MODULE 2

MULTIPLEXING

• Process of transmitting multiple signals simultaneously through a single path by combining them.
• Path refers to the physical link between devices.
• A path can have many channels which is a portion of path that carry transmission between a pair
of devices.
• A multiplexer(MUX) combines multiple data streams into a single stream(many to one). A
demultiplexer(DEMUX) splits the combines stream into different signals or streams(one to many).

Three multiplexing techniques:

• Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM)
• Wave-Division Multiplexing (WDM)
• Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), divided into synchronous TDM and asynchronous
TDM(statistical TDM or Concentrator)

FREQUENCY-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (FDM) – ANALOG TECHNIQUE

• Available bandwidths of single transmission medium is divided into multiple channels, each
frequency channel is given to different devices.
• Signals from different devices modulate(modifies carrier wave to encode information) different
carrier frequencies(carrier wave have constant frequency, like sine wave).
• Modulated signals are combined and transmitted through single link.
• Channels are separated by unused bandwidths known as guard bands to prevent overlapping.

WAVE-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM) – ANALOG TECHNIQUE

• Similar to FDM except optical signals are transmitted through fiber optic cable
• Multiplexing and Demultiplexing is done using prism
• Input beams of light from different devices are combined to form a wider band of light with the
help of multiplexer
• Demultiplexer separates the signals and passes to respective destined devices
TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (TDM) – DIGITAL TECHNIQUE
• Different devices have different allotted time interval known as time slot at which it can transmit
data
• The signals from different sources are transmitted in the form of frames
• Frames contain a cycle of time slots in which each frame consist of one or more slots dedicated to
each user

Synchronous TDM
• Multiplexer allocates same time slot to each device at all times even when a device doesn’t have
anything to transmit
• If the device does not have anything to transmit, then the slot will be empty
• For n input lines, each frame has at least n slots

Asynchronous TDM (Statistical TDM)

• For n input lines, the frame consists of m slots (m < n)
• Time slots are not fixed and are allocated to devices that has data to send
• Each slot contains an address part that identifies the source of the data

MULTIPLEXING APPLICATION : THE TELEPHONE SYSTEM

• The North American telephone system includes many common carriers/telephone companies
that offer local and long-distance services to subscribers which include local companies such as
Pacific Bell and long-distance providers such as AT&T MCI, and Sprint.
• Categories of telephone services :
• Analog Services
• Digital Services
Analog Services
• Two analog services are :
• Analog Switched Services
• Analog Leased Services
Analog Switched Services
• It is the dial-up service commonly used in a home telephone and uses two-wire twisted-pair cable
to connect the subscriber’s house to end office of telephone company. This connection is called
the local loop.
• The network it joins is sometimes referred to as a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
• When caller dials a number, call is carried to a switch, or series of switches, at the exchange.
Appropriate switches are activated to connect to the destination.
• Connects two lines for the duration of the call only
Analog Leased Service
• Customers have to lease a line, also called dedicated line. It is permanently connected to another
customer.
• The connection still passes through the switches but it feels like a single line because the switch is
always closed and no dialing is needed
Conditioned Lines : Telephone carriers offer a service called conditioning where quality of a line is
improved by lessening attenuation, signal distortion, or delay distortion. Conditioned lines are analog, but
their quality makes them usable for digital data communication if they are connected to modems.
Analog Hierarchy
• To increase efficiency, telephone companies multiplexed signals from lower bandwidth lines onto
higher bandwidth lines. For analog lines, FDM is used.
• One of these hierarchical systems used by AT&T is made up of groups, supergroups, master
groups, and jumbo groups
• 12 voice channels are multiplexed onto a higher bandwidth line to create a group. A group has 48
KHz of bandwidth and supports 12 voice channels.
• 5 groups can be multiplexed to create a composite signal called a supergroup and has a
bandwidth of 240 KHz and supports up to 60 voice channels. Supergroups can be made up of
either five groups or 60 independent voice channels.
• 10 supergroups are multiplexed to create a master group and it must have 2.40 MHz of
bandwidth, but the need for guard bands between the channels increases the necessary
bandwidth to 2.52 MHz . It supports up to 600 voice channels.
• 6 master groups can be combined into a jumbo group and it must have 15.12 MHz (6 x 2.52 MHz)
but is augmented to 16.984 MHz to allow for guard bands between the master groups. Supports
up to 3600 voice channels.
Digital services
• Telephone line acts like an antenna and will pick up noise during both analog and digital
transmission. Since noise is analog in nature, it can be distinguished easily in digital transmission.
Hence, they are less sensitive to noises.
• Types of digital services:
• switched/56 Service
• Digital Data Service(DDS)
• Digital Signal Service(DS)
Switched/56
• Digital version of analog switched line and is a switched digital service that allows data rates of up
to 56 Kbps
• Caller with normal telephone service cannot connect to a telephone or computer with
switched/56 even if using a modem, hence both parties must subscribe.
• A device called a digital service unit (DSU) is needed to transmit digital data. This device changes
the rate of the digital data created by the subscriber’s device to 56 Kbps and encodes it in the
format used by the service provider.
• DSU is included in the dialing process (DSU with dial pad).
Digital data service (DDS)
• Digital version of analog leased line
• It is a digital leased line with a maximum data rate of 64 Kbps.
 • DSU for this service is cheaper because it does not need a dial pad.
Digital Signal (DS) Service
• DS is a hierarchy of digital signals as shown in the figure.
• A DS-0 service resembles DDS. It is a single digital channel of 64 Kbps.
• DS-l is a 1.544-Mbps service; 1.544 Mbps is 24 times 64 Kbps plus 8 Kbps of overhead. It can be
used as a single service for 1 .544-Mbps transmissions, or it can be used to multiplex 24 DS-0
channels or to carry any other combination desired by the user that can fit within its 1 .544-Mbps
capacity.

