Global System for Mobile telecommunication

Introduction
GSM: originally from Groupe Spcial Mobile Fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications Cellular systems using a digital technology will become the universal method of telecommunications Use of low-power transmitters where frequencies can be reused within a geographic area Formulated in the United States at Bell Labs in the early 1970s Standard used in many countries in the world Operates at either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency band

GSM Milestones
Year 1982 Milestone GSM formed

1986
1987 1988

field test
TDMA chosen as access method memorandum of understanding signed

1989
1990 1991 1992 1993

validation of GSM system

preoperation system commercial system start-up coverage of larger cities/airports coverage of main roads

1995

coverage of rural areas

GSM Advantages
Better voice quality Low-cost alternatives to making calls, such as the Short message service Ease of deploying equipment from any vendors that implement the standard Offer roaming services so that subscribers can use their phones on GSM networks all over the world

Mobile Phone Generations

1G(analog) - Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) Major network deployments in North America, the Asia/Pacific region, and Central and Latin America with other substantial network operations in the Asia/Pacific region. 2G systems

GSM ( Predominant standard in Europe and widely deployed throughout the

world largest number of subscribers)

IS-136

IS-95 or cdmaOne
Digital AMPS (DAMPS) Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) GSM, IS-136, and PDC IS-95 CDMA

Main standards of North America with other installations in Central and South America and Asia/Pacific regions Only Japan, but second largest digital subscribers

TDMA based systems

3G Systems

W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) as the underlying air interface, is standardized by the 3GPP.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)

Radio channels are 5MHz wide.

Data Rate 1 Mbps

4G Systems
The Japanese company NTT DoCoMo is testing 4G communication at 100 Mbit/s while moving, and 1 Gbit/s while stationary. 4G would provide users with on demand high quality video and audio May use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), and also OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) to better allocate network resources to multiple users

GSM Specifications
Frequency 900 MHz or 1800 MHz (Some countries in the Americas including Canada and the United States use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, 400 and 450 MHz frequency bands are assigned in some countries, notably Scandinavia) Channel separation - The separation between adjacent carrier frequencies. In GSM, this is 200 kHz. Modulation - Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK). Transmission rate - 270 kbps. (A total of 156.25 bits is transmitted in 0.577 milliseconds, giving a gross bit rate of 270.833 kbps) Access method - Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) concept Speech coder - Linear predictive coding (LPC). Speech is encoded at 13 kbps.

Operation and Support System

Network Elements
Switching System (SS) - Responsible for performing call processing and subscriber-related functions. The functional units of SS are Home Location Register (HLR) - Database used for storage and management of subscriptions (subscriber's service profile, location information, and activity status). When an individual buys a subscription from one of the PCS operators, he or she is registered in the HLR of that operator.

Authentication Center (AUC) - A unit called the AUC provides authentication and encryption parameters that verify the user's identity and ensure the confidentiality of each call. The AUC protects network operators from different types of fraud found in today's cellular world.
Equipment Identity Register (EIR) - Database that contains information about the identity of mobile equipment that prevents calls from stolen, unauthorized, or defective mobile stations. The AUC and EIR are implemented as stand-alone nodes or as a combined AUC/EIR node.

Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC)

Performs the telephony switching functions of the system (controls calls to and from other telephone and data systems). It also performs such functions as toll ticketing, network interfacing, common channel signaling, and others.
Visitor Location Register (VLR) Database that contains temporary information about subscribers that is needed by the MSC in order to service visiting subscribers. The VLR is always integrated with the MSC. When a mobile station roams into a new MSC area, the VLR connected to that MSC will request data about the mobile station from the HLR. Later, if the mobile station makes a call, the VLR will have the information needed for call setup without having to interrogate the HLR each time.

Base Station System (BSS) - All radio-related functions are performed in the BSS Base Station Controllers (BSC)

BSC provides all the control functions and physical links between the MSC and BTS. It is a high-capacity switch that provides functions such as handover, cell configuration data, and control of radio frequency (RF) power levels in base transceiver stations. A number of BSCs are served by an MSC.
Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) BTS handles the radio interface to the mobile station. The BTS is the radio equipment (transceivers and antennas) needed to service each cell in the network. A group of BTSs are controlled by a BSC.

