Cell Phones

A presentation by Lee Choon Jiat and Rudesh Lachanna

What is a cell phone?
A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a
radio frequency carrier while the user is moving within a telephone service area.
The radio frequency link establishes a connection to the switching systems of a
mobile phone operator, which provides access to the public switched telephone
network (PSTN). Most modern mobile telephone services use a cellular network
architecture, and therefore mobile telephones are often also called cellular
telephones or cell phones. In addition to telephony, 2000s-era mobile phones
support a variety of other services, such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet
access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Bluetooth), business
applications, gaming, and digital photography. Mobile phones which offer these
and more general computing capabilities are referred to as smartphones.

The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin
Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 2 kg. In 1983, the
DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone. From
1983 to 2014, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew to over seven billion,
penetrating 100% of the global population and reaching even the bottom of the
economic pyramid. In first quarter of 2016, the top smartphone manufacturers
were Samsung, Apple and Huawei (and smartphone sales represented 78 percent
of total mobile phone sales").
What is a cell phone made of?
 How cell phones work?
Cell phone is a two-way radio (transceiver) that have both transmitter and
receiver.
Low-power transmitter (0.6watt or 3watt). [In comparison to larger AM
radio station (50000 watt) or smaller AM radio station (5000 watt)]
Cell phone is a duplex. (both ends device can transmit and receive
information) / [Simplex only permits one device to transmit information
while the other receive. Ex : Radio]
What wave transmitted by cell phones?
Generally, waves transmitted by the cell phones are micro waves in the
electromagnetic spectrum. (Ultra High Frequency)
Voice (1G) : Analog or digital modulation from 800MHz to 900MHz.
3G, 4G or LTE : Digital modulation from 1700MHz to 1900MHz.
Bluetooth : Digital Modulation at 2400MHz. So of course you
cannot hear the
wave transmitted
since it is an
electromagnetic
wave not sound
wave.

Human hearing
range frequency :
20Hz 20kHz
 Microwave (300MHz 300GHz)

Radio wave (3kHz 300 GHz) which

includes microwave.

Range of wave
transmitted by
cell phones.

Microwave
Frequencies
 How is information (speech/data)
transmitted through radio wave? Recall that any
wave has three
Frequency of an RF channel is best understood as the frequency of a carrier basic properties:
wave.
A carrier wave is a pure wave of constant frequency, a bit like a sine wave. By 1) Amplitude the
itself it doesnt carry much information that we can relate to (such as speech height of the wave
or data).
To include speech information or data information, another wave needs to be 2) Frequency a
imposed, called an input signal, on top of the carrier wave. This process of number of waves
imposing an input signal onto a carrier wave is called modulation. In other passing through in
words, modulation changes the shape of a carrier wave to somehow encode a given second
the speech or data information that we were interested in carrying.
Modulation is like hiding a code inside the carrier wave. 3) Phase where
the phase is at any
given moment.
 Amplitude Modulation (AM)
A user can tweak the height of the carrier. If an input signals height varies
with the loudness of a users voice and then adds this to the carrier, then the
carriers amplitude will change corresponding to the input signal thats been
fed into it. This is called amplitude modulation or AM.
Advantages and disadvantages of
Amplitude Modulation (AM)
Advantages
It is simple to implement.
It can be demodulated using a circuit
consisting of very few components.
AM receivers are very cheap as no
specialised components are needed.
Disadvantages
An amplitude modulation signal is not
efficient in terms of its power usage.
It is not efficient in terms of its use of
bandwidth, requiring a bandwidth equal to
twice that of the highest audio frequency.
An amplitude modulation signal is prone to
high levels of noise because most noise is
amplitude based and obviously AM detectors
are sensitive to it.
 Frequency Modulation (FM)
Frequency of an input signal can also be changed. If this input signal is added
to the pure carrier wave, it will thereby change the frequency of the carrier
wave. In that way, users can use changes of frequency to carry speech
information. This is called frequency modulation or FM.
Advantages of Frequency Modulation (FM)
Resilient to noise: One of the main advantages of frequency modulation that
has been utilised by the broadcasting industry is the reduction in noise. As most
noise is amplitude based, this can be removed by running the signal through a
limiter so that only frequency variations appear. This is provided that the signal
level is sufficiently high to allow the signal to be limited.
Resilient to signal strength variations: In the same way that amplitude
noise can be removed, so too can any signal variations. This means that one of
the advantages of frequency modulation is that it does not suffer audio
amplitude variations as the signal level varies, and it makes FM ideal for use in
mobile applications where signal levels constantly vary. This is provided that the
signal level is sufficiently high to allow the signal to be limited.
Does not require linear amplifiers in the transmitter: As only frequency
changes are required to be carried, any amplifiers in the transmitter do not need
to be linear.
Enables greater efficiency than many other modes: The use of non-linear
amplifiers, e.g. class C, etc. means that transmitter efficiency levels will be
higher - linear amplifiers are inherently inefficient.
Disadvantages of Frequency Modulation (FM)

