CHAPTER - 2

Wireless Data Services

First generation cellular systems that provide data communications using circuit switching have
difficulty passing modem signals through the audio filters of receivers designed for analog, FM,
common air interfaces. Inevitably, voice filtering must be deactivated when data is transmitted over
first generation cellular networks, and a dedicated data link must be established over the common air
interface. The demand for packet data services has, until recently, been significantly less than the
demand for voice services, and first generation subscriber equipment design has focused almost solely
on voice-only cellular communications. However, in 1993, the US cellular industry developed the
cellular digital packet data (CDPD) standard to coexist with the conventional voice only cellular
system. In the 1980s, two other data-only mobile services called ARDIS and RAM Mobile Data
(RMD) were developed to provide packet radio connectivity throughout a network.
Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD)
CDPD is a data service for first and second generation US cellular systems and uses a full 30kHz
AMPS channel on a shared basis. CDPD provides mobile packet data connectivity to existing data
networks and other cellular systems without any additional bandwidth requirements. It also capitalizes
on the unused air time which occurs between successive radio channel assignments by the MSC.
CDPD directly overlays with existing cellular infrastructure and uses existing base station equipment,
making it simple and inexpensive to install. Furthermore, CDPD does not use the MSC, but rather has
its own traffic routing capabilities. CDPD occupies voice channels purely on a secondary, non
interfering basis, and packet channels are dynamically assigned (hopped) to different cellular voice
channels as they become vacant, so the CDPD radio channel varies with time.
CDPD transmissions are carried out using fixed-length blocks. User data is protected using a Reed-
Solomon block code with 6-bit symbols. For each packet, 282 user bits are coded into 378 bit blocks,
which provide correction for up to eight symbols.
Table 10.2 lists the link layer characteristics for CDPD. Figure 10.10 illustrates a typical CDPD
network. Note that the subscribers (the mobile end system, or M-ES) are able to connect through the
mobile data base stations (MDBS) to the Internet via intermediate systems (MD-IS), which act as
servers and routers for the subscribers. In this way, mobile users are able to connect to the Internet or
the PSTN. Through the I-interface, CDPD can carry either Internet protocol (IP) or OSI connectionless
protocol (CLNP) traffic.

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Advanced Radio Data Information Systems (ARDIS)
Advance Radio Data Information Systems (ARDIS) is a private network service provided by Motorola
and IBM and is based on MDC 4800 and RD-LAP (Radio Data Link Access Procedure) protocols
developed at Motorola [DeR94]. ARDIS provides 800 MHz two-way mobile data communications for
short-length radio messages in urban and in-building environments, and for users traveling at low
speeds. Short ARDIS messages have low retry rates but high packet overhead, while long messages
spread the overhead over the length of the packet but have a higher retry rate. ARDIS has been
deployed to provide excellent in-building penetration, and large-scale spatial antenna diversity is used
to receive messages from mobile users. When a mobile sends a packet, many base stations which are
tuned to the transmission frequency attempt to detect and decode the transmission, in order to provide
diversity reception for the case when multiple mobiles contend for the reverse link. In this manner,
ARDIS base stations are able to insure detection of simultaneous transmissions, as long as the users
are sufficiently separated in space.

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RAM Mobile Data (RMD)
RAM Mobile Data (RMD) is a public, two-way data service based upon the Mobitex protocol
developed by Ericsson. RAM provides street level coverage for short and long messages for users
moving in an urban environment. RAM has capability for voice and data transmission, but has been
designed primarily for data and facsimile (Fax).

Common Channel Signaling (CCS)

Common channel signaling (CCS) is a digital communications technique that provides simultaneous
transmission of user data, signaling data, and other related traffic throughout a network. This is
accomplished by using out-of-band signaling channels which logically separate the network data from
the user information (voice or data) on the same channel. For second generation wireless
communications systems, CCS is used to pass user data and control/supervisory signals between the
subscriber and the base station, between the base station and the MSC, and between MSCs. Even
though the concept of CCS implies dedicated, parallel channels, it is implemented in a TDM format for
serial data transmissions.
Before the introduction of CCS in the 1980s, signaling traffic between the MSC and a subscriber was
carried in the same band as the end-user's audio. The network control data passed between MSCs in
the PSTN was also carried in-band, requiring that network information be carried within the same
channel as the subscriber's voice traffic throughout the PSTN. This technique, called in-band signaling,
reduced the capacity of the PSTN, since the network signaling data rates were greatly constrained by
the limitations of the carried voice channels, and the PSTN was forced to sequentially (not
simultaneously) handle signaling and user data for each call.
CCS is an out-of-band signaling technique which allows much faster communications between two
nodes within the PSTN. Instead of being constrained to signaling data rates which are on the order of
audio frequencies, CCS supports signaling data rates from 56 kbps to many megabits per second. Thus,
network signaling data is carried in a seemingly parallel, out-of band, signaling channel while only
user data is carried on the PSTN. CCS provides a substantial increase in the number of users which are
served by trunked PSTN lines, but requires that a dedicated portion of the trunk time be used to
provide a signaling channel used for network traffic. In first generation cellular systems, the SS7
families of protocols, as defined by the Integrated System Digital Network (ISDN) are used to provide
CCS.

