423.

11
INTRODUCTION AND BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT

contents 11.1.1 11.1.2 11.1.3 11.2.0 11.2.1 11.2.2 11.2.3

description Objectives & contents Revolution in telecom History of mobile communications Constraints in implementation Bandwidth management Cellular structures and frequency reuse Digital modulation of GSM Radio :GMSK Speech coding in GSM : RPE-LTP

Page No 2 3 4 7 9 10 15 18

423.11 INTRODUCTION AND BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT

OBJECTIVES: This unit describes the historical development of GSM standards. The growth of mobile networks enhances the range of services offered to the user. The focus is on the implementation issues . After completion of this unit ,the student is able to understand historical profile and chronological development of GSM standards. issues related to the bandwidth management bandwidth management techniques system trade offs related to capacity and quality., etc.

UNIT CONTENTS : The unit consists of the following topics : history of mobile communications Chronological development of GSM Implementation issues Cellular structures and frequency reuse Cochannel sells and interference Digital modulation system : GMSK Speech coding algorithm : RPE-LTP

423.11
INTRODUCTION AND BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT
11.1.0 Introduction 11.1.1 Revolution in telecom The telephone has long been important in modern living, but it use has been constrained by connecting wires. The advent of mobile radio telephony and particularly the cellular radio has removed this restriction and led to explosive growth in mobile throughout the world. The phone are really on move now. With the phenomenal and unprecedented growth of more than forty fold in just ten years, a strong demand for mobile cellular services has created an industry which now accounts for more than one third of all telephone lines. It is expected that mobile phone will soon exceed the traditional fixed line phones. In fact the trend of fixed and mobile convergence is already being talked about. Concept of mobile communication Fixed telephones, using wired access network, are meant to be used at a particular location only. We can have telephones at our office/business and our residence. The fixed telephones are linked to a place but the modern day life style demands that we should have telephone facility while on move also. Mobile communication facilitates telephonic conversation in a fast moving vehicle. This means that phones moves along with a person thereby moving telephone is linked to a person and not to a place. In this words our reach becomes broader and world shrinks into a Global village. Wireless communication is all around us. The day is not far off ; the future generations will wonder as to why wires are required for a telephone to work!!! Mobile communication objectives The important objectives of the mobile communication are Any time Anywhere communication

Mobility & Roaming High capacity & subs. density Efficient use of radio spectrum Seamless Network Architecture Low cost Innovative Services Standard Interfaces 11.1.2 History of mobile communication Brief history of mobile communication 1946 1960 1970 1979 1985 1986 1990 Appeared in St .Louis USA ( By AT & T) at 150 MHz band FM 120 KHz BW 450 MHz Band FM 30 KHz BW

BELL LAB introduced Cellular Principle Advanced Mobile Phone System in US Total Access Communication System (TACs in UK) Nordic Mobile Telephony Systems (NMT) Digital Systems

Different generations Analog and digital systems 1946- 1960s Appearance 1980s 1G Analog Multi Standard . Terrestrial 1990s 2G Digital Multi Standard Terrestrial Unified Standard Terrestrial Satellite & 2000s 3G Digital

1 G - I st Generation --Analog (cellular revolution) -only mobile voice services

2 G - 2 nd Generation -- digital (breaking digital barrier) - mostly for voice services & data delivery possible 3 G - Voice & data ( breaking data barrier) mainly data INTERNATIONAL MOBILE TELECOM 2000. ( IMT-2000) THIRD GENERATION (3 G ) STANDARD

A future standard in

which a single inexpensive

mobile terminal

can truely

provide communications any time and any where. INTERNATIONAL MOBILE TELECOM 2000. ( IMT-2000)
INTERNATIONAL MOBILE TELECOM 2000. ( IMT-2000)

is an intiative of ITU that to promote global service

seeks to integrate the various satellite, terrestrial, fixed and mobile systems currently being deployed and developed under a single standard capabilities and interoperability. DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION OF THE GSM STANDARD The chronological development of GSM standard is given below . YEAR 1982 EVENTS/DECISIONS/ACHIVEMENTS CEPT (CONFERENCE EUROPEAN POSTS
AND TELEGRAPHS)

