Chapter 1

Overview of
Wireless Communications

Outline of Chapter 1
Brief History of Wireless Communications
Basic Terminology
Examples of Wireless Communication Systems
Paging Systems
Cellular Radio Communications
Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs)
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)

Brief History of Wireless Communications

Early Days
1888 - Heinrich Hertz generates and detects electromagnetic radiation (radio waves)
1890-1900 A number of radio-related inventions. It is difficult to attribute the invention of radio
(wireless telegraph) to any single individual.
1890 (approx) - douard Branly invents a coherer (a detector used in early radio communication)
1893 Nikola Tesla gives a public demonstration of wireless communication in St. Louis, Missouri;
he describes in detail the principles of radio communication in his address to the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia. Tesla filed the first US radio patent in 1897.
1894 Oliver Lodge demonstrates transmission of radio signals at Oxford University
1895 Alexander Popov demonstrates transmission and reception of radio waves for communication
at the Russian Physical and Chemical Society
1895 Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates transmission of radio signals over a hill at Villa Griffone in
Pontecchio (presently Sasso Marconi) near Bologna, Italy
1896 - Marconi demonstrates wireless telegraph to the British post and telegraph office
1899 - The first wireless telegraph transmission demonstrated by Marconi between England and
France
1900 Radio equipment designed by Popov installed on ships of the Russian Navy, allowing two-way
communications with land stations (birth of mobile radio)
1901 - Marconi claims to have successfully transmitted radio signal (Morse code letter S sent
repeatedly) across the Atlantic Ocean from Cornwall to Newfoundland; the claim is still disputed
1902 - First radio transmission of audio signals by Reginald Fessenden (father of radio broadcasting)
using hot wire barretter and later electrolytic detectors
1909 - Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun share a Nobel prize in physics for their
contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy. Around 1898 Braun invented a crystal diode
rectifier (aka cats whisker detector), used by Marconi in his experiments and tuning patents.
3

Brief History of Wireless Communications (cont.)

Birth of Mobile Telephony
1920/30s - Mobile communication adopted for police vehicles in the USA
1934 Edwin Armstrong proves advantages of frequency modulation (FM).
FM was the primary modulation technique for mobile radio until late 80s.
1946 - Connection of mobile users to public switched telephone network
(PSTN) introduced in 25 major American cities
A single, high-powered transmitter is used in order to cover distances over
50 km.
The entire spectrum is allocated on a frequency division multiplexing
basis, where each user is assigned a dedicated frequency. If the number of
channels (i.e. available carrier frequencies) is given by C, only C users per
geographic area can be served.
Half-duplex mode of operation, i.e. only one person on the phone call can
talk at a time.
Each channel occupies 120 kHz bandwidth (although the actual telephonegrade speech requires only 3kHz) due to inefficient RF filter designs.
4

Brief History of Wireless Communications (cont.)

Birth of Mobile Telephony (cont.)
1960s - Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) introduced in the US.
IMTS supports full-duplex, i.e. both parties can talk simultaneously.
IMTS supports auto-dial, i.e. no operators assistance.
IMTS supports auto-trunking, i.e. no dedicated frequency. Therefore, it is
possible to sell mobile equipment to more than C users by assigning channels
on a demand basis assuming a certain probability of blocking.
1970s - IMTS quickly became saturated in major markets. For example, in
1976, Bell Mobile Phone service for the New York City area had only 12 channels
and could serve only 543 customers; service was poor due to call blocking due to
the few available channels and too many subscribers.
1970s - Cellular concept introduced: This involves breaking a coverage area
into small cells (sub-areas), each of which reuses portions of the spectrum to
improve efficiency of spectrum usage (more details to follow later in this chapter).
1979 - NTT (Japan) deploys the first commercial cellular telephone system.
5