Operation and Support System

Functional entity from which the network operator monitors and controls the system. The purpose of OSS is to offer the customer costeffective support for centralized, regional, and local operational and maintenance activities that are required for a GSM network. An important function of OSS is to provide a network overview and support the maintenance activities of different operation and maintenance organizations.

GSM Network Area

Call Routing
When a user dials a GSM mobile subscriber's MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber ISDN), the PSTN routes the call to the Home MSC based on the dialed telephone number. The MSC must then query the HLR based on the MSISDN, to attain routing information required to route the call to the subscribers' current location. Having determined the appropriate HLR address, the MSC sends a Routing Information Request to it.

When the HLR receives the Routing Information Request, it maps the MSISDN to the IMSI, and ascertains the subscribers' profile including the current VLR at which the subscriber is registered.
The HLR then queries the VLR for a Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN). The HLR generates a response message, which includes the MSRN, and sends it back across the SS7 network to the MSC. Finally, the MSC attempts to complete the call using the MSRN provided.

Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

GMSK is based on MSK At baseband, bit transitions are represented by cycle sinusoid Input: Binary pulse train (+1/-1)

Each binary pulse goes through a LPF with a Gaussian impulse response
- The filter smoothes the binary pulses - The filter output is truncated and scaled This process results in a train of Gaussian shaped pulses

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

GSM Timeslot

Assignment of spectrum is governed by the national frequency allocation plan (NFAP) and the International Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) The Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the department of telecom (DoT) performs spectrum management functions in India

Operators like Hutch, Airtel, Idea, and some others, use 900MHz in rural areas and 1800MHz in urban areas
GSM-900 uses 890 - 915 MHz to send information from the Mobile Station to the Base Transceiver Station (uplink) and 935 - 960 MHz for downlink, providing 124 RF channels(Channel numbers 1 to 124) spaced at 200 kHz. Duplex spacing of 45 MHz is used. GSM-1800 uses 1710 - 1785 MHz to send information from the Mobile Station to the Base Transceiver Station (uplink) and 1805 - 1880 MHz for downlink, providing 374 channels (channel numbers 512 to 885). Duplex spacing is 95 MHz

Frequency Spectrum Allocation For Mobile Operators in Tamilnadu

BPL 6.2 MHz

Aircel
BSNL Bharti BSNL Reliance Infocomm Tata Teleservices

10 MHz
8 MHz 6.2 MHz 2.5 MHz 3.75 MHz 2.5 MHz

frequency reuse is based on assigning to each cell a group of radio channels used within a small geographic area. Cells are assigned a group of channels that is completely different from neighboring cells. The coverage area of cells is called the footprint This footprint is limited by a boundary so that the same group of channels can be used in different cells that are far enough away from each other so that their frequencies do not interfere The number of available frequencies is 7, the frequency reuse factor is 1/7.

SIM Card (Subscriber Identity Module)

GSM phones require a small electronic chip, called a SIM card SIM card is the heart of the phone It is a smart card that stores data for GSM cellular telephone subscribers (user identity, location and phone number, network authorization data, personal security keys, contact lists and stored text messages)

Numbering Plan
CC NDC SN

Country Code 3 Digits

Subscriber Number 10 Digits

National Destination Code 2 Digits

CC + NDC + SN = CC + ZNY + XXXX

CC = ZNY = Z= N= Y= number Country Code National Destination Code (NDC) (1 9) Geographic or District Code (0 9) User Group / Platform Code (0 9) (Carry over first digit from existing and virtual five-digit YXXXX)

XXXX= Subscriber Number (SN) [(0)0000 (9)9999]

Country Codes and National Destination codes examples

Airtel Essar Maxtouch 404 10 404 11 404 20 Escotel Kerala Escotel UP JTM Andhra Pradesh JTM Karnataka Aircel Digilink Hexacom India 404 19 404 56 404 49 404 45 404 15 404 70

