The Radio interface

The most
important
interface in GSM
technology. i.e.

The GSM technology

Why is it so important..??
• It is universal media for transmission and
reception of signals.
• Key element to enable mobility and
wireless access and provide roaming
facility.
• It is limited resource shared by all users.
• It must be well defined to obtain
compatibility between MS and BTS.

The GSM technology

The frequency spectrum is very
congested, with only narrow slots of
bandwidth allocated for cellular
communications. Standard GSM has a
total of 124 frequencies available for use
in a network. Most network providers are
unlikely to be able to use all of these
frequencies and are generally allocated a
small subset of the 124.The spectral
efficiency depends on radio interface and
transmission. The spectrum efficiency can
be increased by decreasing the
interference . It includes :
-Frequency reuse
The GSM technology
-Sectorization.
 Frequency re-use
Three types of frequency
reuse patterns
• 7 Cell reuse pattern
• 4 cell reuse pattern
• 3 cell reuse pattern 2
7 3
• Frequency re-use increases 1 D
the capacity and hence 6 4
spectrum efficiency. 5 Cell Dia = R

7/21 cell cluster

 Sectorization
• Omni directional antennas
radiates same frequency in every
direction, thereby increasing the
chances of interference and no. of
cells in a particular area too.
• Sectorization splits a site into
number of cells ,which increases
the capacity of the system.
• Directional antennas are used OMNI CELL
which ensures that radio from one 1 ANTENNA
sector is concentrated in a b2
particular direction which :
--increases the signal strength. b1
--makes frequency reuse
pattern to be used b3
efficiently.

120O CELLS
3 ANTENNAS
 Access methods
• Since radio frequency is limited, so
there is no dedicated channel to
individuals but it is provided on
demand. Radio channels are shared
by all users.
• Both FDMA and TDMA methods helps
to provide radio access to subscribers
and hence provides mobility.
 Tdma technology
Time division multiple access is a digital technology that
allows a number of users to access a single radio
frequency channel without interference by allocating a
unique time slots to each user within the channel.
– Each carrier frequency is subdivided in time domain
into 8 time slots
– Each mobile transmits data in a frequency, in its
particular time slot - Burst period = 0.577 milli secs.
– 8 time slots called a TDMA frame. Period is .577 * 8 =
4.616 milli secs

0.577 ms

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4.616 ms
 How it works…?
Let us consider that four different conversation
is going on simultaneously.
A. Marry had a little lamb.
TDMA divides a single
B. Ramu is a good boy.
RF carrier into 8 slots
C. There was an old man who lived
and provides each in a shoe.
conversation a single
D.Jack and Jill went up the hill

slot for very short duration. After the four slots

conversation has been transmitted, process is
repeated again.
RF Marry had Ramu is a There was Jack and
channel a an
Freq. 1 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3` Slot 4
 Tdma advantages
• It can easily adapt to transmission of data as well
as voice communication.

• ability to carry 6 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates

which allows services like fax, voice band data,
and SMS as well as multimedia too.

• Since TDMA technology separates users according

to time, it ensures that there will be no
interference from simultaneous transmissions.

• It provides users with an extended battery life,

since it transmits only portion of the time during
conversations.

• most cost effective technology to convert an

analog system to digital.
 Tdma disadvantages
• One major disadvantage using TDMA technology is
that the users has a predefined time slot. When
moving from one cell site to other, if all the time
slots in this cell are full the user might be
disconnected.

• Likewise, if all the time slots in the cell in which the

user is currently in are already occupied, the user
will not receive a dial tone.

• Another problem in TDMA is that it is subjected to

multipath distortion. A signal coming from a tower
to a handset might come from any one of several
directions. It might have bounced off several
different buildings before arriving which can cause
interference. to overcome this distortion, a time
limit can be used on the system. The system will be
designed to receive ,treat and process that signal
within a certain time limit. Once the time limit is
expired the signal is ignored.
 960 MHz

959.8MHz 124 TS: Time slot

123
DOWNLIN ……. GSM utilizes twoDownlink
bands of (TDMA
25 MHz.frame)
890-915 MHz
= 8 TS
K …… band is used for uplink while the 935-960 MHz is
used for downlink.
200KHz

935.2 Mhz
2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 The frequency bands are divided into 200 KHz
935 MHz wide channels called ARFCNs (Absolute Radio
Frequency Channel
Data burst Numbers)
= 156.25 bit periods =i.e. there
576.9µ s are 125
ARFCNs out of which only 124 are used.
915 MHz
Each ARFCN supports 8 users with each user
914.8 MHz 124
transmitting / receiving on a particular time slot
45 MHz 123
200KHz …….
(TS). 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
UPLINK
…… Uplink (TDMA frame)
2
890.2 MHz
1
890 MHz

Therefore 1 TDMA frame = 156.25 x 8 = 1250 bits

and has a duration of 576.92µ s x 8 = 4.615 ms
 frequency division multiple access
(fdma)

• Divide available frequency spectrum

into channels each of the same bandwidth
• Channel separation achieved by filters:
• Good selectivity
• Guard bands between channels
• Signaling channel required to allocate a traffic
channel to a user
• Only one user per frequency channel at any
time
• Used in analog systems, such as AMPS, TACS
• Limitations on:
• frequency re-use
• number of subscribers per area
 Uplink and downlink frequency distribution

Uplink Downlink BTS

890 MHz Frequency 915 MHz935 MHz Frequency 960 MHz

0 channel # 124 0 channel # 124

Example:
Channel 48
Duplex spacing = 45 MHz
Frequency band spectrum = 2 x 25 MHz
Channel spacing = 200 kHz
Contd…

The bandwidth of 25 MHz is divided into equal

parts of 200 kHz and this band of 200kHz is
called as GUARD BAND.

