Multiplexing: uses a fixed “hardwired” algorithm to combine signals from same or different users.

(Trunks on long-haul networks (fiber or coaxial) can carry large

numbers of voice/data transmissions)
Multiple-access: uses an adaptive “software” approach to combine signals from different users. (The sharing of bandwidth among multiple users in cellular networks)
Multiplexing: combining multiple low-rate signals into one high-rate signal over a shared medium.
MUX on TX side uses a fixed algorithm to assemble the n input signals.
DEMUX on RX side uses the reverse procedure to recover each input.
Frequency division multiplexing (FDM): Input signals mapped onto non-overlapping frequency channels.
Time division multiplexing (TDM): Input signals mapped onto non-overlapping time slots.
FDM:
Transmitter: Each signal m i (t) is modulated to a carrier frequency f i. The modulated signals si (t ) are summed and transmitted.
Receiver: A bank of bandpass filters with center frequencies f i is used to extract the si (t ). Each si (t ) is then demodulated to its original form m i (t) .
n
Total Bandwidth: B ≥ ∑ Bi , Guard bands
i−1
Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) (a form of FDM):
The true potential of optical fiber is fully exploited when multiple beams of light at different frequencies are transmitted on the same fiber.
TDM:
Transmitter: Each digital signal m i (t) with low rate is buffered. They are scanned sequentially to form a composite signal m c (t) with high rate.
Receiver: The received high-rate signal is demultiplexed. The extracted frames are routed to buffers. The buffer content is used to regenerate the original signals
mi (t) at low rate.
Slot Allocation: Synchronous because the time slots are preassigned to
sources and fixed. The time slots for each source are transmitted whether or not the source has data to send. It is possible for TDM to handle sources of different data
rates: A slow device is assigned one slot per frame.
A faster device can be assigned multiple slots per frame.
Cable Modems: Allows a user to access the Internet through a cable television network. Cable TV provider dedicates two 6-MHz channels, one for transmission in
each direction.
Downstream: Cable scheduler delivers data in small packets. Active subscribers share downstream capacity.
Television delivery (downstream): 50 - 550 MHz
Network to user data (downstream): 550 - 750 MHz
Upstream: User requests timeslots on upstream channel. Head scheduler notifies subscriber of slots to use.
User-to-network data (upstream): 5 - 40 MHz
Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL):
Provides a fast data link between subscriber and IP network through Public switched telephone network (PSTN). Uses currently installed twisted pair cabling.
Asymmetric use of bandwidth: Downstream: ~25Mbps on 2km link
Upstream: ~2Mbps on 2km link, can go up to 5km with much lower rates.
Uses Frequency Division Multiplexing: Reserve lowest 25kHz for voice.
Multiple Channel Access:
No physical multiplexer is involved. Individual stations use a frequency band or a sequence of time slots. Transmit directly on the channel and not through a
multiplexer.
Duplexing: The possibility for two stations to exchange information in both directions. Frequency Division duplexing (FDD) and Time Division duplexing (TDD)
Multiple Channel Access Techniques:
Frequency-Division Multiple Access (FDMA): Based on the demand, base station assigns bandwidths to users within the overall available bandwidth.
Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA): A single large frequency band is used to transmit/receive a sequence of time slots.
Switched networks: Network of electronic switching devices and transmission channels used to set up a communication path between two end users. Switched
network has three main components:
Switching nodes: Provides facility to route and move data. Not concerned with the content of the data.
Transmission links: Physical medium for exchanging data between nodes. Node–station links are dedicated point-to-point links. Node–node links are multiplexed.
Stations : End-user devises (phone, computer, etc).

