CELLULAR MOBILE COMMUNICATION

2 marks Questions with Answers

UNIT I
1. Write some examples for wireless communication system.
Cordless phones, handheld walkie-talkies, pagers, mobiles, remote controllers For home
entertainment.
2. What is base station?
A fixed station in mobile radio system used for radio communication with mobiles. It has
transmitter and receiver section. It is located at the centre of coverage area.
3. What is MSC?
Mobile switching centre coordinates the routing of calls in large service area. It connects the
base station and mobiles to PSTN. It is also called as MTSO (Mobile telephone switching office.
4. What do you mean by forward and reverse channel?
Forward channel is a radio channel used for transmission of information from base station to
mobile. Reverse channel is a radio channel used for transmission from mobile to base station.
5. What is the function of control channel? What are the types?
Control channel is used for transmission of call setup, call request, call initiation & Control.
Types are forward control channel, reverse control channel.
6. Define cell
Each cellular base station is allocated to a group of radio channels to be used within a small
geographic area called as cell.
7. What is foot print?
Actual radio coverage of a cell is called as footprint. It is determined from thefield
measurements or propagation prediction models.
8. What is channel assignment? What are the types?
For efficient utilization of radio spectrum a frequency reuse scheme with increasing capacity
and minimizing interference is required. For this channel assignment is used
Types: Fixed channel assignment, dynamic channel assignment.
9. What is fixed channel assignment?
If the channels in each cell are allocated to the users within the cell, it will be called as fixed
channel assignment. If all channels are occupied, the call will be blocked.
10. What is dynamic channel assignment?
 If the voice channels are not allocated permanently in a cell, it will be called as Dynamic
channel assignment. In this assignment, channels are dynamically allocated to users by the MSC.
11. What is hand off?
When a mobile moves into a different cell while conversation in progress, the MSC
automatically transfers the call from one cell to other cell without any interference. This is called as
hand off.
12. Define dwell time.
The time over which the call may be maintained within a cell without handoff is called as
dwell time. This time is governed by factors such as propagation, interference, distance between
subscribers and base station.
13. What is soft handoff?
In CDMA system, MSC selects received signals from a variety of base stations with the help of
software. This is called as soft handoff.

14. What is co channel interference?

The interference between the signals from co channel cells is called as co cannel interference.

15. Define co-channel reuse ratio.

It is define as the ratio between the distance between the centers of nearest co channel cells to the
radius of the cell. Q = D/R

16. Define adjacent channel interference.

Interference resulting from signals which are adjacent in frequency to the desired signal is called
adjacent channel interference.

17. Define Grade of service.

It is defined as the measure of the ability of a user to access a trunked system during the busiest hour.

18. What is blocked call clear system(BCC)?

In a system, a user is blocked without access by a system when no channels areavailable in the system.
The call blocked by the system is cleared and the user should tryagain .This is called BCC system.

19. What is blocked call delay system?

If a channel is not available immediately, the call request may be delayed until a channel becomes
available.

20. Define cell splitting.

Cell splitting is the process of subdividing congested cells into smaller cells eachwith its own base
stations and a corresponding reduction in antenna height and transmitter power. It increases the
capacity of cellular system.

21. What is sectoring?

Sectoring s a technique for decreasing co-channel interference and thus increasing the system
performance by using directional antennas.

UNIT II
1.Define adaptive channel allocation
Adaptive channel allocation in TDMA eliminates system planning since it is not required
to plan frequencies for cells.

2.What is narrow band system?

In narrow band multiple access system, the variable radio spectrum is divided into a large
number of narrowband channels. The channels are operated using FDD.

3. Define SDMA
Space division multiple access controls the radiated energy for each user in space. It
Serves different users by using spot beam antennas.

4. State some of the features of CDMA

* Users of CDMA share the same frequency.
* CDMA has soft capacity limit.
* Multipath fading may be substantially reduced
* Channel data rates are very high

5. Define efficiency of TDMA

The efficiency of a TDMA is a measure of the percentage of transmitted data that
contains information as opposed to providing overhead for the access scheme.

