DMC 1630 - Mobile Computing

MCA
(DISTANCE MODE)
DMC 1630 MOBILE COMPUTING
COURSE MATERIAL
Centre for Distance Education

Anna University Chennai Chennai 600 025
Author Dr . P . Nar a y anasamy Dr. P. Nara

Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science & Engineering Anna University Chennai 600025
Reviewer G. K ousaly a Kousaly ousalya

Professor Department of Computer Science & Engineering Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology Coimbatore - 641 008A
Editorial Board Dr .T .V .Geetha Dr.T .T.V .V.Geetha

Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering Anna University Chennai Chennai - 600 025
Dr .H.P eer u Mohamed Dr.H.P .H.Peer eeru

Professor Department of Management Studies Anna University Chennai Chennai - 600 025
Dr .C . Chella ppan Dr.C .C. Chellappan

Dr .A.K annan Dr.A.K .A.Kannan

Copyrights Reserved (For Private Circulation only)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Next generation communication networks have been focusing on ubiquitous multimedia computing. It aims towards seamless integration of different devices and network technologies together. Mobility, now-a-days, becomes an integral part of any networking system. This study material is intended to prepare the students towards such a design and practice of future communication networks. Students are required to have the basic knowledge of communication networks and also the application domains of Internet. This study material introduces the field of mobile computing and focuses on digital data transfer. It starts with an overview of wireless technologies which cover signal processing, multiplexing and modulation. Media access schemes that are adaptable for wireless communication are discussed in detail. Mobile technologies, such as GSM, UMTS, GPRS, etc., are covered in depth. Wireless LANs such as IEEE 802.11, HIPERLAN and Bluetooth are introduced. Several approaches for extending IP and TCP to adapt mobile communication are also discussed. Finally, WAP which enables wireless and mobile devices to use World Wide Web services are also covered. As an author, I am thankful to Dr.B.N.Sankar, Director, CDE and Dr.T.V.Geetha, Deputy Director, CDE who gave me an opportunity to design this study material on MOBILE COMPUTING for the students of M.C.A. Also, I express my sincere thanks to my Research Scholars Mr.V.Mariappan and Ms.G.Kousalya who supported me throughout in preparing this study material.
Dr. P .Narayanasamy Author
DMC 1630 MOBILE COMPUTING

1. INTRODUCTION Medium Access Control : Motivation for Specialized MAC SDMA-FDMA- TDMA CDMA Comparison of Access mechanisms Tele Communications :GSM DECT TETRA UMTS IMT 200 Satellite Systems: Basics Routing Localization Handover Broadcast Systems: Overview Cyclic Repetition of Data Digital Audio Broadcasting Digital Video Broadcasting 2. WIRELESS NETWORKS Wireless LAN: Infrared - Radio Transmission Infrastructure Networks Ad hoc Networks IEEE 802.11 HIPERLAN Bluetooth Wireless ATM: Working Group Services Reference Model Functions Radio Access Layer Handover Location Management Addressing Mobile Quality of Service Access Point Control Protocol. 3. MOBILE NETWORK LAYER Mobile IP: Goals Assumptions and Requirement Entities IP packet Delivery Agent Advertisement and Discovery Registration Tunneling and Encapsulation Optimization Reverse Tunneling Ipv6 DHCP Ad hoc Networks. 4. MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER Traditional TCP Indirect TCP Snooping TCP Mobile TCP Fast retransmit/Fast Transmission/Timeout Freezing Selective Retransmission Transaction Oriented TCP. 5. WAP Architecture Datagram Protocol Transport Layer Security Transaction Protocol Application Environment Wireless Telephony Application. Session Protocol Recovery
CONTENTS
UNIT I INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL 1.1 1.2 INTRODUCTION ACCESS MECHANISMS 1.2.1 SDMA 1.2.2 FDMA 1.2.3 TDMA 1.2.4 CDMA 1.2.5 Comparison of Access Mechanism QUESTIONS CHAPTER 2 CELLULAR NETWORKS 2.1 2.2 2.3 INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF CELLULAR SERVICE THE EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR SERVICE 2.3.1 Digital Cellular Service 2.3.2 Personal Communications Services BASIC NETWORK OPERATIONS 2.4.1 Terminal 2.4.2 Base Station 2.4.3 Cell Organization CHALLENGES OF CELLULAR COMMUNICATION 2.5.1 Network Routing 2.5.2 Signal Corruption HANDOFF STRATEGIES QUESTIONS 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 10 11 12 14 17 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 5
1.3
2.4
2.5
2.6 2.7
CHAPTER 3 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS 3.1 3.2 INTRODUCTION CELLULAR COMMUNICATION STANDARDS 3.2.1 AMPS 3.2.2 IS-54/136 3.2.3 GSM 3.2.4 IS-95 GSM 3.3.1 GSM Specifications 3.3.2 GSM Services 3.3.3 The GSM Network 3.3.4 GSM Network Areas QUESTIONS CHAPTER 4 SATELLITE SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION 4.1.1 Purpose 4.1.2 Communications satellites 4.1.3 Other applications GLOBAL SATELLITE SYSTEMS TYPES OF SATELLITE SYSTEMS 4.3.1 GEO 4.3.2 LEO 4.3.3 MEO 4.3.4 HEO QUESTIONS CHAPTER 5 BROADCAST SYSTEMS 5.1 5.2 5.3 INTRODUCTION BROADCAST DISK DAB 5.3.1 DAB Systems 5.3.2 Benefits of DAB DMB 5.4.1 DMB System 5.4.2 Benefits of DMB QUESTIONS
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3.3
3.4
38 19 19 20 21 22 22 23 24 26 28 29
4.1
4.2 4.3
4.4
30 30 30 30 31 32 32 33 35 36 36
5.4
5.5
37 38 38 38 40 41 41 42 42
UNIT II WIRELESS NETWORKS

CHAPTER 6 WIRELESS LAN 6.1 6.2 INTRODUCTION IEEE 802 11 ARCHITECTURE 6.2.1 Architecture Components 6.2.2 IEEE 802.11 Layers Description 6.2.3 The MAC Layer HOW DOES A STATION JOIN AN EXISTING CELL (BSS) THE AUTHENTICATION PROCESS THE ASSOCIATION PROCESS ROAMING 6.6.1 Synchronization SECURITY 6.7.1 Preventing Access to Network Resources POWER SAVING QUESTIONS CHAPTER 7 BLUETOOTH 7.1 7.2 INTRODUCTION BLUETOOTH CONCEPTS 7.2.1 Bluetooth Connections 7.2.2 Reliable and Secure Transmission 7.2.3 Low Power Architecture 7.2.4 Interoperability, standards, and specifications BLUETOOTH TERMINOLOGY 7.3.1 Bluetooth Stack 7.3.2 Links and Channels 7.3.3 Protocols 7.3.4 Bluetooth Networking QUESTIONS 52 52 53 53 54 54 55 55 56 57 58 59 43 43 43 44 44 49 49 49 49 50 50 50 51 51
6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9
7.3
7.4
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CHAPTER 8 WIRELESS ATM 8.1 8.2 INTRODUCTION WIRELESS ATM REFERENCE MODELS 8.2.1 Fixed Wireless Components 8.2.2 Mobile End Users 8.2.3 Mobile Switches with Fixed End Users 8.2.4 Mobile Switches with Mobile End Users 8.2.5 Inter working with PCS 8.2.6 Wireless Ad Hoc Networks WATM DESIGN ISSUES 8.3.1 Wireless ATM Protocol Architecture 8.3.2 Radio Access Layer 8.3.3 Mobile ATM SUMMARY QUESTIONS 60 60 60 61 61 61 61 61 62 62 62 64 65 65
8.3
8.4 8.5
UNIT III MOBILE NETWORK LAYER

CHAPTER 9 MOBILE NETWORK LAYER 9.1 9.2 9.3 INTRODUCTION COMPONENTS OF MOBILE IP HOW MOBILE IP WORKS 9.3.1 Agent Discovery 9.3.2 Registration 9.3.3 Tunneling SECURITY SOLUTION TO NETWORK MOBILITY OVERVIEW OF AD-HOC NETWORKING 9.6.1 Routing in Ad Hoc Networks QUESTIONS 67 67 68 68 69 70 72 72 73 73 74
9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7
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UNIT IV MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER

CHAPTER 10 MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER 10.1 OVERVIEW 10.1.1 Slow Start and Congestion Avoidance 10.1.2 Fast Retransmit and Fast Recovery 10.1.3 TCP Options 10.1.4 Other Mechanisms PROBLEMS WITH TCP IN WIRELESS NETWORKS OPTIMIZATIONS 10.3.1 Link Layer 10.3.2 Snoop 10.3.3 Split Connection COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES QUESTIONS 75 75 77 77 78 79 79 80 80 81 82 82
10.2 10.3
10.4 10.5
UNIT V WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL

CHAPTER 11 WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL 11.1 INTRODUCTION 11.1.1 History 11.1.2 Benefits ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW 11.2.1 WWW Model 11.2.2 WAP Model 11.2.3 Example WAP network 11.2.4 WAP Network Elements 11.2.5 Device Architecture 11.2.6 Security Model COMPONENTS OF THE WAP ARCHITECTURE 11.3.1 Bearer Layer 11.3.2 Transport Layer Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP) 11.3.3 Transfer Services 11.3.4 Security Layer Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) 11.3.5 Transaction Layer Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)
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11.2
11.3
83 84 85 86 86 87 88 89 90 90 91 91 92 92 92 93
11.4 11.5
11.3.6 Session Layer Wireless Session Protocol (WSP) 11.3.7 Application Layer Wireless Application Environment (WAE) 11.3.8 Security Services 11.3.9 Service Discovery 11.3.10 Other Service and Applications SUMMARY QUESTIONS
93 94 94 95 95 96 96
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UNIT I
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL
1.1 INTRODUCTION The Media Access Control (MAC) data communication protocol sub-layer, also known as the Medium Access Control, is a sub layer of the Data Link Layer specified in the seven-layer OSI model (layer 2). It provides addressing and channel access control mechanisms that make it possible for several terminals or network nodes to communicate within a multipoint network, typically a local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN). The MAC sub-layer acts as an interface between the Logical Link Control (LLC) sub layer and the networks physical layer. The MAC layer emulates a full-duplex logical communication channel in a multipoint network. This channel may provide unicast, multicast or broadcast communication service. 1.2 ACCESS MECHANISMS A limited amount of bandwidth is allocated for wireless services. A wireless system is required to accommodate as many users as possible by effectively sharing the limited bandwidth. Therefore, in the field of communications, the term multiple access could be defined as a means of allowing multiple users to simultaneously share the finite bandwidth with least possible degradation in the performance of the system. There are several techniques how multiple accessing can be achieved. There are four basic schemes. Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA) Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 1.2.1 SDMA SDMA utilizes the spatial separation of the users in order to optimize the use of the frequency spectrum. A primitive form of SDMA is when the same frequency is re-used in different cells in a cellular wireless network. However for limited co-channel interference it
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is required that the cells to be sufficiently separated. This limits the number of cells a region can be divided into and hence limits the frequency re-use factor. A more advanced approach can further increase the capacity of the network. This technique would enable frequency re-use within the cell. It uses a Smart Antenna technique that employs antenna arrays backed by some intelligent signal processing to steer the antenna pattern in the direction of the desired user and places nulls in the direction of the interfering signals. Since these arrays can produce narrow spot beams, the frequency can be re-used within the cell as long as the spatial separation between the users is sufficient. Figure 1.1 shows three users served by SDMA using the same channel within the cell. In a practical cellular environment it is improbable to have just one transmitter fall within the receiver beam width. Therefore it becomes imperative to use other multiple access techniques in conjunction with SDMA. When different areas are covered by the antenna beam, frequency can be re-used, in which case TDMA or CDMA is employed, for different frequencies FDMA can be used.
Figure 1.1 Channel Usage by SDMA 1.2.2 FDMA FDMA is one of the earliest multiple-access techniques for cellular systems when continuous transmission is required for analog services. In this technique the bandwidth is divided into a number of channels and distributed among users with a finite portion of bandwidth for permanent use as illustrated in Figure 1.2. The vertical axis that represents the code is shown here just to make a clear comparison with CDMA (discussed later in this chapter). The channels are assigned only when demanded by the users. Therefore when a channel is not in use it becomes a wasted resource. FDMA channels have narrow bandwidth and therefore they are usually implemented in narrowband systems. Since the user has his portion of the bandwidth all the time, FDMA does not require synchronization or timing control, which makes it algorithmically simple. Even though no two users use the same frequency band at the same time, guard bands are introduced between frequency bands to minimize adjacent channel interference. Guard bands are unused frequency slots
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that separate neighboring channels. This leads to a waste of bandwidth. When continuous transmission is not required, bandwidth goes wasted since it is not being utilized for a portion of the time. In wireless communications, FDMA achieves simultaneous transmission and reception by using Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD). In order for both the transmitter and the receiver to operate at the same time, FDD requires duplexers. The requirement of duplexers in the FDMA system makes it expensive.
NOTES
Figure1.2 Channel Usage by FDMA 1.2.3 TDMA In digital systems, continuous transmission is not required because users do not use the allotted bandwidth all the time. In such systems, TDMA is a complimentary access technique to FDMA. Global Systems for Mobile communications (GSM) uses the TDMA technique. In TDMA, the entire bandwidth is available to the user but only for a finite period of time. In most cases the available bandwidth is divided into fewer channels compared to FDMA and the users are allotted time slots during which they have the entire channel bandwidth at their disposal. This is illustrated in Figure 1.3. TDMA requires careful time synchronization since users share the bandwidth in the frequency domain. Since the number of channels are less, inter channel interference is almost negligible, hence the guard time between the channels is considerably smaller. Guard time is spacing in time between the TDMA bursts. In cellular communications, when a user moves from one cell to another there is a chance that user could experience a call loss if there are no free time slots available. TDMA uses different time slots for transmission and reception. This type of duplexing is referred to as Time Division Duplexing (TDD). TDD does not require duplexers.
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Figure 1.3 Channel Usage by TDMA 1.2.4 CDMA In CDMA, all the users occupy the same bandwidth; however they are all assigned separate codes, which differentiate them from each other as shown in Figure 1.4. Figure 1.5 shows typical Walsh codes used for this purpose. CDMA systems utilize a spread spectrum technique in which a spreading signal, which is uncorrelated to the signal and has a large bandwidth, is used to spread the narrow band message signal. Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DS-SS) is most commonly used for CDMA. In DS-SS, the message signal is multiplied by a Pseudo Random Noise Code (PN code), which has noise-like properties. Each user has their own codeword which is orthogonal to the codes of other users. In order to detect the user, the receiver is required to know the codeword used by the transmitter. Unlike TDMA, CDMA does not require time synchronization between the users. A CDMA system experiences a problem called self-jamming which arises when the spreading codes used for different users are not exactly orthogonal. While dispreading, this leads to a significant contribution from other users to the receiver decision statistic. If the power of the multiple users in a CDMA system is unequal, then the user with the strongest signal power will be demodulated at the receiver. The strength of the received signal raises the noise floor for the weaker signals at the demodulators. This reduces the probability that weaker signals will be received. This problem, known as the near-far problem can be taken care of by using power control. This ensures that all the signals within the coverage of the base station arrive with same power at the receiver.
Figure 1.4 Channel Usage by CDMA

