System Architecture for Mobile Communications Systems Beyond IMT-2000

Toru OTSU, Narumi UMEDA, and Yasushi YAMAO

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. 3-5 Hikari-no-oka, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa-ken, 239-8536, Japan

Abstract- This paper presents a system architecture for mobile communications systems beyond IMT-2000 (4G system). Considering the growth of data communications through mobile networks, the 4G system should offer higher bit rate channels and accommodate a significantly larger amount of traffic. To meet theses requirements, the 4G system may use higher frequency bands. This paper first considers objectives of the 4G system and it proposes a system architecture that meets the objectives. The architecture proposed in this paper comprises core networks that will accommodate multiple types of radio access networks (RAN). The 4G RAN is constructed by distributed controlled base stations that are connected to each other by a multi-hop wireless network.

II. OBJECTIVES OF 4G SYSTEM In this section, the objectives of the 4G system are discussed considering market trends in order to identify the requirements of the system architecture. A Transmission Bit Rate of Air Interface Figure 1 shows the generations of mobile systems and their application areas from the viewpoints of transmission bit rate and their deployment areas. As the figure shows, the milestones achieved in mobile communications aim at faster bit rates and wider service areas. The 3G system achieves a maximum bit rate of 2 Mb/s and will offer packet-switched multimedia services as well as circuit switched voice services. Because the 4G system will most likely be introduced several years thereafter, a bit rate much higher than that of the 3G system should be offered even in a high-speed mobility environment. Wireless LANs and other broadband wireless access systems using 5-GHz frequency bands (ex. MMAC [5], IEEE 802.11, and HiperLAN/2 [6]) will offer greater than 30-Mb/s transmission capability in an indoor/pedestrian environment. For the 4G system, more than 20-Mb/s transmission should be realized in a high-speed environment. B. System Capacity If mobile communications are used only for voice communications between people, the number of subscribers and traffic volume will become saturated in the near future.
Deployment area (Mobility) Nationwide (High speed) 3G Citywide (Pedestrian) 2G IMT-2000 (2001) Systems beyond IMT-2000 (2007-2010?) (2007 High-speed High-capacity Low bit cost IP-based Wireless Access (2002) 0.1 1 Information speed (Mbit/s) 10

I. INTRODUCTION The concept of anytime, anywhere, anyone was realized by the development of mobile communications systems with regard to voice communications. Now, with the recent rapid developments in mobile communication services and with the increasing demand for access to the Internet, the role of mobile communications is changing and expanding from a complementary system for telephone services to a requisite system as a private information infrastructure. The third generation (3G) system known as the IMT-2000 [1], which will be introduced in 2001, should enhance the ability of data communications beyond that of the second-generation systems. The 3G system offers wireless channels of less than 2 Mb/s when subscribers move at vehicular speeds, and enhancements of the system capability are now being studied within the third generation partnership project (3GPP) [2] and other standardizing entities. In addition to these, studies of mobile communications systems beyond the IMT-2000 (4G) have been initiated in academia [3] and ITU-R [4] to accommodate better the quantitatively and qualitatively increasing demands of mobile users. The 4G system should be designed to offer sufficient bit rates even in a vehicular environment and to adapt data communications more efficiently to realize the concept of anytime, anywhere, anyone, and anything from the viewpoint of multimedia communications. This paper first considers requirements of the 4G system followed by assumptions of characteristics of a radio subsystem. Then the paper proposes a system architecture that satisfies those requirements and adapts to the characteristics.

Spot/Indoor (Stationary)

Millimeter-wave LAN 100

Fig. 1. Capability of mobile communications

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However, mobile communications will provide data communications between non-human objects as well as people. Therefore, the amount of mobile communications traffic will further increase for a considerable time into the future based on the development of new applications. Reference [3] estimated mobile communications traffic in 2010 and 2015. The estimation is based on the same method as that used for the traffic forecasts for 2010 conducted by ITU-R Task Group 8/1 [7]. Based on the estimation in [3], the amount of traffic in 2015 will be 23 fold that of the present, and multimedia traffic will account for 90% of the traffic. Therefore, enhancing the system capacity as well as achieving a higher bit rate transmission are important requirements for the 4G system. C. Area Coverage One of the advantages of mobile communications is the ability to communicate independently of time and place. Therefore, expanding the service area of mobile communication systems is always an important issue for system operators. The 2G system now covers approximately 100% of populated areas and customers can use mobile phones even in some buildings and underground shopping malls in urban areas. The 4G and 3G systems are expected to have coverage similar to the 2G system. D. Bit Cost Because customers have a limit as to how much they are willing to pay for services, the cost for communication services will not be significantly increased. Therefore, to develop broadband multimedia communications, the bit cost of the 4G system should be decreased concurrently with the realization of broadband transmission capability. E. Services Nowadays, most telecommunication services tend to be established through the Internet and terminals tend to be connected to the Internet. In addition, many appliances will be connected to a network and they will communicate with each other through the Internet [8]. Therefore, the 4G system should support IP protocols as a future network infrastructure. III. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE CONSIDERATIONS A. Characteristics of 4G Air Interface 1) Spectrum: Because the 4G system is expected to provide greater than 20-Mb/s wireless channels and should accommodate a significantly increased amount of traffic, sufficient frequency resources will be required. A lower

