What is GSM?

GSM Overview
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Contents
1. History of GSM
2. Services provided by GSM
3. Architecture of the GSM netork
3.1. Mobile Station
3.2. Base Station Subsyste!
3.3. "etork Subsyste!
#. $adio link aspects
#.1. Multiple access and channel structure
#.1.1. %raffic channels
#.1.2. &ontrol channels
#.1.3. Burst structure
#.2. Speech codin'
#.3. &hannel codin' and !odulation
#.#. Multipath e(uali)ation
#.*. +re(uency hoppin'
#.,. -iscontinuous trans!ission
#... -iscontinuous reception
#./. 0oer control
*. "etork aspects
*.1. $adio resources !ana'e!ent
*.1.1. Handover
*.2. Mobility !ana'e!ent
*.2.1. 1ocation updatin'
*.2.2. Authentication and security
*.3. &o!!unication !ana'e!ent
*.3.1. &all routin'
,. &onclusion and co!!ents
History of GSM
-urin' the early 12/3s4 analo' cellular telephone syste!s ere e5periencin' rapid 'roth in 6urope4
particularly in Scandinavia and the 7nited 8in'do!4 but also in +rance and Ger!any. 6ach country
developed its on syste!4 hich as inco!patible ith everyone else9s in e(uip!ent and operation. %his as
an undesirable situation4 because not only as the !obile e(uip!ent li!ited to operation ithin national
boundaries4 hich in a unified 6urope ere increasin'ly uni!portant4 but there as also a very li!ited
!arket for each type of e(uip!ent4 so econo!ies of scale and the subse(uent savin's could not be reali)ed.
%he 6uropeans reali)ed this early on4 and in 12/2 the &onference of 6uropean 0osts and %ele'raphs :&60%;
for!ed a study 'roup called the Groupe Special Mobile :GSM; to study and develop a pan<6uropean public
land !obile syste!. %he proposed syste! had to !eet certain criteria=
Good sub>ective speech (uality
1o ter!inal and service cost
Support for international roa!in'
Ability to support handheld ter!inals
Support for ran'e of ne services and facilities
Spectral efficiency
?S-" co!patibility
?n 12/24 GSM responsibility as transferred to the 6uropean %eleco!!unication Standards ?nstitute :6%S?;4
and phase ? of the GSM specifications ere published in 1223. &o!!ercial service as started in !id<12214
and by 1223 there ere 3, GSM netorks in 22 countries . Althou'h standardi)ed in 6urope4 GSM is not
only a 6uropean standard. @ver 233 GSM netorks :includin' -&S1/33 and 0&S1233; are operational in
113 countries around the orld. ?n the be'innin' of 122#4 there ere 1.3 !illion subscribers orldide 4
hich had 'ron to !ore than ** !illion by @ctober 122.. Aith "orth A!erica !akin' a delayed entry into
the GSM field ith a derivative of GSM called 0&S12334 GSM syste!s e5ist on every continent4 and the
acrony! GSM no aptly stands for Global Syste! for Mobile co!!unications.
%he developers of GSM chose an unproven :at the ti!e; di'ital syste!4 as opposed to the then<standard
analo' cellular syste!s like AM0S in the 7nited States and %A&S in the 7nited 8in'do!. %hey had faith
that advance!ents in co!pression al'orith!s and di'ital si'nal processors ould allo the fulfill!ent of the
ori'inal criteria and the continual i!prove!ent of the syste! in ter!s of (uality and cost. %he over /333
pa'es of GSM reco!!endations try to allo fle5ibility and co!petitive innovation a!on' suppliers4 but
provide enou'h standardi)ation to 'uarantee proper interorkin' beteen the co!ponents of the syste!. %his
is done by providin' functional and interface descriptions for each of the functional entities defined in the
syste!.
Services provided by GSM
+ro! the be'innin'4 the planners of GSM anted ?S-" co!patibility in ter!s of the services offered and the
control si'nallin' used. Hoever4 radio trans!ission li!itations4 in ter!s of bandidth and cost4 do not allo
the standard ?S-" B<channel bit rate of ,# kbps to be practically achieved.
7sin' the ?%7<% definitions4 teleco!!unication services can be divided into bearer services4 teleservices4 and
supple!entary services. %he !ost basic teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. As ith all other
co!!unications4 speech is di'itally encoded and trans!itted throu'h the GSM netork as a di'ital strea!.
%here is also an e!er'ency service4 here the nearest e!er'ency<service provider is notified by dialin' three
di'its :si!ilar to 211;.
A variety of data services is offered. GSM users can send and receive data4 at rates up to 2,33 bps4 to users on
0@%S :0lain @ld %elephone Service;4 ?S-"4 0acket Sitched 0ublic -ata "etorks4 and &ircuit Sitched
0ublic -ata "etorks usin' a variety of access !ethods and protocols4 such as B.2* or B.32. Since GSM is a
di'ital netork4 a !ode! is not re(uired beteen the user and GSM netork4 althou'h an audio !ode! is
re(uired inside the GSM netork to interork ith 0@%S.
@ther data services include Group 3 facsi!ile4 as described in ?%7<% reco!!endation %.334 hich is
supported by use of an appropriate fa5 adaptor. A uni(ue feature of GSM4 not found in older analo' syste!s4
is the Short Messa'e Service :SMS;. SMS is a bidirectional service for short alphanu!eric :up to 1,3 bytes;
!essa'es. Messa'es are transported in a store<and<forard fashion. +or point<to<point SMS4 a !essa'e can be
sent to another subscriber to the service4 and an acknoled'e!ent of receipt is provided to the sender. SMS
can also be used in a cell<broadcast !ode4 for sendin' !essa'es such as traffic updates or nes updates.
