IT 601: Mobile Computing

GSM

(Most of the slides stolen from Prof.

Sridhar Iyer’s lectures)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.1

 Cellular Concept
• Base stations (BS): implement space division
multiplex
– Each BS covers a certain transmission area (cell)
– Each BS is allocated a portion of the total number of
channels available
– Cluster: group of nearby BSs that together use all
available channels
• Mobile stations communicate only via the base
station, using FDMA, TDMA, CDMA…
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.2
GSM: System Architecture

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.3

 Mobile Station (MS)
• MS consists of following two components
• Mobile Equipment (ME)
• Mobile Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
– Removable plastic card
– Stores Network Specific Data such as list of carrier
frequencies and current Location Area ID (LAI).
– Stores International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) + ISDN
– Stores Personal Identification Number (PIN) & Authentication
Keys.
– Also stores short messages, charging information, telephone
book etc.
• Allows separation of user mobility from equipment mobility

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.4

 Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
• One per cell
• Consists of high speed transmitter and receiver
• Function of BTS
– Provides two channels
Signalling and Data Channel
– Performs error protection coding for the radio
channel

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.5

 Base Station Controller (BSC)
• Controls multiple BTS
• Functions of BSC
– Performs radio resource management
– Assigns and releases frequencies and time slots for all the
MSs in its area
– Reallocation of frequencies among cells
– Hand off protocol is executed here
– Time and frequency synchronization signals to
BTSs
– Time Delay Measurement and notification of an MS
to BTS
– Power Management of BTS and MS
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.6
 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
• Switching node of a PLMN (Public Land Mobile
Network)
• Allocation of radio resource (RR)
– Handoff
• Mobility of subscribers
– Location registration of subscriber
• There can be several MSCs in a PLMN

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.7

 Gateway MSC (GMSC)
• Connects mobile network to a fixed network
– Entry point to a PLMN
• Usually one per PLMN
• Request routing information from the HLR and
routes the connection to the local MSC

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.8

 HLR/VLR
• HLR - Home Location Register
– Contains semi-permanent subscriber information
– For all users registered with the network, HLR keeps user profile
– MSCs exchange information with HLR
– When MS registers with a new GMSC, the HLR sends the user profile to
the new MSC
• VLR - Visitor Location Register
– Contains temporary info about mobile subscribers that are currently
located in the MSC service area but whose HLR are elsewhere
– Copies relevant information for new users (of this HLR or of foreign HLR)
from the HLR
– VLR is responsible for a group of location areas, typically associated with
an MSC

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.9

 AuC/EIR/OSS
• AuC: Authentication Center
– is accessed by HLR to authenticate a user for service
– Contains authentication and encryption keys for subscribers
• EIR: Equipment Identity Register
– allows stolen or fraudulent mobile stations to be identified
• Operation subsystem (OSS):
– Operations and maintenance center (OMC), network
management center (NMC), and administration center
(ADC) work together to monitor, control, maintain, and
manage the network

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.10

 GSM identifiers
• International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI):
– unique 15 digits assigned by service provider = home
country code + home GSM network code + mobile
subscriber ID + national mobile subscriber ID
• International mobile station equipment identity (IMEI):
– unique 15 digits assigned by equipment manufacturer =
type approval code + final assembly code + serial number +
spare digit
• Temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI):
– 32-bit number assigned by VLR to uniquely identify a
mobile station within a VLR’s area

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.11

 LAI
• Location Area Identifier of an LA of a PLMN
• Based on international ISDN numering plan
• Country Code (CC): 3 decimal digits
• Mobile Network Code (MNC): 2 decimal
digits
• Location Area Code (LAC) : maximum 5
decimal digits
• Is broadcast regularly by the BTS on broadcast
channel
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.12
 Cell Identifier (CI)
• Within LA, individual cells are uniquely identified
with Cell Identifier (CI).
• LAI + CI = Global Cell Identity

