Mobile Telecommunications Cellular Wireless Networks References Mobile Communications by Jochen Schiller chapter 2 (section 2.

8) and chapter 4 (sections 4.1.0 to 4.1.6) Computer Networks by Andrew Tanenbaum edition 4 chapter 2 section 2.6
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Cellular Networks
Wireless Transmission Cellular Concept Frequency Reuse Channel Allocation Call Setup Location Management Cell Handoffs Optimizations: Power control, Cell capacity Implementations: AMPS, GSM, GPRS, 3G

Cellular Wireless Networks

First Generation (Analog voice)
AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System)

Second Generation (Digital voice)

D-AMPS ( Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System) GSM (Group Special Mobile) CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

Third Generation (Data and Digital Voice)

IMT 2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications) W-CDMA (Wideband CDMA) UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) CDMA 2000 GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
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Cellular Wireless Networks: Basic Idea

Single hop wireless connectivity to the wired world
Space divided into cells A base station is responsible to communicate with hosts in its cell: Access
point to the network

Mobile hosts can change cells while communicating Hand-off occurs when a mobile host that has a call in progress starts communicating via a new base station

Factors for determining cell size

No. of users to be support Multiplexing and transmission technologies

Cellular Wireless Networks: Cellular Concept

Limited number of frequencies => limited channels Single high power antenna => limited number of users Smaller cells => frequency reuse possible => more number of users Base stations (BS): implement space division multiplex
Each BS covers a certain transmission area (cell) Each BS is allocated a portion of the total number of channels available Cluster: group of nearby BSs that together use all available channels

Mobile stations communicate only via the base station

FDMA, TDMA, CDMA may be used within a cell

As demand increases (more channels are needed)

Number of base stations is increased Transmitter power is decreased correspondingly to avoid interference

Cellular Wireless Networks: Cellular Concept

Cell size:
100 m in cities to 35 km on the country side (GSM) even less for higher frequencies Umbrella cell: large cell that includes several smaller cells Avoid frequent handoffs for fast moving traffic
possible radio coverage of the cell

Cell shape

cell

Hexagonal is useful for theoretical analysis Practical footprint (radio coverage area) is amorphous idealized shape of the cell Cell Frequencies use of several frequencies : 10 50 frequencies per cell not the same frequency in adjoining cells to avoid interference

Power of base transceiver is controlled to

Allow communications within cell on given frequency Limit escaping power to adjacent cells Allow re-use of frequencies in nearby cells

BS placement:
Center-excited cell: BS near center of cell where omni-directional antenna is used Edge-excited cell: BSs on three of the six cell vertices where sectored directional 6 antennas are used

Frequency Reuse

Frequency reuse only with a certain distance between the base stations Frequency reuse pattern

N = number of cells in repetitious pattern Standard model using cluster of 7 Reuse factor Each cell in pattern uses unique band of frequencies (channels)

Example
N cells all using same number of frequencies K total number of frequencies used in systems Each cell has K/N frequencies Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) K=395, N=7 giving 57 frequencies per cell on average
f3 f5 f4 f1 f3 f7 f6 f4 f1 f2 f5

f2
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Frequency Reuse
Cellular System with two frequency bands: 825 to 845 MHz for mobile station transmission and 870 to 890 MHz for base station transmission. A duplex circuit consists of one 30 kHz channel in each direction. The system reuse factor is N = 7
Consequently each two-way channel is 60 kHz. number of channels available per cell cluster is K = 40*1000/60 = 666 if number of clusters M = 7; hence the total number of simultaneous calls that can be supported by the system is 7* 666 = 4662 each cell can use K/N channels (666/7=95 channels)

Cellular System Architecture

Each cell is served by a base station (BS) Each BS is connected to a mobile switching center (MSC) through fixed links

MSC
VLR

MSC
VLR

PSTN

To other MSCs PSTN

Each MSC is a local switching exchange that handles

Switching of mobile user from one base station to another Locating the current cell of a mobile user (paging process) Interfacing with other MSCs Interfacing with PSTN (traditional telephone network)

