Term paper report on

Comparative analysis of GSM, GPRS, PCS, UMTS and IS-95.

Submitted to

Mr. Avinash Bhagat

Bachelor of Computer Application

Submitted By

Ayub Abdikani 11717761

FACULTY OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

LOVELY PROFESIONAL UNIVERSITY

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to the God for the good health and wellbeing that were necessary to complete this
study. I wish to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Avinash Bhagat, for providing me with all the
necessary facilities for the research.

I am also extremely thankful and indebted to him for sharing expertise, and sincere and valuable
guidance and encouragement extended to me.

I take this opportunity to express gratitude to all of the Department faculty members for their
help and support. I also thank my parents for the unceasing encouragement, support and
attention. I am also grateful to my close friends who supported me through this venture.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 the generation of mobile networks
2. A look back at GSM
2.1 GSM technology
2.2 The history of GSM
3. A look back at GPRS
3.1 GPRS technology
3.2 The history of GPRS
4. PCS
4.1 Use of PCS
4.2 PCS frequencies
5. UMTS
5.1 Origin of UMTS
5.2 UMTS standard
6. IS-standard
6.1 IS-95 Specifications
7. References
1. Introduction

Tremendous changes are taking place in the arena of mobile technologies, and the worldwide
push toward 3rd generation services is currently at the forefront of these transformations. Many
questions surround the concept of 3G – not only in terms of what it means and what services it
will offer, but also in terms of how to get there, which standard will be dominant, how long it
will take to deploy, and whether it will be as lucrative as expected given the current rush of
exorbitant spectrum fees. This case study is designed to examine some of these questions about
3G from the analytical perspective of predecessor 2nd generation technologies, and specifically of
GSM, GPRS, UMTS and IS-95. The successful development and deployment of GSM over the
past two decades is most significant, if one is to accept the hypothesis that ‘experience counts’ in
the mobile arena. 3rd generation mobile technologies must, after all, in some way be the result of
an evolution from pre-existing 2G systems, whether this is because they are developed from
overlays on 2nd generation systems, or because operators deploying them must leverage pre-
established 2G infrastructure or customer bases. The two are in many ways inextricably linked,
and therefore examining one necessarily implies looking at the successes/shortcomings of the
other.

The purpose of this study is to examine the major factors surrounding and contributing to the
creation (and success) of Europe’s 2nd generation ‘GSM’ cellular system, and compare and
contrast it to key events and recent developments in 3rd generation ‘IMT-2000’ systems.3 The
objective is to ascertain whether lessons from the development of one system can be applied to
the other, and what implications 2G has for the deployment and assessment of 3G technologies.
1.1 The generation of mobile networks
The idea of cell-based mobile radio systems appeared at Bell Laboratories in the United States in
the early 1970s. However, mobile cellular systems were not introduced for commercial use until
a decade later. During the early 1980’s, analog cellular telephone systems experienced very rapid
growth in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Today, cellular systems
still represent one of the fastest growing telecommunications systems. During development,
numerous problems arose as each country developed its own system, producing equipment
limited to operate only within the boundaries of respective countries, thus limiting the markets in
which services could be sold.

First-generation cellular networks, the primary focus of the communications industry in the early
1980’s, were characterized by a few compatible systems that were designed to provide purely
local cellular solutions. It became increasingly apparent that there would be an escalating
demand for a technology that could facilitate flexible and reliable mobile communications. By
the early 1990’s, the lack of capacity of these existing networks emerged as a core challenge to
keeping up with market demand. The first mobile wireless phones utilized analog transmission
technologies, the dominant analog standard being known as “AMPS”, (Advanced Mobile Phone
System). Analog standards operated on bands of spectrum with a lower frequency and greater
wavelength than subsequent standards, providing a significant signal range per cell along with a
high propensity for interference. Nonetheless, it is worth noting the continuing persistence of
analog (AMPS) technologies in North America and Latin America through the 1990’s.

