Wireless Network Communication

In wireless communication, users communicate without wires. The communication link is

established through radio frequencies (RF). The telecommunication system has to perform
a number of steps and go through a number of wired segments for setting up a wireless
communication session between two users.

RadioFrequency - Spectrum and Band

All forms of wireless communication use electromagnetic waves to propagate information

from one place to another.

Spectrum: The entire range of waves is referred to as a spectrum.

Band: Band refers to a range of Radio Frequencies usable for a particular task which can
be transporting data or voice or something else. To describe the size of this band, the term
bandwidth is used.
Cellular Communication

There is no radio frequency which can carry data or voice to long distances without
serious attenuation. The entire communication is, therefore, achieved in multiple
“communication slots” to overcome this limitation. A communication slot is a
geographical area within which the Radio Frequency can be used to set up
communication. In cellular terminology this communication slot is referred to as a cell,
and the entire communication infrastructure is known as cellular communication.

To provide communication over a geographical area of any shape - for example, a city - it
is logically divided into a set of cells [1,2,3,4] .This logical division helps to identify the
best position to install the transceiver for achieving the “best coverage,” which means that
a mobile device is able to receive communication from any point of a cell.

A cell must have a wireless component for managing the communication. One of the
important coverage factors is the location of its “cell site,” which is the point in the cell
where the transceiver is installed.
CONTINUOUS CONNECTIVITY

Continuous connectivity during communication is highly desirable for voice

communication but essential for data exchange. A momentary disruption in voice
communication is acceptable because the communicating parties can decipher the missing
word. This is, however, not acceptable in data communication because it threatens the
accuracy of the data.

A communication session uses a channel to exchange information. Continuous

connectivity is affected by a variety of reasons such as the absence of free channel, signal
fading and interference. 


Structure of a Channel

A channel is a communications path between any two devices such as computers, mobile
units, base stations, etc. In mobile discipline two frequencies are required to establish
communication; one from mobile to base station and one from base station to mobile. For
this reason a channel is defined as a pair of radio frequencies, one to receive and one to
transmit. The frequency which is used by mobile unit for transmission to base station is
called uplink channel and the frequency used by the base station to transmit to the mobile
unit is called downlink channel.

Absence of Free Channel

A cell has a fixed number of voice channels available for communication. The Mobile
Switching Center (MSC) allocates on demand a channel through the base station to the
mobile unit when it tries to make a call. During peak hours there may not be any free
voice channel for allocation to a new request which results in dropping the request. In
some situations the MSC may borrow a channel from the neighbouring cell for use, but
this is a temporary solution and besides these two cells must be under the management of
the same MSC.
Signal Fading

The strength of the communication channel reduces as the mobile unit moves away from
the base station. The Figure shows how the strength (expressed in decibels (dB)) falls as
the distance between the base station and the mobile unit increases. Signal fading affects
speech audibility, video reception, and data loss.

Fading occurs mainly due to

(a) absorption

(b) free - space loss, and

(c) multi-path fading

Absorption occurs when radio frequency hits obstacles such as buildings, trees, rain,
hills, etc. Different materials exhibit different absorption power, for example, organic
material exhibit relatively higher absorption effect.

Free-space loss describes the absorption of signal power over a given distance between
the source and the destination units. This information plays an important role on defining
the size of a cell in cellular communication.
The reflection of a radio signal from the objects of its path of travel gives rise to multi-
path fading. A radio signal may be divided into the main signal (direct) and a number of
reflected signals (indirect). These direct and indirect signals travel different distances and
reach at different times at the receiving antenna where indirect signals could be out of
phase with the direct signal. This situation affects the reception, and in satellite
communication it creates ghost images in television reception.

PCS

It is abbreviated as Personal Communication Service. PCS is a more sophisticated and

powerful wireless phone service which emphasised personal service and extended
mobility. Unlike cellular system, it used digital communication and smaller size cells to
enhance the quality of services and to sup- port larger number of subscribers. However,
PCS did not reject the analog system completely and continued to support it. Thus an
older analog system can still work.

Architecture of PCS

It has two sets of components:

(a) functional components, which are represented as rectangles, and

(b) interfaces, which are represented as small circles between two functional components

Since this is a reference architecture, it can be implemented and deployed in many

different ways. In one implementation, multiple components may be integrated into a
single physical unit without affecting their modularity.
Functional Components

• Mobile Unit (MU)

This is also called as MobileHost(MH) or MobileStation(MS). It is a wireless
device which is composed of (a) antenna, (b) transceiver, and (c) user interface. The
antenna captures the signal, and the transceiver is responsible for receiving and sending
signals. The user interface is responsible for interacting with the user by displaying
graphics and text and receiving texts from the user.

