Faculty of Technology & Engineering

Programme
Mobile Networks Explained

Section 1 – Introducing Mobile Networks

• A Telecommunications Network
• Components of a Cellular Network
• Cellular Networks
  • Drivers for mobility
  • The requirements of a Mobile Telecoms network
• The market place
• Trends and Forecasts
• Regulation and Standards
• GSM and GPRS – The Global Standard
• Projecting ahead – The evolution to 3^rd Generation

Section 2 – Radio and Cellular Principles

• What is a cellular system?
• Radio characteristics
  • Analogue
  • Digital
• Spectrum – a scarce resource
  • The value of spectrum
  • Sharing the resource
    • FDMA
    • TDMA
    • FDMA/TDMA
    • CDMA and W-CDMA
• Maintaining the call whilst mobile
  • Handover
• Planning the network
  • Technical
  • Costs
  • The roll-out

Section 3 -  The User Experience (Services, Applications and Handsets)

• What are services?
• Who provides them?
• What is their value
  • To the operator?
  • To the user?
• How do we pay?
• Services – a time line
• The next step – Personalised, Location-based, High value, More-capable services
• Example services
  • Messaging
  • Ticketing/vending
  • Vehicular
  • Multimedia information
• Content
  • WAP
  • XHTML
  • i-Mode
• Accessing the services
  • A Virtual Home Environment?
• The requirements for User Devices
• The user interface
• Forms and Form Factors
• Design considerations – Size, Functionality, Display, and Power considerations
• Multi-band and multi – system handsets
• Future devices
• Other technologies
  • Bluetooth
  • Wireless LAN
• Selling the handset
• Current Handsets and capabilities
• Exercise – an Island Telco (Choosing the strategy and access scheme)

Section 4 – the GSM and GPRS Network Infrastructure

• The network – what does it do?
• Circuit or packet switched?
• The Core Network
• Switches and routers
  • Circuit Switched
  • Packet Switched
  • Signalling – SS7
• Controlling the network
  • Mobility
  • HLR, VLR, EIR and AuC
  • Services – IN and CAMEL
• The Radio Network
• Radio Elements
  • Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
  • Base Station Controller (BSC)
  • The Transcoder and Rate Adaption Unit (TRAU)
• Evolution to 3rd Generation
  • The Core Network
  • EDGE
  • UMTS and W-CDMA
  • HSDPA
• IP Network Infrastructure
• IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
• Convergence and the evolving network
• Exercise – an Island Telco (Designing the Network)

Section 5 – Procedures and Operation

• Identities
• Location and Routing Areas
• Procedures
  • At switch-on
  • Finding the network
  • The Location update
  • Making & receiving a call
  • Supplementary service examples
  • GPRS RA Update
• Establishing the session (MM and PDP Contexts)

Section 6 – Network Building Blocks

• Transmission – Connecting the network together
  • PDH
  • SDH
  • DWDM
  • Leased Lines
• Transport and switching technologies
  • ATM
  • IP
  • Frame Relay
• Signalling and Control
  • SS7
• Operations and maintenance
• Exercise – an Island Telco (Building the infrastructure)

Section 7 – Supporting Systems

• Messaging Systems
  • SMS
  • MMS
• Voicemail
• Location Based Services
• Access to Content
• IN and CAMEL
• Open Service Access
• The Operational Support System (OSS) and Business Support System (BSS)
• Billing Systems in the Mobile Environment
• Exercise – an Island Telco (Operating Profitably)

Section 8 – a Typical Network – Bringing it all Together

Reviewing the operator / network model, including:

• Infrastructure
  • Architecture, Vendors
• Branding
• Services and Applications – Strategies
• Data access mechanisms
  • Circuit switched, GPRS
• Content
  • Portals & Content types
• Evolution Strategies – GSM with GPRS, UMTS
  • (This section is used to review the exercises and discussions and builds on previous sections)