Initial deployments of second-generation wireless networks occurred in Europe in the 1980’s.

These networks were based on digital, rather than analog technologies, and were circuit-
switched. Circuit-switched cellular data is still the most widely used mobile wireless data
service. Digital technology offered an appealing combination of performance and spectral
efficiency (in terms of management of scarce frequency bands), as well as the development of
features like speech security and data communications over high quality transmissions. It is also
compatible with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) technology, which was being
developed for land-based telecommunication systems throughout the world, and which would be
necessary for GSM to be successful. Moreover in the digital world, it would be possible to
employ very large-scale integrated silicon technology to make handsets more affordable.
2. A look back at GSM
2.1 GSM Technology

One of the most important conclusions from the early tests of the new GSM technology was that
the new standard should employ Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology. This
ensured the support of major corporate players like Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens, and the
flexibility of having access to a broad range of suppliers and the potential to get product faster
into the marketplace. After a series of tests, the GSM digital standard was proven to work in
1988.With global coverage goals in mind, being compatible with GSM from day one is a
prerequisite for any new system that would add functionality to GSM. As with other 2G systems,
GSM handles voice efficiently, but the support for data and Internet applications is limited. A
data connection is established in just the same way as for a regular voice call; the user dials in
and a circuit-switched connection continues during the entire session. If the user disconnects and
wants to re-connect, the dial-in sequence has to be repeated. This issue, coupled with the
limitation that users are billed for the time that they are connected, creates a need for packet data
for GSM.

The digital nature of GSM allows the transmission of data (both synchronous and asynchronous)

to or from ISDN terminals, although the most basic service support by GSM is telephony.17
Speech, which is inherently analog, has to be digitized. The method employed by ISDN, and by
current telephone systems for multiplexing voice lines over high-speed trunks and optical fiber
lines, is Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM). From the start, planners of GSM wanted to ensure
ISDN compatibility in services offered, although the attainment of the standard ISDN bit rate of
64 Kbit/s was difficult to achieve, thereby belying some of the limitations of a radio link. The 64
Kbit/s signal, although simple to implement, contains significant redundancy.

Since its inception, GSM was destined to employ digital rather than analog technology and
operate in the 900 MHz frequency band. Most GSM systems operate in the 900 MHz and 1.8
GHz frequency bands, except in North America where they operate in the 1.9 GHz band. GSM
divides up the radio spectrum bandwidth by using a combination of Time- and Frequency
Division Multiple Access (TDMA/FDMA) schemes on its 25 MHz wide frequency spectrum,
dividing it into 124 carrier frequencies (spaced 200 Khz apart.
2.3 The History of GSM

The Western European mobile wireless market has not been forged by market forces alone.
Indeed as mentioned previously, the harmonization of standards and interoperability were due in
large part to governmental efforts. These public sector influences carry over to the next
generation of mobile cellular networks, as well as through the ITU’s IMT-2000 initiative –
which is embodied in UMTS movement in Europe.

The GSM story began in the early 1980’s, when European countries struggled with no fewer than
nine competing analog standards, including Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT), Total Access
Communications Systems (TACS), and so on. In order to put the rise of GSM in context, it is
important to note that the climate of economic liberalization and opening up of new markets in
Asia, Latin American and Eastern Europe helped boost analog system subscriber numbers
throughout the 1990’s. The roll-out of a multi- national global communications standard faced
several formidable barriers. Operators were concentrating on new methods for expanding old
analog networks, using methods like NAMPS (Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service) by
Motorola; unsurprisingly, there was resistance to the prospects of a digital launch.

