GSM Tutorial

GSM introduction
GSM is the short form of Global System for Mobile Communications. It is called 2G or Second Generation technology. It is developed to make use of same subscriber units or mobile phone terminals throughout the world. There are various GSM standards such as GSM !!" #GSM !!" GSM$%!! and GSM $ !!& they mainly differ based on '( carrier fre)uency band and bandwidth. This tutorial covers GSM network architecture"network elements"various interfaces"specifications"GSM frame structure or GSM frame hierarchy" GSM burst types" GSM physical layer"GSM physical channels" GSM logical channels and their functions"logical channel mapping" GSM mobile network entry procedure.

GSM *etwork +rchitecture

GSM network is consists of Mobile station" ,ase station subsystem and *etwork and operation subsystem. (ollowing figure depicts complete GSM system network architecture.

(ig.$ GSM *etwork +rchitecture Mobile Station- This Mobile station is GSM mobile phone e)uipment which houses .S/"'( chip and SIM0subscriber Identity Module1. This SIM is enough to carry to avail the service of GSM network. SIM contains subscriber related all the information" network with which subscriber is

subscribed with and encryption related information. Base station Subsystem- ,ase station subsystem houses ,ase Transceiver station-,TS and ,ase station controller-,SC. This subsystem take care of radio control related functions and provides GSM air interface for GSM mobile phones to connect with GSM network. To provide GSM service" region2city on earth is divided into various cells. The cell si3e is usually about $!!m to about 45 km. ,TS coverage is limited to this cell. 6ike this many ,TSs cover entire region. +ll this ,TSs are interfaced with one ,SC in various ways mesh" star etc. This ,SC takes care of radio fre)uency assignments to the mobile phones" takes care of handoff within ,SS i.e. between one ,TS and the other ,TS. Network Subsystem (NSS) - This subsystem provides interface between cellular system and circuit switched telephone network i.e. /ST*. It performs switching and operation 7 maintenance related functions. *SS takes care of call processing functions such as call setup" switching" tear down and also hand over between ,SCs. *SS takes care of security and authentication related functions. There are various network elements in this subsystem as mentioned in GSM network architecture above. They are e8plained below. These are basically database elements. HLR-9ome 6ocation 'egister" it stores permanent and temporary subscriber related information. VLR- :isitor 6ocation 'egister" it stores visitor subscriber related information about its facilities" the network it is subscribed to" and its home location and so on. AUC- +uthentication center" used to authenticate activities in the system. It holds encryption 0+5 key1 and authentication keys 0+4 key1in both 96' and :6'. EIR- #)uipment Identification 'egister" it helps in security as it keeps track of e)uipment type available in Mobile Station or Terminal.

GSM Interfaces
+ir interface between Mobile station and ,TS +bis interface between ,TS and ,SC + interface between ,SC and MSC SS; interface between MSC and /ST*

GSM system Specifications

+ccess Method- T.M+2(.M+ <plink fre)uency band- % ! to $5 M93 .ownlink fre)uency band- 45 to =! M93 System ,andwidth- 2!! >93 *o. of fre)uency channels or +'(C* 0+bsolute 'adio (re)uency Channel *umber1-$2? <sers per channel-% (rame duration-?.=$5ms Spectral efficiency-$.45 b2s293 .ata rate per user- 44.= kbps 02;!.%44 kbps Gross data rate for % users2%users1

GSM frame structure or frame hierarchy

In GSM fre)uency band of 25 M93 is divided into 2!! >93 of smaller bands" each carry one '( carrier" this gives $25 carriers.+s one carrier is used as guard channel between GSM and other fre)uency bands $2? carriers are useful '( channels.This division of fre)uency pool is called (.M+. *ow each '( carrier will have eight time slots. This division time wise is called T.M+. 9ere each '( carrier fre)uency is shared between % users hence in GSM system" the basic radio resource is a

