Chapter Five. Data in IS-136 Networks


IS-136 networks are commonly referred to as digital personal communications service (PCS) networks or TDMA networks. As described in this chapter, the term IS-136 network refers to the cellular standard defined by the Telecommunications Industry Associations (TIA) for digital PCS networks, called TIA/EIA 136. In this chapter we will use the term IS-136 for simplicity.

IS-136 provides not only voice services but also a set of data services. This chapter describes the family of standards that compose an IS-136 network, the network architecture and protocols, and the data services offered by an IS-136 network. The chapter focuses on the IS-136 data services before GPRS concepts were "imported" in the IS-136 architecture. The enhancements of IS-136 by GPRS concepts are only briefly described in this chapter in the section on evolution of IS-136, since the adoption of GPRS in IS-136 leads to an architecture and services very similar to the GSM/GPRS ones, described in Chapter 8.

IS-136 is the result of the evolution of cellular systems in North America from analog AMPS to digital systems. IS-136 introduces the DCCH (digital control channel), which forms the core of the IS-136 specification, and provides new system functionality and supports enhanced features, including the sleep mode to preserve mobile station battery power, support of multiple vocoders, the ability to acquire seamlessly the same services both in the cellular band (800 MHz) and the PCS band (1900 MHz), and the support of teleservices to transfer application data to and from cellular phones.

The IS-136 standard specifies two types of data services: teleservices and circuit switched data services. An IS-136 teleservice is an application that uses the air interface and network interface as the bearers for transporting a small quantity of bursty information (e.g., short messages) between a server and a mobile station. Circuit switched data services enable data applications, such as fax and ISP connection, to exchange a possibly long flow of information over the digital traffic channel (DTC). The basic idea in providing DTC data service is to provide a circuit switched connection for carrying data from the user through the IS-136 network and vice versa. The establishment of the data connection is very similar to the establishment of a voice call.

In the following sections we describe an overview of IS-136 network architecture and data services. We describe also the protocols and the functions provided by the IS-136 network for carrying data.



IP in Wireless Networks
IP in Wireless Networks
ISBN: 0130666483
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

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