3.

3) Basics of GSM
INTRODUCTION

The first generations of cellular phones were analog, but the current generation is digital, using packet radio. Digital transmission has several advantages over analog for mobile communication. First, voice, data and fax, can be integrated in to a single system. Second, as better speech compression algorithms are discovered, less bandwidth will be needed per channel. Third, error correcting codes can be used to improve transmission quality. Finally, digital signals can be encrypted for security. Although it might have been nice if the whole world had adopted the same digital standard, such is not the case. The US system, IS-54, and the Japanese system, JDC, have been designed to be compatible with each countrys existing analog system, so each AMPS channel could be used either for analog or digital communication. In contrast the European digital system, GSM (global system for mobile communication) has been designed from scratch as a fully digital system, without any compromises for the sake of backward compatibility. GSM is currently in use in over 100 countries, inside and outside Europe, and thus serves as an example of digital cellular radio.GSM was originally designed for use in the 900 MHz band. Later, frequencies were allocated at 1800 MHz, and the second system, closely patterned on GSM, was setup there. The later is called DCS 1800, but it is essentially GSM. A GSM system has up to a maximum of 200 full duplex channels per cell. Each cell consists of a downlink frequency (from base station to mobile station) and uplink frequency (from mobile station to base station). Each frequency band is 200 KHz wide.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY GSM

From the beginning, the planners of GSM wanted ISDN compatibility in terms of the services offered and the control signaling used. However, radio transmission limitations, in terms of 29

bandwidth and cost, do not allow the standard ISDN B-channel bit rate of 64 kbps to be practically achieved. Using the ITU-T definitions, telecommunication services can be divided into bearer services, teleservices, and supplementary services. The most basic teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. As with all other communications, speech is digitally encoded and transmitted through the GSM network as a digital stream. There is also an emergency service, where the nearest emergency-service provider is notified by dialing three digits (similar to 911). A variety of data services is offered. GSM users can send and receive data, at rates up to 9600 bps, to users on POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), ISDN, Packet Switched Public Data Networks, and Circuit Switched Public Data Networks using a variety of access methods and protocols, such as X.25 or X.32. Since GSM is a digital network, a modem is not required between the user and GSM network, although an audio modem is required inside the GSM network to interwork with POTS. Other data services include Group 3 facsimile, as described in ITU-T recommendation T.30, which is supported by use of an appropriate fax adaptor. A unique feature of GSM, not found in older analog systems, is the Short Message Service (SMS). SMS is a bidirectional service for short alphanumeric (up to 160 bytes) messages. Messages are transported in a store-and-forward fashion. For point-to-point SMS, a message can be sent to another subscriber to the service, and an acknowledgement of receipt is provided to the sender. SMS can also be used in a cellbroadcast mode, for sending messages such as traffic updates or news updates. Messages can also be stored in the SIM card for later retrieval .Supplementary services are provided on top of teleservices or bearer services. In the current (Phase I) specifications, they include several forms of call forward (such as call forwarding when the mobile subscriber is unreachable by the network), and call barring of outgoing or incoming calls, for example when roaming in another country.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE GSM NETWORK

A GSM network is composed of several functional entities, whose functions and interfaces are specified. Figure 1 shows the layout of a generic GSM network. The GSM network can be divided into three broad parts. The Mobile Station is carried by the subscriber. The Base Station Subsystem controls the radio link with the Mobile Station. The Network Subsystem, the main part of which is the Mobile services Switching Center (MSC), performs the switching of calls 30

between the mobile users, and between mobile and fixed network users. The MSC also handles the mobility management operations. Not shown is the Operations and Maintenance Center, which oversees the proper operation and setup of the network. The Mobile Station and the Base Station Subsystem communicate across the Um interface, also known as the air interface or radio link. The Base Station Subsystem communicates with the Mobile services Switching Center across the A interface.

