Cellular Mobile Communication Technologies

A cellphone is a mobile electronic telecommunications device that use radio waves to allow people the communicate dialing and receiving phone calls trough a wireless cellular network. The cellular network interconnected to the public phone system and is based on several telecom cells, called base station (cell sites) where the phones can connect. The cell bases have a tower with antennas with a zone of coverage (usually from 0.8 to 13 kilometres), and the mobile phones connect to the nearest base to make and receive calls. In a cellular network, cells are generally organized in groups of seven to form a cluster. There is a cell site or base station at the centre of each cell, which houses the transmitter/receiver antennae and switching equipment. The size of a cell depends on the density of subscribers in an area: for instance, in a densely populated area, the capacity of the network can be improved by reducing the size of a cell or by adding more overlapping cells. This increases the number of channels available without increasing the actual number of frequencies being used. All base stations of each cell are connected to a central point, called the Mobile Switching Office (MSO), either by fixed lines or microwave. The MSO is generally connected to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network): Cellular technology allows the hand-off of subscribers from one cell to another as they travel around. This is the key feature which allows the mobility of users. A computer constantly tracks mobile subscribers of units within a cell, and when a user reaches the border of a call, the computer automatically hands-off the call and the call is assigned a new channel in a different cell. International roaming arrangements govern the subscribers ability to make and receive calls the home networks coverage area.

Mobile Phone Generations

Mobile phone development over the last twenty years is commonly split into generations.

0G
0G refers to pre-cellphone mobile telephony technology, such as radio telephones that some had in cars before the advent of cellphones. One such technology is the Autoradiopuhelin (ARP) launched in 1971 in Finland as the country's first public commercial mobile phone network.

1G
1G (or 1-G) is short for first-generation wireless telephone technology, cellphones. These are the analog cellphone standards that were introduced in the 80's and continued until being replaced by 2G digital cellphones. One such standard is NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), used in Nordic countries, Eastern Europe and Russia. Another is AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System) used in the United States. Anticedant to 1G technology is the mobile radio telephone, or 0G.

2G
2G (or 2-G) is short for second-generation wireless telephone technology. It cannot normally transfer data, such as email or software, other than the digital voice call itself, and other basic ancillary data such as time and date. Nevertheless, SMS messaging is also available as a form of data transmission for some standards. 2G services are frequently referred as Personal Communications Service or PCS in the US. 2G technologies can be divided into TDMA-based and CDMA-based standards depending on the type of multiplexing used. The main 2G standards are: GSM (TDMA-based), originally from Europe but used worldwide IDEN (TDMA-based), proprietary network used by Nextel in the United States and Telus Mobility in Canada IS-136 aka D-AMPS, (TDMA-based, commonly referred as simply TDMA in the US), used in the Americas IS-95 aka cdmaOne, (CDMA-based, commonly referred as simply CDMA in the US), used in the Americas and parts of Asia PDC (TDMA-based), used exclusively in Japan 2.5G services are already available in many countries and 3G will be widely available in many countries during 2004. Work on 4G has already started although its scope is not clear yet.

2.5G
2.5G is a stepping stone between 2G and 3G cellular wireless technologies. The term "second and a half generation" is used to describe 2G-systems that have implemented a packet switched domain in addition to the circuit switched domain. It does not necessarily provide faster services because bundling of timeslots is used for circuit switched data services (HSCSD) as well. While the terms "2G" and "3G" are officially defined, "2.5G" is not. It was invented for marketing purposes only. 2.5G provides some of the benefits of 3G (e.g. it is packet-switched) and can use some of the existing 2G infrastructure in GSM and CDMA networks. The commonly known 2.5G technique is GPRS. Some protocols, such as EDGE for GSM and CDMA2000 1x-RTT for CDMA, officially qualify as "3G" services (because they have a data rate of above 144kbps), but are considered by most to be 2.5G services (or 2.75G which sounds even more sophisticated) because they are several times slower than "true" 3G services. 2G is the current generation of full digital mobile phone systems. It transmits primarily voice but is used for circuit-switched data service and SMS as well. 3G is now the third generation of mobile phone systems. They provide both a packet-switched and a circuit-switched domain from the beginning. It requires a new access network, different from that already available in 2G systems. Due to cost and complexity, rollout of 3G has been somewhat slower than anticipated.

