mobile stations: It is necessary to have a GSM EDGE handset that is EDGE compatible. As it is not
possible to upgrade handsets, this means that the user needs to buy a new GSM EDGE handset.
Despite the number of changes that needed to be made, the cost of the upgrade to move to GSM EDGE
cellular technology is relatively small. The elements in the core network are required for GPRS which
may already be available on the network, and hence these elements will already be present. The new
network entities are also needed for UMTS and therefore they are on the overall upgrade and migration
path. Other changes to the base stations are comparatively small and can often be achieved very easily.

6.5.2 GSM EDGE Evolution Specification Overview

Table 6.2 summarises the key parameters of GSM EDGE cellular technology.
Table 6.2: GSM EDGE specification highlights
Parameter Details
Multiple Access Technology FDMA / TDMA
Duplex Technique FDD
Channel Spacing 200 kHz
Modulation GMSK, 8PSK
Slots per channel 8
Frame duration 4.615 ms
Overall symbol rate 270 k symbols / s
Overall modulation bit rate 810 kbps
Max user data rate per time slot 59.2 kbps (MCS-9)
Max user data rate when using 8 time slots 473.6 kbps *
Note:
*A maximum user data rate of 384 kbps is often quoted as the data rate for EDGE. This rate corresponds
to the ITU definition of the data rate limit required for a service to fulfill the IMT-2000 standard.

6.6 3G UMTS HSPA - High Speed Packet Access

3G HSPA is the combination of two technologies, one of the downlink and the other for the uplink that
can be built onto the existing 3G UMTS or W-CDMA technology to provide increased data transfer
speeds. The original 3G UMTS/W-CDMA standard provided a maximum download speed of 384 kbps.
With many users requiring much high data transfer speeds to compete with fixed line broadband services
and also to support services that require higher data rates. This resulted in the development of the
technologies for 3G HSPA.
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6.6.1 3G HSPA Benefits
The UMTS cellular system as defined under the 3GPP Release 99 standard was orientated more towards
switched circuit operation and was not well suited to packet operation. Additionally greater speeds were
required by users than could be provided with the original UMTS networks. Accordingly the changes
required for 3G HSPA were incorporated into many UMTS networks to enable them to operate more in
the manner required for current applications. 3G HSPA provides a number of significant benefits that
enable the new service to provide a far better performance for the user. It offers higher data transfer rates,
as well as other improvements:
 Use of higher order modulation: 16QAM is used in the downlink instead of QPSK to enable data to
be transmitted at a higher rate. This provides data rates of 14 Mbps in the downlink. QPSK is still
used in the uplink where data rates of up to 5.8 Mbps are achieved.
 Shorter Transmission Time Interval (TTI): The use of a shorter TTI within 3G HSPA reduces the
round trip time and enables improvements in adapting to fast channel variations and provides for
reductions in latency.
 Use of shared channel transmission: Sharing the resources enables greater levels of efficiency to be
achieved and integrates with IP and packet data concepts.
 Use of link adaptation: By adapting the link it is possible to maximize the channel usage.
 Fast Node B scheduling: The use of fast scheduling within 3G HSPA with adaptive coding and
modulation (only downlink) enables the system to respond to the varying radio channel and
interference conditions and to accommodate data traffic which tends to be "bursty" in nature.
 Node B based Hybrid ARQ: This enables 3G HSPA to provide reduced retransmission round trip
times and it adds robustness to the system by allowing soft combining of retransmissions.
For the network operator, the introduction of 3G HSPA technology brings a cost reduction per bit carried
as well as an increase in system capacity. With the increase in data traffic, and operators looking to bring
in increased revenue from data transmission, this is a particularly attractive proposition. A further
advantage of the introduction of 3G HSPA is that it can often be rolled out by incorporating a software
update into the system. This means that the use of 3G HSPA brings significant benefits to user and
operator alike.

6.6.2 3G UMTS HSPA Constituents

There are two main components to 3G UMTS HSPA, each addressing one of the links between the base
station and the user equipment, i.e. one for the uplink, and one for the downlink. The two technologies
were released at different times through 3GPP. They also have different properties resulting from the
different modes of operation that are required. In view of these facts they were often treated as almost
separate entities. Now they are generally rolled out together.

The two technologies are summarised:

 HSDPA - High Speed Downlink Packet Access: HSDPA provides packet data support, reduced
delays, and a peak raw data rate (i.e. over the air) of 14 Mbps. It also provides around three times the
capacity of the 3G UMTS technology defined in Release 99 of the 3GPP UMTS standard.

77 directions
Figure 6.2: Uplink and downlink transmission
 HSUPA - High Speed Uplink Packet Access: HSUPA provides improved uplink packet support,
reduced delays and a peak raw data rate of 5.74 Mbps. This results in a capacity increase of around
twice that provided by the Release 99 services.

6.6.3 Beyond 3G HSPA

With the elements of 3G HSPA launched, further evolutions were in the pipeline. The first of these was
known as HSPA+ or Evolved HSPA. The evolved HSPA or HSPA+ provides data rates up to 42 Mbps
in the downlink and 11 Mbps in the uplink (per 5MHz carrier) which it achieves by using high order
modulation and MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) technologies.
In addition to 3G HSPA, and its evolutions, the next evolution for 3G UMTS is known as LTE - Long
Term Evolution. This uses a completely different air interface that is based around OFDM as the
modulation format. While many operators have opted to migrate directly from UMTS to LTE, the
majority are using 3G HSPA to upgrade their existing 3G networks.

6.7 Bluetooth Technology

Bluetooth is widely used as a short range data communications platform for connecting many devices
from mobile phones to headphones, computer mice to computers for many applications including music
and audio streaming.
Bluetooth technology has now established itself in the market place enabling a variety of devices to be
connected together using wireless technology. It connects remote headsets to mobile phones, but it is also
used in a huge number of other applications as well. The development of the technology has progressed
so that it is now an integral part of many household items.

6.7.1 History of Bluetooth Technology and Bluetooth SIG

The Bluetooth history dates back to 1994 when Ericsson came up with a concept to use a wireless
connection to connect items such as an earphone and a cordless headset and the mobile phone. The idea
behind Bluetooth was developed further as the possibilities of interconnections with a variety of other
peripherals such as computer printers, phones and more were realised.
It was decided that to enable the development of Bluetooth technology to grow and be accepted, it needed
to be opened up as an industry standard. Accordingly, in Feb 1998, 5 companies (Ericsson, Nokia, IBM,
Toshiba and Intel) formed the Bluetooth SIG - Special Interest Group. The SIG grew very rapidly, because
by the end of 1998 it welcomed its 400th member.
The SIG worked rapidly on the development of Bluetooth technology. 3 months after its formation, (it
was not yet known as the Bluetooth SIG), the name Bluetooth was adopted. The name originates from
Harald Blåtand (king of Denmark between 940 and 981 AD). His name translated as "Blue Tooth" was
used as his nickname. He was noted for uniting Denmark under the banner of Christianity, and then
uniting it with Norway that he had conquered. The Bluetooth standard was named after him because
Bluetooth endeavours to unite personal computing and telecommunications devices. In July 1999, the
first full release of the standard occurred. The SIG performs a number of functions:
 Publish and update the Bluetooth specifications
 Administer the qualification programme
 Protect Bluetooth trademarks
 Evangelise Bluetooth technology
The Bluetooth SIG global headquarters is in Kirkland, Washington, USA and there are local offices in
Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Minato-Ku, Tokyo; Taiwan; and Malmo, Sweden.

