GSM Logical Channels and Frame Structure

Outline Introduction GSM Logical Channels Allowed Logical Channel Combinations GSM Frame Structure GSM Bursts Data E
GSM Logical Channels and Frame Structure
Rajesh Kumar Kaushal

Assistant Professor
Electronics & Communication Engineering

Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka
8th sem, GSM
Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

Outline
Introduction
GSM Logical Channels
Allowed Logical Channel Combinations
GSM Frame Structure
GSM Bursts
Data Encryption in GSM
Mobility Management
References

Introduction
The logical channels carry user information and control

signaling data.
Different logical channels are used for different tasks.
The information transmitted on a logical channel depends on

a particular task.

GSM Logical Channels

A large amount of information is transmitted between the MS

and the BS, such as, user information (voice or data) and
control signaling data.
Depending on the type of information transmitted, different

logical channels are used.
These logical channels are mapped onto the physical channels.
There are two basic logical channel types in the GSM-

1- Traffic Channel (TCH)
2- Control Channel (CCH)

TCHs are used to carry either encoded speech or user data

both in the uplink and downlink directions.
TCHs support two information rates- full rate (TCH/F) and

half rate (TCH/H).
TCH/F carries user speech at 13kbps (gross rate of 22.8

kbps) and data at 9.6 kbps, 4.8 kbps, and 2.4 kbps.
TCH/H carries user speech at the gross rate of 11.4 kbps.

The user data rates for the TCH/H are 4.8 kbps and 2.4 kbps.

There are three types of control channels-

1- Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
2- Common Control Channel (CCCH)
3- Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
The BCCHs are point-to-multipoint unidirectional channels.
Other channels that belong to the BCCH group are the FCCH
and SCH.
The FCCH is the downlink point-to-multipoint channel.
The SCH carries information for frame synchronization of the

MS and the identification of a BTS.

The CCCHs are point-to-multipoint bidirectional channels.
They are mainly used to carry signaling information necessary

for accessing management functions.
These channels are used to establish connections between

MSs and BSs before a DCCH is assigned to an MS.
There are two downlink (BS to MS) and one uplink (MS to
BS) CCHs are defined.
The downlink channels are the Paging Channel (PCH) and

Access Grant Channel (AGCH).

The PCH is used to page MSs.
The AGCH is used to assign an MS to a specific DCCH.
The Random Access Channel (RACH), which is an uplink

channel, is used to request assignment of a DCCH.
The DCCHs are used for signaling and control after call
establishment.
There are two types of DCCHs-

1- Stand-Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)
2- Associated Control Channel (ACCH)

SDCCH is used before the MS is assigned a TCH. The

SDCCH is used for authentication of the MS, for location
updates, and for assignment to TCHs.
The ACCHs are of two types-

1- Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
2- Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)
The SACCH is always associated with a TCH or SDCCH. It is

used to carry general control information.
FACCH is used to transmit handover orders.

Allowed Logical Channel Combinations
SDCCHs can share a physical channel with a BCH and a

CCCH.
In that case, there can be 4 SDCCHs (referred to as
SDCCH/4) mapped onto the same physical channel, or there
can be 8 SDCCHs (referred to as SDCCH/8) that can share a
physical channel with themselves.
An SACCH can be sent along with full or half rate TCHs. It is
then referred to as SACCH/TF and SACCH/TH.
It can also be sent along with SDCCH/4 and SDCCH/8. it is
then referred to as SACCH/C4 SACCH/C8.
FACCH is used to send preemptive signaling on full or half
rate TCHs. It is then referred to as FACCH/F and FACCH/H.

The allowed logical channel combinations that can share the

same physical channel in the GSM system are-
For traffic time slots-

→ TCH/F or FACCH/F and SACCH/TF traffic channel
→ TCH/H(0) and TCH/H(1) or FACCH/H and SACCH/TH
→ TCH/H(0) or FACCH/H(0) and SACCH/TH(0) +
TCH/H(1) or FACCH(1) and SACCH/TH(1).
For control time slots-

→ BCH, CCCH, SDCCH/4, and SACCH/4
→ BCH and CCCH
→ BCCH and CCCH
→ SDCCH/8 and SACCH/C8

TCH Multiframe for TCH/H-

With one TCH/F, user information is sent in 24 out of 26
TDMA frames, with an SACCH frame and an idle frame
occurring once every 26 TDMA frames.