Messa'es can also be stored in the S?M card for later retrieval.
Supple!entary services are provided on top of teleservices or bearer services. ?n the current :0hase ?;
specifications4 they include several for!s of call forard :such as call forardin' hen the !obile subscriber
is unreachable by the netork;4 and call barrin' of out'oin' or inco!in' calls4 for e5a!ple hen roa!in' in
another country. Many additional supple!entary services ill be provided in the 0hase 2 specifications4 such
as caller identification4 call aitin'4 !ulti<party conversations.
See the list of GSM Services
Architecture of the GSM network
A GSM netork is co!posed of several functional entities4 hose functions and interfaces are specified.
+i'ure 1 shos the layout of a 'eneric GSM netork. %he GSM netork can be divided into three broad
parts. %he Mobile Station is carried by the subscriber. %he Base Station Subsyste! controls the radio link
ith the Mobile Station. %he "etork Subsyste!4 the !ain part of hich is the Mobile services Sitchin'
&enter :MS&;4 perfor!s the sitchin' of calls beteen the !obile users4 and beteen !obile and fi5ed
netork users. %he MS& also handles the !obility !ana'e!ent operations. "ot shon is the @perations and
Maintenance &enter4 hich oversees the proper operation and setup of the netork. %he Mobile Station and
the Base Station Subsyste! co!!unicate across the 7! interface4 also knon as the air interface or radio
link. %he Base Station Subsyste! co!!unicates ith the Mobile services Sitchin' &enter across the A
interface.
+i'ure 1. General architecture of a GSM netork
Mobile Station
%he !obile station :MS; consists of the !obile e(uip!ent :the ter!inal; and a s!art card called the
Subscriber ?dentity Module :S?M;. %he S?M provides personal !obility4 so that the user can have access to
subscribed services irrespective of a specific ter!inal. By insertin' the S?M card into another GSM ter!inal4
the user is able to receive calls at that ter!inal4 !ake calls fro! that ter!inal4 and receive other subscribed
services.
%he !obile e(uip!ent is uni(uely identified by the ?nternational Mobile 6(uip!ent ?dentity :?M6?;. %he
S?M card contains the ?nternational Mobile Subscriber ?dentity :?MS?; used to identify the subscriber to the
syste!4 a secret key for authentication4 and other infor!ation. %he ?M6? and the ?MS? are independent4
thereby alloin' personal !obility. %he S?M card !ay be protected a'ainst unauthori)ed use by a passord
or personal identity nu!ber.
Base Station Subsyste
%he Base Station Subsyste! is co!posed of to parts4 the Base %ransceiver Station :B%S; and the Base
Station &ontroller :BS&;. %hese co!!unicate across the standardi)ed Abis interface4 alloin' :as in the rest
of the syste!; operation beteen co!ponents !ade by different suppliers.
%he Base %ransceiver Station houses the radio tranceivers that define a cell and handles the radio<link
protocols ith the Mobile Station. ?n a lar'e urban area4 there ill potentially be a lar'e nu!ber of B%Ss
deployed4 thus the re(uire!ents for a B%S are ru''edness4 reliability4 portability4 and !ini!u! cost.
%he Base Station &ontroller !ana'es the radio resources for one or !ore B%Ss. ?t handles radio<channel
setup4 fre(uency hoppin'4 and handovers4 as described belo. %he BS& is the connection beteen the !obile
station and the Mobile service Sitchin' &enter :MS&;.
!etwork Subsyste
%he central co!ponent of the "etork Subsyste! is the Mobile services Sitchin' &enter :MS&;. ?t acts like
a nor!al sitchin' node of the 0S%" or ?S-"4 and additionally provides all the functionality needed to
handle a !obile subscriber4 such as re'istration4 authentication4 location updatin'4 handovers4 and call routin'
to a roa!in' subscriber. %hese services are provided in con>uction ith several functional entities4 hich
to'ether for! the "etork Subsyste!. %he MS& provides the connection to the fi5ed netorks :such as the
0S%" or ?S-";. Si'nallin' beteen functional entities in the "etork Subsyste! uses Si'nallin' Syste!
"u!ber . :SS.;4 used for trunk si'nallin' in ?S-" and idely used in current public netorks.
%he Ho!e 1ocation $e'ister :H1$; and Cisitor 1ocation $e'ister :C1$;4 to'ether ith the MS&4 provide
the call<routin' and roa!in' capabilities of GSM. %he H1$ contains all the ad!inistrative infor!ation of
each subscriber re'istered in the correspondin' GSM netork4 alon' ith the current location of the !obile.
%he location of the !obile is typically in the for! of the si'nallin' address of the C1$ associated ith the
!obile station. %he actual routin' procedure ill be described later. %here is lo'ically one H1$ per GSM
netork4 althou'h it !ay be i!ple!ented as a distributed database.
%he Cisitor 1ocation $e'ister :C1$; contains selected ad!inistrative infor!ation fro! the H1$4 necessary
for call control and provision of the subscribed services4 for each !obile currently located in the 'eo'raphical
area controlled by the C1$. Althou'h each functional entity can be i!ple!ented as an independent unit4 all
!anufacturers of sitchin' e(uip!ent to date i!ple!ent the C1$ to'ether ith the MS&4 so that the
'eo'raphical area controlled by the MS& corresponds to that controlled by the C1$4 thus si!plifyin' the
si'nallin' re(uired. "ote that the MS& contains no infor!ation about particular !obile stations <<< this
infor!ation is stored in the location re'isters.
