Mobile Terminal Device Architecture: Present and Future

This tutorial presents a comprehensive coverage of software & hardware architecture of 2G/3G/B3G mobile terminals. The tutorial includes a brief overview on mobile handset architecture covering the major blocks and the software layers, detailed functionalities of the Software layers like MMI Framework, middleware components like BREW, J2ME and their importance in terms of developing Mobile applications. It explains how to develop personalized services like messaging, video and push-to-X services for 3G and GPRS mobile handhelds. The various operating systems are used in the mobile handset (Symbian, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Montavista Linux). Functional block diagram on the handset hardware and its functionalities (RF front-end transceiver, baseband, power management unit, power amplifier) are discussed as well as wireless protocol stack architecture and its working principles (GSM / GPRS / UMTS / WLAN / CDMA2K / Wi-MAX), Call establishment scenarios like voice call, packet call & SMS. NEXT GEN mobile terminal software architecture and its new protocols/layers such as IMS client framework, handover layer, cross-layer design, 4G MAC layer, common data link layer, and unified hardware abstraction layer are explained. Ensuring seamless mobility for continuous data transfer while the subscriber moves across various cellular networks during on-line service and provision of smooth data transfer switching between various cellular networks based on user preferences and the available network resources are core problems to be solved. The tutorial also tackles the new emerging trends like reconfiguration technology, NFC, DVB-H etc..