RF Training

Microwave Link Engineering

• A communication system that utilizes the radio frequency band spanning 2 to 60
GHz. As per IEEE, electromagnetic waves between 30 and 300 GHz are called
millimeter waves (MMW) instead of microwaves as their wavelengths are about 1
to 10mm
• Small capacity systems generally employ the frequencies less than 3 GHz while
medium and large capacity systems utilize frequencies ranging from 3 to 15 GHz.
Frequencies > 15 GHz are essentially used for short-haul transmission.
Advantages:
• Less affected by natural calamities
• Less prone to accidental damage
• Links across mountains and rivers are more economically feasible
• Single point installation and maintenance
• Single point security
• They are quickly deployed
Line of Sight Characteristic
• Highly directive
• Pencil like beam width
• EM wave follow straight line
Link Engineering
• Site selection
• Frequency selection
o G = 20 log F + 20 log D – 52.6
o Frequency increase ~ Diameter decreases
o While choosing frequency, two things should be noted
o interference, 2) Regulatory Issues
o f = c/ (f mean mean rain attenuation decreases)
o loss = 36.6 + 20 log f + 20 log D
o loss = 32.4 + 20 log f + 20 log D
o f mean loss mean distance
• Tower Heights profile
• Free Space phenomenon
o Reflection
o Refraction
o Diffraction
o Attenuation
• Terrain Survey
• Equipment Selection (depends on choice of frequency and antenna)
 • ICT (Installation, Commissioning and Testing)
Fresnel Zone
• Wave front has expanding properties as it travels through space. These properties
result in phase transition and reflection as wave passes over an obstacle. This
results in increase or decrease of signal. The amount of additional clearness that
must be allowed to avoid Fresnel Phenomenon is called Fresnel Zone.
• Earth Bulge: K = effective radius of earth / true radius of earth
Fading
• Weakening of RF signal
• Is due to Reflection, Refraction, Diffraction, Attenuation
• Type:
o Multi path fading: interference between a direct wave and reflected
wave. Caused by reflection from grounds and atmospheric sheets and
layers. Temperature inversion of earth surface. Trees and water bodies.
o Flat fading: A fade where all frequencies in the channel are equally
affected. There is barely noticeable variation of the amplitude of the signal
across the channel bandwidth
o Frequency selective fading: that disturb selected frequency
o Fast Fading: rapid fluctuation of signal over small areas.
o Slow fading: result of shadowing, mountain, hills and other non-moving
objects.
o Rain fading: rain attenuates the signal, caused by scattering and
absorption of EM waves by rain drops. It start increasing at 10 GHz and
above 15GHz
Fade Margin
• The amount by which the received signal may be reduced without causing the
system performance to fall is call Fade Margin
Path Loss
• The reduction of power density of EM wave as it travel thorough space
• Causes: FSL, Diffraction, Absorption, Distance between Tx and Rx, height,
location of Antennas
Diversity
• Used to removed fading
• Method of improving of reliability of message signal by using two or more
communication channel.
• Provide equipment reliability
• Types:
o Frequency diversity: two Tx and two Rx both are tuned at different
frequencies with same information is being transmitted over both
frequencies so one of them provides sufficient signal strength. A bit
expensive.
o Space diversity: if two antennas are placed many wavelength apart, it
has been observed that fading can not occur. One of the antennas
provides sufficient signal strength.
 o Time diversity: A time delay of two identical signals on parallel paths
o Path diversity: signal arrives on geographically separate paths.
• Diversity Combiner
o Combiner combines two or more diversity paths
o Types:
̇ Selection combiner
̇ Equal gain combiner
̇ Maximal ratio combiner
Antenna
An electrical conductor used to transmit and receive EM wave
Types
• Isotropic
o Ideal antenna, radiate power equally in all direction.
o Gain ___
• Parabolic
o High gain reflector antenna used in radio, television and data
communication
• Directional
o Radiate greater power in one or more direction, allowing for increase
performance on Tx and Rx and reduce interference from unwanted
sources.
• Dipole
o Simplest practical antenna with center fed element for transmission and
reception of RF energy.
Pattern or antenna pattern or antenna radiation pattern
• The directional function characterizing the relative distribution of power radiated
by antenna
Polarization
• Physical orientation of electric field
• Vertical and horizontal
• Transmitter and receiver antenna should have same polarization.
Directivity
• Maximum value of directive gain is called directivity depend on shape of radiation
pattern.
Efficiency
• Ration of total power radiated to the input power of antenna.
• = power radiated / input power
Gain
• Power output in a particular direction to that produced in any direction by
isotropic antenna
• G = power output by antenna / power output by isotropic antenna
• Product of efficiency and directivity
• G= D
Reciprocity
• Antenna ability which shows that same radiation pattern for transmission and
reception
Beam width
• Angular separation of half power points of radiation pattern
Reflection Coefficient
• Ratio of reflected wave to incident wave
• = V0- / V0+
VSWR / SWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ration)
• The SWR have max and min voltages
• The ratio of max voltage to min voltage of SW is called standing wave ratio and if
we are dealing in term of voltage then it is called VSWR
• VSWR = V max /V min = (1 + ) / (1 - )
Antenna performance [calculated by site master]
• VSWR
• Distance to fault
• Insertion lose