%he other to re'isters are used for authentication and security purposes. %he 6(uip!ent ?dentity $e'ister
:6?$; is a database that contains a list of all valid !obile e(uip!ent on the netork4 here each !obile
station is identified by its ?nternational Mobile 6(uip!ent ?dentity :?M6?;. An ?M6? is !arked as invalid if it
has been reported stolen or is not type approved. %he Authentication &enter :Au&; is a protected database
that stores a copy of the secret key stored in each subscriber9s S?M card4 hich is used for authentication and
encryption over the radio channel.
"adio link aspects
%he ?nternational %eleco!!unication 7nion :?%7;4 hich !ana'es the international allocation of radio
spectru! :a!on' !any other functions;4 allocated the bands /23<21* MH) for the uplink :!obile station to
base station; and 23*<2,3 MH) for the donlink :base station to !obile station; for !obile netorks in
6urope. Since this ran'e as already bein' used in the early 12/3s by the analo' syste!s of the day4 the
&60% had the foresi'ht to reserve the top 13 MH) of each band for the GSM netork that as still bein'
developed. 6ventually4 GSM ill be allocated the entire 252* MH) bandidth.
Multiple access and channel structure
Since radio spectru! is a li!ited resource shared by all users4 a !ethod !ust be devised to divide up the
bandidth a!on' as !any users as possible. %he !ethod chosen by GSM is a co!bination of %i!e< and
+re(uency<-ivision Multiple Access :%-MAD+-MA;. %he +-MA part involves the division by fre(uency of
the :!a5i!u!; 2* MH) bandidth into 12# carrier fre(uencies spaced 233 kH) apart. @ne or !ore carrier
fre(uencies are assi'ned to each base station. 6ach of these carrier fre(uencies is then divided in ti!e4 usin' a
%-MA sche!e. %he funda!ental unit of ti!e in this %-MA sche!e is called a burst period and it lasts 1*D2,
!s :or appro5. 3.*.. !s;. 6i'ht burst periods are 'rouped into a TDMA frame :123D2, !s4 or appro5. #.,1*
!s;4 hich for!s the basic unit for the definition of lo'ical channels. @ne physical channel is one burst
period per %-MA fra!e.
&hannels are defined by the nu!ber and position of their correspondin' burst periods. All these definitions
are cyclic4 and the entire pattern repeats appro5i!ately every 3 hours. &hannels can be divided into dedicated
channels4 hich are allocated to a !obile station4 and common channels4 hich are used by !obile stations in
idle !ode.
%raffic channels
A traffic channel :%&H; is used to carry speech and data traffic. %raffic channels are defined usin' a 2,<fra!e
!ultifra!e4 or 'roup of 2, %-MA fra!es. %he len'th of a 2,<fra!e !ultifra!e is 123 !s4 hich is ho the
len'th of a burst period is defined :123 !s divided by 2, fra!es divided by / burst periods per fra!e;. @ut of
the 2, fra!es4 2# are used for traffic4 1 is used for the Slo Associated &ontrol &hannel :SA&&H; and 1 is
currently unused :see +i'ure 2;. %&Hs for the uplink and donlink are separated in ti!e by 3 burst periods4
so that the !obile station does not have to trans!it and receive si!ultaneously4 thus si!plifyin' the
electronics.
?n addition to these full-rate %&Hs4 there are also half-rate %&Hs defined4 althou'h they are not yet
i!ple!ented. Half<rate %&Hs ill effectively double the capacity of a syste! once half<rate speech coders
are specified :i.e.4 speech codin' at around . kbps4 instead of 13 kbps;. 6i'hth<rate %&Hs are also specified4
and are used for si'nallin'. ?n the reco!!endations4 they are called Stand<alone -edicated &ontrol &hannels
:S-&&H;.
+i'ure 2. @r'ani)ation of bursts4 %-MA fra!es4 and !ultifra!es for speech and data
&ontrol channels
&o!!on channels can be accessed both by idle !ode and dedicated !ode !obiles. %he co!!on channels
are used by idle !ode !obiles to e5chan'e the si'nallin' infor!ation re(uired to chan'e to dedicated !ode.
Mobiles already in dedicated !ode !onitor the surroundin' base stations for handover and other infor!ation.
%he co!!on channels are defined ithin a *1<fra!e !ultifra!e4 so that dedicated !obiles usin' the 2,<
fra!e !ultifra!e %&H structure can still !onitor control channels. %he co!!on channels include=
Broadcast &ontrol &hannel :B&&H;
&ontinually broadcasts4 on the donlink4 infor!ation includin' base station identity4 fre(uency
allocations4 and fre(uency<hoppin' se(uences.
+re(uency &orrection &hannel :+&&H; and Synchronisation &hannel :S&H;
7sed to synchronise the !obile to the ti!e slot structure of a cell by definin' the boundaries of burst
periods4 and the ti!e slot nu!berin'. 6very cell in a GSM netork broadcasts e5actly one +&&H and
one S&H4 hich are by definition on ti!e slot nu!ber 3 :ithin a %-MA fra!e;.
$ando! Access &hannel :$A&H;
Slotted Aloha channel used by the !obile to re(uest access to the netork.
0a'in' &hannel :0&H;
7sed to alert the !obile station of an inco!in' call.