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6.7.2 Bluetooth Standard Releases
There have been many releases of the Bluetooth standard as updates have been made to ensure it keeps
pace with the current technology and the needs of the users.
Table 6.3 Bluetooth Standard Releases and Timeline History
Bluetooth
Release
Standard Key features of version
date
Version
1.0 July 1999 Draft version of the Bluetooth standard
1.0a July 1999 First published version of the Bluetooth standard
1.0b Dec 1999 Small updates to cure minor problems and issues
1.0b + CE Nov 2000 Critical Errata added to issue 1.0b of the Bluetooth standard
First useable release. It was used by the IEEE for their standard IEEE 802.15.1
1.1 Feb 2001
- 2002.
This release of the Bluetooth standard added new facilities including frequency
1.2 Nov 2003 hopping and eSCO for improved voice performance. Was released by the IEEE
as IEEE 802.15.1 - 2005. This was the last version issued by IEEE.
This version of the Bluetooth standard added the enhanced data rate (EDR) to
2.0 + EDR Nov 2004
increase the throughput to 3.0 Mbps raw data rate.
This version of the Bluetooth standard added secure simple pairing to improve
2.1 July 2007
security.
Bluetooth 3 added IEEE 802.11 as a high speed channel to increase the data
3.0 + HS Apr 2009
rate to 10+ Mbps
The Bluetooth standard was updated to include Bluetooth Low Energy formerly
4.0 Dec 2009
known as Wibree

6.7.3 Bluetooth Basics

The first release of Bluetooth was for a wireless data system that could carry data at speeds up to 721
Kbps with the addition of up to three voice channels. The aim was to enable users to replace cables
between devices such as printers, fax machines, desktop computers and peripherals etc. One major use
was for wirelessly connecting headsets to mobile phones, allowing people to use small headsets rather
than having to speak directly into the phone. Another application was to provide a connection between
an ad hoc wireless network and existing wired data networks.
The technology was intended to be placed in a low cost module that could be easily incorporated into
electronics devices of all sorts. Bluetooth uses the licence free Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM)
frequency band for its radio signals and enables communications to be established between devices up to
a maximum distance of around 100 metres, although much shorter distances were more normal.
Bluetooth is well established, but despite this further enhancements are being introduced. Faster data
transfer rates, and greater flexibility. In addition to this efforts have been made to ensure that
interoperation has been improved so that devices from different manufacturers can talk together more
easily.

6.7.4 Bluetooth Radio Interface, Modulation, and Channels

The Bluetooth radio interface has been designed to enable communications to be made reliably over short
distances. The radio interface supports a large number of channels and different power levels, as well as
using reliable forms of modulation.

79
Running in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, Bluetooth employs frequency hopping techniques with the carrier
modulated using Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK). With many other users on the ISM band
from microwave ovens to Wi-Fi, the hopping carrier enables interference to be avoided by Bluetooth
devices. A Bluetooth transmission only remains on a given frequency for a short time, and if any
interference is present the data will be re-sent later when the signal has changed to a different channel
which is likely to be clear of other interfering signals. The standard uses a hopping rate of 1600 hops per
second, and the system hops over all the available frequencies using a pre-determined pseudo-random
hop sequence based upon the Bluetooth address of the master node in the network.
During the development of the Bluetooth standard frequency hopping system was adopted rather than a
direct sequence spread spectrum approach because it is able to operate over a greater dynamic range. If
direct sequence spread spectrum techniques were used then other transmitters nearer to the receiver would
block the required transmission if it is further away and weaker.

Bluetooth channels and frequencies

Bluetooth frequencies are all located within the 2.4 GHz ISM band. The ISM band typically extends from
2.4000 - 2.4835 GHz. The Bluetooth channels are spaced 1 MHz apart, starting at 2402 MHz and finishing
at 2480 MHz. This arrangement of channels gives a guard band of 2 MHz at the bottom end of the band
and 3.5 MHz at the top.
In some countries the ISM band allocation does not allow the full range of frequencies to be used. In
France, Japan and Spain, the hop sequence has to be restricted to only 23 frequencies because the ISM
band allocation is smaller.
There are some Bluetooth frequency accuracy requirements for Bluetooth transmissions. The transmitted
initial centre frequency must be within ±75 kHz from the receiver centre frequency. The initial frequency
accuracy is defined as being the frequency accuracy before any information is transmitted and as such
any frequency drift requirement is not included. In order to enable effective communications to take place
in an environment where a number of devices may receive the signal, each device has its own identifier.
This is provided by having a 48 bit hard wired address identity giving a total of 2.815 × 1014 unique
identifiers.

Bluetooth modulation
The format originally chosen for Bluetooth in version 1 was Gaussian frequency shift keying, GFSK,
however with the requirement for higher data rates two forms of phase shift keying were introduced for
Bluetooth 2 to provide the Enhanced Data Rate, EDR capability.

Gaussian frequency shift keying: When GFSK is the chosen form of Bluetooth modulation, the frequency
of the carrier is shifted to carry the modulation. A binary one is represented by a positive frequency
deviation and a binary zero is represented by a negative frequency deviation. The modulated signal is
then filtered using a filter with a Gaussian response curve to ensure the sidebands do not extend too far
either side of the main carrier. By doing this the Bluetooth modulation achieves a bandwidth of 1 MHz
with stringent filter requirements to prevent interference on other channels. For correct operation the level
of BT is set to 0.5 and the modulation index must be between 0.28 and 0.35.
Phase shift keying: Phase shift keying is the form of Bluetooth modulation used to enable the higher
data rates achievable with Bluetooth 2 EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). Two forms of PSK are used:
 π/4 DQPSK: This is a form of phase shift keying known as π/4 differential phase shift keying. It
enables the raw data rate of 2 Mbps to be achieved.
 8DPSK: This form of Bluetooth modulation is eight point or 8-ary phase shift keying. It is used
when link conditions are good and it allows raw data rates of up to 3 Mbps to be achieved.
The enhanced data rate capability for Bluetooth modulation is implemented as an additional capability so
that the system remains backwards compatible.

80
The Bluetooth modulation schemes and the general format do not lend themselves to carrying higher data
rates. For Bluetooth 3, the higher data rates are not achieved by changing the format of the Bluetooth
modulation, but by working cooperatively with an IEEE 802.11g physical layer. In this way data rates of
up to around 25 Mbps can be achieved.

