p
 





 
 



  

 

 
 



ñ ³It is dangerous to put limits on wireless.´ -

Guglielmo Marconi, 1932
ñ There has been tremendous growth in wireless
in the past 10 years. Even more in Europe and
Asia than North America

Ô 




 ë digital and
RF circuit fabrication improvements, large scale
circuit integration, miniaturization technologies,
digital switching

m
Ô      ë although
overinvestment has created bad profitability
recently.
Ô 

    ë Regardless of
current business profitability, the growth rate in
terms of numbers of customers is substantial. The
ability to communicate wirelessly is of obvious
benefit to many. What are some of the benefits?





Wired Communications
ñ 1834 - Gauss and Weber build telegraph system in
Germany
ñ 1844 - Morse connects Baltimore and Washington by
telegraph
ñ 1858 - First transatlantic telegraph cable laid
ñ 1876 - Alexander Bell demonstrates telephone
ñ 1911 - New York can telephone Denver
Wireless Communications --Not so ³new´
ñ Had slow growth at first compared to other inventions.
ñ But now is growing very rapidly.


º
ñ 1899 - Marconi sends first radio message across Atlantic
ñ 1905 - Hulsmeyer detects ships with radar
ñ 1927 - US & Europe telephones linked by HF radio
ñ 1934 - AM mobile police radios for public safety widely
used
ñ 1935 - Edwin Armstrong demonstrates FM radio system,
became the primary modulation technique.
ñ 1940 - First microwave radar
ñ 1965 - First commercial communication satellite
ñ 1968 - AT&T proposes cellular phone system to Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)

è
ñ 1983 - FCC allocates spectrum for analog cellular service
(AMPS)
ñ 1990 - GSM digital cellular service introduced in Europe
ñ 1995 - FCC auctions new Personal Communication Service
(PCS) licenses in U.S. for digital services
ñ 1998 - 40 million cellular phone users in U.S.
ñ 2000 - In some countries, mobile users outnumber
conventional wireline customers.

Ñ
ñ 2001 - 630 million subscribers worldwide (as compared
to 1 billion wired phone lines.
ñ 2001 - Over 1% of worldwide wireless subscribers have
abandoned wired telephone service for home use.
ñ 2005 í Over 130 million cellular phone users in U.S.
(out of population of 300 million including children).

Œ
 
 

RF - Radio Frequency
ñ 1 MHz to 1 GHz - general classification, not absolute
ñ 100 MHz to 1 GHz - more widely used definition
Microwave
ñ 1 GHz to 300 GHz - general
ñ 1 GHz to 100 GHz - more widely used
Trends towards use of higher frequencies
ñ greater signal bandwidth (BW) per channel
ñ more users and/or higher data rates
ñ but more difficult to design - more $$, more
engineering required

î
  



ñ Mature
Home Appliances - What devices are used that are
wireless?

ñ Communications
fixed microwave (point-to-point or Line Of Sight) -
nearly 20,000 in U.S
satellite to 0 ground stations (TV, phone, defense,
etc.)
analog cellular : AMPS (FM) since 1980's
paging

÷
ñ Emerging
WLAN: Wireless Local Area Networks
Mobile computers/email
Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
ñ local phone service via wireless connection
ñ prominent in non-industrialized nations
ñ cheaper to install than wired lines
ñ new IEEE 802.16 standard has been developed for WLL.
Wireless-enabled Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

÷÷
Wireless Device Connectivity between computer
peripherals (printers, monitors, keyboards, etc.) -
Bluetooth
Satellite to 
 ground units - Land Mobile
Satellite (LMS)
ñ Motorola/Iridium
Digital Cellular/PCS
ñ PCS = Personal Communication Services
ñ Several types of services and capabilities are
offered

÷m
Radio Frequency Identification Tags (RFID¶s) on
merchandize in warehouses and stores.
Sensor networks ë small devices wirelessly
communicating among themselves to monitor
environments using a variety of sensors.

÷
ñ FCC controls all usable Radio Spectrum -
allocates specific frequency bands for specific
uses
Military
Public safety and public service - Police, fire,
utilities, medical
Commercial - To customers, between commercial
mobiles
Unlicensed
Amateur
Etc.