time slot with duration of about 5;; microsec. +s mentioned each time slot has $522= or !.5;;ms of time duration. This time slot carries $5=.25 bits which leads to bit rate of 2;!.%44 kbps. This is e8plained below in T.M+ frame structure. (or #-GSM number of +'(C*s are $;?" for .CS$%!! +'(*Cs are 4;?. The GSM frame structure is designated as hyperframe"superframe"multiframe and frame. The minimum unit being frame 0or T.M+ frame1 is made of % time slots. @ne GSM hyperframe composed of 2!?% superframes. #ach GSM superframe composed of multiframes 0either 2= or 5$ as described below1. #ach GSM multiframe composed of frames 0either 5$ or 2= based on multiframe type1. #ach frame composed of % time slots. 9ence there will be total of 2;$5=?% T.M+ frames available in GSM and the same cycle continues. +s shown in the figure 2 below" there are two varients to multiframe structure. $. 2= frame multiframe - Called traffic multiframe"composed of 2= bursts in a duration of $2!ms" out of these 2? are used for traffic" one for S+CC9 and one is not used. 2. 5$ frame multiframe- Called control multiframe"composed of 5$ bursts in a duration of 245.? ms. This type of multiframe is divided into logical channels. These logical channels are time sheduled by ,TS. +lways occur at beacon fre)uency in time slot !" it may also take up other time slots if re)uired by system for e8ample 2"?"=.

(ig.2 GSM (rame Structure +s shown in fig 4. each +'(C* or each channel in GSM will have % time slots TS! to TS;. .uring network entry each GSM mobile phone is allocated one slot in downlink and one slot in uplink. 9ere in the figure GSM Mobile is allocated % !.2 M93 in the uplink and 45.2 M93 in the downlink. +s mentioned TS! is allocated which follows either 5$ or 2= frame multiframe structure. 9ence if at start A(A is depicted which is (CC9 after ?.=$5 ms 0 which is ; time slot duration1 S0SC91 will appear then after another ; slots ,0,CC91 will appear and so on till end of 5$ frame Multiframe structure is completed and cycle continues as long as connection between Mobile and base station is active. similarly in the uplink" 2= frame multiframe structure follow" where T is TC92(S 0Traffic channel for

full rate speech1" and S is S+CC9.

(ig.4 GSM /hysical and logical channel concept (re)uencies in the uplink B % !.2 C !.2 0*-$1 M93 (re)uencies in the downlink B 45.2 C !.2 0*-$1 M93 where" * is from $ to $2? called +'(C* +s same antenna is used for transmit as well as receive" there is 4 time slots delay introduced between TS! of uplink and TS@ of downlink fre)uency. This helps avoid need of simultaneous transmission and reception by GSM mobile phone. The 4 slot time period is used by the Mobile subscriber to perform various functions e.g. processing data" measuring signal )uality of neighbour cells etc.

GSM ,urst types

There are various bursts as mentioned below in GSM normal burst. ! Normal burst (NB) The fields in each slot are described below. Trail bits 0T,1 - These are 4 bits at beginning and end of each time slot. <sed for synchroni3ation. Coded data- This encrypted data coded data are placed in two 5;-bit fields in each time slot. Stealing bit- It is used to indicate decoder at receiver whether the incoming burst is carrying signaling data or it is carrying user data. Training se)uence- It is used for multipath e)uali3ation" this is used to e8tract the desired signal from unwanted reflections. This training se)uence also used to determine channel the burst has travelled" this helps in correcting rest of the frame and hence helps in decode the transmitted information properly. Guard bits- These are about %.25 bits" used to avoid overlap of different bursts. "! #re$uen%y Corre%tion Burst (#B) It is composed of following fields.

T, 0% bits1 (i8ed bit se)uence 0$?2 bits1 T, 04 bits1 Guard Time 0%.25 bits1 &! Syn%'roni(ation Burst(SB) T, 04 bits1 Coded .ata 04 bits1 Synchroni3ation se)uence 02=? bits1 Coded .ata 04 bits1 T, 04 bits1 Guard Time 0%.25 bits1 )! *ummy Burst T, 04 bits1 Mi8ed 0$?2 bits1 T, 04 bits1 Guard period 0%.25 bits1 +! A%%ess Burst(AB) #8tended T, 0% bits1 Synch se)uence bits0?$1 #ncrypted bits 04=1 T, 04 bits1 #8tended Guard period 0=%.25 bits1

GSM physical layer

GSM physical layer is nothing but the modules through which speech will pass through before they are transmitted in the air. These modules are depicted in the figure below.

(ig.? GSM /hysical 6ayer These modules are speech coding" channel coding" interleaving" ciphering" burst assembly" modulation. Speech coding block uses $4kbps '#6/ 0'esidually #8cited 6inear /redictive coder1. Channel coding block uses convolution coding of rate $22 with constraint length of 5. Interleaving block does diagonal interleaving" after ?5= encoded bits in 2!ms duration are broken into 5; bits sub-blocks. There will be about total % sub blocks of 5; bits each. Ciphering block uses +4 and +5 encryption algorithms. #ncryption is changed call by call to enhance privacy. ,urst assembly block frames the burst as re)uired by GSM frame structure. The same is modulated and Gaussian filtered.

