Alcatel Broadband

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ALCATEL TELECOMMUNICATIONS REVIEW

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Alcatel Telecommunications Review is the quarterly technical journal of Alcatel,

reporting its research, development and production achievements worldwide.

EDITORIAL

9090 Project Lightspeed Project Lightspeed Ernie Carey Ernie Carey

INTRODUCTION

9292 M. Peruyero, Y. T’Joens M. Peruyero, Y. T’Joens

Universal Broadband Access

Making User-Centric Broadband in Access a Reality

Making User-Centric Broadband in Access a Reality 9494

A seamless combination of fixed, mobile and broadcast access offers

users an “always best

users an “always best connected” experienconnected” experience.ce.

Ph. Lainé, L. Le Gouriellec, J. De Vriendt

Any Access

Universal Broadband Access:

Going Wireless and Mobile

Going Wireless and Mobile 9999

Are the emerging broadband wireless and mobile technologies a

Are the emerging broadband wireless and mobile technologies a threatthreat

or an opportunity? Will they compete or complement one another?

J-L.Hurel, J. Brouet, L. Le

J-L.Hurel, J. Brouet, L. Le Gouriellec, M. PeruyeroGouriellec, M. Peruyero

Software Defined Radio: A Promising Technology

for Multi-Standard Base Stations

for Multi-Standard Base Stations 106106

SDR is an important

SDR is an important step towards offering every user – at step towards offering every user – at any location –any location –

the best bandwidth and

the best bandwidth and mobility, in line with Alcatel’s vision of a user-mobility, in line with Alcatel’s vision of a

user-centric broadband world.

centric broadband world.

B. Haberland, W. Koenig, A. Pascht, U. Weiss

Standardization: Key to Mass Deployment

Standardization: Key to Mass Deployment 111122

Standards have evolved to make DSL technology a credible building

block for triple-play deployments.

F. van der Putten, S. Ooghe

Optical Fibers Pave the Way to Faster

Broadband Access

Broadband Access 111616

Emerging services and increasing competition are forcing carriers to

deploy optical fibers in the access network, ultimately serving each

subscriber over a dedicated fiber link.

Th. Pfeiffer, E. Ringoot, A. Granger, D. Wang

Connect me anywhere,

any time, any way…

UNIVERSAL ACCESS

EDITORIAL

9090 Project Lightspeed Project Lightspeed Ernie Carey Ernie Carey

INTRODUCTION

9292 M. Peruyero, Y. T’Joens M. Peruyero, Y. T’Joens

Universal Broadband Access

Making User-Centric Broadband in Access a Reality

Making User-Centric Broadband in Access a Reality 9494

A seamless combination of fixed, mobile and broadcast access offers

users an “always best

users an “always best connected” experienconnected” experience.ce.

Any Access

Universal Broadband Access:

Going Wireless and Mobile

Going Wireless and Mobile 9999

Are the emerging broadband wireless and mobile technologies a

Are the emerging broadband wireless and mobile technologies a threatthreat

or an opportunity? Will they compete or complement one another?

J-L.Hurel, J. Brouet, L. Le

J-L.Hurel, J. Brouet, L. Le Gouriellec, M. PeruyeroGouriellec, M. Peruyero

Software Defined Radio: A Promising Technology

for Multi-Standard Base Stations

for Multi-Standard Base Stations 106106

SDR is an important

SDR is an important step towards offering every user – at step towards offering every user – at any location –any location –

the best bandwidth and

the best bandwidth and mobility, in line with Alcatel’s vision of a user-mobility, in line with Alcatel’s vision of a

user-centric broadband world.

centric broadband world.

B. Haberland, W. Koenig, A. Pascht, U. Weiss

Standardization: Key to Mass Deployment

Standardization: Key to Mass Deployment 111122

Standards have evolved to make DSL technology a credible building

block for triple-play deployments.

F. van der Putten, S. Ooghe

Optical Fibers Pave the Way to Faster

Broadband Access

Broadband Access 111616

Emerging services and increasing competition are forcing carriers to

deploy optical fibers in the access network, ultimately serving each

subscriber over a dedicated fiber link.

Th. Pfeiffer, E. Ringoot, A. Granger, D. Wang

Connect me anywhere,

any time, any way…

UNIVERSAL ACCESS

Al

Alcacatetel l TelTelececomommumuninicacatitionons s ReReviview ew -- 22ndnd_{Quarter 2005}_{Quarter 2005}

Operational Excellence

Optimizing DSL for Multimedia Services

Optimizing DSL for Multimedia Services 151555

Line optimization can increase DSL speed, quality and stability while

reducing operating expenses.

T. Bostoen, R. Oehen, J. Verlinden

4G Mobile

4G Mobile 161600

4G will deliver low cost

4G will deliver low cost multi-megabit/s sessions any time, any place,multi-megabit/s sessions any time, any place,

using any terminal.

D. Rouffet, S. Kerboeuf, L.

D. Rouffet, S. Kerboeuf, L. Cai, V. CapdevielleCai, V. Capdevielle

Customer Example

3G Network Powers Intense Services

3G Network Powers Intense Services 161655

The launch of Orange Intense

The launch of Orange Intense marks the culmination of tmarks the culmination of three successfulhree successful

years of close collaboration with

years of close collaboration with Alcatel.Alcatel.

O. Perot, J-M. Perera, L. Byerley

applications to underserved parts of the

applications to underserved parts of the world.world.

A. Bertout, J.

A. Bertout, J. Couet Couet

Any Service

Supporting Quality of Service in Broadband

Access Networks

Access Networks 121288

An optimal user experience for triple-play services can be

assured thanks to QoS enablers in fixed and wireless access networks.

S. Ooghe, N. Drevon, R. Siebelink

Access Network Enhancements for the Delivery

of Video Services

of Video Services 131344

Enhanceme

Enhancements are being nts are being researched that will improve both the researched that will improve both the qualityquality

of video delivered over networks experiencing congestion or

of video delivered over networks experiencing congestion or transmissiontransmission

errors, and the

errors, and the video channel changing performance.video channel changing performance.