Requires more complicated demodulator: One of the minor dis-advantages

of frequency modulation is that the demodulator is a little more complicated,
and hence slightly more expensive than the very simple diode detectors used
for AM. Also requiring a tuned circuit adds cost. However this is only an issue
for the very low cost broadcast receiver market.
Some other modes have higher data spectral efficiency: Some phase
modulation and quadrature amplitude modulation formats have a higher
spectral efficiency for data transmission that frequency shift keying, a form of
frequency modulation. As a result, most data transmission system use PSK and
QAM.
Sidebands extend to infinity either side: The sidebands for an FM
transmission theoretically extend out to infinity. To limit the bandwidth of the
transmission, filters are used, and these introduce some distortion of the signal.

However with more systems using digital formats, phase and

quadrature amplitude modulation formats are on the increase.
Nevertheless, the advantages of frequency modulation mean that
it is an ideal format for many analogue applications.
 Digital Modulation
These two strategies can be combined to create a third scheme. In fact, any
strategy that combines an input signal with a carrier wave to encode speech
or other useful information is called a modulation scheme.
Modulation schemes can be analog or digital. An analog modulation scheme
has an input wave that varies continuously like a sine wave. In digital
modulation scheme, its a little more complicated. Voice is sampled at some
rate and then compressed and turned into a bit stream a stream of zeros
and ones and this in turn is created into a particular kind of wave which is
then superimposed on the carrier.
 Why need to modulate waves?
The input signals could be carried (without a carrier wave) by very low
frequency electromagnetic waves. The problem, however, is that this will
need quite a bit of amplification in order to transmit those very low
frequencies. The input signals themselves do not have much power and need
a fairly large antenna in order to transmit the information.

Why not After all, it is carrying all the

simply information that were interested
Why have use the in and it only occupies a few
carrier waves input kilohertz and bandwidth. So why
in modulation signal not use it directly?
at all? directly?

Why are carriers and

modulation needed at all?
 Cell phone is a full duplex
Full-duplex communication between two components means that both can
transmit and receive information between each other simultaneously.
In half-duplex systems, the transmission and reception of information must
happen alternately. While one point is transmitting, the other must only
receive.
When we use one frequency for talking, a second separate frequency is used
for listening. So that both the people on the call can talk at once.
 Frequency Division Duplex
Wireless systems need two separate frequency bands or channels. A sufficient
amount of guard band separates the two bands so the transmitter and
receiver dont interfere with one another. Good filtering or duplexers and
possibly shielding are a must to ensure the transmitter does not desensitize
the adjacent receiver.
In a cell phone with a transmitter and receiver operating simultaneously
within such close proximity, the receiver must filter out as much of the
transmitter signal as possible. The greater the spectrum separation, the more
effective the filters.
Guard
Bands
 Cell-phone Channels

