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Introduction
(1) PCS Architecture
What is PCS
• Personal Communication Services A wide variety of network services that
includes wireless access and personal mobility services
– Provided through a small terminal
–Enables communication at any time, at any place, and in any terminal form.
PCS Architecture:
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Each PCS technology has similar architectures which consists two parts
– Radio Network
• MS (Mobile Station)
• BS (Base Station) System
– Wireline Transport Network
• MSC (Mobile Switching Center)
• The Mobility Database connected to MSC is used to track the locations of
mobile station
PCS (personal communications service) is a wireless phone service similar to cellular
telephone service but emphasizing personal service and extended mobility. It's sometimes
referred to as digital cellular (although cellular systems can also be digital). Like cellular,
PCS is for mobile users and requires a number of antennas to blanket an area of coverage.
As a user moves around, the user's phone signal is picked up by the nearest antenna and
then forwarded to a base station that connects to the wired network. The phone itself is
slightly smaller than a cellular phone. According to Sprint, PCS is now available to 230
million people.
The "personal" in PCS distinguishes this service from cellular by emphasizing that,
unlike cellular, which was designed for car phone use and coverage of highways and
roads, PCS is designed for greater user mobility. It generally requires more cell
transmitters for coverage, but has the advantage of fewer blind spots. Technically,
cellular systems in the United States operate in the 824-849 megahertz (MHz) frequency
bands; PCS operates in the1850-1990 MHz bands.
Several technologies are used for PCS in the United States, including Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System
for Mobile (GSM) communication. GSM is more commonly used in Europe and
elsewhere.
The location update procedure allows a mobile device to inform the cellular network,
whenever it moves from one location area to the next. Mobiles are responsible for
detecting location area codes. When a mobile finds that the location area code is different
from its last update, it performs another update by sending to the network, a location
update request, together with its previous location, and its Temporary Mobile Subscriber
Identity (TMSI).
There are several reasons why a mobile may provide updated location information to the
network. Whenever a mobile is switched on or off, the network may require it to perform
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
an IMSI attach or IMSI detach location update procedure. Also, each mobile is required
to regularly report its location at a set time interval using a periodic location update
procedure. Whenever a mobile moves from one location area to the next while not on a
call, a random location update is required. This is also required of a stationary mobile
that reselects coverage from a cell in a different location area, because of signal fade.
Thus a subscriber has reliable access to the network and may be reached with a call,
while enjoying the freedom of mobility within the whole coverage area.
When a subscriber is paged in an attempt to deliver a call or SMS and the subscriber does
not reply to that page then the subscriber is marked as absent in both the MSC/VLR and
the HLR (Mobile not reachable flag MNRF is set). The next time the mobile performs a
location update the HLR is updated and the mobile not reachable flag is cleared.
I) Inter-BS Handoff :
•New and Old BSsare connected to the same MSC
•Need for Handoff is detected by the MS
•Steps of Actions:
–MS momentarily suspends conversation and initiates the Handoff procedure by
signaling on an idle channel in the new BS. Then itresumes conversation on the old BS
–MSC transfers the encrypted information to the selected channel of the new BS and
setup the new conversation path. The switch bridges the new path with the old path and
informs the MS to transfer from the old channel to the new channel
–After the MS has been transferred to the new BS, it signals the network, and
resumes conversation using the new channel
–Upon receipt of the Handoff completion signal, the network removes the bridge from
the path and releases resources associated with the old channel
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Intersystem Handoff
•New and Old BSsare connected to two different MSCs
•Network-controlled Handoff
•Steps of Actions:
–MSC A requests MSC B to perform handoff measurements on the callin progress. MSC
B selects a candidate BS and interrogates it for signal quality parameters on the call in
progress. MSC B returns the signal quality parameter values to MSC A.
–MSC A checks if the MS has made too many handoffs recently or Intersystem trunks
are not available. If so MSC A exits the procedure. Otherwise MSC A asks MSC B to
setup a voice channel, and then MSC B instructs MSC A to start the radio link transfer.
–MSC A sends the MS a handoff order. The MS synchronizes to new BS. After the MS is
connected to new BS, MSC BinformsMSC A that handoff is successful. MSC A then
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Basic Operations
•Two basic operations in roaming management.
