How do UMTS, UICC, USIM and USAT-(I) fit together ?

TECHNOLOGIES

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3G 3GPP GSM ICC PIN RUIM SCP UICC UMTS USAT USIM WAP WIM

Third Generation Third Generation Partnership Project CDMA Code Division Multiple Access Global Standard for Mobile Communications Integrated Circuit Chip Personal Identification Number Removable User Identity Module Smart Card Platform Universal ICC (in the closed context of UMTS/GSM it is restricted to mean USIM ICC) Universal Mobile Telecommunications system Universal SIM Application Toolkit Universal Subscriber Identity Module Wireless Application Protocol WAP Identification Module

Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION
This brief whitepaper tries to put some of the currently used key terms of the new generation of smart cards (relating to the so-called 3G services) into their context. In order to fully understand this paper, knowledge about the respective general terms from the existing GSM world is necessary. GSM has become a wide spread standard for wireless communication in many countries around the world. But the constant demand for better services, which are not only voice based, called for major changes in the existing system. All these changes, which aim to allow faster data transmission and higher security, have come to be summarized under one term: 3G, t e standing fora Third Generation. w h i p p e r As 3G has become a buzz-word, everyone wants to participate in it. This has lead to certain confusion, even among those who are quite involved in this topic. It becomes very difficult to keep up-to-date of what has been implemented, what will be implemented, what was just an idea but failed to be realized, etc., apart from plain misuse of the terms or concepts involved. Therefore this article is intended to help to clarify some issues around the terms UMTS, USIM, UICC and USAT.

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Arrival Of The U In 3G
The components and services available in 3G are definitely evolving from previous implementations, e.g. from GSM and CDMA IS-95. Therefore there is a tendency to use the new terms as if they were just an extension of the previous ones. This is a major source of confusion. Only on a very superficial level is it possible to equate GSM with UMTS, SIM with USIM, SAT/STK with USAT and ICC with UICC. But there is more to it. All of the new terms start with a U, generally standing for universal. Universal in this case means that it is covering more than only one system; it does not necessarily mean that it is globally valid. E.g. UMTS is a technology directly evolved out of the known GSM system, but it is not without competition. For example CDMA2000 is aiming to provide similar services as UMTS. On the other side, UICC and USIM are intended to consolidate and support those different systems. Thus the coverage of U in UICC and USIM is already kind of broader than for UMTS.

UMTS: a costly, but open standard

UMTS is one implementation of the whole infrastructure necessary to provide mobile communication services (network, background system, antennas etc.). Big investments have been made especially in Europe (where 3G and UMTS are treated almost as synonyms) to get the licenses to operate a UMTS network. The licenses for UMTS were not related to the functionality defined by the standards, as they are open standards. Licensing is rather related to the permission of using a certain transmission bandwidth, usually regulated by the local governments. Unused (available) bandwidth has become globally a scarce resource (the air is already virtually full of signals from radio stations, TV channels etc.), and in order to avoid interferences each system must e restrict its transmission to w h i t p a p e r a certain range. Introducing new technology for 3G required permission to utilize some of the few suitable gaps left. As mentioned before, UMTS has evolved out of GSM. But while GSM, having started off in Europe, was regulated and standardized by ETSI, a universal (meaning at least more than Europe wide) standard for UMTS could not be defined by ETSI alone anymore. Therefore a new standardization board has been created, which was called 3GPP, which involved e.g. ETSI, ARIB, TTC, TTA, T1P1 and CWTS. 3GPP was then also assigned to continue the maintenance of the previous GSM standards, as during the transition phase from GSM to UMTS devices for both networks will be in the market and need to be operating in parallel. Any existing GSM component (be it e.g. phone or smart card) must be able to continue to operate under UMTS, but not the other way round.

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UMTS: defeat CDMA with itself ?

CDMA (IS-95) is a 2G system (using CDMA technology), which is competing with GSM (using TDMA technology). Before the arrival of 3G the two, GSM and CDMA, have been treated as opponents, but actually the opponent of CDMA is TDMA (roughly speaking they refer to certain technologies to permit parallel communication of more than one user per channel without disturbing each other). In the 3G environment things become again more difficult. CDMA2000 is the 3G technology of IS95 to compete with UMTS, but UMTS itself has moved away from TDMA and changed to W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA or TD-CDMA as radio access technology, depending on the mode of use. Thus previously GSM was clearly distinguished from CDMA, but now UMTS uses certain CDMA technology as well, and thus it is now even more incorrect to speak of UMTS and CDMA being competitors. Lastly, UMTS is defined within 3GPP, whereas its counterpart CDMA2000 is defined within 3GPP2. Therefore, 3GPP2 is not a new version of 3GPP, it is neither replacing nor succeeding nor superseding 3GPP.

