Module 2

Modern Wireless Communication Systems:

1. Second generation cellular networks

2. Third generation wireless networks
3. Wireless in local loop,
4. Wireless local area networks,
5. Blue tooth and Personal Area networks
Modern Wireless Communication Systems

• Since the mid 1990s, the cellular communications industry has witnessed explosive growth.

• Wireless communications networks have become much more pervasive than anyone could
have imagined when the cellular concept was first developed in the 1960s and 1970s.

• The widespread adoption of wireless communications was accelerated in the mid 1990s,
when governments throughout the world provided increased competition and new radio
spectrum licenses for personal communications services (PCS) in the 1800–2000 MHz
frequency bands.
• The rapid worldwide growth in cellular telephone subscribers has demonstrated
conclusively that wireless communications is a robust, viable voice and data transport
mechanism.

• New standards and technologies are being implemented to allow wireless networks to
replace fiber optic or copper lines between fixed points several kilometers apart (fixed
wireless access).

• Similarly, wireless networks have been increasingly used as a replacement for wires within
homes, buildings, and office settings through the deployment of wireless local area networks
(WLANs).
Second generation cellular networks

• Most of today’s ubiquitous cellular networks use what is commonly called second-generation
or 2G technologies which conform to the second-generation cellular standards.

• Unlike first-generation cellular systems that relied exclusively on FDMA/FDD and analog FM,
second-generation standards use digital modulation formats and TDMA/FDD and
CDMA/FDD multiple access techniques.

• The most popular second-generation standards include three TDMA standards and one
CDMA standard: (a) Global System Mobile (GSM), which supports eight-time slotted users for
each 200 kHz radio channel and has been deployed widely by service providers in Europe,
Asia, Australia, South America, and some parts of the US.
• (b) Interim Standard 136 (IS-136), also known as North American Digital Cellular (NADC),
which supports three time slotted users for each 30 kHz radio channel and is a popular
choice for carriers in North America, South America, and Australia (in both the cellular and
PCS bands);

• (c) Pacific Digital Cellular (PDC), a Japanese TDMA standard that is similar to IS-136 with
more than 50 million users;

• (d) the popular 2G CDMA standard Interim Standard 95 Code Division Multiple Access (IS-95),
also known as cdmaOne, which supports up to 64 users that are orthogonally coded and
simultaneously transmitted on each 1.25 MHz channel.
Evolution to 2.5G Mobile Radio Networks
Evolution for 2.5G TDMA Standards

• Three different upgrade paths have been developed for GSM carriers, and two of these
solutions also support IS-136.

• The three TDMA upgrade options include:

• (a) High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD);

• (b) General Packet Radio Service (GPRS);

• (c) Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE). These options provide significant
improvements in Internet access speed over today’s GSM and IS-136 technology and support
the creation of new Internet-ready cell phones.
HSCSD for 2.5G GSM

• As the name implies, High Speed Circuit Switched Data is a circuit switched technique that
allows a single mobile subscriber to use consecutive user time slots in the GSM standard.

• That is, instead of limiting each user to only one specific time slot in the GSM TDMA standard,
HSCSD allows individual data users to commandeer consecutive time slots in order to obtain
higher speed data access on the GSM network.

• HSCSD relaxes the error control coding algorithms originally specified in the GSM standard
for data transmissions and increases the available application data rate to 14,400 bps, as
compared to the original 9,600 bps in the GSM specification.
GPRS for 2.5G GSM and IS-136

• General Packet Radio Service is a packet-based data network, which is well suited for non-
real time Internet usage, including the retrieval of email, faxes, and asymmetric web
browsing, where the user downloads much more data than it uploads on the Internet.

• Unlike HSCSD, which dedicates circuit switched channels to specific users, GPRS supports
multi-user network sharing of individual radio channels and time slots.

• Similar to the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) standard developed for the North
American AMPS systems in the early 1990s, the GPRS standard provides a packet network on
dedicated GSM or IS-136 radio channels
Third Generation (3G) Wireless Networks

• 3G systems promise unparalleled wireless access in ways that have never been possible
before.

• Multi-megabit Internet access, communications using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP),
voice-activated calls, unparalleled network capacity, and ubiquitous “always-on” access are
just some of the advantages being touted by 3G developers.

• Companies developing 3G equipment envision users having the ability to receive live music,
conduct interactive web sessions, and have simultaneous voice and data access with multiple
parties at the same time using a single mobile handset, whether driving, walking, or standing
still in an office setting.
• The eventual 3G evolution for CDMA systems leads to cdma2000.

• Several variants of CDMA 2000 are currently being developed, but they all are
based on the fundamentals of IS-95 and IS-95B technologies.

• The eventual 3G evolution for GSM, IS-136, and PDC systems leads to Wideband
CDMA (W-CDMA), also called Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service
(UMTS).

