Chapter 22: Personal Communications Systems

TRUE/FALSE 1. There are three competing, and incompatible, PCS systems in North America. ANS: T 2. The current PCS systems are "true" personal communications systems in their performance. ANS: F 3. Europe has basically one PCS system based on GSM technology. ANS: T 4. GSM is used in North America. ANS: T 5. Current PCS systems are referred to as "third-generation", with AMPS and digital cell phones being the first and second generations. ANS: F 6. One reason for developing PCS was that the 800-MHz band was too crowded. ANS: T 7. The North American PCS band is 1.9 GHz. ANS: T 8. PCS cells are typically smaller than AMPS cells. ANS: T 9. All first generation cellular systems are analog. ANS: T 10. Current digital technology is not as efficient as analog FM in its use of bandwidth. ANS: F 11. Today, roaming is easier with PCS than it is with AMPS. ANS: F 12. IS-136 PCS is usually just called TDMA PCS. ANS: T

13. In TDMA PCS, control frames are mixed in with frames carrying voice. ANS: T 14. GSM is a TDMA system. ANS: T 15. GSM is not as sophisticated as IS-136. ANS: F 16. In GSM PCS, control frames are mixed in with frames carrying voice. ANS: T 17. GSM uses extensive frequency hopping for spread-spectrum. ANS: F 18. Frequency hopping lessens the impact of multipath fading. ANS: T 19. The SIM used in a GSM phone helps prevent unauthorized use. ANS: T 20. GSM security is not as good as it is in IS-136. ANS: F 21. IS-95 PCS uses CDMA technology. ANS: T 22. IS-95 allows a "soft" handoff. ANS: T 23. A "soft" handoff is done without interrupting service. ANS: T 24. IS-95 can achieve space diversity by using antennas in separate cell-sites. ANS: T 25. One drawback of IS-95 is its lack of frequency diversity. ANS: F

26. Security with CDMA is not as good as it is in GSM. ANS: F 27. Unlike AMPS, CDMA PCS does not require the cell phone to adjust its ERP. ANS: F 28. Potentially, CDMA makes the best use of available bandwidth. ANS: T 29. In CDMA it is common for the signal power in the receiver to be less than the noise power. ANS: T 30. The Walsh code is used for error detection in CDMA systems. ANS: F MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. Current PCS systems are referred to as: a. first-generation b. second-generation ANS: B 2. The frequency band designated for PCS in North America is: a. 800 MHz c. 1.9 GHz b. 900 MHz d. 12 GHz ANS: C 3. The "forward" PCS channel is: a. from the base to the mobile b. from the mobile to the base ANS: A 4. Compared to AMPS, PCS cell sites are: a. bigger b. smaller ANS: B 5. AMPS was designed for: a. POTS b. voice ANS: D 6. The number of competing PCS systems in North America is: a. 2 c. 4 b. 3 d. many c. use built into an automobile d. all of the above c. distributed d. higher-power c. from mobile to mobile d. same as the uplink c. third-generation d. digital-generation

ANS: B 7. CDMA technology was invented by: a. AT&T b. Lucent ANS: D 8. GSM is used in: a. Asia b. Europe ANS: D 9. In GSM, voice channels are called: a. traffic channels b. voice channels ANS: A 10. AMPS uses: a. CDMA b. TDMA ANS: D 11. Other things being equal, battery life in a GSM phone should be: a. less than in a TDMA phone c. greater than in a TDMA phone b. no better than in an AMPS phone d. no better than a TDMA phone ANS: C 12. It is necessary to send control information on traffic channels in: a. no PCS system c. TDMA only b. GSM only d. both GSM and TDMA ANS: D 13. GSM uses: a. frequency hopping b. direct-sequence modulation ANS: A 14. In GSM, SIM stands for: a. Short Inbound Message b. Subscriber-Initiated Message ANS: C 15. IMSI stands for: a. Integrated Mobile Subscriber Identification b. International Mobile Subscriber Identification c. Interim Mobile Subscriber Identification d. Intermodulation System Interference c. Subscriber ID Module d. Subscriber ID Method c. CDMA d. all of the above c. spread-spectrum d. none of the above c. bearer channels d. talking channels c. North America d. all of the above c. Bell Labs d. Qualcomm

