Cellular Network Architecture, 2G: Voice Connections to the Telephone Network

The term cellular refers to the fact that the region covered by a cellular network is partitioned into a number of
geographic coverage areas, known as cells, shown as hexagons on the left side of Figure 6.18. As with the 802.11WiFi
standard, GSM has its own particular nomenclature. Each cell contains a base transceiver station (BTS) that transmits
signals to and receives signals from the mobile stations in its cell. The coverage area of a cell depends on many factors,
including the transmitting power of the BTS, the transmitting power of the user devices, obstructing buildings in the cell, and
the height of base station antennas. Although Figure 6.18 shows each cell containing one base transceiver station residing in
the middle of the cell, many systems today place the BTS at corners where three cells intersect, so that a single BTS with
directional antennas can service three cells.
The GSM standard for 2G cellular systems uses combined FDM/TDM (radio) for the air interface. With pure FDM,
the channel is partitioned into a number of frequency bands with each band devoted to a call. With pure TDM, time is
partitioned into frames with each frame further partitioned into slots and each call being assigned the use of a particular slot in
the revolving frame. In combined FDM/TDM systems, the channel is partitioned into a number of frequency sub-bands;
within each sub-band, time is partitioned into frames and slots. Thus, for a combined FDM/TDM system, if the channel is
partitioned into F sub-bands and time is partitioned into T slots, then the channel will be able to support F.T simultaneous
calls.
The cable access networks also use a combined FDM/TDM approach. GSM systems consist of 200-kHz frequency
bands with each band supporting eight TDM calls. GSM encodes speech at 13 kbps and 12.2 kbps. A GSM network’s base
station controller (BSC) will typically service several tens of base transceiver stations. The role of the BSC is to allocate BTS
radio channels to mobile subscribers, perform paging (finding the cell in which a mobile user is resident), and perform
handoff of mobile users.
The base station controller and its controlled base transceiver stations collectively constitute a GSM base station
system (BSS). The mobile switching center (MSC) plays the central role in user authorization and accounting (e.g.,
determining whether a mobile device is allowed to connect to the cellular network), call establishment and teardown, and
handoff. A single MSC will typically contain up to five BSCs, resulting in approximately 200K subscribers per MSC. A
cellular provider’s network will have a number of MSCs, with special MSCs known as gateway MSCs connecting the
provider’s cellular network to the larger public telephone network.

3G Core Network
The 3G core cellular data network connects radio access networks to the public Internet.
The core network interoperates with components of the existing cellular voice network (in particular, the MSC) that
we previously encountered in Figure 6.18. Given the considerable amount of existing infrastructure (and profitable services!)
in the existing cellular voice network, the approach taken by the designers of 3G data services is clear: leave the existing core
GSM cellular voice network untouched, adding additional cellular data functionality in parallel to the existing cellular voice
network. The alternative—integrating new data services directly into the core of the existing cellular voice network—would
have raised the same challenges encountered There are two types of nodes in the 3G core network: Serving GPRS Support
Nodes (SGSNs) and Gateway GPRS Support Nodes (GGSNs). (GPRS stands for Generalized Packet Radio Service, an
early cellular data service in 2G networks; here we discuss the evolved version of GPRS in 3G networks). An SGSN is
responsible for delivering datagrams to/from the mobile nodes in the radio access network to which the SGSN is attached. The
SGSN interacts with the cellular voice network’s MSC for that area, providing user authorization and handoff, maintaining
location (cell) information about active mobile nodes, and performing datagram forwarding between mobile nodes in the radio
access network and a GGSN. The GGSN acts as a gateway, connecting multiple SGSNs into the larger Internet. A GGSN is
thus the last piece of 3G infrastructure that a datagram originating at a mobile node encounters before entering the larger
Internet. To the
outside world, the GGSN looks like any other gateway router; the mobility of the 3G nodes within the GGSN’s network is
hidden from the outside world behind the GGSN.