General architecture of a GSM network

MOBILE STATION
The mobile station (MS) consists of the mobile equipment (the terminal) and a smart card called the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The SIM provides personal mobility, so that the user can have access to subscribed services irrespective of a specific terminal. By inserting the SIM card into another GSM terminal, the user is able to receive calls at that terminal, make calls from that terminal, and receive other subscribed services. The mobile equipment is uniquely identified by the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The SIM card contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) used to 30

identify the subscriber to the system, a secret key for authentication, and other information. The IMEI and the IMSI are independent, thereby allowing personal mobility. The SIM card may be protected against unauthorized use by a password or personal identity number.

BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM

The Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts, the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC). These communicate across the standardized Abis interface, allowing operation between components made by different suppliers. The Base Transceiver Station houses the radio transceivers that define a cell and handles the radio-link protocols with the Mobile Station. In a large urban area, there will potentially be a large number of BTSs deployed, thus the requirements for a BTS are ruggedness, reliability, portability, and minimum cost. The Base Station Controller manages the radio resources for one or more BTSs. It handles radio-channel setup, frequency hopping, and handovers, as described below. The BSC is the connection between the mobile station and the Mobile service Switching Center (MSC).

NETWORK SUBSYSTEM
The central component of the Network Subsystem is the Mobile services Switching Center (MSC). It acts like a normal switching node of the PSTN or ISDN, and additionally provides all the functionality needed to handle a mobile subscriber, such as registration, authentication, location updating, handovers, and call routing to a roaming subscriber. These services are provided in conjunction with several functional entities, which together form the Network Subsystem. The MSC provides the connection to the fixed networks (such as the PSTN or ISDN). Signaling between functional entities in the Network Subsystem uses Signaling System Number 7 (SS7), used for trunk signaling in ISDN and widely used in current public networks. The Home Location Register (HLR) and Visitor Location Register (VLR), together with the MSC, provide the call-routing and roaming capabilities of GSM. 30

HOME LOCATION REGISTER (HLR)

A Home Location Register (HLR) is a database that contains semi-permanent mobile subscriber information for a wireless carriers entire subscriber base. HLR subscriber information includes the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), service subscription information, location information (the identity of the currently serving Visitor Location Register (VLR) to enable the routing of mobile-terminated calls), service restrictions and supplementary services information. The HLR handles SS7 transactions with both Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) and VLR nodes, which either request information from the HLR or update the information contained within the HLR. The HLR also initiates transactions with VLRs to complete incoming calls and to update subscriber data. Traditional wireless network design is based on the utilization of a single Home Location Register (HLR) for each wireless network, but growth considerations are prompting carriers to consider multiple HLR topologies. . The location of the mobile is typically in the form of the signaling address of the VLR associated with the mobile station. The actual routing procedure will be described later. There is logically one HLR per GSM network, although it may be implemented as a distributed database.

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VISITOR LOCATION REGISTER (VLR)

A Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a database which contains temporary information concerning the mobile subscribers that are currently located in a given MSC serving area, but whose Home Location Register (HLR) is elsewhere. When a mobile subscriber roams away from his home location and into a remote location, SS7 messages are used to obtain information about the subscriber from the HLR, and to create a temporary record for the subscriber in the VLR. There is usually one VLR per MSC. The Visitor Location Register (VLR) contains selected administrative information from the HLR, necessary for call control and provision of the subscribed services, for each mobile currently located in the geographical area controlled by the VLR. Although each functional entity can be implemented as an independent unit, all manufacturers of switching equipment to date implement the VLR together with the MSC, so that the geographical area controlled by the MSC corresponds to that controlled by the VLR, thus simplifying the signaling required. Note that the MSC contains no information about particular mobile stations --- this information is stored in the location registers. The other two registers are used for authentication and security purposes. The Equipment Identity Register (EIR) is a database that contains a list of all valid mobile equipment on the network, where each mobile station is identified by its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). An IMEI is marked as invalid if it has been reported stolen or is not type approved. The Authentication Center (AuC) is a protected database that stores a copy of the secret key stored in each subscribers SIM card, which is used for authentication and encryption over the radio channel.