A single cell in an analog mobile phone system uses one-seventh of the

available duplex voice channels. That is, each cell (of the seven on a hexagonal
grid) is using one-seventh of the available channels so it has a unique set of
frequencies and there are no collisions:
A cell phone carrier typically gets 832 radio frequencies to use in a city.
Each cell phone uses two frequencies In simpler words,
per call -- a duplex channel -- so there
are typically 395 voice channels per carrier. (The other 42 frequencies are used
The
forbase station
control assigns
channels your call
-- more to an
on this available frequency channel. Assigning a channel
later.)
ensures other calls wont overlap (so you wont hear other people and they wont hear
you), and
Therefore, makes
each yourabout
cell has call individually recognizable
56 voice channels in the
available. computer
In other systems.
words, in
any cell, 56 people can be talking on their cell phone at one time. Analog
cellular systems are considered first-generation mobile technology, or 1G. With
digital transmission methods (2G), the number of available channels increases.
For example, a TDMA-based digital system (more on TDMA later) can carry
three times as many calls as an analog system, so each cell has about 168
channels available.
 How cell phones transmit over a
distance with small power?
Maximum distance is 35kilometres without interference (obstacles) which is
not practical with loss of energy over distance and thus lost of information
(damping effect).
A cell tower act as a bridge between mobile phones to transmit and receive
information.
Each cell is typically sized at about 10 square miles (26 square kilometres).
Cells are normally thought of as hexagons on a big hexagonal grid
In urban areas, cell phones blocked from one cell tower may connect to
another one nearby, but in rural areas, interference with coverage from a
single cell tower may make reception unreliable.
Low power transmitter has two
advantages:
The transmissions of a base station and the phones within its cell do not make
it very far outside that cell. Therefore, in the figure on the previous page,
both of the purple cells can reuse the same 56 frequencies. The same
frequencies can be reused extensively across the city.
The power consumption of the cell phone, which is normally battery-
operated, is relatively low. Low power means small batteries, and this is what
has made handheld cellular phones possible.
What happens when we make a call?
1. When we switch on the mobile phone, it tries for an SID on the Control channel. The
Control channel is a special frequency that the phone and base station use to talk to
one another. If the Mobile phone finds difficulty to get link with the control channel, it
displays a no service message.
2. If the Mobile phone gets the SID, it compares the SID with the SID programmed in
the phone. If both SID match, the phone identifies that the cell it is communicating is
the part of its home system.
3. The phone also transmits a registration request along with the SID and the MTSO
keeps track of your phones location in a database. MTSO knows in which cell you
are when it wants to ring the phone.
4. The MTSO then gets the signal, it tries to find the phone. The MTSO looks in its
database to find the cell in which the phone is present. The MTSO then picks a
frequency pair to take the call.
5. The MTSO communicates with the Mobile phone over the control channel to tell it
what frequencies to use. Once the Mobile phone and the tower switch on those
frequencies, the call is connected.
6. When the Mobile phone move toward the edge of the cell, the cells base station will
note that the signal strength is diminishing. At the same time, the base station in the
cell in which the phone is moving will be able to see the phones signal strength
increasing.
7. The two base stations coordinate themselves through the MTSO. At some point, the
Mobile phone gets a signal on a control channel and directs it to change
frequencies. This will switch the phone to the new cell.
 MTSO is Mobile
Telephone
Switching Office
for routing
mobile phone
calls.
 Very long/far distance call

Today, when you place a long-distance call, the switch in the local office
accesses a database that contains a record for each phone number connected
to the switch. The database contains what's called a PIC code(Primary
Interchange Carrier code), which indicates which long-distance carrier you have
chosen. (When you switch long-distance carriers, this PIC code is what
changes.) The switch looks up the PIC code for your number and then connects
to a long-distance switch for your long-distance carrier. Your long-distance
carrier's switches route the call to the local carrier for your friend, and the local
carrier completes the call to your friend.
 What happen to the calls when
moving? (Driving)
The cells slightly overlap at the edges to ensure the users always
remain within range of a base station.
As you cross the boundary of one cell, the cell next to it will
automatically take over. This is called a "hand-over" or "hand-on". It is
controlled by a computer in switching centre. The switching centre
knows which cell your mobile is in and switches it to the next cell if
you move across a boundary.
Your call will continue to get "handed-on" to each cell in turn until you
reach the edge of the last boundary. Then you will be out of range of
any cells and your call won't be transmitted.
 How cell towers
pinpoint phone targets?
When you look at a cell tower, youll often notice multiple triangular
platforms going up the pole. Generally, these each belong to separate
carriers.
With triangular platforms, each point can cover 120 degrees, and each
point can be divided to 40 degree bits. These divisions help pinpoint
exact phone targets and ensure better signal strength between phone
and tower. Towers with white dishes are microwave backhauls.
 Cell system for frequency re-use
The method that is employed is to enable the frequencies to be re-used. Any
radio transmitter will only have a certain coverage area. Beyond this the signal
level will fall to a limited below which it cannot be used and will not cause
significant interference to users associated with a different radio transmitter.
This means that it is possible to re-use a channel once outside the range of the
radio transmitter. The same is also true in the reverse direction for the receiver,
where it will only be able to receive signals over a given range. In this way it is
possible to arrange split up an area into several smaller regions, each covered
by a different transmitter / receiver station.
 Cell size
Macro cells: Macro cells are large cells that are usually used for remote or sparsely populated
areas. These may be 10 km or possibly more in diameter.

