GSM Fundamental

By Anwar Mohamed

Anwar Mohamed

Agenda

Network Architecture Functional Layer of GSM Air Interface System Capacity Anti Interference Technology Network Planning Numbering arrangement

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GSM Network Structure

OMC

MSC/VLR BSC BIE BTS Abi s BSS C Um MS HLR/ AUC F EIR H SC/VM MSS A MSC/VLR PSTN ISDN PSPDN E

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Mobile Station ( MS )
Equipment used by mobile service subscribers for access to services.

Mobile Equipment Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

Mobile stations are not fixed to one subscriber. A subscriber is identified with the SIM card.

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GSM Network Entity Base Transceiver Station ( BTS )

Base Transceiver Station (BTS) Wireless transmission Wireless diversity Wireless channel encryption Conversion between wired and wireless signals Frequency Hopping

BaseBand Unit: voice and data speed adapting and channel coding RF Unit: modulating/demodulating, transmitter and receiver Common Control Unit: BTS operation and maintenance
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GSM Network Entity

Base Station Controller ( BSC )

Managing Wireless network-BSS Monitoring BTS Controls:

Wireless link distribution between MS and BTS Communication connection and disconnection MS location, handover and paging Voice encoding, transecoding (TC), rate, adaptation, The operation and maintenance functions of BSS.

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GSM Network Entity

Mobile Service Switching Center ( MSC )

holds all the switching functions manages the necessary radio resources,
updating the location registration carrying out the inter-BSC and inter-MSC tender

Inter-working with other networks (IWF).

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GSM Network Entity

Home Location Register ( HLR ) Manages the mobile subscribers database
subscriber information part of the mobile location information 3 identities essential the International Mobile subscriber Identity the Mobile station ISDN Number the VLR address

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GSM Network Entity

Visitor Location Register ( VLR )
dynamically stores subscriber information needed to handle incoming/outgoing calls Mobile Station Roaming Number When a roaming mobile enters an MSC area. This MSC warns the associated VLR of this situation; the mobile enters a registration procedure through which it is assigned a mobile subscriber roaming number (MSRN) Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity, if applicable The location area in which the mobile has been registered Data related to supplementary service parameters
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GSM Network Entity

AUC/EIR Authentication Center(s) (AUC)
Providing the authentication key used for authorizing the subscriber access to the associated GSM PLMN.

Equipment (EIR)
Handling Identity

Identity
Station

Register(s)
Equipment

Mobile

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Agenda

Network Architecture Functional Layer of GSM Air Interface System Capacity Anti Interference Technology Network Planning Numbering arrangement

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Overview: Function Layers of GSM-1

Service carrier

OAM

Subscriber

CM MM RR Transmission

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Protocol Stack Structure of GSM

MS CM MM RR RR

BTS

BSC

MSC CM MM

RR BTSM LAPD Abis BTSM LAPD

BSSAP SCCP MTP3 MTP2 A

BSSAP SCCP MTP3 MTP2

LAPDm Um

LAPDm

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Agenda
Network Air

Architecture Layer of GSM

Functional System Anti

Interface Capacity Planning arrangement Interference Technology

Network

Numbering

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TDMA

time

Concept:
User 3 User 2 User 1 Frequency channel is composed of a series of timeslots of periodicity. Different signal energies are distributed into different timeslots. The adjacent channel interference is restricted by connection choosing from time to time. So the useful signal is passed only in the specified timeslot.

GSM adopts TDMA/FDMA mode channel width: 200KHz each channel has 8 timeslots

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GSM Timeslot and Frame structure

Frequency

200KHz

15/26ms

BP

time interval
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Frequency Resource
GSM900 : up: 890~915MHz down: 935~960MHz duplex interval: 45MHz bandwidth: 25MHz frequency interval: 200KHz

EGSM900 : up: 880~890MHz down: 925~935MHz duplex interval: 45MHz bandwidth: 10MHz frequency interval: 200KHz GSM1900MHz: up:1850~1910MHz down:1930~1990MHz duplex interval: 80MHz working bandwidth: 60MHz frequency interval: 200KHz
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GSM1800 : up: 1710-1785MHz down: 1805-1880MHz duplex interval: 95MHz working bandwidth: 75MHz frequency interval: 200KHz

Frequency Resource
Single Band Network
Which one?

