Prof. Dr.-Ing Jochen H.

Schiller
Inst. of Computer Science
Freie Universität Berlin
Germany

Mobile Communications
Chapter 2: Wireless Transmission

Frequencies
Signals, antennas, signal propagation, MIMO
Multiplexing, Cognitive Radio
Spread spectrum, modulation
Cellular systems

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.1

Frequencies for communication
VLF = Very Low Frequency UHF = Ultra High Frequency
LF = Low Frequency SHF = Super High Frequency
MF = Medium Frequency EHF = Extra High Frequency
HF = High Frequency UV = Ultraviolet Light
VHF = Very High Frequency

Frequency and wave length

- λ = c/f
- wave length λ, speed of light c ≅ 3x108m/s, frequency f

twisted coax cable optical transmission

pair

1 Mm 10 km 100 m 1m 10 mm 100 µm 1 µm
300 Hz 30 kHz 3 MHz 300 MHz 30 GHz 3 THz 300 THz

VLF LF MF HF VHF UHF SHF EHF infrared visible light UV

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.2

Example frequencies for mobile communication
VHF-/UHF-ranges for mobile radio
- simple, small antenna for cars
- deterministic propagation characteristics, reliable connections

SHF and higher for directed radio links, satellite communication

- small antenna, beam forming
- large bandwidth available

Wireless LANs use frequencies in UHF to SHF range

- some systems planned up to EHF
- limitations due to absorption by, e.g., water (dielectric heating, see microwave oven)
- weather dependent fading, signal loss caused by heavy rainfall etc.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.3

Frequencies and regulations
Examples Europe USA Japan
Cellular networks GSM 880-915, 925-960, 1710- AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, GSM PDC, FOMA 810-888, 893-958
1785, 1805-1880 824-849, 869-894 PDC 1429-1453, 1477-1501
UMTS 1920-1980, 2110-2170 TDMA, CDMA, GSM, UMTS FOMA 1920-1980, 2110-2170
LTE 791-821, 832-862, 2500- 1850-1910, 1930-1990
2690

Cordless phones CT1+ 885-887, 930-932 PACS 1850-1910, 1930-1990 PHS 1895-1918
CT2 864-868 PACS-UB 1910-1930 JCT 245-380
DECT 1880-1900

Wireless LANs 802.11b/g 2412-2472 802.11b/g 2412-2462 802.11b 2412-2484

802.11g 2412-2472

Other RF systems 27, 128, 418, 433, 868 315, 915 426, 868

In general: ITU-R holds auctions for new frequencies, manages frequency bands worldwide
(WRC, World Radio Conferences); 3GPP specific: see e.g. 3GPP TS 36.101 V16.5.0 (2020-03)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.4

Great flexibility with LTE
See, e.g., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands or 3GPP TS 36.101 E-UTRA: User Equipment (UE) radio transmission
and reception

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.5

Signals I
Physical representation of data
Function of time and location
Signal parameters: parameters representing the value of data

Classification
- continuous time/discrete time
- continuous values/discrete values
- analog signal = continuous time and continuous values
- digital signal = discrete time and discrete values

Signal parameters of periodic signals:

- period T, frequency f=1/T, amplitude A, phase shift ϕ
- sine wave as special periodic signal for a carrier:

s(t) = At sin(2 π ft t + ϕt)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.6

Fourier representation of periodic signals

∞ ∞
1
g (t ) = c + ∑ an sin(2πnft ) + ∑ bn cos(2πnft )
2 n =1 n =1

1 1

0 0
t t
ideal periodic signal real composition
(based on harmonics)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.7

Real technical systems are always bandwidth-limited

attenuation

threshold

0 frequency [Hz]
bandwidth

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.8

Signals II
Different representations of signals
- amplitude (amplitude domain)
- frequency spectrum (frequency domain)
- constellation diagram (amplitude M and phase ϕ in polar coordinates)

A [V] A [V] Q = M sin ϕ

t[s] ϕ
I= M cos ϕ

ϕ f [Hz]

Composed signals transferred into frequency domain using Fourier transformation

Digital signals need

- infinite frequencies for perfect transmission
- modulation with a carrier frequency for transmission (analog signal!)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.9

Antennas: isotropic radiator
Radiation and reception of electromagnetic waves, coupling of wires to space for radio transmission

Isotropic radiator: equal radiation in all directions (three dimensional) - only a theoretical reference antenna

Real antennas always have directive effects (vertically and/or horizontally)