T Lines : T lines (T-l to T-4) are the implementation of DS services. A T-l line consists of
24 voice channels. T-l is used to implement DS-1, T-2 is used to implement DS-2. and so on.
Fractional T line service allows several subscribers to share one line by multiplexing their signals. To
do so, they direct their transmissions through a device called a digital service unit/channel service unit
(DSU/CSU). This device lets them divide the capacity of the line into four interleaved channels.
T lines are used in North America. The European standard defines a variation called E lines.

CELLULAR SYSTEM
• In a cellular system, a base station covers a certain area called a cell.
• Cell radii can vary from tens of meters in buildings, and hundreds of meters in cities, up to tens of
kilometers in the countryside. The shape of cells depend on the environment, weather conditions
and system load.
• Mobile telecommunication systems use cellular system where a mobile station in cell around a
base station communicates with this base station and vice versa.
• Mobile communication using cellular system implement Space Division Multiplexing(SDM). SDM
implies a separate sender for each communication channel with a wide enough distance between
senders. Many radio stations around the world can use the same frequency without interference
using FDM.
Advantages
• Higher capacity: Frequency can be reused when one transmitter is far away from another or
outside the interference range.
• Less transmission power: A receiver or mobile handheld devices far away from a base station
needs more power than the current few Watts. Hence the small cell transmission reduces this
need.
• Local interference only: With small cells, mobile stations and base stations have to deal with
‘local’ interference only unlike long distance interference.
• Robustness: Cellular systems are decentralized, hence, if one antenna fails, this only influences
communication within a small area.
Disadvantages:
• Infrastructure needed: Need many antennas, switches , location registers.
• Handover needed: Handover to another cell or base station is needed when changing from one
cell to another.
• Frequency planning: To avoid interference frequencies have to be distributed carefully.
To avoid interference, transmitters within each other’s interference
range use FDM. If FDM is combined with TDM, the same frequency is not used at the same time within
the interference range.
Cells are combined in clusters. All cells within a cluster use disjointed sets of frequencies. It allows
repetition of the same frequency sets. The transmission power of a sender must be limited to avoid
interference with the next cell using the same frequencies. Sectorized antennas are used instead of omni-
directional antennas to reduce interference to a larger extend.

