GSM Mobile Radio System

Course Overview
• Introduction to GSM: services provided by a GSM network; GSM network components
inc. BTS, BSC, MSC, GMSC; structure of a GSM network.
• GSM radio interface: principles of TDMA and FDMA; GSM frequency bands; speech
processing; use of FEC; discontinuous transmission and power control.
• Principles of GSM location updating and handover.
• R l and
Role d provision offG
GSM M controll andd traffic
ff channels.
h l
• Introduction to signalling in a GSM network inc. the role and operation of MAP
signalling.
• Features, appl
applications
cat ons and bas
basic
c operat
operationon of GSM data services
serv ces inc.
nc. GPRS, HSCSD
and EDGE.
• The components of a mobile Internet service.
• Introduction to message services inc. SMS, EMS and XMS.
• S
Structure of
f a GPRS network;k provision
i i of f llogical
i ld data and
d controll channels.
h l
• Mobility in a GPRS network.
GSM: Properties

¾cellular radio network (2nd Generation)

¾digital transmission, integrated data communication

¾roaming (mobility
( l between different network operators))

¾good transmission quality (error detection and -correction)

¾scalable (large number of participants possible)

¾security mechanisms (authentication, authorization, encryption)

¾good resource use (frequency and time division multiplex)

g
¾integration with fixed
f telephone
p network

¾standard (ETSI, European Telecommunications Standards

Institute)
Analog Mobile Telephony
• End of 1980’s Analog Systems unable to meet continuing
demands
– Severely confined spectrum allocations
– Interference in multipath fading environment
– Incompatibility among various analog systems
– Inability to substantially reduce the cost of mobile
terminals and infrastructure required

Digital Mobile Telephony

• Spectrum space - most limited and precious resource
• Solution - further multiplex traffic (time domain)
• Can
C beb realized
li d with
ith Di
Digital
it l T
Techniques
h i s only
l
GSM Frequency Bands
 GSM: Structure
• Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC) - logical, central structure with HLR,

• AuC (Authentication Center) - authentication, storage of symmetrical keys,

generation of encryption keys

• Equipment Identity Register (EIR) - storage of device attributes of allowed, faulty

and blocked devices (white, gray, black list)

• Mobile Switching Center (MSC) - networking center,

center partially with gateways to other
networks, assigned to one VLR each

• Base Station Subsystem (BSS): technical radio center

– Base Station Controller (BSC): control center
– Base Transceiver Station (BTS): radio tower / antenna
Allocation of different carrier frequencies
per user

Allocation of time slots on the same

frequency to a user
f
There is a continuous stream of TDMA
frames between the MS and the BTS.
Each time slot is regarded as a physical
channel and it is called a burst period
that is 0.577ms long. Information is
transmitted as bursts each TDMA frame
period thus burst is the content of a
physical channel. The burst contains the
payload and security information which
guarantees high data reliability and
transmission quality
 Discontinuous
transmission
and Power
control

All voice signals are transmitted the same way in a continuous data stream,
the
h channel
h l is
i occupied
i d even d
during
i silent
il iintervals
l iits di
disadvantage
d iis that
h
transmitting power is used during silent intervals thus wastes MS battery
power. Secondly other users using the same frequency in more distant
cells would be disturbed. Therefore, it is necessary to switch off the
sender
d if theh subscriber
b ib iis not transmittingi i iinformation
f i thus
h theh average
occupation of the radio link is less than 40%
 GSM Radio Interfaces
MSC - Mobile Switching
Center

TC - Transcoder
T nsc d

BSC - Base Station

Controller

BTS - Base Transceiver

Station

MS - Mobile Station

The user and signalling

g g data is transported
p over series of
interfaces; the A interface connects the MSC to the TC, the
A-ter interface connects the TC to the BSC, the A-bis
interface connects the BSC to the BTS while the air
interface (Um) links the MS
 GSM Radio
Interface
(contd)

Each of the interfaces (A, A-ter and A-bis) transmit information for the synchronization of
the individual network elements point to point at a data rate of 64kbps using time slot 0.
0 The
transcoder forwards the SS7 signalling between the MSC and the BSC in time slot 16. The
TRX signalling is transmitted between the BSC and the BTS at bit rates 16, 32 and 64kbps
depending on the producer. O&M alarms are transmitted over the A-ter and A-bis interface
at 16; 16 or 64kbps respectively or as inband signalling in a traffic channel
Speech
p and user data is transmitted
at a data rate of 64kbps over the A
interface; 16kbps over the A-ter
interface after being converted to
transcoded speech or rate adapted
data and 16kbps per sub channel over
the A-bis interface. SMS messages
are transmitted via signalling
channels.
The data is transmitted over
cable
bl or via
i mi
microwave links;
li ks; 4
types of information are
transmitted via this interface