Decides to establish Groupe

special mobile (the intial origin of the GSM) to develop a set of common standards for future pan European cellular mobile network. 1984 Establishment of three working parties (WP1-3) to define and describe the services offered in a GSM PLMN (GSM Public Land Mobile Network)the radio interface, transmission, signaling protocols, interfaces and network architecture. 1986 A so called permanent nucleus is established to continuously coordinate the work, which is intensely supported by industry delegates. 1987 Intial memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by network organizations (representing 12 countries) with major objectives as : * coordinating the introduction of the standard and time scales. *Planning of service introduction
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operator

*Routing ,billing , and tariff coordination.

1988/89 To 1991/92

with the establishment of the European telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) ,the specification work was mooted to this international body.GSM becomes a technical committee within ETSI and splits upto into GSM groups 1-4 ,later called Special Mobile Groups(SMG)1-4,which are technical sub Committees. GSM finally stands for Global system for Mobile Communications

1990

The GSM specifications for 900 Mhz band are also applied to a Digital cellular system on the 1800 MHz band (DCS1800), a PCN application intiated in the United Kingdom.

1991

The GSM Recommendations comprise more than 130 single documents including more than 5000 pages.

1992 1993 1993

Official commercial launch of GSM service in Europe. The GSM- MOU has 62 members (signatories) in 39 countries worldwide. The end of 1993 shows one million subscribers to GSM networks,however more than 80% of them are to be found in Germany alone.

1993

First commercial services also start outside Europe: Australia, Hongkong

The features and benefits expected in the new system were Superior speech quality Low terminal ,operational,and service costs A high level of security (confidentiality and fraud prevention) International roaming Support of low terminal hand poratable terminals A variety of new services and network facilities.

11.1.3 CONSTRAINTS
A host of services are being services

IN

IMPLEMENTATION

viz., teleservices, supplementary services ,value added

promised by GSM networks. There are certain impairments in

realizing an effective mobile communication system which has to meet the twin objectives of quality and capacity. The following are the some of the problem areas in deploying a GSM net work ,which demand extensive planning and engineering. (a) Radio frequency Utilisation : High spectrum efficiency should be achieved at reasonable cost .The bandwidth on radio interface i.e between the user equipment and the Radio transceiver, is to be managed effectively to support ever increasing customer base with very limited number of radio carriers. For high BW sevices eg. MMS, as the GSM evolves towards 3G, more spectrum is demanded. Bandwidth management is the key area ,which decides the success or otherwise of a mobile operator . (b) Multipath radio environment : The most significant problem in mobile radio systems is due to the channel itself. In mobile radio systems , indeed ,it is rare for there to exist one strong line of sight (LOS) path between transmitter and receiver. Usually several significant signals are received by reflection and scattering from buildings, etc..and then there are multiple paths from transmitter to receiver .

Radio transceiver

Mobile eqpt Multipath Radio environment The signals on these paths are subject to different delays, phase shifts, and Doppler shifts, and arrive at the receiver in random phase relation to one another. The interference between these signals gives rise to a number of deleterious effects. The most important of these are fading and dispersion .Fading is due to the interference of multiple signals with random relative phase that causes variations in the amplitude of the received signal. This will increase the error rate in digital systems, since errors will occur when the signal-tonoise ratio drops below a certain threshold. Dispersion is due to differences in the delay of the various paths, which disperses transmitted pulses in time If the variation of the delay is comparable with the symbol period, delayed signals from an earlier symbol may interfere with the next symbol, causing Inter-symbol interference (ISI). The countermeasures for fading include diversity reception and equalization. Mobility management: The principal characteristic of mobile networks ,which distinguishes them from conventional fixed networks ,is that the identity of calling and called subscribers is not associated with a fixed geographical location. The subscribers establish a wireless connection with the nearest base station, and can make or receive calls as they roam. Mobility management is concerned with how the network supports this function. When a
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call is made to mobile customer , the network must be able to locate the mobile customer. Network attachment process which includes a location updation process is the answer for the mobility management. In the location update process , the network databases are updated dynamically ,so that the mobile can be reached to offer the services. If this process is not done efficiently , it will result in poor call management and network congestion. (d) Services International roaming shall be provided. Advanced PSTN services should be provided consistent with ISDN services albeit at limited bit rates only. Encryption should be used to improve security for both the operators and the customers. (e) Network aspects : ITU identification and numbering plans should be used.An international to

