A

A Technical
Technical Introduction
Introduction
to
to Wireless
Wireless

October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1-1
 A Technical Introduction to Wireless
Chapter 1

Wireless
Wireless Systems:
Systems:
History
History of
of Radio
Radio and
and Wireless
Wireless Telephony
Telephony

MTS,
IMTS

October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1-2
 How Did We Get Here?

Days before radio.....

• 1680 Newton first suggested
concept of spectrum, but for
visible light only
• 1831 Faraday demonstrated that
N S light, electricity, and magnetism
U are related
• 1864 Maxwell’s Equations:
LF HF VHF UHF MW IR UV XRAY spectrum includes more than light
• 1890’s First successful demos of
radio transmission

October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1-3
 Telegraphy
■ Samuel F.B. Morse had the idea of the telegraph on a
sea cruise in the 1833. He studied physics for two years,
and In 1835 demonstrated a working prototype, which he
patented in 1837.
■ Derivatives of Morse’ binary code are still in use today
■ The US Congress funded a demonstration line from
Washington to Baltimore, completed in 1844.
■ 1844: the first commercial telegraph circuits were coming
into use. The railroads soon were using them for train
dispatching, and the Western Union company resold idle
time on railroad circuits for public telegrams, nationwide Samuel F. B. Morse
at the peak of his career
■ 1857: first trans-Atlantic submarine cable was installed

Submarine Cable Installation Field Telegraphy

news sketch from the 1850’s during the US Civil War, 1860’s
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 Telephony
■ By the 1870’s, the telegraph was in use all over the world and largely taken for
granted by the public, government, and business.
■ In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone, a device for carrying
actual voices over wires.
■ Initial telephone demonstrations sparked intense public interest and by the late
1890’s, telephone service was available in most towns and cities across the USA

Alexander Graham Bell and his phone

from 1876 demonstration Telephone Line Installation Crew
1880’s
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 Radio Milestones
■ 1888: Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, gives lab demo of
existance of electromagnetic waves at radio frequencies
■ 1895: Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates a wireless radio
telegraph over a 3-km path near his home it Italy
■ 1897: the British fund Marconi’s development of reliable
radio telegraphy over ranges of 100 kM
■ 1902: Marconi’s successful trans-Atlantic demonstration
■ 1902: Nathan Stubblefield demonstrates voice over radio
Guglielmo Marconi
■ 1906: Lee De Forest invents “audion”, triode vacuum tube radio pioneer, 1895
• feasible now to make steady carriers, and to amplify signals
■ 1914: Radio became valuable military tool in World War I
■ 1920s: Radio used for commercial broadcasting
■ 1940s: first application of RADAR - English detection of
incoming German planes during WW II
MTS, ■ 1950s: first public marriage of radio and telephony - MTS,
IMTS
Mobile Telephone System
■ 1961: transistor developed: portable radio now practical
■ 1961: IMTS - Improved Mobile Telephone Service Lee De Forest
■ 1970s: Integrated circuit progress: MSI, LSI, VLSI, ASICs vacuum tube inventor
■ 1979, 1983: AMPS cellular demo, commercial deployment

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 Frequencies Used by Wireless Systems
Overview of the Radio Spectrum
AM LORAN Marine

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.4 3.0 MHz
3,000,000 i.e., 3x106 Hz

Short Wave -- International Broadcast -- Amateur CB

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 MHz
30,000,000 i.e., 3x107 Hz

VHF LOW Band VHF TV 2-6 FM VHF VHF TV 7-13

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 120 140 160 180 200 240 300 MHz
300,000,000 i.e., 3x108 Hz
Cellular DCS, PCS
UHF UHF TV 14-69 GPS
0.3 0.4 0.5 0/6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.4 3.0 GHz
3,000,000,000 i.e., 3x109 Hz

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 GHz
30,000,000,000 i.e., 3x1010 Hz
Broadcasting Land-Mobile Aeronautical Mobile Telephony
Terrestrial Microwave Satellite
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 Development of North American Cellular
■ In the late 1970’s, the FCC (USA Federal Communications Commission)
and the Canadian government allocated 40 MHz. of spectrum in the 800
MHz. range for public mobile telephony.
■ FCC adopted Bell Lab’s AMPS (Advanced
Mobile Phone System) standard, creating
cellular as we know it today 333 MSAs
• The USA was divided into 333 MSAs
(Metropolitan Service Areas) and over
300+ RSAs
300 RSAs (Rural Service Areas)
■ By 1990, all MSAs and RSAs had competing licenses granted and at
least one system operating. Canadian markets also developed.
■ In 1987, the FCC allocated 10 mHz. of expanded spectrum
■ In the 1990’s, additional technologies were developed for cellular
• TDMA (IS-54,55,56, IS-136) (also, GSM in Europe/worldwide)
• CDMA (IS-95)
■ US Operators did not pay for their spectrum, although processing fees
(typically $10,000’s) were charged to cover license administrative cost

October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1-8
 North American Cellular Spectrum
Uplink Frequencies Downlink Frequencies
(“Reverse Path”) (“Forward Path”)

