Chapter 5: Lecture Six

Cellular Networks
Faculty of Computing and Software Engineering |AMIT | AMU
 Topics Covered

 Fundamentals of cellular network

 Brief History of cellular network

 GSM

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Cellular Concepts

Lecture 6

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 0 G Wireless (old days)
 Car-based telephones first introduced in mid 1940s
 Single large transmitter on top of a tall building
 Single channel used for sending and receiving
 To talk, user pushed a button, enabled transmission and disabled reception.
Became known as “push-to-talk” .
 CB-radio, taxis, police cars use this technology
 IMTS (Improved Mobile Telephone System) introduced in 1960s
 Used two channels (one for sending, one for receiving)
 No need for push-to-talk and used 23 frequencies from 150 MHz to 450 MHz 4
 First-Generation Cellular

 Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) invented at Bell Labs and first
installed in 1982
 Key ideas:
 Exclusively analog
 Geographical area divided into cells (typically 10-25km)
 Cells are small: Frequency reuse exploited in nearby (not adjacent) cells
 As compared to IMTS, could use 5 to 10 times more users in same area by using
frequency re-use (divide area into cells)
 Smaller cells also required less powerful, cheaper, smaller devices 5
 Cellular Network Organization
 Cell design (around 5km radius)
 Served by base station consisting of transmitter, receiver, and control unit
 Base station (BS) antenna is placed in high places ( high rise buildings) -
 Operators pay per month for BS
 Different frequencies assigned to each cell
 Cells set up such that antennas of all neighbors are equidistant (hexagonal pattern)
 In North America, two 25-MHz bands allocated to AMPS
 One for transmission from base to mobile unit
 One for transmission from mobile unit to base
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 Cellular network concepts
segmentation of the area into cells
possible radio coverage of the cell
(omni-directional)

idealized shape of the cell

cell

 Use of several carrier frequencies

 Not the same frequency in adjoining cells
 Cell sizes vary from some 100 m up to 35 km depending on user density, geography, transceiver
power etc.
 Hexagonal shape of cells is idealized (cells overlap, shapes depend on geography)
 If a mobile user changes cells handover of the connection to the neighbor cell
 Cell Design
•Cells grouped into a cluster of seven
E
•Letters indicate frequency use D
F
E
A
•For each frequency, a buffer of two cells is used F D
G C
A

before reuse G C B

E
B
•To add more users, smaller cells (microcells) are F D

used G C

B
•Frequencies may not need to be different in

CDMA (soft handoff)

Approaches to Increase Capacity

 Adding / reassigning channels - some channels are not used for traffic

 Frequency borrowing – frequencies are taken from adjacent cells by congested

cells.

 High traffic cells borrows channel from low traffic cells

 Cell splitting – cells in areas of high usage can be split into smaller cells

 Decrease the transmission power

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 Global System for Mobile Communication

(GSM)

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 GSM Overview
 Formerly: Groupe Spéciale Mobile (founded 1982)
 Now: Global System for Mobile Communication
 Pan-European standard (ETSI, European Telecommunications Standardization
Institute)
 Goal : was to provide a mobile phone system that allows users to roam throughout Europe
and provides voice services compatible to ISDN and other PSTN systems.

 Today many providers all over the world use GSM

(219 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, America)
 More than 5 billion subscribers in more than 800 networks
 More than 80% of all digital mobile phones use GSM 11
 GSM Technologies

 A 2G cellular network (a digital network for voice communication)

 Circuit switching for voice (mainly)/data (limited) transmission rate

 Connection-oriented service: establish a communication path (channel) for point-to-point

communication

 Multiplexing
 Uses 124 pair of channels per cell, each channel can support 8 users through

TDM (max actually 500 users)

 Some channels are used for control signals, etc
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 Architecture of the GSM System
 GSM is a PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network)
 Main components

 MS (mobile station)

 BS (base station)

 MSC (mobile switching center)

 LR (location register)

 Subsystems

 RSS (radio subsystem): covers all radio aspects

 NSS (network and switching subsystem): call forwarding, handover,

switching
 OSS (operation subsystem): management of the network

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 Operation subsystem
 Enables centralized management and maintenance of all GSM subsystems
 Components
 Authentication Center (AUC)

 Used to protect user identity and data transmission.

