MobilePhoneCommunication.Howitworks?

Amobilephoneisanelectronicdeviceusedformobiletelecommunicationsoveracellularnetworkof
specializedbasestationsknownascellsites.AcellphoneoffersfullDuplexCommunicationandtransferthe
linkwhentheusermovesfromonecelltoanother.Asthephoneusermovesfromonecellareatoanother,the
systemautomaticallycommandsthemobilephoneandacellsitewithastrongersignal,toswitchontoanew
frequencyinordertokeepthelink.
MobilephoneisprimarilydesignedforVoicecommunication.Inadditiontothestandardvoicefunction,new
generationmobilephonessupportmanyadditionalservices,andaccessories,suchasSMSfortextmessaging,
email,packetswitchingforaccesstotheInternet,gaming,Bluetooth,camerawithvideorecorderandMMSfor
sendingandreceivingphotosandvideo,MP3player,radioandGPS.
SignalFrequencyinCellPhone
Thecellularsystemisthedivisionofanareaintosmallcells.
Thisallowsextensivefrequencyreuseacrossthatarea,sothatmanypeoplecanusecellphones
simultaneously.Cellularnetworkshasanumberofadvantageslikeincreasedcapacity,reducedpowerusage,
largercoveragearea,reducedinterferencefromothersignalsetc.
FDMAandCDMASystems
FrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess(FDMA)andCodeDivisionMultipleAccess(CDMA)weredevelopedto
distinguishsignalsfromseveraldifferenttransmitters.InFDMA,thetransmittingandreceivingfrequenciesused
ineachcellaredifferentfromthefrequenciesusedintheneighboringcells.TheprincipleofCDMAismore
complexandthedistributedtransceiverscanselectonecellandlistentoit.OthermethodsincludePolarization
DivisionMultipleAccess(PDMA)andTimeDivisionMultipleAccess(TDMA).Timedivisionmultipleaccessis
usedincombinationwitheitherFDMAorCDMAtogivemultiplechannelswithinthecoverageareaofasingle
cell.
CodesintheMobilePhone
Mobilephoneshavespecialcodesassociatedwiththem.Theseinclude:
ElectronicSerialNumber(ESN)Unique32bitnumberprogrammedinthephone
MobileIdentificationNumber(MIN)10digitnumberderivedfromthephonesnumber.
SystemIdentificationCode(SID)unique5digitnumberthatisassignedtoeachcarrierbytheFCC.
ESNisapermanentpartofthephonewhileMINandSIDcodesareprogrammedinthephonewhenaservice
planisselectedandactivated.
MobilephoneisaDuplexdevice.Whenweuseonefrequencyfortalking,asecondseparatefrequencyisused
forlistening.Sothatboththepeopleonthecallcantalkatonce.TheMobilephonecancommunicateon1,664
channelsormore.TheMobilephonesoperatewithinthecells,sothatitiseasytoswitchontodifferentcellsas
theymovearound.Apersonusingacellphonecandrivehundredsofkilometersandcanmaintaina

conversationduringtheentiretimebecauseofthecellularapproach.
ActivationofSIMCard
SIMcard(SubscriberIdentificationModule(SIM))isatypeofSmartcardusedinmobilephone.TheSIMisa
detachablesmartcardcontainingtheuserssubscriptioninformationandphonebook.Thisallowstheuserto
retainhisorherinformationevenafterswitchingoffthehandset.Alternatively,theusercanalsochangeservice
providerswhileretainingthehandsetsimplybychangingtheSIM.SIMcardSecurelystorestheservice
subscriberkeyhaving15digits.
Thedigitsofthekeyare:
First3digitsMobilecountrycode
Second2digitsMobilenetworkcode
Third10digitsMobilestationidentificationnumber

