WHAT IS A BASE STATION

In telecommunications, a base station is a fixed transceiver that is the main communication point for one or more wireless mobile client devices.

A base station serves as a central connection point for a wireless device to communicate. It further connects the device to other networks or devices, usually through dedicated high bandwidth wire or fiber optic connections. Base stations are generally a transceiver capable of sending and receiving wireless signals; otherwise, if they only transmitted signals out, they would be considered a transmitter or broadcast point. A base station will have one or more radio frequency (RF antennas to transmit and receive RF signals to other devices.

Base stations are also central points that all clients connect to in a hub and spoke style network; it would not be a client among similar peers. Generally, if client devices wanted to communicate to each other, they would communicate both directly with the base station and do so by routing all traffic through it for transmission to another device.

A base station is a fixed communications location and is part of a network’s wireless telephone system. It relays information to and from a transmitting/receiving unit, such as a mobile phone. Often referred to as a cell site, a base station allows mobile phones to work within a local area, as long as it is linked to a mobile or wireless service provider.

A base station is normally positioned in a location far above the grounded area providing coverage. Different types of base stations are set up according to the coverage needed, as follows:

• Macrocells: are base stations covering a service provider’s largest areas and are usually situated in rural areas and highways.
• Microcells are low-power base stations covering areas where a mobile network requires additional coverage to maintain quality of service to subscribers. They usually are situated in suburban and urban areas.
• Picocells are smaller base stations providing more localized coverage in areas with many users where network quality is poor. Picocells are usually placed inside buildings.

One service provider may have several base stations positioned to cover specific areas. Ideally, bandwidth requirements serve as a guideline regarding base stations location and relative distance. In most cases, 800 MHz base stations have a greater point-to-point distance than 1900 MHz stations. The number of base stations depends on population density and any geographic irregularities interfering with the transmittal of information, such as buildings and mountain ranges.

The base station is essential for mobile phones to work correctly and optimally. If there are not enough base stations in an area with too many network subscribers or geographic interferences, quality of service is greatly affected. In these cases, base stations are located in areas of closer proximity to subscribers

FEATURES OF A BASE STATION

A base station will have one or more radio frequency (RF) antennas to transmit and receive RF signals to other devices. Base stations are also central points that all clients connect to in a hub and spoke style network; it would not be a client among similar peers.

What are the elements of BSS?

The BSS is composed of two parts:

• The Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
• The Base Station Controller (BSC)

What is the range of a base station?

A base station is providing Internet access to the end users by utilizing TVWS frequency bands over ranges comparable to today’s cellular systems, e.g., in the range of 0 to 10 km. The base station serves customer premises equipment (CPE)

What are the main parts of a base station subsystem in GSM network?

The GSM architecture consists of four basic components [1]: The Mobile Station (MS) consists of the terminal equipment and the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The Base Station Subsystem (BSS) handles the radio access functions and includes the Base Transceiver System (BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC).

How does base transceiver station work?

A base transceiver station (BTS) is a fixed radio transceiver in any mobile network. The BTS connects mobile devices to the network. It sends and receives radio signals to mobile devices and converts them to digital signals that it passes on the network to route to other terminals in the network or to the Internet.

HOW DO base stations communicate with each other?

Each base station has a number of radio channels, or frequencies, to communicate with mobile phones. Because this number of frequencies is limited, frequencies are often reused in adjoining cells.

WHAT IS MOBILE COMMUNICATION?

Mobile communication is talking, texting or sending data or image files over a wireless network. An example of mobile communication is chatting on the cell phone with a friend. An example of mobile communication is sending email from a computer using a wireless network at your local coffee shop. noun.

WHAT IS A BASE STATION CONTROLLER?.

Base Station Controller (BSC)

What controls a base station?

A base station controller (BSC) is a critical mobile network component that controls one or more base transceiver stations (BTS), also known as base stations or cell sites. Key BSC functions include radio network management (such as radio frequency control), BTS handover management and call setup.

A base station controller (BSC) is a network element that controls and monitors a number of base stations and provides the interface between the cell sites and the mobile switching center (MSC).

A base station controller (BSC) is a critical mobile network component that controls one or more base transceiver stations (BTS), also known as base stations or cell sites. Key BSC functions include radio network management (such as radio frequency control), BTS handover management and call setup.

A BSC works with a mobile switching center (MSC) component that is external to the BTS, enabling it to provide full mobile telephony and fulfill capacity requirements. Base stations must communicate with the MSC and data must be managed as information overflow, impacting MSC efficiency. A BSC eliminates MSC base station activity management requirements, allowing the MSC to handle critical tasks, such as traffic balancing and database management.

Often perceived as the intelligence behind the BTS, the BSC serves as a mediator between base stations and the MSCs, while providing voice pathways for mobile phones and other compatible devices, such as a land line or the Internet.

In most instances, several connected base stations and MSCs link to one BSC, which handles network traffic measurement, authentication and handover management. For example, when a serving BTS does not receive sufficient signaling power from a mobile phone, the BSC will hand over the signal to another cell site to ensure optimal transmission power for the mobile user(s).

What does a base station controller do?

A base station controller (BSC) is a network element that controls and monitors a number of base stations and provides the interface between the cell sites and the mobile switching center (MSC).

The benefits of securing base transceiver stations

Telecommunications networks are critical economic and social infrastructure used by over three billion people in the world every day. Therefore, ensuring the security of base transceiver stations requires to be prepared for all sorts of threats, from incidents like theft or sabotage to terrorism and natural disasters causing production interruptions and system vulnerability.

Security measures need to consider several challenges, such as the remote location of most sites, topography and weather-related conditions and also the management of multiple access control and personnel identification, which is extremely complex since procedures are prone to error generating false alarms and responding to them is expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to daily operations.

• Thermal cameras can detect people approaching and entering the base transceiver stations area with physical access control for authorized personnel and cameras for visual identification
• Network Horn Speaker conveys audio warnings
• Network Video Door Station provides 2-way A/V communication
• Sierra Wireless AirLink gateways connect the remote organizational assets over 4G LTE to the central control monitoring stations.

Cameras field of view ​​is not limited to the perimeter, but concerns the entire sensitive area in order to perform extended intelligent analytics in different perspectives. The system’s seamless integration allows to associate or trigger a sequence of chain events such as lighting system turning on and deterring devices activation with optional audio support on site to play back pre-recorded messages or alarms.

In case of alert the control room receives images from the cameras, establishes an audiovisual connection and manages un-authorized access with efficacy. The system can run 100% unsupervised controlled completely from the control center and transmit the images to the monitoring station for real-time visual evaluation and backwards analysis, also giving video access to authorities and security services. In this case, image quality makes a difference in perpetrators identification.

This solution concept is already in place in different installations. One of the most representative is about protecting Vodafone BTS in Italy

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