Visitor Location Register (VLR): database recording the visiting mobiles some channels in each cell is set aside for signalling information between BS and mobiles
Mobile-to-BS: location, call setup for outgoing, response to incoming BS-to-Mobile: cell identity, call setup for incoming, location updating
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Cellular Wireless Networks: Architecture

Underlying technology for mobile phones, personal communication systems, wireless networking etc. HLR Area divided into cells Every set of cells forms a Location Area network A Location Area is managed by an MSC
MSC/VLR Cell

Base Station

Profiles of mobile units that are visiting the location area are stored in a location area database called visitor location register (VLR) Profiles of all subscribers are stored in a network centralized database called Home Location Register (HLR) . Mobile stations communicate only via the base station
Mobile Unit 10

Cellular Wireless Networks: Mobility Management

Location Management: necessary when
Mobile unit joins the network (location registration) mobile unit moves from one location area into another (location update)

Mobile unit is called

call delivery procedure that determines the current LA of a mobile unit Paging process to determine the current cell

Hand-off : necessary when mobile unit that has a call in progress moves from area of one BS into another.
BS monitors the signal level of the mobile Handoff occurs if signal level falls below threshold

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Cellular Wireless Networks: Advantages and Limitations

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 fixed network needed for the base stations interference with other cells Mobility Management
handover

Problems

(changing from one cell to another) necessary Location Management

Location

Update Call delivery Paging

Limited resources
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GSM Cellular Wireless Networks

formerly: Groupe Spciale Mobile (founded 1982) now: Global System for Mobile Communication Pan-European standard (ETSI, European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute) Hierarchical, complex system architecture comprising many entities, interfaces, acronyms

Entities
MS

(mobile station) BS (base station) MSC (mobile switching center) LR (location register)

GSM consists of three subsystems

RSS

(radio subsystem): covers all radio aspects NSS (network and switching subsystem): call forwarding, mobility management, switching OSS (operation subsystem): management of the network 13

GSM Architecture
OMC, EIR, AUC NSS with OSS VLR MSC HLR GMSC fixed network

SS7
VLR
MSC

BSC

BSC

BSC

BSC

RSS

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GSM versus DAMPS

GSM : 890 915 MHZ for uplinks and 935-960 MHz for downlinks DAMPS: 1850 1910 MHz for uplinks and 1930-1990MHz for downlinks In both systems Frequency Division Multiplexing is is used with each mobile transmitting on one frequency and receiving on higher frequency. In Both systems, a single frequency pair is split by Time Division Multiplexing into time slots shared by multiple mobiles GSM Channels (200 kHz) are much wider than DAMPS channels(30 kHz) GSM channels is divided in 8 time slots while DAMPS channels is divided into 3 time slots. This gives GSM a much higher data rate per user than DAMPS.

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GSM Cellular Wireless Networks

GSM has 124 pairs of simplex channels. Each channels is 200 kHz wide and supports 8 separate connections. Theoretically 992 channels can be supported in each cell, but many of them are not available to avoid frequency conflicts with neighboring cells.

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GSM Channels
Control channels
Setting up and maintaining calls Establish relationship between mobile station and nearest BS GSM Manages three types of control channels
Broadcast Control Channel (BS to MS): Base Station continuously broadcasts its identity and some other info (channel status). Mobile stations monitor their signal to see when they have moved to a new cell. Dedicated Control Channel (bidirectional): used for location updating, registration, and call setup. Common Control Channel (BS to MS): Base station uses this channel to announce incoming calls (Paging process)

Traffic channels (bidirectional)

Carry voice and data
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System architecture: radio subsystem (RSS)

RSS comprises the cellular mobile network up to the switching centers

RSS components
radio subsystem MS MS network and switching subsystem

Base

Um BTS BTS Abis BSC A SS7 MSC

Station Subsystem (BSS) Mobile Station (MS) Interfaces (Um, Abis, A) BSS

Network comprises many BSSs. each BSS contains several BTSs and controlled by BSC. BSS performs all functions necessary to maintain radio connections to an MS, coding/decoding of voice Base Transceiver Station (BTS) radio components including sender, receiver, antenna Base Station Controller (BSC) switching between BTSs, controlling BTSs, managing of network resources, mapping of radio channels (Um) onto terrestrial channels (A interface) 18

