CHAPTER- 1

ABOUT THE BSNL

1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE BSNL

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service Provider (CSP). Currently BSNL has a customer
base of 64.8 million (Basic & Mobile telephony). It has footprints throughout India except for the
metropolitan cities of Mumbai and New Delhi which are managed by MTNL . As on March 31 , 2010
BSNL commanded a customer base of 33.7 million Wireline, 3.6 million CDMA-WLL and 27.5 million
GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the Financial Year ending March 31 , 2010 stood at INR
401.8b (US$ 9.09 b) with net profit of INR 89.4b (US$ 2.02 billion). Today, BSNL is India's largest Telco
and one of the largest Public Sector Undertaking of the country with authorized share capital of US$ 3.95
billion (INR 17,500 Crores) and networth of US$ 14.32 billion.

1.2 HISTORY
The foundation of Telecom Network in India was laid by the British sometime in 19th century. The history
of BSNL is linked with the beginning of Telecom in India. In 19th century and for almost entire 20th
century, the Telecom in India was operated as a Government of India wing. Earlier it was part of erstwhile
Post & Telegraph Department (P&T). In 1975 the Department of Telecom (DoT) was separated from P&T.
DoT was responsible for running of Telecom services in entire country until 1985 when Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) was carved out of DoT to run the telecom services of Delhi and
Mumbai. It is a well known fact that BSNL was carved out of Department of Telecom to provide level
playing field to private telecoms. Subsequently in 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the
Government for Private Investment, therefore it became necessary to separate the Government's policy
wing from Operations wing. The Government of India corporatized the operations wing of DoT on October
01, 2000 and named it as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).BSNL operates as a public sector.

1.3 INTERESTING FACTS

There are 2 million BSNL mobile connections in rural India (a record, no other connection is as
famous as bsnl in rural areas)

BSNL is the 1st company to introduce 3G in INDIA.

BSNL supplies phone lines to all other network such as Airtel, Vodafone etc.

Largest span India coverage-over 11000 towns & 3 lakh Villages.

Indias No. 1 wireless service provider with more than 50 Million customers.

An incredible speed of 2mbps is only offered by BSNL.

The only Mobile service available throughout the country including Jammu and Kashmir and
North Eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram etc.

CHAPTER- 2
INTRODUCTION OF GSM
The Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is a digital cellular communication system. GSM
was designed to be compatible with ISDN services.
The evolution of GSM took place during the early 1980s, when analog cellular telephone systems were
experiencing rapid growth in Europe. Each country developed its own system, which was incompatible
with everyone else's in equipment and operation. This was an undesirable situation, because of the
following problem:

Mobile equipment was limited to operation within national boundaries, which in a unified Europe were
increasingly unimportant.

There was a very limited market for each type of equipment, so economies of scale and the subsequent
savings could not be realized.

Cross-country communication was impossible, which was a major problem with such close
geographical proximity.

In 1982, the Conference of European Posts and Telegraph (CEPT) formed a study group called the Group
Spcial Mobile (GSM) to study and develop a pan-European public land mobile system. The proposed
system had to meet certain criteria:

Good subjective speech quality.

Low terminal and service cost.

Support for international roaming.

Ability to support handheld terminals.

Support for range of new services and facilities.

Spectral efficiency.

ISDN compatibility.

The results of the GSMs work are the following two standards GSM 900 (Global System for Mobile
Communications in the 900MHz band) and DCS 1800 (Digital Cellular System for the 1800 MHz band).
GSM 900-PLMN are designed for extensive radio coverage even in the rural area and have a maximum cell
radius of 35 km. DCS 1800 are designed for radio coverage in the areas with high subscriber density for

radio coverage in the areas with high subscriber density (MS/area), the cells are of radius upto 8 km. The
acronym GSM now aptly stands for Global System for Mobile communications.

2. 1.TIMELINE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF GSM

Early 1980s

1982

GSM responsibility transferred to ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute).

GSM renamed as Global System for Mobile Communications.

1990

GSM commercial services started.

1995

Phase 1 of GSM published.

Mid 1991

CEPT formed a study group called Group Spcial Mobile (GSM).

1989

European Nations were developing cellular solutions, but no common standards were available.

Phase 2 of the GSM specifications published providing coverage of the rural areas.