Access Grant &hannel :AG&H;
7sed to allocate an S-&&H to a !obile for si'nallin' :in order to obtain a dedicated channel;4
folloin' a re(uest on the $A&H.
Burst structure
%here are four different types of bursts used for trans!ission in GSM. %he nor!al burst is used to carry data
and !ost si'nallin'. ?t has a total len'th of 1*,.2* bits4 !ade up of to *. bit infor!ation bits4 a 2, bit
trainin' se(uence used for e(uali)ation4 1 stealin' bit for each infor!ation block :used for +A&&H;4 3 tail
bits at each end4 and an /.2* bit 'uard se(uence4 as shon in +i'ure 2. %he 1*,.2* bits are trans!itted in
3.*.. !s4 'ivin' a 'ross bit rate of 2.3./33 kbps.
%he + burst4 used on the +&&H4 and the S burst4 used on the S&H4 have the sa!e len'th as a nor!al burst4 but
a different internal structure4 hich differentiates the! fro! nor!al bursts :thus alloin' synchroni)ation;.
%he access burst is shorter than the nor!al burst4 and is used only on the $A&H.
Speech codin#
GSM is a di'ital syste!4 so speech hich is inherently analo'4 has to be di'iti)ed. %he !ethod e!ployed by
?S-"4 and by current telephone syste!s for !ultiple5in' voice lines over hi'h speed trunks and optical fiber
lines4 is 0ulse &oded Modulation :0&M;. %he output strea! fro! 0&M is ,# kbps4 too hi'h a rate to be
feasible over a radio link. %he ,# kbps si'nal4 althou'h si!ple to i!ple!ent4 contains !uch redundancy. %he
GSM 'roup studied several speech codin' al'orith!s on the basis of sub>ective speech (uality and
co!ple5ity :hich is related to cost4 processin' delay4 and poer consu!ption once i!ple!ented; before
arrivin' at the choice of a $e'ular 0ulse 65cited << 1inear 0redictive &oder :$06<<10&; ith a 1on' %er!
0redictor loop. Basically4 infor!ation fro! previous sa!ples4 hich does not chan'e very (uickly4 is used to
predict the current sa!ple. %he coefficients of the linear co!bination of the previous sa!ples4 plus an
encoded for! of the residual4 the difference beteen the predicted and actual sa!ple4 represent the si'nal.
Speech is divided into 23 !illisecond sa!ples4 each of hich is encoded as 2,3 bits4 'ivin' a total bit rate of
13 kbps. %his is the so<called +ull<$ate speech codin'. $ecently4 an 6nhanced +ull<$ate :6+$; speech codin'
al'orith! has been i!ple!ented by so!e "orth A!erican GSM1233 operators. %his is said to provide
i!proved speech (uality usin' the e5istin' 13 kbps bit rate.
Channel codin# and odulation
Because of natural and !an<!ade electro!a'netic interference4 the encoded speech or data si'nal trans!itted
over the radio interface !ust be protected fro! errors. GSM uses convolutional encodin' and block
interleavin' to achieve this protection. %he e5act al'orith!s used differ for speech and for different data rates.
%he !ethod used for speech blocks ill be described belo.
$ecall that the speech codec produces a 2,3 bit block for every 23 !s speech sa!ple. +ro! sub>ective
testin'4 it as found that so!e bits of this block ere !ore i!portant for perceived speech (uality than
others. %he bits are thus divided into three classes=
Class $a *3 bits < !ost sensitive to bit errors
Class $b 132 bits < !oderately sensitive to bit errors
Class $$ ./ bits < least sensitive to bit errors
&lass ?a bits have a 3 bit &yclic $edundancy &ode added for error detection. ?f an error is detected4 the fra!e
is >ud'ed too da!a'ed to be co!prehensible and it is discarded. ?t is replaced by a sli'htly attenuated version
of the previous correctly received fra!e. %hese *3 bits4 to'ether ith the 132 &lass ?b bits and a # bit tail
se(uence :a total of 1/2 bits;4 are input into a 1D2 rate convolutional encoder of constraint len'th #. 6ach input
bit is encoded as to output bits4 based on a co!bination of the previous # input bits. %he convolutional
encoder thus outputs 3./ bits4 to hich are added the ./ re!ainin' &lass ?? bits4 hich are unprotected. %hus
every 23 !s speech sa!ple is encoded as #*, bits4 'ivin' a bit rate of 22./ kbps.
%o further protect a'ainst the burst errors co!!on to the radio interface4 each sa!ple is interleaved. %he #*,
bits output by the convolutional encoder are divided into / blocks of *. bits4 and these blocks are trans!itted
in ei'ht consecutive ti!e<slot bursts. Since each ti!e<slot burst can carry to *. bit blocks4 each burst carries
traffic fro! to different speech sa!ples.
$ecall that each ti!e<slot burst is trans!itted at a 'ross bit rate of 2.3./33 kbps. %his di'ital si'nal is
!odulated onto the analo' carrier fre(uency usin' Gaussian<filtered Mini!u! Shift 8eyin' :GMS8;. GMS8
as selected over other !odulation sche!es as a co!pro!ise beteen spectral efficiency4 co!ple5ity of the
trans!itter4 and li!ited spurious e!issions. %he co!ple5ity of the trans!itter is related to poer
consu!ption4 hich should be !ini!i)ed for the !obile station. %he spurious radio e!issions4 outside of the
allotted bandidth4 !ust be strictly controlled so as to li!it ad>acent channel interference4 and allo for the
co<e5istence of GSM and the older analo' syste!s :at least for the ti!e bein';.
