GSM TECHNOLOGY Standards & Implementation

GSM900 DCS1800
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15/7/05

The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) is a huge, rapidly expanding and successful technology. Less than five years ago, there were a few 10's of companies working on GSM. Each of these companies had a few GSM experts who brought knowledge back from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) committees designing the GSM specification. Now there are 100's of companies working on GSM and 1000's of GSM experts. GSM is no longer state-of-the-art. It is everyday-technology, as likely to be understood by the service technician as the ETSI committee member.
GSM evolved as a mobile communications standard when there were too many standards floating around in Europe. Analog cellular was in use for several years in different parts of world. Even today there are few networks of Analog cellular. The experience of analog cellular helped in developing specifications for a Digital Cellular standard. The work on GSM specs took a complete decade before practical systems were implemented using these specs.

GSM is quickly moving out of Europe and is becoming a world standard. In this presentation we will understand the basic GSM network elements and some of the important features. Since this is a very complex system, we have to develop the knowledge in a step by step approach.

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Introduction to Cellular

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Each cell has a Base Station Transceiver ( BTS ) at the chosen site. The location of BTS site depends upon several factors.. 1. Coverage in prime localities / hot spots is the most important criteria in choosing the BTS site. 2. Terrain - Type of buildings in the area to be covered. 3. Availability of proper site - COST factor 4. Availability of open space, power supply , security 5. Nearby installations of Cellular / other transmitters. 6. Access to the network - leased lines / Microwave link / Optical link. "Number of BTS" sites is a measure of the size .

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Cell Configuration

Omni-directional Cell

Sectorial Cell

BTS

BTS

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Frequency Reuse

F= 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Clusters

GSM uses concept of cells One cell covers small part of network Network has many cells Frequency used in one cell can be used in another cells This is known as Frequency Re-use F=2

F=2 F=7 F=1 F=6,10 F=3

F=4,8 F=5,9
F=2 F=7

F=7
F=1 F=6,10 F=5,9

F=3 F=4,8 F=6,10

F=3
F=1 F=4,8 F=5,9

Co-Channel ( Re-use ) Cells

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GSM Network Architecture

BSC
OML

OMC VMSC
BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS MS BTS BTS BTS

A
TRAU

AUC

MSC

HLR EIR VLR

SMSC

BC
BSC PSTN
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Mobile Station Identities

MSISDN : Human Identity used to call a Mobile Station MSRN : Mobile Station Roaming No

CC 98

NDC XXX

SN 12345

IMSI : Network Identity unique to a SIM

3 digits 2 digits 10 digits

MCC 404

MNC XX

MSIN 12345

TMSI : Identity unique in a LAI

IMEI: Serial number unique to every Mobile Station

TAC
6 digits

FAC
2 digits

SNR
6 digits

S
1 digit

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The Mobile Station has two identities associated with it : MSISDN: (Mobile Station International Dialed Number) : This is the human identity associated with the Mobile Phone. This identity is used by the users to identify their subscription numbers and also by others to call Mobile Phones. This identity is not stored anywhere in the Mobile Phone. It is available in the Network database (HLR). The objective of this identity is to route the call over the fixed and Mobile Phone network. It is made up of CC ( Country Code ) which provides uniqueness in routing calls to GSM operations country. Within the country, the NDC ( National Destination Code ) provides unique identification of each operator. Finally the SN ( Subscriber Number) discriminates each subscriber within a network. IMEI ( International Mobile Equipment Identity ) : This is a unique number stored inside the ROM of the Mobile Phone. Its uniqueness lies in the TAC (Type Approval Code ) which is allotted by the MOU to a new mobile which has passed the confirmation specifications. After which the manufacturer may discriminate individual phones by FAC (Final Assemble Code), SNR (Serial Number) and also by the SP ( Spare digit ) typical used for software version control.
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GSM Signaling Interfaces

A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I = SS7 Abis = LAPD OML = X.25 BSC MSC B

VLR
G D

VLR
C F
HLR/AUC

HLR/ AUC

Abis BTS

EIR
OMC
OML I E SUPP H GMSC
GSMSC

PSTN

SS7/R2

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GSM Air Interface

Separate Bands for Uplink and Downlink

Down link : 935 - 960 MHz ( E-GSM 925 - 960 MHz ) Uplink : 890 - 915 MHz ( E-GSM 880 - 915 MHz)

