Advanced Mobile Phone Service: The Developmental System

The Developmental System By D. L. HUFF (Manuscript received July 27, 1978) A developmental AMPS system has been implemented in the urban and suburban areas of Chicago. A Mobile Telecommunications Switching Office at Oak Park, Illinois, controls the ten cell sites used in the system. An Equipment Test, serving approximately 100 mobile users, was initiated in mid-1978. A Service Test, involving approximately 2000 tariffed mobile units, will follow the Equipment Test. This paper describes the developmental system, the activities which were prerequisite to the major system test phases, and the status of the system as of July 1978. I. INTRODUCTION In March 1977, the Federal Communications Commission authorized Illinois Bell Telephone ( I B T ) to construct and operate a developmental AMPS system in the Chicago area. Configured as an AMPS start-up cellular system using large cells and omnidirectional antennas to minimize initial equipment needed, the system was laid out to cover approximately 2100 square miles in the urban and suburban areas of Chicago. This developmental system has ten cell sites and 136 voice channels controlled by a Mobile Telecommunications Switching Office (MTSO) located at Oak Park, Illinois. Technical and economic evaluations of the system are being carried out with a two-phase program: an Equipment Test phase, using approximately 100 mobile units assigned to Bell System personnel in the area, began in July 1978; a Service Test phase, with I B T authorized to furnish tariffed mobile service for up to 2500 mobile users, is scheduled to follow the Equipment Test.