Assignment 1

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using wireless communication as

compared to fibre or wired transmission?

Advantages of a Wireless Network over Wired

 As I mentioned in the introduction, the main advantage of a wireless network over a
wired one is that users can move around freely within the area of the network with their
laptops, handheld devices etc and get an internet connection.
 Users are also able to share files and other resources with other devices that are
connected to the network without having to be cabled to a port.
 Not having to lay lots of cables and put them through walls etc. can be a considerable
advantage in terms of time and expense. It also makes it easier to add extra devices to
the network, as no new cabling is needed.
 If you are a business such as a café, having a wireless network that is accessible to
customers can bring you extra business. Customers generally love wireless networks
because they are convenient.
 Wireless networks can sometimes handle a larger amount of users because they are
not limited by a specific number of connection ports.
 Instant transfer of information to social media is made much easier. For instance, taking
a photograph and uploading it to Facebook can generally be done much quicker with
wireless technology.
Disadvantages of a Wireless Network
 It can require extra costs and equipment to set up, although increasingly routers have
built-in wireless capability, as do devices such as laptops, handheld devices, modern
DVD players, and TVs.
 Setting up a wireless network can sometimes be difficult for people who are not
experienced with computers. (Although there are issues with setting up a wired network
too, off course!)
 File-sharing transfer speeds are normally slower with wireless networks than they are
with cabled. The speeds can also vary considerably according to your location in
relation to the network.
 The general speed of a wireless connection is also usually much slower than a wired
one. The connection also gets worse the farther you are from the router, which can be a
problem in a large building or space.
 Wireless connections can be obstructed by everyday household items and structures
such as walls, ceilings, and furniture.
  Wireless networks are generally less secure. There can also be problems with
neighbors stealing bandwidth, if the network hasn’t been set up to be password
protected. Information is also less secure too and can be easier to hack into.

2. Explain the differences between 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G mobile communications.

Generation 1: THE EMERGENCE (80s)

The standards of 1G (it was still not called 1G, of course) varied over the continents and
national borders, with NMT in Scandinavia, AMPS in USA, TACS in the UK, C-450 in
Germany and NTT in Japan. They were developed from the early seventies in the national
labs (e.g. Bell Labs in the US) to be officially accepted and put in action in late 70s or early
80s. From the technological side, it’s important to note that it was an analog technology: the
revolution of 1G was its mere existence.

Generation 2: CELL GOES DIGITAL (90s)

The early nineties brought us GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). What it
brought us right away was international roaming, SMS (texts) and sim cards (yes, 1G didn’t
have those). It was hailed as the second generation mobile standard, so we got the 1G/2G
nomenclature as well.

In 2G and all the generations to follow, we have to have a way to share a channel between
multiple users: otherwise, there would be a maximum of around 50 users in a 10 mile cell.
The approach selected in GSM was TDMA (time division multiple access), having different
users use the same frequency in different time slots.

2.5G: Revolution vs. Evolution

2.5G was the introduction of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) into GSM, allowing
packet switching: splitting the communication into data packets and sending them through a
channel which is not occupied all the time, like in the previously used circuit switching. 2.9G
took this a step further with Enhanced Data Rate for Global Evolution (EDGE) which,
unsurprisingly, enhanced the data rate of GPRS by the factor of three by introducing a new
modulation technique. The first viable internet connections over cellular come with these
advancements of 2G data traffic.

Generation 3: THE RATES OF THE NEW MILLENIUM (00s)

Data rates of at least 200 kbit/s were set as a lowest limit for a solution that would be dubbed
3G. It enables voice, video and internet in a mobile scenario. CDMA was the basis of the
new 3G, and again we weren’t able to make one standard to rule them all: UMTS (Universal
Mobile Telecommunications Service) came in GSM-dominated markets, while CDMA2000
came as a successor of the already existing CDMA schemes in 2G. Both standards were
developed from the early nineties.
Generation 4: MAGIC (10s)

4G is MAGIC: Mobile multimedia, Anywhere, Global mobility solutions over Integrated

wireless and Customized services. This convergence of multimedia (and pretty much
everything goes) and technology was the idea of 4G. Wireless and wired need a seamless
interface, and so does everything wireless. 4G went with Orthogonal frequency-division
multiple access (OFDMA) to replace 3G’s CDMA as a way of sharing the communication
channel.

And since LTE is an Evolution, the advanced versions of LTE (unsurprisingly called LTE-
Advanced) reached all the strict requirements of IMT-Advanced for 4G. On their way, they
introduced self organising networks, bigger MIMO, device-to-device (D2D) communication
and quite a few other smart innovations.

