18
CELLULAR AND PCS RADIO
SYSTEMS
18.1
INTRODUCTION
The cellular radio business has expanded explosively since 1980 and continues to expand
rapidly. There are several explanations for this popularity. It adds a new dimension to
wired PSTN services. In our small spheres of everyday living, we are never away from the
telephone, no matter where we are. Outside of industrialized nations, there are long waiting
lists for conventional (wired) telephone installations. Go down to the local cellular radio
store, and you will have telephone service within the hour. We have found that cellular
service augments local telephone service availability. When our local service failed for
several days, our cellular telephone worked just fine, although air time was expensive.
Enter PCS (personal communications services). Does it supplement/complement cellu-
lar radio or is it a competitor? It is an extension of cellular, certainly in concept. It uses
much lower power and has a considerably reduced range. Rappaport (Ref. 1) points out
that cellular is hierarchical in nature when connecting to the PSTN; PCS is not. It is hier-
archical in that an MTSO (mobile telephone switching office) controls and interfaces up
to hundreds of base stations, which connect to mobile users. According to the reference,
PCS base stations connect directly to the PSTN. However, a number of PCS strategies
have a hierarchy similar to cellular where an MSC (mobile switching center) provides the
connectivity to the PSTN. Cellular radio systems operate in the 800- and 900-MHz band;
in the United States narrowband PCS operates in the 900-MHz band, and wideband PCS
operates in the 1850- to 1975-MHz band. Other PCS operations are specialized, such as
the wireless PABX, wireless LAN (WLAN), and wireless local loop (WLL). By WLL we
mean a transmission method that will operate in lieu of, supplement, or complement the
telephone subscriber loop based on a wire pair.
18.1.1
Background
The earliest radio techniques served a mobile community, namely, ocean vessels. This
was followed by vehicular mobile including aircraft. Prior to World War II, there were
police and ambulance dispatching systems followed by growth in the airline industry.
However, not until Bell Telephone Laboratories published the famous issue of the Bell
Fundamentals of Telecommunications, Second Edition, by Roger L. Freeman
ISBN 0-471-71045-8
Copyright
2005 by Roger L. Freeman
457
Summary :
18 CELLULAR AND PCS RADIO SYSTEMS 18.1 INTRODUCTION The cellular radio business has expanded explosively since 1980 and continues to expand rapidly. Go down to the local cellular radio store, and you will have telephone service within the hour. We have found that cellular service augments local telephone service availability. However, a number of PCS strategies have a hierarchy similar to cellular where an MSC (mobile switching center) provides the connectivity to the PSTN.
Tags :
cellular,pcs,telephone,radio,mobile,serice,pstn,local,wireless,systems,band,hae,connect