Reflection mean power transferred mean return lose

Networking
Function of OSI Layers
• Layer # 1 (Physical Layer)
o Physical characteristics of interfaces and media
o Representation of bits (types of encoding)
o Date rate (transmission rate (duration of bits))
o Synchronization of bits
o Line configuration (point-to-point configuration, multipoint configuration)
o Physical topology (mesh, ring, bus topology etc)
o Transmission mode (simplex, half/full duplex)
• Layer # 2 (Data Link Layer)
o Frames
o Framing
o Physical addressing (source/destination address)
o Flow control (prevent overwhelming)
o Error control
o Access control
• Layer # 3 (Network Layer)
o Packets
o Source to destination delivery of packets
o Logical addressing
o Routing
• Layer # 4 (Transport Layer)
o Segment
o Source to destination (end-to-end) delivery of entire message
o Service point addressing
o Segmentation and reassembly
o Connection control (connection oriented / connection less)
o Flow control (perform end to end)
o Error control (perform end to end)
• Layer # 5 (Session Layer)
o Establish, maintain, synchronize and terminates session between two
communication systems
o Dialog control
o Synchronization
• Layer # 6 (Presentation Layer)
o Translation
o Encryption / decryption
 o Compression
• Layer # 7 (Application Layer)
o Network virtual terminal
o File transfer, access and management (FTAM)
o Mail services
o Directory services
Network:
• Two or more than two computers that are attached to each other and
communication with each others.
Protocol
• Set of rules that governs the communication for each layer
Difference between Protocol and Standard
• Protocol is Software (Data Link Layer)
• Standard is Hardware (Physical Layer)
• Every protocol may be standard but every standard is not a protocol
Unicast
• an individual or device can be addressed to a single one
Multicast
• an individual or device can be addressed to a group
Broadcast
• an individual or device can be addressed to all
Simplex
• Communication is unidirectional (TV, Radio)
Half Duplex
• Each station can receive and transmit but not at the same time (Walky talky)
Full Duplex
• Both station can receive and transmit simultaneously (Telephone)
Broadband
• The generating frequency is different from is different from transmission
frequency
Baseband
• The generating and transmission frequency are same
LAN (Local Area Network)
• A network system which deals within one premise or same premises.
• LAN Technologies
o Ethernet: 802.3, Access Method: CSMA/CD
o Token Ring: 802.5, Access Method: Token Passing
o FDDI: Fiber Distributed Data Interface, Access Method: Token Passing
 • There are four basic types of media are used in local-area networks.
o Coaxial Cable, Twisted Pair Cable, Optical Fiber, Wireless (WiFi)
• Topology:
o Topology is a physical layout or distribution of network.
o There are four basic types Topologies in LAN. Bus, Ring, Star, Mesh
• LAN Devices:
o Repeaters:
̇ A repeater is a physical layer (layer 1) device
̇ Receive a digital signal and retransmit at high power
o Hub:
̇ A hub is a physical layer (layer 1) device
̇ Used to connect multiple devices
̇ Internally Bus topology
̇ One broadcast domain and one collision domain
o Bridge:
̇ A bridge is a Data Link layer (layer 2) device
̇ Connect multiple network segments
̇ One broadcast domain
̇ No. of ports = collision domain (max 16 ports)
̇ Software based
o Switch:
̇ A Switch is a Data Link layer (layer 2) device
̇ Some switches also work on Network Layer (layer 3)
̇ Connect multiple network segments
̇ One broadcast domain
̇ Contain more Ethernet ports
̇ Hardware based
WAN
• Wide Area Network is a computer network that covers a broad area i.e. any
network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional or national
boundaries
• Router
o Network layer device (layer 3)
o Works on IP
o Device that extracts a destination of packet, select the best path for
destination and forward packet to next device on selective path
o No broadcast domain
o Used to connect different networks
 o Principles of Router
̇ Routing is always done on the network portion of destination IP
address
̇ Routing is always done on next hop basis
̇ Packets from unknown destination are ignored by router
• There are two types of routing.
o Static Routing
̇ Static routing used fixed tables. It is also called default routing
because there is only one destination network where we want to
send a message.
o Dynamic Routing
̇ Router selects the best path for packet or data from routing table
and also depends upon metric based calculation and hop count.
Routing tables hold the data for making forwarding decisions. In
order to route packets, a router communicates with other routers
using routing protocols and using this information creates and
maintains a routing table. The routing table stores the best routes
to certain network destinations, the "routing metrics" associated
with those routes, and the path to the next hop router
Switching protocol
• Layer 2 protocol
o ARP (Address resolution protocol)
̇ Conversion of IP to MAC address
o RARP (reverse Address resolution protocol)
̇ Conversion of MAC to IP address
Metric
• Criteria through which path selection is made
Administrative Distance
• Assigned by CISCO
• Varies between 0 ~ 255
• Can be changed except directly connected network
Administrative
Protocol
Distance
RIP 120
ISIS 115
OSPF 110
IGRP 100
EIGRP 90
BGP 20
Static Route 1
Directly Connected 0
Routing protocol
• Used for the selection of best path
• Operates on routers only
• RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP
• Distance Vector Routing Protocol
o Maintain routing table
o Update routing information after every 30 seconds
o Transmit routing table to neighboring node
o RIP, IGRP
• Link State Routing Protocol
o Contain routing table, topology table and neighboring table
o Forward the routing table whenever change occur in network topology
o Fast convergence and better performance
o OSPF
