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The Fixed Network and System Connectivity

Overview

All cells in a wireless system must be electronically connected to the MSC. This is why
a fixed network overlay is required for all wireless systems. Because of call handoff, the
wireless system also requires that all cells must be able to communicate with all other
cells, electronically (logically) through the MSC. This is how the MSC coordinates
signal strength measurements that are used in the call handoff process-to determine
when handoffs are required.

All cells must always be able to signal all other cells, and this is another reason why the
hex metaphor was chosen as the ideal tool by which to design the wireless system. The
hexagon design accounts for conceptual and physical overlapping between all cells
because circles from an engineering standpoint depict wireless coverage.

The main objectives of the fixed network are to satisfy capacity demands and provide
reliable service. This can be achieved if the following criteria are incorporated in the
network's design:

All routes must be sized to meet service demands.

Traffic must be routed in the most economical manner.

Survivability must be built into the network.

It is critical that a transmission plan is established indicating current and potential future
cell sites.

Note: The fixed network can consist of connections based on leased facilities such as
copper cable or fiber optics. The fixed network may also consist of microwave radio
links, or a combination of any of these options.

However, the use of satellite links in the fixed network is rare because of their high cost.
All fixed network connectivity regardless of the actual medium that is employed (e.g.,
microwave or leased line), is accomplished via DS1 (T1), DS3, or OC-n transmission
systems.

Note: Each wireless call occupies one DSO of bandwidth over the fixed network. The
process of transporting traffic across a wireless network back to the MSC for switching
is known as backhauling.
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Network Configuration Options

There are several methods which cell base can connect stations to the MSC similar to
the configuration options that exist for wide-area networks (WANs). These options are a
star formation, a ring formation, or a daisy-chain formation. The fixed network
methodology that is implemented may depend on the nature of the wireless market
(existing infrastructure) or the policies of the wireless carrier.

Note: All interconnections to the PSTN must also ultimately connect into the MSC.
These interconnections can traverse the same fixed network that the cell base stations
use to connect to the MSC.

Star Configuration

Network topologies that use only star formations are rare today, in any type of network,
because they do not allow for (nodal) transport diversity. When star topologies are used,
it is usually in microwave networks, where a hubbed portion that contains path diversity
between the major hub nodes themselves subtends the star portion. In effect, this
topology is a combined star-ring design. Star formations that connect all cells to the
MSC are almost unheard of, because of the potentially high cost of independently
connecting every single cell base station to the MSC. This is especially true for rural
cellular markets, where the geographic expanse of the market is much larger than that of
an MSA. Economically, it would not make sense to have in place many long, stand-
alone network links from each cell site to the MSC in a rural market. It might make
more sense to install another MSC in the market. See Figure.

Figure: Fixed network: star configuration (rarely used). BTS = base transceiver station.
MSC = mobile switching center.
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Ring Configuration

When referring to ring configurations in the wireless fixed network, the rings can be
implemented in one of two ways: using Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) rings
via leased facilities, or via microwave radio networks, which are usually designed, built,
owned, and maintained by the wireless carriers themselves.

When wireless carriers choose the SONET option for the fixed network, they will lease
the facilities from either the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) or a competitive
local exchange carrier (CLEC). These systems will have transmission capacities of
0C48, and increasingly 0C192. SONET systems are deployed in ring formations to
achieve diversity through what is known as path switching. This means that the system
always has two diversely routed transmission paths available to it, and it is constantly
checking these paths to ensure that traffic is routed over the path with the best overall
signal. If (voice) traffic is routed over path A, and path A's signal degrades, then traffic
will be routed in the reverse direction over path B-it will be "path switched." Obviously
the most glaring example of signal degradation on any given path is a complete fiber
cut, also known in the industry as backhoe fade" because the use of backhoes is what
usually accounts for major fiber-optic cable cuts. This redundant capability of SONET
rings is also known as fault tolerance or "survivability." It's important to note that the
SONET ring option is widely available in urban areas, so it is therefore best suited as an
option in an urban cellular market (MSA). It is not widely available in most rural areas
because the demand (potential network traffic) is not there, which makes the economic
case for telcos and CLECs to build SONET systems in a rural area a negative revenue
proposition. See Figure.
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Fixed Network: ring configuration (SONET). Each switching center is a node on the
ring, including the mobile switching center (MSC). BIS = base transceiver station.

Note: When wireless carriers do employ the SONET ring option, the MSC itself is
implemented as a "node" on the ring, as are multiple ILEC or CLEC central offices
and/or wire centers.

When wireless carriers use SONET rings in their fixed networks, it's important to note
that although the ring itself is fault tolerant to failure ("survivable"), the links from each
base station to the entry point of the ring (telco or CLEC central offices) are in most
cases not survivable. This is what is known as the "single point of failure" in a (fixed)
network. Yet, this still means that in the event of a major failure of lease4 facilities on
the ring itself or in any base station's connection into the ring, that only one base station
connection would be lost instead of many base station connections. See Figure. for a
graphical depiction of the ring architecture in a wireless fixed network.