6.7.6 Bluetooth Power Levels

The transmitter powers for Bluetooth are quite low, although there are three different classes of output
dependent upon the anticipated use and the range required.
Power Class 1 is designed for long range communications up to about 100 m devices, and this has a
maximum output power of 20 dBm. Next is Power Class 2 which is used for what are termed as ordinary
range devices with a range up to about 10 m, with a maximum output power of 6 dBm. Finally there is
Power Class 3 for short range devices. Bluetooth class 3 supports communication only up to distances of
about 10 cm and it has a maximum output power of 0 dBm.
Power control is mandatory for Bluetooth Class 1, but optional for the others, although its use is advisable
to conserve battery power. The appropriate power level can be chosen according to the RSSI, Received
Strength Signal Indictor reading.
Table 6.4: Summary of Bluetooth Power Classes
Class Maximum power (dBm) Power control capability
1 20 Mandatory
2 4 Optional
3 0 Optional

Bluetooth power level choice and RSSI

In order to conserve battery power, the lowest transmitted power level consistent with a reliable link
should be chosen. Assuming that power level control is available, the power level is chosen according to
an RSSI reading. If the RSSI indication falls below a given level, the Bluetooth power level can be
increased to bring the RSSI level up to an accepted level. The value of any RSSI figure is arbitrary as it
is simply used to provide an indication of when the signal level and hence the transmitted power level
needs to be increased or decreased.
The Bluetooth specification does define a maximum bit error rate of 0.1% and this equates to a minimum
requirement for the receive sensitivity of -70dBm. This figures for sensitivity then lead to the distances
achievable for the different power levels, although today's receivers are generally more sensitive than
those that were used to baseline the specification at its launch.
The Bluetooth radio interface provides rugged physical layer without any unnecessary complications to
carry the required data from one device to the next. With many devices being physically small and not
having large battery capacity levels, the radio interface has been designed to keep power consumption
low, while still providing the required capabilities.
6.7.7 Bluetooth Data File Transfer, Links and Codec
Bluetooth data transfer can be achieved using a variety of different data packet types and using different
forms of links - asynchronous links and synchronous links. These different Bluetooth data file transfer
formats provide flexibility, but they are invisible to the user who sees a connection being made and
Bluetooth data being transferred.

Bluetooth links
There are two main types of Bluetooth link that are available and can be set up:
 ACL Asynchronous Connectionless Communications Link
81
  SCO Synchronous Connection Orientated communications link
The choice of the form of Bluetooth link used is dependent upon the type of Bluetooth data transfer that
is required.
Bluetooth ACL: The ACL is probably the most widely used form of Bluetooth link. The ACL Bluetooth
link is used for carrying framed data - i.e. data submitted from an application to logical link control and
adaptation protocol channel. The channel may support either unidirectional or bidirectional Bluetooth
data transfer.
There is a variety of different ACL formats that can be used - most of them incorporate forward error
coding, FEC as well as header error correction to detect and correct errors that may occur in the radio
link. The link provides connections for most applications within Bluetooth. Data transfers like this are
normally supported by profiles which allow the data to be incorporated into frames and transferred to the
other end of the Bluetooth link where it is extracted from the frames and passed to the relevant application.
The ACL is enables data to be transferred via Bluetooth 1 at speeds up to the maximum rate of 732.2
kbps. This occurs when it is operating in an asymmetric mode. This is commonly used because for most
applications there is far more data transferred in one direction than the other. When a symmetrical mode
is needed with data transferred at the same rate in both directions, the data transfer rate falls to 433.9 kbps.
The synchronous links support two bi-directional connections at a rate of 64 kbps. The data rates are
adequate for audio and most file transfers.
When using Bluetooth 2 enhanced data rate, data rates of 2.1 Mbps may be achieved. Also asynchronous
links can be granted a quality of Service, QoS by setting the appropriate channel parameters.

Bluetooth SCO: The SCO is used where data is to be streamed rather than transferred in a framed format.
The SCO can operate alongside the ACL channels, and in fact needs one ACL to configure the SCOs.
A Bluetooth master node can support up to three simultaneous SCO channels and these can be split
between up to three slave nodes. The idea of the SCO is to ensure that audio data can be streamed without
suffering delays waiting for frames or packet slots to become available. The SCO communications links
is assigned guaranteed time slots so that they will be transported at the required time with a known
maximum latency.
A further form of link known as an eSCO or Extended SCO was introduced with version 1.2 of the
Bluetooth standard. Originally no acknowledgement had been sent, whereas using the eSCO greater
reliability is provided to the Bluetooth link by sending an acknowledgement and allowing a limited
number of re-transmissions if data is corrupted. In view of the latency requirements, re-transmissions are
only allowable until the next guaranteed time slot, otherwise new data would be delayed.

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 SESSION 7
SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

7.0 Introduction
A satellite is a physical object that orbits or revolves around some celestial body. They offer global
coverage without wiring costs for base stations and are almost independent of varying population
densities. Satellites occur in nature; the solar system is a perfect example. The earth and other planets are
satellites which revolve around the sun, and the moon is a satellite of the earth. A balance between the
inertia of the revolving satellite and the gravitational pull of the orbited body keeps the satellite in orbit.
Depending on the application, these orbits can be circular or elliptical.
Artificial satellites can be launched into orbit for a variety of purposes. One of these major applications
is communications.

7.1 Satellite Orbit Fundamentals

If a satellite were simply launched vertically from the earth and then released, it would fall back to earth
because of gravity. In order for the satellite to go into orbit around the earth, it must have some forward
motion hence the satellite is launched with both vertical and forward motion. The forward motion
produces inertia which tends to keep the satellite moving in a straight line. However gravity tends to pull
the satellite toward the earth. The combined effect is called centripetal acceleration. The centripetal force
is caused by the inertia of the satellite balanced by the earth’s gravitational pull.
𝑅 2
The attractive force of the earth due to gravity, 𝐹𝑔 = 𝑚𝑔 ( 𝑟 ) .......................................................... (7.1)

The centrifugal force pulling the satellite away, 𝐹𝑐 = 𝑚𝑟𝜔2 .............................................................. (7.2)
Where
m = mass of satellite
R = radius of earth = 6,370 km
r = distance of satellite to the centre of the earth
g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s2
and ω = angular velocity = 2πf, f is the frequency of the rotation

To keep the satellite in a stable circular orbit, then 𝐹𝑔 = 𝐹𝑐 .............................................................. (7.3)

Thus the distance r of the satellite to the centre of the earth is given by
1
𝑔𝑅 2 3
r=( ) ................................................................................................................................... (7.4)
(2𝜋𝑓)2
From equation 7.4,
i. Mass of a satellite is irrelevant
ii. The distance of a satellite to the earth’s surface depends on its rotation frequency.
It takes a speed of approximately 25,000 mi/h, the escape velocity of the earth, to cause a spacecraft to
break the gravitational pull of the earth. At lower speeds gravity constantly pulls the satellite toward the
earth. The closer the satellite is to earth, the stronger the effect of the earth’s gravitational pull. So in low
orbits, the satellite must travel faster to avoid falling back to earth.
83
The farther the satellite is from the earth, the lower its orbital speed. The lowest practical earth orbit is
approximately 100 miles. At this height, the satellite’s speed must be about 17,500 mi/h.
Communications satellites are usually much farther from earth. A typical distance is 22,300 mi or 35,860
km. At this distance, a satellite need travel only about 6800 mi/h in order to stay in orbit. With this speed,
the satellite revolves about the earth in approx. 24 hours, the earth’s own rotational time.