Micro cells: Micro cells are those that are normally found in densely populated areas which
may have a diameter of around 1 km.

Pico cells: Picocells are generally used for covering very small areas such as particular areas
of buildings, or possibly tunnels where coverage from a larger cell in the cellular system is not
possible. Obviously for the small cells, the power levels used by the base stations are much
lower and the antennas are not position to cover wide areas. In this way the coverage is
minimised and the interference to adjacent cells is reduced.

Selective cells: Sometimes cells termed selective cells may be used where full 360 degree
coverage is not required. They may be used to fill in a hole in the coverage in the cellular
system, or to address a problem such as the entrance to a tunnel etc.

Umbrella cells: Another type of cells known as an umbrella cell is sometimes used in
instances such as those where a heavily used road crosses an area where there are microcells.
Under normal circumstances this would result in a large number of handovers as people driving
along the road would quickly cross the microcells. An umbrella cell would take in the coverage of
the microcells (but use different channels to those allocated to the microcells). However it would
enable those people moving along the road to be handled by the umbrella cell and experience
fewer handovers than if they had to pass from one microcell to the next.
Subscriber Identification Module (SIM card)
SIM card (Subscriber Identification Module (SIM)) is a type of Smart card used in
mobile phone. The SIM is a detachable smart card containing the users
subscription information and phone book. This allows the user to retain his or her
information even after switching off the handset. Alternatively, the user can also
change service providers while retaining the handset simply by changing the SIM.
SIM card Securely stores the service subscriber key having 15 digits.
The digits of the key are :

First 3 digits Mobile country code

Second 2 digits Mobile network code
Third 10 digits Mobile station identification number
 Activation of SIM card
When the Mobile phone is used for the first time, it sends a number
called International Mobile Subscriber Identity IMSI present in the SIM
card to the network, which looks it up in a database to ensure the
card is registered. If the IMSI is recognized, the network creates
another number called a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI),
which is encrypted and sent back to the phone. In all subsequent calls,
the phone identifies itself by broadcasting the TMSI.
 Pulling some Gs
1G
Before the age of digital mobile networks, all cell phones broadcast analog signals. In the
U.S., this meant using the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) standard, which operated
in a range of frequencies between 824MHz and 894MHz, dubbed the 800MHz band.
This type of analog transmission was the first generation of cellular phone technology, or what
some refer to as 1G. Because analog phones could transmit only analog voice data, not
digital data, they couldnt be used to access the Internet or transmit text messages.
Fortunately, there were more Gs to follow.
 2G
Moving past the analog age, the cell-phone carriers needed to cram more calls into
each frequency they were assigned. The way to do that was to move beyond
inefficient analog signals into more efficient digital ones. That is, the original analog
voice signal is digitized into a series of 0s and 1s; the resulting digital signal is then
compressed and transmitted across the assigned frequency band.
2G networks and phones could also be used to transmit non-voice data. This
ushered in the era of text messaging, in the form of Short Message Service (SMS)
and, later, Multimedia Message Service (MMS). It also enabled access to the
Internet, for email, web browsing, and the like.
 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
A narrow band that is 30 kHz wide and 6.7 milliseconds long is split time-wise
into three time slots.
TDMA is also used as the access technology for Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM).
GSM systems use encryption to make phone calls more secure.
GSM operates in the 900-MHz and 1800-MHz bands in Europe and Asia and in
the 850-MHz and 1900-MHz band in the United States.
It is used in digital cellular and PCS-based systems.
 Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
CDMA, after digitizing data, spreads it out over the entire available
bandwidth. Multiple calls are overlaid on each other on the channel, with
each assigned a unique sequence code. CDMA is a form of spread
spectrum, which simply means that data is sent in small pieces over a
number of the discrete frequencies available for use at any time in the
specified range. Verizon, Sprint and most other U.S. carriers use CDMA,
which means no SIM card.
 3G
The next generation of cellular transmission was developed with the smartphone in
mind. So-called 3G networks feature increased bandwidth and transfer rates that
better accommodate the transfer of digital data necessary for Internet access and
the use of web-based applications.
How much faster is 3G? A lot. Todays 3G networks boast transfer speeds up to
2Mbps; in contrast, 2G phones can only transfer data at around 144Kbps. (Thats a
13-fold increase in speed)

If you use your smartphone for anything other than voice calls and text messages,
you need to be on a 3G network. In those areas where youre forced to use a 2G
connection, accessing the Internet is painfully slow. In this respect, 3G is the de-
facto minimum requirement for using a smartphone today.