TDMA and FDMA Multiplex

124 Frequency Channels (ARFCN) for GSM900 1 to 124 for current band 975 to 1023 for E-GSM 200kHz Channels 8 Mobiles share ARFCN by TDMA

0.3 GMSK Modulation

270.833 kbits/sec. rate

Variable Tx Power and Timing

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The GSM Burst

Time

Amplitude

Frequency

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Speech coding Process

22.8 Kbps 456 bits

20ms Speech Coder 260 bits 13 kbps

Tranceiver ( BTS )

260 bits 50 1a 132 1b

Channel Coder 456 bits 22.8 Kbps

13 kbps

78 11

Transcoder Handler 16 kbps 260 + 60 = 320 bits TRAU Frame Abis

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Speech is captured in blocks of 20ms and coded into 260 bits, which are then ordered accordingly into Type 1a - 50 bits, Type 1b - 132 bits and Type 2 - 78 bits. These 260 bits give out a data rate of 13kbps which is the GSM speech rate. These bits are then channel coded for error correction and converted to 456 bits which yields out a data rate of 22.8kbps, which is data rate on Air interface. These 456 bits/20ms is decoded down to 260 bits at the BTS which again gives the original speech rate of 13Kbps. These 260 bits speech are again bit stuffed with 60 bits by the transcoder handler which gives out a rate of 16kbps, which is mapped on Abis.

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Measuring Adjacent Cell BCH Power

DOWNLINK

UPLINK

ADJACENT CELL BCH

RXLEV

RXLEV

RXLEV

RXLEV

RXLEV

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Besides receiving and transmitting information, the mobile must switch frequency and get ready to receive and measure the level of the adjacent cell's broadcast channels.
It then reports this (RXLev) information to its own base station in order to establish when a handover is appropriate between cells.

Again, information is received on timeslot 2, we switch 45MHz to transmit information and then, need to switch back 45MHz +/- a few MHz to monitor and measure the level of the adjacent cell's broadcast channels.
This information will be reported back to the base station at least every 30 seconds so that the base station can determine the appropriate time to do a handoff. The RxLev information is reported back to the base-station on the uplink SACCH (Slow Associated Control CHannel). The mobile uses a list of ARFCN in the BA (Base Allocation) table to know which BCH frequencies to go out and measure. The BA table is coded onto the BCH, and also the downlink SACCH. This is the primary (or non-hopped) mode of operation in the GSM system. If there is an area which has bad multipath, such as urban areas with lots of reflections from buildings, the cell may need to be defined as a hopping cell.

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Mobile Power Control

Mobile is commanded to change its Transmit Power Change in Power is proportionate to the Path Loss Change is Power is done in steps of 2 dbs

Tx Level 5 6 7 . 14 15

Power dBm 33 31 29 . 15 13

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Timing Advance
TDMA approach requires signals to arrive at BTS at the correct time. They must not overlap

BTS

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Physical and Logical Channel

Physical Channel
TO
ARFCN ( 200Khz )

T1

T2

T3

T4

T5

T6

T7

T
Logical Channels

Logical Channels

Control Channel

Traffic Channel

Broadcast Channel

Dedicated Control Channel

Common Control Channel

Full Rate TCH

Half Rate TCH

BCCH FCH SCH

SDCCH SACCH FACCH

PAGCH AGCH RACH CBCH NCH

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Logical Channels
Traffic Channels

Traffic Channels carry either encoded speech or user data Two forms of Traffic Channels are defined : -- Full rate Traffic Channel : Carries encoded information at gross rate of 22.8Kbps -- Half rate Traffic Channel : Carries encoded information at gross rate of 11.4 Kbps

Speech Traffic Channels Full rate Traffic Channel for speech : Speech out of encoded information is at 13 kbps Half rate Traffic Channel for speech : Speech out of encoded information is at 6.5 kbps

Data Traffic Channels Full rate Traffic Channel for 9.6 kbps user data Full rate Traffic Channel for 4.8 kbps user data Full rate Traffic Channel for < 2.4 kbps user data
Traffic Channels Modes Circuit Switching mode ( transparent connection to a service like telephony ) Packet Swithching mode ( as per recommendation X.25 or other standardised protocols)

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Logical Channels
Broadcast Channels ( BCH )
Frequency Correction Channels ( FCCH ) : Carries Information for frequency correction of the mobile stations. ( Downlink )

