INTRODUCTION

GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Service, and is a relatively low cost technology that offers packet-based radio service and allows data or information to be sent and received across mobile telephone networks. Designed to supplement the existing mobile technologies, like GSM, CDMA, TDMA etc.

It is a packet oriented mobile data service

It is available to all users having 2G communication system, as well as in the 3G systems.

In 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56- 114 kbit/second. data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of traffic transferred.

GPRS 2G

cellular systems combined with GPRS are often described as 2.5G, that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony.
GPRS

is classified as a 2.5G technology because it builds upon existing network infrastructure whereas with 3G networks it normally requires building an entirely new network.

WHAT DOES GPRS DO?

GPRS provides a permanent connection where information can be sent or received immediately as the need arises, subject to radio coverage. No dial-up modem connection is necessary. This is why GPRS users are sometimes referred to be as being anytime-anywhere "always connected". The GPRS traffic structure is based on a fixed cost, dependent on the quantity of data required.

Services offered
"Always on" internet access Multimedia messaging service (MMS) Instant messaging Internet applications for smart devices through wireless application protocol (WAP) Point-to-point (P2P) service: internetworking with the Internet (IP)

GPRS TERMINALS

Class A
MS supports simultaneous operation of GPRS and

GSM services Class A terminal can make or receive calls on two services simultaneously

Class B
MS able to register with the n/w for both GPRS &

GSM services simultaneously. It can only use one of the two services at a given time. Users can make or receive calls on either a packet or a switched call type sequentially, but not simultaneously.

Class C
MS can attach for either GPRS or

GSM services a Class C terminal can make or receive calls from only the manually (or default) selected service

GPRS ARCHITECTURE
GPRS Subscriber Terminals GPRS BSS GPRS Networks Node GPRS Mobility Management

GPRS SUBSCIBER TERMINALS

New terminals are required because existing GSM phones do not handle the enhanced air interface, nor do they have the ability to packetize traffic directly.

A variety of terminals will exist, including a high-speed version of current phones to support high-speed data access.

GPRS BSS
Each BSC will require the installation of one or more PCUs (packet control unit) and a software upgrade. The PCU provides a physical and logical data interface out of the base station system (BSS) for packet data traffic. The BTS (base transceiver site) may also require a software upgrade, but typically will not require hardware enhancement.

GPRS NETWORKS NODE

In the core network, the existing MSCs are based upon circuit-switched central-office technology, and they cannot handle packet traffic. Thus two new components, called GPRS Support Nodes, are added: Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)

BACK

SGSN
The SGSN can be viewed as a "packetswitched MSC;" it delivers packets to mobile stations (MSs) within its service area SGSN performs mobility management functions such as mobile subscriber attach/detach and location management GGSNs are used as interfaces to external IP networks such as the public Internet GGSNs maintain routing information that is necessary to tunnel the protocol data units (PDUs) to the SGSNs that service particular MSs

GGSN

GPRS MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

Mobility management within GPRS builds on the mechanisms used in GSM networks. As a MS moves from one area to another, mobility management functions are used to track its location within each mobile network.

OTHER ELEMENTS
BG (Border Gateway)

(Not defined within GPRS) Routes packets from SGSN/GGSN of one

operator to a SGSN/GGSN of an other operator Provides protection against intruders from external networks

DNS (Domain Name Server)

Translates addresses from ggsn1.oper1.fi format to 123.45.67.89 format (i.e. as used in Internet)

OTHER ELEMENTS
Charging Gateway
and GGSNs

Collects charging information from SGSNs

PTM-SC (Point to Multipoint -Service Center)

PTM Multicast (PTM-M): Downlink

broadcast; no subscription; no ciphering PTM Group call (PTM-G): Closed or open groups; Down/up -link; ciphered Geographical area limitation

HOW GPRS WORKS

RADIO INTERFACE

GPRS provides packet data services (similar to the Internet) using the GSM digital radio network. Each voice circuit in GSM transmits the speech on a secure 14kbps digital radio link between the mobile phone and a nearby GSM transceiver station.

RADIO INTERFACE

Each transceiver uses TDM to deliver eight voice circuits on one radio channel The GPRS service joins together multiple speech channels to provide higher bandwidth data connections The radio bandwidth remains the same, it is just shared between the voice users and the data users higher the data rate, the more power the mobile device will use and the shorter the battery life and the higher the transmitted RF power

GPRS ROAMING
Home Network Roaming - Here all data is transmitted from wherever you connect to a GPRS network to your home GPRS network Local Network Roaming - Data is just transmitted to a local Internet connection point and will be subject to local conditions for security and performance.

GPRS MOBILE DEVICES

The key use for GPRS is to send and receive data to a computer application To use GPRS, the service is 'dialed' at which point the user is 'attached' and an IP address is allocated The three standard methods to connect your computer to GPRS mobile phone are: 1 Infrared 2 Data-cable 3 Bluetooth

GPRS SECURITY
The radio interface is considered to be relatively secure being controlled by the GSM network's security - (SIM card + HLR). Security issues arise when data needs to leave the GPRS network to be delivered to either the Internet or a company LAN. Internet connectivity is the cheapest and most common - and here you can take charge of security by encrypting sensitive data.

NETWORK CONNECTIVITY

Three ways to connect to GPRS network 1. Internet 2. Leased Lines 3. Frame Relay

NETWORK CONNECTIVITY
LEASED LINES Leased lines provide the most secure method of connecting to GPRS but are traditionally expensive FRAME RELAY If a frame relay connection is available with network suppliers then adding an addition PVC (Private Virtual Circuit) to one of the GPRS networks will make a cost effective solution

DATA PACKET ROUTING

Data Packet Routing

GGSN
handles interaction with the external data

network. routes external data packets to the SGSN

Three different routing schemes are possible:

Mobile-originated message. Network-initiated messages when the MS

is in its home network. Network-initiated messages when the MS has roamed to another GPRS operators network.

Data Packet Routing

GPRS operators will allow roaming through an inter-operator backbone network GPRS operators connect to the inter-operator network by a border Gateway (BG) The main benefits of the architecture are its flexibility, scalablity, interoperability and roaming The GPRS network encapsulates all data network protocols into its own encapsulation protocol, called the GPRS Tunning Procotocol (GTP).

Data Packet Routing

The operation of GPRS is partly independent of the GSM network. However, some procedures share the network elements with current GSM functions. A mobile station has three states in the GPRS system:

Idle

Standby
Active

KEY USER FEATURES OF GPRS

Speed

Theoretical maximum speeds of up to 171.2 kilobits per second are achievable with GPRS
Immediacy

GPRS facilitates instant connections whereby information can be sent or received immediately as the need arises
New

applications, better applications

KEY NETWORK FEATURES OF GPRS

Packet Switching
GPRS involves overlaying a packet based air interface on the existing circuit switched GSM network With GPRS, the information is split into separate but related "packets" before being transmitted and reassembled at the receiving end

Spectrum Efficiency
The available radio resource can be concurrently shared between several users. This efficient use of scarce radio resource means that large numbers of GPRS users can potentially share the same bandwidth and be served from a single cell.

KEY NETWORK FEATURES OF GPRS

Internet

aware

File Transfer Protocol (FTP), web browsing, chat, email, telnet- will be as available over the mobile network because of GPRS. Hence, web browsing is a very important application for GPRS. Supports TDMA and GSM

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