LIVINGSTONE INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

JANUARY TO JUNE SEMESTER FINAL EXAMINATIONS, 2020

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DIPLOMA OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
YEAR: TWO, SEMESTER TWO.
COURSE CODE: 2254, COURSE NAME: MOBILE NETWORKS AND WIRELESS
COMMUNICATIONS
DATE: 6TH NOVEMBER, 2020 TIME: 3 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS
1. SECTION A is compulsory.
2. SECTION B, answer any three questions.
3. Do not write on this question paper.
4. MOBILE PHONES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE EXAM ROOM.
Section A (40 marks, Compulsory)

Question One

(a)(i) Short Message Service (SMS) has become a vehicle to inform the public in many countries. Give any
three examples to illustrate this statement. (06 marks)

(ii) What four requirements should Users of SMS have? (04 marks)

(b)(i) Explain three characteristics of Ultra Wideband Wireless. (06 marks)

(ii) What do you consider to be the two applications or uses of UWB Wireless? (04 marks)

© (i) Internet routing algorithms usually employ routing tables which show possible destination. State the five-
stepped typical routing algorithm used in Internet Protocol. (05 marks)

(ii) Mobile Internet Protocol includes three capabilities to support its operations. Explain these capabilities.
(06 marks)

(d) Discuss Management and support issues in wireless communication under:

(i) Strategic planning; (02 marks)

(ii) Development and deployment; (03 marks)

(iii) Organizing and staffing; (02 marks)

(iv) Monitoring and control. (02 marks)

SECTION B (60 MARKS)(ATTEMPT ANY THREE QUESTIONS)

Question Two
Wireless Java is the general umbrella name under which Sun Computer Company is supporting its Java
platform. (a) What do you understand by Wireless Java? (04 marks)

(b) In your opinion, what do you consider to be the four reasons why Java is used for Wireless Applications?
(08 marks)

(c) Wireless Java can also be looked at as a family of four technologies. Name and explain these technologies.
(08 marks)

Question Three

I-mode was launched in February 1999 by NTT DoCoMo in Japan.

(a) What is i-mode? (02 marks)

(b) Discuss the key features of i-mode. (08 marks)

© (i) What do you understand by a blackberry? (03 marks)

(ii) State any three actions that a user of a blackberry can do. (03 marks)

(iii) What four components does the Blackberry architecture include? (04 marks)

Question Four

Sensors can be developed to detect almost anything that can be measured.

(a) Define Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). (02 marks)

(b) Discuss any five features that make up a WSN. (10 marks)

(c) (i) What are Zigbees? (02 marks)

(ii) Specify the three features of Zigbees. (06 marks)

Question Five

(a) Initially, ARPANET consisted of five protocols that have been improved with other key protocols. Name
these protocols and explain the role or function of each. (10 marks)

(b) What do you understand when we say that IP protocol is unreliable? (02 marks)

© What are the four forces supporting the growth of wireless and broadband services? (08 marks)

Question Six

(a) What is a satellite? (02 marks)

(b) Name and explain the four components of a satellite. (08 marks)

(c) Basically, security in Wireless Communications involves the following aspects, called PIA4. Explain what
each of these abbreviations mean. (10 marks)

END
 MARKING GUIDE

1(a)(i) SMS has become a vehicle to inform the public in many countries and examples are:

(1) The state of California has established a Web page where citizens can register to receive

wireless PDA and cell phone notification services via SMS for energy alerts, lottery results, traffic updates and
articles from the Governor’s pressroom.

(2) A Web and mobile phone service called ChildLocate.co.uk has been launched to help parents keep an eye on
kids from a distance. The subscription-based service allows parents to monitor the whereabouts of their children
without bothering them with phone calls. Parents can access information via the childlocate website and the
system uses SMS signals to determine the child’s location.

(3) An SMS text-message service, warning of adverse weather was launched in Central China’s Henan
Province. The system sends forecasts of hazardous weather to the public as part of the bid to minimize any
damage.

(4) The Quezon City government in the Philippines plan to use SMS text messaging to improve garbage
collection and establish closer coordination between residents and trash collectors. SMS messages are sent to the
citizens informing them about when and where the next trash collection will take place.

