Towards 4G

Gandhar Gokhale
 Commercial Launch in 1970s

 Analog service – modulation of carrier

 Digital connectivity beyond the radio towers

 FDMA

 Various standards – NMT (Nordic), AMPS (US),

TACS (UK), JTACS (Japan) etc

 Introduced Cellular system – AMPS from Bell Labs

 It was quite successful despite many shortcomings

“In every city where mobile telephone

service was introduced waiting lists
developed, growing every year. By 1976
only 545 customers in New York City
had Bell System mobiles, with 3,700
customers on the waiting list. Around
the country 44,000 Bell subscribers
had AT&T mobiles but 20,000 people
sat on five to ten year waiting lists.”
A channel is a Each tower
Many radio
pair of covering specific
towers
frequencies. geographic area

One frequency to
transmit & One to User density
receive
Typically with
overlaps
It makes up a
circuit or a
Terrestrial
complete
conditions
communication
path
 The network consists of
two parts
Backhaul
Access or terrestrial network
user location and mobility
Connects the radio
towers to the rest
of the telephone
network
Core Network
transportation & control of calls
 Very low
capacities

Quite insecure No
• analog radio standardization
interface across regions
 Started in
Finland in
1991 by
Radiolinja

Increased
capacity

Air
Digital interface:
service TDMA or
CDMA
CDMA-
Enhanced
USA and
security
some
and
countries
privacy
in Asia
GSM – Added No
Europe & data
packet
~80% services –
countries SMS and data
in general email service
 Base
Station

Mobile
Switching
Base
Center
Station
Controller
 SIM – Subscriber
Identification Module
 Mini – 25 mm X 15 mm
Micro-SIM with mini-SIM and full
 Micro – 15 mm X 12 mm SIM brackets from Telia in Sweden

 IMSI – International Mobile

Subscriber Identity
 Stored in the SIM

 Radio tranceiver
 Multiple radio technologies
 Perform security Measure radio
Authenticate to
operations such signal quality
network
as ciphering continuously

Update the
Assist in mobility
network with the
(handover)
current location
BTS BSC
• Radio Tx/RX • Controls hundreds of BTSs
• Multiple transceivers for multi- • Radio channel allocation
sector • Inter-BTS handovers

MSC HLR, VLR & AuC

• Call Switching • Subscriber information SIM-
• Mobility IMSI
• Connects to PSTN • Identification and
• Connects to HLR/VLR Authentication
• Connects to 3G nodes • Roaming
•Same components as for voice call with additional elements
SMSC - Short Message Service Center - relays SMSs
SMC G/IW MSC - An MSC capable of supporting SMS
 Authentication
• SIM and IMSI
• Shared secret Ki in SIM

Encryption of
Physical
Radio
Network
Communication
Security of core
network • Algorithms such as
Kasumi and Snow
 General Packet Radio Service: Sometimes called as 2.5G
 Speeds up to 56-114 kbps
 CDMA counterpart: 1xRTT
 Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution: 2.75G
 Speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s (with end-to-end latency of less
than 150 ms)
SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node

• Main support node

• Handles routing and mobility

GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node

• Gateway to packet data network

• Allocates address for handset
• Implements firewall, NAT, Router etc
• Validates subscriber details with RADIUS server

PCU: Packet Control Unit

• Typically Sits at BSC

• Connects directly to SGSN
• Differentiates between circuit switched data/voice and packet switched
data
APN

• Access Point Name: Name of the service provider

GRX

• GPRS Exchange: Connects to GGSN in the home

network from the SGSN of the visited network

GTP

• SGSN and GGSN tunnel the data packets

between them using GTP
Communications

• E-mail; fax; unified messaging; intranet/Internet access

Value-added services

• Information services; games

E-commerce

• Retail; ticket purchasing; banking; financial trading

Location-based applications

• Navigation; traffic conditions; airline/rail schedules; location finder

Vertical applications

• Freight delivery; fleet management; sales-force automation

Advertising
 HD gaming

Real time
video calls

Fast browsing
and downloads

Live TV on
mobile

Real time
streaming of
music and videos
 3GPP Release 99: WCDMA
 Initial spectrum allocated
 1885 – 2025 MHz
 2110 - 2200MHz
 Later added
 2500 – 2690 MHz
 806 – 900 MHz
 1710 – 1885 MHz
 Spread Spectrum, 5 MHz spectrum
 Circuit Voice and Packet Data (up to 384 Kbps)
 Deployed since 2003
 2G 3G

 UTRAN – UMTS Radio Access Network

BTS Node B

BSC RNC

 Core Network expanded to two components

Core CS
Nework
PS
For tracking a handset the cells in the GPRS/UMTS service area are partitioned into
groups . To deliver services to the mobile phone cell group will page the phone

 CS domain: cells are partitioned into Location Areas

(LAs)
 The LA of the phone is tracked by VLR
 PS domain: cells are partitioned into Routing Areas
(RAs).
 RA is tracked by SGSN
 In UMTS the RA is further subdivided into UTRAN RAs
(URAs)
 During a connection GPRS SGSN tracks the cell of the
phone while UMTS SGSN tracks the URA and cell.
 PMM Detached (Idle)
 UE is not reachable
 PMM Connected(Ready)
 PS signaling connection is established
 Packet transmission is possible
 Cell-based/URA location update is performed
 Serving RNC-Id is stored
 PMM Idle (Standby)
 RA-based location update is performed
 PS Signaling connection is released
MM state model in SGSN