R. Sharpe, D. Zriny, D.

R. Sharpe, D. Zriny, D. De Vleeschauwer De Vleeschauwer

Consolidation

Fixed Access Vision

Fixed Access Vision 141400

Guaranteed deliv

Guaranteed delivery of triple-play serery of triple-play services making optimal use ofvices making optimal use of

valuable resour

valuable resources is the key driver moving fixed access forward as tces is the key driver moving fixed access forward as thehe

world converge

world converges towards offering all s towards offering all services over ubiquitousservices over ubiquitous

broadband

broadband connectivityconnectivity..

J. van Bogaert, Y. T’Joens, J-P. Lartigue

WiMAX: From Fixed Wireless Access

to Internet in the Pocket

to Internet in the Pocket 144144

WiMAX access can provide new service oppor

WiMAX access can provide new service opportunities to fixedtunities to fixed

and mobile operators thanks to

and mobile operators thanks to its flexible radio technologyits flexible radio technology

and innovative features.

D. Re

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Ernie Carey

SBC PROJECT LIGHTSPEED

S

BC companies are bringing a digital lifestyle to cus-BC companies are bringing a digital lifestyle to

cus-tomers. As customers expect more bundled services,

tomers. As customers expect more bundled services,

enriched video, data and voice experiences, SBC is

enriched video, data and voice experiences, SBC is mov-

mov-ing quickly to offer next-generation communications and

ing quickly to offer next-generation communications and

entertainment services.

The success of these services depends on networks

work-ing together to help

ing together to help SBC companies compete in the InternetSBC companies compete in the Internet

Protocol (IP) marketplace.

Widespread availability of broadband is a key element in

making the digital lifestyle a reality

making the digital lifestyle a reality. . Consumer broadband adop-Consumer broadband

adop-tion levels are reaching critical m

tion levels are reaching critical mass. ass. In fact, according to YIn fact, according to Yan-

an-kee Group, at the end of 2004, about 30 million US households

kee Group, at the end of 2004, about 30 million US households

had broadband service.

At

At the the end end of 2of 2004, 004, SBC SBC companiecompanies rs reached eached a a significasignificantnt

milestone of surpassing 5 million DSL lines in service.

Increasing the bandwidth of broadband is critical to

meet-ing the rapidly evolvmeet-ing demands of the marketplace – that is,

ing the rapidly evolving demands of the marketplace – that is,

to provide IP-based services.

Why is now the right time?

Today, traditional “telephone companies” like SBC are

competing against a variety of providers and technologies by

offering bundles that include voice, video, data and wireless.

Meanwhile, competitors are starting to enter traditional SBC

markets.

markets. For example, cable coFor example, cable companies, which have offered mpanies, which have offered videovideo

and high-speed Internet service for years, are now getting into the

voice busi

voice business. ness. Some are offeSome are offering Vring Voice over Inteoice over Internet Protocornet Protocoll

(VoIP) –

(VoIP) – a technology that’s receiving a a technology that’s receiving a lot of buzz. lot of buzz. There’s noThere’s no

doubt that the marketplace is growing increasingly competitive.

At

At the the same same time, time, customer customer needs needs are are changinchanging. g. TodayToday

we’re seeing an appetite

we’re seeing an appetite for cooler, smallerfor cooler, smaller, faster and better, faster and better

digital devices.

Whether it’s a wireless phone that can shoot video, or a PDA

that doubles as a portable music player, or a PC that can be

used as a media center and digital vid

used as a media center and digital video recorder – consumerseo recorder – consumers

want maximum functionality and flexibility, and they want many

of these devices integrated so they work simply together.

The digital lifestyle is no longer just a buzzword. It’s a reality.

So, by fully utilizing th

So, by fully utilizing the capabilities of IPe capabilities of IP, fiber and wireless, fiber and wireless

data technologies, SBC companies are working to build an even

stronger presence in the marketplace with differentiated,

com-petitively priced product offerings.

petitively priced product offerings.

IP services will enable integrated video, voice, data and other

applications, potentially allowing customers to share any

num-ber of household devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, PCs, PDAs

ber of household devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, PCs, PDAs

or phones over one network connection.

SBC companies expect to add approximately 38 000 miles

of fiber through Project Lightspeed, an estimated $4 billion

cap-ital initiative to deploy both Fiber to the Node (FTTN) and Fiber

ital initiative to deploy both Fiber to the Node (FTTN) and Fiber

to the Premises (FTTP) to 18 million homes by the end of 2007.

In most new network builds, such as developing

In most new network builds, such as developing subdivisions,subdivisions,

SBC companies are planning to bring fiber all the way to the

customers’ homes.

In neighborhoods with existing SBC

In neighborhoods with existing SBC services, SBC compa-services, SBC

compa-nies plan to use FTTN technology to

nies plan to use FTTN technology to push fiber much deeperpush fiber much deeper

in the network to nodes

in the network to nodes that serve 300 to that serve 300 to 500 homes. 500 homes. FTTNFTTN

enables significantly higher broadband speeds, with download

speeds of 20 to 25 Mbit/s.

Cost, demand, time for deployment and avoiding potential

inconvenience for customers are all key factors in this decision

to use FTTN for ov

to use FTTN for overbuilds. erbuilds. SBC companies have evSBC companies have evaluatedaluated

a full range of

a full range of technologietechnologies and deployment scenarios and ares and deployment scenarios and are

confident that the joint FTTN/FTTP strategy is the right

confident that the joint FTTN/FTTP strategy is the right solu-

solu-tion to deliver the next generasolu-tion of IP services, and to evolve

tion to deliver the next generation of IP services, and to evolve

the SBC network to

the SBC network to meet customers’ communications needs.meet customers’ communications needs.

T

To help build to help build this new network, his new network, SBC announced a five-year,SBC announced a five-year,

approximately $1.7 billion primary supplier agreement with

Alcatel

Alcatel in in October October 2004 2004 to to provide provide network network equipmeequipment nt andand

video sy

video system intstem integration egration servicesservices..

Alcatel’s

Alcatel’s network network equipmenequipment t will will include include core core networnetworkk

access, aggregation and switching equipment platforms that will

provide the

provide the IPIP, packet-based technologies over fiber , packet-based technologies over fiber optics thatoptics that

connect the neighborhoods to

connect the neighborhoods to the central office. the central office. Additionally,Additionally,

Alcatel wil

Alcatel will work l work with SBC with SBC to ensure to ensure video sysvideo systems integratiotems integration.n.