6. What are the features of TDMA?

* TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users, where each user makes use
of non overlapping time slots.
* Data transmission occurs in bursts.
*Handoff process is much simpler
*Duplexers are not required, since transmission and reception occurs at different time
slots.

7.What is time division multiplexing?

TDD uses time instead of frequency to provide both a forward and reverse link. Multiple
users share a single radio channel by taking turns in the time domain.

8.What are the features of FDMA?

* FDMA channel carries only one phone circuit at a time
* The bandwidth of FDMA channels are relatively narrow as each channel supports only
one circuit per carrier.
9.Why the second generation was developed?
The second – generation systems have been developed to provide higher quality signals,
higher data rate for support of digital services and greater capacity.

10.What are second generation are available?

i)Global System Mobile (GSM) in Europe
ii)Interim standard
iii)Pacific Digital Cellular
iv)Interim standard-95
11.Write advantages 2G over 1G.
i)Natural integration with the evolving digital wireless network
ii)Higher data rate
iii) Flexibility for capacity expansion

12.What are service offered by GSM?

i) Telephone services
 ii) Bearer or Data services
iii) Supplementary services

13.What is the function of NSS in GSM?

The NSS managing the switching function of the systems and allows the MSCs
to communicate with other networks such as PSTN and ISDN.

14.Define Abis Interface.

The interface which connects a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) to a Base Station
Controller (BSC) is called the Abis Interface.

15.Define A Interface.
The interface between a BSC and a MSC is called the A interface , which is standardized
within GSM

16.What is the function of VLR?

The VLR is a database which temporarily stores the IMSI and customer information for
each roaming subscriber who is visiting the coverage area of a particular MSC.

17.What are the basic channels available in GSM?

i)Traffic Channels (TCHs)
ii)Control Channels (CCHs)

18.Define the bursts.

Data is transmitted small portions called bursts.

19.Write types of TCH channels of GSM?

i)Full-rate TCH
ii)Half-rate TCH

20.What is the need guard period(space)?

