Wireless Systems and Standards

Chapter 11

AMPS Vs ETACS
AMPS Advance Mobile Phone Service ETACS European Total Access Communication System 40 MHz spectrum in the 800 MHz band + 10 MHz (extended spectrum) Large cells

30 KHz Channels with 25 KHz Channels with SIR of 18 dB SIR of 18 dB

AMPS

ETACS

Omni directional base station antennas to minimize initial equipment needs. Uses 7-cell reuse pattern with provisions for sectoring and cell splitting to increase capacity US market is a duopoly 1 service provider 832 market (2 competing channels service providers 416 channels each). Exact frequency allocation differ from country to country

AMPS
MIN (mobile identification number) Include different area codes

ETACS

MIN (mobile identification number) Include different country codes throughout Europe Use frequency modulation (FM) and frequency division duplex (FDD) for radio transmission

AMPS

ETACS

Forward link Forward link 869MHz-894 MHz 935MHz-960 MHz Reverse link Reverse link 824 MHz-849 MHz 890 MHz-915 MHz Every radio channel consists of a pair of simplex channels separated by 45 MHz, to make use of inexpensive but highly selective duplexers in the subscriber units

AMPS

ETACS

Launched by using base stations with tall towers which support several receiving antennas and have transmitting antennas which typically radiate a few hundred watts of effective radiated power Each base station has one control channel transmitter (that broadcasts on the forward control channel), one control channel receiver (that listens on the reverse control channel for any cellular phone switching to set-up a call)

AMPS

ETACS

Each base station has eight or more FM duplex voice channels. Commercial base stations support as many as fifty-seven voice channels FVCs carry the portion of the telephone conversation originating from the landline telephone network caller and going to the cellular subscriber.

AMPS

ETACS

RVCs carry the portion of the telephone conversation originating from the cellular subscriber and going to the landline telephone network caller. The actual number of control and voice channels used at a particular base station varies widely in different system installations depending on traffic, maturity of the system and locations of base stations.

AMPS

ETACS

The number of base stations in a service area varies widely, from as few as one cellular tower in a rural area to several hundred or more base stations in a large city (cell planning) Each base station continuously transmits digital FSK data on the FCC at all times so that idle cellular subscriber units can lock onto the strongest FCC wherever they are. All subscribers must be locked or camped onto a FCC in order to originate or receive calls.

AMPS

ETACS

The base station RCC receiver constantly monitors transmissions from cellular subscribers that are locked onto the matching FCC. Each base station continuously transmits digital FSK data on the FCC at all times so that idle cellular subscriber units can lock onto the strongest FCC wherever they are. All subscribers must be locked or camped onto a FCC in order to originate or receive calls.

AMPS

ETACS

There are twenty-one There are forty-two control channels for control channels for a each of the two service single provider. providers in each market. These control channels are standardized throughout the country. Any cellular telephone in the system needs to scan a limited number of control channels to find the best serving station.

AMPS ETACS It is up to the provider to ensure that base stations in the same vicinity have FCCs that do not cause adjacent channel interference to subscribers which monitor different control channels in nearby stations System Identification Area identification number (SID) is odd numbers (AIDs) are for nonwireline service used instead of SID, provider (`A`) and even and the subscriber for wired service units are able to provider (`B`) access any control channel in the standard

AMPS ETACS The identification number is transmitted once every 0.8 seconds on each FCC, along with other overhead data which reports the status of the cellular system The transmitted data might include information such as whether roamers are automatically registered, how power control is handled, and whether other standards can be handled by the cellular system

AMPS
System Identification number (SID) is odd for nonwireline service provider (`A`) and even for wired service provider (`B`) and the subscriber units access channels exclusively on the A and B side

ETACS
Area identification numbers (AIDs) are used instead of SID, and the subscriber units are able to access any control channel in the standard

Call Handling in AMPS and ETACS

When a cellular subscriber originates from a conventional telephone in the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) and arrives at the mobile switching center (MSC), a paging message is sent out with the subscriber's mobile identification number (MIN) simultaneously over every base station forward control channel in the system.
If the intended subscriber unit successfully receives its page on a forward control channel, it will respond with an acknowledgement transmission on the reverse control channel.

 Upon receiving the subscribers acknowledgement `the MSC directs the base station to assign a forward voice channel (FVC) and reverse voice channel (RVC) pair to the subscriber unit so that the new call can take place on a dedicated voice channel. The base station also assigns the subscriber unit a supervisory audio tone (SAT tone) and a voice mobile attenuation code (VMAC) as it moves the call to the voice channel. The subscriber unit automatically changes its frequency to the assigned voice channel pair.

 The SAT has one of three different frequencies, 5970 or 6000 or 6030 Hz, which allows the base and mobile to distinguish each other from co-channel users located in different cells. The SAT is transmitted continuously on both the forward and reverse voice channels during a call at frequencies above the audio band. The VMAC instructs the subscriber unit to transmit at a specific power level.

 When a mobile user places a call, the subscriber unit transmits an origination message on the RCC
The subscriber unit transmits its MIN, electronic serial number ESN, station class mark, SCM, and the destination telephone number If received correctly by the base station, this information is sent to the MSC which checks to see if the subscriber is properly registered, connects the subscriber to the PSTN, assigns the call to a forward and reverse voice channel pair with a specific SAT and VMAC, and commences the conversation.

 During a typical call, the MSC issues numerous blank-and-burst commands which switch subscribers between different voice channels on different base stations, depending on where the subscriber is travelling in the service area.

In AMPS and ETACS, handoff decisions are made by the MSC when the signal strength on the RVC of the serving base station drops below a preset threshold, or when the SAT tone experiences a certain level of interference.

 Threshold are adjusted at the MSC by the service provider, are subject to continuous measurements and must be changed periodically to accommodate customer growth, system expansion, and changing traffic patterns.

The MSC uses scanning receivers called `locate receivers` in nearby base stations to determine the signal level of a particular subscriber, which appears to be in need of a handoff. In doing so, the MSC is able to find the best neighboring base station which can accept the handoff.

 When a new call request arrives from the PSTN or a subscriber, and all of the voice channels in a particular base station are occupied, the MSC will hold the PSTN line open while instructing the current base station to issue a directed retry to the subscriber to the FCC.
A directed retry forces the subscriber unit to switch to a different control channel (i.e. different base station) for voice channel assignment.

 Depending on radio propagation effects, the specific location of the subscriber and the current traffic on the base station to which the subscriber is directed.

A directed retry may or may not result in a successful call.

 Several factors may contribute to degraded cellular service or drop or blocked calls.
Factors such as the performance of the MSC, the current traffic demand in a geographic area, the specific channel reuse plan, the number of base stations relative to the subscriber population density, the specific propagation conditions between users of the systems and the signal threshold settings for handoffs play major roles in system performance. Marinating perfect service and call quality in heavily populated cellular system is practically impossible. Due to the tremendous system complexity and the lack of control on determining radio coverage and customer usage patterns.

 System operators strive to forecast system growth and their best to provide suitable coverage and sufficient capacity to avoid cochannel interference within a market, but inevitably some calls will be dropped or blocked. In a large metropolitan market, it is usual to have 3-5% dropped calls and excess of 10% blocking during extremely heavy traffic conditions.