• RIP (Routing information protocol)
o Distance vector routing protocol
o Metric is hop count
o Maximum hop count is 15
o Administrative distance is 120
• IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing protocol)
o CISCO proprietary protocol and run on CISCO Routers
o Distance vector routing protocol
o Metric is Bandwidth, delay, reliability, load, MTU
o By default is BW and delay
o Administrative distance is 100
• EIGRP (Extended Interior Gateway Routing protocol)
o CISCO proprietary protocol
o Hybrid protocol (contain functionality of both Link State and Distance
Vector routing protocol)
o Metric is Bandwidth, delay
o Support IP, IPx, Apple Talk
o Administrative distance is 90
• OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
o Defined by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
o Metric is Cost based on BW (cost = 108 / BW)
o Link State routing protocol
o Deployed in hierarchical design
o Suitable for large network
o Administrative distance is 110
o Decrease network overhead due to introduction of areas
• BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)
Routed protocol
• Used to carry the data and reached to destination according to the best path.
• Operate all over the network
• IP, Apple Talk, IPx (internet packet exchange)
IP Addressing
• Numeric identified assigned to each machine on a IP network
• Network address uniquely identifies the network
• Node address uniquely identifies each machine
• Classes of IP Addressing
o Class ‘A’ (1 126) used for data communication
o Class ‘B’ (128 191) -do-
o Class ‘C’ (192 223) -do-
o Class ‘D’ (224 239) used for multi casting
o Class ‘E’ (240 255) research and testing purposes
• Class ‘A’
o N.H.H.H
0 000 0000 0
0 xxx xxxx
0 111 1111 127
o Sub net mast 255.0.0.0
o Private IP 10.0.0.0
o 27-2 (128-2=126) networks
o 224-2 (16,777,216-2= 16,777,214) hosts
• Class ‘B’
o N.N.H.H
10 00 0000 128
10 xx xxxx
10 11 1111 191
o Sub net mast 255.255.0.0
o Private IP 172.16.0.0
o 214 (16,384) networks
o 216-2 (65,536-2= 65,534) hosts
• Class ‘C’
o N.N.N.H
110 0 0000 192
110 x xxxx
110 1 1111 223
o Sub net mast 255.255.255.0
o Private IP 192.168.0.0
o 221 (2,097,152) networks
o 28-2 (256-2= 254) hosts
Subnetting
• To create subnetworks, take bits from host portion to network i.e. subnet
• Determine the required network ID
• Determine the host required per subnet
• One subnet mast for entire network
• Range of host ID
• Default subnet mask is used to determine the part of host address in IP address
TCP / IP Model
Layer 5 (Application Layer)
• The application layer is used by most programs for network communication. Data
is passed from the program in an application-specific format, and then
encapsulated into a transport layer protocol.
• DNS (Domain Name System)
o Translation from Host Name to IP and vice versa.
• DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
o Client-Server protocol that automatically provide an IP host with its IP
address and other related configuration information such as subnet mask
and default gateway.
o Dynamic allocation of IP: Network administrator assigns a range of IP
address to DHCP. During network initialization an IP is assigned to client.
o Automatic Allocation: Permanently assign an IP from the pool of IP
addresses to client.
o Manual Allocation: Allocate IP on base of table of MAC address
• File Transfer Protocol
o Use to transfer data from one computer to another over the internet or
through a network.
• H.323
o Is an umbrella recommended by ITU-T defines the protocol to provide
audio-visual communication session on any packet network.
o Use for real time application.
o Commonly used in VoIP
o Developed for transporting multimedia applications.
• RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol)
o Defines standardized packet format for delivering audio and video over
internet.
o Port used 16384-32767
o Less sensitive for packet loss but sensitive for delay
o Uses UDP
o Header is normally of 12 bytes
o Header fields are:
̇ Payload (7 bits): type of audio or video encoding
 ̇ Sequence No. (16 bits)
̇ Time Stamp (32 bits): for sampling instance
̇ SSRC (32 bits): Synchronous Source Identifier used for
identification of RTP source
• RTCP (Real Time Control Protocol)
o Multimedia application use with conjunction with RTP.
o RTCP Packets are sent periodically and contain sender and receiver reports
that announce statistics.
o Used to increase QoS
o RTP/RTCP protocols are commonly used to transport audio or audio/video
data. Separate sessions are used for each media content (e.g. audio and
video). The main advantage of this separation is to make it possible to
receive only one part of the transmission, commonly audio data, which
lowers the total bandwidth
• RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol)
o RTSP is a protocol for use in streaming media systems which allows a
client to remotely control a streaming media server, issuing VCR-like
commands such as ‘play’ and ‘pause’, and allowing time-based access to
files on a server.
o Out of band protocol
o Use both TCP or UDP
o Does not define compression for audio and video
o Does not define how audio and video encapsulated
o Does not restrict how media player buffer audio/video
• SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)
o Used for creating, modifying and terminating session
o Port no is 5060
o SIP client uses UDP and TCP
o Commonly used in VoIP with H.323
o Provide signaling similar to HTTP (Human readable)
Layer 4 (Transport Layer)
• The transport layer's responsibilities include end-to-end message transfer
capabilities independent of the underlying network, along with error control,
fragmentation and flow control. End to end message transmission or connecting
applications at the transport layer can be categorized as either: Connection
oriented or Connectionless
• TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
o Connection oriented, acknowledge
o Reliable
o 20 byte header contain:

̇ Source port (16 bits): identifies the sending port

̇ Destination port (16 bits): identifies the receiving port
̇ Sequence number (32 bits): has a dual role
• If the SYN flag is present then this is the initial sequence
number and the first data byte is the sequence number plus
1
• if the SYN flag is not present then the first data byte is the
sequence number
̇ Acknowledgment number (32 bits): if the ACK flag is set then
the value of this field is the sequence number that the sender of
the acknowledgment expects next.
̇ Data offset (4 bits): specifies the size of the TCP header in 32-bit
words. The minimum size header is 5 words and the maximum is
15 words thus giving the minimum size of 20 bytes and maximum
of 60 bytes. This field gets its name from the fact that it is also the
offset from the start of the TCP packet to the data.
̇ Reserved (4 bits): for future use and should be set to zero
̇ Flags (aka Control bits) – contains 8 bit flags
• CWR – Congestion Window Reduced (CWR) flag is set by the
sending host to indicate that it received a TCP segment with
the ECE flag set (added to header by RFC 3168).
• ECE (ECN-Echo) – indicate that the TCP peer is ECN capable
during 3-way handshake (added to header by RFC 3168).
 • URG – indicates that the URGent pointer field is significant
• ACK – indicates that the ACKnowledgment field is significant
• PSH – Push function
• RST – Reset the connection
• SYN – Synchronize sequence numbers
• FIN – No more data from sender
̇ Window (16 bits): the number of bytes that may be received on
the receiving side before being halted from sliding any further and
receiving any more bytes as a result of a packet at the beginning of
the sliding window not having been acknowledged or received.
Starts at acknowledgement field.
• UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
o Connection less, unacknowledged
o Not Reliable
o No hand shaking between Tx and Rx
o Small packet overhead
o DNS, RIP and SNMP use UDP
o Used with multimedia, voice application
o Depend upper layer protocol for reliability

o Source port
̇ This field identifies the sending port when meaningful and should
be assumed to be the port to reply to if needed. If not used, then it
should be zero.
o Destination port
̇ This field identifies the destination port and is required.
o Length
̇ A 16-bit field that specifies the length in bytes of the entire
datagram: header and data. The minimum length is 8 bytes since
that's the length of the header. The field size sets a theoretical limit
of 65,527 bytes for the data carried by a single UDP datagram. The
practical limit for the data length which is imposed by the
underlying IPv4 protocol is 65,507 bytes.
 • ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
o Ping
o Error reporting
o Used by host and routers to communicate network layer information with
other
Layer 3 (Internet Layer)
• Internet Protocol
o Unreliable, connection less
o Provide no error checking or tracking
o Packet in IP layer is called ‘Datagram’
o Length is variable (up to 65536 bytes)
o Header is of 20 to 60 byte
o Header contain:
̇ version (IPv4 or IPv6) 4 bits

̇ Internet Header Length (IHL): The second field is a 4-bit Internet

Header Length (IHL) telling the number of 32-bit words in the
header. Since an IPv4 header may contain a variable number of
options, this field specifies the size of the header (this also
coincides with the offset to the data). The minimum value for this
field is 5 (rfc791), which is a length of 5×32 = 160 bits. Being a 4-
bit field the maximum length is 15 words or 480 bits.
̇ Type of Service (TOS)
̇ Total Length: This 16-bit field defines the entire datagram size,
including header and data, in bytes. The minimum-length datagram
is 20 bytes (20 bytes header + 0 bytes data) and the maximum is
65,535 — the maximum value of a 16-bit word. The minimum size
datagram that any host is required to be able to handle is 576
bytes, but most modern hosts handle much larger packets.
Sometimes subnetworks impose further restrictions on the size, in
which case datagrams must be fragmented. Fragmentation is
handled in either the host or packet switch in IPv4 (see
Fragmentation and reassembly).
̇ Identification: This field is an identification field and is primarily
used for uniquely identifying fragments of an original IP datagram.
Some experimental work has suggested using the ID field for other
purposes, such as for adding packet-tracing information to
 datagrams in order to help trace back datagrams with spoofed
source addresses
̇ Flags: A 3-bit field follows and is used to control or identify
fragments. They are (in order, from high order to low order):
• Reserved; must be zero.
• Don't Fragment (DF)
• More Fragments (MF)
• If the DF flag is set and fragmentation is required to route
the packet then the packet will be dropped. This can be
used when sending packets to a host that does not have
sufficient resources to handle fragmentation.
• When a packet is fragmented all fragments have the MF flag
set except the last fragment, which does not have the MF
flag set. The MF flag is also not set on packets that are not
fragmented — clearly an unfragmented packet can be
considered the last fragment.
̇ Fragment Offset: The fragment offset field, measured in units of 8-
byte blocks, is 13-bits long and specifies the offset of a particular
fragment relative to the beginning of the original unfragmented IP
datagram. The first fragment has an offset of 0. This allows a
maximum offset of 65,528 () which would exceed the maximum IP
packet length of 65,535 with the header length included.
̇ Time To Live (TTL): An 8-bit time to live (TTL) field helps prevent
datagrams from persisting (e.g. going in circles) on an
internetwork. Historically the TTL field limited a datagram's lifetime
in seconds, but has come to be a hop count field. Each packet
switch (or router) that a datagram crosses decrements the TTL field
by one. When the TTL field hits zero, the packet is no longer
forwarded by a packet switch and is discarded. Typically, an ICMP
message (specifically the time exceeded) is sent back to the sender
that it has been discarded. The reception of these ICMP messages
is at the heart of how traceroute works.
Layer 2 & 1 (Data Link / Physical Layer)
Cell Relay: fix length packets called ‘Cell’ to be transported between nodes.
• ATM is ‘Cell Relay’
• No error correction or flow control
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
• High speed connection oriented and multiplexing technology for transmitting
information across a wide area network
• 53 bytes of cell (48 byte data, 5 byte header)
• Different from IP or Ethernet where variable size packet is used.
• Mostly used in WAN
• ADSL implements ATM
• Eliminates varying delay time associated with different packet size
• Can use permanent virtual circuit or switched virtual circuit
• ATM standard defines three layers
 o AAL (Application Adaptation Layer): accept transmission from upper
layer services and mapped them into ATM cell
̇ AAL is divided into two sublayer:
• Convergence sublayer (CS):
o add overhead and manipulates the data stream at
the sending station
o Perform the opposite function at receiving end
• Segmentation and reassembling (SAR):
o At sending station, segment the bit stream in same
sized packet, add header and trailer
o Perform the opposite function at receiving end
• Four different AAL
o AAL1: constant bit rate stream
o AAL2: variable bit rate stream
o AAL3/4: conventional packet switching
o AAL5: packet requiring no information from SAR
Layer
o ATM Layer: provide routing traffic management, switching and
multiplexing services
o Physical Layer: define the transmission medium bit transmission
encoding to electrical to optical transformation
FR (Frame Relay)
• Cost effective technology that connects LAN
• Used as encapsulation technique for voice and data by network service providers
between LAN and WAN
• Can handle bursty data
• Eliminate extensive error checking
• PVC (permanent virtual circuit) and SVC (switched virtual circuit) connections are
used
• DLCI (data link connection identifier) identifies VC in FR
• Operate at layer 1 & 2
• At layer 2, use a simplified version of HDLC (High level data link control)
• Routing and switching are function of data link layer
• Flow control is handled through BECN (backward explicit congestion notification)
or FECN (forward explicit congestion notification)
• 56 kbps, 64 kbps, 128 kbps, 256 kbps, 512 kbps and 1.5 Mbps
Global System for Mobile Communication
GSM Band
• GSM 900
o Uplink 890-915 MHz
o Downlink 935-960 MHz
o Sub band 25 MHz with 200kHz guard band
o No. of carriers 125
• GSM 1800 (DCS-Digital Cellular System)
o Uplink 1710-1785 MHz
o Downlink 1805-1880 MHz
o Sub band 75 MHz with 200kHz guard band
o No. of carriers 375

