Beyond IN and UPT-a personal communications support system based onTMN concepts

The vision for future telecommunications is often described by the slogan “information at any time, at any place, in any form”, driven by both society's increasing demand for “universal connectivity” and the technological progress in the area of mobile computing and personal communications. In order to realize this vision, the emerging concept of personal communications support (PCS), which includes support for personal mobility, service personalization, and advanced service interoperability, is becoming increasingly important since it allows users to configure their communications environment in accordance with their individual needs, thereby providing them with controlled access to telecommunication services, regardless of their current location, terminal and network capabilities. This paper provides an overview of a personal communications support system (PCSS). The PCSS represents a platform providing advanced PCS capabilities in a uniform way to numerous communication applications in distributed multimedia environments. From a functional perspective, the PCSS provides enhanced intelligent network (IN) and universal personal telecommunication (UPT) capabilities with respect to user addressing (based on logical names instead of numbers) and advanced user control capabilities. From a design perspective, the centralistic IN/UPT approach to the realization of service logic has been replaced by a highly distributable, object-oriented approach based on X.500/X.700/telecommunications management network (TMN) concepts. This paper addresses the basic aspects of the PCSS, including design criteria, system architecture, supported applications, and evolution issues     

Wireless loops: What are they?

Several loop applications of wireless technology are aimed at reducing the cost of deploying communications services ranging from telephone to wideband video. In these applications, wireless links replace a portion of a wireline loop from a central location (a central office or cable headend) to a subscriber. The replacement of labor-intensive wireline technology by complex mass-produced integrated electronics in wireless transceivers is projected to reduce the overall cost of the resulting loop. These wireless loop applications attempt to provide existing communications services or small modifications to existing communications services. A different interpretation of a wireless loop makes use of low-power digital radio technology to provide the last thousand feet or so of a loop. Low-power low-complexity wireless loop technology in small base units can be integrated with network intelligence to provide the fixed-infrastructure network needed to support economical personal communications services (PCS) to small, lightweight, low-power personal voice and/or data communicators. Low-complexity communicators can provide many hours of “talk time” or data transmission time and perhaps several days of standby time from small batteries (≤ 1.5 oz). Because this application of wireless loop technology can reduce the inherent costs in several parts of a wireline loop, it has the potential to provide convenient widespread PCS at less costs than providing telephone services over conventional wireline loops. This low-power wireless loop application does not fit into any existing communications system paradigm. Wireless technology with tetherless access and wide-ranging mobility, e.g., the personal access communications system (PACS), does not fit the accumulated wisdom of the wireline telephony paradigm. It also does not fit the paradigm of existing cellular radio that has sparsely distributed expensive cell sites, and it is not targeted at fixed video services as is wireless cable. Because a significant change in thinking is required in addressing this new low-power low-complexity widespread wireless loop paradigm, its large economic advantages and service benefits have not yet been embraced by many of the existing communications providers, who appear to be more comfortable pursuing the better-known paradigms of video using wireless cable, or of cellular radio in the guise of high-tier PCS, or in the guise of rapid economical deployment of telephone services in developing nations. This paper discusses the inherent economic advantages and service benefits of low-power low-complexity wireless loop technology integrated with network intelligence aimed at providing economical low-tier PCS to everyone.     

Unified alignment of isdn-relevant information communications services/applications through a cubic framework

A cubic (three-dimensional) framework is proposed for mapping various information communications services. The framework implies the important aspect of information technology (IT), or C&C (integration of computers and communications) technology as follows. The first axis is based upon the service classification made for BISDN-relevant services by the CCITT. This ‘communications’ axis covers not only the simple communication, or ‘space-wise information transfer’, but also messaging, retrieval etc. as ‘the combined space/time-wise information transfer’. The second axis represents ‘the multiplicity of media use’ in the human interface of information handling systems. The third axis represents the extent of ‘information processing/conversion’ or the level of computer technology penetration. In the latter part of this paper, the important interrelations between computer communications services and ISDN deployment are discussed using the scope of the above-proposed cubic map. The penetration of PMI (personal machine intelligence) to the same level as telephone set and television set, and the corresponding computer communications services requirements are identified as a fundamental driving force of (N)ISDN deployment.     