–Registration (location update): an MS informs theb system of
its current location
–Location Tracking: the system locates the MS
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
MS Registration Process
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Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
1.When the mobile user moves from one visited system to another, it must
register in the VLR of the new visited system
2.The new VLR informs the mobile user’s HLR of the person’s current
location –address of the new VLR. The HLR sends an acknowledgement,
which includes MS’s profile, to the new VLR.
3.The new VLR informs the MS of the successful registration.
4.After step 2, the HLR also sends a deregistration message to cancel the obsolete
location record of the MS in the old VLR. The old VLR acknowledges the deregistration.
Call Delivery :
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Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Components of SS7
•Service Switching Point (SSP)
–Telephone switch interconnected by SS7 link
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1.MSC2 launches a registration query to its VLR through STP2, assuming that
VLR2 and MSC2 are not colocated
2.VLR2 sends a registration message to the MS’s HLR (HLR4). VLR2 may not
know the actual address of HLR. Instead, VLR2 sends the message containing
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Mobile Identification Number (MIN) to an STP (STP3) that can translate the MIN
into the HLR address
3.MIN-to-HLR address translation is performed at STP3 by a GTT. STP3
then forwards the registration message to HLR.
4.HLR sends an acknowledgement back to VLR2
5.HLR sends a deregistration message to VLR1, and then VLR1 acknowledges the
cancellation
Obsolete VLR records are not deleted until the database is full.
•If the database is full when an MS arrives, a record is deleted, freeing storage space to
accommodate the newly arrived MS.
•A replacement policy is required to select a record for replacement.
•Advantage: No deregistration messages are sent among the SS7 network elements.
Periodic re-registration
•The MS periodically re-registers to the VLR.
•If the VLR does not receive the reregistrationmessage within a timeout period, the
record is deleted
•Creates local message traffic between MSC and VLR
•No SS7 signaling messages are generated if VLR is collocated with the MSC
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
(4)Handoff Management
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Handoff
In a cellular telephone network, handoff is the transition for any given user of signal
transmission from one base station to a geographically adjacent base station as the user
moves around. In an ideal cellular telephone network, each end user's telephone set or
modem (thesubscriber's hardware) is always within range of a base station. The region
coveredby each base station is known as its cell. The size and shape of each cell in
anetwork depends on the nature of the terrain in the region, the number of base
stations,and the transmit/receive range of each base station. In theory, the cells in
anetwork overlap; for much of the time, a subscriber's hardware is within range of
morethan one base station. The network must decide, from moment to moment, which
basestation will handle the signals to and from each and every subscriber's hardware.
Each time a mobile or portable cellular subscriber passes from one cellinto another, the
network automatically switches coverage responsibility from one basestation to another.
Each base-station transition, as well as the switching processor sequence itself, is called
handoff. In a properly functioning network, handoffoccurs smoothly, without gaps in
communications and without confusion about which basestation should be dealing with
the subscriber. Subscribers to a network need not doanything to make handoff take place,
nor should they have to think about the process orabout which base station is dealing with
the signals at any given moment.
BS Coverage Area
•BS coverage area: irregular
•In the cell boundary–Signal from a neighboring BS –Signal from the serving BS
•Otherwise: Forced termination
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
I) Handoff Detection
•Handoff detection:
–Who initiates the handoff process?
–How is the need for handoff detected?
•Handoffs are expensive.
•Overlap of adjacent coverage area is desired
•Handoff criteria
–If not chosen appropriately, then the call might be handed back and forth several times
between two adjacent BSs
–If too conservative, then the call may be lost before the handoff
•Unreliable and inefficient handoff procedures will reduce the quality and
reliability of the system
Link Measurement
•Handoff detection is based on link measurement.
