Mobile Communications

Systems 1

Rolando A Carrasco
Professor in Mobile Communications
BSc(Hons), PhD, CEng, FIEE
R.Carrasco@ncl.ac.uk
School of Electrical, Electronic and
Computing Engineering
University of Newcastle upon tyne
 2

Introduction (1)

 Mobile Computing Systems

 Types of wireless communication systems
– Cellular System
 Intra-cell/Inter-cell operation
 Frequency Re-use
 Channel Assignment Strategies
 Handoffs
– Interference and System Capacity
 Types of Interference
 Capacity/Interference Relation
 Improving Capacity in Cellular Systems
 3

Introduction (2)
 Multiple Access in the Mobile Environment
– Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
– Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
 Capacity and Interference for FDMA and TDMA
 Commercial Applications for FDMA & TDMA
– Spread Spectrum Multiple Access Techniques, Code Division Multiple
Access (CDMA)
 General Concepts and Characteristics
 Capacity and Interference in CDMA
– Other Multiple Access Techniques
 Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS)-ATM Integration
and Wireless ATM (WATM)
– UMTS-ATM Integration
– UMTS-ATM Network Architecture
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Mobile Computing Systems

 Rely on radio transmission as the final link between terminals

– Finite resource, spectrum available is strictly limited
– Multipath propagation, fading & interference
– Terminals ability to move, complicates the system
 The term mobile:
– Any radio terminal, that can be moved during operation
– Radio terminal that is attached to a high speed platform
(cellular telephone inside a vehicle)
 The term portable:
– A radio terminal that can be hand-held & used at walking speed
 5

Radio Transmission Impairments

PSTN, ISDN
BISDN,...

Fixed Networks
MSC
 6

Mobile Computing Systems

F ix e d
 Mobiles users communicate N e tw o rk s
through fixed base stations
(BS)
 BSs are controlled by the
radio network controller R N C
(RNC in 3G)
 RNC allows the system to F o r w a r d lin k

contact the fixed backbone R e v e r s e lin k

network M o b ile S ta tio n

B a s e S ta tio n
Types of wireless communication 7

systems
 type of transmission used is evaluated:
– Analogue: transmitting unbroken electromagnetic waves, closely
correspond to the waveforms produced by the original sounds.
– Digital:convert information (e. g. voice or data) into a series of
coded pulses, transmitted at a fast rate.
 Depending on the direction of the transmission and the
simultaneity of the communication
– Simplex: communication in one direction only.
– Half-duplex: two-way communication over the same radio
channel. A user can only transmit or receive (no simultaneity).
– Full-duplex: two simultaneous but separate channels to achieve
a two-way communication
Types of wireless communication 8

systems

 A final classification can be made depending

on the type of service provided:

– Paging systems

– Cordless

– Adhoc

– Cellular
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Paging Systems

 Systems that send brief messages (numeric,

alphanumeric or voice) to a subscriber.
 message is called a page and is sent in one
direction only (simplex transmission)
 messages are broadcasted to inform the
subscriber about the attempts made by other
users to contact them or to receive news
headlines, faxes or other types of information.
 10

An example Paging System

City 1
Landline link
Paging
Terminal

City 2
Paging
Landline link Paging
Control
Center Terminal

City N

Paging
Terminal

Satellite link
 11

Cordless

Public
Switched Fixed Wireless
Port Link
Telephone
(Base
Network
Station)
(PSTN)

 Fully duplex, using a radio channel to connect a

portable handset to a dedicated Base Station. Cordless
Handset
 Connected to fixed network via a specific telephone
number
 Connection over short distances
– 1G cordless = few metres
– 2G cordless, DECT = few hundred metres
 12

Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET)

F ix e d
N e tw o rk s

 Mobiles communicate
bouncing off each other.
 They are not fixed to
using a BS to connect to
fixed network
 Useful in disaster
situations

M o b ile S ta tio n
 Cellular Mobile Communication 13

system
P S T N , IS D N
ATM ,
I n te r n e t...

 The cellular RNC 1 RNC 2

concept is a
system level idea
where many low
power transmitters 5
6
7
replace a single 1
high power 4 2
transmitter, 6 3
covering a large 5 7
geographic area,
1
each covering a 2
4
portion of the
3
service area called
a cell
 14

Cellular Concept

PSTN, ISDN
BISDN,...