基于软交换的个人监控通信

网络的融合及终端智能化程度的提高，为个人监控通信的实现提供了条件。借助于M2M技术，软交换网络可以为个人监控通信提供理想的实现平台。基于软交换的网络架构和实现原理，个人监控通信系统可分为网络侧和用户侧两部分。网络侧设备包括软交换机、现场业务中心等，位于核心控制层和业务层；用户侧设备包括监控设备、现场设备、网关和现场控制平台，位于接入层和现场设备层。通过基于软交换的个人监控通信系统可以实现家庭自动化、公共服务、资源调度、安全监测以及社群互助等多种人机通信业务。随着机器智能的提高和网络的融合，将来个人监控还会不断完善和发展，极有可能成为未来通信的主流业务之一。     

Customer-engineer relationship management for coverged communications service providers

Thanks to the advent of converged communications services (often referred to as ‘triple play’), the next generation service engineer will need radically different skills, processes and tools from today’s counterpart. Why? In order to meet the challenges of installing and maintaining services based on multi-vendor software and hardware components in an IP-based network environment. The converged services environment is likely to be ’smart’ and support flexible and dynamic interoperability between appliances and computing devices. These radical changes in the working environment will inevitably force managers to rethink the role of service engineers in relation to customer relationship management. This paper aims to identify requirements for an information system to support converged communications service engineers with regard to customer-engineer relationship management. Furthermore, an architecture for such a system is proposed and how it meets these requirements is discussed.     

Numbering and addressing in IBCN for mobile communications

Numbering and addressing issues arising in the integrated broadband communication network (IBCN) for the support of the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) and Personal Telecommunication Service (PTS) are discussed. Mobile communications services will allow a user to roam within a network. Thus, there will be a need to identify several types of objects (terminals, network points of attachment, users, customers premises networks or CPN, etc.). The mobility properties of these objects will necessitate dynamic bindings between their addresses and names. The situation is further complicated because the mobility may be embedded. A mobile user may employ a mobile terminal in a mobile CPN. Therefore, in UMTS and PTS there is a need for dynamic binding of various identifiers with location information data. The exclusive use of personal telecommunication numbers (PTNs) as dialing numbers (DNs) is proposed in IBCN for UMTS and PTS. That is, PTNs will be used (during dialing) for making calls to mobile terminals, mobile users, and fixed subscribers. When the personal communication service is not provided, the DN corresponds to the terminal number of the equipment (fixed or mobile) of the called subscriber     

The development of personal communications

The rapid development and take-up of personal communications services has been effected as much by marketing and regulatory changes as the introduction of second generation, digital technology. The traditional boundaries between fixed and mobile and between consumer and business services have been crossed. Increasingly, customers will be offered all their communication needs from a single supplier. This will lead to composite architectures formed from several networks. In the short term, dual-mode terminals will link networks based on cordless, cellular, satellite and fixed network technologies. As intelligent network techniques are used more fully, least-cost routing and consistent service features will be achieved. Third generation standards will extend the range of services, including those utilising higher speed data. These mobile systems will provide the primary access to the `Information Society'     

Universal digital portable radio communications

Providing voice and data communications to people away from their wireline telephones has become a major communication frontier. This frontier is being penetrated by evolving approaches to portable communications, e.g., cordless telephones, mobile radiotelephone, and radio paging. However, these approaches have many limitations; none can provide universal portable communications services. This paper discusses limitations of the evolving approaches and considers objectives and approaches for providing more universal digital portable communications as an integrated part of telephone exchange networks. These more universal communications could be accomplished by using demand-assigned radio links for the last thousand feet or so of telephone loops and sharing the remainder of the fixed distribution facilities. Fixed radio ports as integrated parts of telephone distribution networks could be placed throughout service regions. Efficient use of the radio spectrum could be insured by the planned reuse of radio frequencies throughout the regions. The severe multipath radio propagation environment within and around buildings that strongly influences the design of portable communications systems is described in the paper. System configurations and radio link techniques, that can provide reliable communications in the multipath environment, are discussed. Radio system calculations are illustrated for radio ports with 30-ft-high antennas in residential areas. The calculations indicate that radio link availability would be greater than 99 percent for 2000-ft port separations and 5-mW portable transmitters. Reuse of frequencies would require dividing the allocated frequency band into segments for use at adjacent ports. Calculations suggest that link availability in the cochannel interference environment would be greater than 99 percent, if 25 to 35 segments were used in residential areas.     

Network issues for wireless communications

This article specifically focuses on wireless personal communications, i.e., wireless access, that provides either terminal or personal mobility. In particular, we discuss some important issues in networking, traffic, and performance. Although within radio and networking aspects there are significant commonalities between traditional cellular mobile communications and wireless personal communications, there exist distinct differences due to radio propagation and fading effects, interference environment, smaller cell sizes, type and pattern of mobility, and call delivery. Indeed, with respect to networking issues, a large set of system choices, characteristics of traffic to be carried, and important parameters have to be considered. These include the problems involved in selecting an appropriate multiaccess technology to efficiently handle the required subscriber service profile across a multiplicity of systems to complete a call. To present a meaningful discussion of these issues, we address in some detail radio resource assignment, mobility management, call control, and traffic aspect, which have significant impact on the network performance     