1G - First Generation
This was the first generation of cell phone technology . The very first generation of commercial cellular network was
introduced in the late 70's with fully implemented standards being established throughout the 80's. It was introduced in 1987
by Telecom (known today as Telstra), Australia received its first cellular mobile phone network utilizing a 1G analog system.
1G is an analog technology and the phones generally had poor battery life and voice quality was large without much security,
and would sometimes experience dropped calls . These are the analog telecommunications standards that were introduced in
the 1980s and continued until being replaced by 2G digital telecommunications. The maximum speed of 1G is 2.4 Kbps .

2G - Second Generation
Cell phones received their first major upgrade when they went from 1G to 2G. The main difference between the two
mobile telephone systems (1G and 2G), is that the radio signals used by 1G network are analog, while 2G networks are
digital . Main motive of this generation was to provide secure and reliable communication channel. It implemented the
concept of CDMA and GSM . Provided small data service like sms and mms. Second generation 2G cellular telecom
networks were commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Oyj) in 1991. 2G
capabilities are achieved by allowing multiple users on a single channel via multiplexing. During 2G Cellular phones are used
for data also along with voice. The advance in technology from 1G to 2G introduced many of the fundamental services that we
still use today, such as SMS, internal roaming , conference calls, call hold and billing based on services e.g. charges based on
long distance calls and real time billing. The max speed of 2G with General Packet Radio Service ( GPRS ) is 50 Kbps or 1
Mbps with Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution ( EDGE ). Before making the major leap from 2G to 3G wireless
networks, the lesser-known 2.5G and 2.75G was an interim standard that bridged the gap.

3G - Third Generation
 This generation set the standards for most of the wireless technology we have come to know and love. Web browsing,
email, video downloading, picture sharing and other Smartphone technology were introduced in the third generation.
Introduced commercially in 2001, the goals set out for third generation mobile communication were to facilitate greater voice
and data capacity, support a wider range of applications, and increase data transmission at a lower cost .
The 3G standard utilises a new technology called UMTS as its core network architecture - Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System. This network combines aspects of the 2G network with some new technology and protocols to
deliver a significantly faster data rate. Based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications use
services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 ( IMT-2000 ) specifications by
the International Telecommunication Union. One of requirements set by IMT-2000 was that speed should be at least 200Kbps
to call it as 3G service.
3G has Multimedia services support along with streaming are more popular. In 3G, Universal access and portability
across different device types are made possible (Telephones, PDA's, etc.). 3G increased the efficiency of frequency spectrum
by improving how audio is compressed during a call, so more simultaneous calls can happen in the same frequency range.
The UN's International Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard requires stationary speeds of 2Mbps and mobile
speeds of 384kbps for a "true" 3G. The theoretical max speed for HSPA+ is 21.6 Mbps.
Like 2G, 3G evolved into 3.5G and 3.75G as more features were introduced in order to bring about 4G. A 3G phone
cannot communicate through a 4G network , but newer generations of phones are practically always designed to be backward
compatible, so a 4G phone can communicate through a 3G or even 2G network .

4G - Fourth Generation
4G is a very different technology as compared to 3G and was made possible practically only because of the
advancements in the technology in the last 10 years. Its purpose is to provide high speed , high quality and high capacity to
users while improving security and lower the cost of voice and data services, multimedia and internet over IP. Potential and
current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony , gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video
conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.
The key technologies that have made this possible are MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and OFDM
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing). The two important 4G standards are WiMAX (has now fizzled out) and LTE
(has seen widespread deployment). LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a series of upgrades to existing UMTS technology and will
be rolled out on Telstra's existing 1800MHz frequency band. The max speed of a 4G network when the device is moving is
100 Mbps or 1 Gbps for low mobility communication like when stationary or walking, latency reduced from around 300ms to
less than 100ms, and significantly lower congestion. When 4G first became available, it was simply a little faster than 3G. 4G
is not the same as 4G LTE which is very close to meeting the criteria of the standards. To download a new game or stream a
TV show in HD, you can do it without buffering .