signaling system should be utilized.There should be a choice of charging structure and rates.No modification shall be required to the PSTN due to its interconnection GSM.signalling and control information should be protected. (f) Cost : The system parameters should be chosen to limit costs ,particularly mobiles and handsets.In a competitive environment , cost is the deciding factor for the survival of an operator.

11.2

BANDWIDTH

MANAGEMENT

Radios move information from one place to another over channels, and radio channel is an extraordinarily hostile medium to establish and maintain reliable communications. The channel is particularly messy and unruly between mobile radios. All the schemes and mechanisms we use to make communications possible on the mobile radio channel with some measure of reliability between a mobile and its base radio station are called physical layer, or the layer 1 procedures. The mechanisms include modulation, power control, coding, timing, and host of other details that manage the establishment and maintenance of the channel. The radio channel has to be fully exploited for maximum capacities and optimum quality of service.

Band width is a scarce natural resource. The bandwidth has to be managed for maximum capacity of the system and interference free communications. The spectrum availability for an operator is very limited. The up link or down link spectrum is only 25 MHz., Out of this 25 MHz, 124 carriers of each 200 KHz are generated. These carriers are to be shared amongst different operators. And as a result each operator gets only a few tens of carriers ; making spectrum management a challenging area. The following figure shows the radio connectivity between the mobile equipment and the Radio transmitter/receiver.

Radio interface

Mobile switch

Radio controller

Radio transceiver

mobile

For effective management of bandwidth , for conservation of spectrum and quality of radio link; the following access techniques are implemented on the radio interface. (1) Cellular structures and Frequency Reuse (2) Multiple access Technologies (3) Voice coding technologies (4) Bandwidth effective Modulation scheme.

11.2.1 Cellular structures and Frequency Reuse

Traditional mobile service was structured similar to television broadcasting: One very powerful transmitter located at the highest spot in an area would broadcast in a radius of up to fifty kilometers. The scenario changes as the mobile density as well as the coverage area grows. The answer to tackle the growth is coverage extensions based on

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addition of new cells.The Cellular concept structured the mobile telephone network in a different way. Instead of using one powerful transmitter many low-powered transmitter were placed through out a coverage area. For example, by dividing metropolitan region into one hundred different areas (cells) with low power transmitters using twelve conversation (channels) each, the system capacity could theoretically be increased from twelve to thousands of conversations using one hundred low power transmitters while reusing the frequencies. The cellular concept employs variable low power levels, which allows cells to be sized according to subscriber density and demand of a given area. As the populations grows, cells can be added to accommodate that growth. Frequencies used in one cell cluster can be reused in other cells. Conversations can be handed over from cell to cell to maintain constant phone service as the user moves between cells. Cells : A cell is the basic geographic unit of cellular system. The term cellular comes from the honeycomb areas into which a coverage region is divided. Cells are base stations transmitting over small geographic areas that are represented as hexagons. Each cell size varies depending upon landscape. Because of the constraint imposed by natural terrain and man-made structures, the true shape of cell is not a perfect hexagon.

(a) Cellular System Characteristics

The distinguishing features of digital cellular systems compared to other mobile radio systems are: Small cells A cellular system uses many base stations with relatively (on the order of a 100 m to 30 km).
Clusters and Frequency reuse

small coverage radii

The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. As a result there is a limit to the number of channels or frequencies that can be used. A group of cells is called a cluster. All the frequencies are used in a cluster and no frequency is reused with in the cluster. And the total set of frequencies are repeated in the adjacent cluster.Like that the