ARFCN (Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number)

• It is a number scheme used to identify RF channels in GSM radio system

BW (Bandwidth)
• Information carrying capacity of a communication channel
• Express in Hz for analog and bps for digital (data rate)

BER (bit error rate)

• Number of bits corrupted bits / total number of bits (for digital system)

Cell
• The geographic area encompassing the signal range from one base station (a site
containing radio transmitter/receiver and network communication equipment).
Wireless transmission networks are comprised of many hexagonal, overlapping
cell sites to efficiently use radio spectrum for wireless transmissions. Also, the
basis for the term "cellular phone."

Cluster
• A group of cell with no frequency reuse in adjacent cell

Sector
• Physical coverage area associated with base station having its own antenna, radio
ports and control channel.

Sectorization
•
 •
•

Co channel interference
• Unwanted interference within a radio channel from another transmitter using the
same channel at a different location. It is a dominant factor in frequency reuse
system.

Cell Splitting
• Process of splitting cell into smaller cell.
• Usually done to accommodate more traffic

Spectral Efficiency
• Traffic in earlang per sq. km per MHz

GSM Architecture

MS
• Physical equipment use by subscriber. Normally handheld wireless phone contain
SIM that carry all information of subscriber.

SIM
• The SIM carriers the following information:
o Authentication Key (Ki)
o Subscriber information
o Cipher key (Kc)
o Additional GSM Services
o IMSI: The IMSI is assigned to an MS at subscription time. It uniquely
identifies a given MS. The IMSI will be transmitted over the radio interface
only if necessary. The IMSI contains 15 digits and includes
̇ Mobile Country Code (MCC)-3 digits (home country)
̇ Mobile Network Code (MNC)-2 digits (home GSM PLMN)
̇ Mobile Subscriber Identification (MSIN)
̇ Nation Mobile Subscriber Identity (NMSI)
o TMSI: Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity is assigned to an MS by the
VLR. The TMSI uniquely identifies an MS within the area controlled by a
given VLR. The maximum number of bits that can be used for TMSI is 32.
 G
Other MSC’s
OMC VLR
VLR

D
BSS
B
Abis
Um A C
B B
M AUC
T S MSC HLR
S
S C

E F

Other MSC Other EIR

Network

BSS (Base Station Subsystem)

• The Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts:
BTS (Base Transceiver Station) & BSC (Base Station Controller)
• These communicate across the standardized Abis interface
• BTS (Base Transceiver Station)
o The Base Transceiver Station houses the radio transceivers that define a
cell and handles the radio-link protocols with the Mobile Station.
o This is the radio gear that passes all calls coming in and going out of a cell
site.
o The base station is under direction of a base station controller
o BTS contain TRAU (Transcoder Rate Adaptation Unit)
o TRAU is used for speech encoding, decoding and allow lower data rates
over Abis Channel.
o TRAU can be located in MSC for more compressed transmission
• BSC (Base Station Controller)
o The Base Station Controller manages the radio resources for one or more
BTSs.
o It handles radio-channel setup, frequency hopping, and handovers.
o The BSC is the connection between the mobile station and the Mobile
service Switching Center (MSC).
o One BSC may handle multiple BTSs (more than 40)

NSS (Network Switching Subsystem)