frequency band, which is considered suitable for mobile communications, is now heavily used. Therefore, it seems unlikely that sufficient bandwidth is still available in frequency bands below 3 GHz for the 4G system. Although the frequency band for the 4G system has not yet been discussed in the ITU-R (WRC), the 4G-system design should consider a higher frequency band for operation. 2) Cell radius: The 4G system will offer channels of more than 20 Mb/s, which is three orders of magnitude greater than that of the 2G system. The cell radius covered by a base station (BS) generally decreases if, assuming all other conditions are the same, radio signals are transmitted at higher bit rates because the received signal level must be higher than that at a lower transmission bit rate to compensate for the increased noise level. Moreover, as mentioned above, the 4G system may be operated in a higher frequency band so that propagation loss of the wireless signal is higher than that of the 2G and 3G systems. The increase in propagation loss caused by the operating frequency and channel speed can be converted into a decrease in cell radius by the following equations (assuming the antenna height of a base station is 23 m) if the other radio transmission conditions are assumed to be the same as those of the 3G system. Lp = 38*log(d)+21*log(f)+c Lb = 10*log(B/B0) r = 1/10^((21*log(f/f0)+10*log(B/B0))/38) (1) [9] (2) (3)

Lp: Propagation loss, d: Distance, f: Frequency, c: Constant Lb: Increase of noise power, B: Bit rate, B0: Reference bit rate, r: Relative cell radius, f0: Reference frequency

Figure 2 shows the relative cell radius calculated based on these equations. As shown in the figure, if the transmission performance of the radio transmission scheme does not improve, the cell radius decreases to less than half of that of the 3G system when the operating frequency is 2 GHz and
1 0.8

Relative cell radius

0.6 0.4 0.2 0 1 10

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Fig. 2. Relative cell radius (as compared with 2 GHz, 2 Mb/s)

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the channel bit rate is greater than 30 Mb/s or when the operating frequency is 8 GHz and the channel bit rate is greater than 2 Mb/s. This means that to cover the same area as the 3G system, the 4G system will require four times the number of BSs. In addition, it is assumed that the antenna height of the BSs in an urban area tends to be lower when the cell size is smaller. Because of this, there may be more outage areas even within the calculated cell radius. In order to accommodate the huge amount of traffic in 2015, the capacity of the 4G system should be increased by ten-fold that of the 3G system. One solution to enhance the capacity is to decrease the cell radius of a BS. The result would be that the cell radius would tend to be shorter also from the viewpoint of capacity enhancement. 3) Hierarchical service area: Although we expect that all objects will be connected to a network through wireless links, it may be difficult for small devices to be directly connected to the 4G system due to power consumption and antenna size. However, compact devices will be capable of exchanging wireless signals at short range. Therefore, compact devices will be able to access the 4G system through a miniature base station that will act as a mobile terminal (MT) for the 4G system. Due to employing such a configuration, service areas will consist of multiple overlapping cells. B. Requirements for System Architecture 1) Support of seamless connections: Imagining network services in 2010s, many types of wireless communication systems will be more popular as well as wired communications systems [3]. The 3G system will play a major role in public mobile communication services, and wireless LANs will play a major role in private area communications. Short-range wireless systems will also be used to configure Personal Area Networks (PANs). In addition to these wireless access systems, the 4G system will offer several tens of megabits per second channels for public mobile communications. When many types of networks can be used, customers may wish to access each system according to time, location, or other conditions. Concerns pertaining to the economic coverage of the 4G system of rural areas can be eased by the complementary use of other wireless systems. For these purposes, the following functions will be required
Interconnection between wireless access networks Capability of handover between wireless access networks Security mechanisms across wireless access networks