Modulation block minimi3es the occupied ,D using GMS> modulation with ,T of !.4. (or more details on GSM /hysical layer refer our page in articles section.

GSM channel types

There are two main channels& physical channel and logical channel. /hysical channel is specified by specific time slot2carrier fre)uency. 6ogical channel run over physical channel i.e. logical channels are time multiple8ed on physical channels& each physical channel0time slot at one particular +'(C*1 will have either 2= (rame M(0Multi-frame1 or 5$ (rame M( structure describe here. logical channels are classified into traffic channel and control channel. Traffic channel carry user data. Control channels are interspersed with traffic channels in well specified ways. (or e8ample" every 2= T.M+ frames a logical channel gets bandwidth in a physical channel. Traffic channel are mainly of two types half rate and full rate traffic channels. There are various control channels such as ,CC9 0,roadcast control channel1" SC9 0synchronous channel1" (CC9 0 (re)uency control channel1" .CC90.edicated control channel1. +ll these channels help maintain GSM network and also helps GSM mobile phone connect to GSM network and maintain the connection and help tear down the connection. (igure below mention all the channels used in GSM.

(ig.5 GSM Channels

GSM 6ogical channels and their functions

+s shown in the figure there are two main types of channels in the GSM. Traffic channels and control channels. .ifferent bursts are mapped to these channels uni)uely as per GSM T#C9*IC+6 S/#CI(IC+TI@* !5.!2. Traffic channels carry speech or data. There are two main categories here" (ull rate 0$4 kpbs1 and 9alf rate. Control channels used to for control2command2signaling. Control channels are divided into three categories. Cate,ory - Broa.%ast %'annels +s the name suggests they are point-to-multipoint and downlink only channels. #CCH- (re)uency correction control channel" this is transmitted by ,TS to MS. This helps MS tune its local oscillator to e8act '( carrier fre)uency of the ,TS cell. +ll 3ero se)uences are transmitted here which will produce fi8ed tone at the output of GMS> modulator. The fre)uency value will be

about =;.;!;5 >93. SCH-synchroni3ation channel" this carry ,SIC0,ase transceiver station identity code1 and (rame number which helps MS tune to specific 0(re)uency"Ts1 physical slot on T.M+ frame in GSM network. BCCH- ,roadcast control channel" carry CGI"M*C"MCC which is received by MS. It is compared with SIM information" once varified @> connection is established with the network. Cate,ory "- Common Control %'annels They are point-to-multipoint and downlink only channels e8cept '+C9 which is used in uplink. /CH-/aging channel"Dhen someone is calling mobile phone" this channel sent information on downlink to alert called mobile phone.This is known as mobile phone terminated call. RACH-'andom +ccess channel" used in mobile originated call. Dhen mobile wants to call some other mobile phone" control information is sent on this channel. A0CH-+ccess Grant Channel"transmitted by ,TS to MS once network approves re)uest of mobile by '+C9. CBCH-Cell ,roadcast channel" <sed to carry the short message service cell broadcast. Cate,ory &- *e.i%ate. Control %'annels They are bidirectional and point-to-point Channels. S*CCH- Stand alone dedicated control channel" used for call setup. SACCH- Slow associated control channel" is used for control and supervisory signals associated with the traffic channels. #ACCH- (ast associated control channel" is used for control re)uirements such as handoff2handovers.

GSM mobile phone network entry procedure or /ower @* procedure

(ig.= GSM Call Setup" it depicts basic flow of logical frames between ,TS and MS to establish voice2data connection. (ollowing steps are followed at GSM Mobile phone before you actually start talking or using it for data operations. These are called initial mobile phone procedures when you power @* the phone. Step-$ E Mobile phone scans for carriers and determine 'SSI of all and pass them to upper layer" upper layer decide which carrier2channel has the highest 'SSI and mobile will lock on to that carrier. There are two modes here first mode where mobile has prior knowledge of broadcast carriers and the other mode where mobile has no prior knowledge. In the second case mobile has to search for entire band while in the first case as mobile has broadcast carriers known and it will determine 'SSI