1997

Commercial services available in about 110 countries.

THE TRANSITION FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

The GSM is considered as the first digital cellular system. The different reasons that explain this transition
from analog to digital technology are:

THE CAPACITY OF THE SYSTEM

Analog systems were not able to cope with the increasing demand. The possibility of using new frequency
bands was not possible due to restricted spectrum. The digital radio was therefore a better way to handle the
capacity needs in a cost effective way.

COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER SYSTEMS SUCH AS ISDN

In order to make GSM compatible with the services offered by ISDN, it was decided that the digital
technology was the best option. Moreover, a digital system allows easily than an analog one the
implementation of future improvements and change of its own characteristics.

2.2. CELLULAR SYSTEM

In a cellular system, the covering area of an operator is divided into cells. A cell corresponds to the
covering area of one transmitter or a small collection of transmitters power.
In order to work properly, a cellular system must verify the following two main conditions:

The power level of a transmitter within a single cell must be limited in order to reduce the
interference with the transmitters of neighbouring cells. The interference will not produce any
damage to the system if a distance of about 2.5 to 3 times the diameter of a cell is reserved
between transmitters.

Neighboring cells can not share the same channels. In order to reduce the interference, the
frequencies must be reused only within a certain pattern. The distance between which a frequency
can be reused is called Reuse Distance.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DIGITAL CELLULAR SYSTEMS

The distinguishing features of digital cellular systems compared to other mobile radio systems are:

SMALL CELLS
A cellular system uses many base stations with relatively small coverage radii (on the order of a 100 m to
300 km).

FREQUENCY REUSE
The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. As a result there is a limit to the number of
channels or frequencies that can be used. For this reason, each frequency is used simultaneously by
multiple base-mobile pairs. This frequency reuse allows a much higher subscriber density per MHz of
spectrum than other systems. System capacity can be further increased by reducing the cell size (the
coverage area of single base station), down to radii as small as 200 m.

SMALL, BATTERY-POWERED HANDSETS

In addition to supporting much higher densities than previous systems, this approach enables the used in
earlier systems.

PERFORMANCE OF HANDOVERS
In cellular systems, continuous coverage is achieved by executing a handover (the seamless transfer of
the call from one base station to another) as the mobile unit crosses cell boundaries. This requires the
mobile to change frequencies under control of the cellular network.

TYPES OF CELLS
The density of population in a country is so varied that different types of cells are used:

Macrocells

Microcells

Selective cells

Umbrella cells

CELLULAR NETWORK STRUCTURE

The GSM cellular network is organized into one of the following structures:

HIERARCHICAL CELLULAR NETWORK STRUCTURE

It is composed of three different layers (as shown in fig.):

The lower layer with rather small cells (microcells),

The middle layer with medium size cells (macrocells), and

The upper cell layer with large cells (umbrella-cells).

NON-HIERARCHICAL CELLULAR NETWORK STRUCTURE

It is composed of standard cell

UPPER CELL LAYER

MIDDLE CELL LAYER

LOWER CELL LAYER

Fig. 2.1 : Modulation technique used in GSM [7]

Modulation scheme used in present day GSM network is GMSK. It is a narrow band digital modulation
technique, which is based on phase shifting. The phase change can occur from 0 to 180 deg. But this phase
change does not occur instantaneously as it does in BPSK. Rather it occurs periodically; As a result
addition of high frequency components can be reduced to a great extent.
The MSK modulated signal when passed through a gaussian filter the resultant signal is a GMSK
modulated signal. As a result
B*T=0.3
which is minimum, this is a major advantage of using GMSK. Its spectrum has zero mean complex valued
gaussian process and its envelop is Rayleigh distributed.

CHAPTER- 3
ARCHITECTURE OF THE GSM NETWORK
A GSM network is composed of several functional entities, whose functions and interfaces are specified.
Figure shows the layout of a generic GSM network. The GSM network can be divided into four broad
parts:

The Mobile Station

The Base Station Subsystem

The Network Subsystem

Operation & maintenance Subsystem

Figure 3.1: General architecture of a GSM network [8]

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 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.

3.1.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
IMEI comprises:

Type Approval Code (TAC), which is made up of 6 digits and assigns the equipment to a certain
category according to the GSM specifications.

Final Approval Code (FAC), which characterizes the assembly location with 2 digits.

