TM423 The T305 Project
Project title: Assessing new developments in
communications
Sample project description
Specific title
The role of EDGE (enhanced data rates for GSM
evolution) in enabling the wireless internet
Note
This sample project description was
developed several years ago, so the subject matter is no longer novel, and
would not be acceptable as a project title. The description is intended for
guidance on style and timescale, not content.
Description
[565 words]
GSM (global system for mobile
communications) was developed in Europe as a standard for cellular mobile
communications. It has been very successful, both within Europe and worldwide.
GSM was primarily developed as a standard for mobile voice telephony, but can
support data at up to 22.8 kbit/s. With the dramatic rise of the Internet and
the increasing demand for data, developments are taking place on ‘third
generation’ mobile communication systems that will allow much higher data
rates and to enable Internet services on mobile terminals, leading to the
‘wireless internet’. EDGE, sometimes described as a generation
‘2.5 or 2+’ system, is an interim development of GSM that will
provide higher data rates without the full deployment of a third-generation
system.
Although EDGE derives originally from
GSM, it is also being taken-up as the next stage in the evolution of the US
‘TDMA/136’ mobile communications standard, for which purposes the
acronym is being taken to represent ‘Enhanced Data rates for Global
Evolution’.
The core feature of EDGE is the use of
a different modulation scheme compared to GSM (8 PSK instead of binary GMSK) to
increase the data rate over the radio link. This project will examine the
modulation scheme in detail, as well as the protocols and coding that will be
used to exploit the higher data rates. Calculations will be done to examine the
impact of the increased data rate on accessing Internet-type services. This
will require knowledge of the types of services planned for the mobile internet
and the associated data rates required.
The project will also examine the
context in which EDGE has emerged, including an overview of the history of
mobile communications standards across the world and the proposals for future
developments. This requires an understanding of a range of technical,
commercial and other drivers, which have led to a several incompatible
standards – and a multiplicity of acronyms.
Taking account of the possibilities of
EDGE compared to GSM and future third-generation systems as well as time scales
involved, an assessment will be made as to the likely scale and significance of
EDGE technology in the next few years.
Topics to be explored include:
·
mobile standards: EDGE, GSM, TDMA/136, UMTS (universal mobile
telecommunications system);
·
GPRS (general packet radio service) and EGPRS (enhanced general
packet radio service – systems using GPRS with EDGE);
·
standardization bodies: ITU, ETSI, ANSI, TIA.
Understanding and describing the
system will require modelling techniques from T305, including:
·
signal sequence diagrams to illustrate the operation of
protocols;
·
frequency domain concepts in the comparisons of modulation
schemes;
·
signal constellations to illustrate the EDGE modulation
scheme;
·
traffic theory and probabilistic concepts in the assessment of
quality of service, based upon the comparative data rates of EDGE and GSM;
·
layering concepts to describe the relationship between EDGE, GPRS
and other network components;
·
spreadsheets to compare the impact of differing data rates on
performance.
Background material for the project
– such as descriptions of GSM – can be found in books, but, because
EDGE is a newly developing standard, information on EDGE will have to come from
other sources. A significant part of this project will therefore be taken up
with literature searches and active reading of technical literature. I have
identified journal articles and other relevant material on the world wide web
in the bibliography below. ETSI standards for EDGE can be downloaded from the
ETSI website.
Project schedule
Start date: February
200x End date: December
200x
Total time allocation: 260 hours
Fixed intermediate and final
deadlines and approximate time allocation
|
TMA 01 |
[the cut-off date] |
48 hours |
|
TMA 02 |
[the cut-off date] |
48 hours |
|
TMA 03 |
[the cut-off date] |
60 hours |
|
Report submission |
[the cut-off date] |
84 hours |
|
TMA 04 |
[the cut-off date] |
20 hours |
|
Month |
Planned activity |
|
February |
Read project briefing
notes.
Identify requirements for
project lifecycle, deadlines, deliverables etc.
Determine project topic.
|
|
March |
Initial literature survey
(focus on EDGE).
Review T305 material.
Produce TMA 01. |
|
April |
Rework proposal following
comments from tutor.
Read key literature
fully.
Identify topics for further
investigation.
Plan outline structure of the
final report. |
|
May |
Second iteration of the
literature search.
Produce TMA 02. |
|
June |
Draw up comparative tables of
key features of current and future standards.
Identify missing data and
locate further sources of information. |
|
July |
Quantitative comparisons of
EDGE, GSM and 3rd generation data rates (Excel spreadsheets).
Produce TMA 03. |
|
August |
First outline draft of final
report (expected slippage). |
|
September |
Report writing.
Check WWW for latest
developments in the technology. |
|
October |
Evaluation of process and
project.
Ongoing report work –
should be almost complete for last week of month.
Proofreading. |
|
November |
Final iteration of
report.
Submit project report.
|
|
December |
Produce TMA 04.
End. |
Bibliography
Furuskär, A., Mazur, S., Muller,
F. and Olofsson, H (1999) ‘EDGE: enhanced data Rates for GSM and TDMA/136
evolution’, IEEE Personal Communications,
vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 56–66.
Fenton, C., Nigeon, B. Willis, B. and
Harris, J. (2000) ‘Wireless access’, BT
Technology Journal, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 74–86.
Digital
cellular telecommunications system (Phase 2+); Physical layer on the radio
path; General description, ETSI Technical Specification no. TS 100 573.
(Available from http://www.etsi.org [Accessed October
2003])
The paper by Furuskär et al. is a
detailed examination of the EDGE standard as of early 1999, and includes: an
overview of the rationale behind the development of EDGE; a summary of the
technology of EDGE; descriptions of how EDGE will be used with both GSM and
TDMA/136; and analysis of the performance of systems using EGPRS based upon
simulations.
The paper overlaps the aims of this
project substantially and is therefore an excellent starting point, but has a
number of limitations. It does not, for example, explain the modulation and
coding schemes of EDGE in as much detail as required by this project. Although
performance data is presented in terms of data rates, packet delay
distributions and spectral efficiency, there is no consideration of the
consequences of these parameters for a wireless internet. In addition, the
technical level of the paper, and the assumptions of prior knowledge made by
the authors, is such I need to do further background reading to understand some
aspects of the paper.
Equipment or software
No hardware is needed for this project
(other than my multimedia PC and modem). The only software that will be used is
Microsoft Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Netscape and
associated plug-ins or add-ons for web browsing and Adobe Acrobat Reader for
reading and printing pdf documents downloaded from the web.