For the video network, instead of using a

For the video network, instead of using a traditional legacytraditional legacy

broadcast network which requires all television content to be

transmitted to every customer’s set-top box all the time, SBC

companies are conducting trials of a switched video

distribu-tion system.

tion system. In the switched vIn the switched video environment, ideo environment, the contentthe content

resides on SBC servers and only the content the customer

requests is sent, freeing up bandwidth to be used for other

applications.

SBC announced a contract with Scientific-Atlanta to provide

IP-based video equipment for Project Lightspeed.

IP-based video equipment for Project Lightspeed. Alcatel willAlcatel will

work with SBC – and now Scientific-Atlanta – to ensure

seam-less video systems integration.

less video systems integration.

Addi

Additiontionally, lally, last ast year, year, SBC SBC annoannounceunced a d a firsfirst-oft-of-its-its-kin-kindd

agreement with Microsoft Corp to use the Microsoft TV

Inter-net Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform. SBC

net Protocol Television (IPTV) Edition software platform. SBC

Labs has been testing an

Labs has been testing an IP-based televisioIP-based television service built onn service built on

the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform since June 2004.

EDITORIAL

Ernie J. Carey

Vice President, Network,

IP Operations & Services

SBC Inc

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SBC companies expect that this video distribution system coupled with its fiber-rich network will allow it to offer an IPTV service that offers features and functionality beyond today’s existing broadcast-delivered digital TV networks.

For example, in the future the SBC service could include a robust video-on-demand library, multiple picture-in-picture functionality, whole-house digital video recording, interactive program guides and more. And, with the remaining bandwidth, SBC plans to offer feature-rich VoIP and high speed Interne t access.

Some additional potential applications include:

• Using two-way broadband networks, SBC companies could be able to send alerts and notifications to customers watch-ing TV in new ways. Some examples include the ability to alert a customer of upcoming favorite shows, or Caller ID and instant messaging on the TV screen.

• The Microsoft TV IPTV Edition platform could enable new services and applications, such as tunerless picture-in-pic-ture functionality. The picpicture-in-pic-ture-in-picpicture-in-pic-ture feapicture-in-pic-ture enables users to preview other shows and channels while the primary channel runs in the background.

IP is the future, and SBC companies are embracing the future to deliver next-generation communications and enter-tainment services.

This article was written as of April 2005, and SBC disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this article based on new information or otherwise.

Ernie Carey began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1975, in Houston Texas, after graduating from college. He then progressed through a series of operations, engineering, and marketing jobs in Southwestern Bell, and is currently Vice President-Network with responsibility for network planning and engineering for Project Lightspeed.

Mr Carey is on the Board of Directors of the Sam Houston Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was appointed as a member of the Commission on State Emergency Communications and also ser ved on the Board of Directors of the Greater Harr is County E911 District for eight years. Currently he is on the board of the Texas Technology Opportunity Institute and the Engineering Advisory Board, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston.

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Michel Peruyero, Yves T’Joens

INTRODUCTION

T

o realize a user-centric broadband world, service providers across the world will need to change their organizations and business models and to upgrade their networks. This transformation is being made necessary by the need of today’s users to communicate more, while being less occupied with the underlying technologies.

The initial step towards a user-centric broadband world is a ubiquitous broadband connection over which content and serv-ices can be made universally available. Connectivity is one of the user’s most basic requirements. This goes beyond “broadband everywhere” to a demand that access networks be invisible to the user, who doesn’t want to have t o choose which device, service and access to use. This implies the disappearance, in the user’s eyes, of distinctions between fixed, mobile and wireless access technologies. While this does not necessarily mean network convergence, it does entail service convergence from the user’s point of view (i.e. same device, same content, one bill, regardless of the access network), as well as seamless handovers between access networks.

It also implies that broadband access technologies should become increasingly complementary. Broadband wireless tech-nologies, such as WiMAX, will complement both mobile and fixed access, giving mobile users higher bandwidth data delivery in hot-zones, and giving nomadic users DSL-equivalent service in rural and suburban areas. The key to a seamless broadband experi-ence will be smooth handovers.

Network operators facing the build-up of this new network are increasingly looking to reduce their overall operating costs. As well as investing in tools to ensure operational excellence, one will witness the first signs of network consolidation around this new paradigm of communication, with operators seeking to switch off their existing legacy telephony networks to consoli-date all operations around a multimedia IP network, thus sow-ing the seeds for full fixed/mobile convergence.

In this issue of the Alcatel Telecommunications Review, the emphasis is on Universal Broadband Access (see Figure 1). The article “Making User-Centric Broadband in Access a Reality” introduces the vision of future access network evolu-tion with respect to fixed, mobile and broadcast access.

The evolution of networks in general, and access networks in particular, in line with theuniversal access visioninvolves four dimensions: Any Access, Any Service, Consolidation and Operational Excellency.

The “Any Access” dimension is paving the way to ubiqui-tous service delivery, which implies the availability of access

technologies that are fit for the purpose (and seamless roam-ing between different access technologies), as well as multi-service support using QoS techniques and intelligent network support for data, voice and video services.

Access technologies are proliferating, giving operators a diversity of choice to fit their architectures and service deliv-ery models. This issue provides a broad overview of Alcatel’s access technologies, which illustrate the innovation power of Alcatel. These include

• Mobile and wireless: “Universal Broadband Access: Going Wireless and Mobile” and “Software Defined Radio: A Promis-ing Technology for Multi-standard Base Stations”.

• DSL: “Optimizing DSL for Multimedia Services” and “Stan-dardization: Key to Mass Deployment”.

• Fiber: “Optical Fibers Pave the Way to Faster Broadband Access”.

• Satellite: “Extending Broadband Reach by Satellite”. The second dimension is “Any Services”. Multi-service sup-port across fixed and mobile networks is detailed in “Supsup-port- “Support-ing Quality of Service in Broadband Access Networks”, which focuses on how different service streams receive the treatment they need across the access network.

One particular service that benefits from intelligent access network enhancements is the video service; intelligent traffic INTRODUCTION Business Environment E a c h U s e r

Operations & Business Support Systems Integration & Operations

E v e r y T e r m i n a l , E v e r y w h e r e A n y C o n t e n t Consumer Environment Universal Broadband Access Wireline Wireless Satellite Mobile Open Services Delivery Environment Service Aware Edge & Data Aware Transport

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are highlighted in “Access Network Enhancements for the Delivery of Video Services”.