Basic Terminology- I
Downlink (Forward) channel: Base station Mobile station
Uplink (Reverse) channel: Mobile station Base station
Simplex (SX) transmission: One way communication from one point to
another, e.g. radio/TV broadcasting stations, paging systems.
Half-duplex (HDX) transmission: Information can flow in both directions,
but the flow is only one-way at any given time, e.g. dispatch radio systems
(push-to-talk), walkie-talkie.
Full-duplex (FDX) transmission: Simultaneous communication in both
directions, e.g. telephone. There are two ways to implement FDX transmission:
Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) uses two separate frequency
channels (two separate carrier frequencies).
Time Division Duplex (TDD) uses adjacent time slots on a single radio
frequency channel (one carrier frequency).
6

Basic Terminology- II
Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)
BS MS

MS BS
Usually, fF > fR

fF

fR

frequency

At the base station, separate transmit and receive antennas can be used
to accommodate two separate channels.
At the mobile station, a single antenna (through the use of a duplexer)
is used for both transmission to and reception from the base station.
To provide sufficient isolation, roughly f F f R 1.05 ; 45 MHz
separation is often used in cellular systems to enable sufficient signal
isolation.

Basic Terminology- III

Time Division Duplex (TDD)

FC

RC

FC

RC

FC

RC

time

FC forward channel
RC reverse channel

TDD is only feasible with digital transmission.

If the data transmission rate in the channel is much higher than the
end-users data rate, it is possible to store information bursts and
provide the appearance of full duplex operation to a user, although
two simultaneous radio transmissions are not present at any instant.
Guard times must be used to account for variable propagation
delays and other timing imperfections.

Basic Terminology- IV
Multiple Access Methods

In the reverse link (uplink), multiple MSs transmit to the BS, i.e. many-to-one
transmission occurs. This mode of transmission is referred to as multiple
access. If two or more user signals arrive at the BS at the same time, there will
be interference unless the signals are orthogonal.
The question is how to maintain orthogonality among the transmitted signals
from different users: FDMA, TDMA and CDMA.
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA): Each user is allocated a
portion of the system bandwidth to be used over the entire duration of his call.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA): Each user is allowed to use the entire
system bandwidth in time slots occupying a fraction of the duration of his call.
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA): Each user is allowed to use the
entire system bandwidth over the entire duration of his call. Each users signal is
distinguished from others through the use of unique signature codes. CDMA
scheme in its usual implementation provides non-orthogonal channelization on
the uplink.
More details to come in Chapter 6.

Examples of Wireless Communication Systems

Mobile Station

Base Station (Access Point)

In the following, we will take a closer look at some examples of wireless

communication systems. These are:
Paging Systems
Cellular Radio Communications
Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs), Wireless Local Area
Networks (WLANs) and Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)
10

Paging Systems
Paging systems are simplex communication systems that send brief messages
(numeric, alphanumeric or voice) to a subscriber.

System does not need to know the location of a pager.

Same message is simultaneously transmitted from each base station, i.e.
simulcasting occurs. Each user listens to all transmissions, but only decodes its
intended message associated with its unique subscription number.
Paging systems are designed to provide very reliable coverage, even inside
buildings.
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pager for more information on
current status of paging systems.

11

Paging Systems (contd)

Simulcasting can often cause multiple versions of the same message to be
received at a pager with propagation delays that differ by as much as 100 s
(30 km difference in propagation distance). This results in so-called
intersymbol interference (ISI).
Rule of thumb: To avoid the need for equalization (mitigation of ISI; more
details in Chapter 4), it is necessary to make the pulse duration greater than at
least about 5 times the delay spread.

5 100 =
500 s
Ts =
1
1
Rs = =
=2 kb/s
6
Ts 500 10
Hence, simple binary modulation formats are limited to data rates of a
couple of kb/s.

