Mobile phones are now such an everyday feature of life throughout the world that in total they far outnumber the population of fixed telephone lines. For many, the mobile phone is the preferred means of communication. Perhaps more significantly, the mobile phone instrument is usually a smart device which enables voice, video and data services and applications to be presented together with touchscreen human interaction. The mobile networks therefore need to convey both voice and data content. This chapter explains how a mobile phone system works and the relationship between mobile and fixed networks. We begin by considering the nature of a mobile system. After a simple review of how a telephone call can be carried over a radio link, we examine the various cellular mobile network systems, and conclude by looking at how the mobile and fixed networks in the future may begin to merge.

Chapter Contents:

• 9.1 Introduction
• 9.2 Characteristics of mobile networks
• 9.2.1 What is special about mobile networks?
• 9.2.2 A simplified generic model of a mobile system
• 9.3 How does radio work?
• 9.4 Cellular networks
• 9.5 Access mechanisms in cellular networks
• 9.6 The GSM system
• 9.6.1 Background to GSM
• 9.6.2 GSM system description
• 9.6.3 Location management in a GSM system
• 9.6.4 Mobile call in a GSM network
• 9.6.5 Cell hand-over and power management
• 9.6.6 GSM frame structure
• 9.7 General packet radio service
• 9.8 Third generation mobile systems
• 9.8.1 Background to 3G
• 9.8.2 Universal mobile telecommunications system
• 9.9 Fourth generation mobile systems: LTE
• 9.9.1 Background to 4G
• 9.9.2 Long-term evolution system overview
• 9.9.3 LTE user equipment
• 9.9.4 eUTRAN and eNodeB
• 9.9.5 The LTE air interface
• 9.9.6 The EPC
• 9.9.7 IP multimedia subsystem (IMS)
• 9.9.8 Circuit-switch fall back
• 9.9.9 The LTE protocol stack
• 9.9.10 LTE advanced
• 9.10 Multi-generation mobile networks
• 9.10.1 The synergies and interworking between various mobile systems in multi-generation mobile networks
• 9.10.2 Wi-Fi offload
• 9.10.3 Managing capacity and coverage in mobile networks
• 9.10.4 Fixed-mobile convergence
• 9.10.5 The fifth mobile generation (5G)
• 9.11 The wireless scene
• 9.12 Summary
• References

Inspec keywords: telephone lines; mobile handsets

Other keywords: telephone lines; cellular mobile network systems; mobile systems; mobile networks; mobile phone instrument; radio link

Subjects: Mobile radio systems