ADDING A SECOND HLR TO THE GSM NETWORK

As a GSM wireless carriers subscriber base grows, it will eventually become necessary to add a second HLR to their network. This requirement might be prompted by a service subscription

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record storage capacity issue, or perhaps an SS7 message processing performance issue. It might possibly be prompted by a need to increase the overall network reliability. Typically, when new subscribers are brought into service, the second HLR will be populated with blocks of IMSI numbers that are allocated when new MSE equipment is ordered. As the following example shows, this grouping of IMSI numbers within a single HLR simplifies the routing translations that are required within the SS7 network for VLR to HLR Location Update Request transactions. Global Title Translation (GTT) tables will contain single translation records that translate an entire range of IMSIs numbers into an HLR address. Even if some individual records are moved between the HLRs, as shown in the example, the treatment of IMSIs as blocks results in a significant simplification of the Global Translation tables. Much more complicated SS7 message routing Global Title Translations are required for Routing Information Request transactions between the MSCs distributed over the entire wireless carrier serving area and the two or more HLRs. MSC Routing Information Requests are routed to the appropriate HLR based on the dialed MSISDN and not the IMSI. Unlike the IMSI numbers, the MSISDN numbers can not easily be arranged in groups to reside within a single HLR and therefore, the MSC must contain an MSISDN to HLR address association record for every mobile subscriber homed on each of the MSCs. As the example illustrates, the MSC routing tables quickly grow much more extensive than the STP tables. The network administration becomes increasingly complex and prone to error.

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS
The use of mobile radio-telephones has seen an enormous boost in the 1980s and 1990s. Previous to this time, citizen band (CB) radio had served a limited market. However, the bandwidth assignation for CB radio was very limited and rapidly saturated. Even in the U.S., a total of only 40 10 KHz channels were available around 27MHz. The use of digital mobile telephones has a number of advantages over CB radio: Access to national and international telephone system. Privacy of communication. Data independent transmission. 30

An infinitely extendable number of channels.

Mobile communications are usually allocated bands in the 50MHz to 1GHz band. At these frequencies the effects of scattering and shadowing are significant. Lower frequencies would improve this performance, but HF bandwidth is not available for this purpose. The primary problems associated with mobile communication at these frequencies are: Maintaining transmission in the fading circumstances of mobile communication. The extensive investigation of propagation characteristics required prior to installation.

Mobile communication work by limiting transmitter powers. This restricts the range of communication to a small region. Outside this region, other transmitters can operate independently. Each region is termed a cell. These cells are often represented in diagrams as hexagons.

Figure: Use of cells to provide geographical coverage for mobile phone service

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Figure: Frequency re-use in cells

Within each cell, the user communicates with a transmitter within the cell. As the mobile approaches a cell boundary, the signal strength fades, and the user is passed on to a transmitter from the new cell. Each cell is equipped with cell-site(s) that transmit/receive to/from the mobile within the cell. Within a single cell, a number of channels are available. These channels are (usually) separated by frequency. Then a mobile initiates a call, it is assigned an idle channel within the current cell by the mobile-services switching centre (MSC). He/she uses the channel within the cell until he/she reaches the boundary. He/she is then allocated a new idle channel within the next cell.

For example, the American advanced mobile phone service (AMPS) makes use of a 40MHz channel in the 800 900MHz band. This band is split into a 20MHz transmit and 20MHz receive bandwidth. These bands are split into 666 two-way channels, each having a bandwidth of 30 KHz. These channels are subdivided into 21 sets of channels, arranged in 7 groups of 3. The nominally hexagonal pattern contains 7 cells, a central one and its 6

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nearest neighbours. Each cell is assigned a different group in such a way that at least two cells lie between it and the next block using that set. With a total of 666 channels, it is possible to assign three sets of 31 channels per cell.

The great strength of this type of network is the ease with which more channels may be introduced. As demand rises, one simply reduces the cell size. Then the same number of channels is available in a smaller area, increasing the total number of channels per unit area. In a well planned system, the density of cells would reflect the user density.