3 cells forming a cluster 7 cells forming a cluster

3 cells cluster having 3 sectors per cell

• In case of heavy load in one cell and a light load in a neighboring cell frequencies can be borrowed
• Cells with more traffic are dynamically allotted more frequencies. This is known as borrowing channel
allocation (BCA)
• Fixed allocation of frequencies to cluster without allowing borrow is called fixed channel allocation
(FCA).
• FCA is used in the GSM system as it simple, but it requires careful traffic analysis before installation.
• A dynamic channel allocation (DCA) scheme has been implemented in DECT. Here, frequencies can
only be borrowed, but it is also possible to freely assign frequencies to cells.
• With dynamic assignment of frequencies to cells, chances of interference with cells using the same
frequency is increased. For this, the ‘borrowed’ frequency can be blocked in the surrounding cells.
• Cellular systems using CDM(Code Division Multiplexing) instead of FDM do not need large overhead of
channel allocation and frequency planning. Here, users are separated through the code they use, not
through the frequency. Here, cell planning faces another problem, that is, the cell size depends on the
current load. Hence, CDM cells are commonly said to ‘breathe’ because while a cell can cover a larger
area under a light load, it shrinks if the load increases. This is because of the growing noise level if
more users are in a cell. The higher the noise, the higher the path loss and the higher the transmission
errors. Finally, mobile stations further away from the base station drop out of the cell and the cell
shrinks.
 GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)
• It is the most successful digital mobile telecommunication system
• As a part of building fully digital system, the groupe spéciale mobile (GSM) was founded in 1982, later
named as global system for mobile communications (GSM)
• The primary goal of GSM was to provide a mobile phone system that allows users to roam throughout
Europe and provides voice services compatible to ISDN and other PSTN systems.
• A GSM system that has been introduced in several European countries for railroad systems is GSM-
Rail. This system uses separate frequencies and other services not available in the public GSM system.
It gives 19 exclusive channels for railroad operators for voice and data traffic.
GSM Mobile services
• GSM permits the integration of different voice and data services and the interworking with
existing networks.
• GSM has defined three different categories of services: bearer, tele, and supplementary services.
A mobile station (MS) is connected to the GSM public land mobile network (PLMN) via the Um interface.
This network is connected to transit networks like ISDN or PSTN. There might be an additional network,
the source/destination network, before another terminal TE is connected.
Within the mobile station MS, the mobile termination (MT) performs all network specific tasks making the
MS independent and unaware of network details. R, S, U, Um are all interfaces.

Bearer services
Bearer services allow transparent and non-transparent, synchronous or asynchronous data transmission.
Transparent bearer services only use the functions of the physical layer (layer 1) to transmit data. The
delay and performance is constant if there is no error in transmission. Transmission quality can be
achieved through forward error correction (FEC), which detects and corrects error in received data
through extra bits(redundant bits).Transparent bearer services do not try to recover lost data.
Non-transparent bearer services use protocols of layers two and three to implement error correction and
flow control. These services use the transparent bearer services along with radio link protocol (RLP). This
protocol includes special mechanisms to retransmit error prone data.
Using transparent and non-transparent services, GSM specifies several bearer services for interworking
with PSTN, ISDN, and packet switched public data networks (PSPDN)
Tele services
• GSM mainly focuses on voice-oriented tele services that include encrypted voice transmission.
• GSM provides the service of emergency number.
• Another service is the short message service (SMS), which allows messages of size 160 characters.
Enhanced message service (EMS), offers a larger message size (760 characters), supported
animated pictures, small images and ring tones. Multimedia message service (MMS) supported
larger pictures (GIF, JPG), short video clips etc.
• Another non-voice tele service is group 3 fax, where fax data is transmitted as digital data over
analog telephone network.
Supplementary services
These services offer various enhancements for the standard telephony service, and may vary from
provider to provider.
Typical services are user identification, call redirection, or forwarding of ongoing calls. Standard ISDN
features such as closed user groups and multiparty communication may be available. Closed user groups
are of special interest to companies because they allow company-specific GSM sub-network to which only
members of the group have access.
System architecture
A GSM system consists of three subsystems, the radio sub system (RSS), the network and switching
subsystem (NSS), and the operation subsystem (OSS).

Um(air or radio interface) – Interface between MS and BTS

Abis – Interface linking BSC and BTS
A – Interface that provides communication between BSS and MSC
O – OMC monitors all other entities through O interface

Radio subsystem (RSS)

• Contains all radio specific devices which are the mobile stations (MS) and the base station
subsystem (BSS).

Base station subsystem (BSS): A GSM network has many BSSs, each controlled by a base station
controller (BSC). BSS contains several BTSs. The BSS functions include coding/decoding of voice and data
rate adaptation to/from the wireless network etc.

Base transceiver station (BTS): Contains radio equipment such as antennas, amplifiers etc. A BTS can
form a radio cell and is connected to MS.