Commercial, legal, and international aspects of packet communications

Packet switching technology emerged rapidly in the 1970's as another viable mode of communications switching, along with circuit and message switching. Since packet switching offers economical and versatile data communication capabilities in a multiuser environment, it is particularly well suited for furnishing public data communication network services. Public packet networks are now established or being developed in most industrialized countries, and the introduction of these networks has raised policy issues relating to the structure and regulation of the national networks, and the interconnection of national networks into an international packet switching system. This paper reviews these issues and concludes that public packet switching network services will continue to be regulated in all cases; that competitive packet networks will coexist in the U.S. and in Canada, but that only one national packet network will exist in each of most other countries; that packet networks will aggravate the problem of distinguishing nonregulated data processing services from regulated data communication services; that international interconnection of public packet networks based upon CCITT standanh will occur rapidly over the next several years; and that a unified international packet switching system will eventually emerge similar to today's international telephone and telex systems.     

Architecture and networking issues in satellite systems for personal communications

The paper expands on some specific aspects of personal communications via satellite, often–although not necessarily–envisaging extensive use of ‘small’ satellites, using orbits not necessarily coinciding with the geostationary one (36,000 km), but rather at 1000–11,000 km altitude. One key point to be borne in mind is the issue of internetworking between satellite and terrestrial systems. Network integration should be carefully implemented in order to comply with ITU future public land mobile telecommunication systems (FPLMTS) requirements, also accepted in the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS). In addition to some insight into the technology of small satellites and associated orbits, architectures and networking aspects of most relevant systems providing personal communication services (PCS) are addressed in some detail, and potential applications highlighted. Frequency spectrum allocation is addressed in the light of the 1992 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-92), taking into account also multiple access problems and regulatory issues such as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing and spectrum sharing debates. Some remarks on critical technologies and cost conclude the paper.     

Mobile communications

The principal problem faced by networks with mobile users is how to ensure that the service provider functions keep pace with the continually changing network state resulting from user mobility, without consuming large amounts of network resources in the process. Regardless of whether the users are mobile or stationary, all telecommunications networks must perform basic service provider functions such as controlling access to services, locating users, routing traffic, and accounting and billing for service use. However, in the presence of mobile users, all of these functions must be performed much more often and much more rapidly. Developing low-overhead high-performance service provider solutions has been and will continue to be a key area of research in mobile communications. This special issue on mobile communications comprises five articles, each of which covers a different aspect of mobile communications     

Personal communications services

The history of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) examination of proposals to allocate radio frequency spectrum to a new and innovative range of services it calls personal communications services (PCS) is outlined. Personal communication networks (PCN), which will supply mobile two-way, mass-market communications services, the most advanced offering of the PCS area, and spectrum allocation for PCS are discussed. The results of a consumer market study of the potential for PCN services are also discussed     

A high-speed transmission method for wireless personal communications

The next-generation wireless personal communications systems are expected to support a wide range of high-quality services that require high data rates. Communicating at high transmission rates over the harsh wireless environment, however, creates many difficult and challenging problems. In this paper, we describe a technique for the high-speed transmission of data in wireless personal communications which we denote as multicode modulation. In this technique, the high-rate bit transmitted data is serial to parallel converted into low-rate bit streams in a similar fashion to multicarrier or multitone modulation. However, in contrast to the multicarrier method, here we propose to modulate each low-rate bit stream using direct-sequence spread-spectrum on a single carrier. It is demonstrated that by selecting the processing gain properly the total required bandwidth will be of the same order as the original high-rate data stream; thereby, gaining the inherent benefit of multipath rejection without expanding the bandwidth of the original high-rate stream. To demonstrate the potential and merits of the proposed method as an alternative technique for high-speed transmission for wireless personal communications, various simulation results over a multipath Rayleigh fading link are presented.Supported in part by the Hong Kong Research Grant Council, Project No. HKUST562/94E and the Hong Kong Telecom Institute of Information Technology, Project No. HKTIIT94/95.EG03.     

SATELLITE-ENHANCED PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS EXPERIMENTS

Users of future generation wireless information services will have diverse needs for voice, data, and potentially even video communications in a wide variety of circumstances. For users in dense, inner-city areas, low power personal communications services (PCS) technology should be ideal. Vehicular-based users travelling at high speeds will need high-power cellular technology. For users in remote or inaccessible locations, or for applications that are broadcast over a wide geographic area, a satellite technology would be the best choice. Packet data networks provide an excellent solution for users requiring occasional small messages, whereas circuit switched networks provide more economical solutions for larger messages. To provide ubiquitous personal communications service, it is necessary to capitalize on the strength of each wireless technology and network to create one seamless internetwork including both current and future wired and wireless networks. As an initial step in exploring the opportunities afforded by the merging of satellite and terrestrial networks, Bellcore and JPL conducted several experiments. These experiments utilized Bellcore's experimental personal communications system (including several messaging applications with adaptations to wireless networks), NASA's advanced communications technology satellite (ACTS), JPL's ACTS mobile terminal, and various commercial data networks (such as the wireline Internet and the RAM wireless packet data network). Looking at loss of bits, packets and higher layer blocks (over the satellite-terrestrial internetworks with mobile and stationary users under various conditions) our initial results indicate that the communication channel can vary dramatically, even within a single network. We show that these conditions necessitate powerful and adaptive protocols if we are to achieve a seamless internetworking of satellite and terrestrial networks.     

