Reg. No.

: ___________________

UNIVERSITY
Karunya Institute of Technology & Sciences
(Declared under section-3 of the UGC Act, 1956)

SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

IV B.Tech. (ECE)
Internal Assessment Test I
Subject Title : MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
Subject Code : 12EC244
Date
: 21/08/2012

Time : 2 hours
Maximum Marks: 50

Answer ALL questions

PART A (5 x 1 = 5 MARKS)
1. Is it possible to transmit a digital signal, like coded as square wave as used inside a computer, using
radio transmission without any loss?
2. Define BCA.
3. Mention the propagation mechanisms, which impact propagation in mobile communication.
4. The heart of the GSM system is formed by the _____________.
5. Compared to the TCHs offered, standard GSM could provide a much higher data rate (33.8 kbit/s)
when looking at the air interface. What lowers the data rates available to a user?

PART B (5 x 3 = 15 MARKS)
1. Why does the ITU-R only regulate lower frequencies (up to some hundred GHz) and not higher
frequencies (in the THz range)?
2. Assume all stations can hear all other stations. One station wants to transmit and senses the carrier
idle. Why can a collision still occur after the start of transmission?
3. What are the main benefits of a spread spectrum system? How can spreading be achieved?
4. List the four possible handover scenarios in GSM.
5. What is the main physical reason for the failure of many MAC schemes known from wired networks?

PART C (3 x 10 = 30 MARKS)
1. a. Give the comparison between fixed channel allocation and dynamic channel allocation.
b. Discuss the conversion of narrow band to broad band in Spread Spectrum?
(5+5)
2. How does the near/far effect influence TDMA systems? What happens in CDMA systems? What
are countermeasures in TDMA systems, what about CDMA systems?
(10)
3. a. Explain the channels and its functionality in GSM
(5)
b. With neat diagram articulate the protocol architecture of DECT
(5)

Answer Key
A1 No. A perfect digital signal with rectangular shape requires an infinite number of sine waves
to be precisely represented (Loss-free transmission of analogue signals is not possible.
Attenuation, dispersion etc. will always distort the signal. The digital signal can be represented
as infinite sum of sine waves). However, no medium can transmit infinite high frequencies.
Thus, the digital signal can never be transmitted without any loss.
A2 Borrowing Channel Allocation is a method by which more frequencies are allotted
dynamically for high traffic cells.
A3 The propagation mechanisms are,
Reflection, Diffraction, Scattering
A4 NSS Network and switching sub-system
A5Main reason is the forward error correction to mitigate transmission errors. Furthermore,
bandwidth is needed for signaling, guard spaces.
B1.Frequencies in the THz range, e.g., infrared, visible light, are easily blocked by obstacles and,
thus, do not interfere with other transmissions. In this case, only the standard safety regulations
apply (e.g., laser emission). Most radio systems stay well beyond 100 GHz as it is not that simple
to generate higher frequencies (in the lower THz range).
B2 Even in vacuum radio waves have limited velocity: the speed of light. As soon as matter is in the way
waves travel even slower. Thus, it can happen that a sender senses the medium idle starts the transmission
and just in a moment before the waves reach another sender this second sender senses the medium idle
and starts another transmission. This is the reason for CD (listen while talk) in classical CSMA/CD
Ethernets.

B3 Main benefits: very robust against interference, inherent security (if the spreading code is unknown it
is very difficult to tap the transmission), basis for CDMA technologies, can be used in the background
of existing systems if the signal level is low enough. Spreading can be achieved by XORing a bit with a
chipping sequence or frequency hopping

B4 Hand over in GSM

Intra BTS, Inter BTS, Inter BSE, Inter MSE
B5 Todays wired networks are star shaped in the local area and many direct connections
forming a mesh in wide area networks. In wireless networks, it is quite often the case that
stations are able to communicate with a central station but not with each other. The problem is
that collisions of data packets cause problems at the receiver but carrier sensing takes place at
the sender. In wired networks this doesnt really matter as signal strength is almost the same (ok,
within certain limits) all along the wire. In wireless networks CS and CD at the sender doesnt
make sense, senders will quite often not hear other stations signals or the collisions at the
receiver.