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Figure 1.5 Walsh Code 1.2.5 Comparison of Access Mechanism
1.3 QUESTIONS 1. Define TDD & FDD 2. Explain & compare various access technologies.
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CHAPTER - 2
CELLULAR NETWORKS
2.1 INTRODUCTION Cellular networks got their name because of the way they divide service areas into cells. A cell is a relatively small area that is serviced by a single transmitter/receiver unit (cell site). Mobile phones operating within this area use that cell site to communicate with the rest of the cellular network and with the public phone network. The basic premise of a cellular network is that user can have a communication device, starting with car phones, which have evolved into hand-held phones. Over time, hand-held phones have been getting smaller, gaining longer battery life, and getting new features like paging. Network coverage and capacity have also increased to the point where cellular service is available almost anywhere and at any time to those that want to use it. Cellular service has seen tremendous acceptance, especially in the last few years, with millions of new subscribers each year and the new subscriber rate growing. 2.2. HISTORY OF CELLULAR SERVICE Cellular service was invented by Bell Laboratories and introduced around 1980, based on radio-telephone systems that dated back to 1940s. The Bell Labs offering became the basis for the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), which is the current standard for U.S. cellular service. It is the least common denominator of U.S. cellular service, and the FCC has mandated that all U.S. cellular phones must fall back to AMPS service at least until the year 2002. Many nations adopted variants of AMPS service, such as Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), first introduced in Scandinavia, Total Access Communication System (TACS), first introduced in Britain, and other systems introduced in France, Italy, and Germany. The protocols and communications standards used by each of these varied slightly, so that the various European analog systems were not compatible with each other. 2.3 THE EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR SERVICE Most U.S. cellular service still uses the same AMPS analog technology that was used in the earliest mobile telephones, although digital cellular service is rapidly gaining popularity. The key motivator for this is that digital cellular networks can offer more subscriber channels over the same radio bandwidth, although digital networks can offer additional services as well.
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Unlike ISDN, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and other innovations in regular telephony, cellular systems have fewer infrastructures to be replaced when new ideas are developed. Coupled with the rapid growth of cellular service, it is possible to make sweeping changes in the basic nature of cellular service. In fact, it is perhaps too easy to change, causing much debate over what the cellular network of the future should look like. A large division is over whether to use TDMA methods over existing analog frequencies or to use spread-spectrum CDMA methods. 2.3.1 Digital Cellular Service Europe was the first to embrace digital service with the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). The incompatible existing analog system in the 1980s made it impossible to use a single mobile phone in several European countries. With the European Union and increased trade and commerce throughout Europe, a need was seen for a single European standard. To choose one of the existing standards would have given an unfair advantage to those that already provided that service, so it made sense to create an entirely new service that could take advantage of technological advances since the advent of cellular service. Thus, the Group Special Mobile, European Telecommunication Standard Institute (ETSI) committee was formed. It established the GSM standard in the 1980s; GSM was first implemented in 1992-1993. This all-digital standard became the least common denominator of service in Europe, and is quickly replaced the analog systems currently in place. U.S. digital systems have also recently emerged, with IS-54 (also called D-AMPS or U.S. TDMA) systems already in place, and replaced by IS-136 systems (the successor to IS-54). One more major cellular service provider putting a competing system in place called IS-95 (or U.S. CDMA). Other two important Japanese digital standards are: Personal Hand phone System (PHS) and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), which both use TDMA like IS-54/136 and GSM. 2.3.2 Personal Communications Services There is a great deal of talk about Personal Communications Services (PCS). FCC auctioned off 160 MHz of radio spectrum for PCS services, which defined as a broad range of radio communication services freeing users from the limitations of wired phone networks. These are essentially cellular phone systems, although the intent of PCS systems is not to supplement the existing phone system but rather to become an integral part of it. The first specification for a Personal Communication Network was actually made in 1990 based on the GSM cellular standard at the request of the United Kingdom. It became part of the GSM standard, which includes GSM-900 (the cellular standard) and DCS1800 (the PCN standard). A variant, PCS-1900, is one of the contending standards for PCS service in the United States.
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2.4 BASIC NETWORK OPERATIONS Traditional mobile phone service has used only terrestrial radio. In other words, it relies on ground-based cell sites, which are usually small towers with three antennae arranged in a triangle. Satellite implementations are possible, although they cannot use radio bandwidth as efficiently. Thus, they are used commercially primarily for pager, broadcast, and some specific site-to-site links. A cellular network is designed to connect to the existing phone system (Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)) or potentially to a data network (Public Data Network (PDN)). The connection to the PSTN is not much different than the connection to other telephone switching equipment such as a Public Branch Exchange (PBX). Cellular networks are comprised of terminals and base stations. Terminals are the end-user equipment (Mobile Stations). Everything else in a cellular network is considered to be base station equipment. 2.4.1 Terminal There are three types of cellular terminals. Each type has different output power restrictions, based on how near the antenna is to people when it is in operation. They are summarized in Table 2.1. Table 2.1 Type of Terminals
Type Portable (hand-held) Mobile (car or bag phones) Fixed
Output Power Less than 0.6 Watts Less than 3 Watts No fixed limit
Fixed installations might be used in dwellings that cannot be reached via landlines or where landlines would be impractical. These are not too power-constrained, although the vast majority of terminals face strict power constraints. In addition, portable phones are usually running on very limited battery power. Most terminals are extremely cost-constrained as well. The sheer number of consumers and competitors in the market is the primary reason for this. When the basic requirements for the GSM standard were written in 1985, there was even a specific requirement that the system parameters shall be chosen with a view to limit the cost of the complete system, in particular the mobile units. 2.4.2 Base Station There are three components of base stations. Base Transceiver Station (BTS): BTS communicates directly with the enduser terminals and also called as cell site. Base Station Controller (BSC): BSC controls the base transceiver stations either over land links (typically) or over radio links.
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Mobile Switching Center (MSC): MSC controls the base station controllers, usually over land links and also called as mobile telephone switching office.
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There is no fixed ratio of BTS to BSC to MSC, although there are typically about five to ten BTSs per BSC and anywhere from one to ten BSCs per MSC, depending on the capacity needs and geographic distribution of an area. In fact, base station functions may be combined into a single site, especially in the more remote areas where a single site might serve as BTS, BSC, and MSC. Figure 2.1 demonstrates six cell sites communicating over radio links to two BSCs, which in turn communicate with a single MSC, which is connected to PSTN.
Figure 2.1 Base Station Organization Cell sites have one antenna for upload (transmitting to the terminals) and two download antennas (receiving from the terminals). The download antennas allow to work as a bigger antenna and help counter multipath effects (which are described later). They generally operate around 900MHz, though other frequencies are also used (especially for PCS). BSC-BTS communication uses a low-speed link, (may be a radio link). MSC-BSC and PSTN-MSC communication is at a much higher rate (land-lines). As can be seen by examining the type of data carried between them, the three types of base stations each perform different types of operations. Rather than performing all cellular operations in a single unit, base stations divide the operations and perform them where they make the most sense. The cell sites perform operations that need to be done independently on each channel while the base station controllers and mobile switching centers can perform certain operations on multiple channels simultaneously. 2.4.3 Cell Organization Cellular communication got its name because of the cell structure of the BTS service areas. For convenience, a service area is often subdivided into an array of hexagonal cells, each containing a single BTS. The service areas of individual BTSs are being calculated more precisely and they are being placed where they can be the most effective rather than in traditional cells, although the term cellular is still used.
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The arrangement of the cells is basically a form of SDMA, since frequencies can be reused by other cells that are far enough away not to interfere with the current cell. The degree of reuse (determined by how far apart cells must be to reuse the same frequency) is dependent upon the actual implementation of the radio link. Traditional AMPS-type cell sites are called macro cells as shown in Figure 2.2. These are spaced anywhere from 3 to 60 km apart (averaging around 6 km), depending on population density, terrain and other factors. Newer networks are adding micro cells as shown in Figure 2.2, which are smaller cells (perhaps as close as a few hundred feet apart) that can be used for spot coverage (e.g., near a tunnel) or to increase the level of SDMA (adding capacity). Both macro cells and micro cells are part of a service providers network.
Figure 2.2 Macro Cells Vs Micro Cells Another type of cell is a Pico cell. Pico cells are just small micro cells, although they need not be part of a service providers network. Individual buildings or even floors within a building can use Pico cells to have their own cellular service. For example, a company could provide local cellular service to its employees without paying per-minute airtime charges to a service provider. It is also possible to have hybrid arrangements, with micro cells and Pico cells existing inside of macro cells, as is shown in the Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3 A Micro Cell with a Macro Cell 2.5 CHALLENGES OF CELLULAR COMMUNICATION Cellular networks must deal with all of the challenges of traditional telephony, such as call setup, switching, and so on. However, cellular networks must face additional challenges due to the mobile, wireless nature of the terminals. They also have to deal with many types of signal corruption caused by sending the signals through the air.
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2.5.1 Network Routing Many of the cellular network routing issues can be attributed to the multiple access methods that are used, although cellular networks also have to deal with discontinuous communication and may have special issues regarding billing, tariffs, and the like. All cellular networks use two or more multiple access methods to send multiple signals over a single broadcast medium. The reuse of given frequencies in different cells is a form of SDMA and it requires that the location of each terminal to be known. This is provided through a service known as Location Management (Mobility Management), which is not simple since terminals may move from cell to cell during a single call, called as handover and may even operate in an area covered by a different service provider, called as roaming. Calls should not be dropped during handover or even when changing service providers. Soft handover should be used during handover. In soft handover, the terminal can continue to use the same channel when communicating with both cell sites rather than having to quickly switch to an entirely different communication channel. All cellular networks also make use of FDMA. Radio frequency is usually assigned to cellular communication in 50 MHz (or sometimes 70 MHz) blocks. These are divided into an equal number of uplink (terminal to base station) and downlink (base station to terminal) bands. There can be anywhere from 10 to 900 pairs of bands, and each band pair carries one or more bidirectional channels. Digital networks additionally make use of either TDMA or CDMA methods to place additional channels over the limited radio bandwidth. TDMA systems put several lowerspeed channels into a faster channel by dividing the faster channel in time into multiple frames. CDMA systems encode or spread multiple channels in such a way that they appear as noise to the other channels but can be clearly distinguished from the others when properly decoded (or dispread). CDMA cellular networks being designed today use Direct Sequencing (DSSS) to spread channels. They essentially multiply the data in a channel by a polynomial expression to produce the chips in the signal that is broadcast. Another spreading method is Fast Frequency Hopping (F-FHSS), where the actual carrier frequency used is changed at a rate much greater than the signaling rate. This is not currently used in cellular communication, although Slow Frequency Hopping (S-FHSS), in which frequencies may change after each frame, is used in the GSM standard. This helps overcome certain forms of signal corruption although it complicates network routing. Cellular networks must also deal with gaps in the communication between terminals and base stations. In addition to occasional signal dropouts due to obstacles and such, suppression of the terminals radio signal when there is no voice activity is often used to reduce power requirements and signal noise caused by the transmitter, typically by half.
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This is called discontinuous transmission (DTX) and in the form of power control. Cellular networks often have complicated power control procedures, which use location management as well as transmitted power level information to more finely control the output power of terminals. This is especially important for CDMA networks in order to prevent the signals from nearby terminals from blanking out the signals of further ones. Cellular networks have additional routing concerns regarding billing, especially when terminals are in roaming and billing must go through another service provider. Ironically, billing issues can be even worse when calls are made between two terminals using the same cell site (especially when one is roaming). 2.5.2 Signal Corruption There are six major types of signal corruptions that are individually addressed by most cellular networks. Multipath effects (signal reflections) cause two of them: Ricean fading and Rayleigh fading. Doppler effects are caused by the mobility of terminals. Blocking is caused by the fact that terminals may be at different distances from the cell sites. Signal loss can be caused by a variety of things, usually physical barriers. All other types of signal corruption can be classified as noise. 2.5.2.1. Ricean Fading Ricean fading, the most general multipath effect, results when a transmitted signal follows multiple paths to the receiver. After the direct transmission is received, echoes of the signal reach the receiver. These can cause transmitted symbols to interfere with future symbols. In Figure 2.4, the direct transmission would reach the car first, followed by an echo off of the building.
Figure 2.4 Ricean Fading 2.5.2.2. Rayleigh Fading Rayleigh fading is a very similar multipath effect as shown in Figure 2.5, except it results when obstacles block the direct path from the transmitter to the receiver. Since the direct transmission is blocked, the reflected signals are not echoes, but the first signals received. Deconstructive interference (anti-nodes) can cause short-term amplitude dips, or even complete loss, in the received signal.
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Figure 2.5 Rayleigh Fading 2.5.2.3 Doppler Effects Doppler effects are caused by mobile receivers or transmitters, and affect the frequency of the received signal. If the receiver and transmitter are moving towards each other, the frequency of the received signal is shifted up. If they are moving away, it is shifted down. In Figure 2.6, the wavefront on the left is what is being transmitted from a stationary receiver. The wavefront on the right is what would be seen by a receiver moving in the direction of the arrow.
Figure 2.6 Doppler Effect 2.5.2.4 Blocking Blocking is caused when a nearby high-power transmitter blocks out whole range of channels. It is similar to driving by a radio station, which can block out other stations on nearby frequencies. One example of how this can happen is when one cell is carrying too many calls and another cell is covering for it. If a terminal is too close to the nearby (overloaded) cell, it may lose the signal from the cell with which it is communicating. In Figure 2.7, the transmission from the cell on the left is blocked by the more powerful signal from the cell on the right.
Figure 2.7 Blocking