7.1.1 Types of Satellite Orbits

Several restrictions and application requirements result in three major classes of satellites: GEO, MEO,
and LEO, but a fourth one HEO will briefly be discussed.

Inner and outer Van Allen Belts HEO

GEO
(Inmarsat)

Earth LEO
(Iridium,
Globalstar)
MEO
(ICO)

Geostationary (or geosynchronous) Earth Orbit (GEO):

GEO satellites have a distance of approximately 35,860 km to the earth, and take 24 hours to make a
complete trip around the earth. A single geostationary satellite will provide coverage over about 40% of
the planet. Examples are almost all TV and radio broadcast satellites, many weather satellites and satellites
operating as backbones for the telephone network.
If a satellite should appear fixed in the sky, it requires a period of 24 hours. Using equation (7.4) and the
1
period of 24 hours, (𝑓 = 24 ℎ), the resulting distance is approximately 35,860 km.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

LEO refers to a satellite which orbits the earth at altitudes between 500 km and 1500 km above the surface
of the earth. Because LEOs circulate on a lower orbit and move with the speed of approximately 17,500
miles per hour, obviously, they exhibit a much shorter period (the typical duration of LEO periods are 95
to 120 minutes). Additionally, LEO systems try to ensure a high elevation for every spot on earth to
provide a high quality communication link.
Some time ago LEO satellites were mainly used for espionage; several of the new satellite systems now
rely on this class. LEO satellite systems require several dozen satellites to provide coverage of the entire
planet. LEOs require more, but less expensive, satellites to cover the Earth, but they can more easily
produce smaller coverage areas and, thus, provide higher capacity within a given spectrum allocation.
Also, their transmission delay is significantly less, providing higher quality voice [Link] are used for
applications where a short Round Trip Time (RTT) is very important, such as Mobile Satellite Services
(MSS).

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 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO)
A Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite is one that operates at a distance of about 5000 km to 18000 km
above the earth’s surface. MEO orbits higher than LEO satellites, but lower than GEO satellites. With
such orbits, the system only requires a dozen satellites which is more than a GEO system, but much less
than a LEO system. The MEO satellites have orbital periods ranging between 2 and 12 hours.
Several MEOs, with orbits properly coordinated can provide global wireless communication coverage.
Depending on the inclination, a MEO can cover larger populations, so requiring fewer handovers.

Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO)

This class comprises all satellites with non-circular orbits. Currently, only a few commercial
communication systems using satellites with elliptical orbits are planned. These systems have their
perigee over large cities to improve communication quality.

Van Allen Radiation Belts

These belts consist of layers of ionized particles, trapped by the earth’s magnetic field. They are at heights
of about 2,000 – 5,000 km (inner Van Allen belt) and about 20,000 – 30,000 km (outer Van Allen belt),
and they make satellite communication very difficult in these orbits. This is because any satellite flying
within Van Allen belt would be destroyed fairly quickly by the particles.

7.2 Satellite Communications Systems

 Satellite communications is based on radio frequency (RF) transmissions. This introduces another
system supporting mobile communications. Communications satellites are not originators of
information to be transmitted. Instead they are relay stations for other sources. If a transmitting station
cannot communicate directly with one or more receiving stations because of line-of-sight, then a
satellite can be used. The transmitting station sends the information to the satellite which in turn
retransmits it to the receiving stations. The satellite in this application is generally known as a repeater.
 A satellite communication system is a system that uses orbiting vehicles to relay radio transmissions
between earth terminals. The system consists of ground-based or earth stations (that is, parabolic
antennas) and orbiting transponders.
 The transponder receives a microwave signal from the ground unit (the uplink), amplifies it and then
transmits it back to earth (the downlink) by rebroadcasting the signal at another frequency to avoid
interference with incoming signal.

7.3 History
Satellite communication began after the Second World War. Scientists knew that it was possible to build
rockets that would carry radio transmitters into space. In 1945, A. C. Clarke published his essay on ‘Extra
Terrestrial Relays’. But it was not until 1957, that the first satellite SPUTNIK was launched by the Soviet
Union. SPUTNIK is not at all comparable to a satellite today; it was basically a small sender transmitting
a periodic ‘beep’. But this was enough for the US to put all its effort into developing its first satellite.

In 1960, the first reflecting communication satellite ECHO was in space. It was basically a mirror in the
sky enabling communication by reflecting signals. Three years further on, the first geostationary (or

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geosynchronous) satellite SYNCOM followed. Even today, geostationary satellites are the backbone of
news broadcasting in the sky. Their great advantage is their fixed position in the sky. Their rotation is
synchronous to the rotation of the earth, so they appear to be pinned to a certain location.

The first commercial geostationary communication satellite INTELSAT 1 (also known as ‘Early Bird’)
went into operation in 1965. It was in service for one-and-half years, weighed 68 kg and offered 240
duplex telephone channels or, alternatively, a single TV channel. INTELSAT 2 followed in 1967,
INTELSAT 3 in 1969 already offered 1,200 telephone channels.

Three MARISAT satellites went into operation in 1976 which offered worldwide maritime
communication. However, sender and receiver still had to be installed on the ships with large antennas
(1.2 m antenna, 40 W transmit power).
The first mobile satellite telephone system, INMARSAT-A, was introduced in 1982. Six years later,
INMARSAT – C became the first satellite system to offer mobile phone and data services. In 1993,
satellite telephone systems finally became fully digital with INMARSAT – M. 1998 marked the beginning
of a new age of satellite data communication with the introduction of global satellite systems for small
mobile phones such as Iridium and Globalstar.
There are currently over 200 geostationary satellites in commercial use which shows the impressive
growth of satellite communication over the last 50 years. However, satellite networks are currently facing
heavy competition from terrestrial networks with nationwide coverage or at least enough coverage to
support most applications and users.

7.4 Applications
Every satellite is designed to perform some specific task. Its predetermined application specifies the kind
of equipment it must have on board and its orbit. The most common application for satellites is
communications. Traditionally, satellites have been used in the following areas:

Weather forecasting: Several satellites deliver pictures of the earth using, e.g. infrared or visible light.
One special type is the meteorological or weather satellite. These satellites photograph cloud cover, and
the pictures which are sent back to earth are used for determining and predicting weather.

Geodetic satellites: They photograph the earth for the purpose of creating more-accurate and more-
detailed maps.
Radio and TV broadcast satellites: Hundreds of radio and TV programs are available via satellite. For
years, TV signals have been transmitted through satellites for redistribution. Because of the VHF signals
involved in TV transmission, the standard telephone system cannot be used. Microwave relay links have
been used to transmit TV signals from one place to another. This technology competes with cable in many
places, as it is cheaper to install. Consumers use satellite TV receivers to intercept TV signals transmitted
by networks and cable TV companies. Today’s satellites’ dishes have diameters of 30 – 40 cm in central
Europe, (the diameters in northern countries are slightly larger).