of those carriers only" hence it will complete cell search operation in less time. Step-2E @nce carrier is known it will detect (,0(re)uency correction ,urst1 on that carrier2channel which is a pure sine wave as mentioned above of value =;.; >93. +ny deviation from this value is determined and this much fre)uency offset is corrected on 6@ module by controlling through :CTCF@2:C@2@CF@ used in the handset design. Step-4E +fter correcting for (re)uency offset" now mobile need to lock on to particular time slot on that carrier fre)uency in the the GSM time domain frame structure. This is done using S, decoding. 25 bits of decoded data of SC9 gives reduced frame number0$ bits1 and ,SIC0= bits1. 'educed frame number will provide very useful information of mobileAs physical slot in the entire hyperframe. ,SIC is made of ,CC0,ase Station Color code- 4 bits1 and *CC0*etwork Color code-4 bits1. ,CC field directly provide training se)uence details02= bits in si3e1.The correlation is performed with known training se)uence to determine peak and hence timing offset is determined on the received frame. channel estimation is also performed using this training se)uence. 'emember S, comes on the same time slot as (, but after % time slots duration. This means time multiple8ing of logical channels0(,"S,",CC9"CCC9...1 is used on the dedicated physical time slot0TS! at ,roadcast (re)1. Step-?E @nce S, is decoded now ,CC9 will appear on the same allocated physical time slot but after % time slot duration. ,CC9 is decoded which gives useful system informations0SI1. *ow mobile is camped on the network and it is ready to use voice services by e8changing useful frames2channels based on mobile initiated or mobile terminated call. If G/'S is enabled on the mobile phone" it can use data services provided by operator.

Summary
This 0SM tutorial is the concise representation of GSM which covers GSM basics" network architecture" network elements" frame structure" speech processing in GSM and GSM specifications.

GSM protocol stack

Introduction
This article describes basics of GSM protocol stack which covers 6ayer-$"6ayer-2 and 6ayer-4 modules of MS0Mobile Station1",TS0,ase Transceiver Station1",SC0,ase Station Controller1 and MSC0Mobile Switching Center1. To gain in depth knowledge one has to understand all the message formats of all the modules such as radio"6+/."6+/.m"''M"MM"CM",TSM",SSM+/"SCC/"MT/ as described in 4G// release documents. (ollowing figure describes the GSM protocol stack at the GSM network elements.

GSM 6ayer $
+s mentioned in the figure" (.M+2T.M+ is the air interface0radio1" also called <m interface. (or more on this interface refer GSM tutorial in tutorials section. +t MS" (.M+2T.M+ is used which is also followed at ,TS" ,TS takes this format from MS and convert it to =?kbps digital format for the digital link and interfaces with ,SC. ,SC communicates with MSC in the same format.

GSM 6ayer 2
6ayer 2 is the data link layer" which does following three main functions. - #stablish"maintain and tear down the link - (low control -#rror detection - Dork on the 6ayer-4 frames

+t 6ayer-2 6+/. and 6+/.m is used. 6+/. is the IS.*0Integrated Services .igital *etwork1 protocol for . Channel. 6+/.m is the modified version of 6+/. for mobile station. 6+/.m does not have C'C for #rror detection. This layer uses any of the following format to carry frames. $.1(ormat + for .CC9s0for channels having no information field1 2.1(ormat , for .CC9s0containing an information field1 4.1(ormat ,bis for ,CC9" /C9" and +GC9. ?.1(ormat C for random access signals The ma8imum 6+/.m frame length is 24 bytes i.e. $%?bits. .epending on type of frame format 6+/.m will have +ddress field0% bits1" Control field0% bits1" (rame 6ength0% bits1"signaling data024 octets1 and fill in data. +ddress field carry two important parameters C2' and S+/I. C2' indicates whether the frame is command or response and also mention whether the direction of frame is ,S to MS or from MS to ,S. S+/I takes either value of !"4 or other values. (or S+/I of ! is used for messages from the ''M"MM and CC " and S+/I of value 4 for message from the SMS and Supplementary Services 0SS1 messages. Control field of this layer-2 contains se)uence numbers and type field to differentiate various frames. There are three type of frames supported here" supervisory"unnumbered information transfer and control function0 unacknowledged mode1" numbered information transfer0multiframe acknowledged mode1. The frame length field contains the length of the layer 4 message within the information field of the 6+/.m frame. If the message is less than the length specified in parameter *2!$ 0standard specifies this1 of the radio interface" fill-in data octets are used to fill up the remaining gap. :alue of fill-in data is specified in GSM TS document. 6+/. at ,TS converts potentially unreliable physical link of MS into reliable link.This connects with ,SCAs MT/ part. This is done with the use of C'C and +'G techni)ues. +'G stands for +utomatic 'epeat 'e)uest. +'G works on the principle of re-transmission of packet when the erroneous packet is received at the receiver.