3. What are the differences in features provided by Bluetooth and ZigBee?

Bluetooth was developed under IEEE 802.15.1, which is used for providing wireless
communication through radio signals. The frequency range supported in Bluetooth vary from
2.4 GHz to 2.483 GHz. It covers less distance than Zigbee. In bluetooth, GFSK modulation
technique is used.
Whereas in Zigbee, BPSK and QPSK modulation techniques are used like UWB (Ultra-Wide
Band). the frequency range supported in Zigbee mostly 2.4 GHz worldwide, it means 2.4
GHz is not supported all times. It covers more distance as compared with Bluetooth.
The data transfer rate is faster in Bluetooth than zigbee whereas zigbee covers larger
distance than Bluetooth.
Both Bluetooth and ZigBee have a lot in common which are, each area unit styles of IEEE
802.15 WPANs. each run within the a pair of.4-GHz unlicensed band, and each use tiny kind
factors and low power. Besides these similarities, there are some differences which are
given below in tabular form.

S.NO BLUETOOTH ZIGBEE

The frequency range supported in

Bluetooth vary from 2.4 GHz to While the frequency range supported in

1. 2.483 GHz. Zigbee mostly 2.4 GHz worldwide.

There are seventy nine RF

2. channels in Bluetooth. There are sixteen RF channels in zigbee.

 S.NO BLUETOOTH ZIGBEE

It uses GFSK modulation Whereas it also uses BPSK and QPSK

3. technique. modulation techniques like UWB.

There is maximum of 8 cell nodes While there is more than sixty five

4. in Bluetooth. thousand (65000) cell nodes in zigbee.

While zigbee also requires low bandwidth

but greater than Bluetooth’s bandwidth

5. Bluetooth requires low bandwidth. most of time.

The radio signal range of Bluetooth While the radio signal range of zigbee is

6. is ten meters. ten to hundred meters.

Bluetooth was developed under Whereas it was developed under IEEE

7. IEEE 802.15.1. 802.15.4.

4. Describe the features of an OS in mobile system.

An excellent intuitive UI
A good smartphone OS should boot quickly and allow for a quick and beautiful UI that is both
fully functional and yet not overwhelming to the users.

A great App Store / App Ecosystem

This is probably the most important success reasons for a Mobile OS. Android, though was
not very simple to operate has a great App Market as well as great developer ecosystem and
that is the reason for its success.

Smartphones are nothing without good and functional apps , and an app store is where you
get the apps , but the prospect of getting quick cash drives some developers to make
irrelevant apps and so a good and curated app store is vital for the smartphone to function
as intended .

Personal Information Management

Personal information management includes notes, calendar, to-do lists, alarms and
reminders. A Mobile OS needs to have the right information in the right place , in the right
form, and quality to meet users needs. Smartphones can then help us spend less time with
time-consuming and error-prone activities of PIM such as looking for information. We then
can be a lot more productive with our time.

Data usage
One major feature of the smartphone systems is the ability to multitask but with that ability ,
comes the need to monitor the data and network usage and in some cases even limit them
so that they do not incur additional cost.

Battery Management
As smartphones include more sensors and processor cores and gpu , in general more
processing power , the amount of power required by the smartphone keeps on ever
increasing , so smartphones need to have a good battery management which can help
battery to last through the day, with moderate to high usage.

5. Describe the functions of data dissemination. How is data dissemination necessary

in maintaining a mobile service?

Mentioned in Rakesh’s pdf notes.

6. Explain, using a block diagram, the process of authentication in a wireless cellular

system.

Mentioned in Rakesh’s pdf notes.

 Assignment 2

1. Explain functioning of cellular network. How the given set of frequencies is used to
increase capacity of a network?
2. Suggest three solutions for energy constraint problem in mobile devices.
3. How is a mobile station localized to a new location?
4. Describe the process of call handover when a mobile station moves.
5. Compare unicast, multicast and broadcast communication.
6. Describe the mobile IP protocol. Explain, with a diagram, how a corresponding mobile
node on a visit sends and receives IP packets to and from another mobile node. How does
the packet delivery mechanism in the mobile IP protocol differ from that in the IP protocol?

Assignment-3

1. Explain the functions of home and foreign agents in the mobile IP protocol.
2. What are the advantages of hoarding data at the mobile device?
3. Describe data caching. Explain data cache maintenance in a mobile computing
environment.
4. Explain cache invalidation mechanisms. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of
stateful stateless cache invalidation.
5. Differentiate between synchronous and asynchronous cache invalidation.

Assignment-4

1. Explain power-aware computing.

2. Explain context-aware computing.
3. Describe push-based and pull-based data dissemination mechanisms in mobile
environment.
4. Describe the functions of a mobile agent.
5. Describe security problems in mobile computing systems. Also, suggest their solutions.
6. Describe MANET. How does a MANET differ from a fixed infrastructure network?
7. Describe the advantages of clustering of nodes in mobile environment.
 Assignment 5

Q1. Briefly compare IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.16 in terms of working range,
maximum data rates and medium access schemes.