RRC state model in UTRAN

 All the old radio links in the UE are removed before
Hard the new radio links are established.
• Seamless hard HO - The HO is not perceptible to the

Handover user
• Non-Seamless Hard HO

The radio links are

Soft added and removed in
a way that the UE
Soft HO is performed
by means of macro
diversity, (several radio
always keeps at least
Handover one radio link to the
UTRAN.
links are active
simultaneously)

Softer A special case of Soft HO where the radio links that

are added and removed belong to the same Node B
handover
Inter RAT (3G-2G) handovers: No UMTS coverage, UMTS capacity full
and GSM available etc.
 A 3G system derived from the IS-95 CDMA 2G systems
 Standardized by 3GPP2
 Since 2002
 Prevalent in North America and South Korea
 The latest release EVDO Rev B
 offers peak rates of 14.7 mpbs down link.
 HSUPA – High
HSDPA – High HSPA+ - Speed Uplink Packet
Speed Downlink High Speed Access
Packet Access
Packet Access • CDMA, Spread
• Downlink Only; Data •Up to 64 QAM, Spectrum, 5 MHz
Only •MIMO • Uplink Only; Data Only
• Multiple Codes per •Peak Rates up to
Subscriber • Multiple Codes per
• DL 56 Mbps, Subscriber
• Up to 16 QAM, Peak •UL 22 Mbps
Rates of 14.4 Mbps • Up to 16 QAM, Peak
Rates of 4.5 Mbps
• Deployed since 2005
• Deployed since 2007
 ITU-R launched the IMT-Advanced (4G) initiative in 2002
 High speed
 100 Mbps @ speeds upto 250 km/hr
 1 Gbps @ stationary/pedestrian speeds
 Compatibility of services within IMT and with fixed
networks
 Capability of interworking with other radio access systems
 High quality mobile services
 User equipment suitable for worldwide use
 User-friendly applications, services and equipment
 Worldwide roaming capability
Check out this video on You Tube

Clear WiMAX 4G vs 3G
 Proposed by NTT DoCoMo , Japan
 Peak data rate:
 100Mbps for DL with 20MHz (2 Rx Antenna at UE),
 50Mbps for UL with 20MHz
 Spectral efficiency:
 5bps/Hz for DL
 2.5bps/Hz for UL
 Improved cell edge performance (in terms of bit rate)
 2-4 times Rel 6
 Reduced latency
 5 – 30 ms user plane
 Mobility
 Optimized for 0-15 km/hr
 15-120 km/hr supported at high performance
 Max speeds 350-500 km/hr
 Physical (radio) channels
 DL: OFDM
 UL: Single Carrier FDMA
 Minimum antenna requirement:
 2 at UE
 2 at eNodeB
 Beamforming
 MIMO
 use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and
receiver to improve communication performance
 All IP Core network : Evolved Packet Core
 Always On experience
 IPsec mandatory for transport
 Evolved Radio Access Network: E-UTRAN
 Evolved NodeB
 LTE + E-UTRAN + EPC => SAE (Service Architecture
Evolution)
 Simplified architecture due to reduced network nodes
 End of circuit switched voice
 All IP network. VoIP.
 Voice is just another IP based application
 End-to-End QoS
 To support the media-rich, low latency and real time
services
 Policy Management and Enforcement
Manages user plane mobility

Maintain data paths between eNodeB and PGW

Anchor for local (intra-E-UTRAN) mobility

Mobility interoperation with other 3GPP

technologies
Interfaces with packet data networks such as Internet

Policy enforcement
• operator defined rules for resource allocation and usage

Packet filtering
• Deep packet inspection

Charging support
• Per-URL charging
Signaling and control functions
• Manage access to network
• Assignment of network resources
• Mobile states management
(tracking/paging/roaming/HOs)

Security procedures
• User authentication
• Cipher and integrity protection protocol initiation
Charging support
• Per-URL charging

Policy enforcement
• operator defined rules for resource allocation
and usage
 Worldwide interoperability for
Microwave Access
 IEEE 802.16 standard
 Originally for last mile access
 Lacked mobility before 802.16e-2005
 IEEE 802.16m version proposed for 4G
i.e. 1 Gb/s speeds
 HTC on Yota networks in Russia
 HTS on Sprint Nextel
 IP based core network WiMAX Base Station
Version Release Time Info
Phase 1 1992 GSM features
Release 96 1997 Q1 GSM Features, 14.4 kbit/s
User Data Rate,
Release 97 1998 Q1 GSM Features, GPRS
Release 99 2000 Q1 Specified the first UMTS
3G networks,
incorporating a CDMA air
interface

Release 4 2001 Q2 Originally called the

Release 2000 - added
features including an all-
IP Core Network

Release 5 2002 Q1 IMS & HSDPA

Release 7 2007 Q4 HSPA+, NFC
Version Release Time Info

Release 8 2008 Q4 LTE, SAE

Release 10 In progress LTE Advanced => IMT

Advanced i.e. 4G

Release 11 & Release 12 In progress Definition and scoping in

progress
 Spectrum as a limited resource => Arbitration
 Regulation for business malpractices such as
monopoly
 FCC of the USA established in 1934
 mostly to regulate landline
 Included spectrum allocation also
 DoT Govt. of India
 Policy Making
 TRAI
 Regulate service providers