Circuit-Switching Networks: There is a dedicated path to establish a physical connection between two stations. The path is formed by selecting a sequence of nodes
and transmission links. Transmission via circuit switching involves three main phases: Circuit establishment; Data transmission; Circuit termination. The public
switched telephone network (PSTN) is a good example of a circuit switching network.
Circuit establishment:
Subscriber: The device that attach to the network. Example: telephone. Subscriber line: The link between subscriber and network. Ex: twisted pair.
Exchange: The switching centers in the network. End office: Directly supports subscribers. Intermediate exchange: Responsible for switching traffic between end
offices.
Trunks: The branches between exchanges. Use FDM or synchronous TDM.
 If the two subscribers are attached to the same end office, a circuit is set up between them locally otherwise intermediate exchange is used.
Circuit switching node:
Digital switch (node): Provides a transparent signal path between any pair of attached devices. The connection must allow full-duplex transmission.
Network interface (node): Provides connection (hardware) to digital devices.
Control unit (node): Establishes, maintains, and tears down the connection.
Blocking network: Blocking occurs when the network is unable to connect two stations because all possible paths between them are already in use.
Non-blocking network: Permits all stations to be connected (in pairs) at once and grants all possible connection requests as long as the called party is free.
Space division Switching (SDS): The signal paths are physically separate from one another (divided in space). The basic building block of the switch is a metallic
crosspoint or semiconductor gate that can be enabled and disabled by a control unit.
2
Crossbar limitations: Number of crosspoints = N N: number of attached stations. Loss of a crosspoint prevents connection between the two devices whose lines
intersect at that point. They are inefficiently utilized; when all of the attached devices are active, a small fraction of the crosspoints are engaged.
A crossbar matrix is non-blocking.
Multi-stage Switch: Advantages: The number of crosspoints is reduced, increasing crossbar utilization. There is more than one path through the network to connect two
endpoints, increasing reliability.
2
In a three-stage switch, the total number of crosspoints = 2 kN + k (
N
)
n
May be blocking. Can be made nonblocking by increasing the number or size of the intermediate switches, this increases the cost.
Time-division Switching: involves the partitioning of a lower-speed bit stream into pieces that share a higher-speed stream with other bit streams.
The individual pieces, or slots, are manipulated by control unit to route data from input to output. The most popular is the time-slot interchange (TSI).
Time-space-time Switch:
Time-division switching: No cross point is required. The processing of each connection creates delays. Each time slot must be stored by the RAM, then retrieved and
passed on.
Space-division switching: The advantage is that it is instantaneous. It needs a large number of crosspoints.
Modern digital networks use switches that combine space and time division elements.
Circuit switching bad for data connections:
Inefficient use of dedicated circuit path when source terminal is idle (capacity is lost). Difficult to handle different transmission rates. Communication is lost if a node or
link is temporarily disabled.
Packet-Switching Networks: Data are transmitted in small packets over different routes. Contains: User data: May be part of a larger message. Control information
(header): Includes routing (addressing).
-Line efficiency: Single link shared by many packets overtime. Packets queued and transmitted as fast as possible.
-Data rate conversion: Stations connect to local node at own speed. Nodes buffer data if required to equalize rates.
Packets accepted even when network is busy: Delivery time increased but connection is not blocked.
-Priorities can be used
Datagram Networks: Each packet treated independently with no reference to previous packets and do not necessarily follow the same route. Each node chooses next
node on a packet’s path based on information from neighboring nodes (resulting processing delay). The exit node of destination restores the packets to original order.
One or more packets may be lost in network.
Virtual-Circuit Networks: A virtual-circuit network is a cross between a circuit- switched network and a datagram network. A preplanned route is established before
any packets are sent and all packets between a pair of stations follow this route. Each packet contains data plus virtual circuit identifier (VCI).
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM):
Employs fixed length packets (53bytes) called cells:

Cellular Networks:
A cell is the basic geographical unit of a cellular communication system. Each cell is allocated a band of frequency and is served by a base station. Base station (BS)
consists: transmitter; receiver; control unit. Shape is Hexagon:
3 √3 2
Distance between adjacent cell centers: d= √3 R ; Area: A= 2 R
A group of neighboring cells which have disjoint frequencies = cluster. The size of a cluster, N, not fixed and depends on the requirements of the area.
2 2
N=i + j +ij ; i , j∈{0,1,2,...}. The minimum distance between centers of cells that use the same frequencies (called co-
N can only take limited set of values:
K
channels) is D=d √ N . Each cluster (reuse pattern) is assigned frequency channels, K = total number of available frequency channels.
N
Within each cell, the available bandwidth is further divided into channels for user signal transmission. Call blocking occurs if all the traffic channels assigned to the
nearest BS are busy.
Increasing Capacity: Cell sectoring: Cell is divided into wedge shaped sectors (3–6 per cell). Each sector is assigned a separate subset of channels. BS uses directional
antennas to focus on each sector.
Cell splitting & microcells: Cells in areas of high usage can be split into smaller cells. Antennas move from tops of large buildings to smaller buildings, where they form
microcells. Use reduced power to cover a much smaller area and reduce co-channel interference. Good for city streets in congested areas, along highways, inside large
public buildings, etc.
Operation of cellular Systems: The BS includes one or more antennas, a controller, and a number of transceivers for communicating on the channels assigned to that
cell. Each BS is connected to a mobile telecommunication switching office (MTSO), with one MTSO serving multiple BSs. The MTSO is also connected to the public
switched telephone network (PSTN). Hand off refers to the process transferring an active call or data session from one cell in a cellular network to another or from one
channel in a cell to another.
Radio propagation effects:
Signal strength: Strength of signal between BS and MS needs to be high enough to maintain link quality. But not too strong so as to create co-channel interference. Must
handle variations in signal level and noise.
Fading: Time variation of received signal level caused by changes in transmission medium or paths. Even if BS and MS are within effective range, propagation effects
may disrupt link quality.
Fast fading: Rapid variations in signal strength over distances of about one-half a wavelength.
Slow fading: Change in received power level due to user passing large size objects.
Flat fading: All frequency components of the received signal fluctuate in the same manner.
Frequency selective fading: Different frequency components of the signal are affected differently.
Multipath propagation: The propagation phenomenon that results in radio signals reaching the receiving antenna by two or more paths.
Reflection: occurs when an electromagnetic signal encounters a surface that is
large relative to the wavelength of the signal.
Diffraction: occurs at the edge of an impenetrable body that is large compared to the wavelength of the radio wave.
Scattering: occurs if the size of an obstacle is on the order of the wavelength of the signal or less.
Intersymbol interference (ISI): form of distortion of a signal in which one symbol interferes with subsequent symbols. ISI occurs because of multi-path propagation.
ISI limits performance of high-rate systems.
Error compensation mechanism:
Forward error correction: Use of powerful error correcting codes to overcome the effects of noise and channel fading. Ratio of total bits to data bits sent between 2-3
(code rate k/n between 1/2 and 1/3).
Adaptive equalization: Advanced signal processing techniques used to combat ISI. Aims to invert channels and gather dispersed symbol energy back to its original time
interval. Difficult to implement for very wide band systems (requires costly adaptive filters).
Diversity: Because individual channels experience independent fading. Provides multiple logical channels between transmitter and receiver and sends part of the signal
over each channel.

Cellular Wireless Standards

First Generation (1G): refers to the first generation of commercial cellular telephone networks.
Main characteristics: Analog FM traffic channels(416x30kHz); Digital signaling used for control channels; Bulky and expensive handset; The phone had a talk time of
just 35 minutes and took 10 hours to charge its battery.
The most widely deployed system was the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS).
Second Generation (2G): aimed to provide higher quality signals, higher data rates for digital services, and greater capacity.
Key differences between 1G and 2G includes : Digital voice channels using speech coding; Low-rate data transmission; Encryption for secure communications; Error
detection and correction; Each channel of a cell is shared by a number of users using TDMA or CDMA.
Different standards: GSM: combines TDMA and FDMA; Used in Europe, IS-95: Based on CDMA; Used in North America
Third Generation (3G): aimed to provide high-speed wireless communications to support multimedia, data, and video in addition to voice.
3G is based on CDMA technology whereby several users simultaneously share 5MHz bandwidth.
Some capabilities: Voice quality comparable to PSTN; More efficient use of available spectrum; Support for a wide variety of mobile equipment; 384kbps data
available to slowly moving pedestrians; 144kbps data available to users in high-speed motor vehicles; Used multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), a method for
multiplying capacity; Support for both packet-switched and circuit-switched data services.
Fourth Generation (4G): aimed to support mobile web access and high bandwidth applications such as high-definition TV, video conferencing, gaming, etc.
4G uses IP and packet switching just like computers.
Two candidates emerged for 4G standardization :
Long Term Evolution(LTE) and later LTE-Advanced: Developed by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP); Uses OFDMA for downlink and SC-FDMA for uplink;
Exploits MIMO technology; Allows dynamic spectrum aggregation
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax): Developed by IEEE 802.16 Committee; uses a pure OFDMA approach for both uplink and downlink.
Fifth Generation (5G): The 2020s will be 5G era. 5G will be 100 times faster than the current 4G.
5G will offer major performance improvements including: Peak data rate on the order of 20Gbps; Enhancement in connectivity; Energy efficiency; Lower latency;
Higher quality of service (QoS)
Key enabling technologies: millimiter wave(mmWave); Massive MIMO with large-scale antenna arrays; Small cell; Beamforming; Non-orthogonal multiple
access(NOMA); Mobile edge computing (MEC) using cloud computing.
Local Area Network (LAN)
LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc. It is less costly as it is built with
inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters, and ethernet cables. In LAN, the data is transferred at an extremely faster rate. Local Area Network provides
higher security.
FDM TDM

WDM