2.75G

A 2G mobile phone is a circuit switched digital mobile phone. A 3G mobile is a digital phone with rapid data according to one of the standards being a member of the IMT-2000 family of standards. After those terms were defined, slow packet switched data was added to 2G standards and called 2.5G. 2.75G is the term which has been decided on for systems which don't meet the 3G requirements but are marketed as if they do (e.g. CDMA-2000 without multi-carrier) or which do, just, meet the requirements but aren't strongly marketed as such. (e.g. EDGE systems). The term 2.75G has not been officially defined anywhere, but as of 2004 is beginning to be used quite often in media reports.

3G
3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation mobile telephone technology. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging).

3G Standards
3G technologies are an answer to the International Telecommunications Union's IMT-2000 specification. Originally, 3G was supposed to be a single, unified, worldwide standard, but in practice, the 3G world has been split into three camps. 4G In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. It is a successor to the 3G and 2G families of standards. A 4G system is expected to provide a comprehensive and secure all-IP based mobile broadband solution to laptop computer wireless modems, smartphones, and other mobile devices. Facilities such as ultra-broadband Internet access, IP telephony, gaming services, and streamed multimedia may be provided to users. Pre-4G technologies such as mobile WiMAX and first-release Long term evolution (LTE) have been on the market since 2006[2] and 2009[3][4][5] respectively, and are often branded as 4G in marketing materials. The current versions of these technologies did not fulfill the original ITU-R requirements of data rates approximately up to 1 Gbit/s for 4G systems. On 12 December 2010, VivaCell-MTS launches in Armenia 4G/LTE commercial test network with a live demo conducted in Yerevan. On 28 April 2011, Lithuania's Omnitel opened LTE "4G" network working in 5 biggest cities
Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e)

The Mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005) mobile wireless broadband access (MWBA) standard (also known as WiBro in South Korea) is sometimes branded 4G, and offers peak data rates of 128 Mbit/s downlink and 56 Mbit/s uplink over 20 MHz wide channels[citation needed]. The world's first commercial mobile WiMAX service was opened by KT in Seoul, South Korea on 30 June 2006.[

UMTS (W-CDMA)

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone System), based on W-CDMA technology, is the solution generally preferred by countries that used GSM, centered in Europe. UMTS is managed by the 3GPP organization also responsible for GSM, GPRS and EDGE. FOMA, launched by Japan's NTT DoCoMo in 2001, is generally regarded as the world's first commercial 3G service. However, while based on W-CDMA, it is not generally compatible with UMTS (although there are steps currently under way to remedy the situation).

CDMA2000
The other significant 3G standard is CDMA2000, which is an outgrowth of the earlier 2G CDMA standard IS-95. CDMA2000's primary proponents are outside the GSM zone in the Americas, Japan and Korea. CDMA2000 is managed by 3GPP2, which is separate and independent from UMTS's 3GPP.

TD-SCDMA
A less well known standard is TD-SCDMA which is being developed in the People's Republic of China by the companies Datang and Siemens. They are predicting an operational system for 2005. AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone System or AMPS is the analog mobile phone system standard, introduced in the Americas during the early 1980s. Though analog is no longer considered advanced at all, the relatively seamless cellular switching technology AMPS introduced was what made the original mobile radiotelephone practical, and was considered quite advanced at the time.

Technology
It was a first-generation technology, using FDMA which meant each cell site would transmit on different frequencies, allowing many cell sites to be build near each other. However it had the disadvantage that each site did not have much capacity for carrying calls. It also had a poor security system which allowed people to steal a phone's serial code to use for making illegal calls. It was later replaced by the newer Digital TDMA system which brought improved security as well as increased capacity.

