Lecture 01

Wireless communication
What is Wireless Communication?
• Wireless communications is a type of data communication that is
performed and delivered wirelessly.
• This is a broad term that incorporates all procedures and forms of
connecting and communicating between two or more devices using a
wireless signal through wireless communication technologies and
devices.
 INTRODUCTION
• Wireless Communication is a broad and dynamic field that has
spurred tremendous excitement and technological advance over the
last few decades.
• Wireless Communication is, by any measure, the fastest growing
segment of the communications industry.
• As such as it has captured the attention of the media and the
imagination of the public.
• Cellular systems have experienced exponential growth over the last
decade and
• There are currently about two billion users worldwide.
• Wireless local area networks currently supplement or replace wired
networks in many homes, businesses and campuses.
 About Wireless
• The first wireless networks were developed in the pre-industrial age.
• These systems transmitted information over line of sight distances it
will later extended by telescopes and using smoke signals, torch
signaling, flashing mirrors, signal flares, or semaphore flags.
• These early communication networks were replaced first by the
telegraph network (invented by Samuel Morse in 1838) and later by
the telephone.
• In 1895, a few decades after the telephone were invented.
• Marconi demonstrated the first radio transmission from the Isle of
Wight to a tugboat 18 miles away, and the radio communication was
born.
Wireless communications covering…..
• radio,
• television,
• radar,
• satellite,
• wireless and
• mobile cellular and
• other wireless networks
 Radio and Television Communications
• In 1874, Marconi performed simple experiments to send signals using
• electromagnetic waves at short distances of only about 100 meters.
• At that time scientists and experts believed that electromagnetic waves
could only be transmitted in a straight line, and
• the main obstacle to radio transmission was the curvature of the earth’s
surface.
• Finally Marconi successfully experimented to prove that electromagnetic
wave transmission was possible between two distant points even through
obstacles in between.
• This proved the way for wireless telegraphy, also known as radio
communications.
• The word radio comes from the term “radiated energy”
Contd….
• Marconi also studied microwaves and early television technology.
• In 1927, Farnsworth gave the first public demonstration of the
television system, and
• developed several of the basic concepts of an electronic television
system.
• North America’s first television station, W3XK in Wheaton, Maryland,
was started in 1930’s. By 1939, widespread commercial electronic
television broadcasting started in the United States.
• In 1941, the American Federal Communications Authority set the
standards for broadcast television.
• By 1970, television had become the primary information and
entertainment medium in the world
 Radar Communication
• Radar has been recognized as one of the greatest scientific developments of the
first half of the 20th century.
• The first practical radar system was produced in 1935 by the British physicist
Robert Watson-Watt.
• Radar is an active remote-sensing system that operates on the principle of
echoes.
• A Radar display shows a map like picture of the area being scanned.
• The centre of the picture corresponds to the radar antenna and the radar echoes
are shown as bright spots on the screen.
• Although radar is usually associated with detecting:
• airplanes in the sky or ships on the ocean,
• it is actually used in a variety of different ways such as to forecast the weather,
• to scan entire regions for possible archaeological sites from space satellites and airplanes,
• to study potential hidden dangers in highway tunnels,
• to locate stagnant pools of water in areas of dense foliage on the earth, and
• to provide information about the universe
 Satellite Communication
• A satellite is an object that orbits or revolves around another object.
• Satellites can be sent into space through a variety of launch vehicles.
• Sir Isaac Newton in the 1720s was probably the first person to conceive the idea
of a satellite.
• In 1945, Arthur C Clarke a science fiction envisioned a network of a
communication satellites.
• Three satellites would be able to transmit signals around the world by
transmitting in a line-of-sight direction with other orbiting satellites.
• In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite, followed by Sputnik 2
and its passenger Laika, a dog who has the distinction of being the first living
creature to enter the earth’s orbit.
• In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in orbit.
• In 1964, an international organization known as Intelsat was formed which
launched a series of satellites with the goal of providing total earth coverage by
satellite transmission.
 Wireless and Mobile Communications
• They are Based on the nature of wireless transmission, wireless
communication systems may be classified as
• Simplex, Half-Duplex or Full-dUplex.

