PACS

PERSONAL ACCESS COMMUNICATION

SYSTEM
 Introduction
• Personal Access Communications System (PACS) is a third
generation personal communications system developed and
proposed by Bellcore in 1992
• PACS is a DECT counterpart in America
• providing research support for the regional Bell Operating
Companies in the United States
• is a low mobility low power wireless system designed for
residential use.
• is able to support voice, data and video images for indoor and
microcell use
• PACS is designed to provide coverage within a 500 meter
range
• Main objective : is to integrate all forms of wireless local loop
communications into one system with full telephone features
 Versions of PACS
• 3 versions
– The first version denoted mostly as PACS, which
operated in the licensed Personal Communications
Systems (PCS) bands (1850-1910 and 1930-1990
MHz
– The second version known as PACS-UB, which
operates in a TDD mode in the unlicensed band
1910-1930MHz in the same way as the PACS
system for the licensed band
– The third version known as PACS-WUPE(wireless
User Premises Equipment) based on the japanees
PHS (personal handy phone system ) System
 Features of PACS
• a fully integrated networked approach
• can be easily integrated with various cellular systems in a single
handset
• can support both private key and public key encryption for
authentication and privacy
• downlink preselection receiver antenna diversity and uplink full
receiver diversity for better signal quality
• downlink and uplink switched transmit antenna diversity for
improving error-free signal transfers
• automatic frequency assignment based on the quasi-static automatic
frequency assignment (QSAFA) procedure
• support of subrate (16 and 8 kb/s) and aggregated (n X 32 kb/s)
channels
• protocols to support messaging, circuit mode data, packet mode data,
and interleaved speech/data services
 Functional Architecture for
PACS
• Consists of four main components
– SU : subscriber unit the PACS handset, which
may be fixed or portable
– RP: radio ports  base stations which are
connected to the radio port control unit (RPCU) and
the access manager(AM)
– Interface A: the air interface, provides a connection
between the SU and RP
– Interface P: provides the protocols required to
connect the SUs through the RPs to RPCU
 Functional Architecture for
PACS

SU
 PACS Radio Aspects
• The basic frame for the PACS radio has a duration of 2.5 ms
with 8 time slots/frame and per second 400 frames can be
transferred
• The uplink transmissions from the PACS subscriber unit (SU)
utilize time division multiple access (TDMA), and the handset
receiver operates in the time division multiplex (TDM) mode for
the downlink signals.
• PACS supports a system broadcast channel (SBC) that may be
deployed as one of the following channels:
– an alerting channel (AC) for alerting SUs to incoming calls
– a system information channel (SIC) to broadcast system information
(including, e,g., subscriber/terminal identities, relevant timers, protocol
parameters)
– a priority request channel (PRC) to be used by SUs for emergency call
• a 32 kbps SBC provides alerting and system information upto
80000 users
 PACS Radio Aspects
• A synchronization cannel and slow channel are used on
the forward link to synchronize each subscriber unit.
• User information is transmitted only in the fast channel
(FC) on both the forward and reverse links
• A single time slot has a duration of 120 bits
• Out of 120 bits, 80 bits carry user information in the form
of fast channel. The remaining 40 overhead bits of the
downlink burst are used for the following purposes
– 14 bits for synchronization
– 10 bits of a Slow channel applied for an additional synchronization
pattern, indication of word errors, signaling messages or
subscriber data
– 15 CRC bits for error detection
– 1 bit for power control of a handset i.e. for optimizing power output
at the subscriber unit
 PACS Radio Aspects
• The burst in the uplink is organized in the
following way
– 12 bits for guard time
– 2 bits needed for a reference symbol in differential
encoding of pi/4-QPSK modulation used in PACS
– 10 bits for a slow channel
– 80 bits for user payload (user information)
– 15 CRC bits
– 1 bit for applications (reserved)
 PACS Specifications
• Multiple Access : TDMA
• Duplexing : FDD or TDD
• Frequency band : 1-3 GHz
• modulation : pi/4 QPSK
• Channel spacing : 300 k Hz
• Portable transmitter average power : 200mw
• base station average power :800mW
• Channel coding : CRC
• Speech coding : 16 bit ADPCM
• Time slots per frame: 8
• frame duration :2.5 ms
• users per frame: 8 (FDD) or 4 (TDD)
• Channel bit rate 384kbps
• Speech rate :32 kbps
• Bit error less than: 10^-2
• voice delay :less than 50 ms
 Antenna Diversity
• Antenna diversity, also known as space diversity, is any one of
several wireless diversity schemes that use two or more antennas to
improve the quality and reliability of a wireless link. Often, especially
in urban and indoor environments, there is not a clear line-of-sight
(LOS) between transmitter and receiver. Instead the signal is
reflected along multiple paths before finally being received. Each of
these bounces can introduce phase shifts, time delays,
attenuations, and even distortions that can destructively interfere
with one another at the aperture of the receiving antenna. Antenna
diversity is especially effective at mitigating these multipath
situations. This is because multiple antennas offer a receiver
several observations of the same signal. Each antenna will
experience a different interference environment. Thus, if one
antenna is experiencing a deep fade, it is likely that another has a
sufficient signal. Collectively such a system can provide a robust
link.
 Quasi- static autonomous
frequency assignment (QSAFA)
• RP ( radio port ) operating frequencies are assigned automatically and
autonomously, eliminating the need for manual frequency planning.
• The automatic frequency assignment is called quasi- static autonomous
frequency assignment (QSAFA).
• QSAFA is a self-regulating means of selecting individual RP frequency
channel pairs that function without a centralized frequency coordination
between different RPs.
• The QSAFA process is controlled by the RPCU (radio port control unit)
for its associated RP transceivers. To start the procedure, the RPCU
sends a message to a transceiver to turn off its transmitter. The
transceiver is instructed to tune to the downlink frequency band and
scan all possible downlink frequencies. Then the transceiver reports the
signal power of the frequencies back to the RPCU and amplitude
modulation (AM). The frequency with the lowest received signal power
at the RP is selected. Finally, the RP transmitter turns to the selected
frequency and turns on.