ANS: B 16. IS-95 uses: a. frequency hopping b. TDMA ANS: C 17. IS-136 uses: a. frequency hopping b. TDMA ANS: B 18. In CDMA: a. all frequencies are used in all cells b. each cell uses half the available frequencies c. each cell is assigned a frequency by the base d. the frequency is selected by the mobile phone ANS: A 19. CDMA uses a set of PN sequences that are: a. common b. unique ANS: D 20. The next generation of PCS is expected to have: a. faster data rates c. wider roaming area b. Internet access d. all of the above ANS: D COMPLETION 1. PCS stands for ____________________ Communications System. ANS: Personal 2. Current PCS systems are called ____________________-generation systems. ANS: second 3. In North America, PCS is assigned the ____________________-MHz band. ANS: 1900 4. Compared to AMPS, PCS cells are ____________________ in size. ANS: smaller 5. Besides TDMA and CDMA, ____________________ is also used in North America for PCS. ANS: GSM c. rotating d. orthogonal c. CDMA d. all of the above c. CDMA d. all of the above

6. The spread-spectrum technique used in IS-95 PCS is ____________________. ANS: CDMA direct sequence 7. The spread-spectrum technique used in GSM is _________________________. ANS: frequency hopping 8. Unlike AMPS, CDMA allows for a ____________________ handoff. ANS: soft 9. The orthogonal PN sequences used in CDMA are called a ____________________ code. ANS: Walsh 10. Unlike other systems, in CDMA ____________________ frequencies are used in all cells. ANS: all 11. PN stands for Pseudo-____________________ Noise. ANS: random 12. ____________________ diversity is inherent in any spread-spectrum system. ANS: Frequency 13. RF channel S/N ratios ____________________ than zero are typical in CDMA systems. ANS: less 14. CDMA uses a ____________________-rate vocoder. ANS: variable 15. A phone user typically talks less than ____________________% of the time during a conversation. ANS: 50 16. CDMA requires ____________________-loop power control to work properly. ANS: closed 17. GPRS stands for General ____________________ Radio Service. ANS: Packet 18. IMT stands for International ____________________ Telecommunications.

ANS: Mobile 19. UPT stands for ____________________ Personal Telecommunications. ANS: Universal 20. UWT stands for Universal ____________________ Telecommunications. ANS: Wireless 21. W-CDMA stands for ____________________ CDMA. ANS: Wideband SHORT ANSWER 1. What is the advantage of a "soft" handoff? ANS: No calls are dropped. 2. If CDMA receivers hear all frequencies all the time, how do they pick a specific frequency? ANS: Each frequency is modulated using a separate orthogonal PN sequence. To demodulate, the receiver uses the PN sequence specific to the channel it wants. 3. What is the effect of cochannel interference in CDMA? ANS: It increases the background noise level, but CDMA can tolerate a lot of such noise. 4. How does GSM achieve frequency diversity? ANS: It uses limited frequency hopping. 5. Why was PCS assigned to 1.9 GHz instead of the 800-MHz band used for AMPS? ANS: The 800 MHz band was already overcrowded. 6. Why would a battery in a GSM phone be expected to last longer than a battery in a TDMA phone? ANS: A TDMA phone is active during one out of every three time slots. A GSM phone is active during one out of every eight. 7. What is the advantage of using offset QPSK over standard QPSK? ANS:

With standard QPSK, the transmitted power repeatedly goes to zero. With offset QPSK, it never goes to zero. Linearity requirements are less strict for offset QPSK transmitters. 8. What is the "near/far" effect in CDMA, and what causes it? ANS: A stronger station farther away can "drown out" a weaker station that is near. This happens when the power transmitted by mobile units is not well controlled by the base.