BPL Mumbai
Command Spice Cell Spice - Karnataka Skycell RPG MAA Spice Punjab BPL Maharshtra TATA Escotel Haryana

404 21
404 30 404 31 404 44 404 40 404 41 404 14 404 27 404 07 404 12

Fascel Limited
AT&T Guajarat AT&T Goa

404 05
404 24 404 22

BPL Kerala
BPL Tamil Nadu Aircell

404 46
404 43 404 42

Operator Circle Codes Examples

AIRCEL CHENNAI - 9841 AIRCEL TAMIL NADU 9842 AIRCEL TAMIL NADU 9865 AIRTEL ANDHRA PRADESH 9849 AIRTEL ANDHRA PRADESH 9866 AIRTEL BIHAR 9934 AIRTEL CHENNAI 9840 AIRTEL DELHI 9810 AIRTEL DELHI 9818 AIRTEL DELHI 9871 AIRTEL GUJARAT 9898 AIRTEL HARYANA 9896 AIRTEL HIMACHAL PRADESH 9816 AIRTEL JAMMU & KASHMIR 9906 AIRTEL KARNATAKA 9845 AIRTEL KARNATAKA 9880 AIRTEL KERALA 9895 AIRTEL KOLKATA 9831 AIRTEL MADHYA PRADESH 9893 AIRTEL MAHARASTRA 9890 AIRTEL MUMBAI 9892 AIRTEL ORISSA 9937 AIRTEL ORISSA 9938 AIRTEL PUNJAB 9815 AIRTEL PUNJAB 9872 AIRTEL TAMIL NADU 9894 AIRTEL UP EAST 9935 AIRTEL UP EAST 9936 29

SMS (Short Message Service)

It is often called text messaging SMS was originally defined as part of the GSM series of standards in 1985 (GSM Doc 28/85 "Services and Facilities to be provided in the GSM System" rev2, June 1985) as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters, to and from GSM mobile handsets Messages are sent to a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) which provides a store-and-forward mechanism

It attempts to send messages to their recipients. If a recipient is not reachable, the SMSC queues the message for later retry.
Subscriber-originated messages are transported from a handset to a Service Centre, and may be destined for mobile users, subscribers on a fixed network, or Value-Added Service Providers (VASPs), also known as application-terminated. Subscriber-terminated messages are transported from the Service Centre to the destination handset, and may originate from mobile users, from fixed network subscribers, or from other sources such as VASPs.

SMSC (Short Message Service Center) Vendors

WaveNET NetXcell Tele DNA Openmind Networks Pyro Acision SS8 Networks Tanla Solutions Nokia Huawei Unisys Airwide Solutions Jinny

Parkyeri
Oksijen Teknoloji Telenity

Bharti Telesoft
Intervoice Comverse Technology

Teligent AB
Lucent Motorola and Symsoft

Receiving a message in the PDU mode (hellohello)

07 917283010010F5 040BC87238880900F10000993092516195800AE8329BFD4697D9EC37

Sending a message in the PDU mode

For Flash Messages

If the data coding scheme is set to 16-bit unicode (ucs2), and the message starts with "0001", it will appear as a blinking flash message. The first unicode character ("00 01") enables the blinking. The maximum length of such a message will then be 69 unicode characters.

Speech transmission over GSM network

Multiplexing voice lines over high speed trunks and optical fiber lines (Pulse Coded Modulation (PCM))
The output stream from PCM is 64 kbps, too high a rate to be feasible over a radio link

Linear Predictive Coder (LPC)

Basically, information from previous samples, which does not change very quickly, is used to predict the current sample. The coefficients of the linear combination of the previous samples, plus an encoded form of the residual, the difference between the predicted and actual sample, represent the signal. Speech is divided into 20 millisecond samples, each of which is encoded as 260 bits, giving a total bit rate of 13 kbps.

GSM Protocol Architecture

LAPD Frame Format