Fixed Networks
MSC
Cellular Mobile Communication 15

system

 Mobile Units (MS)

– mounted on vehicles or carried as portables
– contain transceivers, antennas and control circuitry,
– communicate with an assigned Base Station through
duplex radio channels
 Base stations (BS)
– several transmitters and receivers that through
antennas communicate simultaneously with all mobiles
within the area of coverage (cell) and are connected to
radio network controller (RNC) via telephone lines or
microwave links.
Cellular Mobile Communication 16

system

– Each BS is allocated a portion of the total number of

channels available to the entire system, which are used
within a small geographic area (cell).
– Neighbouring BSs are assigned different groups of
channels so that all the available channels are
assigned to a relatively small number of Base Stations.
 Radio Network Controller (RNC)
– controls a number of cells
– arranges Base Stations and channels for the mobiles
– handles connections with the fixed Public Switched
Telephone Network (PSTN) and other fixed networks
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Intra-cell/Inter-cell operation

 Base Station and mobiles communication is defined by a

common air interface (CAI)
 four different types of channels
– two for voice or data transmission
 The voice channel used to transmit from the Base Station to the
Mobile Station is called the forward voice channel (FVC)
 the channel used in the opposite direction is the reverse voice
channel (RVC)
– two for control and signalling
 forward control channel (FCC)
 reverse control channel (RCC)
 in charge of the call set-up, channel quality measurements, handoff
procedure and other management functions.
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Intra-cell/Inter-cell operation

 Each cell has allocated a number of channels

– used for voice or signalling traffic
– assigned according to a frequency re-use pattern
– An active mobile registers with an appropriate BS
– The mobile information and its cellular location are stored in
the RNC
– When a call is set up either from or to the mobile
 control & signalling system assigns a channel (from those available
to the base station with which the mobile is registered) and instructs
the mobile to use the corresponding channel. This is the channel
assignment operation.
– A connection is established via the BS to the fixed network.
 19

Intra-cell/Inter-cell operation

 The quality of the channel (radio link) is monitored by

the BS for the duration of the call and reported to the
RNC
 RNC makes decisions concerning the quality and
instructs the MS and BS accordingly.
 When a mobile enters a different cell while a
connection is in progress
– the system, controlled by the RNC, assigns the mobile
to a new BS which has to provide new channels to the
connection, if these are available.
 This process is called a handoff.
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Frequency Re-use

 Each BS is allocated a different set of carrier

frequencies
 Each cell has a usable bandwidth associated with
these carriers
 No. of carrier frequencies available is limited
 It is therefore necessary to re-use the available
frequencies many times in order to provide sufficient
channels for the required demand
 This process is called frequency re-use
 All the cells with a different set of frequencies form a
cluster
 Frequency Reuse & Channel 21

Assignment

b1B
-b4
G
G C
C
Co-Channel Interference
A b5
A
f1F
-f3
f4 d 6
d1D
-d5
Fixed Channel Allocation
b1B
-b3 e2E
-e6
G
G C
C B
b6
Dynamic Channel Allocation
A G
G C
C
Centralised or Distributed
F
F D A
E
E F
F D
E
E

Frequency reuse concept.

Cells with the same letter use the same set of frequencies.
 22

Types of Interference

 Co-channel Interference
-is independent of the transmitted power
-is in function of the radius of the cell (R)
-and the distance to the centre of the nearest
co-channel cell (D)
 Adjacent channel Interference
Interference resulting from signals, which are
adjacent in frequency to the desired signal is
called adjacent channel interference
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Capacity/Interference Relation

R is radius of the cell

D is the distance to the center of the
nearest co-channel cell D
Function D
Q  3N
R
The parameter Q called the co-channel
reuse ratio is related to the cluster
size N for hexagonal geometry

A small value of Q provides larger

capacity since the cluster is small
but increases the interference

A large value of Q improves the

transmission quality, due to a
smaller level of co-channel
interference.
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Co-channel reuse

Cluster size co-channel

reuse ratio
N Q
7 4.58
12 6
13 6.24
Let i0 be the number of co-channel
interfering cells. Then the carrier to
interference ratio C/I for a mobile
receiver C C
 i0
I
 Ii
i 1

Where C is the desired carrier power

from the desired Base station
Ii is the interference power caused by
the ith interference co-channel cell
base station
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Propagation measurements in a Mobile
radio base station

 The average power Pr at distance d from

the transmitting antenna is approximated
by
n
d 
Pr  P0  
 d0 
- where P0 is the power at a close in
reference point in the far field region of
the antenna at a small distance do from
the transmitting antenna

-n is the path loss exponent. Consider the

forward link where the mobile is at
distance R from the serving base station

- If Di is the distance of the ith interference

from the mobile
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Carrier to interference