GSM 6ayer 4
+t layer-4 there are many protocols involved as mentioned below with their respective functions. ''M- Stands for 'adio 'esource Management" takes care of radio channel and handover functionalities. +ssign" maintain and release radio fre)uency carriers2channels. MM- Stands for Mobility management" takes care of location update"registration"security and authentication functionalities of mobile station with the GSM network. CM- Stands for Connection Management" takes care of call setup" call maintenance and call termination funtions of end devices. ,TSM- stands for ,TS Management" takes care of ,TS admin and management functions under ,SC control. M+/0Mobile +pplication /art1"takes care of signaling between various network entities. M+/ works above SCC/ and MT/ modules. + layer 4 message consists of three fields"Type I."Message Type and .ata field.The Type I. consists of a ? bit /rotocol .iscriminator or /.. This /. differentiates between CC"MM"''"SMS0Short Message Service1 and SS 0Supplementary Services1 management by having different values in the GSM system. /rotocol .iscriminator values are uni)ue and specified below for GSM 6ayer-4 modules. Call control0CC1 messages - !!$$ 0!841 Mobility Management0MM1 messages- !$!$ 0!851 'adio 'esource management messages- !$$! 0!8=1 Message Type is % bit that identifies the type of message sent for e8ample channel re)uest"paging re)uest or response etc.

'eferences
(or GSM 6ayer $ /rotocols" 'efer 4G// Technical Specifications document TS ??.!!? version. (or GSM 6ayer 2 /rotocols" 'efer 4G// Technical Specifications document TS ??.!!5 7 ??.!!= (or GSM 6ayer 4 /rotocols" 'efer 4G// Technical Specifications document TS 2?.!!; 7 ??.!$%

GSM /hysical 6ayer

Introduction
This article describes GSM physical layer i.e. layer-$ which sits below GSM layer-206+/.m1 De will discuss physical layer with respect to mobile station transmitter in detail. +s shown in the block diagram" physical layer composed of two main parts ,aseband and '(. ,aseband part consists of (#C0forward #rror Correction1"ciphering"burst formation and modulation. Informations are passed through this layer before it is pumped into the air from Mobile device. Information are mainly of two types" traffic and control signals. Traffic is divided into speech and data. Control signals are mainly from upper layers and are used for establishing"maintaining and terminating connection of mobile station with the GSM network. +ll these three types of informations are treated differently by physical layer in GSM.

6et us understand GSM /hysical layer transmitter modules as depicted in figure.

! Sour%e En%o.in,Speech #ncoding uses $4kbps '#6/ 0'esidually #8cited 6inear /redictive coder1. (or speech channel processing0TC92(S and TC929S1" 2=! bits are occupied on 2! ms block. This source encoding block e8ist only for speech channel processing. TC9 stands for traffic channel. (S stands for full rate speech and 9S for half rate speech. (or data channel 0TC91 processing" 2?! bits are sent in 2! ms blocks. (or control channel processing" ma8imum of $%? bits024 octets1 are transmitted. These speech2data as well as signaling information bits are inputted to the ne8t block0(#C1. ,ased on what information is fed as input to GSM layer $ i.e. physical layer" cyclic encoder configuration"convolution encoder 0coding rate"polynomials1 and interleving is done. This information can be speech"data or control signal. "! #orwar. Error Corre%tion %o.in,6et us see how these informations go through the convolution coding block first. "a! C'annel %o.in, 1or S2ee%' 3CH4#S2=! bit block is divided using splitter block and passed as mentioned belowE (or TC92(S cyclic encoder of 0n"k1B054"5!1 is used. Step $. 5! bits" pass through C'C and 4 bits are added" gives 54 bits Step 2. $42 bits Step 4. ;% bits @utput of Step $" i.e. 54 bits are added with $42 bits and ? tail bits are added"which will give $% bits. This $% bits are fed as input to rate $22 convolution encoder0C.#.1. This gives 4;% bits. 4;% bits are added with ;% bits" this gives ?5= bits in 2!ms. These bits of ?5= are mapped to bursts using interleaving module. "b! C'annel %o.in, 1or *ata9ere 2?! bits are input to the C.#.module after ? tail bits are added. This gives ?%% bits" outof which 42 bits are punctured which produces ?5= bits in 2! ms. /assed to GSM interleaving module. "%! C'annel %o.in, 1or Si,nalin, or %ontrol %'annel9ere signaling information of about $%? bits are fire coded using block encoder0cyclic encoder of 0n"k1B022?"$%51 is used1 which gives 22? bits0after ?! parity bits are added1 (our 3ero bits are added" which produces 22% bits. This 22% bits are given as input to rate $22 C.#. which produces ?5= bits" this is passed to interleaving block. (or '+C9" nB$? and kB% is used. (or SC9 nB45"kB25 is used. &! Interlea5in,In GSM interleavers are of three types based on control"speech or data channel. The function of interleaver is interleaving of information bits on to bursts. More than one bursts carry data for one channel. The same is e8plained below for different types of channels. Interlea5in, 1or 0SM %ontrol %'annel ?5= bits are divided into eight blocks of 5; bits each. .ifferent blocks here carry different bit positions. for e8ample" $st block contains bit numbers H!"%"$="...??%I" 2nd block contains bit numbers H$" "$;"...?? I" 4rd block contains bit numbers H2"$!"$%"...?5!I" ?th block contains bit numbers H4"$$"$ "...?5$I" 5th block contains bit numbers H?"$2"2!"...?52I" =th block contains bit numbers H5"$4"2$"...?54I" ;th block contains bit numbers H="$?"22"...?5?I" %th block contains bit numbers H;"$5"24"...?55I" The first ? blocks0$st to ?th1 are mapped to even number bits of ? bursts. The last ? blocks05th to %th1 are mapped to odd number bits of the same ? bursts. 9ence the new control channel data