Multipath e%uali&ation
At the 233 MH) ran'e4 radio aves bounce off everythin' < buildin's4 hills4 cars4 airplanes4 etc. %hus !any
reflected si'nals4 each ith a different phase4 can reach an antenna. 6(uali)ation is used to e5tract the desired
si'nal fro! the unanted reflections. ?t orks by findin' out ho a knon trans!itted si'nal is !odified by
!ultipath fadin'4 and constructin' an inverse filter to e5tract the rest of the desired si'nal. %his knon si'nal
is the 2,<bit trainin' se(uence trans!itted in the !iddle of every ti!e<slot burst. %he actual i!ple!entation
of the e(uali)er is not specified in the GSM specifications.
're%uency hoppin#
%he !obile station already has to be fre(uency a'ile4 !eanin' it can !ove beteen a trans!it4 receive4 and
!onitor ti!e slot ithin one %-MA fra!e4 hich nor!ally are on different fre(uencies. GSM !akes use of
this inherent fre(uency a'ility to i!ple!ent slo fre(uency hoppin'4 here the !obile and B%S trans!it
each %-MA fra!e on a different carrier fre(uency. %he fre(uency hoppin' al'orith! is broadcast on the
Broadcast &ontrol &hannel. Since !ultipath fadin' is dependent on carrier fre(uency4 slo fre(uency
hoppin' helps alleviate the proble!. ?n addition4 co<channel interference is in effect rando!i)ed.
(iscontinuous transission
Mini!i)in' co<channel interference is a 'oal in any cellular syste!4 since it allos better service for a 'iven
cell si)e4 or the use of s!aller cells4 thus increasin' the overall capacity of the syste!. -iscontinuous
trans!ission :-%B; is a !ethod that takes advanta'e of the fact that a person speaks less that #3 percent of
the ti!e in nor!al conversation 4 by turnin' the trans!itter off durin' silence periods. An added benefit of
-%B is that poer is conserved at the !obile unit.
%he !ost i!portant co!ponent of -%B is4 of course4 Coice Activity -etection. ?t !ust distin'uish beteen
voice and noise inputs4 a task that is not as trivial as it appears4 considerin' back'round noise. ?f a voice
si'nal is !isinterpreted as noise4 the trans!itter is turned off and a very annoyin' effect called clippin' is
heard at the receivin' end. ?f4 on the other hand4 noise is !isinterpreted as a voice si'nal too often4 the
efficiency of -%B is dra!atically decreased. Another factor to consider is that hen the trans!itter is turned
off4 there is total silence heard at the receivin' end4 due to the di'ital nature of GSM. %o assure the receiver
that the connection is not dead4 comfort noise is created at the receivin' end by tryin' to !atch the
characteristics of the trans!ittin' end9s back'round noise.
(iscontinuous reception
Another !ethod used to conserve poer at the !obile station is discontinuous reception. %he pa'in' channel4
used by the base station to si'nal an inco!in' call4 is structured into sub<channels. 6ach !obile station needs
to listen only to its on sub<channel. ?n the ti!e beteen successive pa'in' sub<channels4 the !obile can 'o
into sleep !ode4 hen al!ost no poer is used.
)ower control
%here are five classes of !obile stations defined4 accordin' to their peak trans!itter poer4 rated at 234 /4 *4
24 and 3./ atts. %o !ini!i)e co<channel interference and to conserve poer4 both the !obiles and the Base
%ransceiver Stations operate at the loest poer level that ill !aintain an acceptable si'nal (uality. 0oer
levels can be stepped up or don in steps of 2 dB fro! the peak poer for the class don to a !ini!u! of 13
dB! :23 !illiatts;.
%he !obile station !easures the si'nal stren'th or si'nal (uality :based on the Bit 6rror $atio;4 and passes
the infor!ation to the Base Station &ontroller4 hich ulti!ately decides if and hen the poer level should
be chan'ed. 0oer control should be handled carefully4 since there is the possibility of instability. %his arises
fro! havin' !obiles in co<channel cells alternatin'ly increase their poer in response to increased co<
channel interference caused by the other !obile increasin' its poer. %his in unlikely to occur in practice but
it is :or as as of 1221; under study.
!etwork aspects
6nsurin' the trans!ission of voice or data of a 'iven (uality over the radio link is only part of the function of
a cellular !obile netork. A GSM !obile can sea!lessly roa! nationally and internationally4 hich re(uires
that re'istration4 authentication4 call routin' and location updatin' functions e5ist and are standardi)ed in
GSM netorks. ?n addition4 the fact that the 'eo'raphical area covered by the netork is divided into cells
necessitates the i!ple!entation of a handover !echanis!. %hese functions are perfor!ed by the "etork
Subsyste!4 !ainly usin' the Mobile Application 0art :MA0; built on top of the Si'nallin' Syste! "o. .
protocol.
+i'ure 3. Si'nallin' protocol structure in GSM
%he si'nallin' protocol in GSM is structured into three 'eneral layers 4 dependin' on the interface4 as shon
in +i'ure 3. 1ayer 1 is the physical layer4 hich uses the channel structures discussed above over the air
interface. 1ayer 2 is the data link layer. Across the 7! interface4 the data link layer is a !odified version of
the 1A0- protocol used in ?S-"4 called 1A0-!. Across the A interface4 the Messa'e %ransfer 0art layer 2
of Si'nallin' Syste! "u!ber . is used. 1ayer 3 of the GSM si'nallin' protocol is itself divided into 3
sublayers.