Newer generations of phones are usually designed to be backward-compatible , so a 4G phone can communicate through a
3G or even 2G network. All carriers seem to agree that OFDM is one of the chief indicators that a service can be legitimately
marketed as being 4G. OFDM is a type of digital modulation in which a signal is split into several narrowband channels at
different frequencies. There are a significant amount of infrastructure changes needed to be implemented by service providers
in order to supply because voice calls in GSM , UMTS and CDMA2000 are circuit switched, so with the adoption of LTE,
carriers will have to re-engineer their voice call network. And again, we have the fractional parts: 4.5G and 4.9G marking the
transition of LTE (in the stage called LTE-Advanced Pro) getting us more MIMO, more D2D on the way to IMT-2020 and the
requirements of 5G .

5G - Fifth Generation
5G is a generation currently under development , that's intended to improve on 4G. 5G promises significantly faster
data rates, higher connection density, much lower latency, among other improvements. Some of the plans for 5G include
device-to-device communication, better battery consumption, and improved overall wireless coverage. The max speed of 5G
is aimed at being as fast as 35.46 Gbps , which is over 35 times faster than 4G.
Key technologies to look out for: Massive MIMO , Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications etc. Massive MIMO,
milimetre wave, small cells, Li-Fi all the new technologies from the previous decade could be used to give 10Gb/s to a user,
with an unseen low latency, and allow connections for at least 100 billion devices . Different estimations have been made for
the date of commercial introduction of 5G networks. Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance feel that 5G should be rolled
out by 2020 to meet business and consumer demands.

GSM System Architecture (in short)

In GSM system the mobile handset is called Mobile Station (MS). A cell is formed by the coverage area of a Base Transceiver
Station (BTS) which serves the MS in its coverage area. Several BTS together are controlled by one Base Station Controller
(BSC). The BTS and BSC together form Base Station Subsystem (BSS). The combined traffic of the mobile stations in their
respective cells is routed through a switch called Mobile Switching Center (MSC). Connection originating or terminating from
external telephone (PSTN) are handled by a dedicated gateway Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC).

In addition to the above entities several databases are used for the purpose of call control and network management. These
databases are Home Location Register (HLR), Visitor Location Register (VLR), the Authentication Center (AUC), and
Equipment Identity Register (EIR).

Home Location Register (HLR) stores the permanent (such as user profile) as well as temporary (such as current location)
information about all the users registered with the network. A VLR stores the data about the users who are being serviced
currently. It includes the data stored in HLR for faster access as well as the temporary data like location of the user. The AUC
stores the authentication information of the user such as the keys for encryption. The EIR stores stores data about the
equipments and can be used to prevent calls from a stolen equipments.

All the mobile equipments in GSM system are assigned unique id called IMSI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) and
is allocated by equipment manufacturer and registered by the service provider. This number is stored in the EIR. The users are
identified by the IMSI (International Module Subscriber Identity) which is stored in the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) of
the user. A mobile station can be used only if a valid SIM is inserted into an equipment with valid IMSI. The ``real'' telephone
number is different from the above ids and is stored in SIM.

Mobile Phone to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

When a mobile subscriber makes a call to a PSTN telephone subscriber, the following sequence of events takes place:
1.The MSC/VLR receives the message of a call request.
2.The MSC/VLR checks if the mobile station is authorized to access the network. If so, the mobile station is activated. If the
mobile station is not authorized, then the service will be denied.
3.MSC/VLR analyzes the number and initiates a call setup with the PSTN.
4.MSC/VLR asks the corresponding BSC to allocate a traffic channel (a radio channel and a timeslot).
5.The BSC allocates the traffic channel and passes the information to the mobile station.
6.The called party answers the call and the conversation takes place.
7.The mobile station keeps on taking measurements of the radio channels in the present cell and the neighboring cells and
passes the information to the BSC. The BSC decides if a handover is required. If so, a new traffic channel is allocated to the
mobile station and the handover takes place. If handover is not required, the mobile station continues to transmit in the same
frequency.