4 64kbps channels in the A

interface are mapped on to 1
64kbps channel consisting of
4 subchannels of 16kbps each
on the A-ter interface
Channel 0 is used for synchronization
while channel 16 is used for signalling, 2
channels from the A-bis interface can be
mapped to one tranceiver on the BTS
consisting of 8 time slots
16kbps consists of 13kbps
for payload which is
transmitted over the air
interface and 3kbps used
f inband
for i b d signalling
i lli
between the BTS and BSC
for O&M Alarms
Bursts contain different data
blocks which contain user and
security information

There are two types of

l ic l channels:
logical ch nnels: The
common channels and the
dedicated channels
Common Channels belonging
g g
to the logical channels
This next step occurs
after the MS might have
received radio coverage
•SDCCH provides data
transmission for

SACCH iis associated

•SACCH i t d with
ith
an SDCCH or a traffic
channel
•The BCCH belongs to the group of the Broadcast channels, and only
exists in the downlink.
downlink It supplies the mobile station with the system
configuration parameters of the selected cell.

•The FCCH is a Broadcast channel in the downlink. It is sent out at

short
h regular
l i
intervals.
l ItI allows
ll the
h mobile
bil station
i to correct andd
adapt its frequency

The PCCH is a Common Control Channel in the downlink. It is

•The
broadcast by all base stations in a Location Area to notify a mobile
subscriber of an incoming call.

Th RACH is a Common
•The C C t l Channel
Control Ch l in
i the
th uplink.
li k It is used
s d by
b the
th
mobile station to initiate transactions, and to communicate its identity
and its request, for example its request for registration
Quality of Service
 Databases
• Home Location Register (HLR), stores data of participants which are registered in an
HLR-area
• –Semi-permanent data:
– Call number (Mobile Subscriber International ISDN Number) -MSISDN, e.g.
+49/171/333 4444 (country, network, number)
– Identity (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) -IMSI:
IMSI: MCC = Mobile
Country Code (262 for .de) + MNC = Mobile Network Code (01-T-Mobile, 02-
Vodafone, 03-eplus, 07-O2) + MSIN = Mobile Subscriber Identification Number
– Personal data (name, address, mode of payment)•Service profile (call transfer,
roaming-limits
i li it etc.)
t )
• –Temporary data:
– MSRN (Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number) (country, network, MSC)•VLR-
address,, MSC-address
– Authentication Sets of AuC(RAND (128 Bit), SRES (128 Bit), KC(64Bit))
– Billing data
 Databases (contd.)

• Visitor Location Register (VLR)

– local database of each MSC with following data:
• IMSI, MSISDN
• Service profile
• Billing and accounting information
• TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity) -pseudonym for data
security
• MSRN
• LAI (Location Area Identity)
• MSC-address, HLR-address
HANDOVERS
Data Transmission
 Signalling in GSM

• The official protocol for which all network elements can understand
each other is called the SS7 (System Signalling 7)
 Signalling in GSM

The basic SS7 is based on two parts: MTP (Message Transfer Part) responsible
for message transfers (it represents the basis of any network element) and TUP
(Telephone User Part) which receives, sends and acts on the messages that have
been sent.
MTP is divided to three layers:
MTP layer
l 1:
1 It represents
t the
th physical
h i l andd electrical
l t i l characteristics
h t i ti of f the
th
connection
MTP Layer 2: It takes care of error free transmission of signalling messages
between neighbouring
g g elements
m
MTP Layer 3: It takes care of smooth transport between elements in the same
network.
 1

2
MAP is a GSM specific
protocol for non-core related
applications between
elements
l in the
h NSS. MAP
P
based communication occurs
when data is exchanged
between NSS elements in
the absence of a call.
 Mobile Application Part
• The example of a location update procedure mentioned previously is not
confined onlyl to the MSC-BSC section, it spans multiple
l l PLMNs. In case
of a first time location update by an international roaming subscriber
(where he is not in his home network), the VLR has to get the data from
the subscriber
subscriber’ss HLR via the gateway MSC of the subscriber
subscriber’ss home
network.
• While a mobile terminated call is being handled, the MSRN has to be
requested from the HLR without routing the call to the HLR.
Therefore, for these cases another protocol layer was added to the
SS7 called the Mobile Application Part (MAP).
• MAP is used for signalling communication between NSS elements.
Signalling between NSS
Communication between network elements
Signalling in GSM
 Signalling in GSM
• Between the BSC and the BTS, a signalling protocol known as LAP-D
(Link Access Protocol for the ISDN "D" channel) is used. This is the
s m protocol
same p t c l that
th t is used
us d in ISDN networks
n t ks b
between
t n th
the cust
customer
m
and the network.
• Between the mobile station and the BTS, the same signalling protocol is
used with small modifications to cope with the characteristics of the
radio transmission medium. This protocol is known as LAP-Dm where
the "m" denotes modified.
• The LAP-D message structure is similar to SS7, but it does not support
networking capabilities, therefore, it is used for point to point
connections.
• Protocols for Radio Resource (RR) management are passed using
LAP Dm and LAP-D.
LAP-Dm LAP D Other protocols for Mobility Management (MM)
and Connection Management (CM) are passed between the mobile
station and the MSC.
GPRS Network
GPRS Network
GPRS Network
 END OF MODULE
• QUESTIONS????