Digital data structures
With cellular systems focusing on digital technology these days, the data that are transmitted have
to be carefully organized. In this way the receiver, whether in a mobile handset or a base station,
knows what the data being received relate to, and can thus handle them accordingly.
Typically, data are organized into three elements for TDMA systems. These are frames, slots
and channels, and they follow this hierarchy. The channels should not be confused with the
radio-frequency channels that are used; they are in effect data channels that are contained
within the overall data stream.
A frame is what may be termed an all-inclusive data package. It is made up of a number of slots
which are in a given order, and the overall structure ...