The third dimension of the universal access vision is based on “Consolidation”. Network consolidation is happen-ing at various levels of the network, witnessed by the desire of operators to evolve their networks under themes such as fixed/mobile convergence and voice/data convergence. Voice/data convergence (“Fixed Access Vision”) using the newest generation of broadband loop carriers is fundamental to Alcatel’s view of how it can help operators to extend their offered services while controlling their capital and operational expenditures by means of network consolidation. The article “WiMAX: From Fixed Wireless Access to Internet in the Pocket” explains how WiMAX can be used as an enabler for fixed/mobile convergence. Furthermore, support for multiple radio technologies on a common infrastructure results in the consolidation of network equipment, leading to more cost-effective solutions, as explained in “Alcatel Evolium™ Multi-standard Radio Access System”.

The fourth dimension of the universal access vision turns around “Operational Excellence”. Scaling the access network

tems. The tools offered in this respect for copper access net-works are discussed in “Optimizing DSL for Multimedia Ser- vices”. Operational excellence is also a key driver for the future evolution of radio networks (“4G Mobile”). The aim is to real-ize service and application ubiquity, with a high degree of per-sonalization and synchronization between the various appli-ances.

This issue concludes with a real life network example which demonstrates how Alcatel is at the forefront in realizing the “Universal Access Vision”. This example covers the launch of Orange Intense (“3G Network Powers Intense Services”); it traces the Alcatel and Orange partnership from the pre-com-mercial phase to the compre-com-mercial launch of Orange’s 3G serv-ices offering.

We hope that you’ll enjoy this issue, and that it will give you a valuable overview of the User-Centric Broadband world, with a special focus on the access part. Be ready for the rapidly approaching era of universal broadband access!

Michel Peruyero, Yves T’Joens

Michel Peruyero is Executive Director in the Chief Technology Office of the Alcatel Mobile Communications Group, Vélizy, France. ([email protected])

Yves T’Joens is Chief Technology Officer for the Alcatel Access Network Division. Prior to obtaining this position he acted as corporate strategy director for access, and ran the research group on access networking architectures. He is the author of multiple papers and actively contributed to the standardization of access networking in the areas of IP/Ethernet and the ATM access architecture. He is based in Antwerp, Belgium.

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MAKING USER-CENTRIC

BROADBAND IN ACCESS

A REALITY

A seamless combination of fixed, mobile and broadcast

access offers users an “always best connected” experience.

A

n entire range of new services emerged (e.g. mobile voice, Internet access) from a com-munication world that used to be defined by simple fixed voice services. Then the emergence of broadband enabled users to access all these new services more rapidly. Nevertheless, for users the promise of ubiquitous broad-band is far from being fulfilled. The proliferation of terminals (fixed phone, mobile phone, PC, personal digital assistant, etc) has been further com-plicated by the abundance of broad-band access options, including Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable, Univer-sal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Acc ess 2000 (CDMA2000) , pub lic Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and satellite. These multiple access technologies generate overlapping functionality with multiple accounts, multiple subscriptions, multiple bills and multiple user names and pass-words. So, while broadband has opened up a new world with numerous appealing services, the delivery of

these new and richer services has come at the cost of greater complexity and a fragmented experience linked to the various access technologies.

To improve the users’ expe-rience, there is a move towards simplicity and convenience. Here we review users’ needs and describe some access solu-tions that operators can deploy to make users’ lives easier by enabling them to access their applications via the best avail-able network at the highest possible data rate, all through a single subscription.

Consumer Demands

The user-centric broadband experience is about the

user being able to use all the services to which he or

she has subscribed from any location, using any

device,

even when moving from a location served by one access technology to a location served by a different access technology (see Figure 1).

The network should select the access solution that is most convenient for the user and minimizes his or her costs.

To fully meet the user’s expectations, these principles should apply to all the applications he or she needs during a normal days’ activities.

Users should be able to access their services from anywhere at any time. Moreover, while running a given application, a user should be able to move from one place to another without experiencing any disrup tion. To achieve this, the new access network should support a minimum set of features and a min-UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS

STRATEGY WHITE PAPER

Anywhere Else: Mobile V P N v o i c e & v i d e o C a l l / I M / P T T / N e t m - e e t i n g V P N D a t a : E m a i l / S M S / M M S , I n t r a / I n t e r n e t V o i c e & v i d e o C a l l / c o n f e r e n c e / I M / P T T E m a i l / S M S / M M S G a m i n g My Office with me My Clan/Tribe with me My Entertainment with me My Profile with me My Practical Life Toolset with me Convenience, Productivity My Profile & VPN with me M u s i c M u s i c / V i d e o / T V M u l t i c a s t / B r o a d c a s t V o i c e C a l l s / C h a t E m a i l / S M S / M M S , I n t e r n e t , P u r c h a s e Hot Zone Nomadic (WiFi, WDSL) Home Fixed (DSL, Eth., PON, WDSL) Office Fixed (DSL, Eth., PON, WDSL)

Figure 1: Applications should travel with users wherever they are and whatever they do

IM: Instant Messaging PON: Passive Optical Network PTT: Push To Talk WDSL: Wireless DSL

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imum capacity. Consequently, it is important to analyze the mandatory requirements that different applications place on an access network.

Main types of service

All applications ultimately fall into five service classes, as shown in Figure 2.

Data services: Internet access and messaging

These applications deal with Internet access, file download-ing, and online usage of applications or services. They include all call services operated by Internet Service Providers (ISP), such as Skype, that use the Internet in a t ransparent way, as well as access to email, the Short Message Service (SMS) and the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).

Conversational services: Carrier-grade voice/video calls and conferences This class of applications addresses people’s need to com-municate in real-time or near real-time with one or more oth-ers, using voice, video or messaging. The key to such applica-tions is the

abil-ity to provide continuous reachability over a variety of access technolo-gies while the user is on the

move. These

services can be classified as fol-lows:

• Real-time voice and video calls and conferencing, whether based on cir-cuit switching or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Fast handover is crucial to ensure a good user expe-rience. An acceptable round-trip delay is also important in order to offer carrier-grade quality in all cir-cumstances.

• Near-real-time rich call services,

such as instant messaging, push to talk, push to view, see-what-I-see and conferencing tools.