Serial Number (SNR), which is 6 digits and is assigned by the manufacturer.

One Spare Bit (SP), which functions as a reserve bit.

The SIM card contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) used to identify the subscriber
to the system, a secret key for authentication, and other information.
The digit formation of IMSI has following structure:

Mobile Country Code (MCC): 3-digit code, which identifies the country.

Mobile Network Code (MNC): 2-digit code, which identifies the PLMN.

Mobile Subscriber Identification Number (MSIN): Basically, it is a 10-digit code. First two
digits represent the HLR where the Mobile Subscriber is administered and the remaining 8 digits
which represent individual subscriber identification.

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.

The Mobile Station is known by its Mobile Station ISDN (MSISDN) Number. The length of MSISDN is
limited to 12 digits at present.
The MSISDN consists of the following:

Country Code (CC): CC corresponds to the country prefix in international PSTN and is used to
identify the respective country.

National Destination Code (NDC): It is used to identify the respective PLMN. The length of
NDC varies.

Subscriber Number (SN): This is used to identify the respective mobile subscriber.

3.2. BASE STATION SUBSYSTEM

The Base Station Subsystem is composed of three parts:

Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

Base Station Controller (BSC)

Transcoding & Rate Adaption Unit (TRAU)

BASE TRANSCEIVER STATION (BTS)

The BTS are radio stations which provide all functions necessary at the antenna site. A BTS consists of an
antenna for the transmission and reception of signals and a bank of radio channel cards responsible for
carrying the signal of each user. The BTS establishes the connection of the MS to the GSM Network. The
BTS picks up call request from MS and passes it to the BSC. Under the control of BSC an appropriate
channel is then connected to the MS. The BTS is also responsible for Power Level Control, Frequency
Control, and Channel Coding & Time Slot Control.
Each BTS covers a designated geographic area known as a cell. These BTSs and their cells are strategically
placed to provide seamless radio coverage in a given area.

BASE STATION CONTROLLER (BSC)

10

The BSC forms the intelligent part of the BSS. The BSC manages the radio resources for one or more
BTSs. It handles radio-channel setup, frequency hopping, and handovers. The BSC is the connection
between the mobile station and the Mobile service Switching Center (MSC).

3.3.NETWORK SUBSYSTEM
It comprises of following:

Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC)

Home Location Register (HLR)

Visitor Location Register (VLR)

Authentic Center (AuC)

Equipment Identification Register (EIR)

MOBILE SERVICES SWITCHING CENTER (MSC)

It is the central part of Network Subsystem. 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).

HOME LOCATION REGISTER (HLR)

The HLR contains all the administrative information of each subscriber registered in the corresponding
GSM network, along with the current location of the mobile. The location of the mobile is typically in the
form of the signalling address of the VLR associated with the mobile station.
The important functions of HLR are:

Call processing.

Security functions, Identification & addressing (IMSI, MSISDN), providing GSM subscribers
database for call setup.

Operation & Maintenance functions.

Maintenance & Safeguarding functions.

11

VISITOR LOCATION REGISTER (VLR)

The 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.
The important functions of the VLR are:

Call handling

Call setup

Location registration

Security functions, Confidentiality of subscriber identity (TMSI allocations), authentic check.

Operation & Maintenance functions.

EQUIPMENT IDENTIFICATION REGISTER (EIR)

The EIR stores the identity of mobile equipment. The MSC uses this information to check whether a GSM
subscriber equipment is authorized , is to be observed or even barred from service. The MS are arranged in
EIR in three lists:

White List: For authorized MS.

Grey List: For MS to be observed.
Black List: For barred MS.
3.4.OPERATION & MAINTENANCE SUBSYSTEM (OMS)
The OMS largely corresponds to the structures of a Telecommunication Management Center. The network
components of the OMS are formed by the Operation & Maintenance Center (OMC).
Operation & Maintenance Center are of two types: OMC-Switch (OMC-S) and OMC-BSS (OMCB).The OMC-S comprises of O & M Processors (OMPs) for Switching Subsystem (SSS) and OMC-B
comprises of OMPs for the BSS. There are O & M Terminals (OMTs) that are connected to the OMPs via
Local area network.