12

Basics of Cellular Radio Communications

A cell is a geographical area served by a single
base station.
Each cell is allocated a group of k channels.
N cells form a cluster, in which all C = kN
different channels available in the system are used.
M clusters (each of which includes N cells)
cover the entire geographical area,
Each channel is re-used M times.
Each channel is re-used once every N cells.
Cellular systems employ frequency re-use, which allows efficient use of scarce
and expensive radio spectrum.
Channels can be re-used when there is sufficient distance between the
transmitters to attenuate interference. Careful planning of carrier frequency and
time slot allocation is usually necessary.
13

Basics of Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

Example: Mobile radio coverage for New York City
Before Cellular Mobile Telephony
(e.g. IMTS)

Cellular Mobile Telephony

14

Basics of Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

A cellular system consists of mobile stations (MS), base stations (BS) and a
mobile switching center (MSC). MSC is connected to broadband backbone
network. MSC is known as a base station controller (BSC) in GSM and as a
radio network controller (RNC) in UMTS (3G WCDMA system).
A typical MSC handles 100 base stations, 100, 000 subscribers and
10,000 simultaneous conversations at a time. In large cities, several
MSCs are used by a single company.

The only wireless communication link in the above configuration is the link
between the MS and BS, but it is also the most vulnerable link of the whole
system.
The communication system engineer should be able to design a reliable
link over the wireless channel, which is much more challenging than a wireline
channel. This course will attempt to show how to do it.
15

Basics of Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

A number of channels are assigned as control channels for communication
between MS and BS to carry control signals (signalling channels).
When a MS is turned on (not yet engaged in a call), it first scans downlink
control channels to determine the BS with the strongest signal and monitors that
control channel until it drops below a useable level. It also registers itself with the
location area (a subset of BSs) this BS belongs to. Location areas are identified by
specific location area codes periodically broadcast by their BSs.
When a phone call (from a wireline phone) is placed to a MS, the MSC sends the
request (page) to the BSs in the MSs location area. The mobile identification
number (MIN, 10 digits) is broadcast in the paging message over the control
channels of these BSs.
The MS receives the paging message sent by the BS it monitors and responds by
identifying itself over the control channel (Reverse Control Channel, RCC).
The BS relays the acknowledgment sent by the MS and informs the MSC of the
handshake. The BS assigns an unused voice channel within the cell to that particular
MS and instructs the MS to tune itself to the assigned voice channel.
Once a call is in progress, the BS adjusts the transmitted power of the mobile
16
(if required) in order to maintain the call quality.

Figure: Timing diagram illustrating how a call to a mobile user initiated by a landline subscriber is established.
ESN Electronic serial number (32 bits) stored in the phone (AMPS, IS-54 and IS-95); GSM equivalents: IMEI
International Mobile Equipment Identity (stored in the phone), and IMSI - International Mobile Subscriber Identity
(stored in the SIM Subscriber Identity Module card); CDMA2000 addition: UIMID User Identity Module
Identifier stored in an R-UIM Removable User Identity Module.
17

Basics of Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

When an MS originates a call, a call initiation request is sent on the control
channel (RCC) to the BS. The BS receives the request and sends it to the MSC.
The MSC validates the request and makes the connection to the called party
through the PSTN. At the same time, it instructs the BS to ask MS to move to an
unused voice channel, allowing the conversation to begin.
If the MS moves from one cell to another, a handoff (handover) process (i.e.
switching to another BS) enables the call to proceed uninterrupted.
Roaming allows subscribers to operate in service areas other than the one from
which service is subscribed. Each MSC keeps track of the users through home
location register (HLR) and visitor location register (VLR). If a roaming
subscriber is identified, its information is sent to its home MSC, which updates
the location of its subscriber in its HLR.
If a call is made to a roaming subscriber from any phone in the world, the call
is routed directly to its home MSC. The home MSC checks the HLR to determine
the location of the subscriber and routes the call to the visited network.
18

Figure: Timing diagram illustrating how a call from a mobile user is established.
19