Video services: TV, video and music streaming

Applications of this type address the need of users to access video services, such as TV and video on demand, and multimedia content, in most cases using a streaming mode. The access network must meet several criteria to support this type of service: • Sufficient bandwidth to carry the

required traffic.

• Quality of Service (QoS) and resource admission control to ensure

a good user experience (low cell loss ratio, limited jitter, etc). It should be noted that in a mobile environment, the broadcast mode allows the same content to be distributed to Corporate Voice & Data

VPN AP One or More Access Networks

Leased Line QoS, Security Predictability, Availability Strict Multicast QoS Broadcast Capacity Interactivity QoS High Capacity

Near or Real Time, Low Delay High Availability Best Effort No Impact AC Multi/Unicast/Broadcast Video/TV/Music Combinational e.g. Multiplayer Gaming

Calls & Conferencing Voice & Video & IM & PTT

Inter/Intranet+email/MMS

Fixed: DSL, Cable, etc.

Application

Hot Zone Mobile

Access Network

(3G, WiFi/WiMAX,

Fixed DSL, Cable)

Requirements

To Access Networks

Figure 2: Five services classes and their requirements

AC: Access Controller AP: Access Point

Push To Talk (PTT) A walkie-talkie like service that provides voice messaging to a closed user group at the touch of a button. PTT uses voice-over-packet techniques to minimize spectrum usage. PTT is one of the “IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)” services.

Push To View (PTV)

A service that allows images to be shared within a closed user group at the touch of a button. PTV is one of the “IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)” services.

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all users in the same coverage area, thereby compensating for the limited frequency availability.

Gaming services

This type of application involves many people interacting with one another via a central server. Access network requirements include: • Good inte ractivity-orient ed QoS

(round trip delay, cell loss ratio, traffic priority).

• Rapid handover in the same way as real-time voice/video communica-tions.

Seamless handover of an ongoing

multi-player gaming session is of paramount importance. A player involved in a game doesn’t want to suffer any disruption while playing, or have to re-enter the game (at the risk of dis-turbing other players) when moving from place to place.

Corporate VPN services: access to enterprise intranet/email

This group of applications offers enterprise users exactly the same services as detailed above for residential users. The constraints to be addressed by the access networks include: • Voice and data Virtual Private Networks (VPN) must “follow”

the employee wherever he or she goes. Thus all the access technologies that an employee might use in different situa-tions have to interact to provide this feature.

• Security, QoS and performance levels must meet the strin-gent corporate requirements.

• Handover is mandatory. It should be rapid for established voice/video calls, but is less stringent for data sessions.

Various user situations

Three main types of user situa-tion encountered are shown in

Fi gu re 3: fixed at home or in the office, nomadic in hot spots and hot zones, and mobile elsewhere.

The first typical situation is fixed usage, either at home or in the office, using network technologies such as DSL, cable, satellite and fiber (Fiber To The Home, FTTH; Passive Optical Networks, PON; Ethernet) or fixed wireless access technologies, such as WiMAX, using any type of application, such as voice calls, Internet access, messaging, video and online gaming.

The second situation is nomadic usage at hotels, airports or railway sta-tions, making use of WiFi, WiMAX or mobile-oriented technologies, such as UMTS High Speed Downlink Packet

Access (HSDPA), or CDMA2000. Curren tly, the main applica-tions used in such situaapplica-tions are voice calls, messaging and cor-porate VPN services. However, broadcast and gaming applica-tions could soon become more important.

The third situation for the user is full mobile usage, using any available mobile access network technologies, such as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), UMTS / HSDPA and CDMA2000. Today voice is still the predominant service, followed by data messaging (SMS / MMS / email). How-ever, there is a clear trend towards the increased use of data, video and gaming services.

Offer from the Operators

Operators can provide user-centric broadband services to subscribers in many ways, the best solution being based on the operator’s current situation. Two main types of operator can be identified: vertically integrated operators controlling the dif-ferent accesses (fixed, mobile, etc) and horizontally integrated operators offering services via roaming agreements or in close partnership with other operators.

Vertically integrated operators are characterized by the fact that they control and offer converged services via the differ-ent accesses they control. Such operators can be further sub-divided into:

• Incumbent operators that own both fixed and mobile net-works and are becoming full service providers by integrat-ing their fixed and mobile operations. They offer a mix of their own basic set of services together with a variety of additional rich services from partners.

• Fixed operators(competitive DSL, cable) can also take on the role of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) or introduce wireless technology (WiFi, WiMAX) in their net-works, enabling them to offer a similar (or the same) set of services as in the previous case.

• Mobile-only operatorscan extend their wireless access (cov-erage, speed) by deploying new wireless technologies, such MAKING USER-CENTRIC BROADBAND IN ACCESS A REALITY

AP AC

Fiber, DSL, cable, fiber at the enterprise

F i b e r , D S L , c a b l e , f i b e r a t t h e e n t e r p r i s e

WiFi hot spots WiMAX hot zone

2.5/3G RAN WiFi/DSL, cable, Sat at home BSC/RNC BTS/Node B Aggregation Network Internet Corporate

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as WiFi and WiMAX. These operators will be limited in the bandwidth they can offer and possibly also in terms of cov-erage as they don’t offer fixed high-speed access. To over-come this weakness, mobile-only operators are starting to offer DSL broadband services.

All vertically integrated operators need roaming agreements with network access providers in regions where they don’t own the access. These operators can also offer a single subscription, a single bill, a single directory and a single access portal.

As horizontally integrated operators do not own different access technologies, they have to rely on (roaming) partners or run their services transparently over another’s network. Apart from the roaming cases, there will be a need for multiple sub-scriptions resulting in multiple bills and multiple service offers:

• Fixed operatorscan offer converged services via an appli-cation, such as the Alcatel Intelligent Mobile Redirect (IMR) solution, that directs calls to either a mobile or a fixed net-work, depending on the user’s location. However, it will be difficult to offer the same range of services as a vertically inte-grated full service provider. Nevertheless, evolution to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) will mean that simple roaming agreements will allow a fixed operator to offer all its services on any network, since IMS is common to fixed (Telecommunications and Internet converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking; TISPAN) and mobile (Third Generation Partnership Project; 3GPP) networks.

• Mobile operatorscan offer services by providing mobile serv-ices via fixed and mobile access, for example, using Unli-censed Mobile Access (UMA), with fixed broadband access used as a pure bit pipe.