(5) PlanetReunited.com has developed an SMS service by which backpackers can send a message to their
parents, family, and friends about their whereabouts, even if they cannot get to an Internet café. Registered
users can send one single SMS which is posted to a weblog(BLOG) via SMS. Their friends and family can be
alerted via text or email when the BLOG is updated.

(ii) Users of SMS need: (1) a mobile phone that supports SMS; (2) a subscription to a mobile telephone network
that supports SMS(usually GSM); (3) knowledge of how to send or read a short message using the specific
model of mobile phone; (4) a destination to send/receive messages.

(b)(i) any three characteristics of Ultra Wideband Wireless: The main characteristics of UWB are:

(i) UWB requires no assigned spectrum because transmissions are sent across an ultra-wide band & ultra-
low power(too low to affect other users).

(ii) UWB does not use the traditional radio frequency carriers employed by cellular, satellite, television,
cable or other communications technologies. Current frequency-based technologies must operate in
specific bands of an increasingly crowded radio spectrum, otherwise they would interfere with one
another. As UWB signals do not interfere with each other or with conventional RF carriers, UWB has
opened up vast new possibilities as a new communications medium that can coexist with existing
technologies.

(iii) UWB is not line-of-sight. The physics of Ultra Wideband enables this technology to propagate through
walls & other obstacles. This is why UWB technology is also used for things like “through-the-wall”
imaging devices & ground penetration radar.

(b)(ii) Most UWB apps include:

(i) Ground Penetrating Radar Systems (GPRs): This was developed for military purposes & public safety e.g
land-mine detection. GPRs only operate when in contact with or within close proximity of the ground, for
purpose of detecting or obtaining the images of buried objects. Apps of GPRs include highway inspection to
identify voids, locating pipes essential for safety, railroad bed inspection, forensics, detection & 3-D mapping of
pipes & utilities before excavation, etc. It operates in the lower frequency band, in the range of 40 MHz to about
2.5 GHz. Operation is restricted to law enforcement, fire & rescue organizations, scientific research institutions,
commercial mining companies, & construction companies by FCC.

(ii) Wireless Home Entertainment: UWB supports this as Wi-Fi can’t support the bandwidth demands of
home entertainment e.g a VCR could be “connected” to the TV through UWB instead of cables. Also, camcorders could
talk wirelessly to computers, & TVs could talk to DVDs, through UWB. Sony & Philips are both devoting resources to
UWB to support this vision.

(iii) Add-ons to Wi-Fi LANs: while Wi-Fi LANs are popular, security concerns still linger. To compensate for
Wi-Fi security weaknesses, wireless operators could sell UWB & Wi-Fi as a package to organizations that need
military-grade security.

(iv) Medical Systems: A medical imaging system may be used for a variety of health applications to “see”
inside the body of a person or animal. Operation must be at the direction of, or under the supervision of, a
licensed healthcare practitioner. These devices must be operated in the frequency band 3.1 – 10.6 GHz.

(v) Surveillance Systems: These operate as “security fences” by establishing a stationery RF perimeter field &
detecting the intrusion of persons or objects in that field. Operation is limited to law enforcement, fire & rescue
organizations, public utilities, & industrial entities.

(vi)Wall and Through-Wall Imaging Systems: These are designed to detect the location of objects contained
within a “wall,” e.g a concrete structure, the side of a bridge, or the wall of a mine. These systems detect the
location or movement of persons or objects that are located on the other side of a structure such as a wall.
Operation is restricted to law enforcement, fire & rescue organizations, scientific research institutions,
commercial mining companies, & construction companies.

© (i) Internet routing algorithms usually employ routing tables which show possible destination. A typical
routing algorithm used in IP is: (i) Extract the destination address(DA) from the datagram. (ii) Find the
route for DA from the routing table. (iii) If DA is a direct path(within this subnet), send the message directly.
(iv) If DA is an indirect path, send the message to the proper subnet or gateway. (v) If none, then give a routing
error.

(ii) Mobile IP includes 3 capabilities to support the above operations: (1) Discovery: A mobile node uses a
discovery procedure to identify prospective home and foreign agents. A mobile node is responsible for an
ongoing discovery process because it must determine if it is attached to its home network or foreign network.
The transition from the home network to a foreign network can occur at any time without notification to the
network layer.