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2.5.2.5 Loss of Signal There are several possible causes for loss of signal, including over-aggressive power management as shown in Figure 2.8. The most likely cause is simply due to obstacles. If the direct transmission blocked and there are no reflected signals to receive, the signal is lost and must be renegotiated.
Figure 2.8 Loss of Signal 2.5.2.6 Noise There are many types of noise, the most common noise is general background noise, which is additive white Gaussian noise that is dependent only on temperature and cannot be avoided. The cellular network also introduces its own noise. For example, the blocking effect can be felt on a smaller scale, when a cell that has greater power (i.e., is closer) than the cell with which a terminal is communicating is using a nearby frequency, only causing noise rather then blanking out the other signal. This is called cell-to-cell adjacent channel noise. Co-channel noise is also present, and is caused by the reuse of frequencies. There can be additional noise problems when two terminals are using the same cell to communicate with each other (a type of crosstalk problem). Cellular networks usually deal with all types of noise by simply protecting the data with error correction techniques. A major effect of the different types of noise is the limits that they place upon cellular networks (e.g., number of terminals per cell, frequency reuse factors, etc.). 2.6 HANDOFF STRATEGIES When a mobile moves into a different cell while a conversation is in progress, the MSC automatically transfers the call to a new channel belonging to the new base station. This handoff operation not only involves in identifying a new base station, but also requires that the voice and control signals be allocated to channels associated with the new base station. Processing handoffs is an important task in any cellular radio system. Many handoff strategies prioritize handoff requests over call initiation requests when allocating unused channels in a cell site. Handoffs must be performed successfully and as in frequently as possible, and be imperceptible to the users. In order to meet these requirements, system designers must specify an optimum signal level at which to initiate a handoff. Once a particular signal level is specified as the minimum usable signal for acceptable voice quality at the
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base station receiver (normally taken as between 90 dBm and 100 dBm), a slightly stronger signal level is used as a threshold at which a handoff is made. This margin is given by = Pr handoff Pr minimum usable, this cannot be too large or too small. If is too large, unnecessary handoffs which burden the MSC and if is too small, there may be insufficient time to complete a handoff before a call is lost due to weak signal conditions. Therefore, is chosen carefully to meet these conflicting requirements. Figure 2.9 illustrates a handoff situation. Figure 2.9(a) demonstrates the case where a handoff is not made and the signal drops below the minimum acceptable level to keep the channel active. This dropped call event can happen when there is an excessive delay by the MSC in assigning a handoff or when the threshold is set too small for the handoff time in the system. Excessive delays may occur during high traffic conditions due to computational loading at the MSC or due to the fact that no channels are available on any of the nearby base stations (thus forcing the MSC to wait until a channel in a nearby cell becomes free).
NOTES
Figure 2.9 Illustration of Cell Handoff Scenario at Cell Boundary
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In deciding when to handoff, it is important to ensure that the drop in the measured signal level is not due to momentary fading and that the mobile is actually moving away from the serving base station. In order to ensure this, the base station monitors the signal level for a certain period of time before a handoff is initiated. This running average measurement of signal strength should be optimized so that unnecessary handoffs are avoided, while ensuring that necessary handoffs are completed before a call is terminated due to poor signal level. The length of time needed to decide if a handoff is necessary depends on the speed at which the vehicle is moving. If the slope of the short-term average received signal level in a given time interval is steep, the handoff should be made quickly. Information about the vehicle speed, which can be useful in handoff decisions, can also be computed from the statistics of the received short-term fading signal at the base station. The time over which a call may be maintained within a cell, without handoff, is called the dwell time. The dwell time of a particular user is governed by a number of factors, including propagation, interference, distance between the subscriber and the base station, and other time varying effects. In first generation analog cellular systems, signal strength measurements are made by the base stations and supervised by the MSC. Each base station constantly monitors the signal strengths of all of its reverse voice channels to determine the relative location of each mobile user with respect to the base station tower. In addition to measuring the Radio Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of calls in progress within the cell, a spare receiver in each base station, called the locator receiver, is used to scan and determine signal strengths of mobile users which are in neighboring cells. The locator receiver is controlled by the MSC and is used to monitor the signal strength of users in neighboring cells which appear to be in need of handoff and reports all RSSI values to the MSC. Based on the locator receiver signal strength information from each base station, the MSC decides if a handoff is necessary or not. In second generation systems, handoff decisions are mobile assisted. In Mobile Assisted HandOff (MAHO), every mobile station measures the received power from surrounding base stations and continually reports the results of these measurements to the serving base station. A handoff is initiated when the power received from the base station of a neighboring cell begins to exceed the power received from the current base station by a certain level or for a certain period of time. The MAHO method enables the call to be handed over between base stations at a much faster rate than in first generation analog systems since the handoff measurements are made by each mobile, and the MSC no longer constantly monitors signal strengths. MAHO is particularly suited for microcellular environments where handoffs are more frequent. During the call, if a mobile moves from one cellular system to a different cellular system controlled by a different MSC, an intersystem handoff becomes necessary. An
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MSC engages in an intersystem handoff when a mobile signal becomes weak in a given cell and the MSC cannot find another cell within its system to which it can transfer the call in progress. There are many issues that must be addressed when implementing an intersystem handoff. For instance, a local call may become a long-distance call as the mobile moves out of its home system and becomes a roamer in a neighboring system. Also, compatibility between the two MSCs must be determined before implementing an intersystem handoff. Different systems have different policies and methods for managing handoff requests. Some systems handle handoff requests in the same way they handle originating calls. In such systems, the probability that a handoff request will not be served by a new base station is equal to the blocking probability of incoming calls. However, from the users point of view, having a call abruptly terminated while in the middle of a conversation is more annoying than being blocked occasionally on a new call attempt. To improve the quality of service as perceived by the users, various methods have been devised to prioritize handoff requests over call initiation requests when allocating voice channels. 2.7 QUESTIONS 1. Explain the common base station subsystem 2. Briefly discuss about the cell organization 3. Explain the challenges for cellular communication 4. Explain the handover process with neat diagram
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CHAPTER 3
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
3.1 INTRODUCTION Cellular is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications. Today, it represents a continuously increasing percentage of all new telephone subscriptions around the world. It is forecasted that cellular systems using a digital technology will become the universal method of telecommunications. By the year 2005, forecasters predict that there will be more than 100 million cellular subscribers worldwide.
Figure 3.1 Cellular Subscriber Growth Worldwide In the early 1980s, most mobile telephone systems were analog rather than digital, like todays newer systems. One challenge facing analog systems was the inability to handle the growing capacity needs in a cost-efficient manner. As a result, digital technology was welcomed. The advantages of digital systems over analog systems include ease of signaling, lower levels of interference, integration of transmission and switching, and increased ability to meet capacity demands. Table 3.1 shows the worldwide development of mobile telephone systems.
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Table 3.1 The Development of Mobile Telephone System
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Year 1981 1983 1985 1986 1991 1991 1992 1994 1995 1996
Mobile System Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) 450 American Mobile Phone System (AMPS) Total Access Communication System (TACS) Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT) 900 American Digital Cellular (ADC) Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) Digital Cellular System (DCS) 1800 Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) PCS 1900Canada PCSUnited States
3.2 CELLULAR COMMUNICATION STANDARDS When Bell Laboratories first invented cellular service, the FCC actually considered granting a monopoly on cellular service to AT&T. Part of their reason for considering this was likely to prevent a proliferation of different incompatible cellular standards, as eventually happened in Europe. Instead, it decided to adopt the AMPS standard and promote competition. Although the AMPS standard is now becoming outdated, it is still very important to have minimum standards for access. Besides allowing for universal coverage independent of service provider, standards promote competition among both service and equipment providers, which means lower cost and higher quality for consumers. Currently, GSM is the least common denominator standard for Europe. It has the advantage of a much higher capacity than AMPS and of being an all-digital standard. There are four important TDMA standards in the world today. Interim Standard-54 (IS-54) is the only digital cellular network in commercial operation in the United States. IS-54 and its successor, IS-136, are usually treated as a single standard. Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is the preeminent European cellular standard. PDC and PHS are two Japanese standards that are in many ways superior to both GSM and IS136, although they rely heavily on very small cell sizes. They are not really expected to displace any of the existing U.S. or European standards, although some of the services they provide might find their way into future PCS standards. 3.2.1 AMPS An AMP, along with all U.S. cellular standards, is specified by the Telecommunications Industry Association in association with the Electronics Industry Association (TIA/EIA). The AMPS standard uses an analog control channel, which carries binary frequency shift keyed (BFSK) control information. The control channel uplink, like all cellular control
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channels, uses a simple Aloha mechanism for multiple accesses, meaning that terminals simply send requests whenever they want access, retrying if they are not acknowledged. The control channel down-link acknowledges call setups and sends the terminals to the appropriate analog traffic channels. Traffic channels also contain embedded BFSK control information, which are simply filtered out as noise before being sent to the speaker or PSTN. Like the other standards, 50 MHz of radio frequency is usually allocated per AMPS service provider, half of which are used for the up-link, half for the down-link. It is divided into 833 pairs of 30 kHz bands, each of which can carry a single AMPS traffic channel. Every cell cannot use all frequencies, however. In order to meet the required Carrier to Interference (C/I) ratio of 18 dB, cells reusing the same frequencies must be 3 cells apart. This yields a reuse factor of 7, meaning that one in 7 cells can use any given frequency, resulting in a maximum of 119 usable channels per cell on average. 3.2.2 IS-54/136 IS-54 and IS-136 are based on AMPS, and replace individual AMPS traffic channels with 3-way or 6-way multiplexed TDMA channels. They are often called D-AMPS for that reason, and have also been referred to as American Digital Cellular (ADC). IS-54 uses the same analog control channel as AMPS, although traffic bands are 3-way multiplexed. IS-136 add support for an all-digital control channel as well as for half-rate voice coding which allows traffic bands to carry 6 channels. Both standards are capable of supporting AMPS traffic channels as well. IS-54/136 digital signaling, like that of all of the digital standards, is built based on the OSI reference model. The physical layer is divided into 40 ms frames, with a fixed timeslot allocation per channel. Digital control channels also specify 16-frame super frames and 2-superframe hyper frames. The type of modulation used is p/4-shifted Differential Quadrate Phase-Shift Key (DQPSK). Both digital control channels and traffic channels add Service Access Points (SAPs) on top of the physical channel. SAPS are logical channels built on top of the channels (these are OSI layer 2 services). These provide random access control, paging, and other services as well as traffic data. In the traffic channels, there are embedded slow control service access points. A fast control service access point can preempt the traffic data for high-priority information (e.g., notification that a call is being dropped). The IS-136 digital control channel also adds additional broadcast and short message services. The gross bit rate carried over a 30 kHz IS-54 band is 48.6 kbps, yielding 16.2 kbps per channel. Of this, 8 kbps is voice traffic (which is compressed), 5 kbps is error protection for the speech, and the remaining 3.2 kbps are used for embedded signaling, guard time, and so on. IS-136 supports this type of channel as well as half-rate channels, which compress
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the voice traffic to half the size (with correspondingly lower error protection/guard time needs) and get 6 channels in the same 48.6 kbps. IS-54/136 can thus get 2500 full rate or 5000 half-rate digital traffic channels in the 50 MHz allocated per service provider, although the reuse factor of 7 (the same as AMPS) reduces this to at most an average of 357 full-rate or 714 half-rate channels per cell. 3.2.3 GSM GSM is very similar to IS-136, except that it is not tied to the 30 kHz AMPS bands. It uses 200 kHz bands which carry 8 channels each (or 16 with half-rate speech coding) and has a slightly more complicated digital control channel. GSM uses very short (4.615 ms) frames, with 51 multi frames comprising the control channel and 26- multi frames comprising the traffic channels. It also has 1326- super frames and 2048- hyper frames. Like IS-54/136, it uses fixed time-slot allocation per channel and provides SAPs as a layer 2 service; it also provides some additional synchronization SAPs. The type of modulation used is Gaussian Minimum-Shift Key (GMSK). The gross bit rate carried over a 200 kHz GSM band is 270.8 kbps, yielding 33.85 kbps per channel. Of this, 13 kbps is voice traffic (which is compressed), 9.8 kbps is error protection for the speech, and the remaining 11.05 kbps are used for embedded signaling, guard time, and so on. GSM also supports half rate channels, which compress the voice traffic to half the size and get 16 channels in the same band. GSM can thus get 1000 full rate or 2000 half-rate digital traffic channels in the 50 MHz allocated per service provider (compared to 2500/5000 for IS-136). However, GSM has a much lower reuse factor (3), so the average number of usable channels per cell is 333 (or 666 half-rate) as compared to 357 (or 714) for IS-54/136. The GSM specification is extremely thorough, including details on cost, security, network control, operations support, and the like. GSM also requires a special Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), which is like a credit card that is required for customers to access to GSM phones. The two PCS specifications have been made based on GSM. The cellular specification, GSM-900, calls for cellular service at 900 MHz. DCS-1800 was introduced at the request of the U.K. for PCN services at 1800 MHz. PCS-1900 is another GSM specification that is vying for a share of the U.S. PCS market at 1900 MHz. One advantage that GSM solutions have for PCS is a higher bit rate assigned to the voice data, because the voice coders that were available when GSM was specified were not as good at compressing voice as voice coders are today. Newer voice coders can take advantage of the extra bandwidth available to provide service that sounds much better, though. This is called
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enhanced full-rate coding, which is finding its way into the IS-54/136 and IS-95 specifications as well. 3.2.4 IS-95 IS-95 is a DSSS CDMA standard that was developed by QUALCOMM and is being put into service primarily by Bell South. It uses Pseudo Noise (PN), sequences to encode channels into pairs of 1.23 MHz bands and is fundamentally different from any of the TDMA standards. Unlike the TDMA standards, call quality in an IS-95 system improves when other channels are idle, even if they are being used but have no voice activity in one direction on a channel. CDMA supporters frequently use theoretical calculations to show a tremendous increase in capacity, but in actuality there can never be more than 63 traffic channels per band, and the realistic limit is 45 (the true numbers will be known when a real system is operational). Thus, 900 IS-95 channels may be carried in the 50 MHz allocated to a service provider. IS-95 literature is deceptive about reuse factors. Theoretically, IS-95 has a reuse factor of 1, meaning that every cell can use every frequency. However, some of the available PN sequences are not available to all of the cells. For example, if a terminal is directly between two cells, they will both communicate with it using the same PN sequence. This is referred to as part of loading, and reduces the number of available channels, likely to at most 25 per 1.23 MHz band, or 500 per cell. Since channels are isolated through a CDMA mechanism, the framing structure under IS-95 is much simpler. The traffic channels are divided into 20 ms frames with no super frames. Two synchronization channels are each also divided into 20 ms frames and use 3frame super frames. Layer 2 services are provided that split the physical channels into sub channels. The type of modulation used is QPSK. The IS-95 down-link encodes 64 chips per bit with a PN sequence to create 64 channels, each with a maximum bit rate of 19.2 kbps. The up-link uses a more complicated encoding method to get 64 channels with a maximum bit rate of 28.8 kbps. Of this, at most 9.6 kbps is used for speech and varying amounts are used for error protection and embedded control (the uplink uses more error protection bits than the downlink). Lower bit rates may also be used to decrease the overall noise in the system. 3.3 GSM Throughout the evolution of cellular telecommunications, various systems have been developed without the benefit of standardized specifications. This presented many problems directly related to compatibility, especially with the development of digital radio technology. The GSM standard is intended to address these problems.
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From 1982 to 1985 discussions were held to decide between building an analog or digital system. After multiple field tests, a digital system was adopted for GSM. The next task was to decide between a narrow or broadband solution. In May 1987, the narrowband time division multiple access (TDMA) solution was chosen. A summary of GSM milestones is given in Table 3.2. Table 3.2 GSM Milestones
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Year Milestone 1982 GSM formed 1986 Field test 1987 TDMA chosen as access method 1988 Memorandum of understanding signed 1989 Validation of GSM system 1990 Pre-operation system 1991 Commercial system start-up 1992 Coverage of larger cities/airports 1993 Coverage of main roads 1995 Coverage of rural areas 3.3.1 GSM Specifications
Before looking at the GSM specifications, it is important to understand the following basic terms: Bandwidth: The range of a channels limits; the broader the bandwidth, the faster data can be sent bits per second (bps): A single on-off pulse of data; eight bits are equivalent to one byte
. Frequency: The number of cycles per unit of time; frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) kilo (k): Kilo is the designation for 1,000; the abbreviation kbps represents 1,000 bits per second Megahertz (MHz): 1,000,000 hertz (cycles per second) Milliseconds (ms): One-thousandth of a second Watt (W): A measure of power of a transmitter Specifications for different PCS vary among the different PCS networks. Listed below is a description of the specifications and characteristics for GSM. Frequency band: The frequency range specified for GSM is 1,850 to 1,990 MHz (mobile station to base station). Duplex Distance: The duplex distance is 80 MHz. Duplex distance is the distance between the uplink and downlink frequencies. A channel has two frequencies, 80 MHz apart.
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Channel Separation: The separation between adjacent carrier frequencies. In GSM, this is 200 kHz. Modulation: Modulation is the process of sending a signal by changing the characteristics of a carrier frequency. This is done in GSM via GMSK. Transmission Rate: GSM is a digital system with an over-the-air bit rate of 9.6kbps. Access Method: GSM utilizes a combination of FDMA & TDMA concept. Speech Coder: GSM uses Linear Predictive Coding (LPC). The purpose of LPC is to reduce the bit rate. The LPC provides parameters for a filter that mimics the vocal tract. The signal passes through this filter, leaving behind a residual signal. Speech is encoded at 13 kbps.
3.3.2 GSM Services There are two basic types of services offered through GSM: telephony (tele services) and data (bearer services). Telephony services are mainly voice services that provide subscribers with the complete capability to communicate with other subscribers. Data services provide the capacity necessary to transmit appropriate data signals between two access points creating an interface to the network. In addition to normal telephony and emergency calling, the following subscriber services are supported by GSM: Dual-Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF): DTMF is a tone signaling scheme often used for various control purposes via the telephone network, such as remote control of an answering machine. GSM supports full-originating DTMF. Facsimile: GSM supports CCITT Group 3 facsimile. As standard fax machines are designed to be connected to a telephone using analog signals, a special fax converter connected to the exchange is used in the GSM system. This enables a GSMconnected fax to communicate with any analog fax in the network. Short Message Services (SMS): A convenient facility of the GSM network is the short message service. A message consisting of a maximum of 160 alphanumeric characters can be sent to or from a mobile station. This service can be viewed as an advanced form of alphanumeric paging with a number of advantages. If the subscribers mobile unit is powered off or has left the coverage area, the message is stored and offered back to the subscriber when the mobile is powered on or has reentered the coverage area of the network. This function ensures that the message will be received. Cell Broadcast: A variation of the short message service is the cell broadcast facility. A message of a maximum of 93 characters can be broadcast to all mobile subscribers in a certain geographic area. Typical applications include traffic congestion warnings and reports on accidents. Voice Mail: This service is actually an answering machine within the network, which is controlled by the subscriber. Calls can be forwarded to the subscribers voice-mail box and the subscriber checks for messages via a personal security code.
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Fax Mail: With this service, the subscriber can receive fax messages at any fax machine. The messages are stored in a service center from which they can be retrieved by the subscriber via a personal security code to the desired fax number.
NOTES
3.3.2.1 Supplementary Services GSM supports a comprehensive set of supplementary services that can complement and support both telephony and data services. Supplementary services are defined by GSM and are characterized as revenue-generating features. A partial listing of supplementary services follows. Call forwarding: This service gives the subscriber the ability to forward incoming calls to another number if the called mobile unit is not reachable, if it is busy, if there is no reply, or if call forwarding is allowed unconditionally. Barring of outgoing calls: This service makes it possible for a mobile subscriber to prevent all outgoing calls. Barring of incoming calls: This function allows the subscriber to prevent incoming calls. Barring exist: Baring of all incoming calls and barring of incoming calls when roaming outside the home PLMN. Advice of Charge (AoC): The AoC service provides the mobile subscriber with an estimate of the call charges. There are two types of AoC information: one that provides the subscriber with an estimate of the bill and one that can be used for immediate charging purposes. AoC for data calls is provided on the basis of time measurements. Call Hold: This service enables the subscriber to interrupt an ongoing call and then subsequently reestablish the call. Call waiting: This service enables the mobile subscriber to be notified of an incoming call during a conversation. The subscriber can answer, reject, or ignore the incoming call. Call waiting is applicable to all GSM telecommunications services using a circuit-switched connection. Multiparty service: The multiparty service enables a mobile subscriber to establish a multiparty conversationthat is, a simultaneous conversation between three to six subscribers. Calling Line Identification Presentation/Restriction (CLIP/R): These services supply the called party with the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) number of the calling party. The restriction service enables the calling party to restrict the presentation. The restriction overrides the presentation. Closed User Group (CUG): CUGs are generally comparable to a PBX. They are a group of subscribers who are capable of only calling themselves and certain numbers.
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3.3.3 The GSM Network GSM provides recommendations, not requirements. The GSM specifications define the functions and interface requirements in detail but do not address the hardware. The reason for this is to limit the designers as little as possible but still to make it possible for the operators to buy equipment from different suppliers. The GSM network is divided into three major systems: the switching system (SS), the base station system (BSS), and the operation and support system (OSS). The basic GSM network elements are shown in Figure 3.2. 3.3.2.1 Switching System SS is responsible for performing call processing and subscriber-related functions. The switching system includes the following functional units: Home Location Register (HLR): HLR is a database used for storage and management of subscriptions. The HLR is considered as the most important database, as it stores permanent data about subscribers, including a subscribers service profile, location information, and activity status. When an individual buys a subscription from one of the PCS operators, he or she is registered in the HLR of that operator. Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC): MSC performs the telephony switching functions of the system. It controls calls to and from other telephone and data systems. It also performs such functions as toll ticketing, network interfacing, common channel signaling, and others.
Figure 3.2 GSM Network Elements
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Visitor Location Register (VLR): VLR is a database that contains temporary information about subscribers that is needed by the MSC in order to service visiting subscribers. The VLR is always integrated with the MSC. When a mobile station roams into a new MSC area, the VLR connected to that MSC will request data about the mobile station from the HLR. Later, if the mobile station makes a call, the VLR will have the information needed for call setup without having to interrogate the HLR each time. Authentication Center (AUC): AUC provides authentication and encryption parameters that verify the users identity and ensure the confidentiality of each call. AUC protects network operators from different types of fraud found in todays cellular world. Equipment Identity Register (EIR): EIR is a database that contains information about the identity of mobile equipment that prevents calls from stolen, unauthorized, or defective mobile stations.
NOTES
AUC and EIR are implemented as stand-alone nodes or as a combined AUC/EIR node. 3.3.3.2 Base Station System All radio-related functions are performed in the BSS, which consists of BSCs and BTSs. BSC: BSC provides all the control functions and physical links between the MSC and BTS. It is a high-capacity switch that provides functions such as handover, cell configuration data, and control of radio frequency (RF) power levels in base transceiver stations. A number of BSCs are served by an MSC. BTS: BTS handles the radio interface to the mobile station. BTS is the radio equipment (transceivers and antennas) needed to service each cell in the network. A group of BTSs are controlled by a BSC. 3.3.3.3 Operation and Support System Operations and Maintenance Center (OMC) is connected to all equipment in the switching system and to the BSC. The implementation of OMC is called the Operation and Support System (OSS). The OSS is the functional entity from which the network operator monitors and controls the system. The purpose of OSS is to offer cost-effective support for centralized, regional and local operational and maintenance activities that are required for a GSM network. An important function of OSS is to provide a network overview and support the maintenance activities of different operation and maintenance organizations. 3.3.3.4 Additional Functional Elements Other functional elements are as follows: Message Center (MXE): MXE is a node that provides integrated voice, fax, and data messaging. Specifically, the MXE handles short message service, cell broadcast, voice mail, fax mail, email, and notification.
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Mobile Service Node (MSN): MSN is the node that handles the mobile Intelligent Network (IN) services. Gateway Mobile Services Switching Center (GMSC): A gateway is a node used to interconnect two networks. The gateway is often implemented in the MSC. MSC is then referred to as the GMSC. GSM Inter Working Unit (GIWU): GIWU consists of both hardware and software that provides an interface to various networks for data communications. Using GIWU, users can alternate between speech and data during the same call. GIWU hardware equipment is physically located at the MSC/VLR.
3.3.4 GSM Network Areas The GSM network is made up of geographic areas as shown in Figure 3.3. These areas include cells, Location Areas (LAs), MSC/VLR service areas, and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) areas.
Figure 3.3 Network Areas The cell is the area given radio coverage by one base transceiver station. The GSM network identifies each cell via the Cell Global Identity (CGI) number assigned to each cell. LA is a group of cells as shown in Figure 3.4. It is the area in which the subscriber is paged. Each LA is served by one or more base station controllers, yet only by a single MSC. Each LA is assigned a Location Area Identity (LAI) number.
Figure 3.4 Location Areas