repeats after ? bursts" hence the interleaving depth is ?. This type of interleaver is called as block rectangular interleaver. Interleaving is not applied to '+C9"(CC9 and SC9. Interlea5in, 1or 0SM S2ee%' %'annel 9ere eight sub blocks of 5; bits are mapped to % bursts. The first blocks of 5; bits are mapped to even number bits of four bursts consecutively. The other four sub blocks of 5; bits are mapped to odd number bits of ne8t four fresh bursts and not the one used to map first four blocks. 9ence new data starts after % bursts which is the interleaving depth. This GSM interleaver is also named as block diagonal interleaver. Interlea5in, 1or 0SM .ata %'annel The data block of ?5= bits are divided as follows. $st" 22nd bursts will contain = bits. 2nd " 2$st bursts will contain $2 bits. 4rd"2!th bursts will contain $% bits. ?th to $ th bursts0total $= bursts1 will contain 2? bits each. This information Just splitted is carried over 22 bursts. This GSM interleaver is called as diagonal interleaver. )! Ci2'erin,Ciphering block uses +4 and +5 encryption algorithms. #ncryption is changed call by call to enhance privacy or secrecy. Ciphering or encryption is not applied (CC9"SC9",CC9"/C9"+GC9"C,C9 as these frames are meant for all Mobiles. +lso these frames are very useful to be decoded by all the mobile subscribers to establish and maintain GSM connection. +! Burst 1ormation,urst formation block frames the burst as re)uired by GSM frame structure. (or more on this read GSM tutorial in tutorials section. 6! *i11erential en%o.in, an. mo.ulationThe data then is passed through differential encoder and modulation. Modulation block minimi3es the occupied ,D using GMS> modulation with ,T of !.4. 7! R# 3ransmitterThe modulated baseband information is upconverted and amplified before being transmitted over the air.

<seful 6inks
0SM tutorial covering GSM basics"network architecture"network elements"system specifications"applications"GSM burst types"GSM frame structure or frame hierarchy" logical channels"physical channels" GSM physical layer or speech processing and GSM mobile network entry or call setup procedure" 'ead more. 0SM /roto%ol sta%k " covers layer $"2 and 4 of GSM network elements MS",TS",SC and MSC.'#+. M@'#.

GSM Standard 'eferences

4G// TS ?5.!!2 describes burst building and burst multiple8ing 4G// TS ?5.!!4 describes coding and interleaving 4G// TS ?5.!!? describes differential encoding and modulation

4G// TS ?5.!!5 describes transmitter"receiver and antenna part 4G// TS ?4.!2! 7 24.22$ describes encryption2ciphering part

Mobile @riginated call in GSM0M@ call1

Introduction
This article covers mobile originated call flow between Mobile0<#1 and network. It covers messages e8changed between 6ayer 4 entities0''"MM"CC1 at both side. It include channels0'+C9"+GC9"S.CC9"(+CC9"TC91 used at layer $ to carry these messages over the air. This article assumes that initial fre)uency and time synchroni3ation is done between <# and *etwork as described in GSM tutorial in tutorial section.