BTS
BTS BSC

MSC

BSS

Base Transceiver Station and Base Station Controller

Tasks of a BSS are distributed over BSC and BTS
BTS comprises radio specific functions BSC is the switching center for radio channels
Functions Management of radio channels Frequency hopping (FH) Management of terrestrial channels Mapping of terrestrial onto radio channels Channel coding and decoding Rate adaptation Encryption and decryption Paging Uplink signal measurements Traffic measurement Authentication Location registry, location update Handover management BTS X BSC X X X X

X X X X X

X X X X X X

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Network and switching subsystem

NSS is the main component of the public mobile network GSM
switching, mobility management, interconnection to other networks, system control
network subsystem fixed partner networks

ISDN PSTN MSC

EIR SS7

Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC) controls all connections via a separated network to/from a mobile terminal within the domain of the MSC - several BSCs can belong to a MSC Databases (important: scalability, high capacity, low delay)
Home Location Register (HLR) central master database containing user data, permanent and semi-permanent data of all subscribers assigned to the HLR Visitor Location Register (VLR) local database for a subset of user data, including data about all user currently in the domain of the VLR.

HLR

VLR
MSC

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Mobile Services Switching Center

The MSC (mobile switching center) plays a central role in GSM
switching functions additional functions for mobility support management of network resources interworking functions via Gateway MSC (GMSC) integration of several databases

Functions of a MSC
specific functions for paging and call forwarding termination of SS7 (signaling system no. 7) mobility specific signaling location registration and forwarding of location information provision of new services (fax, data calls) support of short message service (SMS) generation and forwarding of accounting and billing information
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Operation subsystem
The OSS (Operation Subsystem) enables centralized operation, management, and maintenance of all GSM subsystems Components
Authentication Center (AUC)
generates user specific authentication parameters on request of a VLR authentication parameters used for authentication of mobile terminals and encryption of user data on the air interface within the GSM system

Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

registers GSM mobile stations and user rights stolen or malfunctioning mobile stations can be locked and sometimes even localized

Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC)

different control capabilities for the radio subsystem and the network subsystem

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GSM protocol layers for signaling

Um
MS
CM MM RR RR LAPDm radio LAPDm radio BTSM LAPD PCM
BSSAP

Abis
BTS BSC

A
MSC
CM

MM BSSAP SS7
PCM RR BTSM LAPD PCM PCM

SS7

CM: Call Management MM: Mobility Management RR : Radio Resource LAPD: Link Access Procedure for D-Channel BTSM: BTS Management BSSAP: BSS Application Part PCM: Pulse Code Modulation

16/64 kbit/s

64 kbit/s / 2.048 Mbit/s

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Signaling System #7
HLR (SCP node) SCP Service Control Point SSP Service Switching Point STP Signal Transfer Point
D Ar

RSTP LSTP

Al

MSC/VLR (SSP node)

Base Station Mobile Unit Cel

Location Area

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Localization and Calling

One GSM feature: Automatic, worldwide localization of users System always knows where a user currently is. HLR contains information about current location
Only the location area, not the precise geographical location

When a mobile station moves into the range of new VLR (new location area), GSM performs location update
New VLR informs the HLR about location change HLR sends all user data needed to new VLR.

Roaming
changing VLRs with uninterrupted availability of all services. Roaming can take place within:
The network of one provider
Between two providers in one country Between different providers in different countries
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Localization and Calling : Location Update/Registration

MS moves
BS (1) STP/GTT New MSC/VLR
(2)

MS

MS

BS

STP/GTT HLR Previous MSC/VLR

(3)

(4)

(5) (6)

(9)

(8)

(7)

The MS moves into a new LA; therefore, the new LA sends a location update request to the HLR

The HLR has stored the location information for the mobile station; therefore, it requests location cancellation from the previous location area.
The previous LA deletes the temporary mobile station record and sends an acknowledgment to the HLR. The HLR acknowledges the location update to the new LA which in its turn starts providing service to 26 the station.

