Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) mobile
telecommunications technologies, which is also being developed into a 4G technology. The first deployment of
the UMTS is the release99 (R99) architecture. It is specified by 3GPP and is part of the global ITU IMT-2000
standard. The most common form of UMTS uses W-CDMA (IMT Direct Spread) as the underlying air interface
but the system also covers TD-CDMA and TD-SCDMA (both IMT CDMA TDD). Being a complete network
system, UMTS also covers the radio access network (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, or UTRAN) and
the core network (Mobile Application Part, or MAP), as well as authentication of users via USIM cards
(Subscriber Identity Module).

Unlike EDGE (IMT Single-Carrier, based on GSM) and CDMA2000 (IMT Multi-Carrier), UMTS requires new
base stations and new frequency allocations. However, it is closely related to GSM/EDGE as it borrows and
builds upon concepts from GSM. Further, most UMTS handsets also support GSM, allowing seamless dual-
mode operation. Therefore, UMTS is sometimes marketed as 3GSM, emphasizing the close relationship with
GSM and differentiating it from competing technologies.

The name UMTS, introduced by ETSI, is usually used in Europe. Outside of Europe, the system is also known
by other names such as FOMA[1] or W-CDMA.[nb 1][1] In marketing, it is often referred to as 3G or 3G+.

Features

UMTS, using 3GPP, supports maximum theoretical data transfer rates of 42 Mbit/s (with HSPA+),[3] although at
the moment users in deployed networks can expect a transfer rate of up to 384 kbit/s for R99 handsets, and 7.2
Mbit/s for HSDPA handsets in the downlink connection. This is still much greater than the 9.6 kbit/s of a single
GSM error-corrected circuit switched data channel or multiple 9.6 kbit/s channels in HSCSD (14.4 kbit/s for
CDMAOne), and—in competition to other network technologies such as CDMA2000, PHS or WLAN—offers
access to the World Wide Web and other data services on mobile devices.
Precursors to 3G are 2G mobile telephony systems, such as GSM, IS-95, PDC, CDMA PHS and other 2G
technologies deployed in different countries. In the case of GSM, there is an evolution path from 2G, to GPRS,
also known as 2.5G. GPRS supports a much better data rate (up to a theoretical maximum of 140.8 kbit/s, though
typical rates are closer to 56 kbit/s) and is packet switched rather than connection oriented (circuit switched). It is
deployed in many places where GSM is used. E-GPRS, or EDGE, is a further evolution of GPRS and is based on
more modern coding schemes. With EDGE the actual packet data rates can reach around 180 kbit/s (effective).
EDGE systems are often referred as "2.75G Systems".

Since 2006, UMTS networks in many countries have been or are in the process of being upgraded with High
Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), sometimes known as 3.5G. Currently, HSDPA enables downlink
transfer speeds of up to 21 Mbit/s. Work is also progressing on improving the uplink transfer speed with the
High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA). Longer term, the 3GPP Long Term Evolution project plans to
move UMTS to 4G speeds of 100 Mbit/s down and 50 Mbit/s up, using a next generation air interface technology
based upon Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing.

The first national consumer UMTS networks launched in 2002 with a heavy emphasis on telco-provided mobile
applications such as mobile TV and video calling. The high data speeds of UMTS are now most often utilised for
Internet access: experience in Japan and elsewhere has shown that user demand for video calls is not high, and
telco-provided audio/video content has declined in popularity in favour of high-speed access to the World Wide
Web - either directly on a handset or connected to a computer via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infrared or USB.

Technology

UMTS combines three different air interfaces, GSM's Mobile Application Part (MAP) core, and the GSM family
of speech codecs.

Air interfaces

UMTS provides several different terrestrial air interfaces, called UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA).[4]
All air interface options are part of ITU's IMT-2000. In the currently most popular variant for cellular mobile
telephones, W-CDMA (IMT Direct Spread) is used.

Please note that the terms W-CDMA, TD-CDMA and TD-SCDMA are misleading. While they suggest covering
just a channel access method (namely a variant of CDMA), they are actually the common names for the whole
air interface standards.[5]

Non-terrestrial radio access networks are currently under research.

W-CDMA (UTRA-FDD)
Main article: W-CDMA (UMTS)
UMTS transmitter on the roof of a building

W-CDMA uses the DS-CDMA channel access method with a pair of 5 MHz channels. In contrast, the
competing CDMA2000 system uses one or more arbitrary 1.25 MHz channels for each direction of
communication. W-CDMA systems are widely criticized for their large spectrum usage, which has delayed
deployment in countries that acted relatively slowly in allocating new frequencies specifically for 3G services
(such as the United States).