A router planning to act as a foreign agent issues agent advert. messages periodically(“I want to be your agent,
do you want my services?”). The mobile node listens for agent advertisement messages and compares the
network portion of the router’s(foreign agent’s) IP address with the network portion of its home address.
(2) Registration: A mobile node uses an authenticated registration procedure to inform the home agent of its
care-of address. After a mobile node finds a suitable foreign agent, it sends a registration request to the foreign
agent requesting forwarding service. The foreign agent relays this registration request to the home agent. The
home agent accepts or denies the request and sends a registration reply to the foreign agent, which in turn relays
a reply to the mobile node. Registration procedure security is a major challenge, so mobile IP is designed to
resist the attacks:

(3) Tunneling: is used to forward IP datagrams from a home address to a care-of address. The home agent
intercepts IP datagrams sent to the mobile node’s home address. The home agent informs other nodes on the
home network that datagrams to the mobile node should be delivered to the home agent. The datagrams are now
forwarded to the care-of address via tunneling(a datagram is encapsulated in an outer IP datagram). Mobile IP
encapsulation options(assuming knowledge of IP addressing) are: (i) IP-within-IP where entire IP datagram
becomes payload in new IP datagram. Original, inner IP header is basically unchanged. Outer header is a full IP
header.

(ii) Minimal encapsulation where new header is inserted between original IP header and original IP payload.
Original IP header is modified to form new outer IP header. (iii) Generic routing encapsulation(GRE) was
developed prior to dev’pt of Mobile IP.

(d) (i) Strategic planning – takes a strategic look at business & identifies the role of m-applications & wireless
communications in satisfying the business goals. The focus is on m-business(recall m-business = Internet +
Wireless + E-business). This activity includes asking qns like (a) how will the customer & firms benefit from
m-business?; (b) is there a market for what we are building?; (c) what unique value do we provide?; (d) how
will we make money from m-business?

(ii) Development & deployment – reviews how the capabilities identified will be developed & delivered. The
issues are how to decide between options for purchasing, developing in-house, renting, & outsourcing, & then
how to deploy the diverse array of wireless hardware/software systems needed. The qns that drive this process
are: (a) do we need to purchase, develop in-house, rent, or outsource what we need?; (b) what are the best
mechanisms for deploying the wireless hardware/software needed?

(iii) Monitoring & control - concerned with the day-to-day monitoring & control of the deployed systems to
assure smooth customer services because the loss of wireless networks is a disaster due to the increased use of
wireless LANs & cellular networks. Of importance are the wireless magmt platforms available to monitor the
network failures, performance bottlenecks, security breaches, & other problems in wireless systems. The
wireless magmt platforms provide answers to the following qns:(a) are there any failures in the system?; (b) are
there any performance bottlenecks?; (c) is security being properly enforced?; (d) are changes in the system
being propagated uniformly?

(iv) Organizing & staffing – concentrates on the vital issues of organizing & staffing the wireless projects to
produce an organizational structure that will adequately support the wireless projects. The issues are mobile
virtual teams & the role of mobility to support the next generation of real-time enterprises.

Questions include: (a) what type of organizational structure will support the wireless projects?; (b) can mobile
virtual teams help?; (c) can the next generation of real-time enterprises be managed through mobile computing?

2(a) Wireless Java is the general name under which Sun is supporting its Java platform for developing wireless
appans. The Java platform includes Java 2 Enterprise Edition(J2EE) for writing service-side enterprise appans,
& J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) for writing appans that run on small handheld devices. There are also other
technologies that give support for specific wireless communication needs e.g JavaCard, & Personal Java. Also a
laptop computer can run a J2SE appan, making network connections via a wireless Ethernet LAN .

Wireless Java = J2ME + JavaCard + Personal Java + any other Java technologies developed for wireless
devices(e.g consumer electronics, cellular phones). Java was designed in mid-1990’s to support consumer
electronics devices because the programming languages at that time did not fit well in such small devices.

2(b) Reasons why Java is used for Wireless Appans are: (i) Java language can handle sophisticated &
robust/stout programs.

