Faculty of Information Technology

Philadelphia University Department of

Lecturer: Prof. Mohamed Bettaz Computer Information Systems
Coordinator: Prof. Mohamed Bettaz
Internal Examiner: Dr. Mourad Maouche Examination Paper

Wireless and Mobile Networks (761441), Section 1, Final Exam

First Semester 2014/2105 Date: February 2, 2015 Time: 2 hours

Marking Scheme
Information for Candidates
1. This examination paper contains six questions totalising 40 marks
2. The marks for parts of questions are shown in round brackets: e.g. (1).
Advice to Candidates
1. You should attempt ALL the questions.
2. Answer each question on a separate page of the exam sheet, question 1 on the left most page, and
question 6 on the right-most page.

Part 1
Objectives: The questions in part 1 aim to check students understanding of basic concepts
of the major course topics.
Question 1 (Answer this question on page 1 of the exam sheet) (5 marks)
a) OFDM is a scheme in which many parallel data streams are transmitted at different time over
a channel, with each transmitting only a small part of the total data rate (1)
(1) True
(2) False
b) What is the main difference between the First and the Second generation of development of
cellular communication networks? (1)
Answer: the first generation is analog while the second is digital.
c) What kinds of wireless communication problems might cause the phenomenon known as
multipath propagation? (1)
Answer: final signal of the summation of signal resulting mainly from reflection and
scattering.
d) What is the difference between an AP (access point) and a router. Make a draw to illustrate
your answer. (1)
e) 802.11b offers maximum speed of (1)
(1) 11 Mbps
(2) 22 Mbps
(3) 33 Mbps
(4) 44 Mbps
Question 2 (Answer this question on page 2 of the exam sheet) (5 marks)
f) What are the basic components of WiMAX? (0.5)
Answer: WiMAX base station, WiMAX receiver or Customer Premise Equipment
(CPE), and Backhaul.
g) What is the difference between simple mobility and full mobility such as envisaged
by WiMAX support for mobility? (0.5)
Answer: simple mobility: subscriber moving at the speed up to 60 km/h; full
mobility: subscriber moving at the speed up to 120 km/h and seamless handoff.
h) Describe very briefly each of the three sublayers of the 802.16 MAC layer. Make a
draw to illustrate your answer (1)
Answer: Convergence sublayer (IP packets, ATM cells, etc.), Common part sublayer
(core part: medium access method, duplexing, channelization, bandwidth allocation,
connection control, etc.), Security sublayer (authentication, encryption, transferring
data to PHY layer, etc.)

page 1 of 3
 i) 802.16 defines multiple PHY layer options. Describe very briefly each one of these
options (1)
Answer: Single carrier, OFDM, OFDMA, SOFDMA, etc.
j) Space-Time Bloc Codes (STBC) combine (0.5)
(1) Spatial and temporal signal copies
(2) Adaptive modulation and coding
(3) Outer Reed-Solomon correction code and inner convolutional correction code.
(4) All the above
k) A TDMA time slot may contain (0.5)
(1) exactly one MAC frame
(2) a fraction of MAC frame
(3) More than one MAC frame
(4) All the above

l) IEEE 802.16 MAC layer defines four service classes (Unsolicited Grant Service,
Real-time Polling Service, Non-real time Polling Service, Best Effort). (0.5)
(1) True
(2) False
m) What is the difference between the uplink (UL) subframe and the downlink (DL)
subframe of a WiMAX frame. (0.5)
Answer: the UL subframe is for the subscriber stations; the DL subframe is for the
base station.
Question 3 (Answer this question on page 3 of the exam sheet) (5 marks)
n) GPRS has the following protocol (1)
(1) Packet switched
(2) Circuit switched
(3) Both packet switched and circuit switched
(4) None of the above
o) A base station system consists of one or more base stations and a base station
controller (1)
p) Handoff occurs when a user moves from one cell to another cell when call is in
progress (0.5)
(1) True
(2) False
q) GSM is a non-cellular network (0.5)
(1) True
(2) False
r) A satellite network communicates using Earth stations and satellites (0.5)
(1) True
(2) False
s) The three main categories of orbits are LEO, MEO and GEO (0.5)
(1) True
(2) False
t) What is the role of the Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSN). Make a draw to
illustrate your answer. (1)
Answer: it acts as an interface between the GPRS and the external Public Land
Mobile Network (PLMN) or Internet. It is basically a router.

page 2 of 3
Part 2
Objectives: The questions in part 2 aim to check the students ability to solve familiar
problems related to wireless and mobile networks.
Question 4 (Answer this question on page 4 of the exam sheet) (10 marks)
A mobile receiver communicates with the transmitter which is having the operating
frequency 550 MHz at a distance of 3 km. Calculate the path loss in the system.

Answer: transmitter operating frequency = 550 MHz; d = 3 km

Path loss Lp = (4πd/l)2 (5 marks)
l = c/f = (3 x 108) / (550 x 106) = 0.5 (4 marks)
Lp = (4π x 3000 / 0.5)2 = 5 x 109 (1 mark)

Question 5 (Answer this question on page 5 of the exam sheet) (10 marks)
A cellular network consists of 32 cells with each hexagonal cell area of 1.8 km2. The total
number of radio channels allotted is 184.
a) What is the total area covered by the cellular network? (1)
b) Find the total channel capacity if
N = 4 (3)
N = 5 (3)
N = 7 (3)
Where N denotes cell reuse.
Answer:
a) 1.8 x 32 = 57.6 km2
b) N = 4 , 184 / 4 = 46; 46 x 32 = 1472
N = 5 , 184 / 5 = 37; 37 x 32 = 1178
N = 7 , 184 / 7 = 26; 26 x 32 = 842
Part 3
Objectives: The question in part 3 aims to check the students ability to solve an unfamiliar
problem related to to wireless and mobile networks.
Question 6 (Answer this question on page 6 of the exam sheet) (5 marks)
When a mobile phone user is moving from one cell to another cell (call is going on), the call
is suddenly terminated, even though all the functionalities of the transmitters and receivers
are working properly. Explain why?

Answer: there are no frequencies which are available; it might also be because of a
malfunction of the BSC. A less likely answer is the presence of some obstacles.
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