C/I for a mobile can be approximated as

C R n
 i0
I
D 
n
i
i 1

Considering only the first tier of interfering

cell. If all the interfering base stations are
equidistant from the desired base station
and if this distance is equal to the
distance D between cell centres

C  R  
n
D n
3N
 
I i0 i0

For AMPS Systems C/I=17db, n=4

For cell N=7 C/I=18db
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Carrier to Interfering

 In figure 1.2 it can be seen

that for a N=7 cell cluster
with the mobile until at cell
boundary, the mobile is a
distance D-R from the two
nearest co-channel
interfering cells and
approximately D+R/2,D,D-
R/2,and D+R from the other
interfering cells in the first
tier can be approximated as

C R 4

   
I 2( D  R )  4  D  R  4  D  R  4  D  4
2 2
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Co-Channel Cells
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Channel Assignment Strategies

 The way the channels are assigned inside a

cell affects the performance of the system
– especially when a change of BSs occurs

 Fixed Channel Allocation Schemes (FCA)

 Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)
 Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA)
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Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA)

10 Channels 10 Channels
– channels are divided in sets
– allocated to a group of cells & reassigned to other groups, according to some
reuse pattern BS1 BS2
– Different considerations are taken before the assignment of the channels (i.e.
signal quality, distance between BSs, traffic per BS)
– they are fixed (i.e. a cell can not use channels that are not assigned to it) 10 Channels
10 Channels
– assignment of frequency sets to cells when the system is designed & does
not change unless restructured
– Any call attempt within the cell can only be served by the BS3 BS4
unused channels
in that cell
– If all the channels in that cell are busy, the service is blocked
– simple method but does not adapt to changing traffic conditions
– introduction of new BSs supposes frequency reassignment for the complete system
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Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

– Channels are placed in a pool

– assigned to new calls depending on the carrier to interference ratio (CIR) and
other criteria. BS1 BS2
– Each time a call is made the serving base station requests 40
a channel from
the RNC Channels
– The switch then allocates a channel to the requested cell following an algorithm
that takes into account the likelihood of future blocking within the cell
 the frequency of use of the candidate channel
 the reuse distance of the channel, and other cost functions. BS3 BS4
– The RNC only allocates a given frequency if that frequency is not
presently in use in the cell or any other cell which falls within the minimum restricted
distance of frequency reuse to avoid interference
– reduces the likelihood of blocking, which increases the trunking capacity of the
system, since all the available channels in a market are accessible to all of the cells
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Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA)

 Require the RNC to collect real-time data on

– channel occupancy
– traffic distribution
– radio signal strength indications (RSSI) of all channels on a
continuous basis
 This increases the storage and computational load on the
system but provides the advantage of increased channel
utilisation and decreased probability of a blocked call
 Allocation of channels is more complex since additional
information is needed, but is also more flexible to traffic changes
(i.e. non-uniform traffic).
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Hybrid Channel Allocation (HCA)

 a combination of both FCA and DCA

 some channels are pre-assigned
 others are shared dynamically
 One of these approaches is based on the principal of
borrowing channels from a neighbouring cell when its
own channels are occupied
 Known as the borrowing strategy
 RNC supervises such borrowing procedures &
ensures that the borrowing of a channel does not
disrupt or interfere with any of the calls in progress in
the donor cell
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Allocation Comparison
 FCA better for high uniform traffic loads
– Max reusability of channels is always achieved
 DCA performs better for non-uniform traffic loads
– allocation of channels is flexible
 FCA schemes behave like a no. of small groups of servers
 DCA provides a way of making these small groups of
servers behave like a larger server, which is more efficient.
 FCA call must always be handed off into another channel
– same channel is not available in adjacent cells.
 DCA the same channel can be used if interference does not
occur.
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Allocation Comparison

 variations in traffic that are typical of microcells are

not well handled in FCA.
 DCA techniques perform better in microcells
 Implementation complexity of DCA is higher than
FCA.
– FCA:each cell has a number of channels and the
channel selection is made independently
– DCA: the knowledge of occupied channels in other
cells is necessary (i.e. heavy signalling load).
– A great deal of processing power to determine optimal
allocations is also required.
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Allocation Control
 Centralised fashion
– channels are assigned by a central controller, usually the
RNC
 Distributed fashion
– Channels are selected either by the local BS or by the mobile
 BS control: BSs keep info about current available channels in its
vicinity.
– Updated by exchanging data between BSs. In a mobile control system the
mobile chooses the channel based in its local CIR measurements (i.e.
lower complexity but less efficiency).
 FCA is suitable for a centralised control system.
 DCA is applicable to a centralised or decentralised control
system