A review of personal communications services

This article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 Nova Science Publishers, LtdPCS is an acronym for Personal Communications Service. PCS has two layers of meaning. At the low layer, from the technical perspective, PCS is a 2G mobile communication technology operating at the 1900 MHz frequency range. At the upper layer, PCS is often used as an umbrella term that includes various wireless access and personal mobility services with the ultimate goal of enabling users to freely communicate with anyone at anytime and anywhere according to their demand. Ubiquitous PCS can be implemented by integrating the wireless and wireline systems on the basis of intelligent network (IN), which provides network functions of terminal and personal mobility. In this chapter, we focus on various aspects of PCS except location management. First we describe the motivation and technological evolution for personal communications. Then we introduce three key issues related to PCS: spectrum allocation, mobility, and standardization efforts. Since PCS involves several different communication technologies, we introduce its heterogeneous and distributed system architecture. IN is also described in detail because it plays a critical role in the development of PCS. Finally, we introduce the application of PCS and its deployment status since the mid-term of 1990’s.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 60673159 and 70671020; the National High-Tech Research and Development Plan of China under Grant No. 2006AA01Z214, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/1

Reconfigurable Radio System Test bed for security research

Technological progress on the digital processing has opened the way to a novel implementation approach for wireless communication platforms where most of the digital signal processing is done in software rather than in hardware. Such systems have been known as Software Defined Radio (SDR) or Reconfigurable Radio Systems (RRS). A typical SDR/RRS is able to execute all the radio frequency and base-band processing though software components rather then hardware components as in conventional radio communication systems. This capability provides a high level of reconfigurability and the possibility to implement a number of different algorithms for digital processing. Therefore, SDR/RRS can be used for a variety or purposes including the possibility of implementing wireless security attacks against conventional communication systems. In this technical report, we present an application of the SDR/RRS platform to implement a security attack against a DECT platform. The SDR/RRS platform has been used to implement a DECT demodulator and a processing module to eavesdrop and capture user and control data transmitted by a DECT system. The commercially available Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) has been used as SDR/RRS platform for the development of the prototype. The paper presents the technical challenges and implementation details in the development of the prototype and an overview of the capabilities of the USRP to implement wireless security attacks. The SDR/RRS platform used in the project is quite versatile and it can be used for a number of other applications related to DECT or other wireless communication systems.JRC.G.6-Security technology assessmen

The Question of Spectrum: Technology, Management, and Regime Change

There is general agreement that the traditional command-and-control regulation of radio spectrum by the FCC (and NTIA) has failed. There is no general agreement on which regime should succeed it. Property rights advocates take Ronald Coase's advice that spectrum licenses should be sold off and traded in secondary markets, like any other assets. Commons advocates argue that new technologies cannot be accommodated by a licensing regime (either traditional or property rights) and that a commons regime leads to the most efficient means to deliver useful spectrum to the American public. This article reviews the scholarly history of this controversy, outlines the revolution of FCC thinking, and parses the question of property rights vs. commons into four distinct parts: new technology, spectrum uses, spectrum management, and the overarching legal regime. Advocates on both sides find much to agree about on the first three factors; the disagreement is focused on the choice of overarching regime to most efficiently and effectively make spectrum and its applications available to the American public. There are two feasible regime choices: a property rights regime and a mixed licensed/commons regime subject to regulation. The regime choice depends upon four factors: dispute resolution, transactions costs, tragedies of the commons and anticommons, and flexibility to changing technologies and demands. Each regime is described and analyzed against these four factors. With regard to pure transactions costs, commons may hold an advantage but it appears quite small. For all other factors, the property rights regime holds very substantial advantages relative to the mixed regime. I conclude that the choice comes down to markets vs. regulation as mechanism for allocating resources.

