SMS

The Telecom Source

10 Slide Technology Series
SMS Overview
SMS stands for Short Message Service

SMS was first introduced in 1991 in Europe as a text messaging service based
on European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standards for
mobile networks

SMS is being used in a wide range of social and business applications such as
electronic voting, delivery of stock quotations, delivery of e-mail notification

SMS is currently supported on the major mobile network technologies including:
GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
CDMA (Carrier Division Multiplex Access)

SMS supports the sending and receiving of text, images, animation and sound

SMS messages are originated and received by Short Messaging Entities (SME).
Examples of SMEs are: mobile phones; servers; personal computers
Basic Network Architecture
SMS-GMSC/
SMS-IWMSC
HLR
SME MS SMSC MSC/SGSN
VLR
Outside the scope
of GSM specifications
1. Short Message Entity (SME) sends or receives short messages
2. Short Message Service Centre (SC) stores-and-forwards messages between the SME and the MS
3. Gateway MSC For Short Message Service (SMS-GMSC) - receives messages from the SC, interrogates
the HLR for routing information and forward the messages to the MSC or SGSN
Home Location Register (HLR) - a database used for permanent storage and management of
user/subscriber profiles
4. Inter-Working MSC For Short Message Service (SMS-IWMSC) - receives messages from the MSC or
SGSN and forwards them to the SC
5. Mobile Service Centre (MSC) performs switching functions for mobile stations in a geographical area
Visitor Location Register (VLR) - a database that contains temporary information about
roaming subscribers. The MSC and the VLR are always on the same platform.
6. Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) performs packet switching functions for mobile stations in a
geographical area. The SGSN is used instead of the MSC when SMS info is transferred over GPRS.
7. Mobile Station (MS) a device on the mobile network capable of receiving and sending short messages
SMS Protocol Services and Features
SMS is a point-to-point store and forward technology with 2 basic services:
Short Message Mobile Terminated (SM-MT) - to transmit a message from the short message
service centre to the mobile station. SMS-DELIVER PDU (Protocol Data Unit)
Short Message Mobile Originated (SM-MO) to transmit a message from mobile station to
service centre SMS-SUBMIT PDU

SMS allows message delivery to handsets either active/in-use or powered off
Mobile stations receive transport data protocol units (TPDU) denoted as SMS-Deliver
Mobile stations send transport data protocol units (TPDU) denoted as SMS-Submit
Note: the TPDU contains the user data (the short message)

SMS protocol permits request of message delivery confirmation report

SMS messages contain up to 140 octets which is equivalent to:
160 Latin characters (7 Bit Coding) Text Mode
70 Unicode characters (double byte) e.g. Arabic Characters, Chinese Characters
SMS messages can also contain up to 140 octets of binary information

SMS messages are transported in the core network using SS7 (Signaling
System 7
SMS Service Elements
Validity Period is the service element that indicates the time period for which the
SMSC will guarantee the existence of the short message when attempting to deliver it

Service Centre Time Stamp is the service element that indicates the time stamp of
message arrival at the SMSC

Protocol Identifier is the service element in to indicate higher layer protocol or
indicates inter-working with certain types of telemetic services (e.g. paging, email)

More Messages to Send is the service element by which a SMSC informs the MS
that there is one or more messages waiting in the SC to be sent to the MS

Priority is the service element indicating that delivery of the message will be
attempted regardless of the MS being temporarily absent or having no free memory

Message Waiting is the service element that enables the mobile network to provide
the HLR, SGSN and VLR with the information that there is a message waiting in the
originating SMSC for a MS

Alert Service Centre is the service element used by mobile networks to inform an
SMSC that a previously unreachable MS (temporarily absent or no memory) is ready
to receive messages


SM-MT Service - SMS-DELIVER TPDU Structure
1-10 Octets

1 Octet

2-12 Octets

1 Octet

1 Octets

7 Octets

1 Octet

0-140 Octets


SCA

PDU-
Type


OA


PID


DCS


SCTS


UDL


UD
PDU Type:
Bits

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0
RP

UDHI

SRI





MMS

MTI

MTI bit 1 = 0
bit 0 = 0
Parameter Description
SCA Service Centre Address - Telephone number of the Service Centre
PDU Type Protocol Data Unit Type
RP Reply Path - Parameter indicating that Reply Path exists
UDHI User Data Header Indicator - Parameter indicating that UD field contains a header
SRI Status Report Indication - Parameter indicating if the SME has requested a status report
MMS More Messages to Send - Parameter indicating whether or not there are more messages to send
MTI Message Type Indicator - Parameter describing the message type 00 means SMS-Deliver
OA Originator Address - Address of the originating SME
PID Protocol Identifier - Parameter indicating the SMSC how to process the Short Message (e.g. Fax)
DCS Data Coding Scheme - Parameter identifying the coding scheme within the User Data (UD)
SCTS Service Centre Time Stamp - Parameter identifying the time when the SMSC received the message
UDL User Data Length - Parameter indicating the length of the UD-field
UD User Data - Data Field of the Short Message
SM-MO Service - SMS-SUBMIT TPDU Structure
Bits