Developers can create more sophisticated appans that interact with back-end systems using Java technology,
compared with the browser-based environments e.g WAP or i-mode.

(ii) Java appans can be written once & run anywhere. Appans written in Java can run on similar types of
systems(servers, desktops, mobile devices) independent of the underlying operating system & processor.
Assuming a Java Virtual Machine is available, the same Java appan can run on a Nokia Communicator running
the EPOC operating system, a Compaq iPAQ running PocketPC, a PDA powered by the Linux operating
system, or on the variety of mobile phone processors & operating systems.

(iii) Java appans are network aware: Java appans can also exchange data with a back-end server over any
network protocol e.g TCP/IP, WAP, i-mode, & different bearers e.g GSM,CDMA, TDMA, CDPD, Mobitex,
etc.

(iv) Java addresses safety & security concerns: Java code executes within the confines of the Java Virtual
Machine & limits the appan crashes to possible death of the Virtual Machine. Your cell phone or PDA would
not crash due to a Java appan crash. For security, Java uses a sandbox which surrounds the Java code so that
Java appans cannot access system resources outside of the sandbox. Java also supports the standard encryption
solutions e.g SSL(Secure Socket Layer) for security on a packet-based network. SSL(developed by Netscape) is
a protocol for securely encrypting & transmitting e-information between web servers across the Internet.

2© Wireless Java is the following family of technologies:

(i) J2ME technology is a platform for writing appans that run on small handheld devices.

(ii) JavaCard platform lets developers write wireless or wired smart card appans on a common smart card
platform.

(iii) PersonalJava technology is designed for network-connectable consumer products in the areas of
communication, entertainment, & mobile computing.

(iv) Java Phone is an API that is an extension of the PersonalJava platform targeted at Internet phones &
wireless smart phones.

3(a) i-mode(information-mode) was launched in 1999 by NTT DoCoMo(DoCoMo in Japanese means

“anywhere”) – a leading cellular phone operator in Japan. Access to websites compatible with i-mode can be
achieved at the touch of a button. In addition to phone calls, you can receive email, exchange photos, receive
news & stock quotes, shop on line, receive weather forecasts, play online games & access music files online.
Every subscriber is given an email ID, which is his/her cellular phone no. with the extension “@docomo.ne.jp.”
 (a) Key Features of i-mode: Components required for i-mode services are:

(i) An i-mode cellular phone(i.e a phone capable of voice & packet transmission with a browser installed).
i-mode phones are specialized phones with larger windows for multimedia.

(ii) i-mode phones are well-known for their highly graphic user interfaces.

(iii) Content in cHTML is passed to browser residing in the i-mode phone.

(iv) An i-mode gateway that translates the cHTML content to the back-end server.

(v) A packet-switching network that is “always on” i.e the end user can turn the phone on & receive the
email without having to call a number.

3© (i) Blackberry: From Research in Motion(R.I.M.) is a popular wireless device that provides quick access to
email, phone, SMS, organizer, and Web applications. Blackberry is an integrated package that includes
hardware, software and service, providing an end-to-end solution. It combines wireless handhelds with optional
data and phone services and software that integrates with MS Exchange and Lotus Domino. Blackberry also
provides end-to-end security with extensive encryption support. Recent versions of Blackberry handsets
include an integrated speaker and microphone.

(ii) Users of Blackberry can:

1. Send and receive emails from anywhere;

2. Place a phone call while reading their email messages in a meeting;

3. Coordinate a meeting from the lobby of a hotel;

4. View information from a corporate db while travelling in a train.

(iii) The Blackberry architecture includes: (1) email server, (2) the Blackberry Desktop Software’s Redirector component,
(3) the RIM Wireless Handheld, and (4) the wireless data network.

4(a)(i) WSNs consist of small, low-powered devices called sensors that allow the physical environment to be
monitored at high resolution. Sensors can be developed to measure temperature, humidity, motion, and colour
changes in a painting, or any other measurable thing. Although most WSNs consist of very small processors
communicating over slow wireless networks, WSNs may consist of devices with a wide range of computation,
communication, and sensing capabilities. The WSNs may also use high-bandwidth wireless interfaces or low –
bandwidth radios.

(ii) The features of a WSN are: (i) It has a large number of nodes, in the order of thousands.