•Signal measurements used to determine the quality of a channel:
–WEI (Word Error Indicator)
•Metric that indicates whether the current burst was demodulated properly in the MS
–RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication)
–QI (Quality Indicator)
•Signal to interference and noise (S/I) ratio
•To make the handoff decision accurately and quickly, it is desirable to use both WEI
(over a period of time) and RSSI (instantaneously)
•RSSI measurements are affected by Fading
Fading
•Distance-dependant Fading or Path Loss
–Occurs when the received signal becomes weaker due to increasing distance between
MS and BS
•Lognormal Fading or Shadow Fading
–Occurs when there are physical obstacles (e.g. hills, towers, and buildings) between the
BS and MS, which can decrease the received signal strength
•RayleighFading or MultipathFading
–Occurs when two or more transmission paths exist between MS and BS
–Two types of MultipathFading
i)RayleighFading: when obstacles are close to the receiving antenna
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
ii)Time Dispersion: when the object is far away from the receiving antenna
•Ideally, the Handoff decision should be based on distance-dependent fading and,
to some extent, on shadow fading
•Handoff decision is independent of RayleighFading
•This can be accomplished by averaging the received signal strength for a sufficient time
period
Channel Comparison
•MS must also measure or sample all frequencies in the band of interest to find suitable
handoff candidate
•Channel comparisons for handoff are based on RSSI and QI metrics
•Since multipathenvironment tends to make the RSSI and QI metric vary widely in the
short term
•Since it is preferable not to perform handoff to mitigate brief multipathfades
•Such handoff could cause unnecessary load on the network
•Hence the MS should average or filter these measurements before using them to
make decision
•Handoff should be initiated whenever the channel has the best filtered RSSI exceeding
that of the current channel.
•Filtering process applied to the RSSI and QI metrics will reduce their usefullnessin
mitigating sudden “shadow” fades, such as when rounding a corner or closing a door.
•The downlink WEI can be used to detect and correct these trouble situations on an
“override” basis.
•Cdown: number of downlink word errors that is reset by every complete measurement
cycle
•If Cdownexceeds some threshold, the MS should initiate a handoff when an appropriate
channel can be found
Dwell Timer
•To reduce the potential tendency of an MS to request a large number of handoffs in
quick succession
•This timer prevents the MS from requesting another handoff until some reasonable
period of time after a successful handoff.
•Adaptive measurement interval for handoffs:
–Uses Doplerfrequency to estimate the velocity of the vehicle
–Then averaging measurement interval
As the MS moves away from one BS toward another, the signals received from the first
BS become weaker, and from the second BS become stronger
•This slow effect is often masked by the multipathRayleighfading and the lognormal
shadow fading
•Short-term Rayleigh fading is handled in mobile system designs by techniques:
–Diversity techniques such as Frequency hopping, multiple receivers
–Signal Processing techniques such as bit interleaving, equalizers
•Rayleighfading is frequency dependent
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Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
•Longer-term shadow fading is compensated by increasing transmitter power and the co-
channel reuse distance
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Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
•In both NCHO and MAHO -if the network can’t tell the mobile about the new
channel/time slot/… to use before the link qualityhas decayed too far, the call may be
terminated
Handoff Failures
•No channel on selected BS
•Insufficient resources as determined by the network (for example, no available bridge,
no suitable channel card {for example, none supporting the voice CODEC or radio link
coding}
•It takes too long for the network to set up the new link
•Target link fails during handoff
Channel Assignment
•Goals:
–to achieve a high degree of spectrum utilization for a given grade of service
–use a simple algorithm
–require a minimum number of database lookups
•Unfortunately it is hard to do all of these at once!
•If there is no available channel, then
–new calls are blocked
–existing calls that can’t be handed over forced terminations
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
Implementation Issues
•RCS is easy to implement
•It reduces the forced termination probability more effectively than NPS
•New call-blocking probability for RCS is larger than that of NPS
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Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
•RCS is desirable when reducing forced termination is much more important than
reducing new call blocking
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Hard Handoff
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•Also, an MS can transmit/receive the same information to/from several BSs if they have
same PN sequence
•Signaling and voice information from multiple BSs are combined (or bridged) at the
MSC, and the MSC selects the highest-quality signals from the BSs.
•Signaling and voice information must be sent from the MSC to multiple BSs, and the
MS must combine the results
•Thus, within the overlap area of two cells, an MS can simultaneously connect to both the
old and new BSs, and the link transfer procedure is no longer time-critical
•Focus on adding and removing BSs with MAHO soft handoff
Adding a new BS
Dropping the old BS
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10
Mr. Tushar Patil KCE COE&IT, Jalgaon
B. E. COMPUTER 2009-10