PSTN to Mobile Phone

When a PSTN subscriber calls a mobile station, the following sequence of events takes place:
1.The Gateway MSC receives the call and queries the HLR for the information needed to route the call to the serving
MSC/VLR.
2.The GMSC routes the call to the MSC/VLR.
3.The MSC checks the VLR for the location area of the MS.
4.The MSC contacts the MS via the BSC through a broadcast message, that is, through a paging request.
5.The MS responds to the page request.
6.The BSC allocates a traffic channel and sends a message to the MS to tune to the channel. The MS generates a ringing
signal and, after the subscriber answers, the speech connection is established

GSM User Services

GSM offers much more than just voice telephony. Contact your local GSM network operator to the specific services that you
can avail. GSM offers three basic typesof services:
Telephony servicesor teleservices
Data services or bearer services
Supplementary services

Teleservices
The abilities of a Bearer Service are used by a Teleservice to transport data. These services are further transited in the
following ways: Voice Calls The most basic Teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. This includes full-rate speech at 13
kbps and emergency calls, where the nearest emergency-service provider is notified by dialing three digits. Videotext and
Facsimile Another group of teleservices includes Videotext access, Teletex transmission, Facsimile alternate speech and
Facsimile Group 3, Automatic facsimile Group
Shot Text Messages Short Messaging Service(SMS) service is a text messaging service that allows sending and receiving text
messages on your GSM mobile phone. In addition to simple text messages, other text data including news, sports, financial,
language, and location-based data can also be transmitted.

Bearer Services
Data services or Bearer Services are used through a GSM phone.to receive and send data is the essential building block
leading to widespread mobile Internet access and mobile data transfer. GSM currently has a data transfer rate of 9.6k. New
developments that will push up data transfer rates for GSM users are HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data) and GPRS
(general packet radio service) are now available.

Supplementary Services
Supplementary services are additional services that are provided in addition to teleservices and bearer services. These services
include caller identification, call forwarding, call waiting, multi-party conversations, and barring of outgoing (international)
calls, among others. A brief description of supplementary services is given here:
Conferencing: It allows a mobile subscriber to establish a multiparty conversation, i.e., a simultaneous conversation between
three or more subscribers to setup a conference call. This service is only applicable to normal telephony.
Call Waiting: This service notifies a mobile subscriber of an incoming call during a conversation. The subscriber can
answer, reject, or ignore the incoming call.
Call Hold: This service allows a subscriber to put an incoming call on hold and resume after awhile. The call hold service is
applicable to normal telephony.
Call Forwarding: Call Forwarding is used to divert calls from the original recipient to another number. It is normally set up
by the subscriber himself. It can be used by the subscriber to divert calls from the Mobile Station when the subscriber is not
available, and so to ensure that calls are not lost.
Call Barring: Call Barring is useful to restrict certain types of outgoing calls such as ISD or stop incoming calls from
undesired numbers. Call barring is a flexible service that enables the subscriber to conditionally bar calls.
Number Identification: There are following supplementary services related to number identification: Calling Line
Identification Presentation: T his service displays the telephone number of the calling party on your screen.
Calling Line Identification Restriction: A person not wishing their number to be presented to others subscribes to this service.
Connected Line Identification Presentation: This service is provided to give the calling party the telephone number of the
person to whom they are connected. This service is useful in situations such as forwarding where the number connected is not
the number dialed.
Connected Line Identification Restriction : There are times when the person called does not wish to have their numbers
presented and so they would subscribe to this person. Normally, this overrides the presentation service.
Malicious Call Identification: The malicious call identification service was provided to combat the spread of obscene or
annoying calls. The victim should subscribe to this service, and then they could cause known malicious calls to be identified in
the GSM network, using a simple command.
Advice of Charge (AoC):This service was designed to give the subscriber an indication of the cost of the services as they are
used. Furthermore, those service providers who wish to offer rental services to subscribers without their own SIM can also
utilize this service in a slightly different form. AoC for data calls is provided on the basis of time measurements.
Closed User Groups (CUGs):This service is meant for groups of subscribers who wish to call only each other and no one
else. Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD):This service allows operator-defined individual services.