AMPS is a first generation mobile phone system. It uses analogue modulation. It is one of six incompatible first generation systems that exist around the world. Currently, second generation systems are being introduced. These are digital in nature. One aim of the second generation mobile systems was to try and develop one global standard, allowing use of the same mobile phone anywhere in the world. However, there are currently three digital standards in use, so this seems unlikely. The pan-European standard is known as GSM (Groupe Special Mobile), and is now available in the UK. The services planned for the GSM are similar to those for ISDN (e.g. call forwarding, charge advice, etc. ). Full GSM will have 200KHz physical channels offering 270Kb/s. Currently, one physical channel is split between 8 users, each having use of 13Kb/s (the rest is used for channel overhead). The aims of the GSM system were: Good speech quality Low terminal cost Low service cost International roaming Ability to support hand-held portables A range of new services and facilities (ISDN!)

The heart of the mobile telephone network is the MSC. Its task is to acknowledge the paging of the user, assign him/her a channel, broadcast his/her dialed request, return the call. In addition it automatically monitors the signal strength of both transmitter and receiver, and allocates new channels as required. This latter process, known as hand-off, is completely hidden to the user, although is a major technical problem. In addition, the MSC is responsible for charging the call. 31

The decision making ability of the MSC relies to a great extent on modern digital technology. It is the maturity of this technology that has permitted the rapid growth of mobile communications.

Figure: Hand-off between cells The principle problem with mobile communication is the variation in signal strength as the communicating parties move. This variation is due to the varying interference of scattered radiation fading. Fading causes rapid variation in signal strength. The normal solution to fading, increasing the transmitter power, is not available in mobile communication where transmitter power is limited. The installation of a mobile telephone system requires a large initial effort in determining the propagation ehavior in the area covered by the network. Propagation planning, by a mixture of observation and computer simulation, is necessary if the system is to work properly. At UHF and VHF frequencies, the effects of obstructions is significant. Some of the effects that need to be considered are:

Free space loss.

This significantly increases in urban environments. Studies have indicated that a relationship is more often followed than a law. 30

Effect of street orientation.

Streets have a significant waveguide effect. Variations of up to 20dB have been measured in urban environments as a result of street direction.

Effects of foliage.
Propagation in rural areas is significantly effected by the presence of leaves. Variations of 18dB between summer and winter have been observed in forested areas.

Effect of tunnels.
Tunnels can introduce signal attenuation of up to 30dB according to the tunnel length and frequency.

RADIO LINK ASPECTS

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which manages the international allocation of radio spectrum (among many other functions), allocated the bands 890-915 MHz for the uplink (mobile station to base station) and 935-960 MHz for the downlink (base station to mobile station) for mobile networks in Europe. Since this range was already being used in the early 1980s by the analog systems of the day, the CEPT had the foresight to reserve the top 10 MHz of each band for the GSM network that was still being developed. Eventually, GSM will be allocated the entire 2x25 MHz bandwidth.

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MULTIPLE ACCESS AND CHANNEL STRUCTURE

Since radio spectrum is a limited resource shared by all users, a method must be devised to divide up the bandwidth among as many users as possible. The method chosen by GSM is a combination of Time- and Frequency-Division Multiple Access (TDMA/FDMA). The FDMA part involves the division by frequency of the (maximum) 25 MHz bandwidth into 124 carrier frequencies spaced 200 kHz apart. One or more carrier frequencies are assigned to each base station. Each of these carrier frequencies is then divided in time, using a TDMA scheme. The fundamental unit of time in this TDMA scheme is called a burst period and it lasts 15/26 ms (or approx. 0.577 ms). Eight burst periods are grouped into a TDMA frame (120/26 ms, or approx. 4.615 ms), which forms the basic unit for the definition of logical channels. One physical channel is one burst period per TDMA frame.

Channels are defined by the number and position of their corresponding burst periods. All these definitions are cyclic, and the entire pattern repeats approximately every 3 hours. Channels can be divided into dedicated channels, which are allocated to a mobile station, and common channels, which are used by mobile stations in idle mode

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