SubscriberIdentificationModuleSIM
WhentheMobilephoneisusedforthefirsttime,itsendsanumbercalledInternationalMobileSubscriber
IdentityIMSIpresentintheSIMcardtothenetwork,whichlooksitupinadatabasetoensurethecardis
registered.IftheIMSIisrecognized,thenetworkcreatesanothernumbercalledaTemporaryMobile
SubscriberIdentity(TMSI),whichisencryptedandsentbacktothephone.Inallsubsequentcalls,thephone
identifiesitselfbybroadcastingtheTMSI.
Whathappenswhenwemakeacall?
1.Whenweswitchonthemobilephone,ittriesforanSIDontheControlchannel.TheControlchannelisa
specialfrequencythatthephoneandbasestationusetotalktooneanother.IftheMobilephonefinds
difficultytogetlinkwiththecontrolchannel,itdisplaysanoservicemessage.
2.IftheMobilephonegetstheSID,itcomparestheSIDwiththeSIDprogrammedinthephone.IfbothSID
match,thephoneidentifiesthatthecellitiscommunicatingisthepartofitshomesystem.
3.ThephonealsotransmitsaregistrationrequestalongwiththeSIDandtheMTSOkeepstrackofyour
phoneslocationinadatabase.MTSOknowsinwhichcellyouarewhenitwantstoringthephone.
4.TheMTSOthengetsthesignal,ittriestofindthephone.TheMTSOlooksinitsdatabasetofindthecellin
whichthephoneispresent.TheMTSOthenpicksafrequencypairtotakethecall.
5.TheMTSOcommunicateswiththeMobilephoneoverthecontrolchanneltotellitwhatfrequenciestouse.
OncetheMobilephoneandthetowerswitchonthosefrequencies,thecallisconnected.
6.WhentheMobilephonemovetowardtheedgeofthecell,thecellsbasestationwillnotethatthesignal
strengthisdiminishing.Atthesametime,thebasestationinthecellinwhichthephoneismovingwillbe
abletoseethephonessignalstrengthincreasing.
7.ThetwobasestationscoordinatethemselvesthroughtheMTSO.Atsomepoint,theMobilephonegetsa
signalonacontrolchannelanddirectsittochangefrequencies.Thiswillswitchthephonetothenewcell.

MobileNetwork
TheGSMSystem

GlobalSystemforMobileCommunicationsisthestandardformobiletelephonesystemsintheworld.InGSM,
thesignalingandspeechchannelsaredigital,thereforeGSMisconsidereda2G(SecondGeneration)system.
Thishelpswidespreadimplementationofdatacommunicationapplications.Therearefivedifferentcellsizesin
aGSMnetworkThesearemacro,micro,pico,femtoandumbrellacells.
Macrocellsarecellswherethebasestationantennaisinstalledonamastaboveaveragerooftoplevel.Micro
cellsarecellswhoseantennaheightisunderaveragerooftoplevel.Picocellsaresmallcellswhosecoverage
diameterisafewdozenmetres.Thesearemainlyusedinindoorsapplications.Femtocellsarecellsdesigned
foruseinresidentialorsmallbusinessenvironmentsandconnecttotheserviceprovidersnetworkviaa
broadbandinternetconnection.
Umbrellacellsareusedtocovershadowedregionsofsmallercellsandfillingapsincoveragebetweenthose
cells.Horizontalradiusofthecellvariesdependingontheantennaheight,antennagainandpropagation
conditions.MaximumdistancetheGSMsupportsis35kilometers.Most2GGSMnetworksoperateinthe900
MHzor1800MHzbandswhile3GGSMinthe2100MHzfrequencyband.
TimeSharing
TimeDivisionMultiplexingtechniqueisusedtoshareeightfullrateorsixteenhalfratespeechchannelsper
radiofrequencychannel.ThereareeightradiotimeslotsgroupedintoaTDMAframe.
MobileNetwork
Mobilephoneconvertsvoice,text,multimediamessagesordatacallsintoRadioFrequencies(RF).Mobile
phonebasestationstransmitandreceivetheseRFsignalsandconnectcallerstootherphonesandother
networks.Mobilephonenetworkisdividedintothousandsofoverlapping,individualgeographicareasorcells,
eachwithabasestation.Thesizeofacelldependsontheareaofcoverageandthenumberofcallsthatare
madeinthatarea.Thesmallestcellsareincrowdedurbanareaswithlargebuildingsandheavypopulation
density,whilethebiggestcellsareinruralareas,wherepeoplearedispersed.
TherearetwotypesofchannelsusedinGSM.TheseareControlchannelsandTrafficchannels.
Controlchannels
Theseareresponsibleforhousekeepingtaskssuchastellingthemobilewhenacalliscominginandwhich
frequencytouse.Toensurethishandoverworks,thephoneconstantlymonitorsthebroadcastcontrolchannel
ofupto16neighboringcells.Innormaloperation,phonescontinuallyadjustthepoweroftheradiowavesthey
sendouttobetheminimumneededforthebasestationtoreceiveaclearsignal.Ifaphonemovesfaraway
fromitsbasestationandifthesignalisweak,thenetworkconsultsthelistandtriggersahandovertoa
neighboringcellwithbestsignal.
Trafficchannels
Itisusedtocarrycallsorotherdatafromthemobilephonetothebasestationandviceversa.IntheTraffic
channel,voiceortextdataiscarriedinbursts.Eachburstcomprisestwoconsecutivestringsofbits(aseriesof
signalsrepresenting1sand0s),each57bitslong.
Range