12

O & M Processors (OMPs) are commercial computers (SUN/SPARC Enterprises). In addition to their O
& M functions, they handle communications with the BSS and SSS network element via packet switched
networks.
O & M Terminals (OMTs) are workstations or optionally X Terminals (SUN/SPARC). They provide the
man machine interface between the operator and the OMP. This interface is implemented with the function
of Graphical User Interface (GUI) or Command Line Interface (CLI).

CHAPTER- 4
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 GSM-900 system. For
GSM-1800 system, these values are 1710-1785 MHz for uplink and 1805-1880 MHz for downlink.

4.1. CHANNEL STRUCTURE

The path used to carry information between a mobile station and a BTS is known as a physical channel.
Channels are defined by the number and position of the corresponding burst periods. The different
information carried on the physical channels is classified as logical channels. The logical channel is
divided into two categories:

Traffic channels, and

Control channels.

TRAFFIC CHANNELS
A traffic channel (TCH) is used to carry speech and data traffic. Traffic channels are defined using a 26frame multiframe, or group of 26 TDMA frames. The length of a 26-frame multiframe is 120 ms, which is
how the length of a burst period is defined (120 ms divided by 26 frames divided by 8 burst periods per
frame). Out of the 26 frames, 24 are used for traffic, 1 is used for the Slow Associated Control Channel

13

(SACCH) and 1 is currently unused (see Figure). TCHs for the uplink and downlink are separated in time
by 3 burst periods, so that the mobile station does not have to transmit and receive simultaneously. Trffic
channels are of following types:

FULL RATE TCH

The full rate TCH handles encoded speech or data. The TCH information is transmitted at a bit rate of 33.8
kbps.

HALF RATE TCH:

With a half rate TCH, a mobile station will only use every second time slot (every other one is idle). As a
result, two mobile stations will be able to use the same physical channel for calls leading to a doubling of
the capacity on the channel.

Figure4.1: Organization of bursts, TDMA frames, and multiframes for speech and data [9]

CONTROL CHANNELS
Control channels carry signaling information used by the MS to locate a base station, synchronize itself
with the base station, and receive information required to perform call setup. There are three categories of
control channels:

14

BROADCAST CHANNELS (BCH)

The BCH channels are used by the base station ,to provide the mobile station with the sufficient
information it needs to synchronize with the network. The three different types of BCHs are:

Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH): provides the frequency correction

information used by the mobile station.

Synchronization Channel: contains the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC) and the
TDMA frame number used for synchronization of the mobile station to the frame
structure of a new BTS.

Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH): used to broadcast general information to all

mobile stations.
COMMON CONTROL CHANNELS (CCCH):
These are used by mobile stations in idle mode. All common control channels are transmitted point to point.
The different classes of CCCH are:

Random Access Channel (RACH): used by a mobile station to request access to the system. RACH
information is transmitted over the uplink .

Paging Channel: used to alert the mobile station of an incoming call. PCH information is transmitted
over the downlink.

Access Grant Channel (AGCH): used to allocate an SDCCH to a mobile for signaling, follwing a
request on the RACH. AGCH information is transmitted over the downlink.

4.2 FREQUENCY HOPPING

The mobile station already has to be frequency agile, meaning it can move between a transmit, receive, and
monitor time slot within one TDMA frame, which normally are on different frequencies. GSM makes use
of this inherent frequency agility to implement slow frequency hopping, where the mobile and BTS
transmit each TDMA frame on a different carrier frequency. The frequency hopping algorithm is broadcast
on the Broadcast Control Channel. Since multipath fading is dependent on carrier frequency, slow
frequency hopping helps alleviate the problem. In addition, co-channel interference is in effect randomized.

15

4.3 DISCONTINUOUS TRANSMISSION

Minimizing co-channel interference is a goal in any cellular system, since it allows better service for a
given cell size, or the use of smaller cells, thus increasing the overall capacity of the system. Discontinuous
transmission (DTX) is a method that takes advantage of the fact that a person speaks less that 40 percent of
the time in normal conversation, by turning the transmitter off during silence periods. An added benefit of
DTX is that power is conserved at the mobile unit.
The most important component of DTX is, of course, Voice Activity Detection. It must distinguish between
voice and noise inputs, a task that is not as trivial as it appears, considering background noise. If a voice
signal is misinterpreted as noise, the transmitter is turned off and a very annoying effect called clipping is
heard at the receiving end. If, on the other hand, noise is misinterpreted as a voice signal too often, the
efficiency of DTX is dramatically decreased. Another factor to consider is that when the transmitter is
turned off, there is total silence heard at the receiving end, due to the digital nature of GSM. To assure the
receiver that the connection is not dead, comfort noise is created at the receiving end by trying to match the
characteristics of the transmitting end's background noise.