The microwave radio option, when employed, will usually be used in a rural
environment due to easier zoning laws and general ease of implementation. For
example, line of sight is usually easier to obtain in a rural area versus an urban area.
Microwave radio systems can also be designed and deployed in ring configurations,
very similar to SONET systems that are leased from the local phone company or a
CLEC.

Daisy-Chain Configuration

In larger rural cellular markets (RSAs), a daisy-chain architecture may be a good

deployment option because of the large expanse of land that must be traversed for cells
to connect to the MSC. In daisy chain fixed network architecture, all cells throughout a
wireless market connect to each other as they home in toward the MSC. With this
configuration, the cumulative amount of trunks on any link between two cells gradually
becomes greater and greater as the links move toward the MSC. This is due to the
incremental effect of adding more and more cells and trunks to the network as it
approaches the MSC. For instance the link with the largest capacity (and therefore the
largest overall amount of trunks) will be the last link in the chain between the final cell
in the chain and the MSC itself
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Figure: Fixed network: Daisy-chain configuration.

Note: A stand-alone link that runs off the main backbone of a daisy-chain network is
known as a spur.

It is very important to plan for growth when the daisy-chain method is used for the fixed
network. If planning is not done intelligently the capacity on any one of the cell-to-cell
links could be maximized as base stations are added and the wireless network grows,
depending on where new cell sites are placed. This situation could require a major
reconstruction of entire sections of the daisy chain, or even the whole chain itself Or the
wireless carrier could add another strategically placed MSC at a point toward the distant
(opposite) end of the main backbone of the daisy chain.

One predominantly rural, nationwide cellular carrier uses microwave radio links, laid
out in a daisy-chain fashion, to connect all of its cells to the MSC. In this scenario, the
daisy-chain architecture has been very effective and optimized the cellular carrier's
network infrastructure.

Note: The daisy chain and ring configurations also allow a cellular carrier to attain
economies of scale, or network optimization. There is no need to maintain duplicate
networks: one for cell-to-MSC connectivity and one for interconnection (PSTN
trunks4o-MSC) connectivity. Both cell base station radio trunks and PSTN
interconnection trunks can traverse the same fixed network.

Transmission Media

A number of transmission media are available for use by wireless carriers when
implementing their fixed networks. The most common media used are copper cable,
optical fiber, and microwave radio systems.
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Copper and fiber

In leasing facilities from a telephone company or CLEC, the two prevailing options are
copper cable and optical fiber. These options may be limited because of the availability
of facilities. In rural areas, it is unlikely that fiber would be available. In some rural
areas, especially in the northwest United States, copper cable is not even available for
leasing from local telcos!

Optical fiber transmission facilities are now ubiquitous in metropolitan areas of the
United States. When fiber is available in metro areas, it is usually in the form of a
SONET ring, which provides for network redundancy. In this age of increasing
competition, some new telephone companies (CLECs) are even willing to build fiber
rings on a contract basis in exchange for a committed amount of traffic (over the rings)
over a certain number of years. For example, one cellular carrier operating in the
Raleigh-Durham area contracted with Time-Warner Cable to build a fiber ring for its
fixed network. The main disadvantage to leasing transmission facilities from local and
competitive telephone companies is that a wireless carrier is completely dependent on
the telephone company in terms of network reliability However this disadvantage can
be downplayed if the Telco facilities are redundant (e.g., SONET rings).

Network Operation Centers

Like any long distance or local telephone company all wireless carriers maintain some
type of network operations center (NOC). NOCs are usually manned on a 24 x 7 basis
(24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days per year). Modern NOCs contain a large room
with the status of various systems funneled onto a large, overhead projector screen.
NOCs also have the Weather Channel on at all times to monitor weather across the
country as severe weather could have a major impact on system integrity.

In the wireless world, all MSCs are connected back to the NOC for purposes of
monitoring the technical health of a carrier's system nationwide. Technically this
monitoring operates in a tiered manner, going all the way down to the base station level.
All cells are connected to an MSCs and all MSCs are connected to the NOC.

A wireless company like other telephone companies can have one or more NOCs,
depending on its size. If there is more than one NOC, they will be regionalized. They'll
be geographically distant, but placed symmetrically so they can support entire regions
of the United States. In cases where a carrier has multiple NOCs, the NOCs themselves
will also be connected together as well to act as backups for each other.

The NOC also performs all of the core network management functions of any standard
wide-area data network: fault management (system alarms), configuration management,
security management, accounting management (traffic data), and performance
management.
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Many NOCs also house large data centers where the billing system for the carrier
resides. The centers use completely redundant information systems (databases) known
as clusters, where a mirrored copy of all billing data within the system is copied at
given intervals from one system to another. In some cases, the data mirroring is done in
real time. See Figure for an illustration of the network topology that feeds into a net-
work operations center.

Figure : Network operations center