MobileOriginatedCall

PSTN

MSC

BSC

1.TheMSaskforasignalingchannel.
2.TheBSC/TRCallocatesasignalingchannel.
3.TheMSsendsacallset-uprequestvia
MSC/VLR.allsignalingprecedingacall
takesplace.Thisincludes:

MarkingtheMSasactiveintheVLR

Theauthenticationprocedure

Equipmentidentification

SendingtheB-subscribersnumbertothe
network

Checkingifthesubscriberhastheservice
Barringofoutgoingcallsactivated
4.TheMSC/VLRinstructstheBSC/TRCto
allocate.TheBTSandMS.
5.TheMSC/VLRforwardstheBnumbertoan
exchangeinthePSTN,whichestablishesa
connectiontothesubscriber.
6.IftheB-subscriberanswers,theconnection
isestablished.

MobileTerminatingcall
1

HLR

PSTN

6
GMSC

MSC

BSC

Roaming:LocationUpdate
IMSI

Copy of the HLR Profile will

be stored in Stock. VLR

calls allowed ?

MSC/VLR

Is roaming and Int.

60202..

Is a roaming agreement present ?

HLR

Attached
Detached
VLR ADD=
Stock.
Egypt Airport
Roaming & Int.
Roaming
& Int.
Allowed
Allowed

Roaming:CalltoHPLMN
HomePublicLocationMobileNetwork
MSISDN
+2010.

MSC/VLR

Attached

GWMSC

HLR

VLR ADD=
xyz

Roaming:CallfromHPLMN

MSC/VLR

Attached
VLR ADD=
Stock. Airport

MSISDN
010

GWMSC

HLR

Roaming & Int.

Allowed

Roaming:CallfromanotherRoamer
MSISDN
+2010.

MSC/VLR
A

MSC/VLR
B

Attached
VLR ADD=
Stock. B

HLR
GWMSC

Roaming & Int.

Allowed

Location Update
Why do we need to update our location data ?

Actually,thelocationupdateprocessisdoneinaimto
exactlyidentifythelocationofthesubscriberswithinthe
networksothatanyincomingcallgoesdirectlytothecalled
subscriber.

Tofulfillthisaim,onecansaythatwemayupdatethe
systemwiththecellIDeachtimethesubscriberchanges
hisservingcell.TheMSC/VLRwillnowknowtheexactcell
youareroamingin.Thiswillresultinahugeamountof
locationupdatemessages.

Anextremeisnevertomakealocationupdateandtobe
pagedinallthenetwork.Thiswillcausehugeamountof
pagingmessages.

Location Update

Types of Location Update

1.NormalLocationupdatewithinsameMSC/VLRservicearea
2.NormalLocationupdatebetween2differentMSC/VLRservice
areas
3.IMSIattach/detach
4.PeriodicLocationUpdate

Normal Location within the same MSC/VLR Service area

4
MSC/VLR

Updates
LA Record

1. TheMobilesendsanallocationrequest
messagetotheBTS
2.TheBTSrespondswiththeallocation
message

BSC

3.Themobilesendsalocationupdate
requestmessagewithitsIMSItothe
MSC/VLR
4.TheMSC/VLRupdatesthelocation
informationandsendsaLocationUpdate
confirmationmessage

NormalLocationUpdatebetween2differentMSC/VLRserviceareas
1.Themobilesendsalocation
updaterequesttotheMSC.

VLRAddress
=
NewVLR
OldMSC

HLR

2.ThenewMSC/VLRreceivestheIMSI
andconcludetheitsHLRaddress.
3.TheMSC/VLRsendsasubscriber
informationrequestwiththeIMSI
totheproperHLR

Old MSC/VLR

New MSC/VLR

Old BSC

NEW BSC

4.TheHLRstorestheaddressof
thenewMSC/VLR
5.TheHLRsendsthedatatothe
newMSC/VLRanditiskeptthere
6.TheHLRsendsalocation
cancellationmessagetotheold
MSC/VLRtoremovethedata
7.ThenewMSC/VLRsendsalocation
updatingconfirmationmessageto
themobile