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An MSC/VLR service area as shown in Figure 3.5 represents the part of the GSM network that is covered by one MSC and which is reachable, as it is registered in the VLR of the MSC.
NOTES
Figure 3.5 MSC/VLR Service Areas The PLMN service area is an area served by one network operator as shown in Figure 3.6.
Figure 3.6 PLMN Network Areas 3.4 QUESTIONS 1. Explain about the GSM services 2. Briefly discuss about the GSM network architecture 3. What is GMSC? 4. What is the difference between HLR and VLR?
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CHAPTER 4
SATELLITE SYSTEMS
4.1 INTRODUCTION Satellite communication is one particular example of wireless communication systems. Similar and maybe more familiar examples of wireless systems are radio and television broadcasting and mobile and cordless telephones. Systems of this type rely on a network of ground-based transmitters and receivers. They are commonly referred to as terrestrial systems as opposed to satellite systems. Satellite communication systems differ from terrestrial systems in that the transmitter is not based on the ground but in the sky: the transmitter here consists of a ground-based part called the uplink, and the satellite-based part that reflects the signals towards the receivers. This part is called the transponder. 4.1.1 Purpose Satellites come in many shapes and sizes and have many uses. The first artificial satellite, called Sputnik, was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957 and was the size of a basketball. Its purpose was simply to transmit a Morse code signal repeatedly. In contrast, modern satellites can receive and transmit hundreds of signals at the same time, from simple digital data to complex television programmes. They are used for many purposes such as television broadcasting, amateur radio communications, Internet communications, weather forecasting and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). 4.1.2 Communications satellites Communications satellites act as relay stations in space. One could imagine them as very long, invisible poles that relay high frequency radio waves. They are used to bounce messages from one part of the world to another. The messages can be telephone calls, TV pictures or Internet connections. Certain communications satellites are, for example, used for broadcasting: they send radio and TV signals to homes. Nowadays, there are more than 100 such satellites orbiting earth, transmitting thousands of different TV (and radio) programmes all over the world. 4.1.3 Other applications Remote-sensing satellites study the surface of the earth. From a relatively low height (480 km) up, these satellites use powerful cameras to scan the planet. The satellite then transmits valuable data on the global environment to researchers, governments, and businesses including those working in map making, farming, fishing, mining and many other
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industries. Instruments on remote-sensing satellites gather data about features such as the earths plant cover, chemical composition and surface water. Remote-sensing satellites are also used to study changes in the earths surface caused by human activity. Examples of this kind of observation include investigations into presence of ozone and greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the desertification in West Africa and deforestation in South America. Weather satellites record weather patterns around the world. Almost all countries use the data coming from satellites like TIROS (Television Infrared Observational Satellite) ENVISAT to forecast weather, track storms and carry out scientific research. TIROS is part of a system of weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). There are two TIROS satellites circling earth over the poles. They work with another set of satellites in geosynchronous orbit called Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), such as the Meteosat satellites. Using this group of satellites, meteorologists study weather and climate patterns around the world. Many satellites in orbit conduct scientific experiments and observations. SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observation) for instance is an international project managed by Europe and the United States. Its very sophisticated instruments can measure activity inside the Sun, look at its atmosphere or corona and study its surface. SOHO does not orbit earth. In fact it orbits the Sun, about a million miles away from earth. In that position neither the Moon nor the earth can block its clear view of the Sun. The military have developed the GPS, but now people are using these satellite services to determine their exact latitude, longitude and altitude wherever they are in the world. GPS satellites can be used for navigation almost everywhere on earth: in an airplane, boat, or car, on foot, in a remote wilderness, or in a big city. GPS uses radio signals from at least three satellites in sight to calculate the position of the receiver. Military and government institutions make extensive use of satellites for a mixture of communication, remote sensing, imaging, positioning and other services, as well as for more secret applications such as spying or missile guidance. Extremely useful civilian technology spin-offs resulted from developments in this sector, although GPS originated as a military application. The domains of image processing and image recognition also benefited greatly from Military Research and Development. 4.2 GLOBAL SATELLITE SYSTEMS Several different types of global satellite communications systems are in various stages of development. Each system either planned or existing, has a unique configuration optimized to support a unique business plan based on the services offered and the markets targeted. In the last few years more than 60 global systems have been proposed to meet the growing demand for international communications services. More are being planned and these are in addition to a large number of new regional systems.
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Some of the global systems intend to provide global phone service, filling in where ground-based wireless systems leave off or providing seamless connectivity between different systems. Others intend to provide global data connectivity, either for low-cost short message applications such as equipment monitoring, or for high-speed Internet access anywhere in the world. The global phone systems will target two very different markets. The first is the international business user, who wants the ability to use a single mobile wireless phone anywhere in the world. This is impossible today on terrestrial systems because mobile phone standards are different from region to region. The second market is unserved and underserved communities where mobile and even basic telecommunications services are unavailable. Because global and regional satellite systems are relatively new in non-military communications, these market approaches still are untested and it is likely that economics, user acceptance rates, technical difficulties and other factors will cause adjustments in the business plans of many of these systems. 4.3 TYPES OF SATELLITE SYSTEMS The design of a satellite system is closely tied to the market it is intended to serve and the type of communications services it is intended to offer. There are four general system designs, which are differentiated by the type of orbit in which the satellites operate: Geostationary Orbit (GEO), Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), and Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO). Each of these has various strengths and weaknesses in its ability to provide particular communications services. 4.3.1 GEO GEO systems orbit the earth at a fixed distance of 35,786 kilometers (22,300 miles) as shown in Figure 4.1. The satellites speed at this altitude matches that of the earths rotation, thereby keeping the satellite stationary over a particular spot on the earth. Examples of GEO systems include INTELSAT, Inmarsat, and PanAmSat. Geostationary satellites orbit the earth above the equator and cover one third of the earths surface at a time. The majority of communications satellites are GEOs and these systems will continue to provide the bulk of the communications satellite capacity for many years to come.
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Figure 4.1 Geostationary Earth Orbit GEOs support voice, data, and video services, most often providing fixed services to a particular region. For example, GEO satellites provide back-up voice capacity for the majority of the U.S. long distance telephone companies and carry the bulk of nation-wide television broadcasts, which commonly are distributed via from a central point to affiliate stations throughout the country. Until recently, the large antennae and power requirements for GEO systems limited their effectiveness for small-terminal and mobile services. However, newer high-powered GEO satellites using clusters of concentrated spot beams can operate with smaller terrestrial terminals than ever before and can support some mobile applications. GEO satellite coverage typically degrades beyond 20 degrees North Latitude and 20 degrees South Latitude. GEO systems have a proven track record of reliability and operational predictability not yet possible for the more sophisticated orbital designs now being deployed. GEO systems are also less complicated to maintain because their fixed location in the sky requires relatively little tracking capability in ground equipment. In addition, their high orbital altitude allows GEOs to remain in orbit longer than systems operating closer to earth. These characteristics, along with their high bandwidth capacity, may provide a cost advantage over other system types. However, their more distant orbit also requires relatively large terrestrial antennae and high-powered equipment and are subject to transmission delays. In addition, since only a few large satellites carry the load for the entire system, a GEO satellite loss is somewhat more consequential than for the systems described below. 4.3.2 LEO LEO systems fly about 1,000 kilometers above the earth (between 400 miles and 1,600 miles) as shown in Figure 4.2 and unlike GEOs, travel across the sky. A typical LEO satellite takes less than two hours to orbit the earth, which means that a single satellite is in view of ground equipment for a only a few minutes. As a consequence, if a transmission
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takes more than the few minutes that any one satellite is in view, a LEO system must hand off between satellites in order to complete the transmission. In general, this can be accomplished by constantly relaying signals between the satellite and various ground stations, or by communicating between the satellites themselves using inter-satellite links.
Figure 4.2 Low Earth Orbit In addition, LEO systems are designed to have more than one satellite in view from any spot on earth at any given time, minimizing the possibility that the network will loose the transmission. Because of the fast-flying satellites, LEO systems must incorporate sophisticated tracking and switching equipment to maintain consistent service coverage. The need for complex tracking schemes is minimized, but not obviated, in LEO systems designed to handle only short-burst transmissions. The advantage of the LEO system is that the satellites proximity to the ground enables them to transmit signals with no or very little delay, unlike GEO systems. In addition, because the signals to and from the satellites need to travel a relatively short distance, LEOs can operate with much smaller user equipment (e.g., antennae) than can systems using a higher orbit. In addition, a system of LEO satellites is designed to maximize the ability of ground equipment to see a satellite at any time, which can overcome the difficulties caused by obstructions such as trees and buildings. There are two types of LEO systems, Big LEOs and Little LEOs. 4.3.2.1 Little LEO Satellites are very small, often weighing no more than a human being, and use very little bandwidth for communications. Their size and bandwidth usage limits the amount of traffic the system can carry at any given time. However, such systems often employ mechanisms to maximize capacity, such as frequency reuse schemes and load delay tactics. Little LEO systems support services that require short messaging and occasional low-bandwidth data transport, such as paging, fleet tracking and remote monitoring of
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stationary monitors for everything from tracking geoplatonic movements to checking on vending machine status. The low bandwidth usage may allow a LEO system to provide more cost effective service for occasional-use applications than systems that maximize their value based on bulk usage. Examples of Little LEO systems include Orbcomm, Final Analysis and Leo One. 4.3.2.2 Big LEO Big LEO Systems are designed to carry voice traffic as well as data. They are the technology behind satellite phones or Global Mobile Personal Communications System (GMPCS) services now being developed and launched. Big LEO systems also offer mobile data services and some system operators intend to offer semi-fixed voice and data services to areas that have little or no terrestrial telephony infrastructure. Smaller Big LEO constellations also are planned to serve limited regions of the globe. Examples of Big LEO systems include Iridium, Globalstar and the regional Constellation and ECO-8 systems. An emerging third category of LEO systems is the so-called super LEOs or mega LEOs, which will handle broadband data. The proposed Teledesic and Skybridge systems are examples of essentially Big LEO systems optimized for packet-switched data rather than voice. These systems share the same advantages and drawbacks of other LEOs and intend to operate with inter-satellite links to minimize transmission times and avoid dropped signals. 4.3.3 MEO MEO systems (as shown in Figure 4.3)operate at about 10,000 kilometers (between 1,500 and 6,500 miles) above the earth , which is lower than the GEO orbit and higher than most LEO orbits. The MEO orbit is a compromise between the LEO and GEO orbits. Compared to LEOs, the more distant orbit requires fewer satellites to provide coverage than LEOs because each satellite may be in view of any particular location for several hours. Compared to GEOs, MEOs can operate effectively with smaller, mobile equipment and with less latency (signal delay). Although MEO satellites are in view longer than LEOs, they may not always be at an optimal elevation. To combat this difficulty, MEO systems often feature significant coverage overlap from satellite to satellite; this in turn requires more sophisticated tracking and switching schemes than GEOs. Typically, MEO constellations have 10 to 17 satellites distributed over two or three orbital planes. Most planned MEO systems will offer phone services similar to the Big LEOs. In fact, before the MEO designation came into wide use, MEO systems were considered Big LEOs. Examples of MEO systems include ICO Global Communications and the proposed Orblink from Orbital Sciences.
NOTES
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Figure 4.3 Medium Earth Orbit 4.3.4 HEO HEO systems operate differently than LEOs, MEOs or GEOs. As the name implies, the satellites orbit the earth in an elliptical path rather than the circular paths of LEOs and GEOs. The HEO path typically is not centered on the earth, as LEOs, MEOs and GEOs are. This orbit causes the satellite to move around the earth faster when it is traveling close to the earth and slower the farther away it gets. In addition, the satellites beam covers more of the earth from farther away, as shown in the Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.4 Highly Elliptical Orbits The orbits are designed to maximize the amount of time each satellite spends in view of populated areas. Therefore, unlike most LEOs, HEO systems do not offer continuous coverage over outlying geographic regions, especially near the south pole. Several of the proposed global communications satellite systems actually are hybrids of the four varieties reviewed above. For example, all of the proposed HEO communications systems are hybrids, most often including a GEO or MEO satellite orbital plane around the equator to ensure maximum coverage in the densely populated zone between 40 degrees North Latitude and 40 degrees South Latitude. Examples of HEO systems include Ellipso and the proposed Pentriad. 4.4 QUESTIONS Discuss and compare various satellite systems.
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CHAPTER 5
BROADCAST SYSTEMS
5.1 INTRODUCTION Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults. There are wide varieties of broadcasting systems, all of which have different capabilities. The largest broadcasting systems are institutional public address systems, which transmit nonverbal messages and music within a school or hospital, and low-powered broadcasting systems which transmit radio stations or television stations to a small area. National radio and television broadcasters have nationwide coverage, using retransmitter towers, satellite systems, and cable distribution. Satellite radio and television broadcasters can cover even wider areas, such as entire continents, and Internet channels can distribute text or streamed music worldwide. Any person can also broadcast sound or video through podcasting or live through internet broadcasting services. The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule. As with all technological endeavors, a number of technical terms and slang have developed. A list of these terms can be found at list of broadcasting terms. Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-perview services. The term broadcast originally referred to the sowing of seeds by scattering them over a wide field. It was adopted to refer to the analogous dissemination of signals by early radio engineers from the Midwestern United States. Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media. Broadcasting to a very narrow range of audience is called narrowcasting. In computer networking, broadcasting refers to transmitting a packet that will be received (conceptually) by every device on the network. In practice, the scope of the broadcast is limited to a broadcast domain. Contrast unicasting and multicasting. Not all computer networks support broadcasting; for example, neither X.25 nor frame relay supply a broadcast capability, nor is there any form of Internet-wide broadcast. Broadcasting is largely confined to Local Area Network (LAN) technologies, most notably Ethernet and Token Ring, where the performance impact of broadcasting is not as large as it would be in a wide area network. Both Ethernet and IPv4 use an all-ones broadcast address to indicate a broadcast packet. Token Ring uses a special value in the IEEE 802.2 control
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field. Due to its shotgun approach to data distribution, broadcasting is being increasingly supplanted by multicasting. For example, IPv6 supports neither directed broadcasts nor local broadcasts. 5.2 BROADCAST DISK Broadcast Disk is a technique to augment the memory hierarchy of clients in asymmetric communication environments by broadcasting data from a fixed server to clients with less powerful machines (who could be mobile). An asymmetric communication environment is an environment where the downstream communication capacity from servers to clients is much greater than the upstream communication capacity from clients back to servers. Many existing and emerging domains possess these characteristics. Examples include mobile wireless networks, traffic information systems, video-on-demand and interactive television, public safety applications, wireless classrooms and many other emerging applications. 5.3 DAB DAB stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting and is a method for the terrestrial digital transmission of radio signals. DAB allows for a much more efficient use of frequency spectrum than traditional analogue radio. Instead of just one service per frequency as is the case on FM, DAB permits up to nine (or more) services on a single frequency. The interference that commonly disturbs analogue reception, which is caused by radio signals bouncing off buildings and hills, is eliminated with DAB signals. Since DAB automatically selects the strongest regional transmitter, reception is much clearer. DAB is broadcast on terrestrial networks and consumers are able to receive services, with a selection of over 930 different devices. Since DAB was originally designed for mobility consumers have the added advantage of listening to services in the car and while on the move. 5.3.1 DAB Systems 5.3.1.1 Generation of the DAB Signal Figure 5.1 shows each service signal is coded individually at source level, error protected and time interleaved in the channel coder. Then the services are multiplexed in the Main Service Channel (MSC), according to a pre-determined, but adjustable, multiplex configuration. The multiplexer output is combined with Multiplex Control and Service information, which travel in the Fast Information Channel (FIC), to form the transmission frames in the Transmission Multiplexer. Finally, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is applied to shape the DAB signal, which consists of a large number of carriers. The signal is then transposed to the appropriate radio frequency band, amplified and transmitted.
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Figure 5.1 Generation of DAB Signal 5.3.1.2 Reception of a DAB signal Figure 5.2 demonstrates a conceptual DAB receiver. The DAB ensemble is selected in the analogue tuner, the digitized output of which is fed to the OFDM demodulator and channel decoder to eliminate transmission errors. The information contained in the FIC is passed to the user interface for service selection and is used to set the receiver appropriately. The MSC data is further processed in an audio decoder to produce the left and right audio signals or in a data decoder (Packet Demux) as appropriate.
Figure 5.2 Conceptual DAB Receiver
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5.3.2 Benefits of DAB Easy programme selection: Rather than searching wavebands as present, users can select all available stations or preferred formats from a simple text menu. Improved reception: DAB eliminates interference and the problems of multipath while in a car. It blankets wide geographical areas with an even, uninterrupted signal. Once full services are up and running, a driver will be able to cross an entire country staying tuned to the same station with no signal fade, without altering frequency. One receiver does it all: DAB is quite unique in that both music and data services can be received using the same receivers. Furthermore DMB receivers also can receive these music and data services as well as video and graphics. Programme-associated data: DAB/DAB+/DMB broadcasts can display text information, such as programme background facts, a menu of future broadcasts and complementary advertising information. Broadcasters can also display picture radio and other interactive services. Receivers have are attached to a small screen, which can display visual information as diverse as weather maps, CD information, traffic and safety information, stock updates and mobile TV. Information services: Services from sources other than the broadcasting station are included within the same channel for the user to access at will. These include news headlines, detailed weather information or even the latest stock prices. Targeted music or data services: Because digital technology allows a massive amount of different information, specific information user groups can be targeted with great accuracy because each receiver can be addressable. Wide choice of receivers: It is possible to access DAB/DMB services on a wide range of receiving equipment including fixed, mobile and portable radio receivers with displays or screens including personal computers and some mobile phones. Other types of receivers also include: USB, digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, pocket TVs, in car radios and TV screens and many more. DAB Technology: A system designed for terrestrial mobile reception DAB services are available on terrestrial networks, and the same receiver can be used to provide radio programmes and/or data services for national, regional, local and international coverage. The DAB system requires a low field strength. Lower transmission costs for broadcasters: DAB/DAB+/DMB allows broadcasters to provide a wide range of material simultaneously on the same frequency. This not only makes room for a vastly increased number of programmes to increase user choice, but also has important broadcast cost-cutting implications
Consumers are able to listen to their favorite music programme and sing along with idols, since the lyrics can be shown on the radio display. Others can contemplate the handsome face of the latest movie star, while a report is given on his current box-office hit. In spite of the variety of additional services, DAB receivers are simple and easy-to-use.
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5.4 DMB Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is a video and multimedia technology based on DAB. It offers a wide range of new innovative services, such as mobile TV, traffic and safety information, interactive programmes, data information and many other applications. DMB is currently the worlds most successful mobile TV standard, with over 8 million devices sold. Countries in Europe and Asia have implemented commercial services. Since DMB is based on the globally used DAB core standard, DMB devices are always backwards compatible and can receive not only DMB multimedia services but also DAB audio services. On the broadcaster side, this means that the conventional DAB transmission system can be used for DMB transmission by simply adding a DMB video encoder to the existing DAB system. 5.4.1 DMB System DMB uses Advanced Video Coding for video services, BSAC or HE-AAC V2 audio coding for audio services and BIFS for interactive data related services. All of these encoded Elementary Streams are multiplexed into MPEG-2 TS packets. To increase the necessary robustness especially for mobile reception, an additional block coding scheme (Reed-Solomon Coding) and convolution interleaving is applied to the sheer MPEG-2 Transport Stream. The byte-interleaved and error-protected TS packets are transmitted through the Eureka-147 stream mode. Extraction, error control decoding, stripping of Elementary Streams and synchronization - both temporally and spatially - as well as source decoding and reproduction is shown in the figure 5.3 for the terminal side.
NOTES
Figure 5.3 Terminal processing chain for DMB
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All together, this chain represents a classical combination of MPEG-4 elements transported with an MPEG-2 Transport Stream. BIFS as one of those MPEG elements/ norms represents quite a powerful tool for data provision and interactivity. 5.4.2 Benefits of DMB A wide range of TV and interactive services to be broadcast simultaneously on the same multiplex (video services, DAB and DAB+ radio services, file downloading (podcasting), electronic programme guide, slide show, broadcast website, BIFS) Existing DAB transmitter network to be adapted to carry these new services Robust reception of mobile TV at highway speeds (>300km/h) Multimedia content to be delivered without the risk of network congestion Both DMB and DAB services to be accessed on the same receiver DMB is an open European Standard
DMB demands less spectrum commitment than other mobile TV standards, which typically use 6-8 MHz blocks. In contrast, DMB can offer both TV and radio services within a multiplex of just 1.5 MHz. Whilst this spectrum would deliver a range of approximately 7 DMB services, extra services can be made available simply by adding further multiplexes. DMB has the further benefit of being broadcast in Band III or L-Band, where higher powers give rise to broader and more comprehensive coverage. Other mobile TV standards must use UHF Bands IV or V. As a result, transmitter powers are low and coverage areas from a single transmitter are typically small. However, since DMB is in Band III and L-Band higher powers give rise to broader and more comprehensive coverage. 5.5 QUESTIONS 1. What is broadcast disk? 2. What is podcast? 3. Define scheduling 4. Briefly discuss about DAB 5. Explain about DMB
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WIRELESS NETWORKS
CHAPTER 6
WIRELESS LAN
6.1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this chapter is to give a basic overview of IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) Standard, enabling them to understand the basic concepts, principle of operations, 6.2 IEEE 802 11 ARCHITECTURE 6.2.1 Architecture Components IEEE 802.11 is based on a cellular architecture where the system is subdivided into cells. Each cell called Basic Service Set (BSS) is controlled by a Base Station called Access Point (AP). WLAN may be formed by a single cell, with a single AP. Most installations will be formed by several cells, where the APs are connected through some kind of backbone called Distribution Sub System (DSS). This backbone is typically Ethernet and, in some cases, is wireless itself. The whole interconnected Wireless LAN, including the different cells, their respective Access Points and the DSS, is shown as a single 802 network to the upper layers of the OSI model and is known in the Standard as Extended Service Set (ESS). Figure 6.1 hows a typical WLAN including the components described above.
Figure 6.1 A Typical 802.11 WLAN
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The standard also defines the concept of a Portal. A portal is a device that interconnects between a 802.11 and another 802 LAN. This concept is an abstract description of part of the functionality of a translation bridge. 6.2.2 IEEE 802.11 Layers Description As any 802.x protocol, the 802.11 protocol covers the MAC and Physical Layer. The Standard currently defines a single MAC which interacts with three PHYs ( as shown in Figure 6.2) (all of them running at 1 and 2 Mbit/s) as follows: Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum in the 2.4 GHz Band Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum in the 2.4 GHz Band
Figure 6.2 802.11 Layered Architecture Beyond the standard functionality usually performed by MAC Layers, the 802.11 MAC performs other functions that are typically related to upper layer protocols, such as Fragmentation, Packet Retransmissions, and Acknowledges. 6.3.2 The MAC Layer The MAC Layer defines two different access methods, they are: Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and Point Coordination Function (PCF). 6.3.2.1 The Basic Access Method: CSMA/CA DCF is the basic access mechanism. Basically DCF is a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). CSMA protocols are well-known in the industry, the most popular being the Ethernet, which is a CSMA/CD protocol (CD standing for Collision Detection). A CSMA protocol works as follows: A station desiring to transmit senses the medium. If the medium is busy (i.e. some other station is transmitting) then the station defers its transmission to a later time. If the medium is sensed free then the station is allowed to transmit.
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These kinds of protocols are very effective when the medium is not heavily loaded since it allows stations to transmit with minimum delay. But there is always a chance of stations simultaneously sensing the medium as being free and transmitting at the same time, causing a collision. These collision situations must be identified, so the MAC layer can retransmit the packet by itself and not by upper layers, which would cause significant delay. In the Ethernet case this collision is recognized by the transmitting stations which will get into a retransmission phase based on an exponential random backoff algorithm. While these Collision Detection mechanisms are good on a wired LAN, they cannot be used on a Wireless LAN environment for two main reasons: Implementing a Collision Detection mechanism would require the implementation of a Full Duplex radio capable of transmitting and receiving at once, an approach that would increase the price significantly. In a Wireless environment we cannot assume that all stations hear each other (which is the basic assumption of the Collision Detection scheme), and the fact that a station wants to transmit and senses the medium as free doesnt necessarily mean that the medium is free around the receiver area.
NOTES
In order to overcome these problems, the 802.11 uses a Collision Avoidance (CA) mechanism together with a Positive Acknowledge scheme, as follows: A station wanting to transmit senses the medium. If the medium is busy then it defers. If the medium is free for a specified time called Distributed Inter Frame Space (DIFS), then the station is allowed to transmit. The receiving station checks the CRC of the received packet and sends an acknowledgment packet (ACK). Receipt of the acknowledgment indicates to the transmitter that no collision occurred. If the sender does not receive the acknowledgment then it retransmits the fragment until it receives acknowledgment or is thrown away after a given number of retransmissions.
6.2.3.2 Virtual Carrier Sense In order to reduce the probability of two stations colliding because they cannot hear each other, the standard defines a Virtual Carrier Sense mechanism: A station wanting to transmit a packet first transmits a short control packet called RTS (Request To Send), which includes the source, destination, and the duration of the following transaction (i.e. the packet and the respective ACK), the destination station responds (if the medium is free) with a response control Packet called CTS (Clear to Send), which includes the same duration information.
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All stations receiving either the RTS and/or the CTS, set their Virtual Carrier Sense indicator (called NAV, for Network Allocation Vector), for the given duration, and use this information together with the Physical Carrier Sense when sensing the medium. This mechanism reduces the probability of a collision on the receiver area by a station that is hidden from the transmitter to the short duration of the RTS transmission because the station hears the CTS and reserves the medium as busy until the end of the transaction. The duration information on the RTS also protects the transmitter area from collisions during the ACK (from stations that are out of range of the acknowledging station). It should also be noted that, due to the fact that the RTS and CTS are short frames, the mechanism also reduces the overhead of collisions; since, these are recognized faster than if the whole packet was to be transmitted. Figure 6.3 shows a transaction between stations A and B, and the NAV setting of their neighbors: The NAV State is combined with the physical carrier sense to indicate the busy state of the medium.
Figure 6.3 Transaction between two stations 6.2.3.3 MAC Level Acknowledgments MAC layer performs Collision Detection by expecting the reception of an acknowledge to any transmitted fragment (Packets that have more than one destination, such as Multicasts, are not acknowledged.) 6.2.3.4 Fragmentation and Reassembly Typical LAN protocols use packets several hundred bytes long (the longest Ethernet packet could be up to 1518 bytes long). There are several reasons why it is preferable to use smaller packets in a Wireless LAN environment: Due to the higher Bit Error Rate of a radio link, the probability of a packet getting corrupted increases with the packet size
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In case of packet corruption (either due to collision or noise), the smaller the packet, the less overhead it causes to retransmit it On a Frequency Hopping system, the medium is interrupted periodically for hopping (in our case every 20 milliseconds), so, the smaller the packet, the smaller the chance that the transmission will be postponed after dwell time
NOTES
However, it doesnt make sense to introduce a new LAN protocol that cannot deal with packets 1518 bytes long which are used on Ethernet, so the committee decided to solve the problem by adding a simple fragmentation/reassembly mechanism at the MAC Layer. The mechanism is a simple Send-and-Wait algorithm, where the transmitting station is not allowed to transmit a new fragment until one of the following happens: Receives an ACK for the said fragment or Decides that the fragment was retransmitted too many times and drops the whole frame
It should be noted that the standard does allow the station to transmit to a different address between retransmissions of a given fragment. This is particularly useful when an AP has several outstanding packets to different destinations and one of them does not respond. Figure 6.4 shows a frame (MSDU) being divided to several fragments (MPDUs).
Figure 6.4 Frame Fragmentation 6.2.3.5 Inter Frame Spaces The Standard defines 4 types of Inter Frame Spaces, which are use to provide different priorities: SIFS: Short Inter Frame Space, is used to separate transmissions belonging to a single dialog (e.g. Fragment-Ack), and is the minimum Inter Frame Space. There is always at most one single station to transmit at any given time, therefore giving it priority over all other stations. This value is a fixed value per PHY and is calculated in such a way that the transmitting station will be able to switch back to receive mode and be capable of decoding the incoming packet. On the 802.11 FH PHY this value is set to 28 microseconds
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PIFS: Point Coordination IFS, is used by the Access Point (or Point Coordinator, as called in this case), to gain access to the medium before any other station. This value is SIFS plus a Slot Time (defined in the following paragraph), i.e 78 microseconds DIFS: Distributed IFS, is the Inter Frame Space used for a station willing to start a new transmission, which is calculated as PIFS plus one slot time, i.e. 128 microseconds EIFS: Extended IFS, which is a longer IFS used by a station that has received a packet that it could not understand. This is needed to prevent the station (which could not understand the duration information for the Virtual Carrier Sense) from colliding with a future packet belonging to the current dialog
6.3.3.6 Exponential Backoff Algorithm Backoff is a well known method used to resolve contention between different stations wanting to access the medium. The method requires each station to choose a Random Number (n) between 0 and a given number, and wait for this number of Slots before accessing the medium, always checking if a different station has accessed the medium before. The Slot Time is defined in such a way that a station will always be capable of determining if another station has accessed the medium at the beginning of the previous slot. This reduces collision probability by half. Exponential Backoff means that each time the station chooses a slot and happens to collide; it will increase the maximum number for the random selection exponentially. The 802.11 standard defines an Exponential Backoff Algorithm that must be executed in the following cases: When the station senses the medium before the first transmission of a packet, and the medium is busy After each retransmission After a successful transmission
The only case when this mechanism is not used is when the station decides to transmit a new packet and the medium has been free for more than DIFS. Figure 6.5 shows a schematic of the access mechanism.
Figure 6.5 Access Mechanism
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6.3 HOW DOES A STATION JOIN AN EXISTING CELL (BSS) When a station wants to access an existing BSS (either after power-up, sleep mode, or just entering the BSS area), the station needs to get synchronization information from the Access Point (or from the other stations when in ad-hoc mode, which will be discussed later). The station can get this information by one of two means: Passive Scanning: In this case the station just waits to receive a Beacon Frame from the AP, (the beacon frame is a frame sent out periodically by the AP containing synchronization information) or Active Scanning: In this case the station tries to locate an Access Point by transmitting Probe Request Frames, and waits for Probe Response from the AP
NOTES
Both methods are valid. A method is chosen according to the power consumption/ performance trade-off. 6.4 THE AUTHENTICATION PROCESS Once the station has located an Access Point, and decides to join its BSS, it goes through the Authentication Process. This is the interchange of information between the AP and the station, where each side proves the knowledge of a given password. 6.5 THE ASSOCIATION PROCESS Once the station is authenticated, it then starts the Association Process, which is the exchange of information about the stations and BSS capabilities, and which allows the DSS (the set of APs) to know about the current position of the station). A station is capable of transmitting and receiving data frames only after the association process is completed. 6.6 ROAMING Roaming is the process of moving from one cell (or BSS) to another without losing connection. This function is similar to the cellular phoneshandover, with two main differences: On a packet-based LAN system, the transition from cell to cell may be performed between packet transmissions, as opposed to telephony where the transition may occur during a phone conversation, this makes the LAN roaming a little easier On a voice system, a temporary disconnection may not affect the conversation, while in a packet based environment it significantly reduces performance because retransmission is then performed by the upper layer protocols
The 802.11 standard does not define how roaming should be performed, but defines the basic tools. These include active/passive scanning, and a re-association process, where a station which is roaming from one Access Point to another becomes associated with the new one1.
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6.6.1 Synchronization Stations need to keep synchronization, which is necessary for keeping hopping synchronized and other functions like Power Saving. On an infrastructure BSS, this is achieved by all the stations updating their clocks according to the APs clock, using the following mechanism: The AP periodically transmits frames called Beacon Frames. These frames contain the value of the APs clock at the moment of transmission (note that this is the moment when transmission actually occurs, and not when it is put in the queue for transmission. Since the Beacon Frame is transmitted using CSMA rules, transmission may be delayed significantly). The receiving stations check the value of their clocks at the moment the signal is received, and correct it to keep in synchronization with the APs clock. This prevents clock drifting which could cause loss of synch after a few hours of operation. 6.7 SECURITY Security is one of the first concerns that people have when deploying a Wireless LAN. The 802.11 committee has addressed the issue by providing what is called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). Users are primarily concerned that an intruder should not be able to: Access the Network resources by using similar Wireless LAN equipment Capture Wireless LAN traffic (eavesdropping)
6.7.1 Preventing Access to Network Resources This is done by the use of an Authentication mechanism where a station needs to prove knowledge of the current key. This is very similar to Wired LAN privacy, in the sense that an intruder needs to enter the premises (by using a physical key) in order to connect his workstation to the wired LAN. 6.7.1.1 Eavesdropping Eavesdropping is prevented by using the WEP algorithm which is a Pseudo Random Number Generator initialized by a shared secret key. This PRNG outputs a key sequence of pseudo-random bits equal in length to the largest possible packet which is combined with the outgoing/incoming packet producing the packet transmitted in the air. The WEP is a simple algorithm based on RSAs RC4 which has the following properties: Reasonably strong: Brute-force attack to this algorithm is difficult because every frame is sent with an Initialization Vector which restarts the PRNG for each frame. Self Synchronizing: The algorithm re-synchronizes for each message. This is necessary in order to work in a connection-less environment, where packets may get lost (as any LAN).
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6.8 POWER SAVING Wireless LANs are typically related to mobile applications. In this type of application, battery power is a scare resource. This is the reason why the 802.11 standard directly addresses the issue of Power Saving and defines an entire mechanism which enables stations to go into sleep mode for long periods of time without losing information. The main idea behind the Power Saving Mechanism is that the AP maintains a continually updated record of the stations currently working in Power Saving mode, and buffers the packets addressed to these stations until either the stations specifically request the packets by sending a polling request, or until they change their operation mode. As part of its Beacon Frames, The AP also periodically transmits information about which Power Saving Stations have frames buffered at the AP, so these stations wake up in order to receive the Beacon Frame. If there is an indication that there is a frame stored at the AP waiting for delivery, then the station stays awake and sends a Polling message to the AP to get these frames. Multicasts and Broadcasts are stored by the AP, and transmitted at a pre-known time (each DTIM), when all Power Saving stations who wish to receive this kind of frames are awake. 6.9 QUESTIONS 1. Explain BSS & ESS 2. Explain about VCS 3. Briefly discuss about different types of IFS 4. Discuss about eavesdropping
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CHAPTER 7
BLUETOOTH
7.1 INTRODUCTION Bluetooth is an open standard specification for a radio frequency (RF)-based, shortrange connectivity technology that promises to change the face of computing and wireless communication. It is designed to be an inexpensive, wireless networking system for all classes of portable devices, such as laptops, PDAs and mobile phones. It also enables wireless connections for desktop computers, making connections between monitors, printers, keyboards, and the CPU cable-free. The idea of a cable-free technology was initially conceived by Ericsson in 1994, when the company began a study to investigate the feasibility of a low-power, low-cost radio interface between mobile phones and their accessories. The companys goal was to eliminate the need for cables. The original idea was to create a small, inexpensive radio chip that could be used in mobile computers, printers, mobile phones, and so on, to transmit data between these devices. The projected cost of the chip was around $5 and it requires low power, so that it could be used in devices that rely on battery life. As the idea grew, a Special Interest Group (SIG) was formed to create a standard for this technology. The original SIG, formed in 1998, consisted of five companies: Ericsson IBM Intel Nokia Toshiba
Four other major companies (Microsoft, 3Com, Lucent, and Motorola) later joined this founding group to form the Bluetooth Promoter Group. Many more companies have since become part of the Bluetooth revolution, expanding on the original vision, and helping drive the development of this new technology. 7.2 BLUETOOTH CONCEPT Bluetooth is an emerging standard for wireless connectivity. It specifies a system not just a radio that encompasses the hardware, software framework and interoperability requirements. Bluetooth primarily specifies a cable-replacement technology that targets mobile users in the global marketplace.
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7.2.1 Bluetooth Connections The major difference between Bluetooth wireless connectivity and the cellular radio architecture is that Bluetooth enables ad hoc networking. Rather than depending on a broadband system, which relies on terminals and base stations for maintaining connections to the network via radio links, Bluetooth implements peer-to-peer connectivity, no base stations or terminals are involved. A typical Bluetooth network scenario is shown in Figure 7.1. Using peer-to-peer connectivity, Bluetooth technology simplifies personal area wireless connections, enabling all digital devices to communicate spontaneously. Early applications are expected to include cable replacement for laptops, PDAs, mobile phones, and digital cameras. Because Bluetooth supports voice transmissions, headsets also are in line to become wireless. The Bluetooth technology offers the following advantages: Voice/data access points Cable is replaced by a Bluetooth chip that transmits information at a special radio frequency to a receiver Bluetooth chip Ad hoc networking enables personal devices to automatically exchange information and synchronize with each other.
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Figure 7.1 Connecting with Bluetooth 7.2.2 Reliable and Secure Transmission Bluetooth technology also provides fast, secure voice and data transmissions. The range for connectivity is up to 10 meters, and line of sight is not required. The Bluetooth radio unit
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Functions even in noisy radio environments, ensuring audible voice transmissions in severe conditions Protects data by using error-correction methods Provides a high transmission rate Encrypts and authenticates for privacy
As with any wireless interface, Bluetooth must address issues involving reliable delivery of information. To help deliver accurate information, Bluetooth provides two error-correction mechanisms: Forward Error Correction (FEC) and Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ). Typically, FEC is applied to voice traffic for which the timeliness of the delivery takes precedence over the accuracy. ARQ mechanisms are used for data applications. Bluetooth operates in the unlicensed ISM frequency band, it competes with signals from other devices, such as garage door openers and microwave ovens. In order for Bluetooth devices to operate reliably, each Bluetooth network is synchronized to a specific frequency pattern. The Bluetooth unit moves through 1,600 different frequencies per second, and the pattern is unique to each network. Bluetooth also implements various security measures, including authentication and encryption. Authentication is used to verify the identity of the device sending information, and encryption is used to ensure the integrity of the data. 7.2.3 Low Power Architecture Bluetooth is intended for mobile devices, it implements low power architecture in which units move into lower power modes when not actively participating on the network. Bluetooth units also consume less power during operation. For example, the Bluetooth radio consumes less than 3 percent of the power that a mobile phone consumes. 7.2.4 Interoperability, standards, and specifications Another key concept in the Bluetooth environment is the idea of interoperability among Bluetooth units regardless of manufacturer. Because Bluetooth is an open specification for short range wireless communication, all Bluetooth products must conform to a standard. This ensures that wireless connections will be globally available, and Bluetooth units made anywhere in the world will be able to connect with and communicate information and services to other Bluetooth devices. To this end, the Bluetooth SIG has developed detailed specifications for the hardware and software elements of Bluetooth units. The specifications consist of Core and Profile documentations. The Core document discusses elements such as the radio, baseband, link manager, and interoperability with different communication protocols. The Profile document delineates the protocols and procedures to be used for specific classes of applications. The specifications are intended to prevent discrepancies in end products due to different
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interpretations of the Bluetooth standard. The SIG also has implemented a qualification process. This process defines criteria for Bluetooth product qualification, ensuring the Bluetooth standards are met in any product that sports the Bluetooth name. 7.3 BLUETOOTH TERMINOLOGY Bluetooth draws heavily on existing radio communications and networking technologies, which enables it to be operationally compatible with the existing devices that also use these technologies. Many of the various terms and concepts used in Bluetooth are borrowed from other areas and included in the specification of Bluetooths elements, such as baseband, RF communications, and many of the upper and lower layer protocols. What makes Bluetooth unique is how it applies its proprietary components and the existing technologies to define its central core operations and its application profiles. Regardless of their source, the terms that are integral to Bluetooth are worth examining a little more closely. 7.3.1 Bluetooth Stack Baseband or radio module is the hardware that enables wireless communication between devices. The building block of this technology is the Bluetooth stack, which includes the hardware and software portions of the system. Figure 7.2 shows a graphic representation of the stack. The stack contains a physical level protocol (baseband) and a link level protocol (Link Manager Protocol, or LMP) with an adaptation layer (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Layer Protocol, or L2CAP), enabling upper layer protocols to interact with the lower layer. The Bluetooth stack has the following components: The radio frequency (RF) portion provides the digital signal processing component of the system, and the baseband processes these signals The link controller handles all the baseband functions and supports the link manager. It sends and receives data, identifies the sending device, performs authentication, and determines the type of frame to use for sending transmissions. The link controller also directs how devices listen for transmissions from other devices and can move devices into power-saving modes
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Figure 7.2 Overview of Bluetooth Stack The link manager, located on top of the link controller, controls setup, authentication, link configuration, and other low-level protocols. Together, the baseband and the link manager establish connections for the network Host Controller Interface (HCI) communicates the lower layer protocols to the host device. The host contains a processor, L2CAP, which supports the upper layer protocols and communicates between upper and lower layers. The upper layer protocols consist of service specific applications that must be integrated into the host application Another element in the Bluetooth stack that relates to radio communications is the RFCOMM protocol, which allows for the emulation of serial ports over the L2CAP Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) provides the means for Bluetooth applications to discover the services and the characteristics of the available services that are unique to Bluetooth The Bluetooth device manager provides for device inquiry and connection management services
7.3.2 Links and Channels Links and channels are used to transmit data between Bluetooth units. First, the links are established. Bluetooth technology supports two types of link: Synchronous Connection
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Oriented (SCO) and Asynchronous Connection Less (ACL) links. SCO links are used primarily for voice communications. ACL links are used for packet data. Bluetooth devices can use either link type and can change link types during transmissions, although an ACL link must be established before an SCO link can be used. After the link has been established, Bluetooth uses five logical channels to transfer different types of information between devices: Link Control (LC) manages the flow of packets over the link interface Link Manager (LM) transports link management information between participating stations User Asynchronous (UA) carries user data User Isochronous (UI) carries user data User Synchronous (US) carries synchronous data.
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7.3.3 . Protocols Bluetooth protocols are sets of conventions that govern the transmittal of data in upper and lower layers of the system. The lower layer protocols pertain to establishing connections and the upper layers correspond to specific types of applications. 7.3.3.1 Link Control Protocol The link control protocol is responsible for delivery of the basic data elements. All packet information is transmitted in a specific time-slot format (a single time slot in the Bluetooth system lasts 625 s) and specific links are designed to transport a range of data types. The Bluetooth link control protocol can be used to manage the associations and delivery of information between the various units within a Bluetooth network. This format is used for both synchronous (voice) and asynchronous (data) modes of operation, with specific formats specified for voice transport. 7.3.3.2 Link Manager Protocol LMP is a command response system for transmitting data. It transports packets through the Bluetooth baseband link protocol, which is a time slot oriented mechanism. LMP packets are limited in size to ensure that they fit into a single time slot. The format of LMP PDU is simple, only two fields are used: The OpCode : Identifies the type and sequence of the packet. The content field: Contains application-specific information.
LMP also specifies a collection of mandatory and optional PDUs. Transmission and reception of mandatory PDUs must be supported. Optional PDUs dont need to be implemented, but can be used as necessary. The protocol sequences are similar to client
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server architectures, with the exchange of information following a similar request response pattern. In general, a single response PDU is sent upon receipt of the original request. Because Bluetooth is an RF broadcast technology, a set of request messages can be broadcast to all participants on a network. In this case, one request can elicit several responses. 7.3.3.3 L2CAP L2CAP enables transmission of data between upper and lower layers of the stack. It also enables support for many third party upper layer protocols such as TCP/IP. In addition, L2CAP provides group management by mapping upper layer protocol groups to Bluetooth networks. It also is a factor in ensuring interoperability among Bluetooth units by providing application specific protocols. Other protocols interfacing to the L2CAP include SDP, Radio Frequency Communication (RFCOMM), Telephony Control Protocol Specification (TCS), and IrDA Object Exchange Protocol (IrOBEX): SDP provides service discovery specific to Bluetooth. That is, one device can determine the services available in another connected device by implementing the SDP RFCOMM is a transport protocol that provides serial data transfer. In other words, it enables legacy software applications to operate on a Bluetooth device TCS is for voice and data call control. It provides group management capabilities and allows for signaling unrelated to an ongoing call OBEX is a session protocol, and for Bluetooth devices, only connection-oriented OBEX is supported. Three application profiles have been developed using OBEX: synchronization (for phonebooks, calendars, messaging, and so on), file transfer between connected devices, and object push for business card support
7.3.4 Bluetooth Networking The Bluetooth technology provides both point-to-point connection and point-tomultipoint connection. In point-to-multipoint connection the channel is shared among several Bluetooth units. In point-to-point connection only two units share the connection. Bluetooth protocols assume that a small number of units will participate in communications at any given time. These small groups are called piconets and they consist of one master unit and up to seven active slave units (as shown in Figure 7.3). The master unit initiates transmissions and the slaves are the responding units. This type of Bluetooth network can have only one master unit. If several piconets overlap a physical area, and members of the various piconets communicate with each other, this larger network is known as a scatternet (as shown in Figure 7.3). Any unit in one piconet can communicate in a second piconet as long as it serves as master for only one piconet at a time.
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Figure 7.3 Piconet and Scatternet 7.4 QUESTIONS 1. What are the advantages of Bluetooth network 2. What is meant by SCO and ACL? 3. What is the difference between Core protocol and profile? 4. Explain the difference between piconet and scatternet 5. Briefly discuss about the Bluetooth protocol stack.
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CHAPTER 8
WIRELESS ATM
8.1 INTRODUCTION Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) has been advocated as an important technology for all types of services and networks. Most people believe that ATM will be the standard for the future Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN). From the service point of view, ATM combines both the data and multimedia information into the wired networks while scales well from backbones to the customer premises networks. To ensure the success of ATM, lots of the design issues have been standardized by ATM Forum. A wireless personal communication network has been growing very fast in the last decade. Now a day, laptop, cellular phone, and pagers are very popular. Many systems have been developed to provide different services, such as, Personal Communications Service (PCS), Portable Telephone Systems, and Satellite Communications System. Usually, these services do not guarantee QoS, so they are not suitable for the fast growing multimedia applications. Due to the success of ATM on wired networks, wireless ATM (WATM) is a direct result of the ATM everywhere movement. WATM can be viewed as a solution for nextgeneration personal communication networks, or a wireless extension of the B-ISDN networks, which will support integrated data transmission (data, voice, and video) with guaranteed QoS. 8.2 WIRELESS ATM REFERENCE MODELS The overall system consists of a fixed ATM network infrastructure and a radio access segment. In the fixed ATM network, the switches, which communicate directly with wireless station or wireless end user devices, are mobility enhanced ATM switches. These switches setup connections on behalf of the wireless devices. They serve as entrance to the infrastructure wired ATM networks. The other ATM switching elements in the wired ATM networks remain unchanged. Based on the different types of wireless applications, the radio access segment falls into a number of areas which may need different solutions. 8.2.1 Fixed Wireless Components In fixed wireless LANs, or network interconnection via satellite or microwaves links, the end user devices and switching devices are fixed. They establish connections with each other via wireless channel, not through cable. In these kinds of applications, the data
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transmissions are wireless, yet without mobility. Since the user devices do not roam around, some design issues, e.g. handover, location management, and re-routing, are not presented. 8.2.2 Mobile End Users In digital cellular, PCS, and wireless LANs, the end user devices, which are mobile, communicate directly with the fixed network switching devices via wired or wireless channels. To support the ATM connections, the end user devices are required to be equipped with a Wireless Terminal Adaptor which communicates with the Wireless Access Point in the fixed switching elements (mobility enhanced ATM switches). 8.2.3 Mobile Switches with Fixed End Users End user devices are connected to switches via wired or wireless channels. The end user device and the switch, as a unit, are mobile. There can be more than one end user devices attach to one switch. An end user device is fixed to one switch instead of roaming around different switches. The switch is responsible to establish connections with the fixed infrastructure network component, either through wired channel or wireless channel. In this case, Wireless Access Points and Wireless Terminal Adapters are needed by the fixed mobility enhanced ATM switches and the mobile switches. 8.2.4 Mobile Switches with Mobile End Users In this case, end user devices are mobile. There are also some mobile switching elements. When the end user wants to establish a connection, it first setups a connection with a mobile switch, which then setups a connection with the fixed network switches, either directly, or via another mobile switches. Wireless Access Points and Wireless Terminal Adapters are also needed to support the mobility. 8.2.5 Interworking with PCS In PCS networks, the users are PCS terminals. PCS terminals send data to proper PCS base stations via wireless link, which then establish connections to the fixed network switching elements through a base station controller. The base station controller is logical elements which function as the ATM to PCS translator. 8.2.6 Wireless Ad Hoc Networks An Ad Hoc network is the cooperative engagement of collections of mobile terminals without the required intervention of any centralized access point. An auto configuration of a wireless ATM network will be required for this kind of application. In wireless Ad Hoc Networks, an end user can communicate with the mobility enhanced ATM switches either directly, or via a central controller.
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8.3 WATM DESIGN ISSUES WATM adopts ATM to provide the data communications services so the overall architecture is based on the ATM protocol stack. WATM protocol architecture is showed in session 8.3.1. To support mobility, appropriate extensions need to be added to the ATM protocol stack. The wireless segment of the network will require new mobility functions. 8.3.1 Wireless ATM Protocol Architecture The protocol architecture currently proposed by ATM Forum is shown in Figure 8.1.
Figure 8.1 WATM Protocol Architecture The WATM items are divided into two distinct parts: Mobile ATM (Control Plane, as showed in Figure 8.1, and Radio Access Layer (Wireless Control, as showed in Figure 8.1). Mobile ATM is dealing with the higher-layer control/signaling functions needed to support mobility. These control/signaling include handover, location management, routing, addressing, and traffic management. Radio Access Layer is responsible for the radio link protocols for wireless ATM access. Radio Access Layers consists of PHY (Physical Layer), MAC (Media Access Layer), DLC (Data Link Layer), and RRC (Radio Resource Control). 8.3.2 Radio Access Layer To support wireless communication, new wireless channel specific physical, medium access and data link layers are need to be added below the ATM network layer. These layers are called Radio Access Layer in the WATM network. The following sections address the design issues of the Radio Access Layer.
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8.3.2.1 Physical Layer (PHY) While a fixed station may own a 25 Mbit/s up to 155 Mbit/s data rate ATM link, a 25 Mbit/s data link in a wireless environment is currently difficult to implement. A several GHz spectrum would be required to provide high speed wireless transmission. Currently, 5 GHz band is considered to be used to provide 51 Mbit/s channel with advanced modulation and special coding techniques. Although 155 Mbit/s is unreachable due to the limitation of todays techniques, people believe that it will soon be available in the 60 GHz band and 622 Mbit/s would be reached in the not-too-distant future. Based on this belief, two separate PHY layer specifications are recommended, one for 5 GHz band, one for the 60 GHz band since they will require different operations. The suggested specific requirements for the PHY layers are showed in Figure 8.2. . 8.3.2.2 Media Access Control (MAC) WATM MAC is responsible for providing functionally point to point links for the higher protocol layer to use. To identify each station, both IEEE 48 bit address and local significant address, which is assigned dynamically within a cell, are allowed. Each station registers its address to its hub during a hub initiated slotted-ALOHA content period for new registration so that make itself know by others. In a shared environment, there must be some control over the usage of the medium to guarantee QoS. An extended TDMA, which satisfies PCR (Peak Cell Rate), SCR (Sustainable Cell Rate), and MBS (Maximum Burst Size) requests, is suggested. Each station may use the media only when its informed by the central control elements (hub). Each can send out several packets at a time. To minimum overhead, the MAC should support multiple ATM cells in a packet.
NOTES
Figure 8.2 Specific Requirements for PHY Layer Another design issue of MAC layer is to support multiple PHY layers. Currently, people are interested in different wireless bands, which include infra-red medium, 5 GHz radio band, and 60 GHz band. Different PHY will be need for different medium. WATM MAC should support all of them.
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8.3.2.3 Data Link Control (DLC) Data Link Control is responsible for providing service to ATM layer. Mitigating the effect of radio channel errors should be done in this layer before cells are sent to the ATM layer. In order to fulfill this requirement, error detection/retransmission protocols and forward error correction methods are recommended. 8.3.2.4 Radio Resource Control (RRC) RRC is needed for support of control plane functions related to the radio access layer. It should support radio resource control and management functions for PHY, MAC, and DLC layers. The design issues of RRL will include control/management syntax for PHY, MAC and DLC layers; meta-signaling support for mobile ATM; and interface to ATM control plane. 8.3.3 Mobile ATM To support mobility, new higher layer control/signaling functions are needed to handling handover, location management, routing, addressing, and traffic management. The item, which defines the design the functions of control/signaling, are called Mobile ATM. 8.3.3.1 Handover In WATM networks, a mobile end user establishes a virtual circuit (VC) to communicate with another end user (either mobile or ATM end user). When the mobile end user moves from one AP (access point) to another AP, proper handover is required. To minimize the interruption to cell transport, an efficient switching of the active VCs from the old data path to new data path is needed. Also the switching should be fast enough to make the new VCs available to the mobile users. When the handover occurs, the current QoS may not be support by the new data path. In this case, a negotiation is required to set up new QoS. Since a mobile user may be in the access range of several APs, it will select the one which can provide the best QoS. During the handover, an old path is released and a new path is then re-established. There is a possibility that some cells will get lost during this process (when the connection is broken). In case no cell lost is allowed. Cell buffering is used to guarantee that no cell is lost and cell sequence is preserved. Cell buffering consists of Uplink Buffering and Downlink Buffering. If VC is broken when the mobile user is sending cells to APs, Uplink Buffering is required. The mobile user will buffer all the outgoing cells. When the connection is up, it sends out all the buffered cells so no cells are lost unless the buffers are overflowed. Downlink Buffering is performed by APs to preserve the downlink cells for sudden link interruptions, congestion, or retransmissions. It may also occur when handover is executed. 8.3.3.2 Location Management When a connection is needed to be established between a mobile ATM end point and another ATM end point, the mobile ATM end point is needed to be located. There are two
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basic location management schemes: the mobile PNNI scheme and the location register scheme. In the mobile PNNI scheme, when a mobile moves, the reachability update information only propagates to the nodes in a limited region. The switch within the region has the correct reachable information for the mobiles. When a call is originated by a switch in this region, it can use the location information to directly establish the connection. If a call is originated by a switch outside this region, a connection is established between this switch and the mobiles Home Agent, which then forward the cells to the mobile. This scheme decreases the number of signaling messages during a local handover. In the location register scheme, an explicit search is required to prior to the establishment of connections. A hierarchy of location registers, which is limited to a certain level, is used. 8.3.3.3 Routing Due to the mobility feature of mobile ATM, routing signaling is a little bit different from that for the wired ATM network. First, mapping of mobile terminal routing-ids to paths in the network is necessary. Also rerouting is needed to re-establish connection when the mobiles move around. 8.3.3.4 Addressing Addressing issue of WATM focuses on the addressing of the mobile terminal (or mobile end user device). The current solution is that each mobile terminal has a name and a local address. The name of the mobile terminal is a regular ATM end system address. Its constant and doesnt change while the terminal moves. When a terminal is up, its name is advertised by the switch it attaches to other switches. A local (or temporary) address is assigned when the mobile terminal attaches to a different switch during roaming. This switch will assign a local significant address to the terminal. Mappings have to be take place in order to map the terminals name to its temporary address. 8.4 SUMMARY While the wired network has been going towards B-ISDN with ATM concepts for high data rate, wireless personal communication networks are also experiencing fast development. People are expecting portable and mobile computing which is not tethered to a fixed point by a wire and which has a wide range of services and wide availability. The quality of services is close to todays fixed networks. WATM has the potential to bring wireless networks a new generation. Both ATM and wireless communities have put a lot of attention on Wireless ATM. 8.5 QUESTIONS 1. Briefly discuss about the WATM layer architecture 2. Explain Mobile ATM
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UNIT III
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MOBILE NETWORK LAYER