IN architectures for implementing universal personaltelecommunications

This article focuses on architectures for providing universal personal telecommunications (UPT) service to wireline users. Although UPT services could be provided to users of wireless phones, thereby giving those users personal communication services (PCS), the wireline environment introduces certain important complications. Unlike "smart" cellular phones, which can register themselves and the user automatically, wireline telephones are unable to automatically detect and register a UPT user. UPT therefore includes a manual registration procedure to associate a PTN with the phone where calls will be received or placed. Also, unlike personal communications terminals that are typically used by only one person, wireline phones are likely to be shared among other users. Therefore, the network must keep track of who is using the phone, so it can provide the appropriate telecommunications services. It would be difficult or impossible to implement UPT as a switch-based service. Fortunately, an intelligent network (IN) architecture that is well suited for implementing UPT is being deployed by many local exchange (LECs) and interexchange carriers (IXCs)     

Evaluating the performability of tactical communications networks

Tactical communications networks are multihop wireless networks in which switches and endpoints are mobile nodes. In a tactical environment, system performance degrades when switching nodes and/or communication links fail to operate. Fast algorithms for performance analysis are desirable for optimizing the network in a timely fashion. Further, tactical networks commonly use preemptive priorities to achieve low blocking probabilities for high-priority calls when the loss of equipment in the battlefield is not trivial. This paper discusses three measures and analytical algorithms for the performability evaluation of a two-tier tactical communications network where preemptive priority service discipline is employed and traffic is divided into multiple classes to provide multiple grades of service. Each class of traffic has its distinct characteristics, such as average call-arrival rate, average call-holding time, and service priority. The three performability measures are devised to evaluate the impact of nodes/links failures on system performance. Experiments show that the preemption does provide robust service for higher priority traffic. The techniques for performability evaluation presented in this paper may also be useful in other rapidly deployable networks, where mobility, communication efficiency, and computational complexity for adapting the network to unpredictable environments are of significant concern.     

Personal Computer Communications Via Telephone Facilities

Communication from terminals to other terminals and to computing service systems has been an important aspect of data communications since the early 1960's. When personal computers arrived on the scene, in the 1970's, the use of telephone facilities and modems for communications was a natural extension of existing technology. Now, however, many modems have "intelligence" and can be controlled from their electrical interface, communication software is available to facilitate the use of a modem and coordinate the communication process, and there are many uses for personal computer communications. Some of the hardware, software, and computing services for personal computer communications are discussed in this paper.     

True number portability and advanced call screening in a SIP-basedIP telephony system

Custom local area signaling service features offered in the PSTN have certain limitations due to the closed nature of PSTN network signaling. The adoption of telephony over IP (IP telephony) will enable a new paradigm of services and features that are not possible to implement in today's PSTN. This is especially the case for services that make use of personal, trusted information, which can be provided by a user's personal digital assistant. We demonstrate how personal information can be coupled with an IP telephony service to provide user-customized call handling by the network. In particular, we describe a demonstration architecture that includes Ethernet-attached phones running SIP, with an interface to synchronize with PDAs that supply personal information. The proposed architecture is quite flexible; it can support enhanced versions of the current PSTN and private branch exchange services, in addition to many new features and services. We describe true number portability and advanced call screening as examples of new services in a hybrid PSTN/IP telephony environment     

Teletraffic implications of database architectures in mobile andpersonal communications

Intelligent networks (INs) will allow wide area roaming and location of individuals so that true anytime, anywhere, any form communications can take place. Personal communications will put new demands on INs. The architectures of existing INs may need to be modified to accommodate the new capabilities required to support such services. In particular, the databases that put the “intelligence” in IN will have many more demands placed upon them due to the changes in scope and content. We identify some of the teletraffic and architectural issues associated with the support of personal and mobile communications by IN databases. We first provide some context by reviewing IN architecture, personal communications, and the data required to support it. We then look at a pseudoservice example to better understand the implications for query and update traffic that must be handled by the databases. We also identify same of the most important issues that must be addressed by database manufacturers and IN providers to realize the promise of truly transparent personal and terminal mobility