The most fundamental difference between WLAN and WiMAX is that they are designed for
totally different applications. WLAN is the standard to provide moderate- to high-speed data
communications within a short range, generally within a building. On the other hand, WiMAX
is the standard to provide Internet access over a long range outdoor environment. Besides
the obvious difference in transmission range, there are a number of improvements in the
radio link technology that distinguish WiMAX from WLAN. WLAN standards describe four
radio link interfaces that operate in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz unlicensed radio bands. WiMAX
standards include a much wider range of potential implementations to address the
requirements of carriers around the world. All WLAN implementations use unlicensed
frequency bands, but WiMAX can operate in either licensed or unlicensed spectrum. A
detailed comparison of WiMAX and WLAN technologies is summarized in table below:

Q2. Explain two advantages and two disadvantages of cellular system with small
cells.

Advantages of Cellular Systems with Small Cells:

Higher Capacity: “Implementing Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) allows frequency reuse.
If one transmitter is far away from another i.e. outside the interference range, it can reuse the
same frequencies. As most mobile phone systems assign frequencies to certain users (or
certain hopping patterns), this frequency is blocked for other users” [WWWT]. But
frequencies are a scarce resource and the number of concurrent users per cell is very
limited. Huge cells do not allow for more users. On the contrary, they are limited to less
possible users per km. This is also the reason for using very small cells in cities where more
people use mobile phones.
Low transmission power: While power aspect is not a big trouble for base stations, but
they are indeed problematic for mobile stations. A receiver far away from a base station
need more transmit power than the current few Watts. But energy is a serious problem for
mobile handled devices.
Local interference: Besides, local interference, the long distances between sender and
receiver results in even more interference problems. With small cells, mobile stations and
base stations operators only have to deal with ‘local’ interference.
Robustness: Cellular systems are decentralized. So, are more robust against the failure of
single components. If one antenna fails, this only influences communications within a small
area.
Disadvantages of Cellular Systems with Small Cells:
Infrastructure needed: Cellular systems need a complex infrastructure to connect all base
stations. This includes many antennas, switches for call forwarding, location registers to find
a mobile station etc, which makes the whole system quite expensive [WWWF].
Handovers increased: The mobile station has to perform a handover whenever there is a
change from one cell to another. Depending on the cell size and the speed of movement,
this can happen quite often.
Frequency planning: To avoid interference between transmitters using the same
frequencies, frequencies have to be distributed carefully. On one hand, interference should
be avoided on other hand only a limited number of frequencies are available.

Q3. Explain hidden terminal problem with the help of suitable diagram. How do IEEE
802.11 and Bluetooth, respectively, solve the hidden terminal problem?

In wireless networking, the hidden node problem or hidden terminal problem occurs
when a node can communicate with a wireless access point (AP), but cannot directly
communicate with other nodes that are communicating with that AP.[1] This leads to
difficulties in medium access control sublayer since multiple nodes can send data packets to
the AP simultaneously, which creates interference at the AP resulting in neither packet
getting through.
  As seen in the above problem, the transmission range of A reaches B but not C.
Similarly, the range of C reaches B but not A. Also the range of B reaches both A and
C.
 Now, the node A starts to send something to B and C doesn’t receive this
transmission.
 Now C also wants to send data to B and senses the carrier. As it senses it to be free,
it also starts sending to B.
 Hidden terminal problem occurs when two nodes that are outside each other’s range
performs simultaneous transmission to a node that is within the range of each of them
resulting in a collision.
 That means the data from both parties A and C will be lost during the collision.
 Hidden nodes mean increased probability of collision at receiver end.
 One solution to avoid this is to have the channel sensing range much greater than the
receiving range. Another solution is to use the Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance (MACA).

To overcome the hidden node problem, request-to-send/clear-to-send (RTS/CTS)

handshaking (IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS) is implemented at the Access Point in conjunction with
the Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme.
IEEE 802.11 uses 802.11 RTS/CTS acknowledgment and handshake packets to partly
overcome the hidden node problem. RTS/CTS is not a complete solution and may decrease
throughput even further, but adaptive acknowledgements from the base station can help too.
In Bluetooth, there are no hidden terminals as the master controls all visible slaves. If a
terminal does not see the master it cannot participate in communication. If this terminal
sends anyway it will not interfere as this terminal then acts as master with a different hopping
sequence.

Q4. Consider an area of 3600 square Km covered by a cellular network. If each user
requires 20 KHz for communication, and the total available spectrum is 60 MHz, how
many users can be supported without frequency reuse? If cells of area 36 square Km
are used, how many users can be supported with cluster sizes of 3 and 7?
1) 60 MHz /0.02 MHz = 3000 users
2) Total number of cells is 3600/36 = 100 cells
o In the cluster size of 3 each cell 3000/3 = 1000 users.
The total number of users are 100 x 1000 = 100,000 users.
o In the cluster size of 7 each cell 3000/7 users.
The total number of users are 3000/7 x 1000 = 42857 users.