(ii) The nodes are of low cost and size, prone to failures, possess a limited amount of energy that must be
conserved. In many applications, this battery is impossible to replace or recharge.

(iii) Communications are triggered by events and sometimes by queries.

(iv) There is more use of broadcast communications instead of point-to-point. Sensors tend to broadcast
information so that any of the recipients can take the information forward.
(v) Nodes do not have a global ID such as an IP address. (vi) The security on both the physical and
communication level is more limited than with wireless networks. (vii) Nodes are subject to failures due to
depleted batteries, captures, or environmental influences.

(viii) There is a high degree of dynamics in WSNs such as frequent network topology changes and network
partitions. (ix) WSNs are heterogeneous, consisting of different types of sensor devices that are interconnected
to more powerful back - end systems. (x) WSN nodes have to operate unattended since it is impossible to
services large number of nodes that may reside in remote and hard to access locations.

© (i) ZIGBEES: The Zigbee Alliance has been formed to provide a standardized set of network solutions for
sensor and control systems. The Zigbee Alliance is so influential that the devices conforming are becoming
known as “Zigbees”. The standard for Zigbees specifies the following features: (i) The physical layer uses
direct-sequence spread spectrum to allow the circuitry to be very simple and inexpensive. (ii) The media access
control layer supports only two major states: active (transmit/receive) or sleep, to conserve on battery and save
processing overhead. (iii) The network layer has been designed to allow the network to grow without requiring
high power transmitters. Due to these and other simplifications, the Zigbee devices provide a low-cost and low-
battery solution for WSNs.

5(a) ARPANET consisted of 5 protocols (with * below) that have been augmented/improved with other key
protocols: IP* for interconnecting and routing messages to a large number of physical networks; TCP* for
reliable information transfer; User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for fast, but unreliable, information transfer; File
Transfer Protocol (FTP)* for file transfer; Simplified Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)* for email; Terminal
emulator(Telnet)* for terminal emulation. HTTP for Web applications; Real Time Transfer Protocol(RTP) for
audio and video applications.

5(b) IP is an unreliable protocol (connectionless) (i.e datagrams sent from one host to another may not be
delivered in the order in which they were sent, may be delivered more than once, or may not be delivered at all).

5© The drivers for the growth of wireless and broadband services are:

(i) The Internet continues to be the primary driver for the communication industry. Internet traffic is
doubling every year and is expected to keep growing in the future.

(ii) The increased traffic is driving the need for networks that can handle the increased bandwidth levels.
(iii) Increased use of cellular phones, palm pilots, PDAs, laptops and other handheld devices is driving
the demand for mobile communications. “Wireless Internet” with m-commerce is highly desirable for
“any information, anywhere, anytime”. (iv)The convergence of data and voice networks onto a single
network infrastructure is also a driver of increased bandwidth needs.

6(a) A satellite is a microwave repeater in the sky which receives signals from transmitting stations on earth
and relays these signals back to the receiving stations on the earth.

A satellite system consists of: (1) Earth stations – antenna systems on or near the earth; (2) Uplink –
transmission from an earth station to a satellite; (3) Downlink - transmission from a satellite to an earth
station(different from uplink, faster & can be broad); (4) Transponder – electronics in the satellite that
convert/ amplify uplink signals to downlink signals. There are 16 to 20 transponders per satellite.

© (1) Privacy – ensure confidentiality of information(i.e no one other than the authorized people can see the
information) when transmitting it over a network or storing it in an insecure place.
(2) Integrity – avoid corruption of information(i.e no unauthorized modification allowed).

(3) Authentication – identify for certain who is communicating with you(i.e make sure that you are who you say
you are). (4) Authorization(Access control) – determine what access rights that person has(i.e can you only
read given information or can you also update, delete, add information?)

(5) Accountability & Assurance – ensure that you can tell who did what when, and convince yourself that the
system keeps its security promises. This includes non-repudiation(NR) – the ability to provide proof of the
origin or delivery of data. NR protects the sender against a false denial by the recipient that the data has been
received. It also protects the recipient against false denial by the sender that the data has been sent(i.e a receiver
cannot say that he/she never received the data, & the sender cannot say that he/she never sent any data).