3G technologies :

CDMA2000 - based on 2G Code Division Multiple Access

WCDMA (UMTS) - Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
TD-SCDMA - Time-division Synchronous Code-division Multiple Access
 4G
Now, we get to the fourth generation of cellular networking. Carriers are just
starting to roll out 4G networks, and suppliers are just starting to produce 4G
smartphones. 4G promises data transmission rates in excess of 1Gbps, which is
more than 30 times the rate of 3G networks. (That should make it a lot easier to
watch streaming video on your iPhone!)
4G means support for any speed above 3G.

4G technologies :

Long Term Evolution (LTE). This standard promises data download rates to mobile
users up to 300Mbps. Its used by AT&T and Verizon.
Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+). This standard promises data download
rates up to 168Mbps, although current rates top out at 42Mbps. Its used by T-
Mobile.
Worldwide Operability for Microwave Access (WiMax). This standard promises
data download rates of 128Mbps. Its used by Sprint.
 How Global Positioning System (GPS) works?
The key to tracking any signal, whether it be cellular or radiowave signals, is
something called trilateration. In order for trilateration to be used effectively,
your phone needs to be picking up on at least 3 satellites 4, or more, is better.
Your GPS-enabled phone receives a constantly streaming signal, from the
satellites, containing information such as the time the signal was sent and the
orbital information of the satellite. Based on that, your phones GPS receiver
calculates your location in latitude and longitude. It can also calculate your
current speed, based on the time between readings and distance covered.

Imagine a cone extending down from each of the three

satellites covering your location. These cones make
ellipses, close to circles, when the hit they Earth.
Now, you have three intersecting circles. The centers
of those circles are then used in a trilateration
equation to determine roughly where you are. The
point where all three circles intersect is your position.
Lets see how that might look in a simplified view.
 Since the GPS system employs from 24 to 32 global positioning satellites,
your position can be determined almost anywhere on Earth. Take a look at the
animation below and youll see how multiple satellites can transmit to your
phone simultaneously. When there are 4 or more satellites transmitting their
signal to your phone, the calculation is far more accurate. Originally, the GPS
receivers could only use data from 4 or 5 satellites at once. Now they can use
as many as 20.
What can stop it from being tracked is anything that is going to block the line of
sight. For instance, if you are in a building, away from a window, the satellites
cannot communicate with your cellphone. So it isnt a foolproof system.
Not all phones have the hardware to be tracked by satellite, but many do.
BlackBerry and Treo are popular brands of cellphones that have satellite-
trackable models. If your phone has GPS but doesnt use satellites to trilaterate,
then it is relying on the trilateration of cell towers, or even WiFi, to determine
your location. Same principle, slightly different technologies.
Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)
It can take a long time to get a position fix with a normal GPS. There are ways to speed
this up, but unless you're carrying an atomic clock with you all the time, or leave the GPS
on all the time, then there's always going to be a delay of between 5-60 seconds before
you get a location.
Even without a GPS receiver, your cell phone can provide information about your location.
A computer can determine your location based on measurements of your signal, such as:
Its angle of approach to the cell towers
How long it takes the signal to travel to multiple towers
The strength of your signal when it reaches the towers
Since obstacles like trees and buildings can affect how long it takes your signal to travel to
a tower, this method is often less accurate than a GPS measurement.
More recent designs include a full GPS chip. They still get data from the phone company -
such as current location based on tower positioning, and current satellite locations - this
provides sub 1 second fix times. This information is only needed once, and the GPS can
keep track of everything after that with very little power. If the cellular network is
unavailable, then they can still get a fix after awhile. If the GPS satellites aren't visible to
the receiver, then they can still get a rough fix from the cellular towers.
 How cell phones obtain location?
In order to save cost, most cell phones share the GPS receiver components
with the cellular components, and you can't get a fix and talk at the same time.
1. Get some information from the cell phone company to feed to the GPS receiver
- some of this is gross positioning information based on what cellular towers
can 'hear' your phone, so by this time they already phone your location to within
a city block or so.
2. Switch from cellular to GPS receiver for 0.1 second (or some small, practically
unnoticeable period of time) and collect the raw GPS data (no processing on
the phone).
3. Switch back to the phone mode, and send the raw data to the phone company
4. The phone company processes that data (acts as an offline GPS receiver) and
send the location back to your phone.
 Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short
distances (using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from 2.4
to 2.485 GHz) from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area
networks (PANs).
Bluetooth is intended to get around the problems that come with infrared
systems. The older Bluetooth 1.0 standard has a maximum transfer speed of 1
megabit per second (Mbps), while Bluetooth 2.0 can manage up to 3 Mbps.
Bluetooth 2.0 is backward-compatible with 1.0 devices.
Bluetooth devices avoid interfering with other systems is by sending out
very weak signals of about 1 milliwatt. By comparison, the most powerful cell
phones can transmit a signal of 3 watts.
The low power limits the range of a Bluetooth device to about 10 meters (32
feet), cutting the chances of interference between your computer system and
your portable telephone or television. Even with the low power, Bluetooth
doesn't require line of sight between communicating devices.
 Bluetooth can connect up to eight devices simultaneously. With all of those
devices in the same 10-meter (32-foot) radius, you might think they'd interfere
with one another, but it's unlikely. Bluetooth uses a technique called spread-
spectrum frequency hopping that makes it rare for more than one device to
be transmitting on the same frequency at the same time. In this technique, a
device will use 79 individual, randomly chosen frequencies within a designated
range, changing from one to another on a regular basis. In the case of
Bluetooth, the transmitters change frequencies 1,600 times every second,
meaning that more devices can make full use of a limited slice of the radio
spectrum. Since every Bluetooth transmitter uses spread-spectrum transmitting
automatically, its unlikely that two transmitters will be on the same frequency at
the same time. This same technique minimizes the risk that portable phones or
baby monitors will disrupt Bluetooth devices, since any interference on a
particular frequency will last only a tiny fraction of a second.