The guard period is used to avoid overlapping with other bursts due to different path
delays and to give the transmitter time to turn on and off.
 UNIT - III
1. What are subsystems in GSM system?
¾ Radio subsystem (RSS)
¾ Network & Switching subsystem (NSS)
¾ Operation subsystem (OSS)
2. What are the control channel groups in GSM?
The control channel groups in GSM are:
¾ Broadcast control channel (BCCH)
¾ Common control channel (CCCH)
¾ Dedicated control channel (DCCH)
3. What are the four types of handover available in GSM?
¾ Intra cell Handover
¾ Inter cell Intra BSC Handover
¾ Inter BSC Intra MSC handover
¾ Inter MSC Handover
4. Give the information’s in SIM?
¾ Card type, serial no, list of subscribed services
¾ Personal Identity Number(PIN)
¾ Pin Unlocking Key(PUK)
¾ An Authentication Key(KI)
5. What is the frequency range of uplink and downlink in GSM network?
¾ The frequency range of uplink in GSM network is 890-960 MHz
¾ The frequency range of downlink in GSM network is 935-960 MHz
6. What are the security services offered by GSM?
The security services offered by GSM are:
¾ Access control and authentication.
¾ Confidentiality.
¾ Anonymity.
7. What is authentication centre (AuC)?
As the radio interface and mobile stations are particularly vulnerable a separate AuC has been
defined to protect user identity and data transmission. The AuC contains the algorithms for
authentication as well as the keys for encryption and generates the values needed for user
authentication in the HLR. The AuC may, in fact, be situated in a special protected part of the HLR.
8. What is Network and Switching subsystem?
The heart of the GSM is formed by the Network and Switching System (NSS). NSS consists of
the following switches and databases:
¾ Mobile Services switching Center (MSC)
¾ Home Location register (HLR)
¾ Visitor Location Register (VLR)
9. What are the services provided by supplementary services?
¾ User identification
¾ Call redirection
¾ Call forwarding
¾ Closed user groups
¾ Multiparty Communication
10. What are types of Handover?
¾ Intra-cell handover
¾ Inter-cell, intra- BSC handover
¾ Inter-BSC, intra-MSC handover
¾ Inter MSC handover
11. What are the reasons for delays in GSM for packet data traffic?
Collisions only are possible in GSM with a connection establishment. A slotted ALOHA
mechanism is used to get access to the control channel by which the base station is told about the
connection establishment attempt. After connection establishment, a designated channel is installed for
the transmission.
12. If 8 speech channels are supported on a single radio channel, and if no guard band is
assumed, what is the number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in GSM?
1000 users.
13. What is meant by beacon?
A beacon contains a timestamp and other management information used for power
management and roaming. e.g., identification of the base station subsystem (BSS)
14. List out the numbers needed to locate an MS and to address the MS.
The numbers needed to locate an MS and to address the MS are:
 ¾ Mobile station international ISDN number (MSISDN)
¾ International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI)
¾ Temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI)
¾ Mobile station roaming number (MSRN)
15. What is meant by GPRS?
The General Packet Radio Service provides packet mode transfer for applications that exhibit
traffic patterns such as frequent transmission of small volumes.
16. What is meant by GGSN?
GGSN is Gateway GPRS Support Node. It is the inter-working unit between the GPRS
network and external packet data networks. The GGSN is connected to external networks via the Gi
interface and transfers packets to the SGSN via an IPbased GPRS backbone network.
17. What is meant by SGSN?
SGSN is Serving GPRS Support Node. It supports the MS via the Gb interface. The GSN is
connected to a BSC via frame relay.
18. What is meant by BSSGP?
BSSGP is Base Station Subsystem GPRS Protocol. It is used to convey routing and QoS-
related information between the BSS and SGSN.BSSGP does not perform error correction and works
on top of a frame relay network.
19. What do you meant by roaming?
Moving between access points is called roaming. Even wireless networks may require more
than one access point to coverall rooms. In order to provide uninterrupted service, we require roaming
when the user moves from one access point to another.
20. What is mobile routing?
Even if the location of a terminal is known to the system, it still has to route the traffic through
the network to the access point currently responsible for the wireless terminal. Each time a user moves
to a new access point, the system must reroute traffic. This is known as mobile routing.
UNIT IV
1.Why Dummy burst is used?
Dummy burst is used as filter information for unused time slots on the forward link.
2. Define burst formatting in GSM.
Burst formatting adds binary data to the ciphered blocks, in order to help
synchronization and equalization of the received signal.
102.What is the need of pilot channel?
The pilot channel is intended to provide a reference signal for all MSS within a cell
provides the phase reference for coherent demodulation.

103.What are the supervisory signals are used AMPS?

The supervisory signals are the supervisory audio tone(SAT) and signaling tone(ST).

104.What are the advantages of N-AMPS over AMPS?

N-AMPS provided three uses in a 30kHz AMPS by using FDMA and 10kHz channel and
provided three times the capacity of AMPS.

105.Define Piconet.
The simplest Bluetooth networks called piconet can have from two to eight nodes.
Piconet is a collection of Bluetooth devices which are synchronized to the same hopping
sequence.

22. What is propagation model?

Propagation models that predict the mean signal strength for an arbitrary transmitter –
receiver separation distance are useful in estimating the radio coverage area of a transmitter.

23. Define large scale propagation model?

The propagation models that characterize the signal strength over large T-R separation
distances (several hundreds or thousands of meters.

24. What is small scale model?

The propagation models that characterize the rapid fluctuations of the received signal
strength over very short travel distances (a few wavelengths) or short time duration.

25. What is free space propagation model?.

The free space propagation model is used to predict received signal strength, when
unobstructed line-of-sight path between transmitter & receiver.

26. Define EIRP.

EIRP of a transmitting system in a given direction as the transmitter power that would be
needed, with an isotropic radiator, to produce the same power density in the given direction
EIRP=PtGt
Where Pt-transmitted power in w
Gt-transmitting antenna gain

27.Explain path loss?

The path loss is defined as the difference(in dB) between the effective transmitted power
& the received power, &may or may not include the effect of the antenna gains.