Femtocell deployment; next generation in cellular systems

The final Bachelor’s Thesis that is shown below has such a final purpose of giving an overview of the inclusion of the so-called Femtocells (or Home Node B) in the current cellular systems. The main objective is to give a clear but simple idea about the concepts of Femtocells, as well as to explain the benefits and disadvantages of the mass uses of these services both for consumers and associated companies with this phenomenon. In this text it is also possible to find a brief review of wireless technologies throughout the history of telecommunications, as well as an introduction to the more current wireless technologies, with a special interest in the concept of cellular systems. In the last chapter a simple mathematical explanation of the key issue of interference between Femtocells and macrocellular networks is presented, with a brief argument about possible solutions

Comparitive Evaluation of Geometric Dynamic Channel Allocation Over Other Channel Allocation Schemes

Wireless services are one of the strongest growth areas in telecommunications today. Cellular voice is well established as a high-end service in most areas, but demand is increasing rapidly. In cellular systems, the geographical region is split using a regular topology, into cells each containing one base station. The base station should assign a channel that is not currently used within some specified distance. There are many kinds of channel assignment methods used in mobile communication starting with Fixed Channel Assignment (FCA), through Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) and Hybrid Channel Assignment (HCA). Personal Communication Services (PCS's) have been introduced as a mass-market phone service. The capacity, however, is now a critical issue for all of these services. The solution to the increasing spectrum efficiency demand in Personal Communication Services (PCS's) is the implementation of Dynamic Channel Allocation (DCA) strategy with distributed control. This thesis concentrates on one ,specific class of dynamic channel allocation called the Geometric Dynamic Channel Allocation (GDCA). The main feature of the GDCA lies in its ability to organise the dynamic resource assignment so that the resulting carrier usage pattern resembles what corresponds to other strategies , as long as that is compatible with the offered traffic pattern. Besides that, the overall performance advantage of GDCA over other strategies increases , as the offered traffic becomes larger

The radio spectrum : opportunities and challenges for the developing world

The radio spectrum is a major component of the telecommunications infrastructure that underpins the information society. Spectrum management, however, has not kept up with major changes in technology, business practice, and economic policy during the past two decades. Traditional spectrum management practice is predicated on the spectrum being a limited resource that must be apportioned among uses and users by government administration. For many years this model worked well, but more recently the spectrum has come under pressure from rapid demand growth for wireless services and changing patterns of use. This has led to growing technical and economic inefficiencies, as well as obstacles to technological innovation. Two alternative approaches are being tried, one driven by the market (spectrum property rights) and another driven by technology innovation (commons). Practical solutions are evolving that combine some features of both. Wholesale replacement of current practice is unlikely, but the balance between administration, property rights, and commons is clearly shifting. Although the debate on spectrum management reform is mainly taking place in high-income countries, it is deeply relevant to developing countries as well.Broadcast and Media,Roads&Highways,Climate Change,Montreal Protocol,ICT Policy and Strategies

Reviewing the Philippines' Spectrum Management Policy

In light of the latest developments in information and communication technology such as the advent of the 3G technology, it is important that the issuance of licenses to companies that may be assigned specific uses or allocations of frequency bands in a spectrum range be made in the most efficient and transparent manner. This Policy Notes examines alternative modes of allocation and assesses their implications and usefulness to the Philippine ICT market situation.telecommunications, information and communications technology (ICT), spectrum management, spectrum management policy, 3G technology

Performance Studies of Multimedia Traffic in CDMA Cellular Network

The current generation of wireless cellular network is mostly used for voice communication. Although data services such as short message services (SMS) are available, voice communication still takes precedence. However, in the near future, it is anticipated that wireless communication is expected to handle multimedia traffic that is currently available on land networks. Multimedia traffic includes video services such as real time video and audio, voice services and data services similar to the ones available in the Internet. The cellular network carrying multimedia traffic is analysed in a single cell where Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) protocol is used for users to access the network simultaneously. The study is analysed for the reverse link communication, i. e., communication between the user and the base station. CDMA is used because of its merits in minimising the effect of interference, increasing cell capacity and high security features compared to other access technologies. The model inputs include co- channel interference, signal to noise ratio, bit error rate requirements, number of users, the channel access priority and threshold. Suitable assumptions to enable simulation are made. The model is simulated to see the impact of complementing data traffic along with voice and video traffic. The model is also simulated for synchronous transmission and asynchronous transmission of packets. The results shows that data traffic can be successfully complemented along with voice and video traffic without significantly degrading voice and video delay. Data traffic can tolerate delay but is loss sensitive. Data traffic delay can be used without suffering any loss, even by reducing the data access priority. The model also compared the effects of synchronous and asynchronous transmission. Synchronous transmission indicated an overhead in packet delay compared to asynchronous transmission. It is concluded from the work that voice, video and data traffic can be served in a cell simultaneously with asynchronous transmission. A higher bandwidth can assure a higher number of multimedia users in a asynchronous CDMA cellular network. The model will serve as a useful design tool