The specific frequency bands originally defined by the UMTS standard are 1885–2025 MHz for the mobile-to-
base (uplink) and 2110–2200 MHz for the base-to-mobile (downlink). In the US, 1710–1755 MHz and 2110–
2155 MHz will be used instead, as the 1900 MHz band was already used.[6] While UMTS2100 is the most
widely-deployed UMTS band, some countries' UMTS operators use the 850 MHz and/or 1900 MHz bands
(independently, meaning uplink and downlink are within the same band), notably in the US by AT&T Mobility,
New Zealand by Telecom New Zealand on the XT Mobile Network and in Australia by Telstra on the Next G
network.

W-CDMA is a part of IMT-2000 as IMT Direct Spread.

Direct-sequence spread spectrum

In telecommunications, direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) is a modulation technique. As with other
spread spectrum technologies, the transmitted signal takes up more bandwidth than the information
signal that is being modulated. The name 'spread spectrum' comes from the fact that the carrier
signals occur over the full bandwidth (spectrum) of a device's transmitting frequency.

Features

1. DSSS phase-modulates a sine wave pseudorandomly with a continuous string of

pseudonoise (PN) code symbols called "chips", each of which has a much shorter duration
than an information bit. That is, each information bit is modulated by a sequence of much
faster chips. Therefore, the chip rate is much higher than the information signal bit rate.
2. DSSS uses a signal structure in which the sequence of chips produced by the transmitter is
known a priori by the receiver. The receiver can then use the same PN sequence to
counteract the effect of the PN sequence on the received signal in order to reconstruct the
information signal.
Transmission method

Direct-sequence spread-spectrum transmissions multiply the data being transmitted by a "noise" signal. This
noise signal is a pseudorandom sequence of 1 and −1 values, at a frequency much higher than that of the original
signal, thereby spreading the energy of the original signal into a much wider band.

The resulting signal resembles white noise, like an audio recording of "static". However, this noise-like signal
can be used to exactly reconstruct the original data at the receiving end, by multiplying it by the same
pseudorandom sequence (because 1 × 1 = 1, and −1 × −1 = 1). This process, known as "de-spreading",
mathematically constitutes a correlation of the transmitted PN sequence with the PN sequence that the receiver
believes the transmitter is using.

For de-spreading to work correctly, the transmit and receive sequences must be synchronized. This requires the
receiver to synchronize its sequence with the transmitter's sequence via some sort of timing search process.
However, this apparent drawback can be a significant benefit: if the sequences of multiple transmitters are
synchronized with each other, the relative synchronizations the receiver must make between them can be used to
determine relative timing, which, in turn, can be used to calculate the receiver's position if the transmitters'
positions are known. This is the basis for many satellite navigation systems.

The resulting effect of enhancing signal to noise ratio on the channel is called process gain. This effect can be
made larger by employing a longer PN sequence and more chips per bit, but physical devices used to generate
the PN sequence impose practical limits on attainable processing gain.

If an undesired transmitter transmits on the same channel but with a different PN sequence (or no sequence at
all), the de-spreading process results in no processing gain for that signal. This effect is the basis for the code
division multiple access (CDMA) property of DSSS, which allows multiple transmitters to share the same
channel within the limits of the cross-correlation properties of their PN sequences.

As this description suggests, a plot of the transmitted waveform has a roughly bell-shaped envelope centered on
the carrier frequency, just like a normal AM transmission, except that the added noise causes the distribution to
be much wider than that of an AM transmission.

In contrast, frequency-hopping spread spectrum pseudo-randomly re-tunes the carrier, instead of adding pseudo-
random noise to the data, which results in a uniform frequency distribution whose width is determined by the
output range of the pseudo-random number generator.

Benefits

• Resistance to intended or unintended jamming

• Sharing of a single channel among multiple users
• Reduced signal/background-noise level hampers interception (stealth)
• Determination of relative timing between transmitter and receiver

Uses

• The United States GPS and European Galileo satellite navigation systems
• DS-CDMA (Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access) is a multiple access scheme
based on DSSS, by spreading the signals from/to different users with different codes. It is
the most widely used type of CDMA.
• Cordless phones operating in the 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands
 • IEEE 802.11b 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, and its predecessor 802.11-1999. (Their successor 802.11g
uses OFDM instead)
• Automatic meter reading
• IEEE 802.15.4 (used e.g. as PHY and MAC layer for ZigBee)
• Model Radio Controlled Vehicles The company Hitec use this modulation in their Aggressor
SRX Pro Transmitter and Receiver Modules