Frequency bands
For each market area, there were to be two licensee (networks). Each network is authorized to use 416 channels in the 800 MHz band. Each channel is composed of 2 frequencies. 416 of these are in the 824~849 MHz range for transmissions from mobile stations to the base stations, paired with 416 frequencies in the 869~894 MHz range for transmissions from base stations to the mobile stations. Each cell site will use a subset of these channels, and must use a different set than neighboring cells to avoid interference. This significantly reduces the number of channels available at each site in real-world systems. Each AMPS frequency is 30kHz wide. The AMPS band was taken from the same 806~890 MHz frequency band which was originally UHF TV channels 70~83. This meant that these UHF channels could not be used for UHF TV transmission as these frequencies were to be used for AMPS transmission.

Introduction of digital TDMA

Later, many AMPS networks were partially converted to what became (incorrectly) known as TDMA, a digital, TDMA, based 2G standard used mainly by Cingular Wireless (who has purchased AT&T Wireless in October 2004) and US Cellular. TDMA networks were backward compatiable with AMPS. The mis-use of the term TDMA (which is a type of channel sharing scheme) to refer to a particular access protocol has caused some confusion. The first version of the TDMA standard was known as IS-54 and was supplanted by IS-136.

Introduction of GSM and CDMA

AMPS and TDMA are now being phased out in favor of either CDMA and GSM which allow for higher capacity data transfers which open for gateway services over WAP and i-mode, Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), and wireless Internet Access. The major difference between the two options is that many CDMA phones can fall-back on to AMPS networks if the phone can not get a CDMA signal but can get a AMPS signal. CDMA phones can not use TDMA, only AMPS. GSM phones, being designed by Europeans who had never intended that GSM be used in America, do not normally support this feature. However there are some phones capable of supporting AMPS, TDMA and GSM all in one phone. However AMPS/CDMA phones supports seamless handoffs between CDMA and AMPS/TDMA while GSM phones can not.

Analog system in Europe

Total Access Communication System or TACS is the European version of AMPS. ETACS was an extended version of TACS with more channels. TACS and ETACS are now obsolete in Europe, having been replaced by the more scalable and all-digital GSM system.

Companies using AMPS

Telecom New Zealand - Telecom customers are in the process of migrating over to the new CDMA service. The old AMPS/D-AMPS system is due to be phased out in 2007. Since the establishment of the AMPS service in 1987 the network had always had the largest coverage of any network in New Zealand. However in recent times Digital GSM and CDMA coverage has matured enough to match or exceed AMPS coverage in many areas. Verizon Wireless - Although most Verizon customers use digital services, the backup AMPS network is the largest in the United States. Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility and Rogers Wireless all operate AMPS networks in Canada, though they have since been overlaid with digital services.

GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spcial Mobile) GSM is a cellular network, which means that mobile phones connect to it by searching for cells in the immediate vicinity. There are five different cell sizes in a GSM networkmacro, micro, pico, femto and umbrella cells. The coverage area of each cell varies according to the implementation environment. Macro cells can be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is installed on a mast or a building above average roof top level. Micro cells are cells whose antenna height is under average roof top level; they are typically used in urban areas. Picocells are small cells whose coverage diameter is a few dozen metres; they are mainly used indoors. Femtocells are cells designed for use in residential or small business environments and connect to the service providers network via a broadband internet connection. Umbrella cells are used to cover shadowed regions of smaller cells and fill in gaps in coverage between those cells. Cell horizontal radius varies depending on antenna height, antenna gain and propagation conditions from a couple of hundred meters to several tens of kilometres. The longest distance the GSM specification supports in practical use is 35 kilometres (22 mi). There are also several implementations of the concept of an extended cell,[7] where the cell radius could be double or even more, depending on the antenna system, the type of terrain and the timing advance. Indoor coverage is also supported by GSM and may be achieved by using an indoor picocell base station, or an indoor repeater with distributed indoor antennas fed through power splitters, to deliver the radio signals from an antenna outdoors to the separate indoor distributed antenna system. These are typically deployed when a lot of call capacity is needed indoors; for example, in shopping centers or airports. However, this is not a prerequisite, since indoor coverage is also provided by in-building penetration of the radio signals from any nearby cell. The modulation used in GSM is Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), a kind of continuousphase frequency shift keying. In GMSK, the signal to be modulated onto the carrier is first smoothed with a Gaussian low-pass filter prior to being fed to a frequency modulator, which greatly reduces the interference to neighboring channels (adjacent-channel interference).