28.What is intrinsic impedance& Brewster angle?

It is defined by the ratio of electric to magnetic field for a uniform plane wave in the
particular medium. The Brewster angle is the angle at which no reflection occurs in the origin.

29. What is scattering?

When a radio wave impinges on a rough surface , the reflected energy is spread out in all
directions due to scattering.

30. Define radar cross section?

Radar Cross Section of a scattering object is defined as the ratio of the power density of
the signal scattered in the direction of the receiver to the power density of the radio wave
incident upon the scattering object & has units of squares meters

31. Name some of the outdoor propagation models?

some of the commonly used outdoor propagation models are
1.Longely-Rice model
2.Durkin’s model
3.Okumura model.
32. What is the function of outdoor propagation models?
The outdoor propagation models aim to predict signal strength at a particular receiving
point or in a specific local area.

33. Define indoor propagation models?

The indoor propagation models are used to characterizing radio propagation inside the
buildings.

34. Mention some indoor propagation models?

Some indoor propagation models are
1.Long –distance path loss model
2.Ericession multiple break point model
3.Attenuation factor model.

35. Explain small scale fading?

Small scale fading is used to describe the rapid fluctuations of the amplitudes, phases, or
multipath delays of a radio signal over a short period of time or travel distance.

36. What are the factors influencing small scale fading?

Factors influencing small scale fading are
1.Speed of surrounding objects
2.Multipath propagation
3.Speed of the mobile
4.Transmission bandwidth of the signal.

37.Define Doppler shift?

The shift in received signal frequency due to motion is called the Doppler shift.

38. What flat fading?

If the mobile radio channel has a constant gain & linear phase response over a bandwidth
which is greater than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal, then the received signal will undergo flat
fading.
39. What is frequency selective fading?
If the channel possesses a constant gain & linear phase response over a bandwidth that is
smaller than the bandwidth of the transmitted signal , then the channel creates frequency
selective fading on the received signal.

40. Define fast fading channel?

The channel impulse response changes rapidly within the symbol duration. This type of a
channel is called fast fading channel.

41. Define slow fading channel?

The channel impulse response changes at a rate much slower than the transmitted
baseband signal. This type of a channel is called slow fading channel.

