Mobile Communications

Fundamentals
 Frequencies  Antennas
 Modulation  Mobility Management

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 1

 Frequency Spectrum for Communication

Frequencies, Examples:

Audio TV

VLF LF HF VHF UHF IR UV XR

100 103 106 109 1012 1015 1018

Walkie-Talkie Cellular GSM Paging

g g Cellular GSM Cordless DECT UMTS
27 MHz 900 MHz 930 MHz 1800 MHz 1880 MHz 2000 MHz

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 2

 Frequency Spectrum for Communication

 Different applications use different frequency spectrum (carrier

frequencies)
 e.g. FM-Radio 88,5 MHz – 107,9 MHz
 e.g.
g cordless telephone
p DECT 1880 MHz – 1990 MHz

 ITU-R regularly organizes conferences in order to coordinate the

frequency spectrum worldwide
 e.g. FM-Radio (UKW) is approximately the same in Germany and Croatia

 H
However, th
there iis no exactt h
harmonization
i ti off spectrum
t over th
the
world, because spectrum is a national issue
 e.g. GSM Europe 900 and 1800 MHz
 e.g. GSM USA 1900 MHz

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 3

 Frequency spectrum for cellular mobile systems

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 4

 Frequency spectrum for wireless LAN (WLAN)

max. power [mW]

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 5

 Modulation

Digital Information is modulated on a carrier frequency

e.g.
g

Amplitude modulation
ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying)

Frequency modulation
FSK (Frequency Shift Keying)

Phase modulation
Phasen shift at binery 0

Phasenmodulation
Ph d l ti
PSK (Phase Shift Keying)

180° phase shift

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 6
 Modulation: several bits per signal state

There are variants of the modulation techniques which can transmit

serveral bits at one signal state change, e.g. amplitude with 4
levels

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 7

 I/Q-Modulation diagram

Example: Oscillation with stable amplitude (Magnitude)

Polar diagram: Phase and

Amplitude are spcified by a Q and I
value

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 8

 Modulation: several bits per signal state

+ 135° + 45° 4-26

(10) (11)
The signal changes for every pair
of bits between 4 states

-135 ° - 45°
(00) (01)

011 001
A combination of 4 phases
and two amplitudes results 000
in 8 different signal states, 010
i.e. 3 bits can be transmitted
100
in parallel 110

101 111

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 9

 Amplitude and Phase modulation combined

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 10

 Modulation schemes for mobile communication

for the efficient use of spectrum frequency, amplitude and phase

modulation are combined
combined, ee.g.
g
 8-PSK (Phase Shift Keying), e.g. EDGE
 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation), e.g. High Speed Downlink
P k t Access
Packet A (HSDPA),
(HSDPA) 10Mb
10Mbps UMTS

8-PSK 16-QAM
Q 0010
0001

0011
0000

I
1000

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 11

 Modulation schemes for mobile communication

o 8-PSK combines 8 phases, at

each h phase
h change
h 3 bits
bit can
be transmitted
o Theoretically,
y, there can be any y
number of signal states
(phases)
o However,
However in reality it is difficult
for the receiver to distinguish
two states which are close to
each h other
th

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 12

 Modulation schemes for mobile communication

Examples:

BPSK ( = 2-PSK) power line communication modem

QPSK ( = 4-PSK) UMTS/CDMA
8-PSK
8 PSK GSM/EDGE
16-QAM HSDPA
64-QAM HSPA (cat15/16), LTE, 802.11a
GMSK GSM
256QAM Digital Video Broadcast
1024QAM cabel modem

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 13

 Modulation schemes for mobile communication

o GSM uses GMSK (Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying)

o GMSK is a frequency optimized FSK scheme
o GMSK is a modulation scheme that
o is robust against radio disturbance
o uses the spectrum in a very efficient way (bandwidth per
transmission rate)
o facilitates highly effective signal amplification so that mobile
stations with battery have longer operation

More on modulation can be found here, for example:

http://www.educatorscorner.com/tools/lectures/appnotes/discipline/p
df/5965-7160E.pdf

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 14

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o Candidate for future high bit rate Wireless Personal Area

Networks (WPANs). Ranges of <10m 10m
o In order to increase wireless capacity, it is necessary to be able
to transmit more kbps/m² (kilo bit per second per square meter)
o Example capacity of transmission systems:

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 15

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o UWB doesn‘t need it‘s own frequency band, it co-exists as an

overlay system with other services
o can be operated license free and uses unused or used spectrum
o can be operated very inexpensively and energy efficient
o transmits at very high transmission rate
rate, multi channel and is
robust against interference
o because of low PSD (Power Spectral Density), UWB cannot
easily be detected by other systems

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 16

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

How does it work?

o Traditional systems use carrier frequencies and modulate digital

information on them

o UWB does not use a carrier. The 0s and 1s are coded by very
short
h t bursts,
b t by b use off one off the
th following
f ll i methods:
th d

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 17

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o Bipolar modulation: a 1 is represented by a positive (increasing)

pulse, while a 0 is represented by the inverse (decreasing)

o Amplitude modulation: a 1 is represented by the full amplitude,

while the 0 is represented by half of it

o Pulse position modulation: the time slot between two signals

varies, a delayed pulse represents a 0

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 18

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

How does it work?

emitted transmission signal power vs. used spectrum

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 19

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o Why do the bursts occupy wide frequency band?

o Fourier transformation says that every pulse form can be

approximated by the weighted sum of sine curves

o e.g., a rectangular
t l pulse
l can b be generated
t dbby th
the sum off a
„Fundamental“ sine curve plus so called „Harmonics“

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 20

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o The shorter the pulse, the higher the frequency of the sine curve
must be to reach approximation
o In the example below the 4 Harmonics occupy a higher
bandwidth for a short pulse compared to a longer pulse

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 21

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o C
Comparison
i b
between
t th
the spectrum
t occupied
i dbby a 600 psec
pulse compared by a that of a 300 psec pulse.

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 22

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o E
Examplel off a wireless
i l HDMI device
d i with
ith UWB
o "Wireless HDMI Extender„ of Gefen
o range is 10m line of sight

transmitter receiver

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 23

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

o T
To date
d t systems:
t
o transmit 480 Mbit/s over 3m
o transmit 110 Mbit/s over 10m

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 24

 Example usage scenario for UWB

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 25

 Ultra Wide Band (UWB)

Sources:

http://www tecchannel de/entwicklung/grundlagen/429761/

http://www.tecchannel.de/entwicklung/grundlagen/429761/

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0002D51D-0A78-1CD4-
B4A8809EC588EEDF&
B4A8809EC588EEDF&pageNumber=1&catID=2
N b 1& tID 2

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000780A0-0CA3-1CD4-
B4A8809EC588EEDF

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 26

 Antennas: isotropic radiator

o Radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves

o Isotropic radiator: equal radiation in all directions (three
dimensional) - only a theoretical reference antenna
o Real antennas always have directive effects (vertically and/or
o horizontally)
o Radiation
R di ti pattern:
tt measurementt off radiation
di ti around d an antenna
t

Gain: maximum power in the direction of

th main
the i llobe
b compared d tto th
the power off
an isotropic radiator (with the same
average power)

Antenna

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 27

 Antennas: directed and sectorized

o Antennas for mobile communication are often contructed in a

way that they preferably transmit or receive in certain directions,
e g transmission and reception along a rail track
e.g.

y y z
directed
x z x antenna

side view (xy plane) side view (yz plane) top view (xz plane)

z
z

sectored
x x
antenna

top view, 3 sectors top view, 6 sectors

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 28

 Antennas: samples

L- and S-band receiver antenna

L-band satellite receiver station
(DFD, Oberpfaffenhofen)

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 29

 Antennas

o The received power Pr decreases with the distance between

receiver and transmitter. It depends on the transmitted power P,
the gain and the distance.
distance

Pt G t

Pr G r Pr G r

d kilometer d kilometer

P = energy (t/r = transmit/receive)

 P   2
  = wave length (c/frequency)
Pr   t 2 Gt   Gr
 4d   4  G = gain
c = speed of light

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 30

 Antennas

o because of the formula above the higher frequency is used for

d
downlink
li k and
d th
the llower ffrequency ffor uplink
li k

Example GSM 900

890 – 915 Mhz (uplink)

935 – 960 Mhz (downlink)

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 31

 Antennas

example
500 W

0,8 W 2W

10 kilometer 20 kilometer

influenced by
o curvature of the earth
o relief features (mountains, etc.)
o buildings,
buildings trees
trees, etc
etc.
o atmosphere (in particular for high frequencies, e.g. 60 GHz)