GSM carrier frequencies

GSM networks operate in a number of different carrier frequency ranges (separated into GSM frequency ranges for 2G and UMTS frequency bands for 3G), with most 2G GSM networks operating in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Where these bands were already allocated, the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands were used instead (for example in Canada and the United States). In rare cases the 400 and 450 MHz frequency bands are assigned in some countries because they were previously used for first-generation systems. Most 3G networks in Europe operate in the 2100 MHz frequency band. Regardless of the frequency selected by an operator, it is divided into timeslots for individual phones to use. This allows eight full-rate or sixteen half-rate speech channels per radio frequency. These eight radio timeslots (or eight burst periods) are grouped into a TDMA frame. Half rate channels use alternate frames in the same timeslot. The channel data rate for all 8 channels is 270.833 kbit/s, and the frame duration is 4.615 ms. The transmission power in the handset is limited to a maximum of 2 watts in GSM850/900 and 1 watt in GSM1800/1900.

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

GPRS is a packet oriented Mobile Data Service available to users of the 2G cellular communication systems Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), as well as in the 3G systems. In the 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates from 56 up to 114 kbit/s. GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of traffic transferred, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user actually is using the capacity or is in an idle state. GPRS is a best-effort packet switched service, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain Quality of Service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection for non-mobile users.

2G cellular systems combined with GPRS are often described as "2.5G", that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony. It provides moderate speed data transfer, by using unused Time division multiple access (TDMA) channels in, for example, the GSM system. Originally there was some thought to extend GPRS to cover other standards, but instead those networks are being converted to use the GSM standard, so that GSM is the only kind of network where GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases. It was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), but now by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A GPRS connection is established by reference to its Access Point Name (APN). The APN defines the services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and for Internet communication services such as email and World Wide Web access.

Overview of GSM, GPRS, and UMTSGeneral Packet Radio Service

Overview of GSM, GPRS, and UMTSGeneral Packet Radio Service The general packet radio system (GPRS) provides packet radio access for mobile Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and time-division multiple access (TDMA) users. In addition to providing new services for today's mobile user, GPRS is important as a migration step toward third-generation (3G) networks. GPRS allows network operators to implement an IP-based core architecture for data applications, which will continue to be used and expanded for 3G services for integrated voice and data applications. The GPRS specifications are written by the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI), the European counterpart of the American National Standard Institute (ANSI). GPRS is the first step toward an end-to-end wireless infrastructure and has the following goals: Open architecture Consistent IP services Same infrastructure for different air interfaces Integrated telephony and Internet infrastructure Leverage industry investment in IP Service innovation independent of infrastructure

Benefits of GPRS
The GPRS provides the following benefits: Overlays on the existing GSM network to provide high-speed data service Always on, reducing the time spent setting up and taking down connections Designed to support bursty applications such as e-mail, traffic telematics, telemetry, broadcast services, and web browsing that do not require detected connection. By implementing Cisco GPRS products and related solutions, mobile service providers can optimize their networks to deploy high quality mobile voice and data services. They can also benefit from new operating efficiencies, peer-to-peer IP-based architecture for scalability, and IP standard interfaces to billing and customer support.

GPRS Applications
GPRS enables a variety of new and unique services to the mobile wireless subscriber. These mobile services have unique characteristics that provide enhanced value to customers. These