UMTS separates device from function

UMTS (like GSM) describes all the security functions for operating such a network, including the functionality needed in UICC and USIM. Thus speaking about GSM or UMTS, we are not only referring to the communication components (transmission, antenna, switch centre etc.), but we also talk about how to integrate user devices into the system. This was not causing any major confusion in the GSM world. The specification of the SIM and of the handset where considered part of the GSM standard. For example GSM 11.11 describes the interface ME to SIM, and GSM 11.14 describes the interface SIM to ME. As all parts were operating in a closed environment, misunderstanding was not frequent. It was clear what was meant when talking about the SIM or the GSM-card, w h i t e p a p e r because module (SIM) and chip and smart card and SIM-plug-in were basically possible to be treated synonymously. Each also basically refers to the physical hardware device as well as to the functionality provided (a general situation for firmware). With UICC and USIM, things start to change. UICC is sometimes referred to as USIM ICC, but that does not cover its full meaning. Unlike UMTS, which can be seen as the successor of GSM when it comes to the network system, USIM cannot just be seen as the successor of the SIM. When talking about the SIM in GSM, it made not much of a difference whether the SIM was seen as the physical plug-in or the functionality which the card was supposed to provide. In GSM, module and ICC were basically the same, as in GSM there was only the SIM functionality implemented on the ICC.

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USIM is not a card

In the 3G environment it becomes more important to distinguish clearly. Talking about USIM means to talk about the data and functions to be provided by a device (e.g. UICC). This means, USIM is better described as an application in order to clearly distinguish it from the carrier of the application. This becomes even more apparent when we talk about a single UICC being able to support several USIMs. And it is most obvious when one understands that a UICC may not only support one or more USIM in a UMTS environment, but may even be able to carry data and functions for a RUIM, USAT and even a WIM in parallel. This enables a user to change from UMTS to CDMA2000 when travelling. Of course, it still depends on the terminal or hand phone to be able to support both systems in one device, but if this is not the case, at least the same UICC may be used in a separate device for different platforms. Thus, ideally the user can utilize his UICC with his personal data in any environment. So the UICC becomes a multi-application card in the highest sense of this term, meaning that it is not only carrying data and files for different application types, but can even contain and execute applications from different providers. That UICC goes beyond USIM can also be seen from the fact that UMTS and USIM/USAT are handled by 3GPP, whereas standardization of the UICC was not considered part of 3GPP. To standardize the UICC a new project within ETSI has been established to define the so-called SCP. SCP started to define the UICC as a generic multi-application platform for chip card applications in telecommunications. Now it has been kept general enough to theoretically allow other sectors (like finance) to use the UICC as well, thus making it really worthy to carry the attribute universal. But what is technologically feasible is not always economically pursued, and so time will show how universal the UICC will actually become.

Is USAT an interpreted SAT?

USAT has currently two very different meanings. One is the natural evolution of the known SAT/STK from GSM into the U-world, supporting the well known pro-active commands. This type of USAT is like the USIM an application in the UICC. While the USIM is mainly used by the mobile and the network together to coordinate and complement their mutual interaction, the USAT turns the roles around and basically uses the mobile in order to convey requests or information between the user and the network system. But it gets a completely different meaning when it is called USAT Interpreter. a This p type of r USAT w h i t e p e (from now on called USAT-I) is also considered an application on the UICC, similar to the USIM and USAT. The main difference is that the USIM is a single, fixed application residing in the memory of the UICC. All the behavior and actions of the USIM are already predefined by the 3G standards. USAT, also allocating memory in the cards memory, allows each network operator and service provider to implement new services, which are not covered by the standards. Similar to USIM they are defined once, and then implemented into the card. So to say they are almost considered hard coded once they are downloaded to the card.

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Soft coded applications

USAT-I in contrast is not defining the behavior of an application, it is a byte code interpreter. The USAT-I is an application within UICC (and not part of the USIM), which executes whatever actual application is byte coded and passed to the USAT-I. The actual application is thus unknown during the implementation of the USAT-I. This is similar to JAVA. The JAVA card allows downloading and execution of applets, and USAT-I allows downloading and execution of (lets call them) USATlets. But there are two major differences: in JAVA the applet becomes a permanent part (being an application using EEPROM-space) of the smart card, which commonly reacts to standard smart card commands (APDUs). In contrast, USATlets are only temporarily transferred to the smart card and are discarded immediately after use. Furthermore, USATlets are designed to drive the interaction with the user via the mobile equipment (from here comes the confusion between USAT and USAT-I, as both are driving the mobile device for user interaction). USAT-I (as a UICC-application) is not meant to run a certain interaction each time it is activated (like a JAVA applet), but is always driven by a background system/server. The server sends (via SMS) the USATlet to the USAT-I, which interprets it and sends the appropriate commands to the mobile equipment for user interaction. Thus, it acts like a browser for internet pages. This is similar to the concept of WAP/WIM; but we wont go into explaining the differences between these two systems.

Who is the master?

Why would it be reasonable to pass the information received by the mobile device to the card in order for the card to then tell the mobile device what to do? Why not just let the mobile device handle the whole thing in the first place? That was the original CDMA and WAP approach, but security, trustworthiness and flexibility play an important role when it comes to an undeniable and legally valid link between providing a service and being able to claim the respective payment. That is a major role for the smart card, be it called SIM, USIM, UICC, R-UIM or WIM. So the smart card plays a central role for securing and administering the service cum charges, although it is only a small item within a huge system. w h i t e p a p e r

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