General Packet Radio Service

GPRS History

Established by ETSI(European
Telecommunications Standards
Institute)
GSM phase 1 --- 1992
GSM phase 2 --- 1996
GPRS begin in 1994 and published at
the end of 1997
General Packet Radio Service

Packet switching
GPRS is evolved from GSM by introducing two
new core network nodes SGSN and GGSN
Existing GSM nodes(BSS,MSC/VLR and HLR)
are upgraded
Concept foresees bit rates of nearly 170kb/s
QoS Support service
precedence delay reliability mean
throughput peak throughput etc. QoS
parameters
General Packet Radio Service

Several users can use the same channel

simultaneously
Always on line
Radio resource allocation
Charging is based on amount of transmitted
data
No need to access HLR for every GPRS
packet
Burst data transmission
GPRS Objectives

GPRS uses packet switched resource allocation

Dynamic channel allocation
1 to 8 time slots
Available resources shared by active users
Up and down link channels reserved separately
GPRS and circuit switched (GSM) services can use
same time slots alternatively
Efficient delivery of SMS over the GPRS air
interface
Connections with data networks
IP network,X.25,GPRS own protocols
GPRS Development

Phase
Point-to-Point
Point-to-Multipoint
Class
Support GPRS and other GSM simultaneously
Support GPRS and GSM network parallel
Only GPRS
Multi-slot Type
Half-Duplex
Full-Duplex
Service type of GPRS

GPRS provides two types of services:

PTP (Point-To-Point)
Connectionless: IP
Connection-oriented: X.25
PTM (Point-To-Multipoint)
Multicast Service (PTM-M)
Group Call Service (PTM-G)
GPRS Applications

WWW
FTP
Telnet
Chat
E-mail
Image
Audio
Video
GPS(Global Positioning System)
GSM Architecture

MS(Mobile Station)
BSS(Base Station Subsystem)
BTS(Base Transceiver Station)
BSC(Base Station Controller)
MSC(Mobile Switching Center)
PSTN(Public Switched Telephone Network)
HLR(Home Location Register)
VLR(Visitor Location Register)
AUC(Authentication Center)
GSM Architecture
GPRS Architecture
Comparison between GPRS &
Circuit-switched
GPRS Architecture
GPRS Components

GPRS support node(GSN)

Packet routing and transfer within PLMN(Public Land
Mobile Network)
Gateway GPRS support node(GGSN)
Acts as a logical interface to external PDN(Packet
Data Network)
Maintains routing information used to tunnel the
PDUs(Protocol Data Unit) to the SGSN currently
serving the MS(Mobile Station)
Serving GPRS support node(SGSN)
Delivery of packets to the MSs within its service area
Mobile Transmission

SGSN(SGSN-S) encapsulates the packets

transmitted by the MS and routes them to the
appropriate GGSN(GGSN-S)
Based on the examination of the destination address,
packets are then routed to the GGSN-D through the
packet data network
The GGSN-D checks the routing context associated
with the destination address and determines the
SGSN-D and relevant tunneling information
Each packet is then encapsulated and forwarded to
the SGSN-D, which delivers it to the destination
mobile
Simple example of
transmission
Packet Data Transmission
Scenario
Mobile-originated
MS to some LAN host
Mobile-terminated
Receive packet from some host when MS is in
Home Public Land Mobile Network PLMN
Mobile-terminated
Receive packet from some host when MS is
roaming at some Visited Public Land Mobile
Network PLMN
Simple example of routing
 GPRS Architecture
I nter -P LMN
Back bone

BG R In terne t

S GSN
B SC
BS
Hos t
GGS N

Intr a-P LM N
MS BS B ack bone X.2 5

MS
MS
B SC

BS S GSN
S S7

BS
MS HL R
VLR

BSC
BS PS TN
M SC

MS BS

Air interface MS
MS
Data BSC

Voice BS

Voice and data

MS
SS 7 si gnaling BS
GPRS Coding Scheme
Best reliability : CS-1
No reliability : CS-4
Maximum data rate :
171.2Kbps(21.4Kbps x 8) with eight
time slots
FDMA & TDMA
Mobility Management