Military Satellites: One of the earliest applications of satellites was their use for carrying out espionage.
Intelligence satellites collect information about enemies and potential enemies. On-board film cameras
take photographs which can later be ejected from the satellite and brought back to earth for recovery.

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Infrared sensors detect heat sources, and small radars can profile earth features. Many communication
links are managed via satellite because they are much safer from attack by enemies.

Satellites for navigation: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is well-known and its primary application
is navigation. The system is a network of 24 low-earth-orbit satellites spaced equally around the world in
overlapping patterns. Receivers on the earth pick up transmissions from four satellites simultaneously.
The receiver uses the signals in a microprocessor to compute the exact position of the receiver on earth.
The receiver output is a display giving the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the receiver. It allows for
precise localization worldwide, and with some additional techniques, the precision is in the range of some
metres. Almost all ships and aircraft rely on GPS as an addition to traditional navigation systems. This
system is also used, e.g., for fleet management of trucks or for vehicle localization in case of theft.
In the context of mobile communication, the capabilities of satellites to transmit data is of interest.

Global telephone backbones: One of the first applications of satellites for communication was the
establishment of international telephone backbones. Instead of using cables it was sometimes faster to
launch a new satellite (aka ‘big cable in the sky’).

Connections for remote or developing areas: Due to their geographical location many places all over the
world do not have direct wired connection to the telephone network or the internet or because of the
current state of the infrastructure of a country. Satellites now offer a simple and quick connection to global
networks.

Global mobile communication: The latest trend for satellites is the support of global mobile data
communication. Due to the high latency, GEO satellites are not ideal for this task; therefore satellites
using lower orbits e.g. (LEOs) are needed. One example is Iridium, a worldwide cellular type telephone
system using a LEOs. The system uses 66 satellites 420 miles above the earth to communicate with cell
phones anywhere on earth. It uses the L band (1.6 GHz) and digital techniques for voice or data
communications. The basic purpose of satellites for mobile communication is to extend the coverage area
of the existing mobile phone networks. Cellular phone systems such as GSM (and its successors) do not
cover all parts of a country but with the integration of satellite communication, the mobile phone can
switch to satellites offering worldwide connectivity to a customer. For the UMTS system, frequency
bands directly adjacent to the terrestrial bands have been allocated for the satellite segment (S-Band: 1980
-2010 MHz uplink, 2170-2200 MHz downlink).

7.5 Network Configurations

Two general configurations for satellite communication are:
- Point-to-point
- Broadcast
When two stations on earth want to communicate through radio broadcast but are too far away to use
conventional means, the two stations can use a satellite as a relay station for their communication. As
could be observed from figure 7.2, one Earth station sends a transmission to the satellite, and the
satellite transponder converts the signal and sends it down to the second earth station.

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7.5.1 Point-to-Point Configuration

Up link – 6 GHz
Down link – 4 GHz

Receiving station
Transmitting station Figure 7.2: Point-to-point
Link

7.5.2 Broadcast Configuration

The satellite provides communications between one ground-based transmitter and a number of ground-
based receivers.

Transmitter

Multiple Receivers
Figure 7.3: Broadcast Link

7.6 Transponders
Figure 7.4 shows the basic operation of a communications satellite. An earth station transmits information
to the satellite. The satellite contains a receiver which picks up the transmitted signal, amplifies it and
translates it to another frequency. This new frequency is then retransmitted to the receiving stations back
on earth.
The original signal being transmitted from the earth station to the satellite is called uplink, and then
retransmitted signal from the satellite to the receiving stations is called the down link. Usually the down
link frequency is lower than the up-link frequency. Typical up-link and down-link frequencies are 6 and
4 GHz respectively.

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The transmitter-receiver combination in the satellite is known as a transponder. The basic function of the
transponder is amplification and frequency translation. These transponders are non-regenerative, in that
the uplink transmissions are simply amplified, frequency shifted and retransmitted on the downlink
without any demodulation or remodulation, or signal processing.
A simplified block diagram of a transponder is shown in Figure 7.4.
Receiving Transmitting
Antenna Antenna

Mixer

6 GHz Low-noise 4 GHz Power

Amplifier Amplifier

2 GHz
Local
Oscillator
Figure 7.4: A satellite transponder

The reason for frequency translation is that the transponder cannot transmit and receive on the same
frequency. The transmitter’s strong signal would overload the receiver and block out the very small up-
link signal, thereby prohibiting any communications. By using widely spaced transmit and receive
frequencies, no interference is encountered. Most satellites contain multiple transponders each operating
at a different frequency. A typical communications satellite has 12, 24 or more transponders. A modern
satellite has over 40 transponders, most often with a 36 – MHz bandwidth. Each transponder represents
an individual communications channel. Various multiplexing techniques are used so that each channel
may carry multiple information transmissions.

7.6.1 Satellite Frequency Allocations

Most communication satellites operate in the microwave frequency spectrum. However, there are some
exceptions to this. For example many military satellites operate in the 200 – to 400 – MHz range which
is generally considered to be in the UHF range. The microwave spectrum is divided up into frequency
bands which have been allocated to satellites as well as other communications services such as radar.
These frequency bands are generally designated by a letter of the alphabet.
The table 7.1 shows the various frequency bands used in satellite communications.

Table 7.1: Frequency Bands Used in Satellite Communications

Band P J L S C X Ku Kc K Q V W
225 350
1530 2500 3400 7250 10.95 17.7 27.5 36 46 56
– –– – – – – – – – – –
Frequency
390 530
2700 2700 6425 8400 14.5 21.2 31 46 56 100
MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz MHz GHz GHz GHz GHz GHz GHz

The most widely used satellite communications band is the C band. The uplink frequencies are in the
5.925 – to 6.425 GHz range (generally, 6 GHz). The downlink frequencies are in the 3.7 – to 4.2 GHz
range (also 4 GHz), occasionally, designated as 6 GHz/ 4 GHz where the uplink frequency is given first.
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Although most satellite communications activity takes place in the C band, there is a steady move toward
the higher frequencies. For example, the Ku band has uplink frequency range of 14 – to 14.5 – GHz, and
the downlink range of 11.7 – to 12.2 – GHz. It is designated as 14/12 GHz.
Two other bands of interest are the X and L bands. The military uses the X band for its satellites and
radar, and the L band is used in marine and aeronautical communications and radar.

7.6.2 Satellite Bandwidth

From 7.6.1, the frequencies designated for the C band uplink and downlink are 5925 – 6425 MHz, and
3700 – 4200 MHz respectively. Thus, the bandwidth between the upper and lower limits is 500 MHz, a
wide band capable of carrying a large number of signals. Most communications satellites are designed to
take advantage of this full bandwidth. This allows them to carry the maximum possible number of
communications channels. Not only can many communications channels be supported, but very high
speed digital data requiring wide bandwidth can also be dealt with.
The 500-MHz bandwidth is typically divided into 12 separate transmit channels, each 36 MHz wide.
There are 4-MHz guard bands between channels that are used to minimize adjacent channel interference.
On board the satellite, a separate transponder is allocated to each of the 12 channels. Each transponder
bandwidth of 36 MHz is capable of carrying an enormous amount of information. For example, one
typical transponder can handle up to 1000 one-way analog telephone conversations as well as one colour
TV channel. Each transponder channel can also carry high speed digital data.