4.4 DISCONTINUOUS RECEPTION

Another method used to conserve power at the mobile station is discontinuous reception. The paging
channel, used by the base station to signal an incoming call, is structured into sub-channels. Each mobile
station needs to listen only to its own sub-channel. In the time between successive paging sub-channels, the
mobile can go into sleep mode, when almost no power is used.

4.5 POWER CONTROL

There are five classes of mobile stations defined, according to their peak transmitter power, rated at 20, 8,
5, 2, and 0.8 watts. To minimize co-channel interference and to conserve power, both the mobiles and the
Base Transceiver Stations operate at the lowest power level that will maintain an acceptable signal quality.
Power levels can be stepped up or down in steps of 2 dB from the peak power for the class down to a
minimum of 13 dBm (20 milliwatts).
The mobile station measures the signal strength or signal quality (based on the Bit Error Ratio), and passes
the information to the Base Station Controller, which ultimately decides if and when the power level should
be changed. Power control should be handled carefully, since there is the possibility of instability. This
arises from having mobiles in co-channel cells alternatingly increase their power in response to increased
co-channel interference caused by the other mobile increasing its power.

16

CHAPTER- 5
NETWORK ASPECTS
Ensuring the transmission of voice or data of a given quality over the radio link is only part of the function
of a cellular mobile network. A GSM mobile can seamlessly roam nationally and internationally, which
requires that registration, authentication, call routing and location updating functions exist and are
standardized in GSM networks. In addition, the fact that the geographical area covered by the network is
divided into cells necessitates the implementation of a handover mechanism. These functions are performed
by the Network Subsystem, mainly using the Mobile Application Part (MAP) built on top of the Signalling
System No. 7 protocol.

Figure5.1: Signalling protocol structure in GSM [10]

The signalling protocol in GSM is structured into three general layers, depending on the interface, as shown
in Figure. Layer 1 is the physical layer, which uses the channel structures discussed above over the air

17

interface. Layer 2 is the data link layer. Across the Um interface, the data link layer is a modified version of
the LAPD protocol used in ISDN, called LAPDm. Across the A interface, the Message Transfer Part layer 2
of Signalling System Number 7 is used. Layer 3 of the GSM signalling protocol is itself divided into 3
sublayers.

RADIO RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Controls the setup, maintenance, and termination of radio and fixed channels, including handovers.

MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
Manages the location updating and registration procedures, as well as security and authentication.

CONNECTION MANAGEMENT
Handles general call control, similar to CCITT Recommendation Q.931, and manages Supplementary
Services and the Short Message Service.
Signalling between the different entities in the fixed part of the network, such as between the HLR and
VLR, is accomplished throught the Mobile Application Part (MAP). MAP is built on top of the Transaction
Capabilities Application Part (TCAP, the top layer of Signalling System Number 7).

5.1.MOBILITY MANAGEMENT
The Mobility Management layer (MM) is built on top of the RR layer, and handles the functions that arise
from the mobility of the subscriber, as well as the authentication and security aspects. Location
management is concerned with the procedures that enable the system to know the current location of a
powered-on mobile station so that incoming call routing can be completed.

LOCATION UPDATING
A powered-on mobile is informed of an incoming call by a paging message sent over the PAGCH channel
of a cell. One extreme would be to page every cell in the network for each call, which is obviously a waste
of radio bandwidth. The other extreme would be for the mobile to notify the system, via location updating
messages, of its current location at the individual cell level. This would require paging messages to be sent
to exactly one cell, but would be very wasteful due to the large number of location updating messages. A