General Priority 900MHz 1800MHz 1900MHz Low

Reason

High

New Operator

Propagation Characteristic

For Operator

For Subscriber
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Frequency Resource
Single Band Network Single Band Dual Band 900MHz 1800MHz

Triple Band

1900MHz

In a sense, the network determines the handsets can be selected. But nowadays, most handsets support dual band.
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Frequency Resource
Single Band Network Cell coverage radius :

We know Propagation characteristic

The higher the propagation frequency The higher the propagation loss The smaller the cell coverage radius. 900MHz 1800MHz 1900MHz

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Timeslot and Frame structure

1 super high frame = 2048 super frame = 2715648 TDMA frame 0 1 2 3 2044 2045 2046 2047
BCCH CCCH SDCH

SACCH/TCH FACCH

1 super frame = 1326 TDMA frame 6.12s 0 0 1 2 1 3 47 48 24 49 50 25

1 multiplex frame = 26 TDMA frames 120ms 1 multiplex frame = 51 TDMA frame 0 1 24 25 0 1 49 50

1 TDMA frame = 8 timeslot 120/26 = 4.615ms 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Physical Channel

0
8

1
9

2
10

3
11

4
12

5
13

6
14

7
15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

The physical channel adopts FDMA and TDMA techs. On the time domain, a specified channel occupies the same timeslots in each TDMA frame, so it can be identified by the timeslot number and frame number.
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Channel Type-Summary
14.4Kbit/s FR TCH (TCH/F14.4) 9.6Kbit/s FR TCH(TCH/F9.6) Data CH TCH Voice CH 4.8Kbit/s FR TCH (TCH/F4.8) 4.8Kbit/s HR TCH (TCH/H4.8) FR Voice Traffic Channel (TCH/FS) Enhanced FR Traffic Channel (TCH/EFR) HR Traffic Channel (TCH/HS) channel BCH CCH FCCH (down) SCH (down) BCCH (down) RACH (up) AGCH (down) PCH (down) SDCCH FACCH SACCH
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CCCH

DCCH

Channel Type

Traffic Channel
Transmit voice and data

Signaling Channel
transmit the signaling and synchronous data between BTS and MS.

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Channel Type

BCH : Frequency Correction CHannel FCCH -- for MS error correction Synchronous Channel SCH) -- for MS frame synchronization and BTS recognization Broadcasting Control CHannel BCCH -- broadcasting information(cell selection information, etc..)

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Channel Type
DCCH Self-help Dedicated Control Channel SDCCH for channel distribution information transmission Slow Associated Control Channel SACCH
combined with one traffic channel or SDCCH, to transmit some specific information of user information

Fast Associated Control Channel FACCH

combined with one traffic channel, taking the same signal as SDCCH. It occupies the service channel to transmit signaling information.

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Structure of 51-frame Control CH

51 Frame BCCH+CCCH F S (Downlink) B C F S C C F S C C F S C C F S C C I

BCCH+CCCH RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR (uplink) (a) FCCH+SCH+BCCH+CCCH 8 SDCCH/8 (Downlink) D 0 D 0 8 SDCCH/8 (uplink) A1 A5 D 1 D 1 A2 A6 D 2 D 2 A3 A7 D 3 D 3 I I I I I I D 4 D 4 D 0 D 0 D 5 D 5 D 1 D 1 D 6 D 6 D 2 D 2 D 7 D 7 D 3 D 3 A0 A4 D 4 D 4 A1 A5 D 5 D 5 A2 A6 D 6 D 6 A3 A7 D 7 D 7 I I I I I I A0 A4

(b) SDCCH/8(0,...,7)+SACCH/C8(0,...,7) BCCH+CCCH+ F S 4SDCCH/4 (Downlink) F S BCCH+CCCH+ 4SDCCH/4 (uplink) D 3 D 3 B B RR RR C C A2 A0 F S F S A3 A1 C C C C F S F S D 0 D 0 D 1 D 1 F S F S D 2 D 2 D 3 D 3 D 0 D 0 F S F S A0 A2 D 1 D 1 F S F S A1 A3 D 2 D 2 I I

RRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRR (c) FCCH+SCH+CCCH+SDCCH/4(0,...,3)+SACCH/C4(0,...,3)

FFCCH BBCCH RRACH ASACCH/C

SSCH CCCCH(CCCH=PCH+AGCH+RACH) DSDCCH I idle

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Channel Combination Type

Several logic channels combine together in some way to form some specific types of channel to transmit user data or signaling information. They are called combined channels. One combined channel can be mapped to a physical channel. a b c d e f g There are the following combined channels: TCH/F + FACCH/F + SACCH/TF TCH/H(0,1) + FACCH/H(0,1) + SACCH/TH(0,1) TCH/H(0,0) + FACCH/H(0,1) + SACCH/TH(0,1) + TCH/H(1,1) FCCH + SCH + BCCH + CCCH FCCH + SCH + BCCH + CCCH + SDCCH/4(0...3) + SACCH/C4(0...3) BCCH + CCCH SDCCH/8(0 ..7) + SACCH/C8(0 .. 7) CCCH = PCH + RACH + AGCH

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Channel Assignment inside cells

Small capacity cell with only 1 TRX

TN0: FCCH+SCH+CCCH+BCCH+SDCCH/4(0,_,3)+SACCH/C4(0,_,3); TN1-7: TCH/F+FACCH/F+SACCH/TF

The medium-size cell with 4 TRXs

1TN0 group: FCCH+SCH+BCCH+CCCH; 2 SDCCH/8(0,_,7)+SACCH/C8(0,_,7); 29 TCH/F+FACCH/F+SACCH/TF

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Channel Assignment inside cells

Large-size cell with 12 TRXs

1 TN0 group: FCCH+SCH+BCCH+CCCH; 1 TN2 group, 1 TN4 group and 1 TN6 group: BCCH+CCCH; 5 SDCCH/8(0,_,7)+SACCH/C8(0,_,7); 87 TCH/F+FACCH/F+SACCH/TF

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Agenda
Network Air

Architecture Layer of GSM

Functional System Anti Network

Interface Capacity Planning arrangement Interference Technology

Numbering

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Cell Mode Layout

Omni-directional cell
O

Adopt omni-directional antenna the overall directional propagation characteristic is the same. Directional cell In general, cell with multi-sector is in common use. Every directional cell adopts directional antenna.

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BTS Mode
Capacity When the traffic is very low, and no possibility for quick increment, Omni-directional cell is used in common. Otherwise, we suggest to adopt the sector cell. Note: TRX-transceiver,each TRX handles 1 frequency. Coverage Area Sector cell is often used to enlarge the cell coverage radius because of the higher antenna gain. For special coverage ,such as road coverage, two-sector cell is adopted firstly.

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System capacity

Erlang : the traffic intensity of a totally occupied channel (i.e. the call hour of a unit hour or the call minute of a unit minute). For example, the traffic of a channel occupied for 30 minutes in an hour is 0.5 Erlang) GOS: defined as the probability of call blocking or the probability when the call delay time is longer than a given queuing time.
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Agenda
Network Air

Architecture Layer of GSM

Functional System Anti

Interface Capacity Planning arrangement Interference Technology

Network

Numbering

Anwar Mohamed

Reasons for Interference

The transmission path is very complex, ranging from the simple line-of-sight transmission to encountering such terrain as buildings, hills and trees. Wireless channels are extremely unpredictable. Abrupt drop, or fading, of signal strength in the land mobile wireless channel is quite common. The fading feature of the mobile channel depends on the radio wave propagation environment.
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Reasons for interference

Environmental factors:
Terrain (mountains, hills, plains, water bodies, etc.); The quantity, heights, distribution and materials of buildings; The vegetation of the region; Weather conditions; Natural and artificial electromagnetic noises; Frequency; How MS is moved.
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Interference

Co-Channel Interference
Conception: the interference among the signals of cochannel cells is called co-channel interference. Result from : Frequency reuse Reduction method: co-channel cells must physically be spaced at a minimum interval to ensure adequate isolation of transmissions. Anwar Mohamed

Interference

Adjacent

Channel Interference

Conception: The signal interference from the frequency adjacent to that of the signal used is called adjacent channel interference. Reduction method: accurate filtering and channel allocation (maximizing channel intervals of the cell). Interval of frequency reuse inter-cell interference, such as C/I, C/A
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Solution -Anti-interference

FH technology

Dynamic power control (DPC) Discontinuous Transceiving (DTX) Diversity receiving technique

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Frequency Hopping Technique

Reason: counteract Rayleigh Fading scatter interference among multiple calls

Types: Base band frequency hopping keeps the transmission and receiving frequency of each carrier unit unchanged, but merely sends FU transmission data to different carrier units at different FN moments. radio frequency hopping controls the frequency synthesizer of each transceiver, making it hop according to different schemes in different time slots.