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.13

 Air Interface: MS to BTS
• Uplink/Downlink of 25MHz
– 890 -915 MHz for Up link
– 935 - 960 MHz for Down link
• Combination of frequency division and time division
multiplexing
– FDMA
– 124 channels of 200 kHz
– TDMA
– Burst
• Modulation used
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.14

 Number of channels in GSM
• Freq. Carrier: 200 kHz
• TDMA: 8 time slots per freq carrier

• No. of carriers = 25 MHz / 200 kHz = 125

• Max no. of user channels = 125 * 8 = 1000

• Considering guard bands = 124 * 8 = 992 channels

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.15

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.16
GSM Channels

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.17

 Air Interface: Logical Channel
• Traffic Channel (TCH)
– Carries user voice traffic

• Signalling Channel
– Broadcast Channel (BCH) (unidirectional)
– Common Control Channel (CCH) (unidirectional)
– Dedicated/Associated Control Channel
(DCCH/ACCH) (bidirectional)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.18

 BCCH
• Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
– BTS to MS
• send cell identities, organization info about common
control channels, cell service available, etc
– Radio channel configuration
– Current cell + Neighbouring cells
– Synchronizing information
– Frequencies + frame numbering
– Registration Identifiers
– LA + Cell Identification (CI) + Base Station Identity Code
(BSIC)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.19

 FCCH & SCH
• Frequency Correction Channel
• send a frequency correction data burst containing all
zeros to effect a constant frequency shift of RF carrier
– Mobile station knows which frequency to use
– Repeated broadcast of Frequency Bursts

• Synchronization Channel
• send TDMA frame number and base station identity
code to synchronize MSs
– MS knows which timeslot to use
– Repeated broadcast of Synchronization Bursts

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.20

 AGCH & PCH
Access Grant Channel (AGCH)
– BTS to MS
– Used to assign an SDCCH/TCH to MS

• Paging Channel (PCH)

– BTS to MS
– Page MS

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.21

 RACH & SDCCH
• Random Access Channel (RACH)
– MS => BTS
– Slotted Aloha
– Request for dedicated SDCCH
• Standalone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)
– MS => BTS
– Standalone; Independent of Traffic Channel
– Used before MS is assigned a TCH

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.22

 DCCH
• DCCH (dedicated control channel):
– bidirectional point-to-point -- main signaling channels
– SDCCH (stand-alone dedicated control channel): for service
request, subscriber authentication, equipment validation,
assignment to a traffic channel
– SACCH (slow associated control channel): for out-of-band
signaling associated with a traffic channel, eg, signal strength
measurements
– FACCH (fast associated control channel): for preemptive
signaling on a traffic channel, eg, for handoff messages
• Uses timeslots which are otherwise used by the
TCH
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.23
 Select the channel with
Power On Scan Channels, highest RF level among
monitor RF levels the control channels

Scan the channel for the

FCCH

Select the channel with NO

next highest Rf level from Is
the control list. FCCH detected?
YES

Scan channel for SCH

NO
Is
SCH detected?
YES

Read data from BCCH

and determine is it BCCH?

From the channel data NO Is

update the control channel the current BCCH
list channel included? YES
FCCH – Freq correction channel
SCH – synchronization channel Camp on BCCH and
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.24
start decoding
 Adaptive Frame Synchronization
• Timing Advance
• Advance in Tx time corresponding to propagation
delay

• 6 bit number used; hence 63 steps

• 63 bit period = 233 micro seconds (148 bits occupy
546.5 micro second)
– (round trip time)
• 35 Kms (taking speed of light)
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.25
 GSM: Frequency Hopping
• Optionally, TDMA is combined with frequency
hopping to address problem of channel fading
– TDMA bursts are transmitted in a pre-calculated
sequence of different frequencies (algorithm
programmed in mobile station)
– If a TDMA burst happens to be in a deep fade, then
next burst most probably will not be so
– Helps to make transmission quality more uniform
among all subscribers