18

compromise solution used in GSM is to group cells into location areas. Updating messages are required
when moving between location areas, and mobile stations are paged in the cells of their current location
area.
The location updating procedures, and subsequent call routing, use the MSC and two location registers: the
Home Location Register (HLR) and the Visitor Location Register (VLR). When a mobile station is
switched on in a new location area, or it moves to a new location area or different operator's PLMN, it must
register with the network to indicate its current location. In the normal case, a location update message is
sent to the new MSC/VLR, which records the location area information, and then sends the location
information to the subscriber's HLR. The information sent to the HLR is normally the SS7 address of the
new VLR, although it may be a routing number. The reason a routing number is not normally assigned,
even though it would reduce signaling, is that there is only a limited number of routing numbers available
in the new MSC/VLR and they are allocated on demand for incoming calls. If the subscriber is entitled to
service, the HLR sends a subset of the subscriber information, needed for call control, to the new
MSC/VLR, and sends a message to the old MSC/VLR to cancel the old registration.

5.2 AUTHENTICATION AND SECURITY

During authentication, the AuC generates and sends the mobile station a 128-bit random number (RAND).
The mobile subscriber uses the RAND with the authentication algorithm (A3) and its subscriber
authentication key (Ki) to compute a 32-bit signed response (SRES). When the GSM network receives the
signed response from the mobile unit, it repeats the calculation to verify the identity of the subscriber. Since
the subscriber authentication key and A3 algorithm are present in the users SIM and in the networks AuC,
HLR, and VLR locations, it is not necessary to send any sensitive information over the radio channel. If the
received SRES agrees with the networks calculated value, the authentication process is complete. If the
values do not match, the connection is terminated and a failure response is returned to the subscriber.
The SIM card also contains a ciphering key generating algorithm known as A8 that is used to compute the
64-bit ciphering key (Kc). The same RAND from the authentication process is applied to the A8 algorithm
with the subscriber authentication key (Ki) to produce the ciphering key (Kc). The mobile station encrypts
and decrypts data using the ciphering key and another ciphering algorithm known as A5. Again, no
sensitive information is sent across the network.
GSMs speech and data coding schemes, combined with its authentication and encryption mechanisms,
make GSM the most secure and reliable communication standard available today.

19

5.3. COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

The Communication Management layer (CM) is responsible for Call Control (CC), supplementary service
management, and short message service management. Each of these may be considered as a separate sub
layer within the CM layer. Call control attempts to follow the ISDN procedures, although routing to a
roaming mobile subscriber is obviously unique to GSM. Other functions of the CC sub layer include call
establishment, selection of the type of service (including alternating between services during a call), and
call release.

Call Routing
Unlike routing in the fixed network, where a terminal is semi-permanently wired to a central office, a GSM
user can roam nationally and even internationally. The directory number dialed to reach a mobile subscriber
is called the Mobile Subscriber ISDN (MSISDN). This number includes a country code and a National
Destination Code which identifies the subscriber's operator. The first few digits of the remaining subscriber
number may identify the subscriber's HLR within the home PLMN.
An incoming mobile terminating call is directed to the Gateway MSC (GMSC) function. The GMSC is
basically a switch which is able to interrogate the subscriber's HLR to obtain routing information, and thus
contains a table linking MSISDNs to their corresponding HLR. A simplification is to have a GSMC handle
one specific PLMN. It should be noted that the GMSC function is distinct from the MSC function, but is
usually implemented in an MSC.
The routing information that is returned to the GMSC is the Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN).
MSRNs are related to the geographical numbering plan, and not assigned to subscribers, nor are they
visible to subscribers.
The most general routing procedure begins with the GMSC querying the called subscriber's HLR for an
MSRN. The HLR typically stores only the SS7 address of the subscriber's current VLR, and does not have

20

the MSRN. The HLR must therefore query the subscriber's current VLR, which will temporarily allocate an
MSRN from its pool for the call. This MSRN is returned to the HLR and back to the GMSC, which can
then route the call to the new MSC. At the new MSC, the IMSI corresponding to the MSRN is looked up,
and the mobile is paged in its current location area (see Figure).

Figure5.2: Call routing for a mobile terminating call [11]

CHAPTER- 6
INTERFACES IN GSM
6.1. UM INTERFACE (MS-BTS INTERFACES)
The Air Interface is the interface between the BTS and the MS. The air interface is required for supporting:

Universal use of any compatible MS in GSM network.

A maximum spectral efficiency.

6.2. ABIS INTERFACE (BTS-BSC INTERFACE)

The Abis Interface is the interface between the BSC & BTS. The interface comprises traffic and control
channels. The functions implemented at Abis are:

Voice Data traffic exchange.