+s described in the figure" before '+C9 is sent by mobile0<#1 mobile is synchroni3ed with network0,TS1 both time and fre)uency wise. It means it has tuned fre)uency as per (CC9 and time as per SC9 burst. It has received and decoded SIs as per ,CC9. @nce ,CC9 is decoded mobile station comes to know where it has to transmit CCC90'+C91 and where it has to listen for CCC90carrying /C9"+GC91. '+C9 is used in mobile originated call while /C9 is used in mobile terminated call at the start.

+s described in GSM protocol stack" messages flow between both mobile and network at various layers0layer 4"layer 2"layer $0physical layer1. The message flow is self e8planatory to establish the circuit switched mobile ori,inate.(M8) %all in 0SM.

Mobile @riginated Call 'elease

The figure above mentions messages e8changed between mobile and network for call release.

Mobile Terminated call in GSM0MT call1

Introduction
This article covers mobile terminated call flow between Mobile0<#1 and network. It covers messages e8changed between 6ayer 4 entities0''"MM"CC1 at both side. It include channels0/C9"'+C9"+GC9"S.CC9"(+CC9"TC91 used at layer $ to carry these messages over the air. This article assumes that initial fre)uency and time synchroni3ation is done between <# and *etwork as described in GSM tutorial in tutorial section.

+s described in the figure" /C9 will be sent by network to alert mobile with ring tone if someone dials. This is called mobile terminated call. +fter /C9 is received" mobile will transmit '+C9 and obtain S.CC9 and other resources for further process. +s described in GSM protocol stack" messages flow between both mobile and network at various layers0layer 4"layer 2"layer $0physical layer1. The message flow is self e8planatory to establish the circuit switched mobile terminate.(M3) %all in 0SM.

Mobile Terminated Call 'elease

The figure above mentions messages e8changed between mobile and network for call release.

GSM '( /lanning

introduction
There are various GSM bands as mentioned below. (or our discussion of GSM 'adio fre)uency planning we will consider GSM !!As /-GSM fre)uency band.

GSM (re)uency bands

GSM?5! ,and- ?5! to ?5%M93 0<plink1" ?=! M93 to ?=% M93 0.ownlink1 GSM ?%! band-?;% to ?%= M930<plink1" ?%% M93 to ? = M930.ownlink1 GSM%5! - %2? to %? M930<plink1 %= M93 to % ? M93 0.ownlink1 GSM !! has following bands. /-GSM 0called /rimary GSM1- % ! to $5M930<plink1 and 45 to =! M930.ownlink1" Channel *umbers0+'(C*1- $ to $2? #-GSM 0called #8tended GSM1- %%! to $5 M930<plink1 and 25M93 to =! M930.ownlink1 '-GSM 0called 'ailway GSM1- %;= to %%! M930<plink1 and 2$ to 25M930.ownlink1 GSM$%!! 0called .CS1 - $;$! to $;%5 M930<plink1 $%!5 M93 to $%%! M930.ownlink1 GSM$ !! 0called /CS1- $%5! to $ $!M930<plink1 and $ 4! M93 to $ ! M930.ownlink1 +s mentioned above there are about $2? channels in /-GSM. $;? +'(C*s in #-GSM and 4;? +'(C*s in .CS$%!!. 6et us understand how we can obtain using following formula. (0<plink1B% !C!.2Kn" where n varies as mentioned from $ to $2? and is referred as +'(C*0+bsolute 'adio (re)uency Channel *umber1. (0.ownlink1B(0<plink1C?5M93 ?5M93 is the referred as duple8 spacing" which is the difference between uplink and downlink fre)uency channels.

GSM 'adio (re)uency planning

+s fre)uency spectrum is the scarce resource and need to be optimally used in 0SM network or any other cellular network. 9ence proper ra.io 1re$uen%y 2lannin, is re)uired to meet the need. (irst of all the areas are divided into cells"where in cells can employ omnidirectional or directional antennas to broadcast the signals to the mobile users. (or our discussion we will assume cell divided into three sectors. #ach cell employ one ,ase station0e.g. ,TS1. If the number of ,TSs allocated are *"and each cell is allocated M channels" 9ence total +'(C*s0T1 allocated in this GSM system can be obtained as follows. TB 4KMK* (re)uency reuse can be applied before radio fre)uency planning to efficiently use the channels0+'(C*s1 in deploying the GSM network. +'(C*s 0'( (re)uencies1 are reused in non adJacent cells.

