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Overview of Mobile
®
Communications
Overview of Mobile
Communications
In the Beginning… The initial analog cellular frequency licenses were given
Wireless mobile telephony has been available for many to two providers in each coverage area, and each license permit-
years. Originally, mobile telephony implementations consisted ted 416 channels. Based on a “one in seven” reuse pattern, this
of a single tower located on a high building or mountain broad- resulted in approximately 60 channels in each cell (416/7). This
casting over a metropolitan area with a 50-mile radius or so. equates to 60 active calls in any cell at a time for each provider.
The number of subscribers was severely restricted because all
As a mobile user passes from cell to cell, a handoff occurs,
of the available channels were quickly consumed. For instance,
and the call is switched to a different channel in the new cell.
in 1976 New York City only had 12 channels (or carriers) and
This is handled by the Mobile Switch located in the Mobile
only permitted 543 users to obtain service. With such an
Telephone Switching Office (MTSO).
implementation, it was not unusual to wait several
minutes before getting a dial tone. Physical Arrangement
Each cell site consists of a tower, with both a transmit and a
receive antenna, and a Base Station which contains the radio
50-Mile Radius (Base Transceiver Station –BTS) and land line access equipment
housed in a building or cabinet. The calls from all cell sites in
a service area are backhauled to the Mobile Switch in the MTSO
where all control resides as well as a gateway to the PSTN.
A A
Mobile Switch
Base Station
Hub Site
Figure 1
PSTN T3
MTSO/MSO
2
®
Roaming and Mobile Intelligence Network Using SS7 Second Generation (TDMA /CDMA /GSM)
The key attribute of cellular telephony is mobility – the The second generation cellular technology introduced a
subscriber can be on the move while communication is variety of techniques to increase the number of users per
taking place. Mobility is extended to include the ability to 30 KHz carrier.Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) subdi-
“roam” from coverage area to coverage area. Every registered vides each 30 KHz channel into six digital sub-channels of
user has a profile stored in a Home Location Register (HLR) 8 Kbps each (Note that there are six 8 Kbps TDMA sub-
located within the mobile switch in their home MTSO. As the channels in each 30 KHz carrier.) Since the compressed voice
user roams, the cellular phone notifies the roaming location’s requires 8 Kbps and with control overhead, each call consumes
network what its ID and telephone number are. The mobile two of the TDMA channels. The result is that three users can
switch in the roaming area will send a message across an SS7- share a single 30 KHz carrier. Using the same 30 KHz channel
like network to the user’s Home MTSO. The status and profile spacing made it easy to overlay the second generation TDMA
of the user is identified by the home switch and sent to the on top of the original AMPS implementation.
switch in the roaming area. The switch in the MTSO of the
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is an entirely
roaming area will set up a Visitor Location Register (VLR)
different technique used to separate calls from each other.
and assign a temporary telephone number.
CDMA uses spread spectrum technology to place all calls
At this point, the home switch knows in which coverage across the entire spectrum as packetized calls, with each
area the phone is located, and how to reach it. The switch in having a unique code. Each phone “hears” all calls, but
the roaming area knows of the phone and where to send billing only decodes the one with the properly assigned code.
information for calls. Therefore, someone can call the phone in
One of the values of CDMA is that the entire assigned
its home area using the local phone number. The home switch
spectrum can be reused in each cell site, greatly increasing
will send the call across the PSTN to the Mobile Switch in the
the number of calls that a site can handle (Unlike the FDMA
coverage area where the phone is “visiting” or roaming by
frequency reuse discussed above). CDMA is designed to work
dialing the temporary phone number assigned by the MTSO
with FDMA (AMPS) by allowing the carrier to remove a
in the roaming area. The Mobile Switch in the roaming MTSO
certain amount of spectrum from FDMA use (1.25 MHz
will then connect the call to the mobile phone – simple!
in North America) and use that for CDMA calls. Using
CDMA techniques, the carrier can achieve approximately
Voice Technology
a 10:1 increase in capacity compared with FDMA over the
First Generation (FDMA/AMPS) same spectrum.
The first generation cellular was an analog implementation.
CDMA also adds some features that improve call quality.
Each license covered a spectrum of 12.5 MHz divided into
These include a “soft” handoff, where a call is connected
30 KHz channels (in each direction), resulting in a total of
to the next cell before the previous cell hands the call
416 channels in each direction. Each call within a cell is placed
off. Additionally, CDMA adds variable rate voice coding,
on a different channel or carrier frequency, which is Frequency
improved multi-path processing, and increased call security.
Division Multiple Access (FDMA). This is also referred to as
Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). Each coverage area Carriers in the United States are required by the FCC to
could have two licensees – provider A and B. As described continue to support analog users, so all cellular providers will
earlier, the North American “one in seven” frequency reuse have some 30 KHz AMPS channels available in each cell site
pattern allows each cell site to handle on average 60 calls for analog only users. In rural areas where the usage has not
(416/7) for each provider. Once received, the call was encoded demanded it, the cell sites typically have not been updated to
to 64 Kbps and backhauled to the MTSO over a T1 circuit include digital, and analog may be the only coverage available.
(typically). As time went on it became necessary to accommo- Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the
date more users over the same frequency spectrum. most popular worldwide standard for cellular communications,
and with the notable exception of North America, is now used
4
®
6
®
Sprint PCS plans to start its CDMA2000 1x networks Leap Wireless has selected CDMA2000 for high-speed data
nationwide in 2002 with speeds up to 144 Kbps initially. services. Leap expects the majority of its 1x upgrades to
Users should see speeds of 40 Kbps to 60 Kbps on average. take place starting in the first half of 2002.
Nextel Communications has not yet disclosed plans for Dobson Communications plans to upgrade its wireless
a data-capable next-generation network. Analysts have networks to GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
speculated that Nextel will switch to CDMA and
upgrade its networks with CDMA2000 technologies. Summary
The table below is a quick summary of the various technologies
T-Mobile (formerly VoiceStream)launched its GPRS
in use and "planned" for mobile communications.
service in November 2001 under the brand iStream.
T-Mobile is the only national operator that currently
offers a network based completely on GSM technology.
T-Mobile network can run at speeds up to 56 Kbps and
average up to 40 Kbps.
2G Digital Voice and Minimum GSM Europe – 900 MHz /1800 MHz
Data (14K bps)
US – 1900 MHz
CDMA CDMA ONE PCS – 1900 MHz
UMTS (Europe)
Digital Voice (Packetized) W-CDMA FOMA (Japan) Wider
3G
1xEV-DO
High Speed Data (up to 2Mbps) CDMA2000 1xEV-DV PCS – 1900 MHz
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ADTRAN, Inc. is an established supplier of advanced
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munications networks. Widely deployed in carrier, CLEC,
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extension. ADTRAN equipment serves the major
Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers, interexchange
carriers, ISPs, Competitive Local Exchange Carriers,
international service providers, public and private
enterprises, and original equipment manufacturers.
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