decrease. Due to this, cell sojourn time of customers will be shortened and the handover frequency will increase. Since channel bit rates of the 4G system will be enhanced beyond that of the 3G system, the number of packet error bits will increase in the 4G system even with the same duration of channel cutoff. Therefore, a reduction in the number of control messages and a short delay handover are required. 3) Easy deployment of coverage area: The 4G system will consist of shrunk cells. On the other hand, the system will be expected to offer services in most populated areas at a lower bit cost. To satisfy this requirement, the 4G system should be designed to deploy easily radio access networks at an economical cost. IV. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE This section proposes a system architecture considering the aforementioned objectives and requirements. A. Network Configuration Figure 3 shows the basic configuration of the 4G system. Similarly to the 3G system, it comprises a core network (CN), which performs service control, and radio access networks (RAN), which perform radio transmission and radio resource control. Mobility control is performed through cooperation between the CN and RAN. Information transportation in the 4G system (CN and RAN) is based on IP protocols. Each MT has its own IP address. Therefore, the 4G system directly connects with the Internet, but connects with ISDN or PSTN through gateways. Contrarily, traditional mobile systems connect to the Internet through gateways. By this configuration, multiple types of RANs, which are based on IP protocols, can be integrated with each other and services can be offered through a common CN. Furthermore, the introduction time and deployment speed of the 4G RAN will vary in each region depending on the market demand, and other types of RAN can be used complementarily in areas where the 4G RAN has not yet been deployed.
MN: Movable network MT: Mobile terminal RAN: Radio access network CN: Core network MN MN
MT

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4G RAN 4G RAN 3G RAN

MT GW

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2) Reduction in number of control messages and short delay at handover: As mentioned in the previous section, it seems unavoidable that the cell radius of the 4G system will

MT

Fig. 3. Network configuration

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: BS in communication : BS for handover RNC : Radio Network Controller

: Cluster head BS

CN Layer 3 signal Layer 1/2/3 signals BS7 BS8 BS3 BS1 BS9 BS6 BS10 BS5 MT Movement BS4 BS5 RNC

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BS approach link Layer 1/2/3 signals BS1 BS2

BS2 BS3

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: Mobile terminal : Master-BS area : Slave-BS area (a) Time T1

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Local Area Network

(c) Time T3

(a) 3G RAN: Star type configuration (Centralized control)

(b) 4G RAN: Cluster type configuration (Decentralized control)

Fig. 5. Distributed diversity handover control

Fig. 4. RAN configuration B. RAN Configuration In order to deploy the RAN efficiently, we propose a RAN configuration that adopts distributed base station control and multi-hop link connections. Figure 4 shows the RAN configuration of the 4G system (4G RAN) compared with that of the 3G system (3G RAN) [10]. The 3G RAN has a vertical-tree structure and multiple BSs are connected to a Radio Network Controller (RNC) that controls intensively those BSs. In order to enhance radio-signal quality at the cell edges, a diversity handover scheme has been introduced to the 3G system. In the scheme, when a MT can communicate with multiple BSs, i.e., the MT is handed over between adjacent BSs, all Layer 1 signals of the uplink (MT to BSs) received at each BS are transmitted to the RNC, and the RNC combines them into a user data stream. Simultaneously, Layer 1 signals of the downlink (BSs to MT) are transmitted from multiple BSs, and the MT combines the received data from multiple BSs into a user data stream. Because of this, traffic on the BS approach links is multiplied compared to the original user information. If the same configuration is adopted in the 4G RAN, in which handover may occur more frequently, the load on both the approach links and the RNC signal processing equipment will be heavier. This will cause a serious cost increase in the RAN. The RAN structure proposed for the 4G RAN is a cluster-cellular RAN as shown in Fig. 4(b). In this figure, a loop-type cluster is indicated as an example but other types of configurations are applicable. In this configuration, BSs are grouped into a cluster and there is a cluster-head BS, which is connected to the CN. BSs in a cluster are linked to each other by a kind of local area network (LAN). RNC functions are distributed to each BS.

1) Distributed base station control: In order to reduce the load on both the approach links and the signal processing on specific equipment, most of the Layer 1 signal processing control is distributed among the BSs. Figure 5 shows an example of diversity handover control. The uplink signal is received by multiple BSs (slave-BS) and then the received signal is forwarded to one of the BSs that processes the uplink signal as a temporal agent (master-BS). As the MT moves, the role of the master BS (the temporal agent) is passed to an adjacent BS, some BSs are newly incorporated into the group of BSs, and some BSs are removed from the group. Thus, BSs communicating with a MT form a kind of virtual BS represented by the master BS. If received Layer 1 signals are transferred only within the cluster, diversity handover control is closed within the cluster. If those signals are transferred by IP packets and the BSs work as a router, the diversity handover can be carried out independently of the cluster. Downlink packet signals are multicasted from the cluster-head BS to the other BSs in the cluster. 2) Multi-hop wireless connections: Approach links in the present RANs are constructed both of optical fiber and radio links, and radio media is preferable as link transmission media from the viewpoint of system cost [11]. The RAN of the 4G system, is expected to transfer 23-fold more traffic than the current RANs and to cover more BSs. Therefore, the 4G RAN approach link requires a greater traffic capacity and better economical performance. In order to increase the capacity, the radio link bandwidth must be broadened. Therefore, the radio frequency used for the links will become higher to support the wider bandwidth so that the applicable transmission distance of a radio link will be shorter. To compensate for this problem, increasing the output power and using a high directivity antenna are applicable techniques; however, they are not desirable from the viewpoint of equipment cost.