GSM (re)uency 'e-use patterns

The fre)uencies used in GSM radio fre)uency planning are divided among different fre)uency groups. GSM uses re-use patterns of ?2$2 and 42 in most of the GSM installations. ?2$2 refers to $2 fre)uency groups and ? base stations" which means available GSM network fre)uencies are divided into $2 fre)uency groups across ? ,S sites. It has been assumed that there are 4 cells interfaced with each ,S. 9ere fre)uency groups are designated as +$" ,$" C$" .$" +2" ,2" C2" .2" +4" ,4" C4" .4. The ?2$2 GSM fre)uency layout is shown in the figure $.

(re)uency allocation to GSM channels

In GSM" there are two main categories of channels" signalling and traffic. Signalling channels help network maintain resources"allocate resources0fre)uency and time slot1" call establishment"call release and convey system related critical informations 0in the form of SIs1 to the mobiles in the cell. Traffic channels carry user voice2data0email"sms"browsing1. Signalling channel category is referred as ,CC9 fre)uency and traffic channel category is referred as TC9 fre)uency0non ,CC9

fre)uency1. To serve the purpose each cell is assigned one ,CC9 fre)uency0+'(C*1 in the downlink and one ,CC9 fre)uency in the uplink. #ach cell is assigned with one or more TC9 fre)uencies in the downlink as well as uplink" based on the capacity of users re)uired in the cell.

/acket Switched data call in GSM .ownlink0/S call1

Introduction
This article covers /acket Swiched data call flow between Mobile0<#1 and network for downlink0to download data1. It covers messages e8changed for G/'S attach and /./ conte8t activation procedures between mobile and SGS*2:6'296'2GGS*. It include channels0//C9"/'+C9"+GC9"/.C91 used at layer $ to carry various messages over the air. This article assumes that initial fre)uency and time synchroni3ation is done between <# and *etwork as described in GSM tutorial in tutorial section.

+s described in the figure" /acket /aging 'e)uest0carried by //C92/C91 will be sent by network to alert mobile for packet call.*ow '+C9 is sent by mobile0<#1 mobile to network0,TS1 and network will assign slot0single2multiple1 for packet transfer. G/'S attach procedures are completed by mobile station for location update and to complete security check. Mobile in G/'S has three states vi3. Idle"'eady and Standby. Dhen Mobile is switched on it is in Idle state. +fter G/'S attach it switches to 'eady state and it performs /./ conte8t activation procedures as mentioned below. Dhen there is no /.< to be transmitted2received and when timer e8pires it goes to standby state. It remains in this state till there is no /.< for transmission2reception.

To establish internet connectivity I/ address need to be assigned to the Mobile and connectivity with +/* need to be established. This is done using /./ conte8t activation procedures. /./ conte8t provides routing information and GoS possible with the GSM2G/'S network. Mobile Station0MS1 specifies network S+/ and +/*0+ccess /oint *ame1 of the /.* to establish connection with. /.* stands for /acket .ata *etwork.+ll the messages goes to SGS*2GGS*2/.* via ,TS0,ase Transceiver station1. Tunnel is established between SGS* and GGS* for communication of protocol messages. +s described in GSM protocol stack" messages flow between both mobile and network at various layers0layer 4"layer 2"layer $0physical layer1. The message flow is self e8planatory to establish the /acket switched .ownlink .ata %all in 0SM.

/acket Switched data call in GSM <plink0/S call1

Introduction
This article covers /acket Swiched data call flow between Mobile0<#1 and network for uplink0to upload data1. It covers messages e8changed for G/'S attach and /./ conte8t activation procedures between mobile and SGS*2:6'296'2GGS*. It include channels0//C9"/'+C9"+GC9"/.C91 used at layer $ to carry various messages over the air. This article assumes that initial fre)uency and time synchroni3ation is done between <# and *etwork as described in GSM tutorial in tutorial section.

9ere '+C9 is sent by mobile0<#1 mobile to network0,TS1 and network will assign slot0single2multiple1 for packet transfer. G/'S attach procedures are completed by mobile station for location update and to complete security check. To establish internet connectivity I/ address need to be assigned to the Mobile and connectivity with +/* need to be established. This is done using /./ conte8t activation procedures. +s described in GSM protocol stack" messages flow between both mobile and network at various layers0layer 4"layer 2"layer $0physical layer1. The message flow is self e8planatory to establish the /acket switched u2link .ata %all in 0SM.