UTRA-TDD HCR
Main article: UTRA-TDD HCR

UMTS-TDD's air interfaces that use the TD-CDMA channel access technique are standardized as UTRA-TDD
HCR, which uses increments of 5 MHz of spectrum, each slice divided into 10ms frames containing fifteen time
slots (1500 per second)[7]. The time slots (TS) are allocated in fixed percentage for downlink and uplink. TD-
CDMA is used to multiplex streams from or to multiple transceivers. Unlike W-CDMA, it does not need separate
frequency bands for up- and downstream, allowing deployment in tight frequency bands.

TD-CDMA is a part of IMT-2000 as IMT CDMA TDD.

TD-SCDMA (UTRA-TDD 1.28 Mcps Low Chip Rate)

Main article: TD-SCDMA

TD-SCDMA uses the TDMA channel access method combined with an adaptive synchronous CDMA
component [8] on 1.6 MHz slices of spectrum, allowing deployment in even tighter frequency bands than TD-
CDMA. However, the main incentive for development of this Chinese-developed standard was avoiding or
reducing the license fees that have to be paid to non-Chinese patent owners. Unlike the other air interfaces, TD-
SCDMA was not part of UMTS from the beginning but has been added in Release 4 of the specification.

Like TD-CDMA, it is known as IMT CDMA TDD within IMT-2000.

Radio access network

Main article: UTRAN

UMTS also specifies the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), which is composed of multiple
base stations, possibly using different terrestrial air interface standards and frequency bands.

UMTS and GSM/EDGE can share a Core Network (CN), making UTRAN an alternative radio access network to
GERAN (GSM/EDGE RAN), and allowing (mostly) transparent switching between the RANs according to
available coverage and service needs. Because of that, UMTS' and GSM/EDGE's radio access networks are
sometimes collectively referred to as UTRAN/GERAN.

UMTS networks are often combined with GSM/EDGE, the later of which is also a part of IMT-2000.

The UE (User Equipment) interface of the RAN (Radio Access Network) primarily consists of RRC (Radio
Resource Control), RLC (Radio Link Control) and MAC (Media Access Control) protocols. RRC protocol
handles connection establishment, measurements, radio bearer services, security and handover decisions. RLC
protocol primarily divides into three Modes - Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledge Mode (UM),
Acknowledge Mode (AM). The functionality of AM entity resembles TCP operation where as UM operation
resembles UDP operation. In TM mode, data will be sent to lower layers without adding any header to SDU of
higher layers. MAC handles the scheduling of data on air interface depending on higher layer (RRC) configured
parameters.

Set of properties related to data transmission is called Radio Bearer (RB). This set of properties will decide the
maximum allowed data in a TTI (Transmission Time Interval). RB includes RLC information and RB mapping.
RB mapping decides the mapping between RB<->logical channel<->transport channel. Signaling message will
be send on Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and data packets (either CS or PS) will be sent on data RBs. RRC
and NAS messages will go on SRBs.

Security includes two procedures: integrity and ciphering. Integrity validates the resource of message and also
make sure that no one (third/unknown party) on radio interface has not modified message. Ciphering make sure
that no one listens your data on air interface. Both integrity and ciphering will be applied for SRBs where as only
ciphering will be applied for data RBs.

Core network
Main article: Mobile Application Part

With Mobile Application Part, UMTS uses the same core network standard as GSM/EDGE. This allows a
simple migration for existing GSM operators. However, the migration path to UMTS is still costly: while much
of the core infrastructure is shared with GSM, the cost of obtaining new spectrum licenses and overlaying UMTS
at existing towers is high.

The CN can be connected to various backbone networks like the Internet, ISDN. UMTS (and GERAN) include
the three lowest layers of OSI model. The network layer (OSI 3) includes the Radio Resource Management
protocol (RRM) that manages the bearer channels between the mobile terminals and the fixed network, including
the handovers. abc

Spectrum allocation
Main article: UMTS frequency bands

Over 130 licenses have already been awarded to operators worldwide (as of December 2004), specifying W-
CDMA radio access technology that builds on GSM. In Europe, the license process occurred at the tail end of the
technology bubble, and the auction mechanisms for allocation set up in some countries resulted in some
extremely high prices being paid for the original 2100 MHz licenses, notably in the UK and Germany. In
Germany, bidders paid a total €50.8 billion for six licenses, two of which were subsequently abandoned and
written off by their purchasers (Mobilcom and the Sonera/Telefonica consortium). It has been suggested that
these huge license fees have the character of a very large tax paid on future income expected many years down
the road. In any event, the high prices paid put some European telecom operators close to bankruptcy (most
notably KPN). Over the last few years some operators have written off some or all of the license costs. Between
2007..2009 all three Finnish carriers begun to use 900 MHz UMTS in a shared arrangement with its surrounding
2G GSM base stations for rural area coverage, a trend that is expected to expand over Europe in the next 1–3
years.