LA 2
LA 1

IMSI Attach
IMSIattachisacomplementtotheIMSIdetachprocedure.Itisusedby
themobilesubscribertoinformthenetworkthatithasre-enteredan
activestateandisstillinthesamelocationarea.IftheMSchanges
locationareawhilebeingswitchedoff,anormallocationupdatetakes
place.
1.TheMSrequestsasignalingchannel.
2.TheMSC/VLRreceivestheIMSIattachmessagefromtheMS.
3.TheMSC/VLRsetstheIMSIattachintheVLR.Themobileisnow
readyfornormalcallhandling.
4.TheVLRreturnsanacknowledgmenttotheMS.
1

BSC

MSC/VLR

3
4

PeriodicLocationUpdate
Periodiclocationupdateisaroutinetaskperformedbythe

networkiftheMSdoesntmakeanynetworkaction
(setsacall,sendsSMS,locationupdate,receivesacall,.etc)
IftheMSdoesntrespondtothisperiodiclocationupdate,itwill
bemarked
asimplicitlydetached.(Temporarilyoutofservice)

13

Handover

Handoveristokeepcontinuityofthecallwhenthesubscriberisroaming
alongthenetworkmovingfromonecelltoanotherandmovingbetween
differentnodesinthenetwork.

Duringcall,theMSiscontinuouslymeasuringtransmissionqualityof
neighboringcellsandreportsthisresultstotheBSCthroughtheBTS.

TheBSC,beingresponsibleonsupervisingthecells,isresponsibleof
handoverinitiation.

Goodneighborrelationsbetweencellsisanimportantfactorinkeeping
thenetworkperformanceintheacceptedlevel.

14

Types of Handover
1. Intra BSC Handover:
WhenthecelltowhichthecallwillbehandedoverbelongstothesameBSCof
theservingcell.

2. Inter BSC / Intra MSC Handover:

Whenthecelltowhichthecallwillbehandedoverbelongstothedifferent
BSCsbuttothesameservingMSC.

3. Inter MSC
WhenthecelltowhichthecallwillbehandedoverbelongstothedifferentBSC
anddifferentMSC.

15

IntraBSCHandover
1.

BSC
8

TheBSCdecidesfromthepowermeasurement
reportsthatthecallmustbehandedoverto
anothercell
2. TheBSCchecksthenewcellandorders
7 thiscelltoactivatetheTCH

3. TheBSCorderstheservingcelltosend

amessagetotheMStellingtheinformation
ofnewTCH

4. TheMStunestothenewfrequencyand
Serving Cell 3

New Cell

6
5

Sendshandoveraccessburst

5. Thenewcelldetectsthehandoverburst
andsendsinformationaboutthesuitable
timingadvancetotheMS

6. TheMSsendscompletemessagetothenewcell
7. ThenewcellsendsamessagetotheBSCthat
thehandoverissuccessful

8. TheBSCorderstheoldCelltoreleasetheTCH

InterBSC/IntraMSCHandover

MSC/VLR

Old BSC

New BSC

17

InterMSCHandover

Old MSC

Old BSC

New MSC

New BSC

AirInterfaceLayers

Messages

Layer 3
Messages

Messages

Logical
Channels

Layer 2
Packets

Logical
Channels

Radio
Transmission
Terminal

Layer 1
Bits

Radio
Transmission
Base
Station

FrequencyAllocation
system
GSM

space

900

GSM 1800

1710-1785

GSM 1900

Uplink

890 -915 MHz

Downlink

935-960 MHz

1880-1805
MHz

1930-1990 MHz

Bandwidth

25 MHz

75 MHz

60 MHz

Duplex Distance

45 MHz

95 MHz

80 MHz

Carrier Separation

200 KHz

200 KHz

200 KHz

Radio Channels

124

374

299

Frequency

MHz

1850-1910 MHz

20

SpectrumAllocation(GSM900)
Downlink 935 960 MHz

Uplink 890 915 MHz

KHz 200
890.2
1
1

890

890.6
3

935

121
121 122 123 124

915

890.4

935.2
1

Uplink

935.6
3

F (MHz)

Downlink
121 122 123 124
121

960

935.4

GSM 900 Frequency Allocation

F (MHz)

FDMAinGSM

SeparationbetweencarriersFrequencygapmustbesufficienttoeliminate
interferencebetweenadjacentchannels.

WhereThemoretheseparationthelesstheco-channelinterferencebutthe
lesstheavailablechannelssuitedinthebandwidth.

Itisfoundthata200kHzchannelseparationissuitableforallsystems.

