‘GSM TO 3G’ through ICT

A four day Short Term Course on ‘GSM TO 3G’ through ICT was organized by NITTTR, Chandigarh at Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida from 16th-20th March 2015.

The inaugural ceremony was presided over by Prof. (Dr.) MP Poonia, Director, NITTTR Chandigarh, Prof. (Dr.) SBL Sachan, Department of Electronics & Communication, NITTTR Chandigarh and Ms. Garima Saini, Department of Electronics & Communication, NITTTR Chandigarh.

The first session of the day was delivered by Ms. Garima Saini on Multiple Access Technology. Multiple access techniques are used to allow a large number of mobile users to share the allocated spectrum in the most efficient manner. As the spectrum is limited, so the sharing is required to increase the capacity of cell or over a geographical area by allowing the available bandwidth to be used at the same time by different users and this must be done in a way such that the quality of service doesn’t degrade within the existing users.

The Second session of the first day was delivered by Prof (Dr.) SBL Sachan on Cell Design. Small cells are low-powered radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum that have a range of 10 meters to 1 or 2 kilometers. They are "small" compared to a mobile macrocell, which may have a range of a few tens of kilometers. With mobile operators struggling to support the growth in mobile data traffic, many are using Mobile data offloading as a more efficient use of radio spectrum. Small cells are a vital element to 3G data offloading, and many mobile network operators see small cells as vital to managing LTE Advanced spectrum more efficiently compared to using just macrocells.

The first session of the second day was presided by Mr. Kapil Bhutani, Director, Telcocrats on ‘RF Planning-2G & 3G’. He explained why the radio access part of the wireless network is considered of essential importance as it is the direct physical radio connection between the mobile equipment and the core part of the network & the need to formulate strategies in order to meet the requirements of the mobile services, the radio network must offer sufficient coverage and capacity while maintaining the lowest possible deployment costs.

The second session was based on ‘2G & 3G architecture’ by Mr. Kapil Bhutani. 2G networks developed as a replacement for first generation 1G analog cellular networks, and the GSM standard originally described a digital, circuit-switched network optimized for full duplex voice telephony. This expanded over time to include data communications, first by circuit-switched transport, then by packet data transport via GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution or EGPRS) whereas 3G, short form of third generation, is the third generation of mobile telecommunications technology.[1] This is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications by the International Telecommunication Union.[2] 3G finds application in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.3G telecommunication networks support services that provide an information transfer rate of at least 200 kbit/s. Later 3G releases, often denoted 3.5G and 3.75G, also provide mobile broadband access of several Mbit/s to smartphones and mobile modems in laptop computers. This ensures it can be applied to wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV technologies.

The third session of the second day was on ‘GSM & 3G implementation using Synopsis SPW by Mr. Naveen Kumar, Application Engineer, Eigen Technologies. Synopsys’ SPW consistently enables us to reach tape-out on schedule and within budget, despite the increasing complexity and required flexibility for multi-standard transceiver solutions.

He explained the benefits of using Synopsis SPW, the prominent ones being uses a model-based approach with access to 3000 models, including LTE models; Enables an algorithm design flow with seamless integration to implementation & verification flows; Enables the fastest & most accurate refinement of floating-point algorithms into fixed-point algorithms.

The first session of the third day was based on ‘Long Term Evolution’ by Mr. Sudesh Chopra, DGM, BSNL Chandigarh. LTE, an abbreviation for Long-Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements. The standard is developed by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with minor enhancements described in Release 9.

LTE is the natural upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA2000 networks. The different LTE frequencies and bands used in different countries will mean that only multi-band phones will be able to use LTE in all countries where it is supported.

The second session of the third day was ‘Sensor Networks for Dummies’ by Mr. Amol Bhondekar, Principal Scientist, CSIO Chandigarh. A wireless sensor network (WSN) (sometimes called a wireless sensor and actor network (WSAN)) are spatially distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, pressure, etc. and to cooperatively pass their data through the network to a main location. The more modern networks are bi-directional, also enabling control of sensor activity.

The first session of the fourth day was based on ‘Security & Design issues in Mobile Communication’ by Mr. Naveen Kumar, Athal Services Pvt. Ltd. The various areas where major research activities going on in the field of WSN are deployment, localization, synchronization, data aggregation, dissemination, database querying, architecture, middleware, security, designing less power consuming devices, abstractions and higher level algorithms for sensor specific issues. Mobile security or mobile phone security has become increasingly important in mobile computing. It is of particular concern as it relates to the security of personal information now stored on the smartphone.

He stated that more and more users and businesses use smartphones as communication tools but also as a means of planning and organizing their work and private life. Within companies, these technologies are causing profound changes in the organization of information systems and therefore they have become the source of new risks. Indeed, smartphones collect and compile an increasing amount of sensitive information to which access must be controlled to protect the privacy of the user and the intellectual property of the company.

The second session of the fourth day was titled ‘Flow Code Programming utilities & its Applications’ by Mr. Abhay Tandon, Design Engineer, Technics. Flow-Based Programming (FBP) is a programming paradigm that uses a "data factory" metaphor for designing and building applications. FBP defines applications as networks of "black box" processes, which exchange data across predefined connections by message passing, where the connections are specified externally to the processes. These black box processes can be reconnected endlessly to form different applications without having to be changed internally. FBP is thus naturally component-oriented.

FBP is a particular form of dataflow programming based on bounded buffers, information packets with defined lifetimes, named ports, and separate definition of connections.

The third session of the fourth day was based on ‘Real Time study of AT Commands’ by Mr. Rahul Sharma, Scientech.

The last day comprised of sessions on ‘Cognitive Radios’ by Dr. S.K. Soni, GB Pant Engg College.

Cognitive radio (CR) is a form of wireless communication in which a transceiver can intelligently detect which communication channels are in use and which are not, and instantly move into vacant channels while avoiding occupied ones. his advanced technology enables radio devices to use spectrum (i.e., radio frequencies) in entirely new and sophisticated ways. Cognitive radios have the ability to monitor, sense, and detect the conditions of their operating environment, and dynamically reconfigure their own characteristics to best match those conditions.

The worksop came to an end with a valedictory session and feedback from different nodal centres.