characteristics include the following: MobilityThe ability to maintain constant voice and data communications while on the move ImmediacyAllows subscribers to obtain connectivity when needed, regardless of location and without a lengthy login session LocalizationAllows subscribers to obtain information relevant to their current location The combination of these characteristics provides a wide spectrum of possible applications that can be offered to mobile subscribers. The core network components offered by Cisco enable seamless access to these applications, whether they reside in the service provider's network or the public Internet. In general, applications can be separated into two high-level categories: corporate and consumer. These include: Communications E-mail; fax; unified messaging; intranet/Internet access Value-added servicesInformation services; games E-commerceRetail; ticket purchasing; banking; financial trading Location-based applicationsNavigation; traffic conditions; airline/rail schedules; location finder Vertical applicationsFreight delivery; fleet management; sales-force automation Advertising Communications Communications applications include those in which it appears to users that they are using the mobile communications network as a pipeline to access messages or information. This differs from those applications in which users believe that they are accessing a service provided or forwarded by the network operator. Intranet Access The first stage of enabling users to maintain contact with their offices is through access to e-mail, fax, and voice mail using unified messaging systems. Increasingly, files and data on corporate networks are becoming accessible through corporate intranets. These intranets can be protected through firewalls by enabling secure tunnels or virtual private networks (VPNs). Internet Access As a critical mass of users is approached, more and more applications aimed at general consumers are being placed on the Internet. The Internet is becoming an effective tool for accessing corporate data and manipulating product and service information. More recently, companies are using the Internet as an environment for conducting business through ecommerce. Email and Fax E-mail on mobile networks may take one of two forms. E-mail can be sent to a mobile user directly or the user can have an e-mail account maintained by the network operator or their Internet service provider (ISP). In the latter case, a notification is forwarded to the mobile terminal and includes the first few lines of the e-mail, details of the sender, the date and time, and the subject. Fax attachments can also accompany e-mails. Unified Messaging Unified messaging provides a single mailbox for all messages, including voice mail, faxes, email, short message service (SMS), and pager messages. Unified messaging systems allow for a variety of access methods to recover messages of different types. Some use text-to-voice systems to read e-mail or send faxes over a normal phone line. Most allow the user to query the contents of the various mailboxes through data access such as the Internet. Others can be configured to

alert the user on the device of their choice when messages are received. Value Added Services Value-added services refer to the content provided by network operators to increase the value of services to their subscribers. Two terms that are frequently used to describe delivery of data applications are push and pull, as defined below. Push describes the transmission of data at a predetermined time or under predetermined conditions. It also refers to the unsolicited supply of advertising (for example, delivery of news as it occurs or stock values when they fall below a preset value). Pull describes the request for data in real time by the user (for example, checking stock quotes or daily news headlines). To be valuable to subscribers, this content must possess several characteristics: Personalized information that is tailored to the user (for example, a stock ticker that focusses on key quotes and news or an e-commerce application that knows a user's profile) Localized content that is based on a user's current location and includes maps, hotel finders, or restaurant reviews Menu screens that are intuitive and easy to navigate Security for e-commerce sites for the exchange of financial or other personal information Several value-added services are outlined in the following sections. E-commerce E-commerce is defined as business conducted on the Internet or data service. This includes applications in which a contract is established for the purchase of goods and services and online banking applications. These applications require user authentication and secure transmission of sensitive data over the data connection. Banking The banking industry is interested in promoting electronic banking because electronic transactions are less costly to conduct than personal transactions in a bank. Specific banking functions that can be accomplished over a wireless connection include balance checking, money transfers between accounts, bill payment, and overdraft alert. Financial Trading The immediacy of transactions over the Internet and the requirement for up-to-the-minute information has made the purchasing of stocks online a popular application. By coupling push services with the ability to make secure transactions from the mobile terminal, a service that is unique to the mobile environment can be provided. Location-Based Services and Telematics Location-based services provide the ability to link push or pull information services with a user's location. Examples include hotel and restaurant finders, roadside assistance, and city-specific news and information. This technology also has vertical applications. These allow, for example, tracking vehicles in a fleet or managing the operations of a large workforce. Vertical Applications In the mobile environment, vertical applications apply to systems using mobile architectures to support the specific tasks within a company. Examples of vertical applications include: Sales supportConfiguring stock and product information for sales staff, integrating appointment details, and placing orders remotely DispatchingCommunicating job details such as location and scheduling and permitting

information queries to support the job Fleet managementControlling a fleet of delivery or service staff and vehicle, monitoring their locations, and scheduling their work Parcel deliveryTracking the locations of packages for customers and monitoring the performance of the delivery system Advertising Advertising services are offered as a push information service. Advertising may be offered to customers to subsidize the cost of voice or other information services. Advertising may be location sensitive. For example, a user entering a mall can receive advertisements specific to the stores in that mall.