Trends in Cellular Radio Communications

The number of cellular subscribers exceeded 6.8 billion (about 97% of the
worlds population) in 2013. Approximate geographical distribution of ~6.8 B users:
North America (US 327.5 M (104%) + Canada 26.5 M (74%)): 354 M
Latin America (incl. Mexico): 680 M (~115%)
Europe (including Russia): 1100 M (~150%)
Asia: 3825 M (~85%)
Africa: 800 M (~77%)
Australia & New Zealand: 35 M (129%)

Smartphones: ~ 2 B sold
since 2007

20

Trends in Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

1980s - First Generation (1G): Analog modulation (FM), FDD/FDMA
For voice
communication

From the actual advertisement

Briefcase model: You can carry
it wherever you go!

1990s and early 2000s - Second Generation (2G): Digital modulation,

FDD/TDMA or CDMA
For voice and low-rate
data communication

Handheld phones

Early 2000s - 2.5G : Improved data rates over those of 2G. Based on 2G
infrastructure.
21

Trends in Cellular Radio Communications (contd)

2000s - Third Generation (3G):
For voice and higher rate data communication
supporting internet and various multimedia
services such as video telephony, video
streaming, on-line gaming etc.

22

Second Generation (2G) Cellular Systems

23

2.5G Cellular Systems

2G systems were originally designed for voice communication and low-rate
data communication. They used circuit-switched data modems that limited users to
data rate of a single voice channel (~9.6 kb/s). Example of 2G data communication
application: SMS (Short Message Service) of GSM.
In an effort to upgrade 2G standards to enable increased data rates to support
Internet applications (e.g. Wireless Applications Protocol, WAP, and i-mode on
PDC in Japan) and multimedia services, 2.5G standards were introduced.
2.5G allows existing 2G equipment to be used with some software/hardware/
add-ons at the base station and software upgrades on the mobile station.
TDMA (GSM) -based upgrades:
HSCSD: High Speed Circuit Switched Data
(14.4 57.7 kb/s) on aggregated slots
GPRS: General Packet Radio Service
(56 140.8 kb/s)
EDGE: Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution
(200 384 kb/s)

CDMA-based upgrades: IS-95B

24

Third Generation (3G) Cellular Systems

3G standards were developed to support demanding data rate requirements of
Internet/multimedia services. Target peak data rates were 2 Mb/sec for indoor
nomadic, 384 kb/s for pedestrian and 144 kb/sec for vehicular environments.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) initiated International Mobile
Telephone (IMT-2000) plan with a vision for a single, ubiquitous wireless
communication standard throughout the world.
The following table illustrates the primary worldwide proposals that were
approved by ITU as IMT-2000 standards in 1999. Currently, two of these
proposals, i.e. CDMA2000 and W-CDMA (UMTS), have taken the lead. With
major political and economic backing behind both camps, it is now apparent that
the hope for a single 3G worldwide standard will not materialize.
The worlds first 3G commercial system was launched by SK Telecom (Korea)
in October 2000. It is based on CDMA2000 (1x RTT, which is not a true 3G
system). W-CDMA was launched in Japan in 2001.
It is expected that CDMA2000 and W-CDMA based technologies will
dominate the worldwide market. One exception is China who has developed and
supports deployment of its own wireless standard TD-SCDMA.
25

Third Generation (3G) Cellular Systems (contd)

For updated information and latest

statistics on 3G subscribers, check
http://www.3gpp.org
http://www.gsmworld.com/
http://www.3gpp2.org
http://www.cdg.org
26

Beyond 3G Cellular: LTE (Long-Term Evolution of 3G)

and LTE-Advanced (4G) Standards
The basic technology driver: Higher and higher data rates to support ever-increasing
data/video service demands of nomadic/mobile users. MIMO (multiple-input multipleoutput) antenna techniques and OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) as
enabling techniques at the physical layer. Target peak data rates: 1 Gb/s nomadic and
100 Mb/s mobile at much reduced cost per bit.
Seamless service provisioning across multilayer networks containing macro, pico
and femto nodes, as well as relays Heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets)
4G systems use packet switching and IP. No circuit-switched voice channels (VoIP).