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.26

 Bursts
• Building unit of physical channel
• Types of bursts
– Normal: for transmitting messages in traffic and control
channels
– Frequency Correction: sent by base station for frequency
correction at mobile station
– Synchronization: sent by base station for synchronization
– Access: for call setup
– Dummy: to fill an empty timeslot in the absence of data

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.27

 Normal Burst
• Normal Burst
– 2*(3 head bit + 57 data bits + 1 signaling bit) + 26
training sequence bit + 8.25 guard bit

– Used for all except RACH, FSCH & SCH

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.28

Traffic Multiframe
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.29
 Traffic Channel
• Transfer either encoded speech or user data
• Bidirectional

• Full Rate TCH

– Rate 22.4kbps

• Half Rate TCH

– Rate 11.2 kbps
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.30
 Full Rate Speech Coding
• Speech Coding for 20ms segments
– 260 bits at the output ; Effective data rate 13kbps
• Unequal error protection
– 182 bits are protected
– 78 bits unprotected
• Channel Encoding
– Codes 260 bits into (8 x 57 bit blocks) 456 bits
• Interleaving
– 2 blocks of different set interleaved on a normal
burst (save damages by error bursts)
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.31
 GSM Speech Coding

104 kbps 13 kbps

RPE-LTP Channel
Analog Low-pass
A/D speech
speech filter
encoder encoder

8000 samples/s,
13 bits/sample

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.32

 GSM Speech Coding
• Bit interleaving: to spread effects of Rayleigh
fading across data blocks
channel coder

blocks 456 bits 456 bits

57-bit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
segments

114-bit
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
segments

Normal TB Data H Training Data H TB G

burst
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.33
 Speech 20 ms 20 ms

Speech Coder Speech Coder

260 260

Channel Encoding Channel Encoding

456 bit 456 bit

Interleaving

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

NORMAL BURST
3 57 1 26 1 57 3 8.25
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.34
Out of first 20 ms
Above 148 bits corresponds to 546.5 micro seconds Out of second 20ms
 Traffic Channel Structure for Full Rate Coding

Slots 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2

Bursts for Users allocated in Slot

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9T 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 26
T T T T T T T T T T T T S T T T T I

T = Traffic
S = Signal( contains information about the signal strength in
neighboring cells)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.35

 Traffic Channel Structure for Half Rate Coding

Slots 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2

Burst for one users

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9T 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 26
T T T T T T S T T

Bursts for another users allocated in alternate Slots

1 2 3 4 5 6 T7 8 9T 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 26
T T T T T T T T S
=
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.36
 SACCH & FACCH
• Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
– MS  BTS
– Always associated with either TCH or SDCCH
– Information
– Channel quality, signal power level
– Should always be active; as proof of existence of physical
radio connection
• Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)
– MS  BTS
– Handover
– Uses timeslots which are otherwise used by TCH (Pre-emptive
multiplexing on a TCH, Stealing Flag (SF))

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.37

 GSM: Channel Summary
• Logical channels
– Traffic Channels; Control Channels
• Physical Channel
– Time Slot Number; TDMA frame; RF Channel
Sequence
• Mapping in frequency
– 124 channels, 200KHz spacing
• Mapping in time
– TDMA Frame, Multi Frame, Super Frame, Channel

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.38

GSM: System Architecture

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.39

 GSM
Sub-Systems
• Radio Sub System (RSS)
• RSS = MS + BSS
• BSS = BTS+ BSC

• Network Sub System (NSS)

• NSS = MSC+ HLR + VLR + GMSC

• Operation Sub System

• OSS = EIR + AuC

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.40

 Example: Outgoing call setup
– User keys in the number and presses send
– Mobile transmits Set Up message on uplink signaling channel (RACH) to
the MSC
– MSC requests HLR/VLR to get subscriber parameters necessary for
handling the call.
– VLR/HLR sends Complete Call msg to the MSC
– MSC sends an Assignment message to the BSS and asks it to assign TCH
for the MS
– BSS allocates a radio channel (TCH) and sends an Assignment message to
MS over SDCCH
– MS tunes to the radio channel (TCH) and sends an Assignment Complete
message to the BSS.
– BSS deallocates SDCCH. Now voice path is established between MS and
MSC
– MSC completes the PSTN side of the signaling.