• W-CDMA is based on the network fundamentals of GSM, as well as the merged

versions of GSM and IS-136 through EDGE.
3G W-CDMA (UMTS)

• The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a visionary air

interface standard that has evolved since late 1996 under the auspices of the
European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

• European carriers, manufacturers, and government regulators collectively

developed the early versions of UMTS as a competitive open air-interface
standard for third generation wireless telecommunications.
• UMTS, or W-CDMA, assures compatibility with the second generation GSM, IS-136,
and PDC TDMA technologies, as well as all 2.5G TDMA technologies.

• The 3G W-CDMA air interface standard had been designed for “always-on” packet-
based wireless service, so that computers, entertainment devices, and telephones
may all share the same wireless network and be connected to the Internet,
anytime, anywhere.

• W-CDMA requires a minimum spectrum allocation of 5 MHz, which is an important

distinction from the other G standards
• With W-CDMA data rates from as low as 8 kbps to as high as 2 Mbps will be
carried simultaneously on a single W-CDMA 5 MHz radio channel, and each
channel will be able to support between 100 and 350 simultaneous voice calls
at once, depending on antenna sectoring, propagation conditions, user
velocity, and antenna polarizations.
3G cdma2000

• The cdma2000 vision provides a seamless and evolutionary high data rate upgrade path for current
users of 2G and 2.5G CDMA technology, using a building block approach that centers on the original 2G
CDMA channel bandwidth of 1.25 MHz per radio channel.

• The first 3G CDMA air interface, cdma2000 1xRTT, implies that a single 1.25 MHz radio channel is used
(the initials RTT stand for Radio Transmission Technology)

• The ultimate 3G solution for CDMA relies upon multicarrier techniques that gang adjacent cdmaOne
radio channels together for increased bandwidth

• The cdma2000 3xRTT standard uses three adjacent 1.25 MHz radio channels that are used together to
provide packet data throughput speeds in excess of 2 Mbps per user, depending upon cell loading,
vehicle speed, and propagation conditions.
3G TD-SCDMA

• The China Academy of Telecommunications Technology (CATT) and Siemens

Corporation jointly submitted an IMT-2000 3G standard proposal in 1998, based
on Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA).

• This proposal was adopted by ITU as one of the 3G options in late 1999.

• TD-SCDMA relies on the existing core GSM infrastructure and allows a 3G

network to evolve through the addition of high data rate equipment at each GSM
base station
• TD-SCDMA combines TDMA and TDD techniques to provide a data-only
overlay in an existing GSM network. By using TDD, different time slots within
a single frame on a single carrier frequency are used to provide both forward
channel and reverse channel transmissions.

• For the case of asynchronous traffic demand, such as when a user downloads
a file, the forward link will require more bandwidth than the reverse link, and
thus more time slots will be dedicated to providing forward link traffic than
for providing reverse link traffic.
Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and LMDS

• Fixed wireless equipment is extremely well suited for rapidly deploying a broadband
connection in many instances, and this approach is steadily becoming more popular
for providing “last mile” broadband local loop access, as well as for emergency or
redundant point-to-point or point-to-multipoint private networks.

• Modern fixed wireless systems are usually assigned microwave or millimeter radio
frequencies in the 28 GHz band and higher, which is greater than ten times the
carrier frequency of 3G terrestrial cellular telephone networks
• At these higher frequencies, the wavelengths are extremely small, which in turn allows very
high gain directional antennas
• Microwave wireless links can be used to create a wireless local loop (WLL) such as the one
shown in Figure.
• The local loop can be thought of as the “last mile” of the telecommunication network that
resides between the central office (CO) and the individual homes and businesses in close
proximity to the CO.
• Governments throughout the world have realized that WLL could greatly improve the
efficiency of their citizens while stimulating competition that could lead to improved
telecommunications services
• vast array of new services and applications have been proposed and are in the early stages of
commercialization.
• These services include the concept of Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS),
which provides broadband telecommunications access in the local exchange.
• One of the most promising applications for LMDS is in a local exchange carrier (LEC)
network.

• LEC owns a very wide bandwidth asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) or Synchronous
Optical Network (SONET) backbone switch, capable of connecting hundreds of megabits
per second of traffic with the Internet, the PSTN, or to its own private network.

• As long as a LOS path exists, LMDS will allow LECs to install wireless equipment on the
premises of customers for rapid broadband connectivity without having to lease or
install its own cables to the customers.
A wireless Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) using
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) distribution.
 Bluetooth and Personal Area Networks
(PANs)
• Bluetooth is an open standard

• It enables various devices to communicate with one another within a nominal

10 meter range.

• Bluetooth operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM Band (2400–2483.5 MHz)

• Different countries have allocated various channels for Bluetooth operation

Example of a Personal Area Network (PAN) as
provided by the Bluetooth standard.