• MVNOsown the service platform and the subscriber base, and are therefore similar to the mobile operators from a service perspective.

• ISPs and wireless ISPstaking on the role of application serv-ice provider may find it more difficult, unless they take on the role of an IMS provider without an access network.

Typical Implementations

Three typical implementations will illustrate how operators can offer users an “always best connected” experience.

Voice calls using various access networks

As shown previously, the main requirement for a conversa-tional service to different access networks is that the user should be reachable when on the move, with the voice VPN “fol-lowing” the employee in the corporate case.

In an enterprise, phones will combine WiFi, cellular

connectivity and VoIP, while at home mobile phones

will evolve towards Bluetooth or WiFi / cellular

handsets.

Two main solutions can be envisaged for making the seam-less use of these dual-mode phones a reality:

• The first solution, based on UMA technology, allows real-time handover between access networks. However, it is mainly suit-able for mobile operators (or possibly MVNOs); it can be used by residential users either at home or in public hot spots, or in combination with an (IP) Centrex solution.

• The second solution, which is based on the Session Initi-ation Protocol (SIP), is IMR. This solution can be deployed by all operators and used by everyone, including large enterprises.

IMR and UMA allow a user to be reached on one

device, possibly using a single phone number,

irre-spective of where he or she is located [1].

Both solu-tions accomplish this by:

• Automatically selecting the most suitable access network (usually the one offering the cheapest tariff). This might be either a cellular access network or a WiFi / Bluetooth access network, which generally includes a broadband VoIP network. • Rerouting incoming calls towards the appropriate access

net-work.

Data services

Mobile 3G networks offer significantly higher data rates than 2G networks. However, there is a trade-off between data rate and user mobility; a user who is traveling at high speed cannot expect the same high data rate as a user who is stand-ing still.

Recently, IP-based wireless technologies (in particular WiFi) have received a strong boost, providing relatively high data rates at low prices. They can complement mobile networks when necessary. This leads to the introduction of multiple access systems (cellular + IP based) within t he same coverage area. Interworking between access technologies has already been demonstrated in 3GPP Release 6 with the work item for 3GPP – WLAN interworking [1].

Multiple access systems mean new operator and user require-ments; the user may wish to influence the selection of the access system based on such considerations as supported QoS, secu-rity level, mobility, price and coverage. On the other hand, the network operator might wish to influence access selection by set-ting policies. It is expected that customers using multiple access systems will require service continuity as they switch from one to another. This means that their

ses-sions will be subjected to only minimal interruption. In addition, the services provided should be made access-aware (e.g. choose video quality based on the available bandwidth) and homogeneous to enhance the user experience.

Mobility between access networks (WLAN, WiMAX, UMTS, etc) could be coordinated using the Mobile IP (MIP) protocol. This protocol reinforces the operator–customer relationship, enabling a mobile data service for users to be provided not only in the

Access-aware service The service is adapted according to the characteristics of the access technology being used (e.g. video quality based on the available bandwidth). Solution

Control protocol LAN access technology Cellular access technology IMS support UMA UMA WiFi/Bluetooth GSM/GPRS/EDGE Yes IMR SIP WiFi/Bluetooth All (GSM, CDMA, etc) Yes

Table 1: Current solutions overview

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operator’s own network but also in users’ enterprise networks and even in the access networks of other “friendly” network operators [2].

Video on mobile

Mobile broadcasting is more than the simple extension of TV broadcasting to mobile terminals. It ranges from the delivery of live video content to customized information services using push-and-store mechanisms. Several technologies are competing for a place in the market for these services. They can be categorized into two main trends:

• Optimization of digital TV broadcast t echnologies to improve their performance in a mobile environment.

• Leveraging the complementary nature of fixed, cellular and broadcast technologies to benefit from their respective strengths.

Terrestrial and satellite broadcasting networks are evolving by adapting their capabilities to the mobile environment with the devel-opment of the Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld (DVB-H) and of the Satellite – Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (S-DMB) stan-dards. In the meantime, mobile service providers are starting to deliver streaming video on 2G/3G networks, with the objective of migrating towards the more efficient multicasting capabilities offered by the Multimedia Broadcast / Multicast Service (MBMS). A combination of these technologies is seen as the optimum model for the successful introduction of video on mobile by delivering content efficiently, and offering interactivity and per-sonalization.

Conclusion

Today, people want more than unrelated (i.e. standalone) broadband services. User-centric broadband means that cus-tomers share a “unified experience” using a single identity to obtain different services, without considering the access technology (fixed, mobile or broadcast), and without thinking about how to maintain the connection.

User-centric broadband means network

interoperabil-ity, but also interoperability of applications across a wide

variety of devices.

It enables people to use any device and always be connected to the most suitable network anytime and anywhere.

The model changes from the view of killer applications deliv-ered over a single infrastructure to one that embraces the demand for a customized user experience across multiple devices, networks and applications. Service providers will pro-pose personalized services that recognize the unique needs of individuals. They will differentiate their offerings in a compet-itive marketplace with customized service bundles that can attract new consumers and corporate users, reduce churn and increase revenue.

Alcatel provides communication solutions to telecommun i-cation carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivering voice, data and video applications to their customers and employees. Its leading position in fixed and mobile broad-band networks, applications and services, will help partners and customers to build a user-centric broadband world.

MAKING USER-CENTRIC BROADBAND IN ACCESS A REALITY

Philippe Lainé is Network Strategy Manager in the Alcatel Network Strategy Group, Paris, France. ([email protected]) Louis Le Gouriellec is Networking Director in the Chief Techno-logy Office of the Alcatel Mobile Communications Group, Vélizy, France.

([email protected]) Johan De Vriendt is Strategy Director NGN in the Alcatel Network Strategy Group, Antwerp, Belgium. ([email protected])

References

[1] Ph. Lainé et al: “Unbounded Mobility: Always Connected, Anywhere”, Alcatel Technology White Paper , February 2005.

[2] I. Gómez Vinagre et al: “Mobile Broadcasting: Extending the Mobile Experience with Efficient Content Delivery”, Alcatel Technology White Paper , January 2005.

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J- L.Hurel , J. Brouet, L. Le Gouri ellec, M. Peruyero

UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS:

GOING WIRELESS AND MOBILE

Are the emerging broadband wireless and mobile

tech-nologies a threat or an opportunity? Will they compete or

complement one another?