Frequency, MHz 890 894

824 835 845 849 870 880

A B Paging, ESMR, etc. A B

825 846.5 869 891.5

Frequencies used by “A” Cellular Operator

Ownership and Initial ownership by Non-Wireline companies
Licensing Frequencies used by “B” Cellular Operator
Initial ownership by Wireline companies

■ In each MSA and RSA, eligibility for ownership was restricted

• “A” licenses awarded to non-telephone-company applicants only
• “B” licenses awareded to existing telephone companies only
• subsequent sales are unrestricted after system in actual operation

October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1-9
 Development of North America PCS
■ By 1994, US cellular systems were seriously
overloaded and looking for capacity relief
• The FCC allocated 120 MHz. of spectrum
around 1900 MHz. for new wireless telephony 51 MTAs
493 BTAs
known as PCS (Personal Communications
Systems), and 20 MHz. for unlicensed services
• allocation was divided into 6 blocks; 10-year
licenses were auctioned to highest bidders
■ PCS Licensing and Auction Details
• A & B spectrum blocks licensed in 51 MTAs (Major Trading Areas )
• Revenue from auction: $7.2 billion (1995)
• C, D, E, F blocks were licensed in 493 BTAs (Basic Trading Areas)
• C-block auction revenue: $10.2 B, D-E-F block auction: $2+ B (1996)
• Auction winners are free to choose any desired technology

PCS SPECTRUM ALLOCATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA

unlic. unlic.
A D B E F C data voice A D B E F C
15 5 15 5 5 15 15 5 15 5 5 15
1850 1910 1930 1990
MHz. MHz. MHz. MHz.
October, 1997 Technical Introduction to Wireless -- 102 v1.0 - (c) 1997 Scott Baxter 1 - 10
 Major PCS Auction Winners
The Largest Players, Areas, and Technologies
■ Sprint PCS
Sprint PCS • Partnership of Sprint, TCI, Cox Cable
CDMA • Bid & won in 2/3 of US markets A or B blocks
• Sprint itself has D and/or E blocks in remaining
markets
• CDMA: Mix of Nortel, Lucent, Motorola
AT&T Wireless ■ AT&T Wireless Systems
IS-136 • Bid & won a majority of markets in A&B Blocks
• will combine and integrate service between its new
PCS 1900 systems and its former McCaw cellular
800 MHz. properties
Primeco • IS-136: mix of Lucent and Ericsson equipment
CDMA ■ Primeco
• Partnership of Airtouch, US West, Bell Atlantic,
• CDMA: Mix of Motorola, Lucent networks
Western
Wireless
Aerial ■ GSM Operators
OmniPoint
• Western Wireless, OmniPoint, BellSouth, GTE,
Pacific
Bell
GSM BellSouth
Powertel
Powertel, Pacific Bell
• Mix of Ericsson, Nokia, and Nortel networks
■ For complete information, check www.fcc.gov

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 Canadian Wireless
Technologies, Manufacturers, and Operators

Frequency
Tech-
Network Geographic Area
Band, Manu-
nology British Saskatch- New Nova Newfound-
MHz facturer Alberta Manitoba Ontario Quebec
Columbia ewan Brunswick Scotia land

900 IDEN Motorola Clearnet “MIKE”

1900 CDMA Lucent Clearnet PCS
1900 GSM Ericsson Microcell “FIDO”
1900 CDMA Nortel

AMPS
800 “B”
TDMA
Nortel
Mobilink Canada
1900 IS-136 ? ?
AMPS
800 “A”
TDMA
Ericsson Rogers Cantel

1 - 12
Summary of Radio Technology Development

Progress in Radio Communications

Radio Communication Systems

HFAmateur VHFLand Mobile Mobile Telephony30-50MHz
Marine 150MHz
Military Microwave Microwave 450MHz
RADAR Point-to-Point Satellite 800MHz
1900MHz
AM Bcst1MHz FM Bcst100MHz
VHF-TV Bcst
UHF-TV Bcst

Modulation CW AM FSK FM PM PSK QAM DQPSK GMSK

Devices Spark Vacuum Discrete MSI VLSI,
Tubes Transistors LSI ASICS

1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Time
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Summary of Wireless Telephony

Evolution of Public Mobile Telephony

Standards Evolution
MTS150MHz IMTS150MHz AMPS800MHz PCS1900MHz
GSM
450MHz N_AMPS CDMA
D-AMPS AMPS, etc

Technology Evolution CDMA ESMR800MHz

Analog AM, FM Digital Modulation Access Strategies
DQPSK FDMA
GMSK TDMA
CDMA

Vacuum Tubes Discrete Transistors MSI LSI VLSI, ASICs

System Capacity Evolution - Users
Dozens Hundreds 100,000’s 1,000,000’s

1960 1990
AMPS = Advanced Mobile Phone System PCS-1900 = Personal Communication Systems
N_AMPS = Narrowband AMPS (Motorola) FDMA = Frequency Division Multiple Access
D-AMPS = Digital AMPS (IS-54 TDMA) TDMA = Time Division Multiple Access
ESMR = Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio CDMA = Code Division Multiple Access
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Summary: Wireless Economics and Logistics

Trends in Radio Communications

Technology: Analog Digital

System
Organization: Centralized Distributed

Cost

Capacity
Complexity
Radio Frequency
Time

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