 The single radio frequency is called as

ABSOLUTE RADIO FREQUENCY CHANNEL
NUMBER (ARFCN).

Frequency allotment is always done in pairs

i.e. if 890.2 MHz is allocated as transmission
frequency then 935.2 MHz will be allocated to
the same operator as receiving frequency.

The spacing between trans and receive

frequency is called as DUPLEX SPACING and it is
equal to 45 MHz
 From Speech to Radio Transmission
Blah... Blah... Blah... Blah… Blah… Blah...
Digitizing and
Source Decoding
Source Coding

Channel Coding Channel Decoding

Interleaving De-interleaving

Ciphering Deciphering

Burst Formatting Burst De-formatting

Modulating Demodulating

The GSM technology

 channels
There are two types of channels- physical and logical channels.

Physical channels
Each timeslot on a TDMA frame is called a physical channel. Therefore,
there are 8 physical channels per carrier frequency in GSM. Physical
channels can be used to transmit data, speech or signaling information.

890MHz 915 MHz

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Physical channels
 Logical channels
Logical channels are multiplexed into physical
channels. They are laid over the grid of physical
channels. Each logical channel performs a specific
function. It is of two types:
+ traffic channels (TCHs)
+ control channels (CCHs)
Traffic channels carry user information such as encoded
speech or user data.
Two general forms are defined:
Full rate traffic channel at a gross bit rate of 22.8kbps.
Half rate traffic channel at a gross bit rate of 11.4kbps.

Control channels carry system signalling and

synchronisation data for control procedures Such as
location registration mobile station synchronisation,
paging, random access etc. between base station and
mobile Station . It is of three types:
Broadcast
Common
dedicated
 LOGICAL CHANNELS

TRAFFIC CONTROL

FULL RATE HALF RATE

Bm 22.8 Kb/S Lm 11.4 Kb/S
BROADCAST COMMON CONTROL DEDICATED CONTROL

FCCH SCH BCCH

RACH
PCH AGCH
CCH -- FREQUENCY CORRECTION CHANNEL
CH -- SYNCHRONISATION CHANNEL
CCH -- BROADCAST CONTROL CHANNEL
CH -- PAGING CHANNEL
ACH -- RANDOM ACCESS CHANNEL SDCCH SACCH FACCH
GCH -- ACCESS GRANTED CHANNEL
DCCH -- STAND ALONE DEDICATED CONTROL CHANNEL DOWN LINK ONLY
ACCH -- SLOW ASSOCIATED CONTROL CHANNEL BOTH UP &
ACCH -- FAST ASSOCIATED CONTROL CHANNEL UPLINK ONLY DOWNLINKS
 Broadcast Channel -
BCH
• Broadcast control channel (BCCH) is a
base to mobile channel which provides
general information about the network,
the cell in which the mobile is currently
located and the adjacent cells.

• Frequency correction channel (FCCH) is a

base to mobile channel which provides
information for carrier synchronization.

• Synchronization channel (SCH) is a base

to mobile channel which carries
information for frame synchronization
and identification of the base station
transceiver
 Common control Channel -
CCH

• Paging channel (PCH) is a base to mobile

channel used to alert a mobile to a call
originating from the network.

• Random access channel (RACH) is a

mobile to base channel used to request
for dedicated resources.

• Access grant channel (AGCH) is a base to

mobile which is used to assign dedicated
resources (SDCCH or TCH)
Dedicated Control Channel -
DCCH
• Slow associated control channel (SACCH) is
a bi-directional channel used for exchanging
control information between base and a
mobile during the progress of a call set up
procedure. The SACCH is associated with a
particular traffic channel or stand alone
dedicated control channel
• Fast associated control channel (FACCH) is a
bi-directional channel which is used for
exchange of time critical information
between mobile and base station during the
progress of a call. The FACCH transmits
control information by stealing capacity
from the associated TCH
 Location update from the mobile
RACH send channel request

AGCH receive SDCCH

SDCCH request for location updating

SDCCH authenticate

SDCCH authenticate response

SDCCH switch to cipher mode

SDCCH cipher mode acknowledge

SDCCH allocate TMSI

MS SDCCH acknowledge new TMSI BTS

SDCCH switch idle update mode
Call establishment from the mobile
RACH send channel request

AGCH receive SDCCH

SDCCH send call establishment request

SDCCH do the authentication and TMSI allocation

SDCCH send the setup message and desired number

SDCCH require traffic channel assignment

FACCH switch to traffic chnl & send back (steal bits)

FACCH receive alert signal ringing sound

BTS
FACCH receive connect message

MSFACCH acknowledge connect message and use TCH

TCH conversation continues

 Call establishment to a mobile
Mobile receives paging message on PCH

Generate Channel Request on RACH

Receive signaling channel SDCCH on AGCH

Answer paging message on SDCCH

Receive authentication request on SDCCH

Authenticate on SDCCH

Receive setup message on SDCCH

Receive traffic channel assignment on SDCCH

FACCH switch to traffic chnel & send back (steal bits)

MS
Receive alert signal and generate ringing on FACCH
BTS
Receive connect message on FACCH

FACCH acknowledge message and switch to TCH