Reporters: George Ma.

Agustin Perez Sheila Jane Gimutao Niko Uchida Kenneth Hamid

Personal Communication Systems (PCS)

Cellular telephone system designed mainly for use with portable telephones

Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)

Most common cellular radio technology in North America that uses analog FM

Approximately 40 MHz (increased to about 50 MHz in 1986) Cellular radio technology was introduced at the same time 2 companies called carriers:
Local Wireline Telephone Company (TelCo) Radio Common Carrier (RCC)

Cellular repeaters
Low power transmitters Distributed in cells that forms a grid pattern in a city

Cells are connected by copper cable, fiber optics, or microwave link Mobile Switching Center (MSC) or Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)

No provision for direct mobile-to-mobile radio communication Frequency reuse over a relatively short distance

Cellular Carriers and Frequencies

395 duplex voice channels, each has one channel in each direction for each of the two carriers (base and mobile) 21 control channels Total of 832 channels 45 MHz separation Forward channel for base Reverse channel for mobile to base

Each cell has:

Only one-seventh or one-twelfth of the total number of channels Three of the 21 control channels

Channel Allocation
Initiating calls:
Control channels allocates voice channels to phones

During calls:
Handoffs - transfer of calls from one cell to an adjacent cell that has a greater signal strength

Incoming calls:
Mobile periodically identifies itself to the system Paging signals are sent out on control channels

Frequency Reuse
Smaller cells:
Frequency reuse at shorter distances More cell sites needed Handoffs occur more frequently

Effective control system:

Keeps track of mobile phones Keeps track of telephone numbers Detects and prevents fraudulent use Sets up calls

Voice channels Control channels In-channel, out-of-band signaling Blank-and-burst signaling

Mobile and Base Identification

Mobile Identification Number (MIN)
Number Assignment Module (NAM) 10-digit phone number

Electronic Serial Number (ESN)

32-but number EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory chip)

Mobile and Base Identification

Station Class Mark (SCM)
ERP (Effective Radiated Power with respect to a halfwave dipole)
Class I (mobile) Class II (transportable) Class III (portable) +6 dBW (4 W) +2 dBW (1.6 W) -2 dBW (600 mW)

System Identification Number (SID) Digital Color Code (DCC)

Turning on a Phone
Identification process:
Control channel scanning SID Page channel Collision Transmission of ESN and MIN

Originating a Call
MIN ESN Number to call

Phone sends origination message

System authorization
Voice channel Digital color code Control mobile attenuation code (CMAC)

Switch from control channel to voice channel

Confirmation message on forward voice channel Supervisory audio tone (SAT) Confirmation message on reverse voice channel
5970, 6000, and 6030 Hz

Receiving a Call
Land station
MIN, power level to use, and the voice channel number on paging channel

Mobile confirmation
ESN on reverse control channel

Base sends information with DCC on forward voice channel Mobile confirmation on reverse voice channel SAT transmitted on voice channel

Handoffs
Cell site changing Process:
Network monitors mobile power Information sent to mobile using blank-and-burst signaling New channel number, attenuation code, and SAT frequency Confirmation on reverse voice channel Mobile switches to new channel, connects to new cell site

AMPS system is not very private

Conversations can be pick up with any FM receiver tuned to the right frequency In 1988, US govt banned the import or sale of scanners or other receivers that can tune to cellular frequencies

Stolen phones Clones Roaming phones without identification

Transmitter Power and Frequency

Transmitter Modulation
Voice transmission
FM, 12 kHz deviation each way from the carrier frequency Companding ratio of 2:1

Data transmission
FSK, 8 kHz deviation each way from the carrier frequency

pre-emphasis in transmitter de-emphasis in receiver

Mobile and Portable Antennas

Power
Higher than mobile phones Shared among all channels

Receivers
Voice, control, signal strength monitoring

Antennas
Two receive antennas and one transmit antenna

Air interface
Base Station Controller (BSC)

Traffic and Cell Splitting

Call blocking Call dropping A. K. Erlang
Trunking gain

Phone traffic defined in erlangs (E)

One erlang is equivalent to one continuous phone conversation T=NP T=traffic in erlangs N=number of customers P=probability that a given customer is using the phone

Traffic and Cell Splitting

Ways to avoid call blocking and call dropping:
Increase number of channels
12-cell pattern, 395/12=33 duplex voice channels 7-cell pattern, 395/21=19 duplex voice channels

Cell-splitting

Microcells
Has relatively low cost than regular macrocells

Picocells
Used mainly for indoors and in well-shielded areas

Repeaters
Amplifies signals from the cell site and from the mobiles

Cellular Modems
Noisier and are subject to interruption during handoffs and fading Propriety cable / compatible cell phone cards 28.8 kb/s 9.6 kb/s Error-correcting protocols:
MNP10 Enhanced Throughput Cellular (ETC)

Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD)

Packet-switched data Less expensive Requires separate account Special configuration 19.2 kb/s 14.4 kb/s

Analog vs. Digital

Digital is more flexible and has immunity to noise accumulation Bandwidth constraint Digital systems tend to be more complex

Advantages of Digital Cellular Radio

Have more inherent privacy Error correction
time- and code- division multiplexing

Easier to switch

Digital conversion around the world:

North America Europe

Conversion of AMPS to TDMA

Full-rate TDMA system Three digital voice channels into one 30 kHz radio channel Three times capacity using same number of channels IS-54B to IS-136

TDMA Voice Channel