Radiation pattern: measurement of radiation around an antenna

z
y z

y x ideal
x isotropic
radiator

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.10

Antennas: simple dipoles
Real antennas are not isotropic radiators but, e.g., dipoles with lengths λ/4 on car roofs or λ/2 as Hertzian dipole
 shape of antenna proportional to wavelength

λ/4 λ/2

Example: Radiation pattern of a simple Hertzian dipole

y y z

simple
x z x dipole
side view (xy-plane) side view (yz-plane) top view (xz-plane)

Gain: maximum power in the direction of the main lobe compared to the power of an isotropic radiator (with the
same average power)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.11

Antennas: directed and sectorized
Often used for microwave connections or base stations for mobile phones (e.g., radio coverage of a valley)

y y z
directed
x z x antenna

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

z
z

x
sectorized
x antenna

top view, 3 sector top view, 6 sector

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.12

Antennas: diversity
Grouping of 2 or more antennas
- multi-element antenna arrays
Antenna diversity
- switched diversity, selection diversity
- receiver chooses antenna with largest output
- diversity combining
- combine output power to produce gain
- cophasing needed to avoid cancellation

λ/2 λ/2
λ/4 λ/2 λ/4 λ/2

+ +

ground plane

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.13

MIMO
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output
- use of several antennas at receiver and transmitter
- increased data rates and transmission range without additional transmit power or bandwidth via higher spectral
efficiency, higher link robustness, reduced fading
Examples
- IEEE 802.11n, LTE, HSPA+, …
Functions
- “beamforming”: emit the same signal from all antennas to maximize signal power at receiver antenna
- spatial multiplexing: split high-rate signal into multiple lower rate streams and transmit over different antennas
- diversity coding: transmit single stream over different antennas with (near) orthogonal codes
t1
t3

3 1 t2
Sending time
sender Time of flight 1: t0
2 t2=t1+d2 2: t0-d2
t3=t1+d3 3: t0-d3 receiver
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.14
Questions & Tasks
- Frequency regulations may differ between countries. Check out the regulations valid for your country (within
Europe CEPT may be able to help you, https://www.cept.org/, for the US try the FCC, www.fcc.gov, for Japan
ARIB, www.arib.or.jp).
- Why can waves with a very low frequency follow the earth’s surface? Why are they not used for data
transmission in computer networks?
- Why does the ITU-R only regulate ‘lower’ frequencies (up to some hundred GHz) and not higher frequencies (in
the THz range)?
- What are the two different approaches in regulation regarding mobile phone systems in Europe and the US?
What are the consequences?
- Why is the international availability of the same ISM bands important?
- Is it possible to transmit a digital signal, e.g., coded as square wave as used inside a computer, using radio
transmission without any loss? Why?
- Is a directional antenna useful for mobile phones? Why? How can the gain of an antenna be improved?
- If you are unsure about Shannon, Nyquist etc. – go back to our Computer Networks lecture and refresh your
knowledge!

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.15

Signal propagation ranges
Transmission range
- communication possible
- low error rate

Detection range
- detection of the signal possible sender
- no communication possible
transmission

Interference range distance

- signal may not be detected detection

- signal adds to the background noise interference

Warning: figure misleading – bizarre shaped, time-varying ranges in reality!

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.16

Signal propagation
Propagation in free space always like light (straight line)
Receiving power proportional to 1/d² in vacuum – much more attenuation in real environments, e.g., d3.5…d4
(d = distance between sender and receiver)
Receiving power additionally influenced by
- fading (frequency dependent)
- shadowing
- reflection at large obstacles
- refraction depending on the density of a medium
- scattering at small obstacles
- diffraction at edges

shadowing reflection refraction scattering diffraction

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.17

Real world examples

www.ihe.kit.edu/index.php

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.18

Multipath propagation
Signal can take many different paths between sender and receiver due to reflection, scattering, diffraction

multipath
LOS pulses
pulses

LOS
(line-of-sight)

signal at sender
signal at receiver

Time dispersion: signal is dispersed over time

- interference with “neighbor” symbols, Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)
The signal reaches a receiver directly and phase shifted
- distorted signal depending on the phases of the different parts

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.19

Effects of mobility
Channel characteristics change over time and location long term
power
- signal paths change fading
- different delay variations of different signal parts
- different phases of signal parts
 quick changes in the power received (short term/fast fading)

Additional changes in
- distance to sender
- obstacles further away t
short term fading
 slow changes in the average power received (long term/slow fading)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.20

Questions & Tasks
- What are the main problems of signal propagation? Why do radio waves not always follow a straight line? Why
is reflection both useful and harmful?
- Although the examples shown here reflect real world characteristics they miss several important aspects. What
could it be? What else could influence signal propagation in a real world?
- Multipath propagation seems to be harmful, but where could it help? Can a system benefit from multipath
propagation? How?
- Name several methods for ISI mitigation. How does ISI depend on the carrier frequency, symbol rate, and
motion of sender/receiver? What are the influences of ISI on TDM schemes?
- Remember physics in high school – where did you see certain propagation patterns of waves that can lead to
short term fading?
- What could a radio receiver do against fast fading or slow fading, respectively?

