Network routing in a cellular network deals with the challenges of traditional

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is ...

such as switching and call setup. Most

cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless network, wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called ''cells'', each served by at least one fixed-locatio ...

routing issues in different cells can be attributed to the multiple access methods used for transmission. The location of each mobile phone must be known to reuse a given band of frequencies in different cells and forms

space-division multiple access Space-division multiple access (SDMA) is a channel access method based on creating parallel spatial pipes (focused signal beams) using advanced antenna technology next to higher capacity pipes through spatial multiplexing and/or diversity, by ...

(SDMA).

Networks

FDMA Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) is a channel access method used in some multiple-access protocols. FDMA allows multiple users to send data through a single communication channel, such as a coaxial cable or microwave beam, by dividing ...

is one of the multiple access methods used in cellular networks. 50 MHz blocks of communication channel are assigned, which lie in radio frequency range and contain an equal number of uplinks (terminal to base station) and downlinks (base station to terminal). One or more bidirectional channels are carried by 10-90 band pairs. The digital networks additionally make use of either

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

or TDMA methods. A special service called

mobility management Mobility management is one of the major functions of a GSM or a UMTS network that allows mobile phones to work. The aim of mobility management is to track where the subscribers are, allowing calls, SMS and other mobile phone services to be del ...

provides

handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transf ...

and

roaming Roaming is a wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or oth ...

. Terminals (handsets) can move from one place to another during the call and require calls to be handed over from one channel to another.

Soft handover Soft handover or soft handoff refers to a feature used by the CDMA and W-CDMA standards, where a cell phone is simultaneously connected to two or more cells (or cell sectors) during a call. If the sectors are from the same physical cell site (a sect ...

uses the same frequency channel. The same terminals can operate in the same area covered by different service providers, which is known as

References

External links

Networking and wireless
Mobile technology {{Telecommunications-stub