Two encapsulation schemes:

Between GSNs
Between MS and SGSN
Before MS sends data, MS has to attach
to GPRS using an attachment procedure
When moving to another SGSN(location
update), GGSN and GR/HLR are informed
about the new routing context
Mobility Management

State Diagram
GPRS Protocols

Sub-Network Dependent Convergence Protocol (SNDCP)

maps a network-level protocol
provides compression, segmentation and multiplexing of
network-layer messages to a single virtual connection
Logical Link Control (LLC)
assures the reliable transfer of user data across a
wireless network
Base Station System GPRS Protocol (BSSGP)
processes routing and QoS information
uses the Frame Relay Q.922 core protocol
GPRS Tunnel Protocol (GTP)
tunnels the protocol data units between GSNs
GPRS Protocols

GPRS Mobility Management (GMM)

handles roaming, authentication, and selection of
encryption algorithms
Network Service
maps BSSGP's service requests to the Frame Relay Q.922 Core
Radio Link Control(RLC)/MAC
Enable multiple MSs to share a common transmission medium
which consist of several physical channels
Physical Link Sublayer(PLL)
Data coding, detection and correction
Physical RF Sublayer(RFL)
Perform the modulation and demodulation of the physical
waveforms
Protocol Architecture
Air Interface Physical Layer

GPRS air interface protocol is concerned with

communication between MS and BSS
Physical Channel divided into Packet Data
Channel PDCH and Traffic
Channel TCH
PDCH --- Dedicated to Packet Data Traffic
TCH --- GSM Voice or Data Traffic
Allocation of TCHs and PDCHs is done
dynamically according to the Capacity-on-
demand principles
GPRS Architecture
GPRS Protocol Stack
GPRS Logical Channels

Packet Broadcast Control Channel(PBCCH)

Transmits system information to all GPRS
terminals in a cell
Packet Common Control Channel(PCCCH)
Initiate packet transfers or respond to paging
messages
Packet Traffic Channels(PTCH)
Channel resource allocation
GPRS Logical Channels(cont.)
Uplink
Downlink
HSCSD and EDGE

High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data HSCSD

Multi-timeslot
Using V42bis coding scheme can achieve 14.4Kbps
Maximum data rate : 115.2Kbps(14.4Kbps * 8)
Circuit switching
Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution EDGE
Maximum data rate : 384kbps
EDGE use the new Modulation Technique --- eight-phase-
shift 8PSK
Support Packet switching and Circuit switching
simultaneously
GPRS Glossary
ETSI(European Telecommunications Standards Institute)
MS(Mobile Station)
BSS(Base Station Subsystem)
BTS(Base Transceiver Station)
BSC(Base Station Controller)
MSC(Mobile Switching Center)
PSTN(Public Switched Telephone Network)
HLR(Home Location Register)
VLR(Visitor Location Register)
AUC(Authentication Center)
GPRS support node(GSN)
Gateway GPRS support node(GGSN)
Serving GPRS support node(SGSN)
packet data network(PDN)
Public Land Mobile Network PLMN
Sub-Network Dependent Convergence Protocol (SNDCP)
Logical Link Control (LLC)
Base Station System GPRS Protocol (BSSGP)
GPRS Tunnel Protocol (GTP)
GPRS Mobility Management (GMM)
Packet Data Channel PDCH
Traffic Channel TCH
Packet Broadcast Control Channel(PBCCH)
Packet Common Control Channel(PCCCH)
Packet Traffic Channels(PTCH)
High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data HSCSD
Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution EDGE
Reference

J. Cai and DJ Goodman, General Packet Radio

Service in GSM, IEEE Communications,
vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 122-131, October 1997
G. Brasche and B. Walke, Concepts, Services, and
Protocols of the New GSM Phase
2+ General Packet Radio Service, IEEE
Communications, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 94-104, Aug 1997
C. Bettstetter, GSM PHASE 2+ GENERAL PACKET
RADIO SERVICE GPRS:ARCHITECTURE,
PROTOCOLS AND AIR INTERFACE, IEEE
Communications,1997