7.6.3 Increasing Channel Capacity

Although the transponders are quite capable, they nevertheless rapidly become overloaded with traffic.
Further, there is at times more traffic than there are transponders to handle it. For that reason, numerous
techniques have been developed to effectively increase the bandwidth and signal-carrying capacity of the
satellites. Two of these are:
a) Frequency reuse
b) Spatial isolation

Frequency Reuse
This effectively doubles the bandwidth and information carrying capacity of a satellite. In this system, a
communications satellite is provided with two identical sets of 12 transponders. The first channel in one
transponder operates on the same channel as the first transponder in the other set, and so on. With this
arrangement the two sets of transponders transmit in the same frequency spectrum, but are isolated from
one another by special antenna techniques.
In theory, a signal that is transmitted with vertical polarisation will not be received on an antenna that is
horizontally polarised, and vice versa. In practice, perfect vertical or horizontal polarisation can typically
be received by antennas of either polarisation. However, at microwave frequencies, the polarisation can
be more accurately controlled. Circular polarisation is also used in some types of antennas. There is left-
hand and right-hand circular polarisation. An antenna using one cannot work with the other.

By using transmitting and receiving antennas that are vertically or horizontally polarised or that use left-
or right-hand polarisation, two completely separate sets of transponders operating on the same frequency
can be used simultaneously. One set of 12 transponders will have a vertically polarised or left-hand
circular polarised antenna. The other set will use horizontal or right-hand circular polarisation. For
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 example, if two earth stations transmit on the same frequency but with different polarisations, one will be
rejected by one transponder but picked up by another.

Spatial Isolation
With this technique, extra sets of transponders are used. In spatial isolation, very narrow beamwidth
antennas are used to focus the down-link signals to specific areas of the earth. These are spot-beam
antennas. By using such antennas on the spacecraft, the signals can be confined to a particular area. In
this way, different earth stations can use the same frequencies without interfering with each other because
of the highly directional antennas, thus the total bandwidth or information-carrying capacity of the
satellite can be doubled. For example, a satellite could contain up to four sets of 12 transponders each, all
using the same frequencies.
Thus, with frequency reuse techniques as well as spot beams, a total of 48 transponders can be used.

7.7 Earth Stations

The earth station or ground station is the terrestrial base of the system. The earth station communicates
with the satellite to carry out the designated mission. The earth station may be located at the end user’s
facilities or may be located remotely with ground-based intercommunication links between the earth
station and the end user.
Down
Power divider Converter
LNA BPF DEMUX
Demodulator

BPF
Baseband
LO
outputs
Antenna subsystem
Receive subsystem

GCE - Receive
Diplexer
Carrier oscillator
Baseband
Transmit subsystem inputs
Combiner Up Converter
Modulator MUX
Driver
BPF
HPA LO

GCE - Transmit
AC
DC power to all Power
power in
subsystems subsyste
Figure 7.5: Block diagram of an Earth Station m

The earth station is made up of a number of different subsystems, and these generally correspond to those
on board the satellite. However, most of the subsystems are larger and much more complex.
Further, several additional subsystems exist at earth stations, that are not applicable to the satellite itself.

91
An earth station consists of five major subsystems. These are the antenna subsystem, the receive
subsystem, the transmit subsystem, the ground communications equipment (GCE) subsystem, and the
power subsystem. A general block diagram of these is illustrated in Figure 7.5.
The antenna subsystem consists of the parabolic reflector, the horn antennas, waveguide transmission
line, and the related mounts. It usually includes a diplexer, a waveguide assembly that permits both the
transmitter and receiver to use the same antenna. The receive subsystem consists of the LNA and filters
as well as any power dividers and related circuitry. Many earth stations have multiple circuits for
redundancy and reliability. These are switched on automatically if the main unit fails.
The transmit subsystem consists of the HPA and any intermediate driver stages plus related filters.
The GCE consists of both receiving and transmitting circuits. The receiving portion consists of down
converters, filters, demodulators, and demultiplexing equipment. The transmit portion consists of
multiplexers, modulators, up converters, and the related filters. Connections to the telephone system,
terrestrial microwave relay links, computer interfaces, and so on are made through the GCE.
The power subsystem furnishes all the power to the other equipment. The primary sources of power are
the standard ac power lines. The subsystem operates power supplies which distribute a variety of dc
voltages to the equipment. The power subsystem also consists of emergency power sources such as
generators, batteries, and inverters to ensure continuous operation during power failures.

7.8 Satellite Link Power Budgets

7.8.1 Introduction
When designing a complete, or end to end radio communications system, it is necessary to calculate the
link budget. The link budget enables factors such as the required antennas’ gain levels, radio transmitter
power levels, and receiver sensitivity figures to be determined. This helps in the design of the system so
that it meets its requirements and performs correctly without being over designed at extra cost.
Link budgets are often used for satellite systems. In these situations it is crucial that the required signal
levels are maintained to ensure that the received signal levels are sufficiently high above the noise level
to ensure that signal-to-noise levels or bit error rates are within the required limits. However larger
antennas, high transmitter power levels that are required, add considerably to the cost, so it is necessary
to balance these to minimise the cost of the system while still maintaining performance.
In addition to satellite systems, link budgets are also used in many other radio communications systems.
For example, link budget calculations are used for calculating the power levels required for cellular
communications systems, and for investigating the base station coverage.
A link budget accounts for all the gains and losses in a transmission system. It also calculates signal-to-
noise ratios at the receiver of a communications link. In effect it looks at the elements that will determine
the signal strength arriving at the receiver. It may include the following items:
 Transmitter and receiver performance - transmitter power, receiver sensitivity/noise figure, feeder
 Transmitter and receiver antenna gains
 Antenna feeder losses - receiver and transmitter
 Link distance – ‘free space or spreading’ losses
 Transmission medium losses – attenuation due to atmospheric gases, ionosphere, rain, fog, etc.,
 Other losses, e.g.
 Pointing losses – caused by antenna misalignment, imperfect satellite stabilisation, earth station
near service area boundary
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  Polarisation losses – polarisation mismatch between transmitted and received signals.
Where the losses may vary with time, e.g. fading, an allowance must be made within the link budget for
this - often the worst case may be taken, or alternatively an acceptance of periods of increased bit error
rate (for digital signals) or degraded signal-to-noise ratio for analogue systems.
In essence the link budget will take the form of the equation:
Received power (dBm) = Transmitted power (dBm) + gains (dB) - losses (dB)

Antenna Gain and Link Budget

The basic link budget equation where no levels of antenna gain are included assumes that the antenna is
an isotropic source, radiating equally in all directions. In reality all antennas radiate more in some
directions than others. In addition to this it is often necessary to use antennas with gain to enable
interference from other directions to be reduced at the receiver, and at the transmitter to focus the available
transmitter power in the required direction. It is thus necessary to accommodate these gains into the link
budget equation since they will affect the signal levels - increasing them by levels of the antenna gain,
assuming the gain is in the direction of the required link.