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total service area ,i.e may be a country or a continent, can be served with a small group of frequencies. Frequency reuse is possible because the signal fades over the distance and hence it can be reused .For this reason each frequency is used simultaneously by multiple base-mobile pairs; located at geographically distant cells. This frequency reuse allows a much higher subscriber density per MHz of spectrum than other systems. System capacity can be further increased by reducing the cell size (the coverage area of a single base station), down to radii as small as 200 m. Small, battery-powered handsets In addition to supporting much higher densities than is lower than the large mobile units used in earlier systems. Performance of handovers In cellular systems, continuous coverage is achieved by executing a handover (the seamless transfer of the call from one base station to another) as the mobile unit crosses cell boundaries. This requires the mobile to change frequencies under control of the cellular network. previous systems, this approach enables the use of small, battery-powered handsets with a radio frequency that

(b) Co channel cells and interference

Radio channels can be reused provided the separation between cells containing the same channel set is far enough apart so that co-channel interference can be kept below acceptable levels most of the time. Cells using the same channel set are called Co-channel cells. Co-channel cells interfere with each other and quality is affected. The following figure shows an example. Within the service area (PLMN), specific channel sets are reused at a different location (another cell). In the example, there are 7 channel sets: A through G. Neighboring cells are not allowed to use the same frequencies. For this reason all channel sets are used in a cluster of neighboring cells. As there are 7 channel sets, the PLMN can be divided into clusters of 7 cells each. The figure shows three clusters. Co-channel interference Frequencies can be reused throughout a service area because radio signals typically attenuate with distance to the base station (or mobile station). When the

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distance between cells using the same frequencies becomes too small, co-channel Interference might occur and lead to service interruption or unacceptable quality of service. As long as the ratio Frequency reuse distance = D Cell radius R is greater than some specified value, the ratio Received radio carrier power = C Received interferer radio carrier power I will be greater than some given amount for small as well as large cell sizes; when all signals are transmitted at the same power level. The average attenuation of radio signals with distance in most cellular systems is a reduction to about 1/16 of the received power for every doubling of distance (1/10000 per decade). The frequency reuse distance known as separation distance is also known as the signalto-noise ratio. The figure on the opposite page shows the situation. At the base station, both signals from subscribers within the cell covered by this base station and signals from subscribers covered by other cells are received. Interference is caused by cells using the same channel set. The ratio D/R needs to be large enough in order for the base station to be able to cope with the interference. A co-channel interference factor Q is defined As Q=D/R = 3K where D is Frequency reuse distance ,R is the cell radius and K is the reuse factor or the number of cells in a cluster.

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cluster 1
cluster 2 cluster 3 D R

K=reuse factor=No of cells in a cluster Q=D/R = 3K

Q is more Sys quality high -- K is more -- No of cells in a cluster more -- No of chls per cell less -- traffic handling capacity low

Capacity / performance trade-offs When engineering a cellular network, the most important trade-off to make is the one between call capacity and performance: Relationship between K and Performance The performance of a cellular network can be expressed in quality of service.That is the value of Q shall be higher to achieve an acceptable quality of service.This means a low (co-channel) interference level in the network. The relationship between the reuse factor K and the network performance is: if K increases, then the co-channel interference decreases, and so the performance increases (note that there is a fixed relationship between K and ratio D/R). Relationship between K and Cell Capacity The other key relationship in cellular networks is the one between the reuse factor K and call capacity. First of all, call capacity depends on the number of available channels. In GSM, a limited number of frequencies is available (for GSM: 124 frequencies, and for GSM-1800: 374 frequencies). The frequencies are grouped into frequency sets. If K increases, the number of frequencies per set (and so per cell)