Signaling exchange between the BSC & the BTS.

TRX related signaling and Cell (O&M) related signaling can be combined into a single Time-slot of the
Abis Interface. However all Signaling channels sharing a Time-Slot must belong to the same cell.

6.3. M-INTERFACE (BSC-TRAU INTERFACE)

The interface between physical BSC and TRAR is known as M-Interface

21

6.4. A-INTERFACE (TRAR-MSC INTERFACE)

The A interface is the interface from the TRAU to the MSC, as specified in the GSM standards. The
interface comprises traffic channels and CCS7 signaling links. The following functions are implemented at
the A interface by the BSS application part (BSSAP):

Voice/data traffic.

BSS management (e.g. channel assignment)

Call control (e.g. location update)

Supplementary services

Short message service (SMS)

Multifrequency signaling (DTMF)

The A interface has a capacity of n times 2 Mbits/s.

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CHAPTER- 7
SERVICES PROVIDED BY GSM
From the beginning, the planners of GSM wanted ISDN compatibility in terms of the services offered and
the control signalling used. However, radio transmission limitations, in terms of 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.

7.1.BEARER SERVICES
Bearer services are pure transport services. With bearer services, the network functions required for a
specific type of message transmission are clearly defined. Some of the bearer services are:

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Asynchronous and synchronous data, 300-9600 bps (E1)

Alternate speech and data, 300-9600 bps (E1)

Asynchronous PAD (packet-switched, packet assembler/disassembler) access,300-9600 bps (E1)

Synchronous dedicated packet data access, 2400-9600 bps (E2)

7.2.TELESERVICES
A teleservice provides the transmission of information between two terminals including the application
protocols of the latter.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.
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 cell-broadcast mode, for sending messages such as traffic updates or
news updates. Messages can also be stored in the SIM card for later retrieval.

7.3. SUPPLEMENTARY SERVICES

A supplementary service modifies or enhances the basic services and in association with one or all basic
services. In the Phase 1 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,

24

for example when roaming in another country. Many additional supplementary services are provided in the
Phase 2 specifications, such as caller identification, call waiting, multi-party conversations.

CONCLUSIONS
This report gives an overview of the GSM system the philosophy behind its design. It is a standard that
ensures interoperability without stifling competition and innovation among suppliers, to the benefit of the
public both in terms of cost and service quality.
Telecommunications are evolving towards personal communication networks, whose objective can be
stated as the availability of all communication services anytime, anywhere, to anyone, by a single identity
number and a pocketable communication terminal. Having a multitude of incompatible systems throughout
the world moves us farther away from this ideal. The economies of scale created by a unified system are
enough to justify its implementation, not to mention the convenience to people of carrying just one
communication terminal anywhere they go, regardless of national boundaries.
The GSM system, and its sibling systems operating at 1.8 GHz (called DCS1800) and 1.9 GHz (called
GSM1900 or PCS1900, and operating in North America), are a first approach at a true personal
communication system. The SIM card is a novel approach that implements personal mobility in addition to
terminal mobility. Together with international roaming, and support for a variety of services such as
telephony, data transfer, fax, Short Message Service, and supplementary services, GSM comes close to

25

fulfilling the requirements for a personal communication system: close enough that it is being used as a
basis for the next generation of mobile communication technology in Europe, the Universal Mobile
Telecommunication System (UMTS).
Another point where GSM has shown its commitment to openness, standards and interoperability is the
compatibility with the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) that is evolving in most industrialized
countries, and Europe in particular (the so-called Euro-ISDN). GSM is also the first system to make
extensive use of the Intelligent Networking concept, in in which services like 800 numbers are concentrated
and handled from a few centralized service centers, instead of being distributed over every switch in the
country. This is the concept behind the use of the various registers such as the HLR. In addition, the
signalling between these functional entities uses Signalling System Number 7, an international standard
already deployed in many countries and specified as the backbone signalling network for ISDN.
GSM is a very complex standard, but that is probably the price that must be paid to achieve the level of
integrated service and quality offered while subject to the rather severe restrictions imposed by the radio
environment.

REFERENCES
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharat_Sanchar_Nigam

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www.bsnl.co.in/

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