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.21

Multiplexing

Multiplexing in 5 dimensions Space-division multiplexing (SDM)

- space (si)
channels ki
- time (t) c
- frequency (f) k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
t
- code (c)
c
- polarization (p)
s1 t
f
Goal: multiple use of a shared medium
s2
c f

Important: guard “spaces” needed! t

s3
f

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.22

Frequency-division multiplexing (FDM)
Separation of the whole spectrum into smaller frequency bands

A channel gets a certain band of the spectrum for the whole time
- Examples: classical analog TV/radio

Advantages
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
- no dynamic coordination necessary
- works also for analog signals c
f
Disadvantages
- waste of bandwidth if the traffic is
distributed unevenly
- inflexible

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.23

Time-division multiplexing (TDM)
A channel gets the whole spectrum for a certain amount of time
- Example: round-table discussions

Advantages
- only one carrier in the
medium at any time
- throughput high even k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
for many users

c
Disadvantages
f
- precise synchronization
necessary

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.24

Time- and frequency-division multiplexing
Combination of both methods

A channel gets a certain frequency band for a certain amount of time

- Examples: GSM, Bluetooth

Advantages
- better protection against tapping k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
- protection against frequency
selective interference c
but: precise coordination required f

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.25

Cognitive Radio
Typically in the form of a spectrum sensing CR
- Detect unused spectrum and share with others avoiding interference
- Choose automatically best available spectrum (intelligent form of time/frequency/space multiplexing)
Distinguish
- Primary Users (PU): users assigned to a specific spectrum by e.g. regulation
- Secondary Users (SU): users with a CR to use unused spectrum
Examples
- Reuse of (regionally) unused analog TV spectrum (aka white space)
- Temporary reuse of unused spectrum e.g. of pagers, amateur radio etc.
f SU
SU PU SU

SU PU
PU
PU PU SU

PU PU PU PU
SU SU SU
PU PU
SU
SU
t
space mux frequency/time mux

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.26

Code-division multiplexing (CDM)
Each channel has a unique code
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5 k6
All channels use the same spectrum at the same time
- Example: UMTS c

Advantages
- bandwidth efficient
- no coordination and synchronization necessary
- good protection against interference and tapping f

Disadvantages
- varying user data rates
- more complex signal regeneration
t
Implemented using spread spectrum technology

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.27

Polarization-division multiplexing (PDM)
Each channel has a unique polarization
- by convention: electric field considered (magnetic field always at right angle to electric field)
- e.g. vertical vs. horizontal, right vs. left circular

Examples: Satellite-TV, microwave links

Advantages
- increased bandwidth (e.g. doubled in satellite dish)
- no coordination and synchronization necessary

Disadvantages
Source: https://www.data-alliance.net
- perfect, ideal polarization not always feasible
- cross-polarization interference (one polarization leaks into another)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.28

Questions & Tasks
- Look at the multiplexing examples. What are the guard “spaces” in each of the technologies?
- Find out in which regions cognitive radios can use free spectrum e.g. from unused analog TV. What do other
regions do with the “old” spectrum?
- Do you know polarization from other areas?
- Do you know of other combinations of multiplexing schemes?

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.29

Modulation
Digital modulation
- digital data is translated into an analog signal (baseband)
- ASK, FSK, PSK - main focus in this chapter
- differences in spectral efficiency, power efficiency, robustness

Analog modulation
- shifts center frequency of baseband signal up to the radio carrier

- Motivation
- smaller antennas (e.g., λ/4)
- Frequency Division Multiplexing
- medium characteristics

- Basic schemes
- Amplitude Modulation (AM)
- Frequency Modulation (FM)
- Phase Modulation (PM)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.30

Modulation and demodulation

analog
baseband
digital
signal
data digital analog
101101001 modulation modulation radio transmitter

radio
carrier

analog
baseband
digital
signal
analog synchronization data
demodulation decision 101101001 radio receiver

radio
carrier

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.31

Digital modulation
Modulation of digital signals known as Shift Keying
1 0 1

Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK):

