wireless networks

Giuseppe Bianchi

bianchi@elet.polimi.it

Giuseppe Bianchi

Course outline

ÎPart 1: cellular planning concepts

ÎPart 2: GSM

ÎPart 3: Wi-Fi

ÎGPRS, UMTS (extra classes - TIM)

ÎExtra time?

Giuseppe Bianchi

1
 Wireless communication
ÎEarly wireless communication:
in the 400-900 TeraHertz Band!
Ö150 BC smoke signals (Greece)
Ö1794, optical telegraph, Claude Chappe

ÎWhat is wireless communication:

ÖAny form of communication that does not require the
transmitter and receiver to be in physical contact
ÖElectromagnetic wave propagated through free-space
ÆRadar, RF, Microwave, IR, Optical

Giuseppe Bianchi

types of communication
ÎSimplex
Öone-way communication
Æradio, TV, etc
ÎHalf-duplex:
Ötwo-way communication but not simultaneous
Æpush-to-talk radios, etc
ÎFull-duplex:
Ötwo-way communication
Æcellular phones
ÖFrequency-division duplex (FDD)
ÖTime-division duplex (TDD): simulated full-duplex

Giuseppe Bianchi

2
 Why wireless communication?
ÎUser Mobility
ÎReduced Cost (cheap infrastructure)
ÖCabling very critical
ÖDeveloping nations utilize cellular telephony rather than
laying twisted-pair wires to each home
ÎFlexibility
ÖCan easily set-up temporary LANs
ÆDisaster situations
ÆOffice moves
ÎOnly use resources when sending or
receiving a signal

Giuseppe Bianchi

Why wireless different than

wired?
ÎNoisy, time-varying channel
ÖBER varies by orders of magnitude
ÖEnvironmental conditions affect transmission
ÎShared medium
ÖOther users create interference
ÖMust develop ways to share the channel
ÎBandwidth is limited
Öspectrum allocated by state rules
ÖISM band for unlicensed use

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3
 History of wireless
communication
Î 1896: Marconi
Ö first demonstration of wireless telegraphy
Ö tx of radio waves to a ship at sea 29 km away
Ö long wave transmission, high power req. (200 kW and +)
Î 1901: Marconi
Ö Telegraph across the atlantic ocean
Ö Close to 3000 Km hop!
Î 1907 Commercial transatlantic connections
Ö huge ground stations (30 by100m antennas)
Î 1915: Wireless telephony established
Ö NY – S. Francisco
Ö Virginia and Paris
Î 1920 Marconi:
Ö Discovery of short waves (< 100m)
Ö reflection at the ionosphere
Ö (cheaper) smaller sender and receiver, possible due to the invention of the
vacuum tube (1906, Lee DeForest and Robert von Lieben)

Giuseppe Bianchi

History of wireless
communication
Î 1920's: Radio broadcasting became popular
Î 1928: many TV broadcast trials
Î 1930's: TV broadcasting deployment
Î 1946: First public mobile telephone service in US
Ö St. Louis, Missouri
Ö Single cell system
Î 1960's: Bell Labs developed cellular concept
Ö brought mobile telephony to masses
Î 1960’s: Communications satellites launched
Î Late 1970's: technology advances enable
affordable cellular telephony
Ö entering the modern cellular era
Î 1974-1978: First field Trial for Cellular System
Ö AMPS, Chicago

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4
 1st generation mobile systems
ÎFirst generation: 1980’s ÎAnalog transmission
ÎSeveral competing standards in Ö Frequency modulation
different countries ÎVarious bands:
Ö NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone) Ö NMT:
ÆScandinavian standard; adopted in most Æ450 MHz first
of Europe Æ900 MHz later
ÆFirst european system (Sweden, 1981) Ö TACS
Ö TACS (Total Access Communication Æ900 MHz
Systems), starts in 1985 Ö AMPS
ÆUK standard; A few of Europe, Asia,
Æ800 MHz
Japan
Ö AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone ÎToday still in use in low-
Service) technology countries
ÆUS standard Ö And not yet completely
Ö C-Netz (Only in Germany) dismissed in high-tech
Ö Radiocom 2000 (Only in France) countries
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2nd generation mobile systems

Î4 systems
ÖGlobal System for Mobile (GSM)
ÖDigital AMPS (D-AMPS), US
ÖCode Division Multiple Access
(IS-95) – Qualcomm,US
ÖPersonal Digital Cellular
(PDC),Japan
ÎGSM by far the
dominant one
ÖOriginally pan-european
ÖDeployed worldwide
Æ(slow only in US)
ÎBasic bands:
Ö900 MHz
Ö1800 MHz
Æ(Digital Cellular System:
DCS-1800)
Ö1900 MHz
Æ(Personal Communication
System:PCS-1900,US only)
ÎSpecifications for
ÖGSM-400 (large areas)
ÖGSM-800 (north america)