G

oing broadband wireless and mobile is not a question of if, but how and when? Be it with Universal Mobile Telecommunications System / High Speed Downlink Packet Access (UMTS/HSDPA), WiMAX, Code Division Multi-ple Access (CDMA), Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), UMTS Time Division Duplex (TDD), WiFi or mobile broadcast technologies, there is a mar-ket for it!

Don’t ask what the users would do with a higher band-width and improved Quality of Service (QoS)! Is there a need for mobile triple play? The answer is yes! Will many cus-tomers want to watch video clips on a small screen? With-out doubt, yes! Users are ready to adopt and pay for serv-ices that are personalized, interactive, simple and carried over the best access.

The radio access network is a masterpiece in the

transport of ad hoc services and will demonstrate its

flexibility to achieve the most stringent

performance-to-cost ratio objectives. It offers multi-access

provision-ing, the highest data rates, the

lowest latency and best QoS in

the nomadic and mobile

environ-ments.

Driving Forces behind

Broadband Wireless

and Mobile

The value-proposition offered by mobile and wireless operators is based on numerous multimedia services deliv-ered over fixed or mobile networks, or the Internet. Alcatel’s aim is to provide these operators with all the business and technical tools they require to put the Internet in each pocketusing the best broadband wireless technologies. A user-centric broadband world will be built using selected technologies; Alca-tel’s technology-agnostic approach answers the key business, technical and strategic challenges. The key tech-nologies are shown in Figure 1.

The main driving forces for the success of broadband wireless and mobile are:

• All proposed services and solutions meet users’ needs: - Broadband must be accessible anywhere, in any situation:

at home, at the office, outside and insid e, on the pause and on the move.

- Access to personal broadband services should be easy, whether fixed, nomadic or mobile.

- Users want multimedia services and the largest possible bandwidth at attractive prices.

• Several criteria are crucial when selecting th e right tech-nology:

- Optimization of coverage, throughput per user, capacity per site and per cell, mobility and nomadicity conditions. - High spectral efficiency solution s that optimiz e radio

resources management, making it possible to increase traf-fic throughput.

- Reliable handover, roaming and security.

• Access must be cost-effective and maximize use of the oper-ator’s three major assets: subscriber base, base station sites and spectrum (licensed and unlicensed).

Speed/user

"Fixed" "On the pause"

Hot spots "On the pause Always on" Hot zones Scattered coverage

"On the move" Global coverage Mobility Very High 2-10 Mbit/s Broadband Wireless Broadband Fixed: From DSL to FTTx

FTTx

xDSL

WiFi

WiMAX

TDD

HCR

HSDPA

UMTS

TD-SCDMA

EDGE

Broadband Mobile: From 3G to B3G High 1-2 Mbit/s Medium 100-900 kbit/s

Figure 1: Benefits of the key access technologies

3G: Third Generation

B3G: Beyond Third Generation DSL: Digital Subscriber Line

EDGE: Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution HCR: High Chip Rate

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The total cost of ownership at the access level must follow the general cost reduction trend, in line with devices and hand-sets, to ensure the widespread penetration of broadband serv-ices. To achieve this, various approaches are being used. • High re-use of existing base station sites for rapid, low risk

deployment.

• Flexible capacity growth and initial and additional invest-ments that are closely aligned with the growth in capacity. • Evolution to take advantage of new technologies in a

future-safe way.

Alcatel’s radio access network solutions are

based on three key pillars:

1

Moving from multi-standard to

multi-access:

A flexible, cost-effective base station architecture allows the deployment of not only GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA, but also WiMAX, TD-SCDMA, UMTS-TDD and satellite mobile broadcasting.

2

Cost optimization program

every nine months

to ensure the scalability needed to allow incremen-tal investment in the infrastructure, hardware and software flexibility, and full backward compatibility to maxi-mize the use of earlier investment. 3

Rapid introduction of new tech-

nologies

via software upgrades. EDGE is being introduced via software acti- vation; once UMTS is deployed, it will be possible to introduce HSDPA by upgrading the software. The same is true for the smart antennas solutions being introduced in base stations.

Alcatel’s view is that a future radio access solution will be based on collab-oration between various technologies to serve different market needs as effi-ciently as possible. Figure 2shows the portfolio of solutions Alcatel is offer-ing broadband mobile and wireless operators to meet their short- and mid-term objectives.

Alcatel’s vision is based on various radio interfaces around a common network architecture, with full flexibil-ity in the various building blocks, as depicted in Figure 3.

Performance of Broadband

Wireless Technologies

The technical characteristics of the various Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) solutions must be thor-oughly assessed before one is chosen. Various radio performance indicat ors are needed as inputs to the economic assessment that identifies the opti-mum operator strategy:

• Coverage and the number of existing sites that can be reused to minimize deployment costs.

• Average and peak throughput per sector to evaluate the sys-tem capacity on the air interface and dimension the terres-trial interface that feeds the radio sites.

• Average and peak throughput per user, as this affects the types of service that can be offered to subscribers.

The BWA technologies considered here are EDGE, UMTS-FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) with HSDPA, UMTS-TDD with HSDPA, WiMAX and CDMA2000 1xE-DO.

UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS: GOING WIRELESS AND MOBILE

The Multi-access Platform

GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA & WiMAX

Multi-Standard

& Multi-Access

Base Station

Multi-standard cabinet

Multi-band RF Front-end

Multi-standard Baseband

S U M U T R X T R X T R X Base-band S U M U Base-band S U M U Base-band

Multi-standard Transceiver

Reconfigurable Radio Front-end & Baseband

Processing using Software Defined Radio

& IP Transport

Figure 3: Towards a full multi-access platform

SUMU: Station Unit Mobile UMTS TRX: Transmitter/Receiver

WCDMA: Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

Driving the convergence to provide truly multi-access broadband

UMTS FDD HSDPA WiMAX 802.16e MC-CDMA CDMA 2000 TD-SCDMA UMTS TDD HCR WiMAX

802.16-2004 Core NetworkConvergence HSDPA evolutions Core & Radio Access + Service Bundling Mobile 2004 2005 2006 Conver-gence Nomadic Wireless DSL

Figure 2: Alcatel access technologies roadmap and evolution

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Overview of BWA standards

Table 1 gives an overview of the parameters that influence radio per-formance.