GPRS Architecture
GPRS is a data network that overlays a second-generation GSM network. This data overlay network provides packet data transport at rates from 9.6 to 171 kbps. Additionally, multiple users can share the same air-interface resources simultaneously. GPRS attempts to reuse the existing GSM network elements as much as possible, but to effectively build a packet-based mobile cellular network, some new network elements, interfaces, and protocols for handling packet traffic are required. Therefore, GPRS requires modifications to numerous network elements as summarized

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), or IMT Single Carrier (IMT-SC) is a backward-compatible digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates, as an extension on top of standard GSM. EDGE can be considered a 3G radio technology and is part of ITU's 3G definition,but is most frequently referred to as 2.75G. EDGE was deployed on GSM networks beginning in 2003 initially by Cingular (now AT&T) in the United States. EDGE is standardized by 3GPP as part of the GSM family, and it is an upgrade that provides a potential three-fold increase in capacity of GSM/GPRS networks. The specification achieves higher data-rates by switching to more sophisticated methods of coding, within existing GSM timeslots. Introducing 8PSK encoding, EDGE is capable of delivering higher bit-rates per radio channel in good conditions. EDGE can be used for any packet switched application, such as an Internet connection. Highspeed data applications such as video services and other multimedia benefit from EGPRS' increased data capacity. EDGE Circuit Switched is a possible future development[citation needed]. Evolved EDGE was added in Release 7 of the 3GPP standard. This is a further extension on top of EDGE, providing reduced latency and potential speeds of 1Mbit/s by using even more complex coding functions than the 8PSK originally introduced with EDGE.

Technology
EDGE/EGPRS is implemented as a bolt-on enhancement for 2G and 2.5G GSM and GPRS networks, making it easier for existing GSM carriers to upgrade to it. EDGE/EGPRS is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrade. Although EDGE requires no hardware or software changes to be made in GSM core networks, base stations must be modified. EDGE compatible transceiver units must be installed and the

base station subsystem needs to be upgraded to support EDGE. If the operator already has this in place, which is often the case today, the network can be upgraded to EDGE by activating an optional software feature. Today EDGE is supported by all major chip vendors for GSM. New mobile terminal hardware and software is also required to decode/encode the new modulation and coding schemes and carry the higher user data rates to implement new services. Transmission techniques In addition to Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses higher-order PSK/8 phase shift keying (8PSK) for the upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE, like GPRS, uses a rate adaptation algorithm that adapts the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the quality of the radio channel, and thus the bit rate and robustness of data transmission. It introduces a new technology not found in GPRS, Incremental Redundancy, which, instead of retransmitting disturbed packets, sends more redundancy information to be combined in the receiver. This increases the probability of correct decoding. EDGE can carry data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s (with end-to-end latency of less than 150 ms) for 4 timeslots (theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots) in packet mode. This means it can handle four times as much traffic as standard GPRS. EDGE will therefore meets the International Telecommunications Union's requirement for a 3G network, and has been accepted by the ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. It also enhances the circuit data mode called HSCSD, increasing the data rate of this service. EGPRS modulation and coding scheme (MCS) In good radio conditions, EDGE can be four times as efficient as GSM. GSM use four coding schemes (CS-1 to 4) while EDGE provides nine Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCS-1 to 9). Coding and modulation scheme (MCS) Speed (kbit/s/slot) Modulation MCS-1 8.80 GMSK MCS-2 11.2 GMSK MCS-3 14.8 GMSK MCS-4 17.6 GMSK MCS-5 22.4 8-PSK MCS-6 29.6 8-PSK MCS-7 44.8 8-PSK MCS-8 54.4 8-PSK MCS-9 59.2 8-PSK Classification EDGE is part of ITU's 3G definition and is considered a 3G radio technology. EDGE Evolution EDGE Evolution improves on EDGE in a number of ways. Latencies are reduced by lowering the Transmission Time Interval by half (from 20 ms to 10 ms). Bit rates are increased up to 1 MBit/s peak speed and latencies down to 100 ms using dual carriers, higher symbol rate and higher-order modulation (32QAM and 16QAM instead of 8-PSK), and turbo codes to improve error correction. And finally signal quality is improved using dual antennas improving average bit-rates and spectrum efficiency. EDGE Evolution can be gradually introduced as software upgrades, taking advantage of the installed base. With EDGE Evolution, end-users will be able to experience mobile internet connections corresponding to a 500 kbit/s ADSL service. Networks The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) states that,as of May 2008, there were 313 commercial GSM/EDGE networks in 147 countries, from a total of 363 mobile network operator commitments in 165 countries.