CHAPTER 9
MOBILE NETWORK LAYER
9.1 INTRODUCTION Mobile IP is an open standard, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) (RFC 2002), which allows users to keep the same IP address, stay connected, and maintain ongoing applications while roaming between IP networks. In IP networks, routing is based on stationary IP addresses, similar to how a postal letter is delivered to the fixed address on the envelope. A device on a network is reachable through normal IP routing by the IP address it is assigned on the network. The problem occurs when a device roams away from its home network and is no longer reachable using normal IP routing. This results in the active sessions of the device being terminated. Mobile IP was created to enable users to keep the same IP address while traveling to a different network, thus ensuring that a roaming individual could continue communication without sessions or connections being dropped. Mobility functions of Mobile IP are performed at the network layer rather than the physical layer; the mobile device can span different types of wireless and wire line networks while maintaining connections and ongoing applications. Remote login, remote printing, and file transfers are some examples of applications where it is undesirable to interrupt communications while an individual roams across network boundaries. Also, certain network services, such as software licenses and access privileges, are based on IP addresses. Changing these IP addresses could compromise the network services. 9.2 COMPONENTS OF MOBILE IP Mobile IP has the following three components, as shown in Figure 9.1. 1. Mobile Node: Mobile Node is a device such as a cell phone, personal digital assistant, or laptop whose software enables network roaming capabilities
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2. Home Agent: Home Agent is a router on the home network serving as the anchor point for communication with the Mobile Node; it tunnels packets from a device on the Internet, called a Correspondent Node, to the roaming Mobile Node. (A tunnel is established between the Home Agent and a reachable point for the Mobile Node in the foreign network.) 3. Foreign Agent: Foreign Agent is a router that may function as the point of attachment for the Mobile Node when it roams to a foreign network, delivering packets from the Home Agent to the Mobile Node
Figure 9.1 Mobile IP Components and Relationship The care-of address is the termination point of the tunnel toward the Mobile Node when it is on a foreign network. The Home Agent maintains an association between the home IP address of the Mobile Node and its care-of address, which is the current location of the Mobile Node on the foreign or visited network. 9.3 HOW MOBILE IP WORKS This section explains how Mobile IP works. The Mobile IP process has three main phases, which are discussed in the following sections. 1. Agent Discovery: A Mobile Node discovers its Foreign and Home Agents during agent discovery 2. Registration: The Mobile Node registers its current location with the Foreign Agent and Home Agent during registration 3. Tunneling: A reciprocal tunnel is set up by the Home Agent to the care-of address (current location of the Mobile Node on the foreign network) to route packets to the Mobile Node as it roams 9.3.1 Agent Discovery During the agent discovery phase, the Home Agent and Foreign Agent advertise their services on the network by using the ICMP Router Discovery Protocol (IRDP). The
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Mobile Node listens to these advertisements to determine if it is connected to its home network or foreign network. The IRDP advertisements carry Mobile IP extensions that specify whether an agent is a Home Agent, Foreign Agent, or both; its care-of address; the types of services it will provide such as reverse tunneling and Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) and the allowed registration lifetime or roaming period for visiting Mobile Nodes. Rather than waiting for agent advertisements, a Mobile Node can send out an agent solicitation. This solicitation forces any agents on the link to immediately send an agent advertisement. If a Mobile Node determines that it is connected to a foreign network, it acquires a care-of address. There are two types of care-of addresses exist: 1. Care-of address acquired from a Foreign Agent 2. Co-located care-of address A Foreign Agent care-of address is an IP address of a Foreign Agent that has an interface on the foreign network being visited by a Mobile Node. A Mobile Node that acquires this type of care-of address can share the address with other Mobile Nodes. A co-located care-of address is an IP address temporarily assigned to the interface of the Mobile Node itself. A co-located care-of address represents the current position of the Mobile Node on the foreign network and can be used by only one Mobile Node at a time. When the Mobile Node hears a Foreign Agent advertisement and detects that it has moved outside of its home network, it begins registration. 9.3.2 Registration The Mobile Node is configured with the IP address and mobility security association (which includes the shared key) of its Home Agent. In addition, the Mobile Node is configured with either its home IP address, or another user identifier, such as a Network Access Identifier. The Mobile Node uses this information along with the information that it learns from the Foreign Agent advertisements to form a Mobile IP registration request. It adds the registration request to its pending list and sends the registration request to its Home Agent either through the Foreign Agent or directly if it is using a co-located care-of address and is not required to register through the Foreign Agent. If the registration request is sent through the Foreign Agent, the Foreign Agent checks the validity of the registration request, which includes checking that the requested lifetime does not exceed its limitations, the requested tunnel encapsulation is available, and that reverse tunnel is supported. If the registration request is valid, the Foreign Agent adds the visiting Mobile Node to its pending list before relaying the request to the Home Agent. If the registration request is not valid, the Foreign Agent sends a registration reply with appropriate error code to the Mobile Node.
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The Home Agent checks the validity of the registration request, which includes authentication of the Mobile Node. If the registration request is valid, the Home Agent creates a mobility binding (an association of the Mobile Node with its care-of address), a tunnel to the care-of address, and a routing entry for forwarding packets to the home address through the tunnel. The Home Agent then sends a registration reply to the Mobile Node through the Foreign Agent (if the registration request was received via the Foreign Agent) or directly to the Mobile Node. If the registration request is not valid, the Home Agent rejects the request by sending a registration reply with an appropriate error code. The Foreign Agent checks the validity of the registration reply, including ensuring that an associated registration request exists in its pending list. If the registration reply is valid, the Foreign Agent adds the Mobile Node to its visitor list, establishes a tunnel to the Home Agent, and creates a routing entry for forwarding packets to the home address. It then relays the registration reply to the Mobile Node. Finally, the Mobile Node checks the validity of the registration reply, which includes ensuring an associated request is in its pending list as well as proper authentication of the Home Agent. If the registration reply is not valid, the Mobile Node discards the reply. If a valid registration reply specifies that the registration is accepted, the Mobile Node is confirmed that the mobility agents are aware of its roaming. In the co-located care-of address case, it adds a tunnel to the Home Agent. Subsequently, it sends all packets to the Foreign Agent. The Mobile Node reregisters before its registration lifetime expires. The Home Agent and Foreign Agent update their mobility binding and visitor entry, respectively, during reregistration. In the case where the registration is denied, the Mobile Node makes the necessary adjustments and attempts to register again. For example, if the registration is denied because of time mismatch and the Home Agent sends back its time stamp for synchronization, the Mobile Node adjusts the time stamp in future registration requests. Thus, a successful Mobile IP registration sets up the routing mechanism for transporting packets to and from the Mobile Node as it roams. 9.3.3. Tunneling The Mobile Node sends packets using its home IP address, effectively maintaining the appearance that it is always on its home network. Even while the Mobile Node is roaming on foreign networks, its movements are transparent to correspondent nodes. Data packets addressed to the Mobile Node are routed to its home network, where the Home Agent now intercepts and tunnels them to the care-of address toward the Mobile Node. Tunneling has two primary functions: encapsulation of the data packet to reach the
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tunnel endpoint, and de-capsulation when the packet is delivered at that endpoint. The default tunnel mode is IP Encapsulation within IP Encapsulation. Optionally, GRE and minimal encapsulation within IP may be used. Typically, the Mobile Node sends packets to the Foreign Agent, which routes them to their final destination, the Correspondent Node, as shown in Figure 9.2.
NOTES
Figure 9.2 Packet Forwarding However, this data path is topologically incorrect because it does not reflect the true IP network source for the data-rather, it reflects the home network of the Mobile Node. Because the packets show the home network as their source inside a foreign network, an access control list on routers in the network called ingress filtering drops the packets instead of forwarding them. A feature called reverse tunneling solves this problem by having the Foreign Agent tunnel packets back to the Home Agent when it receives them from the Mobile Node as shown in Figure 9.3. Tunnel MTU discovery is a mechanism for a tunnel encapsulate such as the Home Agent to participate in path MTU discovery to avoid any packet fragmentation in the routing path between a Correspondent Node and Mobile Node. For packets destined to the Mobile Node, the Home Agent maintains the MTU of the tunnel to the care-of address and informs the Correspondent Node of the reduced packet size. This improves routing efficiency by avoiding fragmentation and reassembly at the tunnel endpoints to ensure that packets reach the Mobile Node.
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Figure 9.3 Reverse Tunnel 9.4 SECURITY Mobile IP uses a strong authentication scheme for security purposes. All registration messages between a Mobile Node and Home Agent are required to contain the MobileHome Authentication Extension (MHAE). The integrity of the registration messages is protected by a pre-shared 128-bit key between a Mobile Node and Home Agent. The keyed Message Digest Algorithm 5 (MD5) in prefix+suffix mode is used to compute the authenticator value in the appended MHAE, which is mandatory. Mobile IP also supports the Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC-MD5). The receiver compares the authenticator value it computes over the message with the value in the extension to verify the authenticity. Optionally, the Mobile-Foreign Authentication Extension and ForeignHome Authentication Extension are appended to protect message exchanges between a Mobile Node and Foreign Agent and between a Foreign Agent and Home Agent, respectively. Replay protection uses the identification field in the registration messages as a timestamp and sequence number. The Home Agent returns its time stamp to synchronize the Mobile Node for registration. 9.5 SOLUTION TO NETWORK MOBILITY Network mobility is enabled by Mobile IP, which provides a scalable, transparent, and secure solution. It is scalable because only the participating components need to be Mobile IP aware -the Mobile Node and the endpoints of the tunnel. No other routers in the network or any hosts with which the Mobile Node is communicating need to be changed or even aware of the movement of the Mobile Node. It is transparent to any applications while providing mobility. Also, the network layer provides link-layer independence; interlink layer roaming, and link-layer transparency. Finally, it is secure because the set up of packet redirection is authenticated.
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9.6 OVERVIEW OF AD-HOC NETWORKING Ad Hoc networks are multi-hop wireless networks, where nodes may be mobile. These types of networks are used in situations where temporary network connectivity is needed. Ad hoc networks are formed on a dynamic basis, i.e. a number of users may wish to exchange information and services between each other on an ad hoc basis, in order to do this they will need to form an Ad Hoc network. An example of this may be found in a disaster relief situation. Here an Ad Hoc network could enable emergency services to coordinate emergency services more effectively. Smart spaces are defined as environments that allow people to perform tasks efficiently by offering unprecedented levels of access to information and assistance from computers. Ad Hoc networks will play a significant part in these environments, allowing people to exchange information and services; for example, people at a meeting could create an Ad Hoc network using their PDAs or Laptops and exchange information relevant to the meeting. Indeed there are endless examples of where their use could be found. 9.6.1 Routing in Ad Hoc Networks An Ad Hoc network consists of wireless hosts that move around, i.e. they have no permanent physical location. In order to facilitate communication within the network, a routing protocol is used to discover routes between nodes before the exchange of IP data packets. The routing protocols in Ad Hoc wireless networks are generally categorized as: 1. Proactive 2. Reactive 3. Hybrid 9.5.1.1 Proactive These protocols require each node to maintain one or more tables to store up to date routing information and to propagate updates throughout the network. These protocols try and maintain valid routes to all communication mobile nodes all the time, which means before a route is actually needed. Periodic route updates are exchanged in order to synchronize the tables. Some examples of table driven ad hoc routing protocols include Dynamic Destination Sequenced Distance-Vector Routing Protocol (DSDV), Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) and Fisheye State Routing Protocol (FSR). These protocols differ in the number of routing related tables and how changes are broadcasted in the network structure. The problem with these protocols is the overhead; the protocols propagate and maintain routing information, regardless of whether or not it is needed. 9.5.2.1 Reactive These protocols create routes only when desired by a source node, therefore a route discovery process is required within the network. Once a route has been established, it is
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maintained by a route maintenance procedure until either the destination becomes inaccessible or until the route isnt needed any longer. Some examples of source initiated ad hoc routing protocols include the Dynamic Source Routing Protocol (DSR), Ad Hoc On Demand Distance Vector Routing Protocol (AODV) and Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA). No periodic updates are required for these protocols but routing information is only available when needed. 9.5.3.1 Hybrid These protocols try to incorporate various aspects of proactive and reactive routing protocols. They are generally used to provide hierarchical routing; routing in general can be either flat or hierarchical. In a flat approach, the nodes communicate directly with each other. The problem with this is that it does not scale well, it also does not allow for route aggregation of updates. In a hierarchical approach, the nodes are grouped into clusters, within each cluster there is a cluster head, this acts as a gateway to other clusters, it serves as a sort of default route. The advantage of a hierarchical structure is that within a cluster, an on demand routing protocol could be used which is more efficient in small-scale networks. For inter cluster communication then a table driven protocol could be used which, would allow the network to scale better. An example of such a hybrid routing protocol is the Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP). 9.7 QUESTIONS 1. Explain the components of Mobile IP 2. Explain the working principle of Mobile IP 3. What is the difference between care of address and co-located care of address 4. Explain reverse tunneling 5. Explain various ad-hoc routing techniques
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MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER

CHAPTER 10
MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER
10.1 OVERVIEW TCP is a connection oriented transport protocol which provides a reliable byte stream to the application layer. Application data submitted to TCP is divided into Protocol Data Units (PDUs) (called segments) before transmission. Reliability is achieved since TCP uses an ARQ mechanism based on positive acknowledgments. Each byte is numbered and the number of the first byte in a segment is used as a sequence number in the TCP header. A receiver transmits a cumulative acknowledgment in response to an incoming segment which implies that many segments can be acknowledged at the same time. TCP manages a retransmission timer which is started when a segment is transmitted. If the timer expires before the segment is acknowledged, then TCP retransmits the segment. The Retransmission Time Out (RTO) value is calculated dynamically based on measurements of the Round Trip Time (RTT) (i.e. the time it takes from the transmission of a segment until the acknowledgment is received). In October 1986 the Internet had its first congestion collapse. The end hosts transmitted more data than the routers were able to handle, and did not lower the transmission rate even though many packets were lost. Hence the congested state persisted in the routers. Since then TCP has been extended with mechanisms for congestion control. Today all TCP implementations are required to use algorithms for congestion control, namely, slow start, congestion avoidance, fast retransmit, and fast recovery. 10.1.1. Slow Start and Congestion Avoidance The purpose of slow start and congestion avoidance is to control the transmission rate in order to prevent congestion from occurring. TCP is described as a self-clocking protocol, since the transmission rate is determined by the rate of incoming acknowledgments. The sender only transmits segments when acknowledgments are received.
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TCP estimates the available capacity in the network by gradually increasing the number of outstanding segments. The congestion window (CWND) limits the amount of data the TCP sender can inject into the network. The initial value of the congestion window is between one and four segments. The receiver window (RWND) indicates the maximum number of bytes the receiver can accept. The value of the RWND is advertised to the sender, since the receiver includes RWND in the segments going back to the sender. At any moment, the amount of outstanding data is limited by the minimum of CWND and RWND. In the slow start phase, the congestion window is increased by one segment for each acknowledgment received, which gives an exponential increase of the congestion window. Slow start is used for newly established connections and after retransmission due to timeout. The congestion window is increased until a timeout occurs or a threshold value (SSTHRESH) is reached. If a timeout occurs, then SSTHRESH is reduced to half the amount of outstanding data, the congestion window is reduced to one full-sized segment, and the slow start phase is entered again. If SSTHRESH is reached, then the slow start phase ends and congestion avoidance is entered instead. During the congestion avoidance phase, the congestion window is increased by one segment per round trip time, which gives a linear increase of the congestion window. Figure 10.1 illustrates how the congestion window is changed in slow start and in congestion avoidance. As compared to the congestion collapse discussed above, these algorithms make TCP slow down when packets are lost. With less packets injected into the network, the load on the routers decreases and packets can flow through.
Figure 10.1 Slow Start and Congestion Avoidance when timeout occurs
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10.1.2 Fast Retransmit and Fast Recovery The fast retransmit and fast recovery algorithms allow TCP to detect data loss and perform error recovery before the transmission timer expires in some situations. The algorithms increase TCP performance, partly due to the earlier loss detection and retransmission, partly since the transmission rate is not reduced as much as after timeout. If a segment arrives out of order, the receiver transmits an acknowledgment for the last segment received in sequence. Since, this segment already has been acknowledged once before, when it was first received, this subsequent acknowledgment is called a duplicate acknowledgment (DUPACK). After receiving three DUPACK in a row, the sender concludes that unacknowledged data that was transmitted before the DUPACKed segment must have been lost. Data is retransmitted directly after the receipt of the third DUPACK (the fourth acknowledgment) even if the retransmission timer has not expired. The SSTHRESH is reduced, as after timeout, to half the amount of outstanding data. After the retransmission, fast recovery is performed until all lost data is recovered. The congestion window is set a higher value than after timeout, to three full sized segments more than SSTHRESH. The additional three segments accounts for the three segments which triggered the receiver to transmit the DUPACKs. If more DUPACKs are received, then the congestion window is increased with one segment for each DUPACK, since each DUPACK indicates that one segment has left the network. The fast recovery phase ends when an acknowledgment which covers new data is received. The congestion window is then set to the same value as SSTHRESH. The effect of this adjustment of the congestion window after fast retransmit and fast recovery, is that TCP may enter congestion avoidance instead of slow start, as is done after timeout. 10.1.3 TCP Options The performance of TCP may be enhanced by the use of optional features. Some of the commonly used options, which are relevant for TCP in wireless networks, are selective acknowledgments (SACK), timestamps and window scaling. 10.1.3.1 Selective Acknowledgments The Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) option improves TCP performance, if multiple segments are lost in the same window. With SACK enabled, a receiver can acknowledge up to three non-continuous blocks of received bytes in the same acknowledgment. The sender then knows which segments are missing and can retransmit only those. 10.1.3.2 Timestamps The timestamps option provides an additional means to identify segments and their acknowledgments. A 12 byte timestamp is added to outgoing segments and the receiver adds the same timestamp to the acknowledgments going back to the sender. If the
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timestamps option is enabled, then the sender can sample the round trip time with a higher frequency, which gives more accurate round trip time estimation. This is especially useful when large windows are used, since the round trip time can be estimated more often than only once per window. 10.1.3.3 Window Scaling The window scale option can be used in order to utilize the network capacity between the sender and the receiver more efficiently. The bandwidth-delay product may be larger than the maximum value of the header field for the advertised receiver window (16 bits). This means that the transmission is limited by the advertised receiver window, although the network can transport more data. With the window scale option, a larger window can be used, since; it is possible to advertise a receiver window of 32 bits. 10.1.4 Other Mechanisms 10.1.4.1 Limited Transmit Limited transmit is a modification to the loss recovery algorithm in TCP. Without limited transmit, TCP segments are only retransmitted at timeout or when three DUPACKs are received, as discussed earlier. The limited transmit mechanism allows TCP to transmit a new segment already when the first DUPACK arrives. The arrival of a DUPACK indicates that one segment has reached the receiver and left the network. By transmitting a new segment, TCP checks if the network is congested or not. If the new segment reaches the receiver, the probability of fast retransmit is increased, since the receiver transmits a DUPACK in response to the new segment. Limited transmit improves TCP performance when the transmission window is too small for fast retransmit and fast recovery to be triggered. For example, if the window is only two packets, the sender may only transmit two packets and therefore three DUPACKs can not be generated. Limited transmit allows for injection of more packets which may lead to more DUPACKs, which then trigger fast retransmit. 10.1.4.2 Increased Initial Window It is proposed to allow an initial value of the congestion window of up to four segments, instead of up to two segments. A larger initial value of the congestion window increases TCP performance, especially for connections over which a small amount of data is transmitted. Fewer round trip times are required before the congestion window opens up and the total transmission time for a certain amount of data is shorter than it would be with a smaller initial window.
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10.2 PROBLEMS WITH TCP IN WIRELESS NETWORKS The performance of TCP is generally lower in wireless networks than in fixed. This is explained by the fact that TCP cannot distinguish problems that typically occur in wireless networks from congestion. The congestion control algorithms in TCP are based on the assumptions that data is lost mainly due to congestion and that data loss due to transmission errors is rare. Therefore, data loss is interpreted as a signal of congestion in the network. Even in a wireless network, where data loss may not be related to congestion, data loss still signals congestion to the sender. TCP segments may be lost if the radio conditions are poor and the link layer protocol provides a low reliability. After some retransmission attempts the link layer protocol gives up and leaves further error recovery to TCP. Handover events may also lead to data loss. A whole window of data may be lost due to handover. Data loss due to an unreliable link layer or a handover may cause a timeout event followed by slow start or three DUPACKs followed by fast retransmit and fast recovery. In either case, the congestion control action taken by TCP is unnecessary. Directly after the loss event, the radio quality may become high again, and after handover data may be transmitted without problems to the new base station. TCP may also misinterpret a sudden increase in the round trip time as data loss. If the delay is long enough for the retransmission timer to expire before an acknowledgment is received, then TCP misinterprets the delay as an indication of data loss due to congestion. The delayed data is unnecessarily retransmitted and TCP enters slow start. A highly variable round trip time can also lead to a large RTO, since the RTO is based on estimates of the round trip time and on variations in the round trip time. If the RTO is large, then TCP reacts slowly to data loss. Variations in the round trip time can be caused by link level retransmissions of a wireless link. If the link layer frames that contain a TCP segment must be retransmitted because of a poor radio environment, then the whole segment is delayed. Round trip time variations may also be caused by handover or competing traffic. Queuing in routers, base stations, and other intermediate nodes may also lead to a long round trip time. A long round trip time may cause low throughput and underutilization of the network, since it takes a number of round trip times before the congestion window reaches the capacity of the network. TCP performance is degraded, especially for short lived flows, which transmits a small amount of data. 10.3 OPTIMIZATIONS This section gives an overview of some optimizations that have been proposed to improve TCP performance over wireless networks. The proposed optimizations are categorized into four groups: link layer, split connection, explicit notification, and end-toend.
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10.3.1 Link Layer The idea behind the proposal is to improve TCP performance at the link layer. By using link level retransmissions locally over the wireless link, instead of end-to-end retransmissions, the probability of packet loss due to problems over the wireless part of the connection is decreased. The purpose of the proposals is to increase TCP performance over wireless links that provide low or no reliability. 10.3.2 Snoop The Snoop scheme (as shown in Figure 10.2) uses link layer retransmissions to improve the reliability of the wireless link and at the same time it actively tries to avoid unnecessary TCP retransmissions. Snoop is implemented as an agent in the base station. Snoop caches link layer frames and examines the contents of TCP headers, but it does not require TCP to run in the base station. A retransmission over the wireless link is triggered at the base station after a link layer timeout period or if a duplicate acknowledgment arrives from the mobile station, which is assumed to be the receiver. When the first duplicate acknowledgment arrives the base station retransmits the lost, or possibly out-of-sequence, frame. Further duplicate acknowledgments from the mobile station are dropped at the base station. This prevents the sender in the fixed network from performing fast retransmit and fast recovery while link layer retransmissions are performed over the wireless link.
Figure 10.2 Snooping TCP 10.3.1.2 WTCP Wireless-TCP (WTCP) is similar to snoop in that the base station performs retransmissions over the wireless link based on timeouts and duplicate acknowledgments. In addition, WTCP further improves TCP performance by using the timestamps option and by limiting the amount of outstanding data over the wireless link. WTCP operates in the base station and the only modification required at the end hosts is that the timestamps option is enabled. The base station increments the timestamp in the TCP header for each retransmission that is required over the wireless link. This gives a more accurate RTT estimate. For acknowledgments from the mobile station, on the other hand, the base station leaves the timestamp unchanged. Furthermore, WTCP changes the limit on outstanding data that it allows over the wireless link. If a timeout occurs, then the wireless link is
MOBILE COMPUTING
assumed to be in a bad state. After timeout, only one segment is allowed to be outstanding over the wireless link. When acknowledgments come back to the base station again, the wireless link is assumed to be in a good state and the limit on outstanding data is set to the same value as the receiver window. 10.3.3 Split Connection The idea of split connection approaches is to divide each TCP connection into two separate connections at an intermediate node. By splitting connections congestion related losses in the wired network are discriminated from wireless losses. Many split connection proposals use TCP, or modified versions of TCP, also over the wireless link. Any transport protocol that is suitable for wireless communication may be used over the wireless link. Another protocol stack may also be used over the wireless link. 10.3.3.1 Indirect TCP Indirect TCP (I-TCP) is intended primarily for WLANs with support for mobility at the IP level. An I-TCP connection between a mobile station and a fixed host is split at the base station into one connection over the wireless network and one over the fixed (as shown in Figure 10.3). When the mobile station moves and a handover occur, TCP state is transferred to the new base station and the retransmission timer is reset. A consequence of this is that the fixed host will be less affected by delay caused by handover and link level retransmissions. Even though TCP is used also over the wireless link, the performance is improved as compared to having one connection all the way. This is explained by the fact that the round trip time becomes shorter. Therefore, the TCP sender in the base station can recover faster from data loss, especially if the connection over the fixed part experiences a non-negligible delay, but the wireless link still is the bottleneck.
NOTES
Figure 10.3 Indirect TCP 10.3.3.2 MTCP and Selective Repeat Protocol Mobile-TCP (MTCP) and Selective Repeat Protocol support mobility on top of a version of mobile IP. After a handover the TCP states of the connections are transmitted to the new base station. The first alternative, MTCP, uses standard TCP also over the wireless network. For the second alternative a Selective Repeat Protocol (SRP) suitable for wireless
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communication is used instead of TCP between the base station and the mobile station. SRP is a UDP based protocol that performs flow and error control optimized for wireless links. Since SRP uses selective acknowledgments, it is possible to recover more than one segment each round trip time. 10.4 COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES
10.5 QUESTIONS 1. What is RTT and RTO? 2. Briefly discuss and compare various wireless TCP concepts
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WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL