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.41

 Example: Incoming Call Setup
MSC sends “Send Routing Information” msg to HLR
HLR acks the “Send Routing Information” to MSC which contains the LAI (Location
Area Identity) and TMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) of the MS.
MSC uses the LAI to determine which BSSs will page MS
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Paging request (PCH) (contains TMSI)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Channel request (RACH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Immediate Assignment (AGCH) (carries SDCCH info)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Paging Response (SDCCH) (This SDCCH is used until
TCH is allocated)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Authentication Request (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Authentication Response (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Setup (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Call Confirmation (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Alert (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Connect (SDCCH)
MS  BSS/MSC ------ Connect Acknowledge (SDCCH)
MS BSS/MSC ------ Data (TCH)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.42

 GSM: Identification
• Identification of Mobile Subscriber
• International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
• Temporary IMSI (TMSI)
• Mobile Subscriber ISDN number (MSISDN)
• Identification of Mobile Equipment
• International Mobile Station Equipment
Identification (IMEI)
• Mobile Station Roaming Number (MSRN)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.43

 IMSI
• International Mobile Subscriber Identity
• Stored in SIM, not more than 15 digits
– 3 digits for Mobile Country Code (MCC)
– 3 digits for Mobile Network Code (MNC)
» It uniquely identifies the home GSM PLMN of the mobile
subscriber.
– Not more than 10 digits for National Mobile Station Identity
(MSIN)
» The first 3 digits identify the logical HLR-ID of the mobile
subscriber
• MNC+MSIN makes National Mobile Station Identity (NMSI)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.44

 TMSI and LMSI
• Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity
• Has only local and temporal significance
• Is assigned by VLR and stored there only
• Is used in place of IMSI for security reasons

• Local Mobile Subscriber Identity

• Is an additional searching key given by VLR
• It is also sent to HLR
• Both are assigned in an operator specific way
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.45
 MSISDN
• “real telephone number” of a MS
• It is stored centrally in the HLR
• MS can have several MSISDNs depending on SIM
• It follows international ISDN numbering plan
• Country Code (CC): upto 3 decimal places
• National Destination Code (NDC): 2-3
decimal places
• Subscriber Number (SN) : maximal 10
decimal places
– MSISDN = CC + NDC + SN

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.46

 GSM roaming
• VLR registers users roaming in its area
– Recognizes mobile station is from another PLMN
– If roaming is allowed, VLR finds the mobile’s HLR in its
home PLMN
– VLR constructs a global title from IMSI to allow signaling
from VLR to mobile’s HLR via public telephone network
– VLR generates a mobile subscriber roaming number
(MSRN) used to route incoming calls to mobile station
– MSRN is sent to mobile’s HLR

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.47

 GSM roaming
• VLR contains
– MSRN
– TMSI
– Location area where mobile station has registered
– Info for supplementary services (if any)
– IMSI
– HLR or global title
– Local identity for mobile station (if any)

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.48

 GSM handoffs
• Intra-BSS: if old and new BTSs are attached to
same base station
– MSC is not involved