With two TCH/H channels, user information requires only 12

out of 26 TDMA frames per TCH.
In addition, there are two SACCH frames, one per TCH, that
require one TDMA frame out of every 26 frames.
Thus, two users can share the same physical channel by

having their TCH frames and SACCH frames multiplexed onto
the multiframe structure.
CCH Multiframe-
The BCH and CCCH forward control channels are
implemented only on certain Absolute Radio Frequency
Channel Number (ARFCN) channels and are allocated time
slots in a specific manner.
BCH data is transmitted in time slot 0, the other time slots in

a frame for that ARFCN are available for TCH data or DCCH
data or are filled with dummy bursts.
All time slots on all other ARFCNs within the cell are
available for TCH or DCCH data.
The multiframe structure used for the first time slot of the
radio channel is shown in figure below-
In the downlink path, the FCCH is sent during the frequency

correction frames (F), the SCH during the synchronization
frame (S), the BCCH during the BCCH frames (B), and PCH
and AGCH of the CCCH during the PCH/AGCH frames
(P/A).

In the uplink path, all frames are used for the RACH (R) of
the CCCH.
Idle frames are marked by I.

GSM Frame Structure

The available forward (BS to MS, 935-960 MHz) and reverse

(MS to BS, 890-915 MHz) bands are divided into 200 KHz
channels referred to as ARFCNs.
Each time slot consists of 156.25 bits, out of which 8.25 bits
are used for guard time and 6 are the start and stop bits that
are used to prevent overlap with adjacent time slots.
Each time slot is 0.57692 ms.
A single full rate GSM structure contains 8 time slots with a

time duration of 4.615 ms and 1250 bits.

GSM Bursts
GSM uses five different types of bursts.
1- Normal Burst-
It is used to carry information on TCH and control channels,
except for RACH, SCH and FCCH.
This burst contains 156.25 bits.
The encrypted bits are 57 bits of data or speech plus one bit
”stealing Flag” to indicate whether the burst was stolen for
FACCH signaling or not.

The tail bits always equal (0,0,0). They are used to provide
start and stop bit patterns.
The guard period is empty space and is used to prevent

overlap between adjacent time slots during transmission.

2- Synchronization Burst-
It is used for time synchronization of the mobile.
This burst contains a long synchronization sequence of 64 bits.
The encrypted 78 bits are used to carry information of the

TDMA frame number along with the BTS identification code
(BSIC).

The BSIC is also used by the mobile to check the identity of

the BTS during the measurements of signal strength.

3- Frequency Correction Channel Burst-

It is used for frequency synchronization of the MS.
The fixed input bits are all zeros.
The modulator delivers an unmodulated carrier with an offset

of 1625/24 KHz above the nominal frequency.

4- Access Burst-
It is used for random access and has a longer guard period to
protect for burst transmission from an MS.
This allows for a distance of 35 km from the BS to MS.

5- Dummy Burst-
It carries no information and is sent from BTS on some
occasions.
The mixed bits are defined as modulating bit states.

Data Encryption in GSM

Data is encrypted at the transmitter in blocks of 114 bits by

taking 114-bit plain text data burst and performing an EXOR
logical function operation with a 114-bit cypher block.
The decrypting function at the receiver is performed by taking

the encrypted data block of 114 bits and performing the same
EXOR operation using the same 114-bit cipher block that was
used at the transmitter.
The cipher block used at both ends of the transmission path

for a given transmission direction is produced at the BS and
MS by an encryption algorithm called A5.
The A5 algorithm produces two cipher blocks during each

TDMA period, one for uplink path and the other for the
downlink path.
Mobility Management
In order to deliver an incoming call to an MS, a page message

is broadcast on the PCH from the BS for which the MS is
currently monitoring.
The difficulty in delivering a call to an MS, is to know that

which cell area should be paged and how many cell areas
should be paged.
One possibility will be to have all cells in GSM PLMN Area

(GPA).
involving too many cells in the paging process can affect

performance of the system.
As the page attempt rate increases, the resource becomes

bottleneck.
BS real time might become a bottleneck if a BS is unable to

perform other call-handling functions because of the volume
of pages.
To keep the paging performance within the safe range, it is

necessary to form clusters of cells and page only the cluster of
cells for which the MS is known to be situated.
These cell clusters are referred to as location area (LA).