Pan-European roaming was nothing more than a distant dream at that point, and capacity was a
particularly difficult issue. Europeans recognized the need for a completely new system – a
system that could accommodate an ever-increasing subscriber base, advanced features and
standardized solutions across the continent. Because of the shortcomings and incompatibility
issues associated with analog systems, a completely new digital solution was instituted. The new
standard, Groupe Spéciale Mobile (GSM), was built as a wireless counterpart of the land-line
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) system. Although GSM initially stood for ‘Groupe
Spéciale Mobile’, named after the study group that created it, the acronym was later changed to
refer to ‘Global System for Mobile communications’. This transition as well as other key aspects
of GSM history is elaborated upon in subsequent sections
Timeline of the development of GSM

Year Events
1982 CEPT establishes a GSM group in order to develop the standards for a pan-European cellular mobile
system
1985 Adoption of a list of recommendations to be generated by the group
1986 Field tests were performed in order to test the different radio techniques proposed for the air interface

1987 TDMA is chosen as access method (in fact, it will be used with FDMA) Initial Memorandum of
Understanding signed by the telecommunication operators (representing 12 countries)
1988 Validation of the GSM system
1989 The responsibility of the GSM specifications is passed to the ETSI
1990 Appearance of the phase I of the GSM specifications
1991 Set date for the ‘official’ commercial launch of the GSM service in Europe
1992 Actual launch of commercial service, and enlargement of the countries that signed the GSM – MoU
> Coverage of Larger cities / airports
1993 Coverage of main roads GSM services start outside Europe
1995 Phase II of the GSM specifications Coverage of rural areas

In 1989, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) was created in order to
take responsibility for specification development from the GSM Permanent Nucleus. ETSI had a
unique organizational structure that accorded equal status to administrators, operators and
manufacturers; this equilibrated terrain had a considerable impact on the speed of development.
Whereas CEPT was primarily a brokerage table for national governments and their PTT
representatives, ETSI was an institutional actor in its own right, capable of concentrating the
support of all relevant parties behind a project like GSM. It was this combination of a co-
operative environment and improved resources that enabled the majority of Phase I of the GSM
900 specifications to be published in 1990
3. Look back of GPRS

3.1 GPRS history

General Packet Radio Service is the technology that extended Global System for Mobile (GSM)
voice networks with support for data features. It enabled widespread cellular internet connections
for the first time. Often referred to as a 2.5G network, GPRS is gradually being phased out in
favor of newer 3G, 4G, and 5G installations.

GPRS was one of the first technologies that enabled a cellular network to connect with Internet
Protocol networks, achieving widespread adoption in the early 2000s. The ability to browse the
web from a phone at any time through always-on data networking, while taken for granted in
much of the world now, was a novelty when it was introduced. GPRS is used in parts of the
world where it is too costly to upgrade the cellular network infrastructure to newer alternatives.

Mobile internet providers offered GPRS data services together with voice subscription packages
before 3G and 4G technologies became widespread. Customers originally paid for GPRS service
according to how much network bandwidth they used to send and receive data until providers
offered flat-rate use packages as is customary today.

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology (often called 2.75G) was
developed in the early 2000s as an enhanced version of GPRS. EDGE is also called Enhanced
GPRS or EGPRS.

The European Telecommunications Standard Institute standardized GPRS technology. GPRS

and EDGE deployments are both managed under the oversight of the 3rd Generation Partnership
Project.
4. PCS

4.1 Meaning of PCS

PCS (personal communications service) is a wireless phone service similar to cellular

telephone service but emphasizing personal service and extended mobility. It's sometimes
referred to as digital cellular (although cellular systems can also be digital). Like cellular, PCS is
for mobile users and requires a number of antennas to blanket an area of coverage. As a user
moves around, the user's phone signal is picked up by the nearest antenna and then forwarded to
a base station that connects to the wired network. The phone itself is slightly smaller than a
cellular phone. According to Sprint, PCS is now available to 230 million people.

4.2 History of PCS

The "personal" in PCS distinguishes this service from cellular by emphasizing that, unlike
cellular, which was designed for car phone use and coverage of highways and roads, PCS is
designed for greater user mobility. It generally requires more cell transmitters for coverage, but
has the advantage of fewer blind spots. Technically, cellular systems in the United States operate
in the 824-849 megahertz (MHz) frequency bands; PCS operates in the1850-1990 MHz bands.