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decreases, and so the call capacity per cell. The value of K in GSM cellular networks varies between 4 and 21. Note that in real networks, K is not a constant within the whole PLMN area, but varies depending on the traffic capacity needed in certain regions. Typically, K is high in urban regions and low in rural regions. If K increases, then performance increases If K increases, then call capacity decreases per cell The number of sites to cover a given area with a given high traffic density, and hence the cost of the infrastructure, is determined directly by the reuse factor and the number of traffic channels that can be extracted from the available spectrum. These two factors are compounded in what is called spectral efficiency of the system. Not all systems allow the same performance in this domain: they depend in particular on the robustness of the radio transmission scheme against interference, but also on the use of a number of technical tricks, such as reducing transmission during the silences of a speech communication. The spectral efficiency, together with the constraints on the cell size, determines also the possible compromises between the capacity and the cost of the infrastructure. All this explains the importance given to spectral efficiency. 11.2.2 DIGITAL MODULATION OF GSM RADIO : GMSK The radio connectivity between the mobile station and the Radio transceiver is made by transmitting a carrier .The digital information generated by the system or the network is to be imparted to the radio carrier by suitable digital modulation technique. If the amplitude of a carrier is shifted with binary information, it is said ASK is employed, wherein the amplitude of the carrier is switched between their full-on and full-off conditions. If the carrier frequency is shifted with the binary information ,this is equivalent to shifting between two or more carriers of diff frequencies. This is FSK and is widely used in analog cellular systems for signaling functions. There is no limit to the number of carrier frequencies that can be shifted, but the use of two frequencies, quite close together, is the universal implementation of FSK. As with FSK ,the shift between various carriers differing from each other only in their relative phase(PSK).There are many varieties of PSK ,and each is broadly distinguished from the others by the number of allowed phases .

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11.2.2.1 Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

The modulation specified for GSM is GMSK with BT=0.3 and rate 270 5/6 kbauds. GMSK is a type of constant envelope FSK, where the frequency modulation is a result of a carefully contrived phase modulation .The most important feature of GMSK is that it is a constant envelope variety of modulation. This means there is a distinct lack of AM in the carrier with a constant limiting of the occupied bandwidth. The constant amplitude of the GMSK signal makes it suitable for use with high efficiency amplifiers. An easy way to understand the GMSK signal is to first investigate its precursor, MinimumShift Keying(MSK).The following figure indicates the steps in generating an MSK signal. How the data is treated in GMSK is explained below: The waveforms are all aligned together in phase. Little scales are placed are placed in the figure to help make the phase relationships between the waveforms clearer. 10 bits of the data stream {1101011000} is considered for analysis. The data stream is divided into odd and even bit streams:(odd bits and even bits).In creating odd bits and even bits ,each alternate odd and even bit in data is hold for two bit times. Staggering odd bits and even bits already helps to create a waveform with minimal AM. For convenience odd bits and even bits are made to take the values 1or -1. In GSM case ,if the data rate (in waveform data) is 270.833 kbps, then the staggered odd bits and even bits will have half the rate135.4 kbps .The fourth and fifth wave forms in the following figure are the high freq and the low freq versions, respectively ,of the carrier. since MSK is a form of FSK, finally modulated carrier needs two diff. frequency components(low and high).the MSK signal is created by shifting between these two frequencies. The MSK signal is created starting with bit number 2, with the help of the truth table given below along with the waveforms. At any instant the odd and even bit values are taken from the table and follow the rules as given in the truth table to obtain the MSK waveform at that instant. Either the high or the low freq versions of the carrier is picked corresponding to the instant under consideration and also according to the sense instructions(+ or -) as given in the table ,the wave form is to be turned up or down. The resulting MSK waveform appears in waveform as MSK;which is the fifth waveform in the figure. Smooth phase transitions can be noticed ,as the MSK waveform changes

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its frequency one from the other. These high and low frequencies shall be as close together as possible in the freq domain.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

data

odd bits

even bits

high freq

low freq MSK wave

Generating Minimum Shift Keying

MSK truth tableDigital inputMSK OutputBit ValueFrequency senseOdd bitEven BitHigh or Low+ or -11High--11Low-1-1Low+1-1High-

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To make a GMSK signal from an MSK signal ,the stretched data waveforms (each135.4 kbps) have to be filtered with a Gaussian filter of an appropriate bandwidth defined by the BT product(Bandwidth*Time).In GSM case ,BT is 0.3,which makes B=81.3 kHz when T is 3.7 micro sec (T=1/270.833).

