Chapter 31: Cellular Mobile Communication Systems | Principles Digital Communication System & Computer Networks (Charles River Media Computer Engineering)

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OVERVIEW

To be able to communicate while on the move is no longer a luxury, it has become a necessity in this fast world. Two-way voice communication service for people on the move has become very popular, and the technology has matured considerably in the past four decades. Though the initial systems were all analog, in the 1990s digital cellular systems made mobile communications reliable, secure and, because of standardization efforts, less costly.

Though the initial mobile communication systems were mostly proprietary, standardization activities in Europe resulted in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standards, and many countries in Asia and Africa also adopted GSM. In this chapter, we study the various aspects of mobile communications technology, with special emphasis on GSM standards. The killer application on mobile systems continues to be voice, but enhancements to the GSM standards have been proposed to provide value-added services including data and fax services on GSM networks, and these enhancements also are discussed briefly.

Many projects have been initiated to provide mobile communications using satellites. These systems are known as mobile satellite systems. The details of these systems are also presented in this chapter.

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