GSM Security and Encryption

GSM is the most secured cellular telecommunications system available today. GSM has its security methods standardized.
GSM maintains end-to-end security by retaining the confidentiality of calls and anonymity of the GSM subscriber.Temporary
identification numbers are assigned to the subscriber’s number to maintain the privacy of the user. The privacy of the
communication is maintained by applying encryption algorithms and frequency hopping that can be enabled using digital
systems and signaling.
.
Mobile Station Authentication.
The GSM network authenticates the identity of the subscriber through the use of a challenge-response mechanism. A 128-bit
Random Number (RAND) is sent to the MS. The MS computes the 32-bit Signed Response (SRES) based on the encryption
of the RAND with the authentication algorithm (A3) using the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki). Upon receiving
the SRES from the subscriber, the GSM network repeats the calculation to verify the identity of the subscriber. The individual
subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never transmitted over the radio channel, as it is present in the subscriber's SIM, as well
as the AUC, HLR, and VLR databases. If the received SRES agrees with the calculated value, the MS has been successfully
authenticated and may continue. If the values do not match, the connection is terminated and an authentication failure is
indicated to the MS. The calculation of the signed response is processed within the SIM. It provides enhanced security, as
confidential subscriber information such as the IMSI or the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never released
from the SIM during the authentication process.

Signaling and Data Confidentiality

The SIM contains the ciphering key generating algorithm (A8)that is used to produce the 64-bit ciphering key (Kc). This key
is computed by applying the same random number (RAND) used in the authentication process to ciphering key generating
algorithm (A8) with the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki).
GSM provides an additional level of security by having a way to change the ciphering key, making the system more resistant
to eavesdropping. The ciphering key may be changed at regular intervals as required. As in case of the authentication process,
the computation of the ciphering key (Kc) takes place internally within the SIM. Therefore, sensitive information such as the
individual subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never revealed by the SIM. Encrypted voice and data communications between
the MS and the network is accomplished by using the ciphering algorithm A5. Encrypted communication is initiated by a
ciphering mode request command from the GSM network. Upon receipt of this command, the mobile station begins
encryption and decryption of data using the ciphering algorithm (A5) and the ciphering key (Kc).

Subscriber Identity Confidentiality

To ensure subscriber identity confidentiality, the Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) is used. Once the
authentication and encryption procedures are done, the TMSI is sent to the mobile station. After the receipt, the mobile station
responds. The TMSI is valid in the location area in which it was issued. For communications outside the location area, the
Location Area Identification (LAI) is necessary in addition to the TMSI

GSM Billing
GSM service providers are doing billing based on the services they are providing to their customers. All the parameters are
simple enough to charge a customer for the provided services.

Telephony Service
These services can be charged on per call basis. The call initiator has to pay the charges, and the incoming calls are nowadays
free. A customer can be charged based on different parameters such as:
International call or long distance call.
Local call
Call made during peak hours.
Call made during night time
Discounted call during weekends.
Call per minute or per second.
Many more other criteria can be designed by a service provider to charge their customers.

SMS Service
Most of the service providers charge their customers’ SMS services based on the number of text messages sent. There are
other prime SMS services available where service providers charge more than normal SMS charge. These services are being
availed in collaboration of Television Networks or Radio Networks to demand SMS from the audiences. Most of the time, the
charges are paid by the SMS sender but for some services like stocks and share prices, mobile banking facilities, and leisure
booking services, etc. the recipient of the SMS has to pay for the service.

GPRS Services
Using GPRS service, you can browse, play games on the Internet, and download movies. So a service provider will charge you
based on the data uploaded as well as data downloaded on your mobile phone. These charges will be based on per Kilo Byte
data downloaded/uploaded. Additional parameter could be a QoS provided to you. If you want to watch a movie, then a low
QoS may work because some data loss may be acceptable, but if you are downloading a zip file, then a single byte loss will
corrupt your complete downloaded file. Another parameter could be peak and off peak time to download a data file or to
browse the Internet.

Supplementary Services
Most of the supplementary services are being provided based on monthly rental or absolutely free. For example, call waiting,
call forwarding, calling number identification, and call on hold are available at zero cost. Call barring is a service, which
service providers use just to recover their dues, etc., otherwise this service is not being used by any subscriber. Call
conferencing service is a form of simple telephone call where the customers are charged for multiple calls made at a time. No
service provider charges extra charge for this service. Closed User Group (CUG) is very popular and is mainly being used to
give special discounts to the users if they are making calls to a particular defined group of subscribers. Advice of Charge
(AoC) can be charged based on the number of queries made by a subscribers.