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A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network where the last link is wireless. The network is distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver, known as a cell site or base station. This base station provides the cell with the network coverage which can be used for transmission of voice, data and others. In a cellular network, each cell uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed bandwidth within each cell. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. This enables a large number of portable transceivers (e.g., mobile phones, pagers, etc.) to communicate with each other and with fixed transceivers and telephones anywhere in the network, via base stations, even if some of the transceivers are moving through more than one cell during transmission. Cellular networks offer a number of desirable features: * More capacity than a single large transmitter, since the same frequency can be used for multiple links as long as they are in different cells * Mobile devices use less power than with a single transmitter or satellite since the cell towers are closer * Larger coverage area than a single terrestrial transmitter, since additional cell towers can be added indefinitely and are not limited by the horizon Major telecommunications providers have deployed voice and data cellular networks over most of the inhabited land area of the Earth. This allows mobile phones and mobile computing devices to be connected to the public switched telephone network and public Internet. Private cellular networks can be used for research or for large organizations and fleets, such as dispatch for local public safety agencies or a taxicab company.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Be Mobile, Stay Connected | PMN )〕 == Concept == In a cellular radio system, a land area to be supplied with radio service is divided into regular shaped cells, which can be hexagonal, square, circular or some other regular shapes, although hexagonal cells are conventional. Each of these cells is assigned with multiple frequencies (''f''1 – ''f''6) which have corresponding radio base stations. The group of frequencies can be reused in other cells, provided that the same frequencies are not reused in adjacent neighboring cells as that would cause co-channel interference. The increased capacity in a cellular network, compared with a network with a single transmitter, comes from the mobile communication switching system developed by Amos Joel of Bell Labs〔, issued May 16, 1972.〕 that permitted multiple callers in the same area to use the same frequency by switching calls made using the same frequency to the nearest available cellular tower having that frequency available and from the fact that the same radio frequency can be reused in a different area for a completely different transmission. If there is a single plain transmitter, only one transmission can be used on any given frequency. Unfortunately, there is inevitably some level of interference from the signal from the other cells which use the same frequency. This means that, in a standard FDMA system, there must be at least a one cell gap between cells which reuse the same frequency. In the simple case of the taxi company, each radio had a manually operated channel selector knob to tune to different frequencies. As the drivers moved around, they would change from channel to channel. The drivers knew which frequency covered approximately what area. When they did not receive a signal from the transmitter, they would try other channels until they found one that worked. The taxi drivers would only speak one at a time, when invited by the base station operator (this is, in a sense, time division multiple access (TDMA)). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cellular network」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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