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5
 Timing
Î1982: Start of GSM-specification in
Europe (1982-1990)
Î1983: Start of American AMPS
widespread deployment
Î1984 CT-1 standard (Europe) for
cordless telephones
Î1991 Specification of DECT
ÖDigital European Cordless Telephone (today: Digital
Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications)
- ~100-500m range, 120 duplex channels, 1.2Mbit/s data
transmission, voice encryption, authentication
Î1992: Start of GSM operation Europe-
wide
Î1994: DCS-1800
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2 ½ generation mobile systems

GSM incremental extension
ÎHigh speed circuit switched data
(HSCSD)
ÆCircuit switched data communication
ÆUses up to 4 slots (1 slot = 9.6 or 14.4 Kbps)
ÎGeneral Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
ÆPacket data (use spectrum only when needed!)
Æ dial-up comparable speed
ÎEnhanced Data-rates for Global Evolution
(EDGE)
ÆHigher data rate available on radio interface (3x)
» Up to 384 Kbps (8 slots)
» Thanks to new modulation scheme (8PSK)
» May coexist with old GMSK

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6
3rd generation mobile systems

ÎUMTS (Universal Mobile

TelecommunicationSystem)
ÆITU standard: IMT-2000 (International Mobile
Telecommunication – 2000)
ÆUMTS forum created in 1996
ÆLater on 3GPP forum (bears most of
standardization activities)
ÖWideband CDMA radio interface
ÆBut several other proposals accepted as
“compatible”
ÖRadio spectrum: 1885-2025 & 2110-2200 MHz

Giuseppe Bianchi

History of Wireless Data

Î Early Wireless LAN proprietary products
Ö WaveLAN (AT&T) - the ancestor of 802.11
Ö HomeRF (Proxim)
Æ45% of the home network in 2000; 30% in 2001, … ε% today
ÆAbandoned by major chip makers (e.g. Intel: dismissed in april 2001)
Î IEEE 802.11 Committee formed in 1990
Ö Charter: specification of MAC and PHY for WLAN
Î First standard: june 1997
Æ1 and 2 Mbps operation
Î Reference standard: september 1999
Ö Multiple Physical Layers
Æ2.4GHz Industrial, Scientific & Medical shared unlicensed band
» Legacy; 802.11b/g
Æ5 GHz ISM (802.11a)
Î 1999: Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance
(WECA) certification
Ö Later on named Wi-Fi
Ö Boosted 802.11 deployment!!

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7
 WLAN speeds

Î802.11a: PHY for 5 GHz

Î802.11b: higher rate PHY for 2.4

GHz

Î802.11g: OFDM for 2.4 GHz

Î802.11n: ??? (Higher data rate)

ÆLaunched in september 2003
ÆMinimum goal: 108 Mbps (but higher numbers
considered)

Giuseppe Bianchi

Why so much talking about of

802.11 today?
Î802.11: no more “just” a WLAN
ÎHot-spots
ÖWhere the user goes, the network is available: home,
school, office, hotel, university, airport, convention center…
ÖFreedom to roam with seamless connectivity in every
domain, with single client device
ÎMay compete (complement) with 3G for
Wireless Internet access

Which of these two is the

proper (closer) picture
of Wireless Internet and
Mobile Computing?
Which technology is most suited?

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8
 WLAN Market - HotSpots
U.S. Commercial Hotspots
2001-2002: exceeded
U.S. Hotspots growth
expectations by 14%
(2002-2006)
4.500 50000
4.000 40000
3.500
30000
3.000
20000
2.500
10000
2.000
1.500 0
2002 2004 2006
2001 2002
Unique U.S. Hotspots
Forecasted Actual

2003: 125.000 regular hotspot US users

End 2006: 9 Million regular hotspot US users
End 2006: 1 Billion dollars revenue predicted from HotSpot operation
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The global picture

GPRS, 3G – UMTS Wide Area
< 400 Kb/s Æ Kms
WAN:
everywhere outside of
the hotspots, where
Local Area wireless Internet
Mobile Broadband Internet 802.11/UMTS connection are
IEEE 802.11 (b) provided
> 10 Mb/s Æ 100 m
switching
LAN:
Personal Area collection of secure
“hot spot”
connections, providing
Bluetooth broadband access to
< 800 Kb/s Æ 10 m BT/802.11
the Internet
switching
PAN:
collection of secure
connections between
devices in a
“very” local area

Giuseppe Bianchi