22

TDMAinGSM

WithTDMA,onecarrierisusedtocarryanumberofcalls,eachcallusing
thatcarrieratdesignatedperiodsintime.

Theseperiodsoftimearereferredtoastimeslots.

EachMSonacallisassignedonetimeslotontheuplinkfrequencyandone
onthedownlinkfrequency,andboththesame.

Itisfoundthata8TimeSlotspercarrier,calledphysicalchannelsis
suitableforallsystems.

Informationsentduringonetimeslotiscalledaburst,anddependingon
informationsentwenamedwhatcalledlogicalChannels

23

ChannelType
Traffic Channel
Transmit voice and data

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

Channels

PhysicalChannelsTraffic

Associatedwithfrequencybands,timeslots,codes
Physicalchannelstransferbitsfromonenetworkelementtoanother

LogicalChannelsControl

Distinguishedbythenatureofcarriedinformationandthewayto
assemblebitsintodataunits
Threetypes

one-to-one: traffic channels between a BTS and a MS

one-to-many: synchronization signals from BTS to MSs in a cell
many-to-one: from MSs to the same BTS

PhysicalChannels

GSMbandisdividedinto124RFchannels,andeachchannelis
dividedinto8timeslotsusingTDMA.
Thesetimeslotsarecalledphysicalchannels.
CH 124

CH 3

CH 2

CH 1

TrafficChannel

Carrieseitherencodedspeechoruserdataupanddown
linkbetweenasinglemobileandasingleBTS.

Typesoftrafficchannel:
Fullrate(TCH)
Transmitsfullratespeech(13Kbits/s).Afullrate
TCHoccupiesonephysicalchannel.
Halfrate(TCH/2)
Transmitshalfratespeech(6.5Kbits/s).

TwohalfrateTCHscanshareonephysicalchannel,thus
doublingthecapacityofacell.

27

TrafficChannel

ControlChannels

Theseareusedtocarrysignalingorsynchronizationdata.Theyare
dividedintothreetypes:

BroadcastCHannels(BCH)
CommonControlCHannels(CCCH)
DedicatedControlCHannels(DCCH)

1.BroadcastChannels

FromSingleBTStoallthemobilesinthearea

FrequencyCorrectionControlCHannel(FCCH)

SynchronizationCHannel(SCH)

Carriesinformationforfrequencycorrectionofthemobile

Carries2importantpiecesofinformation
TDMAframenumber(max=2715684)
BasestationidentityCode(BSIC)

BroadcastControlCHannel(BCCH)

Broadcastssomegeneralcellinformationsuchas:
LocationAreaIdentity(LAI),
maximumoutputpowerallowedinthecell
andtheidentityofBCCHcarriersforneighboringcells.

30

2.CommonControlChannels

ToorfromacertainBTStoasinglemobile

PagingCHannel(PCH)

RandomAccessCHannel(RACH)

BTSTransmitsapagingmessagetoindicateanincomingcallor
shortmessage.Thepagingmessagecontainstheidentitynumberof
themobilesubscriberthatthenetworkwishestocontact.

MSAnswerspagingmessageontheRACHbyrequestingasignaling
channelofSDCCH.

AccessGrantCHannel(AGCH)

Assignsasignalingchannel(SDCCH)totheMS.

31

3.Dedicated Control Channels

StandaloneDedicatedControlChannel(SDCCH)

SlowAssociatedControlChannel(SACCH)

TheBTSswitchestotheassignedSDCCH.Thecallset-up
procedureisperformedinidlemode.TheBSCassignsaTCH
(carrierandtimeslot)andtheMSswitchestotheassignedSDCCH.
SDCCHisalsousedtoRegistration&Authentication
BTSInstructstheMSthetransmittingpowertouseandgives
instructionsontimingadvance(TA).
MSSendsaveragedmeasurementsonitsownBTS(signalstrength
andquality)andneighboringBTSs(signalstrength).TheMS
continuestouseSACCHforthispurposeduringacall.

FastAssociatedControlChannel(FACCH)

Transmitshandoverinformation.
Transmitsnecessaryhandoverinformation

32

ControlChannels

ChannelType-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

CCCH

DCCH

FCCH (down)
SCH (down)
BCCH (down)
RACH (up)
AGCH (down)
PCH (down)
SDCCH
FACCH
SACCH