The 2100 MHz UMTS spectrum allocated in Europe is already used in North America. The 1900 MHz range is
used for 2G (PCS) services, and 2100 MHz range is used for satellite communications. Regulators have,
however, freed up some of the 2100 MHz range for 3G services, together with the 1700 MHz for the uplink.
UMTS operators in North America who want to implement a European style 2100/1900 MHz system will have
to share spectrum with existing 2G services in the 1900 MHz band.
AT&T Wireless launched UMTS services in the United States by the end of 2004 strictly using the existing
1900 MHz spectrum allocated for 2G PCS services. Cingular acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 and has since
then launched UMTS in select US cities. Cingular renamed itself AT&T and is rolling out some cities with a
UMTS network at 850 MHz to enhance its existing UMTS network at 1900 MHz and now offers subscribers a
number of UMTS 850/1900 phones.

T-Mobile's rollout of UMTS in the US will focus on the 2100/1700 MHz bands.

In India BSNL has started its 3G services since October 2009 beginning with the larger cities and then expanding
over to smaller cities. The 850 MHz and 900 MHz bands provide greater coverage compared to equivalent
1700/1900/2100 MHz networks, and are best suited to regional areas where greater distances separate subscriber
and base station.

Carriers in South America are now also rolling out 850 MHz networks.

Interoperability and global roaming

UMTS phones (and data cards) are highly portable—they have been designed to roam easily onto other UMTS
networks (if the providers have roaming agreements in place). In addition, almost all UMTS phones are
UMTS/GSM dual-mode devices, so if a UMTS phone travels outside of UMTS coverage during a call the call
may be transparently handed off to available GSM coverage. Roaming charges are usually significantly higher
than regular usage charges.

Most UMTS licensees consider ubiquitous, transparent global roaming an important issue. To enable a high
degree of interoperability, UMTS phones usually support several different frequencies in addition to their GSM
fallback. Different countries support different UMTS frequency bands – Europe initially used 2100 MHz while
the most carriers in the USA use 850Mhz and 1900Mhz. T-mobile has launched a network in the US operating at
1700 MHz (uplink) /2100 MHz (downlink), and these bands are also being adopted elsewhere in the Americas. A
UMTS phone and network must support a common frequency to work together. Because of the frequencies used,
early models of UMTS phones designated for the United States will likely not be operable elsewhere and vice
versa. There are now 11 different frequency combinations used around the world—including frequencies
formerly used solely for 2G services.

UMTS phones can use a Universal Subscriber Identity Module, USIM (based on GSM's SIM) and also work
(including UMTS services) with GSM SIM cards. This is a global standard of identification, and enables a
network to identify and authenticate the (U)SIM in the phone. Roaming agreements between networks allow for
calls to a customer to be redirected to them while roaming and determine the services (and prices) available to
the user. In addition to user subscriber information and authentication information, the (U)SIM provides storage
space for phone book contact. Handsets can store their data on their own memory or on the (U)SIM card (which
is usually more limited in its phone book contact information). A (U)SIM can be moved to another UMTS or
GSM phone, and the phone will take on the user details of the (U)SIM, meaning it is the (U)SIM (not the phone)
which determines the phone number of the phone and the billing for calls made from the phone.

Japan was the first country to adopt 3G technologies, and since they had not used GSM previously they had no
need to build GSM compatibility into their handsets and their 3G handsets were smaller than those available
elsewhere. In 2002, NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 3G network was the first commercial UMTS network—using a pre-
release specification[9], it was initially incompatible with the UMTS standard at the radio level but used standard
USIM cards, meaning USIM card based roaming was possible (transferring the USIM card into a UMTS or GSM
phone when travelling). Both NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank Mobile (which launched 3G in December 2002) now
use standard UMTS.
Handsets and modems

T-Mobile UMTS PC Card modem The Nokia 6650, an early UMTS handset

All of the major 2G phone manufacturers (that are still in business) are now manufacturers of 3G phones. The
early 3G handsets and modems were specific to the frequencies required in their country, which meant they
could only roam to other countries on the same 3G frequency (though they can fall back to the older GSM
standard). Canada and USA have a common share of frequencies, as do most European countries. The article
UMTS frequency bands is an overview of UMTS network frequencies around the world.