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To solve the aforementioned problems, this paper proposes to apply multi-hop wireless connections taking advantage of the cluster-type RAN structure. In multi-hop connections, the signal transmission distance is shorter than that in single hop connections but the necessary transmission capacity is larger because of the relay traffic. To evaluate these configurations, we compare the total transmission power of both configurations because the system cost mostly depends on the required transmission power, provided that the cost of the radio transceiver such as that for modulator, demodulator, and antenna, is equal between both configurations. Figures 6 and 7 show the RAN configuration model and an example calculation of the relative transmit power. For the calculation, we defined the cluster size, N, that derives number of cells comprising a cluster (=N*(N+1)/2). In Fig. 6, the service area is assumed to be the same and the cell size is reduced according to N. As shown in this figure, the multihop connection is superior to the single-hop connections from the viewpoint of the total output power although it carries relay traffic. In addition, due to the multi-hop configuration, it is not necessary to find a line-of-sight radio path, which directly connects a BS with the cluster-head BS. V. CONCLUSION This paper analyzed the market trends of mobile communications and identified the requirements for the 4G system. The amount of traffic is projected to increase significantly and most of the traffic is anticipated to be data. To accommodate these future market trends, the 4G system will use a higher frequency band and offer information channels that have a bit rate ten-fold higher than the 3G system. Due to this, the cell radius of the 4G system will decrease and the handover frequency will increase. Based on these requirements, this paper presented a system architecture for the 4G system that comprises an IP-based core network and several types of RAN. This paper also proposed a cluster-type RAN configuration that processes RAN control in a distributed manner to reduce the required processing power and control signals and is constructed by multi-hop wireless connections to enhance the approach link capacity and reduce system cost. Based on the proposed architecture, individual technologies will be developed to realize the 4G system for a future society supported by mobile communications. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors thank Professor Nobuo Nakashima of the University of Electro Communications, Tokyo, for his valuable suggestions and encouragement on the 4G system research project. They also thank the research project participants for their great contributions.

REFERENCES
[1] Special Issue on IMT-2000: Standards Efforts of the ITU, IEEE Pers. Commun., Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 8-40, 1997. [2] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, Available at http://www.3gpp.org/ [3] S. Ohmori, Y. Yamao, and N. Nakajima, The future generations of mobile communications based on broadband access technologies, IEEE Commun. Mag., Vol. 38, No. 12, pp. 128-138, 1999. [4] S. Blust, Wireless standards development A new paradigm, IEEE VTS NEWS, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 4-11, Nov. 2000 [5] ARIB, MMAC, Available at http://www.arib.or.jp/mmac/e/index.htm. [6] ETSI, HiperLAN/2 Standard, Available at http://www.etsi.org/technicalactiv/hiperlan2.htm. [7] ITU-R Report M.2023, Spectrum requirements for IMT-2000, 2000. [8] M. Nakagawa, Wireless home link, IEICE Trans. Commun. Vol. E82-B, No. 12, pp. 1893-1896, Dec. 1999. [9] J. Walfisch and H. L. Bertoni, "Theoretical model of UHF propagation in urban environments," IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 36, pp. 1788-1796, 1988. [10] Y.Yamao, H.Suda, N.Umeda, N.Nakajima, Radio Access Network Design Concept for the Fourth Generation Mobile Communication System, Proc. IEEE VTC2000-Spring, pp.2285-2289, May 2000. [11] A. Hashimoto, J. Sango, and K. Yamagishi, "Basic design policy for DoCoMo's transmission networks - Toward the construction of economical infrastructure," NTT DoCoMo Technical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 4-11, 2000.

N : Cluster size

: Cells comprising a cluster

(a) N = 1

(b) N = 3 (Single hop)

(c) N = 3 (Multi-hop)

Fig. 6. Cluster configuration model

Pm: Transmit power in the tree type multi-hop configuration Ps : Transmit power in the star type single-hop configuration d : Allowed transmission delay in RAN : Packet arrival rate per cell when cluster size is 1
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(d(s), (Packets/s)) (0.01, 500) (0.001, 500) (0.01, 50000) (0.001, 50000)

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Fig. 7. Relative output power of wireless

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