• The Network Switching Subsystem, also referred to as the GSM core network
• NSS carries out switching functions and manages the communications between
mobile phones and the PSTN.
• It is owned and deployed by mobile phone operators and allows mobile phones to
communicate with each other and telephones in the wider telecommunications
network.
• The architecture closely resembles a telephone exchange, but there are additional
functions which are needed because the phones are not fixed in one location.
• MSC (Mobile Switching Center)
o MSC is a sophisticated telephone exchange which provides circuit-switched
calling, mobility management, and GSM services to the mobile phones
roaming within the area that it serves. This means voice, data and fax
services, as well as SMS and call divert.
o MSC is basically is an ISDN switch coordinating and setting up calls to and
from the mobile station.
• GMSC (Gateway MSC)
o GMSC is the MSC that determines which visited MSC the subscriber who is
being called is currently located.
o It also interfaces with the PSTN. All mobile to mobile calls and PSTN to
mobile calls are routed through a GMSC.
• HLR (Home Location Register)
o HLR is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone
subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network.
o There is one logical HLR per PLMN.
o The HLR stores details of every SIM card issued by the mobile phone
operator.
o The HLR stores the IMSI, MS ISDN number, VLR address, and subscriber
data on supplementary services.
• AUC (Authentication Center)
o It is a protected database that contain security information of subscriber
o Usually interacts with the HLR
• VLR (Visitor Location Register)
o The Visitor Location Register or VLR is a temporary database of the
subscribers who have roamed into the particular area which it serves.
o Each Base Station in the network is served by exactly one VLR; hence a
subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.
o The data stored in the VLR has either been received from the HLR, or
collected from the MS.
o The VLR stores the MSRN, TMSI, the location area, data on supplementary
services, IMSI, MS ISDN number, HLR address or GT, and local MS
identity, if used.
• EIR (Equipment Identity Register)
o EIR is a list of valid mobile equipment on the network.
o IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) used to interrogate EIR.
GSM Interfaces
• Um Radio Interfaces (MS to BTS)
o This interface uses LAPDm protocol for signaling, to conduct call control,
measurement reporting, Handover, Power control, Authentication,
Authorization, Location Update and so on.
o Data rate is 13 kbps (RPE-LP)
• Abis Interface (BTS to BSC)
o Generally carried by a DS1, ES1 or E1.
o Data rate 64kbps for user data or speech and 16 kbps for signaling
• ‘A’ interface (BSC to MSC)
o It is used for carrying Traffic channels.
o Data rate 2 Mbps or more
Security Algorithm
• Authentication (A3)
• Encryption (A5)
• Privacy key generation (A8)

• Ki is the 128-bit Individual Subscriber Authentication Key utilized as a secret key

shared between the Mobile Station and the Home Location Register of the
subscriber's home network.
• RAND is 128-bit random challenge generated by the Home Location Register.
• SRES is the 32-bit Signed Response generated by the Mobile Station and the
Mobile Services Switching Center.
• Kc is the 64-bit ciphering key used as a Session Key for encryption of the over-
the-air channel. Kc is generated by the Mobile Station from the random challenge
presented by the GSM network and the Ki from the SIM utilizing the A8 algorithm

Authentication and Key Generation Mechanism

• The Mobile Station (MS) signs into the network.
• The Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC) requests 5 triples from the Home
Location Register (HLR).
• The Home Location Register creates five triples utilizing the A8 algorithm. These
five triples each contain:
o A 128-bit random challenge (RAND)
o A 32-bit matching Signed Response (SRES)
o A 64-bit ciphering key used as a Session Key (Kc)
• The Home Location Register sends the Mobile Services Switching Center the five
triples.
• The Mobile Services Switching Center sends the random challenge from the first
triple to the Base Transceiver Station (BTS).
• The Base Transceiver Station sends the random challenge from the first triple to
the Mobile Station.
 • The Mobile Station receives the random challenge from the Base Transceiver
Station and encrypts it with the Individual Subscriber Authentication Key (Ki)
assigned to the Mobile Station utilizing the A3 algorithm.
• The Mobile Station sends the Signed Response to the Base Transceiver Station.
• The Base Transceiver Station sends the Signed Response to the Mobile Services
Switching Center.
• The Mobile Services Switching Center verifies the Signed Response.
• The Mobile Station generates a Session Key (Kc) utilizing the A8 algorithm, the
Individual Subscriber Authentication Key (Ki) assigned to the Mobile Station, and
the random challenge received from the Base Transceiver Station.
• The Mobile Station sends the Session Key (Kc) to the Base Transceiver Station.
• The Mobile Services Switching Center sends the Session Key (Kc) to the Base
Transceiver Station.
• The Base Transceiver Station receives the Session Key (Kc) from the Mobile
Services Switching Center.
• The Base Transceiver Station receives the Session Key (Kc) from the Mobile
Station.
• The Base Transceiver Station verifies the Session Keys from the Mobile Station
and the Mobile Services switching Center.
• The A5 algorithm is initialized with the Session Key (Kc) and the number of the
frame to be encrypted.
• Over-the-air communication channel between the Mobile Station and Base
Transceiver Station can now be encrypted utilizing the A5 algorithm.

GSM Services
• Bearer services
o These services give the subscriber the capacity required to transmit
appropriate signals between certain access points (i.e. user-network
interface).
o SMS, UMS (Unified message services), Group 3 Fax, Voice mail box, Email
• Teleservices
o These services provide the subscriber with necessary capabilities including
terminal equipment functions to communicate with other subscribers.
o Mobile telephony, Emergency calling
• Supplementary services
o These services modify or supplement basic telecommunications services
and are offered together or in association with basic telecommunications
services.
o Call waiting, call hold, call forwarding

Speech Coding
• Speech coding is a process of reducing bit rate of digital speech for transmission
and storage while maintaining speech quality.
• Speech coding method are:
 o Wave form coding (low capacity, low delay)
o Source coding (vocoding)
o Hybrid coding (high capacity, high delay)
• Speech codec attributes:
o Delay, Complexity, Bandwidth, Quality, Transmission bit rate
• PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) 64 kbps
• ADPCM (Adaptive Differential PCM) 32 kbps
• CELP (Code Excited Linear Prediction): 16 kbps
• RPE-LP (Regular Pulse Excited Linear Prediction): 13 kbps
• VSELP (Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction): 8 – 6.7 kbps
• Quadruple-mode VSELP: 5.6 kbps
• PSI (Pitch Synchronous Innovation) 3.45 kbps