GPRS coding

GPRS offers a number of coding schemes with different levels of error detection and correction. These are used dependent upon the radio frequency signal conditions and the requirements for the data being sent. These are given labels CS-1 to CS-4: 1. CS-1: - This applies the highest level of error detection and correction. It is used in scenarios when interference levels are high or signal levels are low. By applying high levels of detection and correction, this prevents the data having to be re-sent too often. Although it is acceptable for many types of data to be delayed, for others there is a more critical time element. This level of detection and coding results in a half code rate, i.e. for every 12 bits that enter the coder, 24 bits result. It results in a throughput of 9.05 kbps actual throughput data rate. 2. CS-2: - This error detection and coding scheme is for better channels. It effectively uses a 2/3 encoder and results in a real data throughput of 13.4 kbps which includes the RLC/MAC header etc. 3. CS-3: - This effectively uses a 3/4 coder and results in a data throughput of 15.6 kbps. 4. CS-4: - This scheme is used when the signal is high and interference levels are low. No correction is applied to the signal allowing for a maximum throughput of 21.4 kbps. If all eight slots were used then this would enable a data throughput of 171.2 kbps to be achieved. In addition to the error detection and coding schemes, GPRS also employs interleaving techniques to ensure the effects of interference and spurious noise are reduced to a minimum. It allows the error correction techniques to be more effective as interleaving helps reduce the total corruption if a section of data is lost. As blocks of 20 ms data are carried over four bursts, with a total of 456 bits of information, a total of either 181, 268, 312, or 428 bits of payload data are carried dependent upon the error detection and coding scheme chosen, i.e. from CS-1 to CS-4, respectively. GPRS classes and coding schemes In a GPRS network there are four coding schemes:Channel Coding CS-1 CS-2 CS-3 CS-4 Scheme Pre-cod. USF 3 6 6 12 Infobits without 181 268 312 428 USF Parity bits BC 40 16 16 16 Tail bits 4 4 4 Output conv 456 588 676 456 encoder Punctured bits 0 132 220 Code rate 1/2 ~2/3 ~3/4 1 Data rate kbit/s 9.05 13.4 15.6 21.4 Maximum data speed with 8 time- 72.4 kb/s 107.2 kb/s 124.8 kb/s 171.2 kb/s slots The choice of coding scheme depends on the condition of the channel provided by the cellular network (quality of the radio link between cell phone and base station). If the channel is very

noisy, the network may use CS-1 to ensure higher reliability; in this case the data transfer rate is only 9.05 kbit/s per GSM time slot used. If the channel is providing a good condition, the network could use CS-3 or CS-4 to obtain optimum speed, and would then have up to 21.4 kbit/s per GSM time slot. The multislot classes are as follows:Create a free website with Max. Class Download Upload slots 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 3 3 2 2 3 4 3 1 4 5 2 2 4 6 3 2 4 7 3 3 5 8 4 1 5 9 3 2 5 10 4 2 5 11 4 3 5 12 4 4 5 13 3 3 unlimited 14 4 4 unlimited 15 5 5 unlimited 16 6 6 unlimited 17 7 7 unlimited 18 8 8 unlimited 19 6 2 unlimited 20 6 3 unlimited 21 6 4 unlimited 22 6 4 unlimited 23 6 6 unlimited 24 8 2 unlimited 25 8 3 unlimited 26 8 4 unlimited 27 8 4 unlimited 28 8 6 unlimited 29