÷
ּ
ñ SMR Bands - Specialized Mobile Radio
Three 20 MHz bands from 800-900 MHz
Large number of ›
 licenses nationwide
paging/messaging
voice dispatch - taxi, Police/Fire/Ambulance
data (UPS/Fedex)
ñ Extended SMR
Nextel/Motorola partnership
Nationwide coverage providing digital cellular/data
service
Created by buying SMR licenses from a large
number of private radio service providers
֏
ñ ISM Bands - Industrial/Scientific/Medical
902-928 MHz, 2400-2484 MHz, & 5725-5850 MHz
³Garbage´ bands
ñ spread spectrum modulation
ñ Transmit (Tx) power level < 1 W
Remote meter reading
Wireless medical monitors
Digital cordless telephones
Big new application: Wireless Local Area Networks
(WLAN¶s)

ք
ñ Cellular Phone
AMPS: Advanced Mobile Phone System
ñ Œ
Œ
 !
Reverse Channel: Transmit from mobile to fixed
base station
ñ ŒŒ
 !
Forward Channel: Transmit from base station to
mobile
FCC mandated duopoly in Major Trading Areas (MTAs)
ñ MTA = 51 largest U.S. cities
ñ two providers per MTA

÷Œ
ñ PCS Band
1.8-1.9 GHz
FCC Spectrum Auctions - $10 Billion!!
ñ 1st time spectrum sold for $$ in U.S.
ñ It is has been hard for companies to recover this investment
A & B blocks for Major Trading Areas (MTAs)
ñ duopoly like AMPS
C, D, E, & F blocks - Basic Trading Areas (BTAs)
ñ BTA = 492 large rural areas (includes MTAs)
Digital cellular phone service + PCS
ñ PCS = special services like messaging, caller ID, voice mail,
FAX, data, etc.
Compete with analog cellular and SMR services combined

֔

 "
  


ñ The focus of this course: mobile wireless

communications.
Our predominant focus will be on mobile cellular
communications
Historically voice communications, but also
incorporating data into newer generation systems.

m
ñ But we will also take a substantial look at Wireless LAN¶s
Have grown quickly over the past couple of years.
Are an important replacement opportunity for traditional
wiring in buildings.
Some are trying to make them a competitor to cellular for
data communications.
ñ Cellular can or will provide 10¶s to 100¶s of kilobits
per second.
ñ But if one can connect to a Wireless LAN (either at
home/office or in public ³hot spot´ areas), 10¶s of
Megabits per second are readily available

m÷
ñ And below all of these technologies are important
radio transmission issues we need to study
Radio signal propagation ë signal strengths varies with
distance from the transmitter, but may also vary by large
amounts over a few centimeters
Digital modulation ë putting data on analog wireless signals.
Compensation for fading ë making channels more reliable
Frequency reuse and sharing (multiple access techniques) ë
making best use of spectrum to support multiple users.
ñ Sharing in the time, frequency, and code domains.

mm
ñ Early mobile phone systems used a high power
Tx to cover a large spatial area (R = 50 km)
Half-duplex (HDX) operation
ñ two-way communication using  radio channel
ñ transmit or receive only at a given time (HDX)
ñ ³push-to-talk´ system - CB radio

m
ñ Allocated spectrum determines maximum # of

users
e.g., 10 MHz allocated BW with 100 kHz channels
= 100 simultaneous users/market
ñ Demand was great in large cities and this led to
poor service (many blocked calls)
ñ Spectrally inefficient system
allocated spectrum supports small # of users

m
ñ In 1976, Bell Mobile Phone Service only had
12 channels for all of New York City (10
million people), which could acceptably only
support 543 customers.
Acceptable service - Certain probability of not
being able to make a call (i.e., be "blocked")
Given the # of customers, average calling load per
customer, # of channels ĺ can compute blocking

mº
ñ Cellular Concept - break coverage area (market) into
many small cell (many transmitters) where each non-
adjacent cell will reuse different portions (not all) of
allocated spectrum
Increase spectrum efficiency
ñ many users share same channels
Increase in required system infrastructure (base stations)
ñ more capital costs to provide adequate coverage

mè
 £


 

mÑ
ñ Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) spectrum
allocated by FCC in 1983
Full duplex (FDX) operation : simultaneous two-way
communication
ñ two 30 kHz channels (forward & reverse)
Two providers for each market - duopoly
ñ limited competition
Analog frequency modulation (FM) used exclusively
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
ñ one channel per pair of users

mŒ
ñ USDC: U.S. Digital Cellular proposed in 1991
(D-AMPS or IS-54)
Replace single user analog channel with digital
channels that support 3 users/30 kHz channel BW
User capacity is 3 times greater than AMPS - more
provider revenue ($$)
Digital modulation & speech coding allow Time
Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
ñ 3 users share one channel by using different time slots
This service is provided under the title "Digital
Cellular"

mî
VI. Mobile Radio Terminology

ñ Table 1.4, pg. 10 - everyone is responsible for these

definitions

ñ Mobile: high speed motion (e.g. cell phone in car)