UNIT-IV
1. State the requirements of WAP.
¾ Interoperable
¾ Scalable
¾ Efficient
¾ Reliable
¾ Secure
2. Name the layers of WAP.
¾ Transport layer
¾ Security layer
¾ Transaction layer
¾ Session layer
¾ Application layer
3. Name some ICMP messages.
¾ Destination unreachable
¾ Parameter problem
¾ Message too big
¾ Reassembly failure
 ¾ Echo request/reply
4. What is WTP? What are its classes?
WTP stands for Wireless Transaction Protocol. It has been designed to run on very thin clients
such as mobile phones. It has three classes:
¾ Class 0: provides unreliable message transfer without any result message.
¾ Class 1: provides reliable message transfer without exactly one reliable result message.
¾ Class 2: provides reliable message transfer with exactly one reliable result message.
5. What is WSP?
The Wireless Session Protocol has been designed to operate on top of the datagram service
WDP or the transaction service WTP. It provides a shared state between a client and a server to
optimize content transfer.
6. Name some features of WSP adapted to web browsing.
¾ HTTP/1.1 functionality
¾ Exchange of session headers
¾ Push and pull data transfer
¾ Asynchronous request
7. What is WML?
The Wireless Markup Language is based on the standard HTML known from the www and on HDML.
WML is specified as an XML document type.
8. What are the features of WML?
¾ Text and Images
¾ User interaction
¾ Navigation
¾ Context Management
9. What are the advantages of WML Script over WML?
WML Script offers several capabilities not supported by WML:
¾ Validity check of user input
¾ Access to device facilities
¾ Local user interaction
¾ Extension to the device software
10. Name the libraries specified by WML Script.
¾ Lang
 ¾ Float
¾ String
¾ URL
¾ WML Browser
¾ Dialogs
11. What are the classes of libraries?
¾ Common network services
¾ Network specific services
¾ Public services
12. Name the operations performed by PAP.
Push access Protocol performs the following operations:
¾ Push submission
¾ Result notification
¾ Push cancellation
¾ Status query
¾ Client capabilities query
13. What are the components of WAP2.0?
The protocol framework of WAP2.0 consists of four components:
¾ Bearer networks
¾ Transport services
¾ Transfer services
¾ Session services
14. What is the use of congestion threshold?
The exponential growth of the congestion window in the slow start mechanism is dangerous as
it doubles the congestion window at each step. So a congestion threshold is set at which the
exponential growth stops.
15. What is image scaling?
If a page contains a true color, high-resolution picture, this picture can be called down to fewer
colors, lower resolution, or finally to only the title of the picture. The user can decide to download the
picture separately. Further one can offer clipping, zooming, or detail Studies to users if they are
interested in a part of the picture.
16. Define WAP
WAP is Wireless Application Protocol. It is the basic Objective of the WAP forum are to bring
diverse Internet content and others data service to digital cellular phones and other wireless, mobile
terminals. More ever a protocol suite should enable global wireless communication across different
wireless network technologies. All WAP forum solution must be: interoperable, scalable, efficient, and
reliable.
17. What is WML Browser?
WML Browser is a library that provides several functions typical for a browser, such as per to
go back one card or refresh to update the context of the user interface.
18. What are the features of WML?
WML includes several basic features.
i) Text and Images
ii)User Interaction
iii)Navigation
iv)Context Management
19. What are the two functions of the transport layer in the internet?
The two functions of the transport layer in the internet are check summing over user data and
multiplexing/ demultiplexing of data from applications.
20. What is called the exponential growth of the congestion window?
The senders always calculate congestion window for a window start size of the congestion
window is one segment. Sender sends one packet and waits for acknowledgement. If
acknowledgement arises it raises the level of congestion window by one. If sender sends two packets if
acknowledgement arises it raises the level of congestion window by two. This scheme raises the level
of congestion window every time the acknowledges come back, which takes roundtrip time
(RTT).This is called the exponential growth of the congestion window.
21. Advantages of I-TCP:
¾ I-TCP does not require any changes in the TCP protocol as used by the hosts in the fixed
network or other hosts in a wireless network that do not use this optimization.
¾ Without partitioning retransmission of lost packets would take place between mobile host and
correspondent host across the whole network.
 ¾ The short delay between the mobile host and foreign agent can be determined and is
independent of other traffic streams. Therefore an optimized TCP can use precise time-outs to
guarantee retransmission as fast as possible.
¾ Partitioning into two connections also allows the use of a different transport layer protocol
between the foreign agent and the mobile host or the use of compressed headers etc. The
foreign agent can act as a gateway to translate between different protocols.
22. Disadvantages of I-TCP:
¾ The loss of the end to end semantics of TCP cause problems if the foreign agent portioning the
TCP connection crashes.
¾ An_ increased handover latency is more problematic in practical use
¾ The_ foreign agent must be a trusted entity because the TCP connections end at this point.
¾
23. How does data transmission takes place?
Data transmission takes place using network adapters, fiber optics, copper wires, special
hardware for routers etc.
24. Mention two WAP service provides. Find two cell phones supporting WAP and identify
which WAP version they support.
Wireless application protocol (WAP) is a common effort of many companies and organizations
to set up a framework for wireless and mobile web access using many different transport systems. Eg.
GSM, GPRS, UMTS
25. How and why does I-TCP isolate problems on the wireless link? What are the main
drawbacks of this solution?
The loss of the end to end semantics of TCP causes problems if the foreign agent portioning
the TCP connection crashes. Increased handover latency is more problematic in practical use . The
foreign agent must be a trusted entity because the TCP connections end at this point.
26. Can the problems using TCP for mobile communication be solved by replacing TCP with
snooping TCP? Justify your answer.
Ans: yes
¾ Buffering of packets sent to the mobile host lost packets on the wireless link (both
retransmitted immediately by the mobile host or directions) will be foreign agent, respectively
(so called local retransmission)
 ¾ The foreign agent therefore snoops the packet flow and recognizes acknowledgements in both
directions, it also filters ACKs
¾ Changes of TCP only within the foreign agent
27. What are the key elements of the WAP specification?
¾ Networks and Network Bearers
¾ TCP/IP as Transport Protocol
¾ Processors
28. What are the goals of WTLS layer?
It provides the upper-level layer of WAP with a secure transport service interface that
preserves the transport service interface below it. In addition, WTLS provides an interface for
managing (e.g., creating and terminating) secure connections. It provides functionality similar to TLS
1.0 and incorporates additional features such as datagram support, optimized handshake and dynamic
key refreshing.
29. What is mean by SCPS-TP?
The set of protocols developed for space communication is known as space communications
protocol standards (SCPS),the extended TCP is called SCPS transport protocols(SCPS-TP).
30. What are Advantage and Disadvantage of Mobile TCP?
Advantage:
i. M-TCP maintains the TCP end-to-end semantic. The SH does not send any ACK itself
but forwards the ACKs from the MH.
ii. If the MH is disconnected, M_TCP avoids useless retransmissions, slow starts or breaking
connections by simply shrinking the sender’s window to 0.
iii. Since M-TCP does not buffer data in the SH as I-TCP does, it is not necessary to forward
buffers to a new SH. Lost packets will be automatically retransmitted to the new SH.
Disadvantage:
i. As the SH does not act as proxy as in I-TCP, packet loss on the wireless link due to bit errors is
propagated to the sender. M-TCP assumes low bit error rates, which is not always a valid
assumption.
ii. A modified TCP on the wireless link not only requires modification to the MH, protocol
software but also new network elements like the bandwidth manager.
 Unit V
1.Define Piconet
A Bluetooth network is called Piconet .It can have up to eight stations one of
Which is called the master and the rest are called slaves
2. What is the frequency range of Bluetooth devices?
The frequency range of Bluetooth device is 2.4 GHZ
3. What is the need of connecting devices?
To connect LANs or segments of LAN we use connecting devices. These devices
can operate in different layers of internet model.
4. Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and LMDS
Microwave wireless links can be used to create a wireless local loop. The local loop can be
thought of as the "last mile" of the telecommunication network that resides between the central office
(CO) and the individual homes and business in close proximity to the CO. An advantage of WLL
technology is that once the wireless equipment is paid for, there are no additional costs for transport
between the CO and the customer premises equipment. Many new services have been proposed and
this includes the concept of Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS), which provides broadband
telecommunication access in the local exchange
5. Compare W-CDMA and cdma2000