Bluetooth Version Maximum Speed Maximum Range

3.0 25 Mbit/s
4.0 25 Mbit/s 200 feet(60.96 m)
5.0 50 Mbit/s 800 feet(243.84 m)
Reasons using cell tower instead of satellite
1. The distance from cell phone users to cell towers is usually just a few miles (compared to hundreds or even
thousands of miles from Earth to satellites). This allows cell phones to transmit and receive radio signal at
a much lower power, which consumes much less battery.
2. To be able to reuse frequencies in the RF spectrum (a finite and expensive resource).

3. The long distance will also add to the delay in communication and quality of service. Since the radio signal
should travel to and from the satellite, adding at least a couple of seconds of delay.

4. Since the signal from / to satellites has to travel a long distance to / from Earth, it is much susceptible to
various environmental and man-made obstacles such as inclement weather, trees, mountains and, of
course, buildings (no, you can't use a satellite phone inside your home without a satellite antenna outside).
When it arrives to Earth, it is quite weak and requires direct view of the satellite and a special antenna. For
example, satellite phones can't be used inside buildings and must have a bulky external antenna.

5. There are too many cell phone users for satellites to handle all the traffic efficiently and at reasonable cost.
Just for comparison -- there are about 6 billion cell phone subscribers in the world compared to only about
200-500 thousand of active satellite phone users (that's 10000-30000 times fewer!). Any satellite network
will be immediately congested and overloaded with calls, as it happens frequently with the cellular
networks in emergencies or large sporting events, when everybody tries to make a phone call.

6. A terrestrial cell tower is a much more reasonable solution in terms of construction cost and time,
hardware upgrades and regular maintenance. For example, it will take Iridium (one of the satellite phone
operators) about 8 years and $3.5 billion to design, build and launch its new satellite constellation. And as
soon as the satellites are up in orbit, it will not be possible to upgrade their hardware. At the same time, cell
phone companies constantly upgrade equipment on their terrestrial network of towers.
Improvements that can be made on cell
phone technology
1. Number of Channels Per Cell

When the number of channels per cell is small (less transmitting channels) base station
congestion is very likely to occur. Increasing the number of channels to solve this problem could
be a problem since :-
the bandwidth allocated for uplink and downlink transmission is fixed. Therefore increasing the
channel number per cell would cause the channel frequencies used in a cell to be re-used in a
closer cell. This increases co-channel interference.

Solution

Use a microcellular network since it can increase the number of channels per cell without an
increase in co-channel interference.
2. Fading

This is the reduction of signal power. Fading is caused by many factors - the most important
ones being multipath and shielding.

Multipath fading is caused by the transmission of the signal along different paths and
resulting in simultaneous reception. Depending of the amplitudes and phase of the signal,
the result of this could be that the signals cancel each other completely or significant
attenuation in the resultant signal.
Shielding is the absence of field strength. Most common causes are tunnels, hills and inside
certain buildings.

