EE 680 - Wireless Communication Systems

Dr. S. A. H. A. Suraweera

Lecture 1

Wireless channel characterization (9 hours, 1 Assignment):

Radio wave propagation, ray tracing, path loss models, shadow fading,
wideband fading models.

Mobile Network Design Principles (9 hours, 1 Assignment):

Capacity of wireless channels, cell planning, sectorization, power control,
interference management, C/I analysis, energy efficiency.

Diversity Techniques (9 hours, 1 Assignment):

Diversity system model, selection diversity, equal gain combining, Maximal ratio
combining, moment, generating functions in diversity analysis, outage
probability, error performance, transmit diversity, MIMO techniques.

Error Correction and Detection Techniques (6 hours, 1 Assignment):

Introduction to error coding techniques, Hamming codes, cyclic codes,
convolutional codes, Turbo coding, decoding techniques

3G, 4G and beyond cellular wireless networks

3G / 4G system components and architectures, LTE-Advanced core network
/access network, next generation wireless concepts, heterogeneous networks

Assessment Mark
Continuous Assignment 30
End Semester 70

References

 T. S. Rappaport, “Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice”,

Pearson Education, 2nd Edition, 2002
 Goldsmith, "Wireless Communications" Cambridge University Press, 2005.
 F. Molisch, “Wireless Communications” 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons,
2010.
 Introduction to Cellular Mobile Systems

 Wireless communications is based on electro-magnetic (EM) waves. It is

used to convey information from a transmitter to a receiver.

 A researcher at the Bell Labs, USA came up with the idea of cellular phone
network in 1947.

 Geographic region subdivided in radio cells.

 Base station provides radio connectivity to the Mobile Station (MS) / User
Equipment (UE) within the cell.

Figure: Cellular Network Architecture

 A user (mobile) is Handover to neighboring base station when necessary.

 Base stations are connected by some networking infrastructure.

Brief history of Cellular Systems and Standards

 First generation (1G) cellular telephone systems were introduced in 1980s by
Nordic Mobile Telephony. They were based on analog Frequency Modulation
(FM) technology to carry narrow-band circuit switched voice services.

 Poor voice quality, battery life and security were some of the issues of 1G
cellular systems.

 Due to the rapid growth in demand, the second generation (2G) networks
were introduced in the early 1990s.

 The second generation systems were/are based on either time division

multiplexing (TDMA) or code division multiple access (CDMA) technologies.

Figure: Evolution of Cellular Mobile Communications

source: https://www.viracure.com/blog/from-1g-to-5g/

 During the 1990s, 2G cellular systems were also enhanced to provide packet
switched data in addition to the circuit switched voice.

 These transitional 2G systems later become known as 2.5G (GPRS) and

2.75G (EDGE) systems.

 The third generation (3G) cellular systems were introduced after the year
2000.

 The 3G systems allowed simultaneous use of speech and data services but
with higher data rates than 2G systems.
 Currently 4G systems that use voice over Internet (VoIP) and multimedia
applications with broadband access are being deployed.

 For example, Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) system is based on

multicarrier modulation/multiplexing techniques such as orthogonal frequency
division multiple access (OFDMA) or advanced single carrier
modulation/multiplexing techniques such as single carrier frequency division
multiple access (SC-FDMA).

Table: Comparison of 1G to 5G Mobile Technologies

Generation 1G 2G 2.5G 3G 3.5G 4G 5G

Start 1970-1980 1990-2000 2001-2004 2004-2005 2006-2010 2010-Now 2020 -
Data BW 2 Kbps 64 Kbps 144 Kbps 2 Mbps More than 1 Gbps More than
2 Mbps 1 Gbps
Technology Analog Digital GPRS CDMA EDGE WiMaX, ?
Cellular Cellular EDGE 2000 WiFi LTE, WiFi
CDMA (1xRT,
EVDO,
UMTS,
EDGE)
Service Voice Digital SMS Integrated Integrated Dynamic Dynamic
voice, MMS high high Information Information
SMS, quality quality Access, Access,
Higher audio, audio, Wearable Wearable
capacity Video and Video and Devices Devices, AI
packet Data Data capabilities
size data
Multiplexing FDMA TDMA CDMA CDMA CDMA OFDMA ?
CDMA
Switching Circuit Circuit, Packet Packet All Packet All Packet All Packet
Packet
Core PSTN PSTN PSTN PSTN N/W Internet Internet Internet
Network
Handoff Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal Horizontal
& &
Vertical Vertical

source: R. Talukdar and M. Saikia, “Evolution and Innovation in 5G Cellular Communication System
and Beyond: A Study”

First Generation Cellular Systems

 Early 1970s saw the radio technology useful for the deployment of mobile
radio systems in the 800/900 MHz band.
 In early 1980s many countries deployed incompatible 1G cellular systems.