General Link Budget Equation

In order to devise a link budget equation, it is necessary to investigate all the areas where gains and losses
may occur between the transmitter and the receiver. Although guidelines and suggestions can be made
regarding the possible areas for losses and gains, each link has to be analysed on its own merits.
A typical link budget equation for a radio communications system may look like the following:
𝜆 2 𝐺
𝑃𝑅 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × ( ) × 𝑅
4𝜋𝑟 𝐿 𝑥

EIRP of transmitter Free space loss

which in dBW (decibel watts) may be expressed as:
𝑃𝑅 𝑑𝐵𝑊 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 𝑑𝐵𝑊 + 𝐺𝑅 𝑑𝐵 − 20 log(4𝜋𝑟⁄𝜆) − 𝐿𝑥 𝑑𝐵
Where PTGT = effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)
Lx = factor representing other losses

It can be re-written specifically as

𝑃𝑅 = 𝑃𝑇 + 𝐺𝑇 + 𝐺𝑅 − 𝐿 𝑇 − 𝐿𝐹𝑆𝐿 − 𝐿𝑃 − 𝐿𝑅
Where:
PR = received power (dBm)
PT = transmitter output power (dBm)
GT = transmitter antenna gain (dBi)
GR = receiver antenna gain (dBi)
LT = transmit feeder and associated losses (feeder, connectors, etc.) (dB)
LFSL = free space loss or path loss (dB)
LP = miscellaneous signal propagation losses (these include fading margin, polarization mismatch,
losses associated with medium through which signal is travelling, other losses...) (dB)
LR = receiver feeder and associated losses (feeder, connectors, etc.) (d)B

93
 Transponder Gain
Receiver antenna Transmitter
gain, GRS antenna gain, GTS

UPLINK
Free space loss + DOWNLINK
atmospheric losses
Transmitter antenna Receiver antenna
gain, GTE gain, GRE
EARTH EARTH
STATION STATION
Figure 7.6: Uplink and downlink losses and gains

7.8.2 Free Space and Atmosphere Losses

The term (𝜆/4𝜋𝑟)2 or 20 log(4𝜋𝑟/𝜆)when expressed in dB is a measure of how the received signal
power depends on wavelength, and hence frequency, and also how the power radiated from the transmitter
diminishes as the square of the distance. It is known as the free space loss (FSL) or the spreading loss
and represents for satellite links by far the majority loss factor.
Some values of the free space loss for typical satellite frequencies are given in table 7.2 for a typical link
distance of 40,000 km.

Table 7.2 Free space loss values

Frequency, Wavelength Free space loss as
f GHz λ mm a fraction in dB
4 75 2.23 x 10-20 196.5
6 50 9.90 x 10-21 200.1
12 25 2.47 x 10-21 206.1
14 21.4 1.82 x 10-21 207.5
20 15 8.91 x 10-22 210.5
30 10 3.96 x 10-22 214.0

7.8.3 Signal-to-noise Ratio at the Receiver

The signals received at the satellite from up-link transmissions and also on down-links from satellite to
earth station are in the order of nanowatts to picowatts, so inevitably at such low signal levels noise and
interference present stringent receiver requirements.
For reliable transmission it is essential that the signals can be recovered in the presence of noise, which
in limiting cases must dictate specified minimum signal-to-noise ratios (threshold values) at the receiver.
Input Output
kBTs Ni
Filter, No
line LNA I. F.
PR losses So
PR

Figure 7.7: Determining Signal-to-Noise Ratio

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There is the need to take into account both the noise performance of the receiver and the noise picked up
by the receiving antenna, i.e. the sky noise.

Input to receiving antenna:

Input signal, received power, PR
Input noise, sky-antenna noise, kBTs
Where B = receiver bandwidth, normally dictated by I.F. stages
Ts = sky/antenna noise temperature
k = 1.38 × 10−23 J⁄K , Boltzmann′ s constant
The noise generated within the receiver itself is quantified by the effective receiver noise temperature,
Trec. This is defined as the temperature of a noise source located at the input of a noiseless receiver which
would make the same contribution to the receiver output noise as the internal noise of actual system itself.
By convention this is normally referred to the receiver input and Trec represents the effective noise
contributions of the receiver stages up to the demodulator:
𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑐 = 𝑇1 + 𝑇2 ⁄𝐺1 + 𝑇3 ⁄𝐺1 𝐺2 + 𝑇4 ⁄𝐺1 𝐺2 𝐺3
T1, T2, T3, T4, and G1, G2, G3, G4 are the respective noise temperatures and gains (or losses) of individual
stages.
Thus the total noise referred to the input is:
𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑐 giving rise to 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 × 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑐 at the output
where 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 = total receiver power gain = 𝐺1 𝐺2 𝐺3 𝐺4
The noise accompanying the wanted signal power, PR (i.e. noise made up of sky-noise and any terrestrial
noise picked up) is quantified by the antenna noise temperature, 𝑇𝑠 .
The received noise is therefore:
𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠 giving rise to 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 × 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠 at the output
Thus the total noise at the receiver input 𝑁𝑖 is given by:
𝑁𝑖 = antenna noise + effective receiver noise referred to input
= 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠 + 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑐 = 𝑘𝐵(𝑇𝑠 + 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑐 ) = 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠
Where Tsys is known as the total effective system noise temperature:

Now,
The total noise power at the receiver output:
Nout = Grec kBTsys

Whilst the wanted signal power at the output:

𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 × 𝑃𝑅
Thus, the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver is:
𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 ×𝑃𝑅 𝑃𝑅
= =
𝑁𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑐 ×𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 𝑘𝐵𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠
1 1 1
= 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × 𝐿 × 𝐿 × 𝐺𝑅 × 𝑘𝐵𝑇
𝐹𝑆𝐿 𝑋 𝑠𝑦𝑠

𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡 1 1 𝐺𝑅 1
= 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × × × ×
𝑁𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐿𝐹𝑆𝐿 𝐿𝑋 𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 𝑘𝐵

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7.8.4 Figure of Merit: Measure of Quality of Earth Station/Satellite Receiver
𝐺𝑅
Since the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver is directly proportional to , earth and satellite station
𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠
receivers are often quantified by this ratio.
𝐺
The ratio: 𝑇 𝑅 is known as the figure of merit and is usually quoted in dB/K,
𝑠𝑦𝑠
i.e. Figure of merit = 10 log 𝐺𝑅 /𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 dB/K
The higher the ratio the less noise found in the system.