ñ Portable: low speed motion (cordless phone in home,
walking)
ñ Mobile Unit = subscriber unit = user communication device
ñ Transmitter (Tx) and Receiver (Rx)
ñ Base Station: Tx/Rx on tower at center of cell that provides
service to group of mobile users


ñ Forward/Reverse Channels (a.k.a. downlink/uplink)
Forward: From base station to mobile
Reverse: From mobile to base station
ñ Simplex (SX), Half Duplex (HDX), & Full Duplex
(FDX)
ñ Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) - Using two
separate frequency bands to provide both sides of the
duplex operation
Example: AMPS uses 824-849 MHz for reverse channel
and 869-894MHz for forward channel
ñ PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network

÷
m
#  

ñ One-way communication (SX)

ñ Send short message to mobile unit (pager)
ñ Wide area coverage
ñ Page broadcast from many base stations

to remote units
no information as to user location
ñ Reliable communication  $  (need good
Signal to Noise performance)
Requires large Tx power and 
$ (~ 2-8 kbps)
Noise has less of an effect when the data rate is lower.
Coverage needed even inside buildings w/ 20-30 dB signal
attenuation
Needs an extensive network of transmitters to transmit the
signal everywhere




 %  
 
ñ Primarily in-home use
ñ Use ISM bands ë 900 MHz most popular for a while, now
2.4 GHz is common and 5.8 GHz is available.
ñ Low power, limited range (~ 100 m) and coverage, and
limited mobility

º
& %  
 

è
ñ Large geographic coverage
ñ Limited frequency spectrum ë a surprisingly
low amount of spectrum has been allocated for
a service with such popularity.
ñ High user mobility
ñ High system capacity - Large # of simultaneous
users
obtained by limiting coverage of each base station
to small area (cell)
frequency spectrum can be reused by other non-
adjacent cells in network
Ñ
ñ Base station
serves mobile users in each cell
bridge between mobile unit and MSC
connected to MSC via phone line (for example,
T1 of 24 channels or T3 of 672 channels) or
Line of Sight microwave link

Œ
ñ MSC: Mobile Switching Center
controls base stations, call initiation & routing, handoffs, etc.
connects cellular system to Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN)
cellular network brains:
ñ call initiation/setup
ñ base station handoffs
ñ controlling power levels in mobile units
ñ billing information
ñ roaming user ID and verification
Typically handles 5000 simultaneous calls supporting
100,000 cellular subscribers (at most 5% of subscribers are
assumed to be active at anyone time)

î
ñ Common Air Interface (CAI)
Standard mechanism used by all mobiles.
Defines 4 different channels to be used by a mobile
unit
ñ Forward/reverse voice channels - FVC/RVC
Full Duplex communication
ñ Forward/reverse control channels - FCC/RCC
call initiation & setup
makes up 5% of total # of available channels
One cell contains 10 to 60 voice channels and only
1 to 3 control channel pairs (F+R)
MSC broadcasts call request from PSTN over all
FCC's of base stations ë to find the mobile user

ñ There are two ways to keep mobiles ³connected´ to the
best base station

1. Mobile unit monitors FCC's looking for strongest base

station (closest) and incoming call
ñ if FCC signal < acceptable level - mobile looks for
another base station
ñ 
 base stations must use  frequencies for
FCC/RCC
ñ `

from one base station to another occurs when
FCC signal is less than an acceptable level

÷
2. Base stations (current server + adjacent stations) monitor
RCC and report mobile unit signal strength to MSC
(analog AMPS system)
ñ if RCC signal < acceptable level - MSC initiates handoff
to one of neighboring base stations
ñ 
 base stations must use 00  frequencies
for FCC/RCC

m
ñ Cellular Phone Call Timing
Mobile Identification Number (MIN) is the
subscriber's telephone number
Electronic Serial Number (ESN) is device identifier.
Station Class Mark (SCM) identifies the class of the
device, based on its maximum transmit power level.



º