$adio $esources Mana'e!ent
&ontrols the setup4 !aintenance4 and ter!ination of radio and fi5ed channels4 includin' handovers.
Mobility Mana'e!ent
Mana'es the location updatin' and re'istration procedures4 as ell as security and authentication.
&onnection Mana'e!ent
Handles 'eneral call control4 si!ilar to &&?%% $eco!!endation E.2314 and !ana'es Supple!entary
Services and the Short Messa'e Service.
Si'nallin' beteen the different entities in the fi5ed part of the netork4 such as beteen the H1$ and C1$4
is acco!plished throu'ht the Mobile Application 0art :MA0;. MA0 is built on top of the %ransaction
&apabilities Application 0art :%&A04 the top layer of Si'nallin' Syste! "u!ber .. %he specification of the
MA0 is (uite co!ple54 and at over *33 pa'es4 it is one of the lon'est docu!ents in the GSM
reco!!endations .
"adio resources ana#eent
%he radio resources !ana'e!ent :$$; layer oversees the establish!ent of a link4 both radio and fi5ed4
beteen the !obile station and the MS&. %he !ain functional co!ponents involved are the !obile station4
and the Base Station Subsyste!4 as ell as the MS&. %he $$ layer is concerned ith the !ana'e!ent of an
$$<session 4 hich is the ti!e that a !obile is in dedicated !ode4 as ell as the confi'uration of radio
channels includin' the allocation of dedicated channels.
An $$<session is alays initiated by a !obile station throu'h the access procedure4 either for an out'oin'
call4 or in response to a pa'in' !essa'e. %he details of the access and pa'in' procedures4 such as hen a
dedicated channel is actually assi'ned to the !obile4 and the pa'in' sub<channel structure4 are handled in the
$$ layer. ?n addition4 it handles the !ana'e!ent of radio features such as poer control4 discontinuous
trans!ission and reception4 and ti!in' advance.
Handover
?n a cellular netork4 the radio and fi5ed links re(uired are not per!anently allocated for the duration of a
call. Handover4 or handoff as it is called in "orth A!erica4 is the sitchin' of an on<'oin' call to a different
channel or cell. %he e5ecution and !easure!ents re(uired for handover for! one of basic functions of the $$
layer.
%here are four different types of handover in the GSM syste!4 hich involve transferrin' a call beteen=
&hannels :ti!e slots; in the sa!e cell
&ells :Base %ransceiver Stations; under the control of the sa!e Base Station &ontroller :BS&;4
&ells under the control of different BS&s4 but belon'in' to the sa!e Mobile services Sitchin' &enter
:MS&;4 and
&ells under the control of different MS&s.
%he first to types of handover4 called internal handovers4 involve only one Base Station &ontroller :BS&;.
%o save si'nallin' bandidth4 they are !ana'ed by the BS& ithout involvin' the Mobile services Sitchin'
&enter :MS&;4 e5cept to notify it at the co!pletion of the handover. %he last to types of handover4 called
e5ternal handovers4 are handled by the MS&s involved. An i!portant aspect of GSM is that the ori'inal
MS&4 the anchor MSC4 re!ains responsible for !ost call<related functions4 ith the e5ception of subse(uent
inter<BS& handovers under the control of the ne MS&4 called the relay MSC.
Handovers can be initiated by either the !obile or the MS& :as a !eans of traffic load balancin';. -urin' its
idle ti!e slots4 the !obile scans the Broadcast &ontrol &hannel of up to 1, nei'hborin' cells4 and for!s a list
of the si5 best candidates for possible handover4 based on the received si'nal stren'th. %his infor!ation is
passed to the BS& and MS&4 at least once per second4 and is used by the handover al'orith!.
%he al'orith! for hen a handover decision should be taken is not specified in the GSM reco!!endations.
%here are to basic al'orith!s used4 both closely tied in ith poer control. %his is because the BS& usually
does not kno hether the poor si'nal (uality is due to !ultipath fadin' or to the !obile havin' !oved to
another cell. %his is especially true in s!all urban cells.
%he 9!ini!u! acceptable perfor!ance9 al'orith! 'ives precedence to poer control over handover4 so that
hen the si'nal de'rades beyond a certain point4 the poer level of the !obile is increased. ?f further poer
increases do not i!prove the si'nal4 then a handover is considered. %his is the si!pler and !ore co!!on
!ethod4 but it creates 9s!eared9 cell boundaries hen a !obile trans!ittin' at peak poer 'oes so!e distance
beyond its ori'inal cell boundaries into another cell.
%he 9poer bud'et9 !ethod uses handover to try to !aintain or i!prove a certain level of si'nal (uality at the
sa!e or loer poer level. ?t thus 'ives precedence to handover over poer control. ?t avoids the 9s!eared9
cell boundary proble! and reduces co<channel interference4 but it is (uite co!plicated.
Mobility ana#eent
%he Mobility Mana'e!ent layer :MM; is built on top of the $$ layer4 and handles the functions that arise
fro! the !obility of the subscriber4 as ell as the authentication and security aspects. 1ocation !ana'e!ent
is concerned ith the procedures that enable the syste! to kno the current location of a poered<on !obile
station so that inco!in' call routin' can be co!pleted.