 They were based on analog FM and analog FDMA. There was no encryption.

 With FDMA there is a single channel per radio frequency carrier.

 When a user accesses the network, two carriers (channels) were assigned.
(one for the downlink and one for the uplink)

 In 1979, the first analog cellular system – The Nippon Telephone and
Telegraph (NTT) system became operational.

 In 1981 Ericsson Radio Systems AB introduced the Nordic Mobile Telephone

(NMT) 900 system.

 In 1983, AT&T introduced the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) as a

trial in Chicago, USA.

Second Generation Cellular Systems

 2G digital cellular systems were developed in the 1980s and were widely
deployed throughout the world in the 1990s.

 These included the GSM/DCS1800/PCS1900 standard in Europe, personal

Digital Cellular (PDC) standard in Japan and the IS 54-/136 and IS-95 in the
USA.

Global System for Mobile (GSM)

 The European Postal and Telecommunications Administration established

Groupe Special Mobile (GSM) in 1982 to define European based cellular
radio systems.

 GSM was developed to use new frequency allocations, improved quality,

European roaming and support of data services.
 GSM was deployed in late 1992 as the world’s first digital cellular system.

 GSM has been a great success with around 4.3 billion customers across
more than 212 countries around 2010.

 Newer versions of GSM have been developed: For example, GSM Release
’97 added packet data capabilities and this enhancement provide data rates
up to 140 kb/s (General Packet Radio Service or GPRS).

 GPRS is also identified as 2.5G as a system between 2G and 3G cellular

wireless systems.

 GSM Release’98 introduced higher speed data transmission using 8-PSK

modulation and up to 473.6 kb/s. This enhancement is called Enhanced Data
Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

 EDGE technology is also identified as 2.75G.

Figure: GSM Architecture

 BSS: Base station subsystem | NSS: Network switching subsystem | OSS: Operational
support subsystem

IS-54/136 and IS-95

 During the same period when Europe saw a convergence to the GSM
standard, North America saw a division to two 2G cellular standards, namely
IS-54/136 and IS-95. (based on TDMA and CDMA)

 The IS-54 standard was:

o Based on TDMA with 30 kHz carrier spacings.

o π/4 phase shifted quadrature differential phase shift keying modulation
o Raw bit rate of 48.6 kb/s

 IS-54 and IS-136 differed in the control channel. IS-54 used an analog
control channel. IS-136 used a digital control channel.

 During 1990s, IS-54 and IS-136 was deployed in north America, but its use
was discontinued in the 2007-2009 period in favor of GSM.

 Just after the introduction of IS-54, another 2G standard called IS-95 was
proposed by Qualcomm based on the CDMA technology.

 Initial capacity claims for IS-95 were 40 times of AMPS. But commercial
deployments only achieved capacity gains up to six to 10 times of AMPS.

 The introduction of IS-95 cellular is of great historical value since 3G systems

are based on CDMA technology.

 CDMA systems are vulnerable to the near-far effect where mobile stations
close into a base station will swamp out the signals from more distant mobile
stations.

 For CDMA systems to work properly, all signals to be recovered must be

received with nearly the same power.
 To control the near-far effect, the IS-95 uplink uses fast closed loop power
control to compensate for fluctuations in received signal power.

 Also the information on the IS-95 uplink is encoded using a rate 1/3
convolutional code, interleaved and mapped onto one of 64 Walsh codes.

Figure: CDMA modulation

source: http://www.dolcera.com/wiki/index.php?title=CDMA_Basics

Third Generation Cellular Systems

 In March 1992, World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) approved

worldwide spectrum allocation in support of IMT-2000 specifications in the
1.885 to 2.2 MHz band.

 The IMT-2000 standard was developed by the International

Telecommunications Union Radio Communications (ITU-R) and
Telecommunications (ITU-T) sectors.
 IMT-2000 was viewed as a ubiquitous wireless system that could support
voice, multimedia and high speed data communication.

 3G was expected to provide a minimum downlink data rate of 2 Mbps for

stationary or walking users, and a rate of 384 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.

UMTS base station

Figure credit: https://en.wikipedia.org

 Most 3G networks can deliver peak downlink data rates of 14 Mbps and 5.8
Mbps on the uplink.

 Dominant standards of IMT-2000 include: (a) cdma2000 developed by

3GPP2 and used in North America and South Korea (b) Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) developed by 3GPP and used in
Europe, Japan and China. UMTS includes wideband CDMA (W-CDMA).
 W-CDMA uses DS-CDMA with a pair of 5 MHz wide channels. CDMA2000
uses 1.25 MHz channels for each direction of communication.