Solution

The receiver at the BS should have an Equaliser circuit to compensate for fading. Equaliser
finds how a known transmitted signal(transmitted with the desired signal)was modified by
multipath fading and shielding. Using this information, an inverse filter is constructed and
the desired signal is extracted.
3. Co-Channel Interference

Co-channels are the same channels (or frequencies) that are used by different cells. To
avoid this kind of interference, it is necessary to separate the co-channels by as great
distance as possible. But, by doing so, channel capacity will be compromised.

Solution
Here, microcells could be used to decrease co-channel interference for a particular
capacity wanted. Alternatively, the Equaliser can also be used to minimise the effect of
co-channel interference on the desired signal.
 A new technology
Due to the rapid growth in the cellular communication industry, there is an increased need for
greater system capacity. Code division multiple access (CDMA) is the new technology, and it
does not need a cellular structure. CDMA is a 'spread spectrum' technology; it spreads the
information contained in a particular signal over the entire bandwidth allocated for the mobile
communication. With CDMA, unique digital codes, rather than radio frequencies or channels,
are used to differentiate the different signals. These codes are shared by both the transmitter and
receiver; and hence the receiver (the mobile phone) receives all the signals but can only
recognise the one with the same codes.
CDMA has many advantages over the existing cellular systems
Increases capacity and improves quality of the signal.
Simplified system planning through the use of the same frequency all over the covered area.
Enhanced privacy
However, CDMA can only be used for digital transmission, unlike the cellular system. This
makes the move towards CDMA in some countries, which do not use the digital system, a
distant future.
 Satellite Phones
Satellite phones communicate directly with a satellite orbiting the Earth. This
allows satellite phones to receive a communications signal over a much wider
area. A satellite phone can connect anywhere as long as it is covered by the
satellite beam. The signal from the satellite phone transmits directly to the
satellite, which then sends the signal to the nearest land-based earth station or
teleport, which then transmits the signal to the receiving phone. The receiving
phone can be a land line, cell phone or another satellite phone.
 Difference in Coverage
Cell phone Satellite Phone

A tower cell has a relatively short range.
Wide cellular networks require a large
number of towers to cover cities, which
may be very expensive or require
infrastructure that is not readily available.
Not cost effective for the cellular providers
to put up cell towers in rural areas or in
many third world countries where there is
low usage.
Impossible to place towers out in the
ocean or in very remote or mountainous
regions.
Satellite signals are transmitted far above
the earth and do not rely on towers,
making them very useful in remote areas.
This is why satellite phones are more
useful than cellular phones to those who
are traveling to isolated and remote areas.
Any satellite phone located anywhere
inside a satellite coverage beam can
communicate with other phones,
regardless of how remote the location,
whether at land, air, or sea.

The areas not covered by the tower cells

do not have cellular signal, and cellular
phones cannot be used to communicate in
these areas without coverage.
 Difference in Functionality
Cell phone Satellite Phone
Cellular smartphones which Satellite phones are designed specifically for
can have thousands of communications, meaning that most are designed to only
apps. make and receive calls.

Newer satellite phone models are coming out with access to

the Internet (Very slow 2kbps) and the capability to send
and receive SMS text messages.

Satellite phones are more useful in emergency situations

because they do not rely on land-based towers and networks
to operate.

Many emergency responders rely on satellite phones

because they allow for communication even during power
outages, which often shut down land-based communications.
 Difference in cost
Cell phone
Cellular phones are certainly useful
and ubiquitous in todays world. For
everyday communications, they are
more than adequate.
Cellular phones coverage is limited.
Satellite Phone
Satellite phone companies have to
deploy their own expensive
technology with each satellite costing
tens of millions of dollars.
The coverage area of satellite phones
is wide.
Challenges to Cellular Satellite Backhaul

1. Higher Bandwidth Requirements

Mobile operators are rapidly moving from the old 2G GSM networks to 3G and 4G
networks. While 2G networks offered primarily voice connectivity, 3G and 4G
networks are much more complex, offering Internet access and video with a
significantly greater data volume. As a result, more cellular backhaul
optimization technologies which reduce the bandwidth have been implemented.
These cellular backhaul optimization solutions results to cost-effective 3G and 4G
cellular backhaul over satellite for global 3G/4G expansion in rural areas,
relieving congestion caused by high data throughput technologies.
2. Cost

In order for mobile operators to stay profitable, they need to deliver their services at
the lowest possible cost. The cost of backhaul is one of the most important factors taken
into account. Before, satellite was one of the most expensive options for backhaul, with
a high price per Mbps for traditional wide beam links. But due to new high throughput
satellites, this expensive satellite bandwidth is no longer the case. It is predicted that in
the next two years, the cost per Mbps over satellite will drop around six times, while
traffic growth will double every two years, leading to a much lower overall cost.