Several technologies are used for PCS in the United States, including Time Division Multiple
Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile
(GSM) communication. GSM is more commonly used in Europe and elsewhere
5. UMTS
5.1 Origins of UMTS

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) is a third-generation

(3G) broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data
rates up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps). UMTS offers a consistent set of services to mobile
computer and phone users, no matter where they are located in the world. UMTS is based on the
Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication standard. It is also endorsed by major
standards bodies and manufacturers as the planned standard for mobile users around the world.
Once UMTS is fully available, computer and phone users can be constantly attached to the
Internet wherever they travel and, as they roam, will have the same set of capabilities. Users will
have access through a combination of terrestrial wireless and satellite transmissions. Until
UMTS is fully implemented, users can use multi-mode devices that switch to the currently
available technology (such as GSM 900 and 1800) where UMTS is not yet available.

Previous cellular telephone systems were mainly circuit-switched, meaning connections were
always dependent on circuit availability. A packet-switched connection uses the Internet Protocol
(IP), meaning that a virtual connection is always available to any other end point in the network.
UMTS also makes it possible to provide new services like alternative billing methods or calling
plans. For instance, users can choose to pay-per-bit, pay-per-session, flat rate, or asymmetric
bandwidth options. The higher bandwidth of UMTS also enables other new services like video
conferencing or IPTV. UMTS may allow the Virtual Home Environment (VHE) to fully
develop, where a roaming user can have the same services to either at home, in the office or in
the field through a combination of transparent terrestrial and satellite connections.

The electromagnetic radiation spectrum for UMTS has been identified as frequency bands 1885-
2025 MHz for future IMT-2000 systems, and 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz for the
satellite portion of UMTS systems.
6. IS-95
6.1 IS-95 meaning

IS-95 was the first CDMA mobile phone system to gain widespread use and it is found widely in
North America. Its brand name is cdmaOne and the initial specification for the system was
IS95A, but its performance was later upgraded under IS-95B. It is this later specification that is
synonymous with cdmaOne. Apart from voice the mobile phone system is also able to carry data
at rates up to 14.4 kbps for IS-95A and 115 kbps for IS-95B.

IS95 / cdmaOne was the fist cellular telecommunications system to use the CDMA - code
division multiple access system. Previous systems had used FDMA - frequency division multiple
access or TDMA - time division multiple access. With IS-95 being a second generation - 2G
system and all the later 3G systems using CDMA as their access system, this meant that IS95 /
cdmaOne was a pioneering system.

6.2 IS-95 HISTORY

The idea for using the form of modulation known as direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) for
a multiple access system for mobile telecommunications came from a California based company
called Qualcomm in the 1980s. Previously DSSS had been mainly used for military or covert
communications systems as the transmissions were hard to detect, jam and eavesdrop.

The system involved multiplying the required data with another data stream with a much higher
data rate. Known as a spreading code, this widened the bandwidth required for the transmission,
spreading it over a wide frequency band. Only when the original spreading code was used in the
reconstruction of the data, would the original information be reconstituted. It was reasoned that
by having different spreading codes, a multiple access system could be created for use in a
mobile phone system.

In order to prove that the new system was viable a consortium was set up and Qualcomm was
joined by US network operators Nynex and Ameritech to develop the first experimental code
division multiple access (CDMA) system. Later the team was expanded as Motorola and AT&T
(now Lucent) joined to bring their resources to speed development.
IS-95 specification summary

IS95 (CDMAONE) HIGHLIGHT SPECIFICATIONS SUMMARY

PARAMETER DETAILS

Multiple Access Scheme CDMA

Channel bandwidth 1.25 MHz

Data rate 14.4 kbps - IS-95A

115 kbps - IS-95B
7. Reference list

Book with an editor

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach

Book with an editor

Data Communications and Networking Book by Behrouz A. Forouzan

Book with an editor

Networking All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies Book by Doug Lowe

Articles from

Networking news letter

Alison

MIT OpenCourseWare