6. Give examples of wireless operating systems

1)Windows Consumer Electronics(WinCE) OS
2)EPOC OS. Developed by Psion
3)PalmOS. Developed by 3Com’s Palm Computing organizers
7. What is WANU in WLL?
 Wireless access network unit (WANU). Consists of several base station transceivers or radio ports
(RP), a radio port control unit (RPCU), an access manager (AM), and a home location register (HLR),
as required. WANU should provide for authentication and air interface privacy, radio resource
management, over-the-air registration of subscriber units, and so on. It may also be required to provide
operation and maintenance.

8. what is WASU in WLL?

Wireless access subscriber unit (WASU). Provides an air interface, Uwll, toward the network, and a
"traditional" Twll, toward the subscriber. This interface includes protocol conversion and transcoding,
authentication authentication functions, OAM, and signaling functions. The power supply is provided
locally. A modern function may also be required to support voice-band data so that that analog signals
such as data and fax can be transported over the air digitally and reconstructed by the IWF in the
network.
9. What is switching function in WLL?
Switching function (SF). Associated with a switch that can be a digital switch with or without
Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) capability, an ISDN switch, or a mobile switching center
(MSC). The transmission backhaul between WANU and SF can be leased line, cable, or
microwave.
10. Give the examples of WLL technologies.

WLL systems can be based on one of the following four technologies: satellite, cellular, low-tier
PCS / microcellular, and fixed wireless access.