Q5. A vehicle moves on a highway at an average speed of 60 Km/h. In the traffic of the
city, the average speed drops down to 30 Km/h. The macro-cellular radius is 30 Km,
and the micro-cellular radius is 3 Km. Assume the macro-cellular layer is used on the
highways and the micro-cellular in the city.
i. How many handoffs are expected over a journey of six hours on a highway?
ii. How many handoffs are there in one hour drive through the city?
iii. What would happen if there was absolutely no traffic and the vehicle could move at
75 Km/h in the city?
iv. What does this show about deciding which layer should handle a call?

1) 60 x 6 / (30 x 2) = 6 handoffs => at least 6 handoffs

2) 30 / (3 x 2) = 5 handoffs => at least 5 handoffs
3) 75 / (3 x 2) = 12.5 handoffs/hour
Since the handoffs happen so often, there might be the signal
dropoff now and then.
4) Micro-cells should handle slow moving users, and macro-cells should
handle fast-moving users, so that very frequently handoffs are not
needed. In fact, the handoff delay may exceed the dwell time in a
call, and cause dropping of the call.
 Assignment- 6
Q1. (a) Describe the problems when CSMA/CD is applied to wireless networks. What is
the solution?
(b) Explain how multipath propagation affects signal quality in wireless
communication.

(a) The physical characteristics of wireless networks make it impossible and impractical for
the CAMA/CD mechanism to be used. This is due to CSMA/CD’s nature of ‘listening’ if the
medium is free before transmitting packets. Using CSMA/CD, if a collision is detected on the
medium, end-devices would have to wait a random amount of time before they can start the
retransmission process. For this reason, CSMA/CD works well for wired networks, however,
in wireless networks, there is no way for the sender to detect collisions the same way
CSMA/CD does since the sender is only able to transmit and receive packets on the medium
but is not able to sense data traversing that medium.
Therefore, CSMA/CA is used on wireless networks. CSMA/CA doesn’t detect collisions
(unlike CSMA/CA) but rather avoids them through the use of a control message. Should the
control message collide with another control message from another node, it means that the
medium is not available for transmission and the back-off algorithm needs to be applied
before attempting retransmission.
(b) In wireless telecommunications, multipath is the propagation phenomenon that results in
radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths. Causes of multipath
include atmospheric ducting, ionospheric reflection and refraction, and reflection from water
bodies and terrestrial objects such as mountains and buildings.
The effects of multipath include constructive and destructive interference, and phase
shifting of the signal. Destructive interference causes fading. Where the magnitudes of the
signals arriving by the various paths have a distribution known as the Rayleigh distribution,
this is known as Rayleigh fading. Where one component (often, but not necessarily, a line of
sight component) dominates, a Rician distribution provides a more accurate model, and this
is known as Rician fading.

Q2. Why mobility results in packet loss? As a mobile node gets farther and farther
away from a base station, what are the two actions that a base station could take to
ensure that the loss probability of a transmitted frame does not increase.

When accessing the internet or any network, small units of data called packets are sent and
received. When one or more of these packets fails to reach its intended destination, this is
called packet loss. For users, packet loss manifests itself in the form of network disruption,
slow service and even total loss of network connectivity.
As a mobile node gets farther and farther away from a base station, the two possible ways
that a base station could take to ensure that the loss probability of a transmitted frame does
not increase, are:
 1) increasing the transmission power, and
2) reducing the transmission rate.

Q3. Compare Bluetooth 4.2 and Bluetooth 5.0 in terms of working range, maximum
data rates and applications domain.

Working Range- Bluetooth 5 speed is faster than Bluetooth 4. 2 with 2 Mbps format, which
is twice the speed of Bluetooth 4, about 1 Mbps, which allows Bluetooth 5 to meet one of the
IoT requirements.
Data Rate- Bluetooth 4.2 actively operates within a radius of 50 meters in open space and
within a radius of 10 meters indoors, which makes it not very convenient, while Bluetooth 5
actively operates within a radius of 200 meters in open space and within a radius of 40
meters indoors.
Application Domain- Bluetooth 4.2 compatibility works best with devices compatible with
version 4 of the series, but will not work with devices that have Bluetooth 5, while Bluetooth 5
compiles with v1, v2, v3, v4, v4.1 and version 4.2, but despite this, all Bluetooth 5 features
will not be used.

Q4. (a) Why does access point maintain buffers in Indirect TCP?
(b) Explain snooping TCP. What are its advantages and disadvantages?