The GPA is divided into LAs. Each LA is made up of one or

more cell areas.
An MS registers each time it enters a new LA. An MS is free

to move around within a given LA without reregistering.
The LA identification includes Mobile ountry Code (MCC)- 3

digits, Mobile Network Code (MNC)- 2 digits, and LA Code
(LAC)- 2 octets.
The cell global identification consists of LAI plus Cell Identity

(CI)- 2 octets.


The paging request message may include more than one MS

identification.
The choice of the paging request message depends on the

number of MSs to be paged and the types of identities that
are used.
A maximum of four mobiles can be paged in a paging request

message when only TMSIs are used for identification.
The MS sends a Set Async Balanced Mode (SABM) frame

containing the paging response.


Location Registration-
GSM supports the following types of location registration-

→ Geographic based
→ Time based
→ On/off based
In the geographic based location registration, BSSs broadcast

LAC information. The MS compare the new LAC with the
last LAC. Registration takes place if LAC change is detected.
In the time based location registration, the MS registers

periodically.

In the on/off based location registration, MS power-up is an

attach operation and it causes a registration.
MS power-down is a detach operation and it causes

deregistration.
The types of detach operation are-

→ Delete VLR entry
→ Leave VLR entry, but flag MS is detached.

Mobile Identification-
This process is used to identify the MS when the VLR does
not recognisze the TMSI sent by the MS.
The VLR first sends a message (MAP/B Provide IMSI) to the

MSC.
On receiving this message, the MSC sends an RIL3-MM

Identity Request message to the MS.
The MS responds to this message by returning an RIL3-MM

Identity Response message to the MSC.

This message includes the MS’s IMSI.
On receiving this message, the MSC sends the MAP/B IMSI

Acknowledge message to the VLR.
If the VLR does not have the MS’s IMSI, it requests the HLR
for the user’s profile which contains MS’s IMSI.


References
Principles of Applications of GSM, Vijay K. Garg and

Joseph E. Wilkes, Pearson education/ PHI, 1999.
GSM: Evolution towards 3rd Generation Systems,
(Editor), Z. Zvonar Peter Jung, Karl Kammerlander Springer;
1st edition 1998.


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Outline Introduction GSM Logical Channels Allowed Logical Channel Combinations GSM Frame Structure GSM Bursts Data E

GSM Logical Channels and Frame Structure

Rajesh Kumar Kaushal

Electronics & Communication Engineering

8th sem, GSM

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

The logical channels carry user information and control

Different logical channels are used for different tasks.

The information transmitted on a logical channel depends on

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

GSM Logical Channels

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

A large amount of information is transmitted between the MS

Depending on the type of information transmitted, different

These logical channels are mapped onto the physical channels.

There are two basic logical channel types in the GSM-

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

TCHs are used to carry either encoded speech or user data

TCHs support two information rates- full rate (TCH/F) and

TCH/F carries user speech at 13kbps (gross rate of 22.8

TCH/H carries user speech at the gross rate of 11.4 kbps.

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

There are three types of control channels-

The BCCHs are point-to-multipoint unidirectional channels.

The FCCH is the downlink point-to-multipoint channel.

The SCH carries information for frame synchronization of the

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

The CCCHs are point-to-multipoint bidirectional channels.

They are mainly used to carry signaling information necessary

These channels are used to establish connections between

The downlink channels are the Paging Channel (PCH) and

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

The PCH is used to page MSs.

The AGCH is used to assign an MS to a specific DCCH.

The Random Access Channel (RACH), which is an uplink

There are two types of DCCHs-

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

SDCCH is used before the MS is assigned a TCH. The

The ACCHs are of two types-

The SACCH is always associated with a TCH or SDCCH. It is

FACCH is used to transmit handover orders.

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

Allowed Logical Channel Combinations

SDCCHs can share a physical channel with a BCH and a

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

The allowed logical channel combinations that can share the

For traffic time slots-

For control time slots-

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

TCH Multiframe for TCH/H-

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

With two TCH/H channels, user information requires only 12

Thus, two users can share the same physical channel by

BCH data is transmitted in time slot 0, the other time slots in

In the downlink path, the FCCH is sent during the frequency

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

Idle frames are marked by I.

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

GSM Frame Structure

Electronics & Communication Engineering Dr. TTIT, K.G.F., Karnataka

The available forward (BS to MS, 935-960 MHz) and reverse

Each time slot is 0.57692 ms.

A single full rate GSM structure contains 8 time slots with a