ITU (International Telecommunications Union) in the fall of 2010 announced that

the LTE-Advanced (Release 10 LTE) and the 802.16m (advanced WiMAX) meet its
IMT-Advanced requirements and hence can be called 4th generation (4G) cellular
systems.
Technology supporting 4G (multi-user MIMO, MIMO-OFDM, coordinated
multipoint transmission/reception, infrastructure-based relaying) is still under intensive
research by industrial and academic research centres around the world.

27

28

29

ITU the source of the G in cellular

systems
International Telecommunications Union

ITU-Radio Working Party 8F (now 5D)

International Mobile Telephony
IMT-2000: 3G

IMT-Advanced: 4G

All IMT systems have access to designated IMT spectrum.

30

Spectral Efficiency Requirements and Targets

Item

Sub category LTE (3.9G)

target

LTEAdvanced
(4G) target

IMTAdvanced
(4G)
requirement

Downlink

16.3
(4x4 MIMO)

30
(up to 8x8 MIMO)

15
(4x4 MIMO)

Uplink

4.32
(64QAM SISO)

15
(up to 4x4 MIMO)

6.75
(2x4 MIMO)

Downlink cell
spectral efficiency
in b/s/Hz at 3 km/h,
500m ISD

2x2 MIMO

1.69

2.4

4x2 MIMO

1.87

2.6

4x4 MIMO

2.67

3.7

Downlink cell-edge
user spectral
efficiency in b/s/Hz,
5 percentile,
500m ISD

2x2 MIMO

0.05

0.07

4x2 MIMO

0.06

0.09

4x4 MIMO

0.08

0.12

Peak spectral
efficiency (b/s/Hz)

2.6

0.075

ISD is inter-site (inter-BS) distance. The performance figures have been obtained from system-level simulations
involving calculation of throughput by repeatedly dropping ten users randomly into the cell.
31

LTE-Advanced Enabling Technical Solutions

Bandwidth aggregation (up to 100 MHz bandwidth)
Enhanced uplink multiple access
Clustered SC-FDMA (single-carrier FDMA, aka DFT-S-OFDM)
Simultaneous control and data

Higher order MIMO

Downlink up to 8x8
Uplink up to 4x4

Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) Tx/Rx

Infrastructure-based relaying
Heterogeneous network support
32

Bandwidth Aggregation
Lack of sufficient contiguous spectrum up to 100 MHz forces
use of bandwidth aggregation to meet peak data rate targets
Able to be implemented with a mix of terminals
Backward compatibility with legacy system (LTE)
System scheduler operating across multiple bands
Component carriers (CC) Max 110 RB (radio resource blocks)
May be able to mix different CC types
Contiguous and non-contiguous CC allowed

PUCCH

PUSCH

PUCCH physical uplink control channel

PUSCH physical uplink shared channel
(packet data traffic channel)
Contiguous aggregation of two
uplink component carriers
33

Higher Order MIMO Transmission

Up to 8x8 downlink (from 4x2 for LTE)
Baseline being 4x4 with 4UE receive antennas
Peak data rate reached with 8x8 SU-MIMO

Up to 4x4 uplink (from 1x2 for LTE)

Baseline being 2x2 with 2 UE transmit antennas
Peak data rate reached with 4x4 SU-MIMO

Use of beamforming with spatial multiplexing to increase

data rate, coverage and capacity
Challenges of higher order MIMO

Need for tower-mounted radio heads

Increased power consumption
Increased product costs
Physical space for the antennas at both eNB and UE
34

Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) Tx/Rx

Traditional MIMO co-located transmission

Coordinated Multipoint

Downlink
Coordinated scheduling / beamforming
- payload data is required only at the serving cell
Joint transmission or fast transmission point selection
- payload data is required at all transmitting eNB
- requires high speed symbol-level backhaul between eNB
Uplink
Simultaneous reception requires coordinated scheduling
35

Beyond 4G: A Vision of 5G Cellular

In about a decade the amount of data handled by wireless networks will have
increased by more than a factor of 100: < 3 EB (exabytes) in 2010, > 180 EB in 2018, >
500 EB in 2020. Also, roundtrip latency, energy consumption and cost per bit will have
to be reduced by about 10x and 100x, respectively.
Expected requirements:

Area capacity (b/s/km2) increase by 1000 over 4G

Cell edge rate (5% rate) increase to > 100 Mb/s (1 Mb/s for 4G)
Roundtrip latency reduced to 1 ms (15 ms in 4G)

Some possible technical solutions:

Extreme densification (dense HetNets with multi-RAT association; RAT radio

access technology)
mmWave systems
Massive MIMO
Non-orthogonal multi-carrier signalling
Cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) with centralized baseband processing

36

Other Wireless Access Systems

Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs)
Last-mile broadband access
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access IEEE 802.16 family), WiBro (Korea), HIPERMAN (Europe)
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)
License-free, low-power, short-range data communications
Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ad)
Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)
Very short range inter-device connection: Bluetooth, Zigbee
(IEEE 802.15)

37

Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs)

Fixed wireless access provides a reliable and inexpensive alternative to

optical fibre access for the last mile; operates in licensed RF bands.
Unlike mobile cellular phone systems, fixed wireless access systems are
able to take the advantage of almost time-invariant channel between the
fixed transmitter and the fixed receiver.
Standardization efforts are centered around IEEE802.16 and ETSI-HiperMAN,
which also include later mobile versions (e.g. 802.16e).
For updated information, check http://www.wimaxforum.org/
38

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs)

WLANs provide license-free, low-power short-range (20-70 m indoor) data
communication, which facilitates Internet connection and private computer
communications at the workplace and other designated areas such as coffee
shops, airports, libraries, etc., as well as for home networking.
Although the IEEE 802.11 WLAN standards body was established in 1997,
WLANs did not get popular until mid-2000s. The wide-scale acceptance of
Internet combined with increasing use of laptops and other mobile computing
devices such as PDAs has caused WLANs to gain momentum.
WLANs operate in the 2.4-2.5 GHz or 4.915-5.825 GHz ISM (Industrial,
Scientific and Medical) bands. These are the same unlicensed bands where
cordless phones, baby monitors and Bluetooth (WPAN) devices operate.

Current WLAN standards are based on IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. Although

the term Wi-Fi has been originally introduced to denote 802.11b, it is
currently used as a generic term. 802.11ad (60 GHz mmWave system) is
known as WiGig (peak bit rate of 7 Gb/s).
802.11ac was finalized in Dec 2013: 80 or 160 MHz channels in 5 GHz
band, OFDM with up to 256 QAM, up to 8 MIMO spatial streams; currently
offered peak rate 1.3 Gb/s with 3 spatial steams in 80 MHz channel.
Check http://www.wi-fi.org/ for latest updates.

39

Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)

Bluetooth
Named after king Harald Bluetooth
(the 10th century Viking who briefly
united Denmark and Norway), the
Bluetooth standard aims to unify the
connectivity chores of appliances
within the personal workspace of an
individual.
Bluetooth is an open standard that has
been embraced by over 1000 manufacturers
of electronic appliances. It provides an adhoc approach for enabling various devices
to communicate with one another within a
typical < 10 m range.
It operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band, and uses FH-CDMA
(frequency-hopped CDMA: 79 hop carriers spaced by 1 MHz, 1600 hops/s, dwell
time = 625s, GMSK). A single FH channel supports 1 Mb/s.
For further information, check http://www.bluetooth.com/

40