Network Systems Design: Design Flaws and Cellular Networks

Network Systems Design: Design Flaws and Cellular Networks

There are two very broad methods by which we stay connected through the use of physical wires and cables. The other method is through the more mobile method of wireless communication. We are all undoubtedly familiar with both of these technologies and how they shape our lives every day. This lecture is focuses on mobile communication capabilities and what we can achieve through this technology. It wasn’t that long ago that we needed to sit in front of a computer that was physically connected to a network in order to communicate on the Internet. Even our home based systems used modems that connected us to the world through phone lines. That technology hasn’t changed that much, but we are now able to do so much more without the cumbersome cables tying us to a location. Even though our voice and data traffic still end up on a traditional telephone line, the way we do it today is significantly different from how we started out. We’ll cover the different systems that have been developed, the change from analog to digital and the differences between them, and the transitions from 2G to 4G along with the new capabilities each iteration brought about. We won’t get too deep into how these phones communicate on the network, but you will have an understanding of at least the basics of how mobile phones operate and how the signals move through the air, to the wire, and back through the air again. This is an important technology to understand because so many people are using smart phones every day. The networks are saturated with hundreds of millions of users every day, and the people working on the systems that are used must be able to maintain all of the connectivity at a constant rate.

For more information, please read the following articles:

Edwards, C. (2013). All power to the smartphone. Engineering & Technology, 8(1), 66-69.

Hao X., Yanyou, Q., Jun J., & Yuanfei, C. (2014). Using smart phone sensors to detect transportation modes. Sensors, 14(11, 20843-20865.

IS696 Week 7 – Cellular Networks

Slide 2

When we think about network connectivity we know that there are two very broad methods by which we stay connected. One is through the use of physical wires and cables and the other is through the more mobile method of wireless communication. We are all undoubtedly familiar with both of these technologies and how they shape our lives every day, especially in a more mobile focused world so this week’s lecture is going to focus on mobile communication capabilities and contrast what we can achieve through each.Network Systems Design: Design Flaws and Cellular Networks

Slide 3

It wasn’t that long ago that we needed to sit in front of a computer that was physically connected to a network in order to communicate on the internet. Even our home based systems used modems that connected us to the world through phone lines and that technology hasn’t changed that much since we still use modems in our homes but now most of those are connected through our cable companies and the speeds are infinitely faster than a few decades ago. Of course, wireless communication has taken off and virtually anyone who wants to stay connected can do so from almost anywhere in the world. Smartphones have given us the ability to communicate with almost anyone from one point on the earth to the other. If there’s a wireless access point or a cell phone tower, we can easily reach out and touch someone. We have so much mobile technology today that we can conduct any type of communication that would have previously required a regular telephone line or computer in the past. This mobility has driven many upgrades on telephone networks as they all vie to get our business on what they each declare to be the best network available. So let’s take a look at how we transitioned from traditional telephones to wireless telephony and how that has changed our lives in the past decade. And it wasn’t that long ago that if you wanted to make a phone call you would need to use a phone physically connected to a cord and even with today’s mobile phone networks the majority of capabilities we have access to while on the go still end up travelling on the physical phone lines that run from pole to pole in every city of the country. Wireless signals from our cell phones can only travel so far across the airwaves and once they reach a cell tower the content is transferred to a physical line that allows the communication to travel to other parts of the country and world. So we call it mobile communication but the funny thing is that a portion of it still uses the same communication concepts that were created in the late 1800’s and the signals are still carried on phone lines that were strung onto poles over the past hundred years. Network Systems Design: Design Flaws and Cellular Networks