 Authentication parameters and Encryption keys are generated and stored

 Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

 Registers GSM mobile stations devices

 Black list (stolen or locked ), Gray list (malfunctioning)

 White list (Valid devices)

 Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC)

 Control and monitor radio subsystem and the network subsystem entities
 Traffic monitoring and status report of the network entities
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 Example coverage of GSM networks (www.gsmworld.com)

T-Mobile (GSM-900/1800) Germany O2 (GSM-1800) Germany

AT&T (GSM-850/1900) USA Vodacom (GSM-900) South Africa

 Localization…
 To locate the MS several numbers are needed.
 Mobile subscriber international ISDN number (MSISDN)
 Phone number E.g. +251917111213 (for example)
 Country code (CC)……… (+251) Ethiopia
 National Destination code (NDC)…. ( 917 ) Jimma
 Subscriber number (SN)………………..(111213) individual
 International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)
 Used by the network provider
 Mobile country code (MCC)
 Mobile network code (MNC)-code of network provider
 Mobile subscriber identification number (MSIN) 16
 Localization…
 Temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI)
 To hide the IMSI by BSC

 Mobile station roaming number (MSRN)

 Temporary address to hide the identity and location of a subscriber by MSC

 Visitor country code (VCC)

 Visitor national destination code (VNDC)

 International mobile Equipment identity (IMEI)

 Unique code to each mobile equipment

 Device specific theft protection

 Stored in EIR (Equipment identity register)

 Dial *#06#

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GSM Roaming
 The ability for a cellular customer to automatically make and receive
voice calls.
 Roaming Agreements between network operators required .
 National Roaming (visited network in the same country as the
home network)
 International Roaming (visited network is outside the home
country)

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GSM coverage and network info ETHIOPIA
 Network Information

 Operator: Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation Also known as: ETMTN

 Currently : Ethiotelecom
 Technology: GSM
 Frequency: 900
 Launch Date: APR 1999
 Services
 Short Message Service
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High-speed circuit-switched data (HSCSD)

 Is an enhancement to the original data transmission mechanism of the

GSM system.

 Four times faster than GSM, up to 38.4 kbit/s.

 Circuit-switched mode.

 Higher speeds are achieved as a result of superior coding methods, and the

ability to use multiple time slots to increase data throughput.

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 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
 2.5 Generation
 Use packet switching method.
 Provides data rates of 56-114 kbps
 GPRS extends the GSM Packet circuit switched data capabilities and makes the following
services possible:
 "Always on" internet access
 Multimedia messaging service (MMS)
 Push to talk over cellular (PoC/PTT)
 Instant messaging (IM)
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 Evolution of GSM…
 EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution)
 2.5 G , also known as Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS)
 384 kbps is the maximum data rate

 UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems)

 3G
 144 kbps for vehicular access and 384 kbps for wide-area coverage (pedestrian)
 2 Mbps for local coverage (stationary)
 WCDMA (wideband CDMA)
 Adopted by Europe and Japan 22
Evolution of CDMA…
 CDMA2000 1X
 2.5G
 Use CDMA channel access, to send voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones
and cell sites.
 Up to 153 kbps
 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized)
 3G
 Broadband Internet access
 Uses CDMA/TDMA
 Up to 3 Mbps
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Thank You!!

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 Question?
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 What is the difference b/n natural and artificial satellites?

 Explain the term uplink, downlink, orbit, foot print and transponder?
 What does it mean perigee?
 What are the three classification of satellites and explain their difference
briefly?

Submission for next Friday, February 09, 2023.