It gives me great pleasure to write the foreword of
the book 2.5G Mobile Networks: GPRS and EDGE. This book culminates the trilogy of the books written by the
authors Sumit Kasera and Nishit Narang on three key wireless technologies,
namely 2G Networks (GSM and HSCSD), 2.5G Networks (GPRS and EDGE) and 3G
Networks (UMTS and IMS). Achieved in a span of about 6 years, this feat is
remarkable and deserves to be commended. These books brought by Mc-graw Hill
are cogently written yet very comprehensive and cover a wide array of topics
associated with these wireless technologies.
Delving a bit in evolution of cellular networks, the
first 2G GSM networks were commercially deployed in Europe in early nineties
while the first commercial launch of 3G UMTS networks happened in Japan in
2001. Somewhere in between the two, the GPRS network was launched. Thus, both
2G and 2.5G networks, as compared to the 3G networks, are now more than a
decade old. In this context, one sometimes wonders at the relevance of bringing
about a book on 2G (launched in 2006) and 2.5G (being launched in early 2008). If
one wants the answer, then he or she does not have to go too far and just look
at the current corporate battle for the 2G spectrum in India. The battle is
fought between various companies that include incumbents as well as aspirants, between
camps (GSM versus CDMA), government ministers, telecom regulator and the
appellate. Without any formal auction of spectrum, the bids of scarce air
interface have started outwitting each other. The spectrum war indicates the
growth potential of these cellular technologies including GSM as well as GPRS.
As a matter of fact, some of the leading GSM equipment
providers are developing low cost GSM/GPRS network elements specifically for
India and other such economies and trying to spread the GSM/GPRS networks in
parts of the world where mobile penetration is low. EDGE, with its ability to
deliver higher data rates with minimum incremental cost, is also a key weapon
in the hands of operators to drive growth in the “data” segment. In this
backdrop where emerging economies including China and India and other
developing or underdeveloped countries show huge potential for 2G/2.5G
technology, a book by an Indian author is certainly a welcome step. In any
case, the available literature on these technologies is inadequate, costly,
full of jargon and complex equations and many times unavailable.
In contrast, this new book derives its strength from
lucid procedural descriptions and detailed illustrations, which both the novice
as well as the experienced professionals can appreciate equally. To start with,
the book first provides a reasonably comprehensive overview of GSM networks
that essentially summarizes their earlier work on the topic. The next chapter
then talks about the GPRS network architecture. Both the transmission plane as
well as control plane architecture is well explained. The air interface is
discussed next where the key topics like logical channels as well as channel
coding are nicely elaborated. The next two chapters cover the most important
air interface protocols, namely the Medium Access Protocol and the Radio Link
Control protocol. In these chapters there is a healthy mix of concepts and the
protocol. The presentation then moves to the core network protocols including
the GPRS Mobility Management and Session Management. Both these chapters are
well illustrated with flow diagrams to drive the point. The GPRS user plane
aspects are further detailed in Chapter 8. The book ends with final chapter on
EDGE where the key differences between GPRS and EDGE are summarized, along with
coverage on the important aspects of EDGE.
As one of the leaders in creating communication
software for wireless networks, we at ‘Aricent’ are constantly ramping up engineers
to create a strong foundation in our engineers on this basic wireless
technology. The need for a greater variety of introductory and reference
reading material from authors with practical experience has been long felt. The
authors of this book are actively involved in design, system integration, testing
and piloting of GSM/GPRS network elements and they have brought out this book
from their rich experience. Thus, I once again congratulate my colleagues Sumit
Kasera and Nishit Narang, as well as the relatively junior yet no less
competent A. P. Priyanka. at Aricent, who through their deep understanding of
the subject and penchant for sharing their knowledge have presented yet another
of their works. I am quite hopeful that this book will be a valuable guide to
both students and engineers working on GPRS and EDGE. The book will also be a
great follow up for those who have read GSM and want to know more on the
intermediate technologies before jumping to 3G UMTS.
N.
Mohanrangan,
Assistant
Vice President (AVP),