Channel Coding
• Used to reduces BER of channel
• Convolutional coding is used as channel coding in GSM
Channels
 Control Channel Channel Type Usage
Continually broadcasts, on the
Broadcast downlink downlink, information including
Broadcast Control
(Base station to base station identity, frequency
Channel (BCCH)
mobile) allocations, and frequency-
hopping sequences.
Used to synchronies the mobile
Frequency Correction to the time slot structure of a
Channel (FCCH) cell by defining the boundaries
of burst periods, and the time
slot numbering. Every cell in a
Broadcast downlink
GSM network broadcasts exactly
Synchronization Channel one FCCH and one SCH, which
(SCH) are by definition on time slot
number 0 (within a TDMA
frame).
Common uplink Slotted Aloha channel used by
Random Access Channel
(Mobile to base the mobile to request access to
(RACH)
station) the network.
Common downlink Used to alert the mobile station
Paging Channel (PCH) (Base station to of an incoming call.
mobile)
Used to allocate an SDCCH to a
mobile for signaling (in order to
Access Grant Channel
Broadcast downlink obtain a dedicated channel),
(AGCH)
following a request on the
RACH.
In every traffic channel. Used
Slow Associated Control
Uplink and downlink for low rate, non critical
Channel (SACCH)
signaling.
A high rate signaling channel,
Fast Associated Control used during call establishment,
Uplink and downlink
Channel (FACCH) subscriber authentication, and
for handover commands

Handover
• The passing of call signal from one BS to other as user move out of the range
• Handoffs between time slots or frequencies in the same cell (intra-BTS);
• Handoffs from BTS to BTS under control of the same BSC (inter-BTS);
• BTS under one BSC to BTS of another BSC, but all under the same MSC (inter-
BSC);
• BTS in one network to BTS of another network, under different MSCs (inter-MSC)
Which modulation scheme is used in GSM?
• GMSK (Guassian Minimum Shift Keying)

What is AMR?
• AMR is Adaptive Multi Rate Codec
• AMR is a codec that can change the encoding technique according to the SNR
• If SNR is better, less bits should be used for error control
• If SNR is not good, error control bits may be increased
• AMR is used to reduced interference

What is Equalization?
• Measure taken to reduce distortion effects in a radio channel.

What is interleaving?
• The process of spreading of block of data over a wider time frame by placing bits
from other data block in between the original data bits in original data block.
• Interleaving avoid bursty fading and interference phenomenon.

What is Frequency Re-use?

• A technique of reusing frequencies and channels within a communications system
to improve capacity and spectral efficiency. Frequency reuse generally utilizes
regular reuse patterns.

What is DTX?
• Discontinuous Transmission
• Means that the transmitter is powered on only when the user is actively talking
and power should be off when is there is no burst transmitted.

What is SHF?
• Slow frequency hoping
• In SHF, operating frequency is changed in every TDMA frame
• The mobile transmitting at one frequency during the time slot, hop to different
frequency before the next time slot.
• Used to improve signal quality in GSM

What is APC?
• Adaptive Power Control
• The purpose of APC is to adjust the radio transmitter and adapt to the need of an
actual radio link between the BTS and MS
• If MS is very near to BTS, MS should transmit less power then the MS which is at
the boundary of Cell.
Communication Fundamental
Signal Encoding Scheme
Bit Rate
• Number of bits per second
• Bit rate = sampling rate x number of bits / sample
Baud Rate
• Number of symbol per second
• Baud rate = bit rate / number of bits per sample
Digital Data, Digital Signals
• NRZ
• Multilevel Binary
• Biphase
• Scrambling Scheme
Digital Data, Analog Signals
• ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying)
• PSK (Phase Shift Keying)
• FSK (Frequency Shift Keying)
• QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation)
o Logical extension of QPSK
o Combination of ASK and PSK
o Two signals can be transmitted with phase quadrature
Analog Data, Digital Signals
• Steps involved for converting A/D
o Sampling
o Quantization
o Encoding
• PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)
o It is a digital representation of analog signal where the magnitude of
signal is sampled regular intervals (twice the BW) then quantized a series
to symbol in binary code
o ∆ [Step size] = 2mp/ L
̇ L = Number of Levels
R
o L=2
̇ R = Number of bits used to encode one sample
o For PCM; L = 256 (R = 8 L = 28 = 256)
o Data rate = 64 kbps
o Aliasing
 ̇ A type of signal distortion that occur when sampling frequency is
kept less then the Nyquist Rate
o Quantization Error
̇ Difference between actual analog value and approximated digital
value due to rounding off
̇ Step size is uniform results a uniform quantization error
• DPCM (Differential PCM)
o Difference between actual sample value and its predicted value is
quantized and then encoded
o Data rate = 32 kbps
• ADPCM (Adaptive Differential PCM)
o
• DM (Delta Modulation)
o 1 bit encoding
o 8 kbps
Analog Data, Analog Signals
• Modulation
o Modulation is the process of putting useful information on a carrier that
can be transmitted from one point to another. This information can be
voice, data, or signaling data.
• AM (Amplitude Modulation)
o Amplitude of carries changes w.r.t. base band signal
o Demodulation of AM
̇ Synchronous Detection: Carrier is generated at receiver with
same characteristic
̇ Envelop Detection: Carrier is send along with modulated signal
o Modulation Index (µ)
̇ Ratio of Amplitudes
̇ µ = mp/A (mp = peak amp of base band signal, A = amp of carrier)
̇ 0 ≤ µ ≤ 1 (µ = 1 is full modulation)
• FM (Frequency Modulation)
o Frequency of carries changes w.r.t. base band signal
o Frequency deviation [∆f] = kf mp / 2
o BW of FM signal = 2 (∆f + 2B) [B is BW of base band signal]
o Deviation Ratio [ ] = ∆f / B
• PM (Phase Modulation)
o Phase of carries changes w.r.t. base band signal
o ∆f = kp mp / 2
o BW of PM signal = 2 (∆f + 2B)
WiMAX
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
• Describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last
mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL."
• Wireless is point to point and WiMAX is point to multipoint
• Range 30 miles Radius from the Base Station for LOS
• Range 4 – 6 miles Radius from the Base Station for NLOS
• Maximum data speed supported is 70 Mbps
• Line of Sight is not needed between user and the base station unless very high
data rates are required at the user premises.
• Licensed Frequency band: 2 – 11 GHz
• Unlicensed Frequency band: 10 to 66 GHz
• Uses Cyclic Prefix (CP) to eliminate ISI
• Two main types of spectrum allocation:
o Licensed: Licensed frequencies are typically awarded through an auction
or “beauty contest”
o Unlicensed: Unlicensed frequencies allow multiple service providers to
utilize the same section of the spectrum
• 802.16 Wireless MAN (WiMAX ) [Unlicensed, Licensed]
• 802.11 Wireless LAN WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) [unlicensed 2.4GHz, 5GHz]
• 802.15 Wireless PAN Bluetooth
• WiFi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) are the free of cost frequencies i.e. Unlicensed
• WiMAX (2GHz to 6GHz) contain both licensed and unlicensed frequencies
• Aims and Objectives of WiMAX 802.16
o Superior Performance: To achieve superior throughputs in delivering IP
data services compared to other 3G technologies
o Flexibility: Allow operators to offer both fixed and mobile access in
multiple spectrum bands
o Attractive Economics: Eliminating the need for extensive and expensive
wire line infrastructure and providing highly flexible and cost-effective last-
mile solutions
o QoS: Defines Service Flows which can map to DiffServ code points or
MPLS flow labels that enable end-to-end IP based QoS.
• Multipoint Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) systems are composed of two key
elements
o Base station and
o Subscriber equipment
• CPE: customer premises equipment
802.16a 802.16REVd 802.16e