 Mobile WiMAX developed by the IEEE 802.16 working group is also included
under the IMT-2000 family as a 3.5G standard. WiMAX is a multicarrier
system based on OFDMA technology.

 The common features of WCDMA and cdma2000 include:

o Provision of multirate services

o Packet data services

o Complex spreading

o A coherent uplink using a user dedicated pilot

o Additional pilot channel in the downlink for beamforming

o Seamless inter-frequency handoff

o Fast forward link power control

o Optional multiuser detection

 Recent 3G releases, 3.5G and 3.75G provide mobile broadband services at

several Mbit/s speeds to smartphones and laptops.

 3.5G known as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a combination of two

protocols: (a) High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA) and (b) High
Speed Uplink Access (HSUPA).

 Further evolution in the name of “Evolved High Speed Packet Access”

HSPA+ or 3.75G was released in 2008.

 HSPA+ can support data rates up to 42.2 Mbit/s in the downlink and 22
Mbit/s in the uplink with 2x2 MIMO, higher order modulation (64 QAM) and
dual-cell technology.
 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a

telecommunications standard that provides fixed and fully mobile Internet
access.

 There are several versions of the WiMAX standard. IEEE 802.16d (Fixed
WiMAX) and 802.16e abbreviated as “Mobile WiMAX”.

 Mobile WiMAX can deliver mobile broadband services with peak data rates
up to 40 Mbit/s at vehicular speeds greater than 120 km/h.

 Some key features of WiMAX include:

o Tolerance to delay spread and multiuser interference

o Scalable channel bandwidths

o Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (H-ARQ)

o Adaptive subcarrier allocation

o Power management to ensure power efficient operation of mobile devices

o Network optimized handoff

o Advanced antenna systems including MIMO, beamforming, space-time

coding etc.

o Fractional frequency reuse

Fourth Generation Cellular Systems

 IMT-Advanced specification introduced by ITU-R in 2008 can provide even

higher data rates than IMT-2000 can promise.

 IMT-Advanced targets peak data rates of 100 Mbit/s in high-mobility

applications and 1 Gpbs in low mobility applications.
 IMT-Advanced is expected to have:

o Flexible channel bandwidth (between 5 MHz and 20 MHz)

o A data rate of least 100 Mbps between any two points in the world

o Bandwidth efficiency of up to 15 bit/s/Hz in the downlink and 6.75 bit/s/Hz

in the uplink.

o Spectral efficiency of up to 3 bit/s/Hz/cell in the downlink

o Smooth handoff across heterogeneous networks

o Seamless connectivity and global roaming across multiple networks

o Backward compatibility with existing wireless standards

o All IP packet switched network

 In all 4G standards, CDMA technology used for 3G systems have been

abandoned and new transmission schemes such as OFDMA have been
included.

 4G technologies are based on two standards: (1) Long-Term Evolution –

Advanced (LTE-Advanced) by 3GPP and (2) IEEE 802.16m by the IEEE.

 In all 4G technologies, the following key features are integrated:

o MIMO (multiple-input multiple output)

o Frequency domain equalization (using OFDM principle)

o Error correction codes (Turbo code)

o Channel dependent scheduling

o Link adaptation
 o Mobile IP

Fifth Generation Cellular Systems

 Due to an explosion of wireless mobile devices and services, there are still
some challenges that cannot be solved even by 4G. For example:

o Spectrum scarcity
o high energy consumption

Figure: 5G Heterogeneous architecture

 Cellular frequencies use frequency bands for cellular phones, normally

ranging from several hundred MHz to several GHz. These frequency spectra
have been used heavily, making it difficult for operators to acquire more.

 5G wireless systems that are expected to be deployed beyond 2020.

 Promising technologies for 5G systems include:

o Massive MIMO
o millimeter wave (mmWave) communications
o Machine-to-machine communications
 o small cells / heterogeneous networks
o Cognitive radio
o Full-duplex communications
o visible light communication (VLC)
o energy efficient communications

 One key idea for designing the 5G cellular architecture is to separate outdoor
and indoor scenarios. In this way penetration loss through building walls can
somehow be avoided.

 Distributed antenna systems (DAS) and massive MIMO are two technologies
to achieve this.

 5G cellular architecture should also have heterogeneous features, with

macro cells, microcells, small cells, and relays.

References

 A. F. Molisch, Wireless Communications, Wiley-IEEE Press, 2010.

 A. J. Goldsmith, Wireless Communications, Cambridge University Press, 2005.

 T. S. Rappaport, Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice (2nd Edition),

Prentice-Hall, 2002.

 D. H. Ring, “Mobile Telephony - Wide Area Coverage,” Bell Laboratories Technical

Memorandum, 1947.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G

05 June 2020