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Discontinuous Speech Transmission (DTX)

Two aims can be achieved by adopting DTX mode: lower the total interference electric level in the air save transmitter power.
TRAU

BTS

BTS

MS
480 ms

comfort noise frame Speech frame

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Diversity Reception Technology

The multi-path propagation of radio signals causes magnitude fading and delay time. Space Diversity (antenna diversity) Polarization Diversity orthogonal polarization diversity. horizontal polarization and vertical polarization. Frequency Diversity The working principle of this technology is that such fading wont take place on the frequency outside the coherence bandwidth of the channel.
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Agenda
Network Functional Air Anti

Architecture Layer of GSM Capacity Planning arrangement

Interface

System Network Numbering

Interference Technology

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Frequency Reuse
D3 C1 C3 A1 D2 B2 A1 A2 B1 B3 C2 A1 A3 D2 C1 C3 C2 D1 D3 A2 B1 C3 B2 A1 A3 D2 A1 B1 B3 C2 D1 D3 D2 C1 C3

4 3 reuse mode: one group includes 3 sectors /site ,12 frequency which are distributed to 4 sites. Every site owns 3 frequency.

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Frequency Reuse
B3 C1 C3 A1 A3 B2 C1 A2 B1 B3 A2 A1 A3 C2 A1 A3 B2 C1 C3 B2 C1 B3 A2 B1 B3 A2 A1 A1 A3 C2 A1 A3 B2 C1 C3

3 3 reuse mode: one group includes 3 sectors /site ,9 frequency which are distributed to 3 sites. Every site owns 3 frequency.

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Agenda
Network Air

Architecture Layer of GSM

Functional System Anti

Interface Capacity Planning arrangement Interference Technology

Network

Numbering

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Numbering Arrangement
International Mobile Subscriber Identification number (IMSI)
It identifies a unique international universal number of a mobile subscriber, which consists of MCC+MNC+MSIN. 1) MCC: country code, 460 2 MNC: network code, 00 or 01 3 MSIN: subscriber identification, H1H2H3H4 9XXXXXX, H1H2H3H4: subscriber registering place H1H2: assigned by the P&T Administrative Bureau (operator )to different provinces, to each province H3H4: assigned by each province/city the IMSI of user will be written into the SIM card by specific device and software and be stored into the HLR with other user information.
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Numbering Arrangement
Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number MSISDN

It is the subscriber number commonly used. China uses the TDMA independent numbering plan: CC+NDC+ H1H2H3H4 +ABC CC: country code, 86 NDC: network code, 135139, 130 H1H2H3H4: HLR identification code ABCD: mobile subscriber number inside each HLR
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Numbering Arrangement
International Mobile Equipment Identification code (IMEI)

It will uniquely identify a mobile station. It is a decimal number of 15 digits. Its structure is: TAC+FAC+SNR+SP TAC=model ratification code, 6 digits FAC=factory assembling code, 2 digits SNR=sequence code, 6 digits SP=reserved, 1 digit
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Numbering Arrangement
Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number (MSRN)
The MSRN is temporarily distributed to the subscriber by the VLR according to the request by the HLR when this subscriber is called. The MSRN is released and can be assigned to other subscriber later. CC + NDC + 00 + M1M2M3 + ABC CC: country code, 86 NDC: mobile network code, 135139, 130 M1M2: same as the H2H3 of MSISDN ABC: 000 -- 999
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Numbering Arrangement
Temporarily Mobile Subscriber Identification Number (TMSI)

To insure the IMSI security, the VLR will assign an unique TMSI number for the accessed subscriber. It is used locally only and is a 4-byte TMSI number BCD code.

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