CHAPTER 11 WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL
11.1 INTRODUCTION Owing to the advance technology and popularity of using cellular phone, together with the rapid increasing demand of portable Internet services such as online shopping and the retrieval of real time stock quote, news and weather information. There is a need of a truly portable Internet access solution to integrate both the cellular phone technology and the Internet technology. Most of the existing Web technologies are designed for workstations and desktop computers in the sense that they all presume board bandwidth and reliable data networks. Existing hand-held wireless devices possess a constrained computing environment such as: Less powerful CPU Smaller screen display Less memory (both ROM and RAM) Limited input devices (e.g. phone keypad) Limited battery life
Moreover, to convey data over wireless data network, additional constraints are imposed, namely: Higher latency Narrower bandwidth Lower stability Lesser predictable availability
In order to provide portable Internet access service on wireless data network, solutions should possess the following features: Scalable in terms of customer needs
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Reliable in terms of the provision of services Universal in terms of the interoperation between devices from different manufacturers and network service providers Secure in terms of the transfer of sensitive and secure information (e.g. payment information) over the insecure mobile network Efficient in terms of QoS being provided by the device
The major motivation for the development of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is to provide a feasible, efficient and cost effective solution to the above requirements. 11.1.1 History Early 1990s, cell phone manufactures predicted that wireless voice and data and the Internet would eventually converge. Unwired Planet (now called Phone.com) together with these manufactures started working on technologies for convergence. Phone. coms Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) served as the basis for Wireless Markup Language (WML). The company is currently a publicly held provider of WAP-compatible micro browser and WAP gateway technologies. Phone. coms products are in use by leading global wireless vendors. In June 1977, the three largest cell phone manufactures (Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia) and Unwired Planet announced the WAP Forum which is a nonprofit organization for creating standards for delivering Internet access to consumer-class wireless devices. The goals of WAP Forum are: 1. To implement the Internet technology and advanced data services to wireless phones and other wireless terminals 2. To provide a standard and technology whenever possible and appropriate 3. To enable the creation of content and applications that can scale across all wireless network technologies In order to accomplish these goals, the WAP Forum has developed the WAP specification. Based on the inherited constraint of mobile Internet access discussed above, WAP Forum adopts a list of assumptions for all the WAP devices: 1. WAP devices should have a limited CPU, RAM, ROM, and processing capacity 2. WAP devices should consume as limited battery life as possible 3. WAP bearer networks are likely to be low-powered networks with modest bandwidth 4. WAP devices should be able to cope with service interruptions, broken connections, and loss of service due to unreliable, unstable and unpredictable wireless networks 5. WAP devices should design for small screen and limited data entry capabilities
MOBILE COMPUTING
11.1.2 Benefits 11.1.2.1 Operators For wireless network operators, WAP promises to increase the subscriber base by improving existing services. WAP provides interfaces to voice-mail, prepaid systems and facilitating an unlimited range of new value-added services and applications, such as account management and billing inquiries. New applications can be introduced quickly and easily without the need for additional infrastructure or modifications to the phone. This will allow operators to differentiate themselves from their competitors with the customized information services. WAP is an interoperable framework, enabling the provision of end-to-end turn key solutions that will create a lasting competitive advantage, build consumer loyalty, and increase revenues. 11.1.2.2 Content Providers Applications are written in Wireless Markup Language (WML), which is a subset of eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Using the same model as the Internet, WAP enables content and application developers to grasp the tag-based WML, which will pave the way for services to be written and deployed within an operators network quickly and easily. As WAP is a global and interoperable open standard, content providers have immediate access to a wealth of potential customers who will seek such applications to enhance the services given to their own existing and potential subscriber base. Mobile consumers have becoming hungrier to receive increased functionality from their mobile devices. This presents developers with significant revenue opportunities. 11.1.2.3 End Users End users of WAP will benefit from easy, secure access to relevant Internet information and services, such as unified messaging, banking and entertainment through their mobile devices. Intranet information such as corporate databases can also be accessed through WAP technology. Wide range of handset manufacturers already supports the WAP initiative; users will have significant freedom of choice when selecting mobile terminals and the applications they support. Users will be able to receive and request information in a controlled, fast and low-cost environment. WAPs push capability will enable weather and travel information providers to use WAP. This push mechanism affords a distinct advantage over the WWW and represents tremendous potential for both information providers and mobile operators.
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11.2 ARCHITECTURE OVERVIEW 11.2.1 WWW Model The Internet (WWW) architecture provides a very flexible and powerful programming model as shown in Figure 11.1. Applications and content are presented in standard data formats and are browsed by applications known as web browsers. The web browser is a networked application, which sends requests for named data objects to a network server and the network server responds with the data encoded using the standard formats.
Figure 11.1 World Wide Web Programming Model The WWW standards specify many necessary mechanisms to build a general purpose application environment, including: 1. Standard naming model: All servers and content on the WWW are named with an Internet-standard Uniform Resource Locator (URL) [RFC2396] 2. Content typing: All content on the WWW is given a specific type thereby allowing web browser to correctly process the content based on its type [RFC2045, RFC2048] 3. Standard content formats: All web browsers support a set of standard content formats. These include Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), scripting language [ECMAScript, JavaScript] and a large number of other formats 4. Standard Protocols: Standard networking protocols allow any web browser to communicate with any web server. The most commonly used protocol on the WWW is the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) [RFC2616] This infrastructure allows users to easily reach a large number of third-party applications and content services. It also allows application developers to easily create applications and content services for a large community of clients. The WWW protocols define three classes of servers: 1. Origin server: The server on which a given resource (content) resides or is to be created
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2. Proxy: An intermediary program that acts as both a server and a client for the purpose of making requests on behalf of other clients. The proxy typically resides between clients and servers that have no means of direct communication, eg across a firewall. Requests are either serviced by the proxy program or passed on, with possible translation, to other servers. A proxy must implement both the client and server requirements of the WWW specifications 3. Gateway: A server which acts as an intermediary for some other server. Unlike a proxy, a gateway receives requests as if it were the origin server for the requested resource. The requesting client may not be aware that it is communicating with a gateway 11.2.2 WAP Model The WAP programming model as shown in Figure 11.2 is the WWW programming model with few enhancements. Adopting the WWW programming model provides several benefits to the application developer community, including familiar programming model, proven architecture, and the ability to leverage existing tools (e.g., Web servers, XML tools, etc.). Optimizations and extensions have been made in order to match the characteristics of the wireless environment. Wherever possible, existing standards have been adopted or have been used as the starting point for the WAP technology.
NOTES
Figure 11.2 WAP Programming Model WAP content and applications are specified in a set of well-known content formats based on the familiar WWW content formats. Content is transported using a set of standard communication protocols based on the WWW communication protocols. A micro browser in the wireless terminal co-ordinates the user interfaces and is analogous to a standard web browser. WAP defines a set of standard components that enable communication between mobile terminals and network servers, including: Standard naming model: WWW-standard URLs are used to identify WAP content on origin servers. WWW-standard URIs are used to identify local resources in a device, eg call control functions
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Content typing: All WAP content is given a specific type consistent with WWW typing. This allows WAP user agents to correctly process the content based on its type Standard content formats: WAP content formats are based on WWW technology and include display markup, calendar information, electronic business card objects, images and scripting language Standard communication protocols: WAP communication protocols enable the communication of browser requests from the mobile terminal to the network web server
The WAP content types and protocols have been optimized for mass market, and hand-held wireless devices. WAP utilizes proxy technology to connect between the wireless domain and the WWW. The WAP proxy typically is comprised of the following functionality: Protocol Gateway : The protocol gateway translates requests from the WAP protocol stack (WSP, WTP, WTLS, and WDP) to the WWW protocol stack (HTTP and TCP/IP) Content Encoders and Decoders: The content encoders translate WAP content into compact encoded formats to reduce the size of data over the network
This infrastructure ensures that mobile terminal users can browse a wide variety of WAP content and applications, and that the application author is able to build content services and applications that run on a large base of mobile terminals. The WAP proxy allows content and applications to be hosted on standard WWW servers and to be developed using proven WWW technologies such as CGI scripting. While the nominal use of WAP will include a web server, WAP proxy and WAP client, the WAP architecture can quite easily support other configurations. It is possible to create an origin server that includes the WAP proxy functionality. 11.2.3 Example WAP network An example WAP network is shown in Figure 11.3. In the example, the WAP client communicates with two servers in the wireless network. The WAP proxy translates WAP requests to WWW requests thereby allowing the WAP client to submit requests to the web server. The proxy also encodes the responses from the web server into the compact binary format understood by the client. If the web server provides WAP content (e.g., WML), the WAP proxy retrieves it directly from the web server. However, web server provides WWW content (such as HTML); a filter is used to translate the WWW content into WAP content. For example, the HTML filter would translate HTML into WML. The Wireless Telephony Application (WTA) server is an example origin or gateway server that responds to requests from the WAP client directly. The WTA server is used to provide WAP access to features of the wireless network providers telecommunications infrastructure.
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Figure 11.3 Example WAP Network 11.2.4 WAP Network Elements A typical WAP network is shown in Figure 11.4. WAP clients communicate with application servers through a number of different proxies or directly. WAP clients support the proxy selection mechanism that allows them to utilize the most appropriate proxy for a given service or to connect directly to that service as necessary. Proxies can be used to augment a request. They translate between WAP and WWW protocols (HTTP, TCP), thereby allowing the WAP client to submit requests to the origin server. Proxies may be located in a number of places, including wireless carriers or independent service providers in order to provide feature enhancements coupled to the wireless network (e.g., telephony, location and provisioning) or to optimize the communication between device and application server (e.g., protocol translation and cookie caching). Proxies may be located in a secure network to provide a secure channel between wireless device and the secure network. In some instances, the device might make direct connections to application servers, for example to provide a secure connection directly between the device and application server. The supporting servers provide support functions required by or generally useful to devices, proxies, and application servers.
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Figure 11.4 WAP Network Elements 11.2.5 Device Architecture The architecture for WAP devices is shown in Figure 11.5. The Application Framework provides the device execution environment for WAP applications. WAP applications are comprised of markup, script, style sheets and multimedia content, all of which are rendered on the device. The WAP Application Environment (WAE) processing model defines the structure in which these various forms of executable and non-executable content interact. The network protocols on the WAP client are shared between client and server. Content renderers interpret specific forms of content and present them to the end user for perusal or interaction. Common functions are defined to be utilized by the application framework, including persistence and data synchronization. The Wireless Identity Module (WIM) contains the identity of the device and the cryptographic means to mutually authenticate WAP devices and servers. The architecture also provides a mechanism to access external functions that are embedded or attached to the devices via the External Functionality Interface (EFI).
Figure 11.5 WAP Device Architecture 11.2.6 Security Model WAP enables a flexible security infrastructure that focuses on providing connection security between a WAP client and server. WAP can provide end-to-end security between protocol endpoints. If a browser and origin server desire end-to-end security, they can
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communicate directly using the security protocols. Moreover, the WAP specifications include support for application-level security, such as signed text. 11.3 COMPONENTS OF THE WAP ARCHITECTURE The WAP architecture provides a scalable and extensible environment for application development for mobile communication devices. This is achieved through a layered design of the entire protocol stack as shown in Figure 11.6. Each of the layers of the architecture is accessible by the layers above, as well as by other services and applications.
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Figure 11.6 Components of WAP Architecture The WAP layered architecture enables other services and applications to utilize the features of the WAP stack through a set of well-defined interfaces. External applications may access the session, transaction, security and transport layers directly. The following sections provide a description of the various elements of the protocol stack architecture. 11.3.1 Bearer Layer Protocols have either been designed or selected to operate over a variety of different bearer services, including short message, circuit-switched data, and packet data. The bearers offer differing levels of quality of service with respect to throughput, error rate, and delays. The protocols are designed to compensate for or tolerate these varying levels of service. Since the transport layer provides the interface between the bearer service and the rest of the WAP stack, the transport specifications (e.g., [WDP]) may list the bearers that are supported and the techniques used to allow the protocols to run over each bearer. The list of supported bearers will change over time with new bearers being added as the wireless market evolves.
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11.3.2 Transport Layer Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP) The transport layer offers a set of consistent services to the upper layer protocols and maps those services to the available bearer services. The Transport layer transport unstructured data across the underlying bearer networks. Transport layer create a common abstraction that is consistent across all the bearers, but are not limited to: Datagrams: The datagram service provides data transport in which self-contained, independent entities of data carry sufficient information to be routed from the source to the destination computer without reliance on earlier exchanges between this source and destination computer and the transporting network. UDP and Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP) are the two protocols used to provide the datagram transport service in the WAP architecture Connections: The connection service provides data transport service in which communication proceeds in three well-defined phases: connection establishment, two-way reliable data transfer and connection release. TCP protocol is used to provide the connection transport service of IP bearers for the WAP architecture
11.3.3 Transfer Services The Transfer Services provides the structured transfer of information between network elements. The Transfer Services include, but not limited to: Hypermedia Transfer: The hypermedia transfer service provides for the transfer of self-describing hypermedia resources. The combination of WSP and WTP to provide the hypermedia transfer service over secure and non-secure datagram transports. HTTP provides the hypermedia transfer service over secure and nonsecure connection-oriented transports Streaming: The streaming services provide a means for transferring isochronous data such as audio and video Message Transfer: The message transfer services provide the means to transfer asynchronous multimedia messages such as email or instant messages. MMS Encapsulation is a protocol used to transfer messages between WAP devices and MMS servers
11.3.4 Security Layer Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) WTLS is a security protocol based upon the industry-standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, formerly known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). WTLS is intended for use with the WAP transport protocols and has been optimized for use over narrow-band communication channels. WTLS provides the following features: Data integrity: WTLS contains facilities to ensure that data sent between the terminal and an application server is unchanged and uncorrupted
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Privacy: WTLS contains facilities to ensure that data transmitted between the terminal and an application server is private and cannot be understood by any intermediate parties that may have intercepted the data stream Authentication: WTLS contains facilities to establish the authenticity of the terminal and application server Denial-of-service protection: WTLS contains facilities for detecting and rejecting data that is replayed or not successfully verified. WTLS makes many typical denial-of-service attacks harder to accomplish and protects the upper protocol layers.
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WTLS may also be used for secure communication between terminals, for example authentication of electronic business card exchange. Applications are able to selectively enable or disable WTLS features depending on their security requirements and the characteristics of the underlying network. 11.3.5 Transaction Layer Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP) The Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP) runs on top of a datagram service and provides a light-weight transaction-oriented protocol that is suitable for implementation in thin clients (mobile stations). WTP operates efficiently over secure or non-secure wireless datagram networks and provides the following features: Three classes of transaction service: o Unreliable one-way requests o Reliable one-way requests o Reliable two-way request-reply transactions Optional user-to-user reliability - WTP user triggers the confirmation of each received message Optional out-of-band data on acknowledgements PDU concatenation and delayed acknowledgement to reduce the number of messages sent Asynchronous transactions
11.3.6 Session Layer Wireless Session Protocol (WSP) The session services provide for the establishment of shared state between network elements that span multiple network requests or data transfers. For example, Push session establishes that the WAP Device is ready and able to receive pushes from the Push Proxy. The Session Services include, but not limited to: Capability Negotiation: The WAP architecture includes specifications for describing, transmitting, and managing capabilities and preference information about the client, user, and network elements. This allows for customization of information and content returned by the origin server or pushed by the application
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Push-OTA: The Push-OTA (Over The Air) session service provides for network initiated transactions to be delivered to wireless devices that are intermittently able to receive data. The Push-OTA service operates over the connection-oriented transport service and datagram transport Sync: The Sync service provides for the synchronization of replicated data Cookies: The Cookies service allows applications to establish state on the client or proxy that survives multiple hypermedia transfer transactions
11.3.7 Application Layer Wireless Application Environment (WAE) The Application Framework provides a general-purpose application environment based on a combination of WWW, Internet and Mobile Telephony technologies. The primary objective of the Application Framework is to establish an interoperable environment that will allow operators and service providers to build applications and services that can reach a wide variety of different wireless platforms in an efficient and useful manner. The Application Frame work includes, but not limited to: WAE/WTA User-Agent: WAE is a micro-browser environment containing or allowing for markup (including WML and XHTML), scripting, style-sheet languages, and telephony services and programming interfaces. Optimized for use in hand-held mobile terminals Push: The Push service provides a general mechanism for the network to initiate the transmission of data to applications resident on WAP devices Multimedia Messaging: MMS provides the transfer and processing of multimedia messages such as email and instant messages to WAP devices Content Formats: The application framework includes support for a set of well defined data formats, such as color images, audio, video, animation, phone book records, and calendar information
11.3.8 Security Services Security forms a fundamental part of the WAP Architecture, and its services can be found in many of its layers. In general the following security facilities offered are: Privacy: Facilities to ensure that communication is private and cannot be understood by any intermediate parties that may have intercepted it Authentication: Facilities to establish the authenticity of parties to the communication Integrity: Facilities to ensure that communication is unchanged and uncorrupted Non-Repudiation: Facilities to ensure parties to a communication cannot deny the communication took place.
The Security Services span all the various layers of the WAP Architecture. Some specific examples of the security services include:
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Cryptographic Libraries: This application framework level library provides services for signing of data for integrity and non-repudiation purposes Authentication: The Security Services provide various mechanisms for client and server authentication. At the Session Services layer HTTP Client Authentication may be used to authenticate clients to proxies and application servers. At the Transport Services layer, WTLS and TLS handshakes may be used to authenticate clients and servers. Identity: WIM provides the functions that store and process information needed for user identification and authentication PKI : The set of security services that enable the use and management of Public Key Cryptography and Certificates Secure Transport: The Transport Services layer protocols are defined for secure transport over datagrams and connections. WTLS is defined for secure transport over datagrams and TLS is defined for secure transport over connections (i.e. TCP) Secure Bearer: Some bearer networks provide bearer level security. For example, IP networks provide bearer-level security with IPSec
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11.3.9 Service Discovery Service discovery forms a fundamental part of the WAP Architecture and its services can be found at many layers. Some specific examples of Service Discovery services include: EFI: External Functionality Interface (EFI) allows applications to discover what external functions/services are available on the device Provisioning: The Provisioning service allows a device to be provisioned with the parameters necessary to access network services Navigation Discovery: The Navigation Discovery service allows a device to discover new network services (e.g. secure pull proxies) during the course of navigation such as when downloading resources from a hypermedia server. The WAP Transport-Level End-to-End Security specification defines one navigation discovery protocol Service Lookup: The Service Lookup service provides the discovery of a services parameters through a directory lookup by name. One example of this is the Domain Name System (DNS)
11.3.10 Other Service and Applications The WAP layered architecture enables other services and applications to utilize the features of the WAP stack through a set of well-defined interfaces. External applications may access the various services directly. The WAP layered architecture builds upon an extensible set of protocols. This allows the WAP stack to be used for applications and services not currently specified by WAP, but deemed to be valuable for the wireless market. Such applications and services may benefit from adding protocols or particular protocol
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capabilities. For example, applications, such as electronic mail, calendar, phone book, notepad, and electronic commerce, or services, such as white and yellow pages, may be developed to use the WAP protocols. 11.4 SUMMARY The WAP technology provides a feasible and effective solution on mobile Web access. Through the usage of WAP device, such as WAP phone, people can keep in touch with the Internet world in a totally unrestricted and convenience fashion. WAP technology also brings a new horizon and challenge to e-commerce, especially to B2C and C2C ecommerce applications in the sense that users can access the Internet anytime and anywhere they wants to possess the e-business. 11.5 QUESTIONS 1. What is push technology? 2. Explain WML, WML scripts? 3. Discuss the advantages of WAP 4. What is the difference between proxy and gateway? 5. Explain about the WAP network model 6. Briefly discuss about the WAP protocol stack.
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DMC 1630 MOBILE COMPUTING