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 32

 Signal propagation

Propagation in free space always like light (straight line)

Receiving power proportional to 1/d² in vacuum – much more in real
environments
(d = distance between sender and receiver)
Receiving power additionally influenced by
f di (f
fading (frequency ddependent)
d t)
shadowing
reflection at large obstacles
refraction depending on the density of a medium
scattering at small obstacles
diffraction at edges
g

shadowing seflection scattering diffraction

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 33

 Multipath propagation

o Signals can take many different paths between sender and

receiver due to reflection, scattering, diffraction?
o results in additional background noise
o Is a particular problem for modulation schemes with high bitrate,
e.g. 64-QAM

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 34

 Multipath propagation effects

o The interference is location and frequency dependent

o example of a measurement of received signal strength vs.
distance to the sender

source: http://www.skydsp.com/publications/phd_sem/index.htm

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 35

 Multipath propagation effects

o example of a measurement of received signal strength vs.

Frequencs (location is fixed)

source: http://www.skydsp.com/publications/phd_sem/index.htm

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 36

 Multipath propagation effects

o example of a measurement of received signal strength by

frequency and distance

SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) is a measure of signal strength

source: http://www.skydsp.com/publications/phd_sem/index.htm
http://www skydsp com/publications/phd sem/index htm
Mobile Communication Fundamentals 37
 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

o Separation of a high speed bit tream into several low speed ones
o overlap of frequency bands

Frequency

Frequency

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 38

 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

o Elimination of overlap interference by orthogonal frequencies

o sub channel frequencies are chosen in a way such that the
maximum on an oscillation at one frequency coincides with the
zero location of the neighbouring frequencies

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 39

 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

o Each sub carrier can use its own modulation scheme

o common schemes:
h BPSK
BPSK, QPSK
QPSK, 16 QAM und d 64 QAM
o OFDM is used in HSDPA, 802.11a and 802.11n
o adaptive wrt signal quality

Signal quality
SNR (Signal/Noise Ratio)

BPSK
QPSK
16QAM

Time

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 40

 OFDMA (OFDM Access)

o Each sub carrier can be assigned to a different user for

multiplexing
lti l i purposes
o OFDM tutorial e.g.: http://www.wireless.per.nl:202/telelearn/ofdm

frequency

frequency

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 41

 Cellular networks

o the further transmitter and receiver are apart from each other, the
hi h the
higher th energy necessary to t transmit
t it att the
th same data
d t rate
t
(assuming the environmental influences remain stable)
o because of limited battery capacity energy consumption of
mobile devices should be kept limited
o therefore the range is limited
o How can we build a wide
area mobile network?

→ cellular network

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 42

 Mobility Management

Questions:
o Who
Wh iis where?
h ?
o How can I reach him/her?
o May I access a foreign network? How?
o How can I be handed over from one access point to the next one
o ...

→ the fundamentals of mobility management are very similar

over different network types

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 43

 Mobility Management: Registration

Home (sub-)network

home
d t
data
base

Foreign (sub-)network

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 44

 Mobility Management: Connection establishment

Home (sub-)network

home
data
base

F i ((sub-)network
Foreign b) t k 4

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 45

 Mobility Management

Fundamentals of mobility management are very similar over

diff
different
t network
t k ttypes . The
Th home
h data
d t base
b has
h different
diff t names,
and it can be several data bases:

o Home Location Register (HLR) in GSM/UMTS

o Home Subscriber Server (HSS) in 3GPP-IMS
o Home Agent
g ((HA)) bei MobileIP
o SIP-Proxy in Voice over IP (VoIP) services
o AAA-Server (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting)
o etc.
The „home data base“ can be on one‘s own server (PC) at home,
such as in Mobile IP, or it can be a data base at a mobile network
operator with whom one has a contract, such as in GSM.

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 46

 Mobility Management: Challenges

The challenges and the complexity of Mobility Management in real

systems
t result,
lt among other
th things,
thi from
f the
th following:
f ll i

o may the user access a foreign network?

o the user is mobile, i.e. he/she moves and therefore has to
change access point once in a while (handover), how can, at the
same time the connections be retained seamlessly? y
o how does the accounting take place, when users move to foreign
networks?
o how can it be insured that privacy is preserved, while the user is
moving?
o on which routes, over which gateways, with which technology
and resources operates the communication?

Mobile Communication Fundamentals 47