• Intra-MSC: if old and new BTSs are attached to

different base stations but within same MSC

• Inter-MSC: if MSCs are changed

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.49

 GSM Intra-MSC handoff
1. Mobile station monitors signal quality and determines
handoff is required, sends signal measurements to
serving BSS
2. Serving BSS sends handoff request to MSC with ranked
list of qualified target BSSs
3. MSC determines that best candidate BSS is under its
control
4. MSC reserves a trunk to target BSS
5. Target BSS selects and reserves radio channels for new
connection, sends Ack to MSC
6. MSC notifies serving BSS to begin handoff, including new
radio channel assignment
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.50
 GSM Intra-MSC handoff
7. Serving BSS forwards new radio channel assignment to
mobile station
8. Mobile station retunes to new radio channel, notifies
target BSS on new channel
9. Target BSS notifies MSC that handoff is detected
10. Target BSS and mobile station exchange messages to
synchronize transmission in proper timeslot
11. MSC switches voice connection to target BSS, which
responds when handoff is complete
12. MSC notifies serving BSS to release old radio traffic
channel
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.51
 GSM Inter-MSC handoff
1. MS sends signal measurements to serving BSS
2. Serving BSS sends handoff request to MSC
3. Serving MSC determines that best candidate BSS is
under control of a target MSC and calls target MSC
4. Target MSC notifies its VLR to assign a TMSI
5. Target VLR returns TMSI
6. Target MSC reserves a trunk to target BSS
7. Target BSS selects and reserves radio channels for new
connection, sends Ack to target MSC
8. Target MSC notifies serving MSC that it is ready for
handoff
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.52
 GSM Inter-MSC handoff
9. Serving MSC notifies serving BSS to begin handoff,
including new radio channel assignment
10. Serving BSS forwards new radio channel assignment to
mobile station
11. Mobile station retunes to new radio channel, notifies
target BSS on new channel
12. Target BSS notifies target MSC that handoff is detected
13. Target BSS and mobile station synchronize timeslot
14. Voice connection is switched to target BSS, which
responds when handoff is complete
15. Target MSC notifies serving MSC
16. Old network resources are released
Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.53
 GSM Security
• Access Control and Authentication
– User should not be able to use the GSM resources
without being authenticated
• Confidentiality
– Messages containing user related information
should not be accessible to others
• Anonymity
– User identifier is not used over the air

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.54

 GSM Security
• Access Control and authentication
– GSM handsets must be presented with a subscriber
identity module (SIM)
– SIM must be validated with personal identification
number (PIN)
– SIM also stores subscriber authentication key,
authentication algorithm, cipher key generation
algorithm, encryption algorithm

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.55

 GSM Security
– During registration (when roaming), mobile station
receives “challenge” and uses authentication key
and authentication algorithm to generate “challenge
response” to verify user’s identity
• Confidentiality (Privacy from eavesdropping)
– Temporary encryption key is used for privacy of
data, signaling, and voice
– Info is encrypted before transmission

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.56

 GSM Security
• Anonymity of users
– Supported by temporary mobile subscriber ID (TMSI)
– When registered, mobile station sends globally-unique
international mobile subscriber ID (IMSI) to network
– Network assigns TMSI for use during call - IMSI is not sent
over radio link
– Only network and mobile station know true identity
– New TMSI is assigned when roam into new area

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.57

 GSM Summary
Uplink frequencies 890-915 MHz
Downlink frequencies 935-960 MHz
Total GSM bandwidth 25 MHz up + 25 MHz down
Channel bandwidth 200 kHz
Number of RF carriers 124
Multiple access TDMA
Users/carrier 8
Number of simul. users 992
Speech coding rate 13 kb/s
FEC coded speech rate 22.8 kb/s

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.58

GSM service quality requirements

Speech intelligibility 90%

Max one-way delay 90 ms
Max handoff gap 150 ms if intercell

Time to alert mobile of 4 sec first attempt,

inbound cell 15 sec final attempt

Release time to called

2 sec
network

Connect time to called

4 sec
network

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.59

 GSM 900 and GSM 1800

GSM 900 GSM 1800

Frequency band 890-915 MHz 1710-1785 MHz
935-960 MHz 1805-1880 MHz
Border spacing 25 MHz 75 MHz
Duplex spacing 45 MHz 95 MHz
Carrier spacing 200 kHz 200 kHz
Carriers 124 374
Timeslots per carrier 8 8
Multiple access TDMA/FDMA TDMA/FDMA
Typical cell range <300m – 35 km <100m – 15 km
Handset Power 0.8 & 8 W 0.25 & 1 W

Prof. Anirudha Sahoo 3.60