Advanced mobile phone service: Control architecture

The cellular concept used in the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (amps) system to achieve spectrum efficiency requires a complex and flexible distributed system control architecture. Three major subsystems serve as the control elements: the mobile unit, the cell site, and the switching office. System control functions are partitioned among these subsystems to handle the following amps control challenges: interfacing with the nationwide switched telephone network, dialing from mobile units, supervising calls from mobile subscribers in the presence of noise and co-channel interference, performing call setup functions including paging and access, and locating and handing off mobiles between cell sites. This paper explains the techniques used to achieve the control functions of the three major subsystems and the ways they in turn participate in control of the total amps system.