The Mobile unit has its own permanent memory where it stores

(a) Mobile Identification Number (MIN) ( It is a 10-digit subscriber’s telephone number.)

(b) Electronic Serial Number (ESN) (It is a unique 32-bit number which is used by the
cellular system to identify the unit. )

(c) Station Class Mark (SCM).

Base Station (BS): The BS consists of a pair of transmitter and receiver. Each cell is
managed by one BS only, and the size of the cell is determined by its power. In PCS
architecture the activities of a BS such as setting up a communication, allocating a
channel for communication, etc., are directly managed by the MSC
Base Station Controller-BSC: This is a GSM component which manages the activities
of a number of BS or BTS. Its main functions are RF frequency administration, BTS, and
handover management. At one end a BSC is connected to, many BTSs and to a MSC on
the other end.

Mobile Switching Center (MSC) : Own

Home Location Register (HLR): It is a large database which stores necessary

information such as geographical location of a subscriber, call processing, billing, service
subscription, service restrictions, etc.

Visitor Location Register (VLR): A VLR is a current subset of HLR for a particular cell.
Whenever a subscriber enters a new cell, its current location is stored in VLR
representing that cell. The entry is removed when the subscriber leaves that cell. The
information about a subscriber is replicated in HLR and VLR to achieve faster location
search which begins from VLR and ends in HLR if the entry is not found in the VLR. The
VLR data are not used for any administrative purpose; it merely serves as a location
identifier.

Authenticating Center(AC or AUC): The AC is a processor system, which authenticates

subscribers. AC needs to access user information for authentication process so it is co-
located with HLR. Thus AC and HLR together are stored in MSC or some- where nearby
it. An AC may serve more than one HLR.

The authentication steps are as follows:

a. AC sends a random number to the mobile unit from where the call originates.

b. Authentication algorithm stored in SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) manipulates

this random number using a Subscriber Authentication Key, which is also stored in
SIM.

c. The result of this manipulation is sent to AC along with an encryption key (secured
communication).

d. Concurrent with the authentication computation at the mobile unit, AC performs

identical computation using the random number and information stored in HLR.

e. AC compares the result of its own computation and the result received from the
mobile unit. In the case of a successful comparison, it permits the subscriber to access
the network

Equipment Identify Register (EIR): It is a database which stores information for the
identification of mobile units. For example, it maintains a database of Electronic Serial
Number which is unique to a mobile unit which prevents its theft and malicious use. It
helps the network to deny any service to stolen mobile unit. To handle use of questionable
equipment (stolen or fraudulent), GSM maintains three types of list identified as white,
black, and gray. A white list stores all clean equipments’ identities which are allowed to
use the network, a gray list contains clean but semi-functional units (malfunctioning) that
have difficulty in making a call, and the black list contains the identities of stolen or
fraudulent units. Any call originating from a black list unit is blocked by the network.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN): This component refers to the regular
wired line telecommunication network which is commonly accessed by landline calls.

Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN): It is a wired line network which provides
enhanced digital services to subscribers.

Message Center (MC): This unit stores and forwards short messages to mobile
destination. If the destination is unavailable for any reason, it stores the message for later
dispatch.
UNIT - III

MOBILE DATABASE SYSTEM

A Mobile Database System (MDS) provides full database and mobile communication
functionalities. It allows a mobile user to initiate transactions from anywhere and at
anytime and guarantees their consistency preserving execution. In the case of any kind of
failure, MDS guarantees database recovery. It provides the following essential properties :

• Geographical mobility: Clients are able to move around in the geographical space
without affecting their processing capability and continuous connectivity.

• Connection and Disconnection: A client is able to disconnect and reconnect with any
server at any time.

• Data processing capability: Clients have some and servers have full database
processing capability.

• Wireless communication:A client can communicate with the server and with any other
client through a wireless network.

• Transparency: Since the mobility in data processing is introduced through cellular

architecture, the data processing functions of clients does not affect the cellular
communication.

• Scalability: Any time, a client can be added to, or an existing client can be deleted,
from the network.

An MDS is a distributed multi database client/server system based on PCS or GSM.

In MDS a set of general-purpose computers are interconnected through a high- speed

wired network. These computers are categorised into Fixed Hosts (FH) and
BaseStations(BS)
Explain the components as in PCS Architecture Discussed Earlier

To incorporate full database functionality, it is necessary to incorporate Database Servers

(DBSs) to PCS or GSM.

A DBS communicates with a Mobile Unit only through Base Stations. A mobile user
remains connected on the average for 2 to 4 hours during a day, and at all other times, it
must save the battery power.

Three basic types of replications of the database are: (Definitions in recent apps)

(a) No replication

(b) Full Replication

(c) Partial Replication

TRANSACTION EXECUTION IN MDS