• In simplex wireless systems, separate transmitters and receivers operate at the same
frequency and communication is possible in only one direction from the transmitter
to the receiver at any time.
• For example, paging and messaging systems are simplex wireless communication systems in
which short text or alphanumeric messages are transmitted by fixed paging transmitters and
received pagers but the received messages are not acknowledged.

• Half-duplex wireless systems allow two-way communication but a subscriber can

only transmit or receive voice information at any given time. The same frequency is
used for both transmission and reception, with a push-to-talk feature for enabling
transmission only at a time.
• Walkie-talkie wireless communication seats used by the police and paramilitary forces are the
examples of half-duplex wireless systems
Contd…
• Full-duplex wireless communication systems allow-
• simultaneous radio transmission and reception between the calling and called
subscribers of the system,
• either directly or via a base station.
• Full-Duplex mobile communication systems provide
• many of the capabilities of the standard telephone for voice communication,
• with the added convenience of communication on the move.
 Time Division Duplexing (TDD)
• In Time Division Duplexing (TDD), a portion of the time is used to transfer
information data from base station to the mobile subscriber, and
• The remaining time is used to transfer information data from the mobile
subscriber to the base station on the same frequency channel.
• Digital transmission formats and digital modulation schemes are used in
Time Division Duplixing (TDD).
• It is very sensitive to timing accuracies and needs synchronization between
transmissions and reception of the data at the transmitter and receiver
ends respectively.
• Therefore, Time Division Duplixing (TDD) has limited applications-
• such as indoor or small-area wireless applications where the physical coverage
distances are much smaller than those encountered in conventional cellular
telephone systems so as to keep the radio propagation delay within acceptable
limits.
 Cellular Communication
• In 1946, American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) introduced the first
American commercial mobile radio telephone service to private customers.
• It consisted of a central transmitter with one antenna which could serve a
wide area.
• However, this system could not be used with mobile because of their
limited transmitter power.
• To overcome this limitation, smaller receivers with antennas were placed
on top of buildings and on poles around city, creating smaller cells.
• When a person used his mobile, the conversation that he heard was
transmitted on one frequency by the central transmitter to the moving
vehicle.
• In 1969, the Bell system developed a commercial cellular radio operation
using frequency reuse.
Contd…
• The first modern cellular telephone systems in the early 1980s used 666
channels.
• Advanced Mobile phone Service (AMPS) began setting up analog cellular
telephone operations in many parts of the world.
• Roaming form one city or state in the United States was easy because the
US system was based on an analog cellular system.
• In Contrast, it was almost impossible to roam in Europe.
• During the 1980s, a plan was launched to create a single pan European
digital mobile service with advanced features and easy roaming.
• This network stated operating in 19918. Cellular mobile communication
systems provide full-duplex communication,
• in which a pair of simplex RF channels with a fixed and known frequency separation
(Called duplex spacing) is used-
• to define a specific radio channel in the system.
 Transition from Analog to Digital Systems
• In the 1980s, most mobile cellular system was based on analog
design.
• The GSM system can be considered as the first digital cellular system.
• The different reasons that explain this transition from analog to digital
technology are the following:
• System Capacity
• Quality Aspects
• Compatibility with other Systems such as Integrated Services for Digital
Network (ISDN)
System Capacity:
• Cellular systems experienced a very significant growth in the 1980s.
• Analog systems were not able to cope with this increasing demand.
• In order to overcome this problem, new frequency bands were
allocated for the development of mobile cellular radio and new
modulation and coding technologies were introduced.
• The digital radio was, therefore, the best option to handle the
capacity needs in a cost-efficient way.
Quality Aspects:
• The quality of the service can be considerably improved using a digital
technology rather than an analog one.
• In fact, analog systems carry the physical disturbances in radio
transmission such as
• fades, multipath reception, spurious signals or interferences to the receiver.
• These disturbances reduce the quality of the communication because
• they produce effects such as fadeouts, crosstalk’s, hisses, etc.
Integrated Services for Digital Network (ISDN):
• Compatibility with other Systems such as Integrated Services for
Digital Network (ISDN):
• The decision of adopting a digital technology for GSM was made in the course
of developing the standard.
• During the development of GSM, the telecommunications industry converted
to digital methods.
• The ISDN network is an example of this evolution.
