Cellular Network

What is it? 

A cellular network is a radio network dispersed over land areas known as cells. Each of the cells contains a fixed location transceiver called a base station. The role of the cells in the network is to ensure radio coverage across extensive geographical areas. It enables user equipment (UE), e.g., mobile phones, to communicate with the network even when it moves through cells during transmission. 

How does it work? 

The structure of a cellular network includes a base transceiver station (BTS), base center controller (BSC), mobile switching center (MSC), public switched telephone network (PSTN), visitor location register (VLR), and home location register (HLR). 

The base transceiver station empowers cellular devices to directly communicate with mobile devices. It also routes calls to the base center controller. 

At the same time, the BSC coordinates with the mobile switching center to interface with the public switched telephone network, visitor location register, and home location register. The goal is to route the calls to different BSCs. 

The network keeps information for tracking the location of its subscribers’ mobile devices. These are equipped with details of two channels. 

The first one is the Strong Dedicated Control Channel, which allows for transferring information toward the mobile device from the base station and vice versa. On the other hand, the Strong Paging Channel is designed for tracking the mobile device by the MSC when a call is routed to it.