3. Latency

Latency is one reason why satellite was not the first choice for mobile operators in
previous years. Satellite link latency has a round-trip delay of around 500 milliseconds.
This affects the response time of 3G/4G data applications when sent over satellite,
resulting in lower performance. However, latency issues can be addressed by using TCP
acceleration and caching. Both TCP acceleration and caching techniques minimizes
latency, resulting to reduced bandwidth requirement, enhanced network performance,
increased throughput, and improved response times.
4. Availability

Another perceived disadvantage for cellular satellite backhaul is the issue of availability.
Some satellite systems are vulnerable to fading during bad weather conditions. However,
this is addressed by adding a secondary communication path at the base stations so that
voice and signalling can be routed over high availability C-band and Ku-band routes. This
ensures that voice and signalling have low latency and also provides an alternative
backhaul for service providers, eliminating the need to upgrade with expensive
terrestrial systems.

Because satellites can reach remote locations that no terrestrial technology can reach,
it is the ideal solution for mobile cellular operators to reach rural areas that are lacking
3G and 4G coverage. As satellite technology continues to evolve with the development
of bandwidth management techniques, cellular satellite backhaul is now easier to
deploy and significantly cheaper to manage.
 High Throughput Satellite (HTS)
High throughput satellites (HTS) are communications satellites that provide 10
or more times the total throughput of a regular fixed communications satellite
for the same amount of allocated spectrum. New high throughput satellites
today can provide more than 100 GBps of capacity, which is more than 100
times the capacity offered by a conventional Ku-band satellite.
 This significant increase in capacity is achieved by a high level frequency re-
use and spot beam technology which enables frequency re-use across multiple
narrowly focused spot beams. This frequency re-use across multiple spot
beams is the defining technical feature of HTS. By contrast, traditional satellite
technology utilizes a broad single beam or a few beams.

The big advantage of high throughput satellites over conventional satellites is

cost. HTS can supply throughput at a much cheaper rate than the throughput of
conventional Ku-band or C-band satellites. The global VSAT industry is
transitioning to HTS because of larger supply figures and lower bandwidth
costs.
Characteristics of High Throughput Satellite
(HTS)
HTS services are being delivered through a technology ecosystem where all
the elements are being challenged in terms of scale, as the satellites are rapidly
growing in terms size and capability. Therefore it is useful to analyse HTS
characteristics that are increasing in scale in greater detail, and the impact it
has on VSAT ground infrastructure requirements.
1. Larger Transponder Sizes
Before, 36 MHz or 72MHz transponders were very common on satellites, to the point that
the industry used this as a standard unit to measure the growth in available capacity.
However with HTS, we are seeing satellites with transponders from 100MHz up to
500MHz. This means higher gains in terms of the power being used to enable the larger
amounts of spectrum.
2. Frequency Re-use (Multiple Spot Beams)
HTS delivers higher aggregate throughput for the same amount of allocated frequency by
utilizing frequency re-use. Frequency re-use is the process of using the same spectrum
across multiple beams within a network resulting in very efficient use of the available
spectrum.
3. Beam Performance
HTS transponder beam performance is increasing in terms of transmit power and receive
sensitivity, and this leads to satellite service providers offering higher throughput levels to
customers. To take advantage of these beam enhancements, the remote side needs to
have higher IP throughput capabilities, and this requires higher bit rates, requiring
advances in performance, better modulation and coding techniques, and support for higher
symbol rates.
4. Complex Network Operations
HTS encourages a consolidation of infrastructure, with less flexibility available in terms of
hub locations, resulting in networks with more remotes per network and a larger overall
bandwidth pool to manage and this has a direct impact on the scalability of the hub
infrastructure. New HTS networks will bring more complexity to the network operation
centre (NOC), more complex satellites, much larger networks, and remotes supporting
higher throughputs with more business grade applications. There will be an increased need
for real-time monitoring of network performance, especially to ensure that larger volumes of
bandwidth running across the network are fully optimized.
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