C1a Channel allocation deals with the allocation of channels to cells in a cellular network. Once
the channels are allocated, cells may then allow users within the cell to communicate via the
available channels. Channels in a wireless communication system typically consist of time slots,
frequency bands and/or CDMA pseudo noise sequences, but in an abstract sense, they can
represent any generic transmission resource. There are two major categories for assigning these
channels to cells (or base-stations). They are
Fixed Channel Allocation,
Dynamic Channel Allocation
Fixed Channel Allocation
Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA) systems allocate specific channels to specific cells. This
allocation is static and cannot be changed. For efficient operation, FCA systems typically
allocate channels in a manner that maximizes frequency reuse. Thus, in a FCA system, the
distance between cells using the same channel is the minimum reuse distance for that system.
The problem with FCA systems is quite simple and occurs whenever the offered traffic to a
network of base stations is not uniform. Consider a case in which two adjacent cells are allocated
N channels each. There clearly can be situations in which one cell has a need for N+k channels
while the adjacent cell only requires N-m channels (for positive integers k and m). In such a case,
k users in the first cell would be blocked from making calls while m channels in the second cell
would go unused. Clearly in this situation of non-uniform spatial offered traffic, the available
channels are not being used efficiently. FCA has been implemented on a widespread level to
date.

Dynamic Channel Allocation

Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) attempts to alleviate the problem mentioned for FCA
systems when offered traffic is non-uniform. In DCA systems, no set relationship exists between
channels and cells. Instead, channels are part of a pool of resources. Whenever a channel is
needed by a cell, the channel is allocated under the constraint that frequency reuse requirements
cannot be violated. There are two problems that typically occur with DCA based systems.
First, DCA methods typically have a degree of randomness associated with them and
this leads to the fact that frequency reuse is often not maximized unlike the case for FCA
systems in which cells using the same channel are separated by the minimum reuse distance.
Secondly, DCA methods often involve complex algorithms for deciding which
available channel is most efficient. These algorithms can be very computationally intensive and
may require large computing resources in order to be real-time.

C1b

C2 As long as a station can receive a signal and the signal arrives at the right time to hit the right
time-slot it does not matter in TDMA systems if terminals are far or near. In TDMA systems
terminals measure the signal strength and the distance between sender and receiver. The
terminals then adapt transmission power and send signals in advance depending on the distance
to the receiver. Terminals in CDMA systems have to adapt their transmission power very often
(e.g., 1500 times per second in UMTS) so that all signals received, e.g., at a base station, have
almost the same strength. Without this one signal could drown others as the signals are not
separated in time.

C3a GSM uses a variety of channels in which the data is carried. In GSM, these channels are
separated into physical channels and logical channels. The Physical channels are determined by
the timeslot, whereas the logical channels are determined by the information carried within the
physical channel. It can be further summarised by saying that several recurring timeslots on a
carrier constitute a physical channel. These are then used by different logical channels to transfer
information. These channels may either be used for user data (payload) or signalling to enable
the system to operate correctly.The channels may also be divided into common and dedicated
channels. The forward common channels are used for paging to inform a mobile of an incoming
call, responding to channel requests, and broadcasting bulletin board information. The return
common channel is a random access channel used by the mobile to request channel resources

before timing information is conveyed by the BSS.The dedicated channels are of two main types:
those used for signalling, and those used for traffic. The signaling channels are used for
maintenance of the call and for enabling call set up, providing facilities such as handover when
the call is in progress, and finally terminating the call. The traffic channels handle the actual
payload.
The following logical channels are defined in GSM:
TCHf - Full rate traffic channel.
TCH h - Half rate traffic channel.
BCCH - Broadcast Network information, e.g. for describing the current control channel
structure. The BCCH is a point-to-multipoint channel
(BSS-to-MS).
SCH - Synchronisation of the MSs.
FCHMS - frequency correction.
AGCH - Acknowledge channel requests from MS and allocate a SDCCH.
PCHMS - terminating call announcement.
RACHMS - access requests, response to call announcement, location update, etc.
FACCHt - For time critical signalling over the TCH (e.g. for handover signalling). Traffic
burst is stolen for a full signalling burst.
SACCHt - TCH in-band signalling, e.g. for link monitoring.
SDCCH - For signalling exchanges, e.g. during call setup, registration /location updates.
FACCHs - FACCH for the SDCCH. The SDCCH burst is stolen for a full signalling burst.
Function not clear in the present version of GSM (could be used for e.g. handover of an
eight-rate channel, i.e. using a "SDCCH-like" channel for other purposes than signalling).
SACCHs - SDCCH in-band signalling, e.g. for link monitoring.
C3b