- very simple t
- low bandwidth requirements
- very susceptible to interference 1 0 1

Frequency Shift Keying (FSK):

- needs larger bandwidth t

1 0 1
Phase Shift Keying (PSK):
- more complex
- robust against interference t

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.32

Advanced Frequency Shift Keying
Bandwidth needed for FSK depends on the distance between the carrier frequencies
Special pre-computation avoids sudden phase shifts  MSK (Minimum Shift Keying)
- bit separated into even and odd bits, the duration of each bit is doubled
- depending on the bit values (even, odd) the higher or lower frequency, original or inverted is chosen
- the frequency of one carrier is twice the frequency of the other
- Equivalent to offset QPSK

Even higher bandwidth efficiency using a Gaussian low-pass filter  GMSK (Gaussian MSK), used in GSM

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.33

Example of MSK
1 0 1 1 0 1 0
data

even bits bit

even 0101
odd bits odd 0011

signal hnnh
low value - - ++
frequency

h: high frequency
high n: low frequency
frequency +: original signal
-: inverted signal

MSK
signal
t

No phase shifts!

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.34

Advanced Phase Shift Keying
Q
BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying):
- bit value 0: sine wave
I
- bit value 1: inverted sine wave 1 0
- very simple PSK
- low spectral efficiency Q
10 11
- robust, used e.g. in satellite systems

I
QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying):
- 2 bits coded as one symbol
00 01
- symbol determines shift of sine wave
- needs less bandwidth compared to BPSK A

- more complex

t
Often also transmission of relative, not absolute phase shift
- DQPSK - Differential QPSK (IS-136, PHS) 11 10 00 01

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.35

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)
- combines amplitude and phase modulation
- it is possible to code n bits using one symbol
- 2n discrete levels, n=2 identical to QPSK

Bit error rate increases with n, but less errors compared to comparable PSK schemes
- Example: 16-QAM (4 bits = 1 symbol)
- Symbols 0011 and 0001 have Q
the same phase φ, but different 0010
0001
amplitude a. 0000 and 1000 have
0011 0000
different phase, but same amplitude.
φ
a I
1000

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.36

Hierarchical Modulation
DVB-T modulates two separate data streams onto a single DVB-T stream
High Priority (HP) embedded within a Low Priority (LP) stream
Multi carrier system, about 2000 or 8000 carriers
QPSK, 16 QAM, 64QAM (the newer DVB-T2 can additionally use 256QAM)
Example: 64QAM
- good reception: resolve the entire
64QAM constellation Q

- poor reception, mobile reception:

resolve only QPSK portion
- 6 bit per QAM symbol, 2 most 10
significant determine QPSK I
- HP service coded in QPSK (2 bit),
LP uses remaining 4 bit
00

000010 010101

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.37

Questions & Tasks
- Why, typically, is digital modulation not enough for radio transmission? What are general goals for digital
modulation? What are typical schemes?
- Think of a phase diagram and the points representing bit patterns for a PSK scheme. How can a receiver
decide which bit pattern was originally sent when a received ‘point’ lies somewhere in between other points in
the diagram? Why is it, thus, difficult to code more and more bits per phase shift?
- How can a system react in case of higher/lower interference? How does this influence the data rate?

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.38

Spread spectrum technology
Problem of radio transmission: frequency dependent fading can wipe out narrow band signals for duration of the
interference
Solution: spread the narrow band signal into a broad band signal using a special code
- protection against narrow band interference

power interference spread power signal

signal
spread
detection at interference
receiver

f f

Side effects:
- coexistence of several signals without dynamic coordination
- tap-proof
Alternatives: Direct Sequence, Frequency Hopping
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.39
Effects of spreading and interference

dP/df dP/df

user signal
i) ii) broadband interference
narrowband interference
f f
sender

dP/df dP/df dP/df

iii) iv) v)
f f f
receiver
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.40
Spreading and frequency selective fading

channel
quality

1 2 5 6
narrowband channels
3
4
frequency
narrow band guard space
signal

channel
quality
2
2 spread spectrum channels
2
2
2
1

spread frequency
spectrum

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.41

DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) I
XOR of the signal with pseudo-random number (chipping sequence)
- many chips per bit (e.g., 128) result in higher bandwidth of the signal

Advantages tb
- reduces frequency selective
user data
fading
- in cellular networks 0 1 XOR
tc
- base stations can use the
same frequency range chipping
sequence
- several base stations can 01101010110101 =
detect and recover the signal
resulting
- soft handover signal
01101011001010
Disadvantages
tb: bit period
- precise power control necessary tc: chip period