• In order to make GSM compatible with the services offered by ISDN,
• it was decided that the digital technology was the best option.
• Additionally, a digital system allows,
• easily than an analog one,
• the implementation of future improvement and
• the change of its own characteristics
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
OF
WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
Advantages
• There are many advantages of wireless communications, using
wireless communications technology and wireless networking, as
compared to wired communications and networks.
• Some of the major advantages include
• mobility,
• increased reliability,
• ease of installation,
• rapid recovery and
• above all lower cost.
Mobility:
• The primary advantage of wireless communications is
• to offer the user freedom to move about while remaining connected with the
network within its coverage area.
• Many business categories, such as
• the police department, require its workforce to be mobile instead of fixed at
one location.
• Wireless technology enables a many industries to shift toward an
increasingly mobile workforce,
• whether they are in meetings or working on a factory floor or conducting
research
Increased reliability:
• The most common source of network problems is
• the failure or damage of network cables
• due to environment conditions or erosion of metallic conductors.
• A cable splice that is done incorrectly can cause unexplainable errors
and is very difficult to identify.
• Using wireless technology not only eliminates these types of cable
failures,
• but also increases the overall reliability of the network.
Ease of Installation:
• Wireless communications and networks make it easier for
• any office to be modified with new cubicles or furniture,
• without worrying about providing network connectivity through cables.
• There is no need to first consider the location of the computer jack in
the wall when relocating furniture.
• Instead, the focus can be on creating the most effective work
environment without any delay and hassles.
• The time required to install network cabling may take
• days or even weeks to complete,
• thereby disrupting the whole work.
• Using a wireless LAN eliminates such disruption.
Rapid Disaster Recovery:
• Accidents may happen due to
• fires, tornados, and floods at any possible location, and
• that too without any prior warning.
• Any organization that is not prepared to recover from such natural
disasters will find itself quickly out of business.
• Since the computer network is a vital part of the daily operations of a
business,
• the ability to have the network up and immediately working after a disaster is
critical.
• A documented disaster recovery plan is a must.
Lower Cost:
• It will eliminating the need to install cabling and using wireless
communications results in significant cost savings.
• Installing network cabling in older buildings can be an extremely
difficult, slow and costly task.
Disadvantages
• Radio Signal Interference:
• Signals from other wireless devices can disrupt its radio transmission, or
• a wireless device may itself be a source of interference for other wireless devices.
• For example,
• several commonly used office wireless devices such as cordless telephones,
• microwave ovens,
• elevator motors, and
• other heavy electrical manufacturing machines,
• transmit radio signals that may interfere with a wireless LAN operation.
• These may cause errors to occur in the transmission between a wireless
device and an access Point.
• Similarly, Bluetooth and WLAN devices both operate in the same radio
frequency,
• potentially resulting in interference between such devices.
Security:
• A Wireless communication device transmits radio signals over a wide open
area, and
• hence security becomes a major concern,
• It is possible for an intruder with a notebook computer and wireless NIC to
intercept the signals from a nearby wireless network.
• Because much of business network traffic may contain sensitive
information,
• this becomes a serious concern for many users.
• Some wireless technologies can provide added levels of security with
authorization features prior to gaining access to the network.
• Network administrators can also limit access for approved wireless devices
only.
• As further protection,
• data transmitted between the wireless device and the access point can also be
encrypted in such a way that
• only the intended recipient can decode the message.
Health Hazards:
• High Power levels of RF energy can produce biological damage.
• However, it is not yet established accurately as to how much levels of RF can cause
adverse health effects.
• But continuous radiations even at lower levels can be harmful to sensitive body organs.
• Radio transmitters in wireless communications devices emit radio frequency (RF) energy.
• Typically, these wireless devices emit low levels of RF while being used.
• Although some research has been done to address these issues,
• no clear facts of the biological effects of this type of radiations have emerged to date.
• The safety of cordless phone,
• which have a base unit connected to the telephone wiring in a house and which operate at far
lower power levels and frequencies, has never been questioned.
• It is always wise to be aware of the health concerns and to monitor ongoing scientific
research,
• even though the available science does not conclude either way about the safety of wireless
mobile devices.
Early Wireless Transmitter
Contd……