Mobile Terminated Call-Reference Model

1: user dials the phone number of GSM subscriber. PSTN notices that the number belongs to a user in the GSM network 4 VLR HLR 2: PSTN forwards the call to Gateway MSC 5
3 6
calling station 1 PSTN

8 9 14 15
MSC

GMSC

3: GMSC identifies the HLR for the subscriber and signals the call setup to HLR 4, 5: The HLR checks whether the number exists and requests Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number (MSRN) from current VLR 6: HLR forwards responsible MSC to GMSC 7: GMSC forwards the call to current MSC 8, 9: MSC gets current status of MS 10, 11: If MS is available, MSC initiates paging of MS 12, 13: MS answers 14, 15: security checks 16, 17: set up connection

10
BSS

10 13 16
BSS

10
BSS

11

11
11 12 17
MS

11

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Mobile Originated/Terminated Call-Real Implementation

A call request to a MS arrives to an originating LA. The originating LA sends a message to the MSs HLR through SS7 signaling system. The HLR sends a routing request message to the MSs current LA.
HLR
(5) (2) (3) (4)

MSC/VLR

Connexion Establishement

(1)

Calling MU Called MU

The MSs current LA allocates a Routing Number for the call and returns it to the HLR. The HLR relays it to the originating LA which uses it to route the call to the called LA. The call starts after a communication is established between the originating LA and the called LA.

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Handover or Handoff
Cellular system require handover procedure, as single cells do not cover the whole service area. The smaller the cell size and the faster movement of a mobile station through the cells, the more handoffs of ongoing calls are required. Handoff should not cause a call drop or service interruption Some Reasons for a handover (Standard identified more than 40 reasons): Mobile station moves from one cell to another cell
Mobile station, that has a call in progress, moves out of range of a BTS The received signal level decreases continuously until it falls below the minimal requirements. This will diminish the quality of the radio link.

Load balancing
MSC or BSC may decide that traffic in one cell is too high and shift some MS to another cells with a lower load.
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Handoff Scenarios
Inter-cell, intra-BSC handover
MSC MSC

MS moves from one cell to another but stays within the control of the same BSC. The BSC performs the handover by assigning a new radio channel in the new cell and releasing the old one.

BSC

BSC

BSC

Inter-BSC, intra-MSC handover

MS moves between two cells controlled by different BSCs. This handover has to be controlled by the MSC.
BTS BTS BTS BTS

Inter MSC handover

Handover between two cells belonging to different MSCs
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Handoff Types
Soft Handoff
The MS is acquired by the new BS before the previous one sign off. There is no loss of continuity. Downside: MS needs to be able to tune to two frequencies at the same time (The old channel and the nee one)
BSC BSC BSC

MSC

MSC

BTS

BTS

BTS

BTS

Hard Handoff
Old BS drops the MS before the new BS acquires it. If the new BS is unable to acquire it (e.g., because there is no available channel), the call is disconnected abruptly. The user tend to notice this, but it is inevitable occasionally with the current design
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Handoff Decision
Handoff decision depends on receive level
Handoff decision does not depend on the actual value of the received signal level, but on the average value. BSC collects all values from BTS and MS and calculates the average value then compare it to HO_MARGIN (threshold)
receive level BTSold receive level BTSold

HO_MARGIN MS BTSold MS BTSnew

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Intra MSC Handoff Procedure

Based on collected values, old BSC decide to perform a handover by issuing HO_required to MSC MSC asks the new BSC to allocate the resources needed for the handover from the new BSC. If resources are available, new BSC activates a physical channel at the new BTS for the MS. New BTS acknowledges the successful channel activation. New BSC acknowledges the handoff request. MSC issues a handover command that is forwarded to MS. MS breaks its old radio link and access the new BTS and establishes the link Once the handoff is completed, resources at the old BSC and BTS should be released
MS BTSold BSCold measurement measurement report result HO decision HO required MSC BSCnew BTSnew

HO request resource allocation ch. activation

HO command

HO command

HO command

HO request ack ch. activation ack

HO access
Link establishment clear command clear command clear complete clear complete HO complete HO complete

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