The frequency band has a major impact on the cell radius The higher the frequency band, the lower the range (cell radius), which is why high data rate technologies have a smaller maximum reach than that offered by GSM900 systems.

Theduplex modedefines the way in which bandwidth is shared between the downlink (base station to terminal) and the uplink (terminal to base sta-tion). It affects the system capacity and spectrum requirements. In FDD mode, the downlink and uplink use different frequency channels and are adapted to symmetric traffic. FDD requires paired spectrum allocation. In contrast, in TDD mode the uplink and downlink share the same frequency channel in time. This mode is suitable for

asym-Frequency band Duplex mode Channel bandwidth Physical layer Access layer Frequency reuse Minimum spectrum 2G (850/900/ 1800/1900 MHz) FDD 200 KHz AMC (GMSK/8PSK) TDMA 9 (traffic channel), 14 beacon channel 2x4.6 MHz 3G (2.1 GHz) FDD 5 MHz DS+SS+AMC (QPSK/ 16QAM) CDMA 1 2x5 MHz 3G+BWA TDD 5 MHz 10 MHz (BWA) DS+SS+AMC (QPSK/ 16QAM) TD-CDMA 1 1x5 MHz BWA (2.5/3.5GHz) TDD/FDD 1.25 to 20 MHz QFDM+AMC (QPSK/16QAM/ 64QAM) TD-OFDMA 3 30 MHz (for 10 MHz channel) 2G+3G+450 MHz GSM-EDGE UMTS-FDD

(HSDPA) UMTS-TDD(HSDPA) WiMAX CDMA 2000(EV DO)

FDD 1.25 MHz DS+SS+AMC (QPSK/8PSK/ 16QAM) CDMA 1 2x1.25 MHz

Table 1: Main radio parameters for selected BWA systems

AM: Amplitude Modulation

QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation GMSK: Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying

QPSK: Quaternary Phase Shift Keying PSK: Phase Shift Keying

Power Time Frequency Power and codes Time Frequency Power Time Frequency Power and codes Time Frequency

CDMA

(UMTS-FDD/CDMA2000)

TD-OFDMA

(WiMAX)

TDMA

(GSM-EDGE)

TD-CDMA

(UMTS-TDD)

200 KHz 5 MHz (UMTS FDD) 1.25 MHz (CDMA2000) 1.25 to 20 MHz 10 to 15 MHz 5 MHz (UMTS FDD) 1.25 MHz (CDMA 2000) D o w n l i n k U p l i n k D o w n l i n k U p l i n k 600 KHz

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metric traffic, since usually the ratio between uplink and down-link is adjustable. TDD can be deployed in unpaired and paired spectrum allocations.

Channel bandwidthdirectly affects the throughput on the air interface. The greater the channel bandwidth, the higher the data rate, which is why WiMAX systems have much higher throughputs than others.

The physical layer of any BWA systems is based on Adap-tive Modulation and Coding (AMC) mechanisms. This enables the fluctuating propagation channel characteristics to be effi-ciently exploited by selecting higher level modulation schemes when possible to increase the throughput per sector. In addi-tion, the modulation technology affects the performance. CDMA (UMTS and CDMA2000) use Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS): narrowband signals are spread over a larger bandwidth signal, which is more robust against interfer-ence and has improved sensitivity (processing gain). GSM/EDGE and CDMA systems use single carrier modulation. In contrast, WiMAX is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which is a multiple carrier modulation system. The high data rate information flow is transmitted in parallel on a higher number of orthogonal narrowband subcar-riers (512, 1024 or 2048). OFDM offers the best performance / complexity tradeoff for transmission ban dwidths larger than 5 MHz, making it one of the main building blocks for fourth gen-eration (4G) systems.

The multiple accessscheme (see Figure 4) indicates how the available bandwidth is shared between users (which impacts the throughput per user) and how the system could be deployed (frequency reuse and

average throughput per sector). In the case of GSM/EDGE using Time Divi-sion Multiple Access (TDMA), the user data is divided between timeslots belonging to a given channel; the user data can be allocated to a maximum of four timeslots per TDMA frame; each timeslot can carry different user data.

However, in UMTS-FDD and

CDMA2000 systems, which are based on CDMA, users share the whole sys-tem bandwidth and are allocated dif-ferent codes and powers. The use of codes enables CDMA systems to oper-ate with a high level of interference. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multi-ple Access (OFDMA) is used in WiMAX systems.

Frequency reusedefines the min-imum number of frequency blocks that are required for cellular deploy-ments in BWA systems. Indeed, since BWA systems use AMC, the through-put per sector depends on the level of interference created by the cells trans-mitting at the same frequency. In CDMA systems, a frequency reuse of “1” is common (only one paired fre-quency block is required to deploy a CDMA system). Of course, this gener-ates a high level of interference across the cell. In the case of GSM/EDGE, a reuse of at least nine is required; the

EDGE throughput can be optimized if EDGE carriers are deployed with higher frequency reuse (thanks to the reduction in the level of interference). WiMAX has, by its nature, simi-lar requirements to GSM/EDGE systems in terms of interfer-ence levels. However, adaptive antenna technology means that WiMAX can be deployed with a frequency reuse of just t hree.

Table 1shows the spectrum required for deploying a BWA solu-tion, based on frequency reuse, channel bandwidth and duplex mode.

Radio throughputs of BWA technologies

The results synthesized in Figure 5assume that all the radio network resources are being utilized; the comparisons were made using the same assumptions about the radio environments (e.g. same propagation conditions, same antenna height, same indoor penetration requirements). The average through-puts can then be seen as the minimum achievable throughthrough-puts. In addition, a downlink / uplink r atio of 3:1 is assumed for TDD systems (UMTS-TDD and WiMAX).

In terms of throughput per sector, three performance groups can be derived:

• 300 kbit/s:2G technology (GSM/EDGE) can offer 320 kbit/s per carrier on average

• 700 kbit/s to 2 Mbit/s: 3G technologies enhanced with UMTS/HSDPA or CDMA2000 1xEV-DO provide average data rates per sector of about 1 Mbit/s (from less than 1 Mbit/s for CDMA2000 1xEV-DO to around 2 Mbit/s for UMTS/HS DPA). In these systems, the ratio between the average and peak UNIVERSAL BROADBAND ACCESS: GOING WIRELESS AND MOBILE