Using a cellular router, PCMCIA or USB card, customers are able to access 3G broadband services, regardless of
their choice of computer (such as a tablet PC or a PDA). Some software installs itself from the modem, so that in
some cases absolutely no knowledge of technology is required to get online in moments. Using a phone that
supports 3G and Bluetooth 2.0, multiple Bluetooth-capable laptops can be connected to the Internet. Some
smartphones can also act as a mobile WLAN access point.

There are almost no 3G phones or modems available supporting all 3G frequencies

(UMTS850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz). However, many phones are offering more than one band which still
enables extensive roaming. For example, a tri-band chipset operating on 850/1900/2100 MHz, such as that found
in Apple's iPhone, allows usage in the majority of countries where UMTS-FDD is deployed.

Other competing standards

The main competitor to UMTS is CDMA2000 (IMT-MC), which is developed by the 3GPP2. Unlike UMTS,
CDMA2000 is an evolutionary upgrade to an existing 2G standard, cdmaOne, and is able to operate within the
same frequency allocations. This and CDMA2000's narrower bandwidth requirements make it easier to deploy in
existing spectra. In some, but not all, cases, existing GSM operators only have enough spectrum to implement
either UMTS or GSM, not both. For example, in the US D, E, and F PCS spectrum blocks, the amount of
spectrum available is 5 MHz in each direction. A standard UMTS system would saturate that spectrum. Where
CDMA2000 is deployed, it usually co-exists with UMTS. In many markets however, the co-existence issue is of
little relevance, as legislative hurdles exist to co-deploying two standards in the same licensed slice of spectrum.

Another competitor to UMTS is EDGE (IMT-SC), which is an evolutionary upgrade to the 2G GSM system,
leveraging existing GSM spectrums. It is also much easier, quicker, and considerably cheaper for wireless
carriers to "bolt-on" EDGE functionality by upgrading their existing GSM transmission hardware to support
EDGE than having to install almost all brand-new equipment to deliver UMTS. However, being developed by
3GPP just as UMTS, EDGE is not a true competitor. Instead, it is used as a temporary solution preceding UMTS
roll-out or as a complement for rural areas. This is facilitated by the fact that GSM/EDGE and UMTS
specification are jointly developed and rely on the same core network, allowing dual-mode operation including
vertical handovers.
China's TD-SCDMA standard is often seen as a competitor, too. TD-SCDMA has been added to UMTS' Release
4 as UTRA-TDD 1.28 Mcps Low Chip Rate (UTRA-TDD LCR). Unlike TD-CDMA (UTRA-TDD 3.84 Mcps
High Chip Rate, UTRA-TDD HCR) which complements W-CDMA (UTRA-FDD), it is suitable for both micro
and macro cells. However, the lack of vendors' support is preventing it from being a real competitor.

While DECT is technically capable of competing with UMTS and other cellular networks in densely-populated,
urban areas, it has only been deployed for domestic cordless phones and private in-house networks.

All of these competitors have been accepted by ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards, along with
UMTS-FDD.

On the Internet access side, competing systems include WiMAX and Flash-OFDM.

Migrating from GPRS to UMTS

From GPRS network, the following network elements can be reused:

• Home Location Register (HLR)

• Visitor Location Register (VLR)
• Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
• Mobile Switching Center (MSC) (vendor dependent)
• Authentication Center (AUC)
• Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) (vendor dependent)
• Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)

From Global Service for Mobile (GSM) communication radio network, the following elements cannot be reused

• Base station controller (BSC)

• Base transceiver station (BTS)

They can remain in the network and be used in dual network operation where 2G and 3G networks co-exist while
network migration and new 3G terminals become available for use in the network.

The UMTS network introduces new network elements that function as specified by 3GPP:

• Node B (base transceiver station)

• Radio Network Controller (RNC)
• Media Gateway (MGW)

The functionality of MSC and SGSN changes when going to UMTS. In a GSM system the MSC handles all the
circuit switched operations like connecting A- and B-subscriber through the network. SGSN handles all the
packet switched operations and transfers all the data in the network. In UMTS the Media gateway (MGW) take
care of all data transfer in both circuit and packet switched networks. MSC and SGSN control MGW operations.
The nodes are renamed to MSC-server and GSN-server.