Synchronisation Channels ( SCH ) : Carries information for frame synchronization of the mobile stations and identification of BTS ( Downlink ) Contains two pieces of information : BSIC & Reduced Frame Number *

Broadcast Control Channels ( BCCH ) : Broadcasts various cell parameters and other information required by the mobile to access the network. ( Downlink)

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Logical Channels
Broadcast Channels ( BCH )
TN
FN 0 0 FCCH SCH BCCH BCCH BCCH BCCH CCCH CCCH CCCH CCCH FCCH SCH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

FN 10 FN 11

FCCH & SCH occurs every 10th frame BCCH is send in block of 4 frames BCCH block occurs once in 51 frames

FN 51

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Logical Channels
Common Control Channels

Paging Channel ( PCH ) : Used to page Mobiles ( Downlink )

Access Grant Channel ( AGCH ) : Used to for allocation of a dedicated channel ( SDCCH ) ( Downlink )

Random Access Channel ( RACH ) : Used to request allocation of dedicated channel ( SDCCH ) ( Uplink )

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Logical Channels
0
FN 0
FCCH

5 0

6 1

7 2 3 4 5 6 7

Downlink
AGCH
AGCH AGCH AGCH

FN 0

RACH RACH RACH

Uplink

FN 10 FN 11 FN 12

FCCH SCH PCH PCH

CCCH is configured to AGCH & PCH either dynamically or through O & M AGCH & PCH also occurs in block of 4 No of AGCH & PCH in one Multiframe depends on channel combinations

RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH RACH

PCH
PCH PCH PCH PCH

RACH
RACH RACH RACH

FN 19 FN 51

PCH

FN 51

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Logical Channels
Dedicated Control Channels

Standalone dedicated control channel ( SDCCH ) : Used for conveying signaling information ( Downlink & Uplink ) Slow Associated Control Channel ( SACCH ) : Used for conveying slow information associated with SDCCH and TCH ( Downlink and Uplink ) Fast Associated Control Channel ( FACCH ) : Associated with TCH for conveying fast signaling information (D&U) Cell Broadcast Control Channel ( CBCH ) : Subset of SDCCH used for broadcasting cell broadcast messages ( Downlink )

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Mapping of Logical channels on PCHN

Mapping of Channel Combinations using Multiframe Concept

B+D
0
TN=0

Downlink
B B C C F S F S C C C C F S F S D0 D0 D1 D1 F S F S D2 D2 D3 D3 F S F S A0 A2 A1 A3

50
I I

F S F S

0
D3 D3 R R R R A2 A0 A3 A1

Uplink
R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D0 D0 D1 D1 R R R R

50
D2 D2

B
0
TN=0

Downlink
B C F S C C F S C C F S C C F S C C

50
I

F S

Uplink

50

TN=0 R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

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Mapping of Logical channels on PCHN

Mapping of Channel Combinations using Multiframe Concept

D
0
TN=0

Downlink
D1 D1 D2 D2 D3 D3 D4 D4 D5 D5 D6 D6 D7 D7 A0 A4 A1 A5 A2 A6 A3 A7 I I I I

50
I I

D0 D0

0
TN=0

Uplink
A6
A2

50
D2
D2

A5
A1

A7
A3

I
I

I
I

I
I

D0
D0

D1
D1

D3
D3

D4
D4

D5
D5

D6
D6

D7
D7

A0
A4

B+C
0
TN=0

Downlink
I B C I I C C I I C C I I C C I I C C

50
I

0
TN=2,4,6

Uplink

50

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

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Mapping of Logical channels on PCHN

Mapping of Channel Combinations using Multiframe Concept
T
0 Downlink 25
T T T T T T T T T T T T A T T T T T T T T T T T T I

TN=0

Uplink

25

T T T T T T T T T T T T A T T T T T T T T T T T T I

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FRAMES
1 Burst = 577usecs

1 TDMA Frame

3 4 5
Multiframe

= 8 bursts = 4.616 ms

23 24

25

48 49

50

1 TCH Multiframe = 26 TF = 120ms

1 CCH Multiframe = 51 TF = 234.6ms

0 0

1 1

2 2

48 23

49 24

50 25

1 Superframe = 51 TCH MF = 1326 TF = 6.12 sec

1 Superframe = 26 CCH MF = 1326 TF = 6.12 sec

2044 2045 2046 2047

1 Hyperframe = 2048 Superframes = 2715648 TDMA Frames = 3 hrs 28 min 53 sec 760 ms

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