1ocation updatin'
A poered<on !obile is infor!ed of an inco!in' call by a pa'in' !essa'e sent over the 0AG&H channel of
a cell. @ne e5tre!e ould be to pa'e every cell in the netork for each call4 hich is obviously a aste of
radio bandidth. %he other e5tre!e ould be for the !obile to notify the syste!4 via location updatin'
!essa'es4 of its current location at the individual cell level. %his ould re(uire pa'in' !essa'es to be sent to
e5actly one cell4 but ould be very asteful due to the lar'e nu!ber of location updatin' !essa'es. A
co!pro!ise solution used in GSM is to 'roup cells into location areas. 7pdatin' !essa'es are re(uired hen
!ovin' beteen location areas4 and !obile stations are pa'ed in the cells of their current location area.
%he location updatin' procedures4 and subse(uent call routin'4 use the MS& and to location re'isters= the
Ho!e 1ocation $e'ister :H1$; and the Cisitor 1ocation $e'ister :C1$;. Ahen a !obile station is sitched
on in a ne location area4 or it !oves to a ne location area or different operator9s 01M"4 it !ust re'ister
ith the netork to indicate its current location. ?n the nor!al case4 a location update !essa'e is sent to the
ne MS&DC1$4 hich records the location area infor!ation4 and then sends the location infor!ation to the
subscriber9s H1$. %he infor!ation sent to the H1$ is nor!ally the SS. address of the ne C1$4 althou'h it
!ay be a routin' nu!ber. %he reason a routin' nu!ber is not nor!ally assi'ned4 even thou'h it ould reduce
si'nallin'4 is that there is only a li!ited nu!ber of routin' nu!bers available in the ne MS&DC1$ and they
are allocated on de!and for inco!in' calls. ?f the subscriber is entitled to service4 the H1$ sends a subset of
the subscriber infor!ation4 needed for call control4 to the ne MS&DC1$4 and sends a !essa'e to the old
MS&DC1$ to cancel the old re'istration.
+or reliability reasons4 GSM also has a periodic location updatin' procedure. ?f an H1$ or MS&DC1$ fails4
to have each !obile re'ister si!ultaneously to brin' the database up to date ould cause overloadin'.
%herefore4 the database is updated as location updatin' events occur. %he enablin' of periodic updatin'4 and
the ti!e period beteen periodic updates4 is controlled by the operator4 and is a trade<off beteen si'nallin'
traffic and speed of recovery. ?f a !obile does not re'ister after the updatin' ti!e period4 it is dere'istered.
A procedure related to location updatin' is the ?MS? attach and detach. A detach lets the netork kno that
the !obile station is unreachable4 and avoids havin' to needlessly allocate channels and send pa'in'
!essa'es. An attach is si!ilar to a location update4 and infor!s the syste! that the !obile is reachable a'ain.
%he activation of ?MS? attachDdetach is up to the operator on an individual cell basis.
Authentication and security
Since the radio !ediu! can be accessed by anyone4 authentication of users to prove that they are ho they
clai! to be4 is a very i!portant ele!ent of a !obile netork. Authentication involves to functional entities4
the S?M card in the !obile4 and the Authentication &enter :Au&;. 6ach subscriber is 'iven a secret key4 one
copy of hich is stored in the S?M card and the other in the Au&. -urin' authentication4 the Au& 'enerates a
rando! nu!ber that it sends to the !obile. Both the !obile and the Au& then use the rando! nu!ber4 in
con>uction ith the subscriber9s secret key and a cipherin' al'orith! called A34 to 'enerate a si'ned response
:S$6S; that is sent back to the Au&. ?f the nu!ber sent by the !obile is the sa!e as the one calculated by the
Au&4 the subscriber is authenticated .
%he sa!e initial rando! nu!ber and subscriber key are also used to co!pute the cipherin' key usin' an
al'orith! called A/. %his cipherin' key4 to'ether ith the %-MA fra!e nu!ber4 use the A* al'orith! to
create a 11# bit se(uence that is B@$ed ith the 11# bits of a burst :the to *. bit blocks;. 6ncipherin' is an
option for the fairly paranoid4 since the si'nal is already coded4 interleaved4 and trans!itted in a %-MA
!anner4 thus providin' protection fro! all but the !ost persistent and dedicated eavesdroppers.
Another level of security is perfor!ed on the !obile e(uip!ent itself4 as opposed to the !obile subscriber.
As !entioned earlier4 each GSM ter!inal is identified by a uni(ue ?nternational Mobile 6(uip!ent ?dentity
:?M6?; nu!ber. A list of ?M6?s in the netork is stored in the 6(uip!ent ?dentity $e'ister :6?$;. %he status
returned in response to an ?M6? (uery to the 6?$ is one of the folloin'=
Ahite<listed
%he ter!inal is alloed to connect to the netork.
Grey<listed
%he ter!inal is under observation fro! the netork for possible proble!s.
Black<listed
%he ter!inal has either been reported stolen4 or is not type approved :the correct type of ter!inal for a
GSM netork;. %he ter!inal is not alloed to connect to the netork.
Counication ana#eent
%he &o!!unication Mana'e!ent layer :&M; is responsible for &all &ontrol :&&;4 supple!entary service
!ana'e!ent4 and short !essa'e service !ana'e!ent. 6ach of these !ay be considered as a separate sublayer
ithin the &M layer. &all control atte!pts to follo the ?S-" procedures specified in E.2314 althou'h
routin' to a roa!in' !obile subscriber is obviously uni(ue to GSM. @ther functions of the && sublayer
include call establish!ent4 selection of the type of service :includin' alternatin' beteen services durin' a
call;4 and call release.