Therangewithinwhichmobiledevicescanconnectisnotafixedfigure.Itdependsonanumberoffactorslike
thefrequencyofsignalinuse,thetransmittersratedpower,thetransmitterssizeetc.
InsidetheMobilephone
MobilephoneisasophisticateddeviceusingSMDcomponents,Microprocessor,Flashmemoryetc.Inaddition
totheCircuitboard,MobilephonealsohasAntenna,LiquidCrystalDisplay(LCD),Keyboard,Microphone,
SpeakerandBattery.BelowistheBlockdiagramofMobilephone
ThecircuitboardistheheartoftheMobilephone.IthaschipslikeAnalogtoDigitalandDigitaltoAnalog
conversionchipsthattranslatetheoutgoingaudiosignalfromanalogtodigitalandtheincomingsignalfrom
digitalbacktoanalog.FollowingaretheChipspresentinMobilephone.
1.Digitalsignalprocessor
Itisgenerallyratedashaving40MIPS(millionsofinstructionspersecond)toconductcalculationsofsignal
manipulationathighspeed.Thischipdealswithbothcompressionanddecompressionofthesignals.
2.Microprocessor
Ithandlesallthehousekeepingtasksforthekeyboardanddisplay.Italsodealswithcommandandcontrol
signalingwiththebasestation,andcoordinatestherestofthefunctionsontheboard.
MobileMicroprocessorandFlashMemory

3.TheFlashmemoryandROMChipsoftheMobilephoneactasastoragelocationforthephone.Thesechips
storethecustomizableoptionsofthecellphone,aswellastheentireoperatingsystem.Thepowerandradio
frequencysectionsofthephone,phonerechargingandpowermanagementetcarecontrolledbythischip.It
alsocontrolsseveralhundredFMchannels.TheRFamplifiersfocusonsignalsthatgoinandoutofthe
phonesantennae.
MobilePhoneMaintenance
Mobilephoneisadelicatedeviceandneedscareforitsproperfunctioning.Herearethecommonmeasuresto
keepthemobilephoneingoodcondition.
DonotkeepMobilephoneinwetareaoruseitwithwethands.Moisturecancausenonrepairableinternal
corrosionofparts.
Donotdropthephoneordamagetheconnectionpoints.
Donotoverstressthephone.Itmaydamagethedisplay.
Donotkeepthephonenearheatgeneratingdevices.Hightemperatureinacarcandamageitselectronics.
Donotoverchargethebattery.Chargethebatteryonlyitschargestatusgoesbelow50percent.
PreventCloning.
AphoneisClonedwhensomeonestealsitsIDnumberandisabletomakefraudulentcallsontheowners
account.Whenthephonemakesacall,ittransmitstheESNandMINauniquetagforyourphonetothe
networkatthebeginningofthecall.WhenthephonetransmitsitsMIN/ESNpair,itispossibletocapturethe

ESNMINpair.UsingaScannerdeviceitiseasytomodifyanotherphonesothatitcontainsyourMINESN
tags.Thisallowsthepersontomakecallsonyouraccount.Cloningmayalsooccurswhenthephoneis
repairedinanunauthorizedservicecentre.Itispossibletocopythedataincludingimagesandvideopresentin
thephone.