11.2.3 SPEECH

CODING IN

GSM

Due to the restricted transmission capacity on the radio channel, it is desirable to minimize the number of bits we need to transmit. The information is transmitted within pulses, so that the content, the representation of the originally continuous audio signal, is compressed in the time domain when it is transmitted over the radio path. Inside the receiver, the information is decompressed, or expanded, in order to regenerate the continuous audio signal. The device that transforms the human voice into a digital stream of data suitable for transmission over the radio interface and regenerates an audible analog representation of the received data (voice) is called a speech codec. How the speech coding works in GSM Sound (human voice) is converted to an electrical signal by the microphone. To digitize this analog signal, it is sampled at 8 KHz rate. The signal is sampled after filtering. Every 125 micro seconds, a value is sampled from the analog signal and quantized by a 13 bit word. The 125 micro sec sampling intervals are derived from a sampling frequency of 8 KHz, which is 8000 samples per second. A sampling rate of 8000 samples per second means that the output of Analog to Digital converter delivers a data rate of 8000x 13bps=104 Kbps.104 Kbps data is far too high to be economically transmitted over the radio interface; considering the Bandwidth scarcity. Band width has to be shared by number of users for costing advantages. The speech coder will have to do something to significantly reduce this rate by extracting irrelevant components in the data stream. The speech coder has to search for excess baggage we can safely remove from the bit stream scheduled for transport over the radio path. GSM uses to processes to strip redundant fat from the data representing voice traffic. The compression algorithm used in GSM is a procedure called RPE-LTP ,explained below.
11.2.3.1 REGULAR PULSE EXCITATION AND LONG TERM PREDICTION (RPELTP)

Every 20ms, 160 sampled values from the ADC are taken and stored in an intermediate memory. An analysis of a set of data samples produces eight filter

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coefficients and an excitation signal for a time-invariant digital filter. This filter can be regarded as a digital imitation of the human vocal tract, where the finer coefficients represent vocal modifiers(e.g., teeth, tongue, pharynx)and the excitation signal represents the sound(e.g., pitch , loudness) or the absence of sound that we pass through the vocal tract(filter). A correct setting of filter coefficients and an appropriate excitation signal yields a sound typical of the human voice. The procedure, so far, has not performed any data reductions. The reductions come in further steps, which take advantage of certain attributes of the human ear and vocal tract .The 160 samples, transformed into filter coefficients, are divided into four blocks of 40 samples each. Each block represents a 5-ms period of voice. These blocks are sorted into four sequences. Where each sequence contains very forth sample from the original 160 samples. Sequence number 1 contains samples 1, 5, 9, 13., 37, sequence number 2 contains samples 2, 6, 10, 14, .38, Sequence number 3 contains samples3,7,11,15,..39,and Sequence number 4 contains samples 4, 8, 12, 1640. The first reduction in data comes when the speech encoder selects the sequence with the most energy. This linear predictive coding (LPC) and regular pulse excitation (RPE) analysis has a very short memory of approximately 1ms. A more long-term consideration of neighboring (or adjacent) blocks in time is not performed here, There are numerous correlations in the human voice, especially in long vowels such as the in car or the oo in fool, where the same sound recurs in succeeding 5-ms samples. Taking the similarity of sounds between adjacent samples (Adjacent 5-ms blocks) into account can significantly reduce the amount of data required to describe the human voice. This second reduction task is performed by a LTP Function. LONG-TERM PREDICTION ANALYSIS (LTP) The LTP function accepts a sequence selected by the LPC/RPE analysis. Upon accepting sequence, it then looks among all the previous sequences passed to it (which will reside in another intermediate memory for 15ms) for the earlier sequence that has the highest correlation to ( bears the greatest resemblance to ) the current sequence. It can be said that the LTP function looks for the one sequence from among those already received that is most similar to the sequence just received from the LPC/RPE. Now it is

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only necessary to transmit a value representing the difference between the two sequences, along with a pointer to tell the receiver on the other end of the radio channel, which sequence it should select among its recently received sequences for comparison. The receiver knows which differential values it has to apply to which sequences. The transmission of the whole sequence is not necessary, only the difference between sequences, This further reduces the data on the channel. The speech coder issues a block of 260bits (a speech frame) once every 20ms. This corresponds to net data rate of 13kbps, a data reduction of a factor of eight. Speech transcoding is a task that requires a large number of calculations at high speeds. It is, therefore, an ideal application for digital signal processing (DSP) techniques.

*******

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