Centre for Distance Education

Author Dr . P . Nar a y anasamy Dr. P. Nara

Reviewer G. K ousaly a Kousaly ousalya

Editorial Board Dr .T .V .Geetha Dr.T .T.V .V.Geetha

Dr .H.P eer u Mohamed Dr.H.P .H.Peer eeru

Dr .C . Chella ppan Dr.C .C. Chellappan

Dr .A.K annan Dr.A.K .A.Kannan

Copyrights Reserved (For Private Circulation only)

Dr. P .Narayanasamy Author

DMC 1630 MOBILE COMPUTING

UNIT II WIRELESS NETWORKS

6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9

UNIT III MOBILE NETWORK LAYER

9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7

UNIT IV MOBILE TRANSPORT LAYER

UNIT V WIRELESS APPLICATION PROTOCOL

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Figure 1.4 Channel Usage by CDMA

Figure 1.5 Walsh Code 1.2.5 Comparison of Access Mechanism

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Type Portable (hand-held) Mobile (car or bag phones) Fixed

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Figure 2.7 Blocking

Figure 2.9 Illustration of Cell Handoff Scenario at Cell Boundary

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Table 3.1 The Development of Mobile Telephone System

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Figure 3.2 GSM Network Elements

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Figure 3.4 Location Areas

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Figure 5.2 Conceptual DAB Receiver

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Figure 5.3 Terminal processing chain for DMB

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Figure 6.1 A Typical 802.11 WLAN

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Figure 6.5 Access Mechanism

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