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 Common channel signaling (CCS) network architecture showing STPs, SEPs, and
SMS embedded within a central switching office, based on SS7.

The MSC provides subscriber access to the PSTN via the SEP. The SEP implements a stored-program-
control switching system known as the service control point (SCP) that uses CCS to set up calls and to
access a network database. The SCP instructs the SEP to create billing records based on the call
information recorded by the SCP.
The STP controls the switching of messages between nodes in the CCS network. For higher reliability
of transmission (redundancy), SEPs are required to be connected to the SS7 network (described in
Section 10.8) via at least two STPs. The SMS contains all subscriber records, and also houses toll-free
databases which may be accessed by the subscribers.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a complete network framework designed around the
concept of common channel signaling. ISDN defines the dedicated signaling network that has been
created to complement the PSTN for more flexible and efficient network access and signaling
[Mod92], and may be thought of as a parallel world-wide network for signaling traffic that can be used
to either route voice traffic on the PSTN or to provide new data services between network nodes and
the end-users.
ISDN provides two distinct kinds of signaling components to end-users in a telecommunications
network. The first component supports traffic between the end-user and the network, and is called
access signaling. Access signaling defines how end-users obtain access to the PSTN and the ISDN for
communications or services, and is governed by a suite of protocols known as the Digital Subscriber
Signaling System number 1 (DSS1). The second signaling component of ISDN is network signaling,
and is governed by the SS7 suite of protocols. For wireless communications systems, the SS7
protocols within ISDN are critical to providing backbone network connectivity between MSCs
throughout the world, as they provide network interfaces for common channel signaling traffic.

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ISDN provides a complete digital interface between end-users over twisted pair telephone lines. The
ISDN interface is divided into two different types of channels. Information bearing channels called
bearer channels (B channels) are used exclusively for end-user traffic (voice, data, and video). Out-of-
band signaling channels, called data channels (D channels), are used to send signaling and control
information across the interface to end-users. As shown in below Figure, ISDN provides integrated
end-user access to both circuit-switched and packet switched networks with digital end-to-end
connectivity.

ISDN end-users may select between two different interfaces, the basic rate interface (BRI) or the
primary rate interface (PRI). The BRI is intended to serve small capacity terminals (such as single line
telephones) while the PRI is intended for large capacity terminals (such as PBXs).

Block diagram of an Integrated Services Digital Network. Even though the diagram
illustrates parallel channels, the TDM-based serial data structure uses a single twisted pair.

Broadband ISDN and ATM

Recent work has defined ISDN interface standards that increase the end-user transmission bandwidth
to several Mb/s. This emerging networking technique is known as broadband ISDN (B-ISDN) and is
based on asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology which allows packet switching rates up to
2.4 Gbps and total switching capacities as high as 100 Gbps.

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ATM is a packet switching and multiplexing technique which has been specifically designed to handle
both voice users and packet data users in a single physical channel. ATM data rates vary from low
traffic rates (64 kbps) over twisted pair to over 100 Mbps over fiber optic cables for high traffic rates
between network nodes. ATM supports bidirectional transfer of data packets of fixed length between
two end points, while preserving the order of transmission. ATM data units, called cells, are routed
based on header information in each unit (called a label) that identifies the cell as belonging to a
specific ATM virtual connection. The ATM header also includes data for congestion control, priority
information for queuing of packets, and a priority which indicates which ATM packets can be dropped
in case of congestion in the network.
Figure 10.13 shows the cell format of ATM. ATM cells (packets) have a fixed length of 53 bytes,
consisting of 48 bytes of data and 5 bytes of header information. Fixed length packets result in simple
implementation of fast packet switches, since packets arrive synchronously at the switch.

Signaling System No.7 (SS7)

The SS7 signaling protocol is widely used for common channel signaling between interconnected
networks. SS7 is used to interconnect most of the cellular MSCs throughout the US, and is the key
factor in enabling autonomous registration and automated roaming in first generation cellular systems.
SS7 is an outgrowth of the out-of band signaling first developed by the CCITI under common channel
signaling standard, CCS No. 6. Further work caused SS7 to evolve along the lines of the ISO-OSI
seven layer network definition, where a highly layered structure (transparent from layer to layer) is
used to provide network communications.
The lowest three layers of the OSI model are handled in SS7 by the network service part (NSP) of the
protocol, which is made up of three message transfer parts (MTPs) and the signaling connection
control part (SCCP) of the SS7 protocol.

For further information on SS7 browse various web resources.