Base station controller (BSC): The BSC controls BTSs. It reserves radio frequencies and handles the
handover of device from one BTS to another within the BSS.
Mobile station (MS): The MS comprises all user equipment and software needed for communication with
a GSM network. An MS consists of user independent hard- and software and of the subscriber identity
module (SIM), which stores all user-specific data that is relevant to GSM. MS is identified through
international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) and is used for theft protection.
• SIM card contains many identifiers and tables, such as card-type, serial number, a list of
subscribed services, a personal identity number (PIN), a PIN unblocking key (PUK), an
authentication key Ki, and the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI).
• The MS stores dynamic information while logged onto the GSM system, such as location
information.
• Typical MSs like mobile phones include cameras, fingerprint sensors, calendars, address books,
games, and Internet browsers.

Network and switching subsystem (NSS)

• Connects the wireless network with standard public networks, performs handovers between
different BSSs, supports roaming of users between different providers in different countries.
Mobile services switching center (MSC): MSCs are high-performance digital ISDN switches. They set up
connections to other MSCs and to the BSCs. An MSC manages several BSCs in a geographical region. An
MSC handles all signaling needed for connection setup, connection release and handover of connections
to other MSCs. A Gateway MSC (GMSC) has additional connections to other fixed networks, such as PSTN
and ISDN. Using InterWorking Functions (IWF), an MSC can also connect to public data networks (PDN)
Home location register (HLR): It is the database in a GSM system that stores all user based information.
This comprises static information, such as the mobile subscriber ISDN number (MSISDN) and the
international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) that is stored permanently. Dynamic information like the
current location of MS, VLR and MSC is also stored.
Visitor location register (VLR): Dynamic database which temporarily stores all important information
needed for the MS users currently in the location that is associated to the MSC (IMSI, MSISDN, HLR
address). If a new MS comes into the location associated with VLR, it copies all relevant information for
this user from the HLR.

Operation subsystem(OSS)
• Contains the necessary functions for network operation and maintenance.
Operation and maintenance center (OMC): The OMC monitors and controls all other network entities
which includes traffic monitoring, subscriber and security management, accounting and billing.
Authentication centre (AuC): Protects user identity and data transmission. The AuC contains the
algorithms for authentication and keys for encryption. It generates the values needed for user
authentication in the HLR.
Equipment identity register (EIR): The EIR is a database for all IMEIs. The EIR has a blacklist of stolen (or
locked) devices. It also contains a list of valid IMEIs (white list), and a list of malfunctioning devices (gray
list).

Radio interface
• Radio interface is the common boundary between a mobile station and the radio equipment in
the network.
• The most interesting interface in a GSM system is Um, the radio interface.
• GSM implements SDMA(Space Division Multiple Access) using cells with BTS and assigns an MS to
a BTS.
GSM 900 is a system where 890–915 MHz are used for uplinks and 935–960 MHz for downlinks. In GSM
900, 124 channels, each 200 kHz wide, are used for FDMA. Due to technical reasons, channels 1 and 124
are not used for transmission. 32 channels are reserved for organizational data and 90 are used for
customers. Each BTS then manages a single channel for organizational data and, e.g., up to 10 channels
for user data.
 • Each of the 248 channels is additionally separated in time via a GSM TDMA frame, i.e., each
200 kHz carrier is subdivided into frames that are repeated continuously
• A frame is again subdivided into 8 GSM time slots, where each slot represents a physical TDM
channel
• Data is transmitted in small portions, called bursts
• Guard space are used to avoid overlapping with other bursts
• The first and last three bits of a normal burst (tail) are all set to 0 and can be used to enhance
the receiver performance
• Training sequence is used to adapt parameters of receiver to that of frame path propagation
• A flag S indicates whether the data field contains user or network control data

GSM specifies two basic groups of logical channels

• traffic channels and
• control channels
Traffic channels (TCH): GSM uses a TCH to transmit user data (e.g., voice, fax). Two basic categories of
TCHs have been defined, i.e., full-rate TCH (TCH/F) and half-rate TCH (TCH/H). A TCH/F has a data rate of
22.8 kbit/s, whereas TCH/H only has 11.4 kbit/s.
Control channels (CCH): Many different CCHs are used in a GSM system to control medium access,
allocation of traffic channels or mobility management. Three groups of control channels have been
defined : Broadcast control channel (BCCH), Common control channel (CCCH),Dedicated control channel
(DCCH).