&all routin'
7nlike routin' in the fi5ed netork4 here a ter!inal is se!i<per!anently ired to a central office4 a GSM
user can roa! nationally and even internationally. %he directory nu!ber dialed to reach a !obile subscriber is
called the Mobile Subscriber ?S-" :MS?S-";4 hich is defined by the 6.1,# nu!berin' plan. %his nu!ber
includes a country code and a "ational -estination &ode hich identifies the subscriber9s operator. %he first
fe di'its of the re!ainin' subscriber nu!ber !ay identify the subscriber9s H1$ ithin the ho!e 01M".
An inco!in' !obile ter!inatin' call is directed to the Gateay MS& :GMS&; function. %he GMS& is
basically a sitch hich is able to interro'ate the subscriber9s H1$ to obtain routin' infor!ation4 and thus
contains a table linkin' MS?S-"s to their correspondin' H1$. A si!plification is to have a GSM& handle
one specific 01M". ?t should be noted that the GMS& function is distinct fro! the MS& function4 but is
usually i!ple!ented in an MS&.
%he routin' infor!ation that is returned to the GMS& is the Mobile Station $oa!in' "u!ber :MS$";4
hich is also defined by the 6.1,# nu!berin' plan. MS$"s are related to the 'eo'raphical nu!berin' plan4
and not assi'ned to subscribers4 nor are they visible to subscribers.
%he !ost 'eneral routin' procedure be'ins ith the GMS& (ueryin' the called subscriber9s H1$ for an
MS$". %he H1$ typically stores only the SS. address of the subscriber9s current C1$4 and does not have the
MS$" :see the location updatin' section;. %he H1$ !ust therefore (uery the subscriber9s current C1$4
hich ill te!porarily allocate an MS$" fro! its pool for the call. %his MS$" is returned to the H1$ and
back to the GMS&4 hich can then route the call to the ne MS&. At the ne MS&4 the ?MS? correspondin'
to the MS$" is looked up4 and the !obile is pa'ed in its current location area :see +i'ure #;.
+i'ure #. &all routin' for a !obile ter!inatin' call
Conclusion and coents
?n this paper ? have tried to 'ive an overvie of the GSM syste!. As ith any overvie4 and especially one
coverin' a standard ,333 pa'es lon'4 there are !any details !issin'. ? believe4 hoever4 that ? 'ave the
'eneral flavor of GSM and the philosophy behind its desi'n. ?t as a !onu!ental task that the ori'inal GSM
co!!ittee undertook4 and one that has proven a success4 shoin' that international cooperation on such
pro>ects beteen acade!ia4 industry4 and 'overn!ent can succeed. ?t is a standard that ensures
interoperability ithout stiflin' co!petition and innovation a!on' suppliers4 to the benefit of the public both
in ter!s of cost and service (uality. +or e5a!ple4 by usin' Cery 1ar'e Scale ?nte'ration :C1S?;
!icroprocessor technolo'y4 !any functions of the !obile station can be built on one chipset4 resultin' in
li'hter4 !ore co!pact4 and !ore ener'y<efficient ter!inals.
%eleco!!unications are evolvin' toards personal co!!unication netorks4 hose ob>ective can be stated
as the availability of all co!!unication services anyti!e4 anyhere4 to anyone4 by a sin'le identity nu!ber
and a pocketable co!!unication ter!inal . Havin' a !ultitude of inco!patible syste!s throu'hout the orld
!oves us farther aay fro! this ideal. %he econo!ies of scale created by a unified syste! are enou'h to
>ustify its i!ple!entation4 not to !ention the convenience to people of carryin' >ust one co!!unication
ter!inal anyhere they 'o4 re'ardless of national boundaries.
%he GSM syste!4 and its siblin' syste!s operatin' at 1./ GH) :called -&S1/33; and 1.2 GH) :called
GSM1233 or 0&S12334 and operatin' in "orth A!erica;4 are a first approach at a true personal
co!!unication syste!. %he S?M card is a novel approach that i!ple!ents personal !obility in addition to
ter!inal !obility. %o'ether ith international roa!in'4 and support for a variety of services such as
telephony4 data transfer4 fa54 Short Messa'e Service4 and supple!entary services4 GSM co!es close to
fulfillin' the re(uire!ents for a personal co!!unication syste!= close enou'h that it is bein' used as a basis
for the ne5t 'eneration of !obile co!!unication technolo'y in 6urope4 the 7niversal Mobile
%eleco!!unication Syste! :7M%S;.
Another point here GSM has shon its co!!it!ent to openness4 standards and interoperability is the
co!patibility ith the ?nte'rated Services -i'ital "etork :?S-"; that is evolvin' in !ost industriali)ed
countries4 and 6urope in particular :the so<called 6uro<?S-";. GSM is also the first syste! to !ake e5tensive
use of the ?ntelli'ent "etorkin' concept4 in in hich services like /33 nu!bers are concentrated and
handled fro! a fe centrali)ed service centers4 instead of bein' distributed over every sitch in the country.
%his is the concept behind the use of the various re'isters such as the H1$. ?n addition4 the si'nallin'
beteen these functional entities uses Si'nallin' Syste! "u!ber .4 an international standard already
deployed in !any countries and specified as the backbone si'nallin' netork for ?S-".
GSM is a very co!ple5 standard4 but that is probably the price that !ust be paid to achieve the level of
inte'rated service and (uality offered hile sub>ect to the rather severe restrictions i!posed by the radio
environ!ent.