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.42

DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) II

spread transmitted
spectrum signal
user data signal
X modulator

chipping radio
sequence carrier

transmitter

correlator
received
lowpass sampled
signal products
filtered sums
signal data
demodulator X integrator decision

radio chipping
carrier sequence

receiver
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.43
FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) I
Discrete changes of carrier frequency
- sequence of frequency changes determined via pseudo random number sequence

Two versions
- Fast Hopping:
several frequencies per user bit
- Slow Hopping:
several user bits per frequency

Advantages
- frequency selective fading and interference limited to short period
- simple implementation
- uses only small portion of spectrum at any time

Disadvantages
- not as robust as DSSS
- simpler to detect

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.44

FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) II

tb

user data

0 1 0 1 1 t
f
td
f3 slow
f2 hopping
(3 bits/hop)
f1

td t
f

f3 fast
f2 hopping
(3 hops/bit)
f1

tb: bit period td: dwell time

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.45

FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) III

spread
narrowband
transmit
signal
signal
user data
modulator modulator

frequency hopping
synthesizer sequence
transmitter

received narrowband
signal signal
data
demodulator demodulator

hopping frequency
sequence synthesizer
receiver

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.46

Software Defined Radio
Basic idea (ideal world)
- Full flexibility wrt. modulation, carrier frequency, coding…
- Simply download a new radio!
- Transmitter: digital signal processor plus very fast D/A-converter
- Receiver: very fast A/D-converter plus digital signal processor
Real world
- Problems due to interference, high accuracy/high data rate, low-noise amplifiers needed, filters etc.
Examples
- Joint Tactical Radio System, GNU Radio, Universal Software Radio Peripheral, …
- see e.g. SDR – 20 Years Later, IEEE Communications Magazine, Sept. 2015 and Jan. 2016

Application Signal Processor D/A Converter

Application Signal Processor A/D Converter

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.47

Questions & Tasks
- What are the means to mitigate narrowband interference? What is the complexity of the different solutions?
- What are the main benefits of a spread spectrum system? How can spreading be achieved?
- What replaces the guard space in FDM when compared to CDM?
- How can DSSS systems benefit from multipath propagation?
- Look-up the developments of SDRs today. What can be done already with low-cost SDRs? (see e.g. GNU
radio, https://www.gnuradio.org/)

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.48

Cell structure
Implements space division multiplex
- base station covers a certain transmission area (cell)
Mobile stations communicate only via the base station

Advantages of cell structures

- higher capacity, higher number of users
- less transmission power needed
- more robust, decentralized
- base station deals with interference, transmission area etc. locally

Problems
- fixed network needed for the base stations
- handover (changing from one cell to another) necessary
- interference with other cells

Cell sizes from some 100 m in cities to, e.g., 35 km on the country side (GSM) - even less for higher frequencies
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.49
Frequency planning I
Frequency reuse only with a certain distance between the base stations
Standard model using 7 frequencies:
f3
f5 f2
f4 f6 f5
f1 f4
f3 f7 f1
Fixed frequency assignment: f2

- certain frequencies are assigned to a certain cell

- problem: different traffic load in different cells

Dynamic frequency assignment:

- base station chooses frequencies depending on the frequencies already used in neighbor cells
- more capacity in cells with more traffic
- assignment can also be based on interference measurements

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.50

Frequency planning II

f3 f3 f3
f2 f2
f1 f1 f1 f2 f3 f7
f3 f3
3 cell cluster f5 f2
f2 f2 f2 f4 f6 f5
f1 f1 f1 f4
f3 f3 f3 f3 f7 f1
f2 f3
f6 f5 f2

7 cell cluster

f2 f2 f2
f1 f f1 f f1 f
3 h 3 h 3
h 2 h 2 3 cell cluster
g2 1 h3 g2 1 h3 g2
g1 g1 g1
g3 g3 g3 with 3 sector antennas

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.51

Cell breathing
CDM systems: cell size depends on current load
Additional traffic appears as noise to other users
If the noise level is too high users drop out of cells

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.52

Questions & Tasks
- What are the main reasons for using cellular systems? How is SDM typically realized and combined with FDM?
How does dynamic frequency assignment influence the frequencies available in other cells?
- What limits the number of simultaneous users in a TDM/FDM system compared to a CDM system? What
happens to the transmission quality of connections if the load gets higher in a cell, i.e., how does an additional
user influence the other users in the cell?

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jochen H. Schiller www.jochenschiller.de Mobile Communications 2.53