Fixed Outdoor Fixed Outdoor Mobility

Applications
· E1/T1 service for enterprises
· Backhaul for Hotspots
· Limited residential
Broadband access
Applications Applications
· Indoor Broadband access for · "Portable" Broadband access
residential users (High Speed for consumers
Internet, VoIP,…) · Always Best Connected

CPE CPE CPE

· External box connected to PC · External box connected to PC · PC Card
with outside antenna with built-in antenna
 • Network Architecture: Access solution comprises of
o CPE (talks to the Access point )
o Access Point (a kind of BTS for CPE) also called DAP (diversity access
point) which combats fading.
o Microwave Backhaul
• Key Differences between 802.16d & 802.16e
•
802.16d 802.16e
Spectrum < 11GHz <11 GHz
Channel Non Line of Sight Non Line of Sight
Bit Rate Up to 75Mbps at 20MHz up to 75Mbps at 20MHz
Fixed, Out Door Access and Mobile/Indoor Access, Pedestrian
Mobility
Nomadic Application Mobility, High Speed Mobility
• NOTE: Reflection is blessing in WiMAX at standard 802.16e which also invokes
MULTIPATH FADING but on the other hand DAP (Diversity access point in WiMAX
just like BTS) able to combat multipath fading. DAP supports MIMO (Multiple
Input Multiple Output). Therefore DAP automatically overcome have this
multipath fading

• Types of Access to WiMAX

• Baseband: Single frequency in one direction called Baseband
• Broadband: Multiple frequency in one direction called Broadband
• DAP / Access point:
o Data rate depends upon Modulation
o Covering area 1km 64QAM
o Covering area 2km 16QAM
o Covering area 3km QPSK
o covers 3KM range
 o “BPSK” is the least data efficient Method and it employed where the SS is
farthest from BASE Station
o ”64QAM” offers high data efficiency, requiring less Tx power.
• WiMAX is broadband but nature is baseband
• How to transmit a signal in wireless
o 3 techniques to avoid interference
• FHSS (Frequency Hopping (jumping) Spread Spectrum)

o Channel jumping is more.

o In addition to your knowledge GSM uses slow frequency

hopping to mitigate the multipath fading and this slow
frequency hopping comes in BCH (Broadcast channel).

• DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)

o extra chip-pin code is used

o If 1bit=10 bit chipping code

• OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing)

o 1 channel is divided into 256 sub-channels and every carrier

has to modulate. OFDM in fact the technique that made WiMAX
broadband.

̈ Range 30 miles Radius from the Base Station for LOS

̈ Range 4 – 6 miles Radius from the Base Station for NLOS

̈ Maximum data speed supported is 70 Mbps

̈ Line of Sight is not needed between user and the base station unless
very high data rates are required at the user premises.

̈ Licensed Frequency band: 2 – 11 GHz

̈ Unlicensed Frequency band: 10 to 66 GHz

Multiplexing
o Sharing of medium by number of users without overlapping

Data Rates
• E1 = 32 x 64 kbps = 2.04 Mbps
• E3 = 16 x T1
****************************
• T1 = 24 x 64 kbps = 1.544 Mbps
• T2 = 4 T1
• T3 = 28 T1
• T4 = 168 T1
****************************
• DS0 = 64 kbps
• DS1 = 24 x DS0
• DS3 = 28 DS1
****************************
• OC-3 = 155.52 Mbps
• OC-12 = 622 Mbps
• OC-48 = 2.448 Gbps