PDU Type:
MTI bit 1 = 0
bit 0 = 1
Parameter Description
SCA Service Centre Address - Telephone number of the Service Centre
PDU Type Protocol Data Unit Type
RP Reply Path - Parameter indicating that Reply Path exists
UDHI User Data Header Indicator - Parameter indicating that UD field contains a header
SRR Status Report Request - Parameter indicating if the MS has requested a status report
VPF Validity Period Format - Parameter indicating whether or not the VP field is present
RD Reject Duplicates parameter indicating if SMSC will accept a message with same MR and DA from the same OA
MTI Message Type Indicator - Parameter describing the message type 01 means SMS-Submit
MR Message Reference - Successive numbers (0255) of all SMS-SUBMIT frames sent by the MS.
DA Destination Address - Address of the destination SME
PID Protocol Identifier - Parameter indicating the SMSC how to process the Short Message (e.g. Fax)
DCS Data Coding Scheme - Parameter identifying the coding scheme within the User Data (UD)
SCTS Service Centre Time Stamp - Parameter identifying the time when the SMSC received the message
UDL User Data Length - Parameter indicating the length of the UD-field
UD User Data - Data Field of the Short Message
6

5

1

0
VPF



1-10 Octets

1 Octet

1 Octet

2-12 Octets

1 Octet

1 Octets

0, 1 or 7 Octets

1 Octet

0-140 Octets


SCA

PDU-
Type


MR


DA


PID


DCS


VP


UDL


UD

7

4

3

2
RP

UDHI

SRR RD MTI

Message Flow SM-MT
Message
Transfer
sendRoutingInfo-
Delivery
ForShortMsg
forwardShortMessage
sendInfoFor-
MT-SMS
Message Transfer
Deliver Report
SM-Delivery
ReportStatus
Report
SMSC GMSC HLR MSC VLR
Page
Authenticate
MS
Note: ETSI/GSM MAP sendRoutingInforForShortMsg equivalent in IS41 (North American standard) is
SMSrequest mechanism, while forwardShortMessage is Short Message Delivery-Point-to-Point (SMD-PP)
Message Flow SM-MO
Message
Transfer
Delivery
forwardShortMessage
sendInfoFor-
MO-SMS
Message Transfer
Delivery Report
Delivery
Report
Report
SMSC SMS-
IWMSC
HLR MSC VLR
Access Request
Authenticate
MS
Note: ETSI/GSM MAP forwardShortMessage equivalent in IS41 (North American Standard) is Short
Message Delivery-Point-to-Point (SMD-PP) mechanism
Short Message Service Centre - SMSC
Short Message service Centre plays a central role in the management of
SMS message origination and SMS message delivery

Interestingly, detailed functionality of SMSC is outside the scope of
standardization, hence several vendor specific products and protocols:
EMI (External Machine Interface) CMG, now LogicaCMG
UCP (Universal Computer Protocol) Logica, now LogicaCMG
CIMD (Computer Interface to Message Distribution) Nokia
OIS (Open Interface Specification) SEMA Group, now Airwide Solutions
Computer Access Service and Protocol Ericsson

SMS Forum is an industry initiative to create a common standard SMPP
(Short Message Peer-to-Peer) using Internet as the transport network

The ETSI/GSM standard does specify minimum mandatory SMSC
requirements:
Each SMS-Deliver to a MS must have unique time stamp with one second accuracy
Only one outstanding SMS-Deliver (i.e. message for which a report not yet received)
If requested by MS or SME, initiate overwriting of previously received short messages
Additional Features and Issues
SMS standard allows concatenation of messages to enable transmission of
longer messages (i.e. messages longer than 140 octets)

Short Messages may be compressed with algorithms described in GSM 03.42
Compression only applies to user-data and excludes user-data-header
If compressed message are greater than 140 octets, then the messages can be concatenated

In North America wireless subscribers can address text messages using 5-digit
numbers (short codes)
An example of the use of short codes is for SMS voting
One objective of short codes is to reduce or minimize Spam
Short codes are being used to price and market services (e.g charge back to application provider)

Service gateway products are available that address multi-network (GSM/CDMA)
and multi-protocol (e.g. EMI/OIS) inter-working

Security is an emerging concern similar to that with e-mail, for example:
SPAM sending of unsolicited messages and ads via SMS (e.g. to entice users to call numbers
that have a high per minute charge)
Virus - resend of message to all numbers in the phones address book (e.g. via a Trojan Horse)
Identity Theft - retrieval of personal information from a SIM (Subscriber Interface Module) card
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