7.8.5 Carrier-to-Noise Density (C/No) and Energy per Bit-to-Noise Density (Eb/No) Ratios
(a) C/No Ratio (A ratio often used to state the quality of a satellite channel)
The ratio of carrier signal power to noise density is used to express signal-to-noise ratios, particularly for
analogue links.
C = average carrier power (received power PR)
No = noise density = noise power at receiver input per hertz
= kBTsys/B = kTsys; B = receiver bandwidth
k = Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38 × 10−23 J/K
so the carrier-to-noise density ratio
𝐶 𝑃 1 1 𝐺 1
= 𝐾𝑇𝑅 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × 𝐿 ×𝐿 ×𝑇𝑅 ×𝑘
𝑁𝑜 𝑠𝑦𝑠 𝐹𝑆𝐿 𝑋 𝑠𝑦𝑠

𝐶
(𝑁 ) 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 − 20 log(4𝜋𝑟/𝜆) − 10 log 𝐿𝑥 + log 𝐺𝑅 ⁄𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 − 10 log 𝑘
𝑜
EIRP dBW Free space loss Other losses Figure of merit +228.6 dB

(b) Eb /No
In digital systems the energy per bit-to-noise density ratio is usually cited as the signal-to-noise ratio
criteria:
Eb = energy per bit = PR / bit rate
No = noise density = kTsys
𝐸𝑏 𝑃𝑅 1 1 𝐺 1 1
So: = = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 × 𝐿 × 𝐿 × 𝑇 𝑅 × 𝑘 × 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑁𝑜 𝑘𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 × 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐹𝑆𝐿 𝑋 𝑠𝑦𝑠

Example 7.1:
Link Budget for 14/11 GHz European Communications Satellite (ECS) System
Uplink: Transmitter output power (at saturation), 2 kW 33 dB W
Back-off and combining losses 7 dB W
Transmit antenna gain, GT 64 dB W
Diameter D = 15 m
Illumination efficiency, η = 0.55
Uplink frequency, 𝑓 = 14 𝐺𝐻𝑧, 𝜆 = 0.02143 𝑚
[GR = η(4π/λ2)(πD2/4)]
Free space loss, LFSL (r = 40,000 km) 207.5 dB
[LFSL = 20 log 4πr/λ]
Satellite receiver, figure of merit, GR/Tsys -5.3 dB
Atmospheric transmission losses (clear sky) 0.6 dB
Bit rate = 140 Mbit/s
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 𝐶
(𝑁 ) 𝑑𝐵 = 10 log 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 − 20 log(4𝜋𝑟/𝜆) − 10 log 𝐿𝑥 + log 𝐺𝑅 ⁄𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 − 10 log 𝑘
𝑜
= 33 + 64 − 207.5 − 7 − 0.6 − 5.3 + 228.6 = 105.2 dB
𝐸 𝐶
(𝑁𝑏 ) = (𝑁 ) − 10 log 140 × 106 = 105.2 − 81.5 = 23.7 𝑑𝐵
𝑜 𝑜

Downlink: Downlink frequency 11.2 GHz, λ = 0.027 m

EIRP of satellite transmitter 40.2 dB W
Free space loss (r = 40,000 km) 205. 8 dB
Antenna diameter D = 15 m
Illumination efficiency, η = 0.55
Receive antenna gain, GR 62.7 dB
Effective system noise atmosphere (Tsys = 270K) 24.3 dB
Earth station, figure of merit, GR/Tsys
Atmospheric transmission loss (clear sky) 0.4 dB
Bit rate = 140 Mbit/s
𝐶
( ) = 𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 − 𝐿𝐹𝑆𝐿 − 𝐿𝑋 + 𝐺𝑅 ⁄𝑇𝑠𝑦𝑠 − 10 log 𝑘
𝑁𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛
= 40.2 − 205.8 − 0.4 + 38.4 + 228.6
= 101 dB
𝐸𝑏
( ) = corresponding to 140 Mbit/s
𝑁𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛
= 101 − 10 log 140 × 106
= 19.5 𝑑𝐵
More Examples

7.8.8 Satellite Footprints: EIRP and Power Flux Density Received on Earth

Figure 7.8: Satellite Footprint

The area illuminated on earth by a satellite down-link is referred to as the satellite’s footprint, as could be
observed in figure 7.8. The footprint is quantified by contours of the satellite’s effective isotropic radiated
power, 𝐸𝐼𝑅𝑃 = 𝑃𝑇 × 𝐺𝑇 or more usefully in terms of the power flux density received on earth.

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Power flux density, 𝜌𝑇 = 𝑃𝑇 𝐺𝑇 /4𝜋𝑟 2watts per square metre
Example 7.2
a. With reference to the THOR satellite footprint shown in figure 7.9, explain the significance of the
contours shown.
b. The downlink for the THOR satellite over Europe operates at a frequency of 14 GHz. Assuming the
link distance, satellite – Europe, is 39,000 km, calculate:
i. The power flux density in Scandinavia corresponding to the innermost contour 54 dB W.
ii. The power level received in London by a parabolic dish of 60 cm diameter, assuming a
radiation/aperture efficiency of 55%.
iii. The minimum diameter of an antenna necessary to successfully receive signals corresponding
to the 40 dB W, i.e. in Italy, assuming a threshold sensitivity of the receiver equal to -104 dBm

Figure 7.9: for Example 7.2

7.9 Multiple Access of Satellite Systems

Multiple access means the ability of interconnections of large number of earth station terminals
simultaneously via satellite. Alternatively, multiple access refers to the fact that many earth stations share
the same satellite. The multiple access problem is fundamental to satellite communication because it
involves how to permit a changing group of earth stations to share a satellite in a way that optimises:
(a) spectrum utilisation
(b) satellite capacity
(c) satellite power
(d) interconnectivity
(e) flexibility
(f) satellite cost
(g) user acceptability

7.9.1 Frequency Division Multiple Access of Satellite Systems

The most popular frequency band for commercial satellite communications, C-band, uses a 6-GHz carrier
for the uplink and a 4-GHz carrier for the downlink. For C-band satellite systems each satellite is
permitted by international agreement, to use a 500-MHz wide spectral assignment. Typically, each
satellite has 12 transponders with a bandwidth of 36 MHz each. The most common 36-MHz transponders
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operate in an FDM/FM/FDMA (frequency-division multiplex, frequency-modulated, frequency-division
multiple access) multi-destination mode.

Considering each component:

a. FDM: Signals such as telephone signals, each one having a single-sideband 4-kHz spectrum
(including guard bands) is FDM’d to form a multichannel composite signal.
b. FM: The composite signal is frequency-modulated (FM) unto a carrier and transmitted to the
satellite.
c. FDMA: Subdivisions of the 36-MHz transponder bandwidth may be assigned to different users.
Each user receives a specific bandwidth allocation whereby he or she can access the transponder.
Thus, composite FDM channels are FM modulated and transmitted to the satellite within the
bandwidth allocation of an FDMA plan.

7.9.2 Time Division Multiple Access of satellite Systems

Figure 7.10 is an illustration of a typical TDMA satellite application. Time is segmented into intervals
called frames. Each frame is further partitioned into assignable user time slots. The frame structure
repeats, so that a fixed TDMA assignment constitutes one or more slots that periodically appear during
each frame time. Each earth station transmits its data in bursts, timed so as to arrive at the satellite
coincident with its designated time slot(s).
When the bursts are received by the satellite transponder, they are retransmitted on the downlink together
with the bursts from other stations. A receiving station detects and demultiplexes the appropriate bursts
and feeds the information to the intended user.

Figure 7.10: TDMA

Configuration

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