WAP Wireless Application Protocol

WAP is a global standard developed by the WAP Forum for wireless devices to access the Internet and telephony services. WAP can also be used to access data from corporate intranets through public or private IP networks. Figure A shows the WAP services that are currently offered. WAP specifications WAP is an open specification that defines a set of protocols in application, session, transaction, security, and transport layers. To leverage existing programming and development skills, it is based on existing standards and protocols such as XML, HTTP, UDP, HTML, and JavaScript. The key elements of the WAP specification include: A well-known applications development framework. The WAP transport model is analogous to the Internet model, except for the gateway that is inserted between the Web server and the client. This familiar model leverages the existing development skills of WWW programming. WML (Wireless Markup Language) as the standard markup language. A browser inside WAP devices that parses WML and WMLScript. A framework to support advanced telephony services, like WWW to mobile messaging, call forwarding, mobile to telefax access, and address book access. Figure B compares a protocol stack based on the Internet model to WAP. As you can see, numerous networks are included in WAP, with the ultimate goal of targeting multiple networks. How WAP works A typical WAP network consists of the following components: User with WAP-enabled device Gateway Application server The application server can be located in either a public or private IP network. The gateway normally is located in telecom networks, but it can be set up by a company using its own computer systems. To get an idea of how these components work together, lets look at a typical scenario using WAP technology: 1. A user with a WAP device requests content from the application server. 2. The request reaches the gateway first, which does the protocol translation from WAP to HTTP and routes the HTTP request to the destination server. 3. The server returns WML output and adds HTTP headers to the gateway, depending upon whether dynamic or static pages are requested. 4. The gateway converts WML and HTTP to binary form to conserve bandwidth and returns a WAP response to the user. 5. The browser inside the WAP device interprets the WML and shows the contents. WAP limitations Compared to PCs, wireless devices are limited in terms of processing power, memory, battery life, and display size. Other issues of low bandwidth, latency, and connection stability motivated the forum to come up with a new set of WAP standards. They have reused many of the existing standards while creating new extensions to address the above-mentioned problems. The new WAP specifications leverage the existing investment in hardware, software, applications, and development skills.

The WAP marketplace The drive toward WAP-enabled devices is gathering momentum. The WAP Forum, a consortium of 90 percent of the world's key handset manufacturers, has announced the upcoming release of WAPcompatible handsets. According to the forum, in less than two years, all new digital handheld devices will be WAP-enabled. Business technology advisor Gartner predicts that the mobile phone will become the most widely used Internet access device in the world, with the number of installed mobile phones topping 1 billion after 2003. Online applications and services that do not transfer a large amount of information across a network will fuel most of WAPs success. Services such as stock quotes, news, weather, and sports are already operational. As mobile commerce (m-commerce) becomes a faster, more secure channel, services such as banking, retail coupons, wireless ticketing, and sales notification will become commonplace. Look for this technology to change the way we interact with the Internet.

Access Technologies
There are three main cellular technologies: Older Analog/FDMA, Modern TDMA, Newer CDMA TDMA is the leading digital technology in cellular phones today. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is one of several technologies used in digital wireless transmissions that increases the efficiency of the network by allowing a greater number of simultaneous transmissions. Networks using TDMA assign 6 timeslots for each frequency channel. Devices using the wireless network send bursts of information that are reassembled at the receiving end. TDMA builds on FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access) by dividing conversations by frequency and time. Since digital compression allows voice to be sent under 10 kilobits per second (equivalent to 10 kHz), TDMA can fit three digital conversations into a FDMA/Analog channel (which is 30 kHz). By sampling a persons voice for, say 30 milliseconds, then transmitting it in 10 milliseconds; the system is able to offer 3 timeslots per channel in a roundrobin fashion. This technique allows compatibility with FDMA while enabling digital services and easily boosting the system by 3 times capacity. This leads to increase calls, more users on the network and better cellular quality. Compared to analog FDMA transmissions, TDMA offers a cellular carriers a efficient bandwidth option. TDMA is more secure, and has better quality of voice transmissions over longer and shorter distances. The newer CDMA(Code Division Multiple Access) technology is more advanced than basic FDMA. Due to lower cost savings compared to CDMA, TDMA is the digital transmission of choice in today's cellular world. TDMA is more popular with cellular carriers and manufactures and is the adopted digital standard for most phones. TDMA can be viewed as modern technology, FDMA/Analog as older technology.

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