GPRS

• The general packet radio service (GPRS) provides packet

mode transfer for applications that exhibit traffic patterns such
as frequent transmission of small volumes (e.g., typical web
requests) or infrequent transmissions of small or medium
volumes (e.g., typical web responses) according to the
requirement specification.
• Compared to existing data transfer services, GPRS should use
the existing network resources more efficiently for packet
mode applications, and should provide a selection of QoS
parameters for the service requesters.
• GPRS should also allow for broadcast, multicast, and unicast
service.
 The overall goal in this context is the provision of a more efficient
and, thus, cheaper packet transfer service for typical internet
applications that usually rely solely on packet transfer.

 Network providers typically support this model by charging on

volume and not on connection time as is usual for traditional GSM
data services and for HSCSD.

 The main benefit for users of GPRS is the ‘always on’ characteristic
– no connection has to be set up prior to data transfer.
• The main concepts of GPRS are as follows.
• For the new GPRS radio channels, the GSM system can allocate
between one and eight time slots within a TDMA frame.
• Time slots are not allocated in a fixed, pre-determined manner but
on demand.
• All time slots can be shared by the active users; up- and downlink
are allocated separately.
• Allocation of the slots is based on current load and
operator preferences.
• Depending on the coding, a transfer rate of up to 170
kbit/s is
possible.
• For GPRS, operators often reserve at least a time slot per cell to
guarantee a minimum data rate.
• The GPRS concept is independent of channel characteristics and of
the type of channel, and does not limit the maximum data rate.
• All GPRS services can be used in parallel to conventional services.
• In the beginning, only coding schemes CS-1 and CS-2 are available.
• The system chooses a coding scheme depending on the current error
rate.
• In phase 1, GPRS offers a point-to-point (PTP) packet transfer
service (ETSI, 1998c).
• One of the PTP versions offered is the PTP connection oriented
network service (PTP-CONS), which includes the ability of GPRS
to maintain a virtual circuit upon change of the cell within the GSM
network.
• This type of service corresponds to X.25, the typical circuit-
switched packet-oriented transfer protocol available worldwide.
• The other PTP version offered is the PTP connectionless network
service (PTP-CLNS), which supports applications that are based on
the Internet Protocol IP.
• Multicasting, called point-to-multipoint (PTM) service, is left for
GPRS phase 2.
• In phase 1, GPRS offers a point-to-point (PTP) packet transfer
service (ETSI, 1998c).
• One of the PTP versions offered is the PTP connection oriented
network service (PTP-CONS), which includes the ability of GPRS
to maintain a virtual circuit upon change of the cell within the GSM
network.
• This type of service corresponds to X.25, the typical circuit-
switched packet-oriented transfer protocol available worldwide.
• The other PTP version offered is the PTP connectionless network
service (PTP-CLNS), which supports applications that are based on
the Internet Protocol IP.
• Multicasting, called point-to-multipoint (PTM) service, is left for
GPRS phase 2.
• Users of GPRS can specify a QoS-profile.
• This determines the service precedence(high, normal, low),
reliability class and delay class of the transmission, and user data
throughput.
• GPRS should adaptively allocate radio resources to fulfill these user
specifications.
• Table 4.5 shows the three reliability classes together with the
maximum probabilities for a lost service data unit (SDU), a
duplicated SDU, an SDU out of the original sequence, and the
probability of delivering a corrupt SDU to the higher layer.
• Reliability class 1 could be used for very error-sensitive
applications that cannot perform error corrections themselves.
• If applications exhibit greater error tolerance, class 2 could be
appropriate.
• Finally, class 3 is the choice for error-insensitive applications or
applications that can handle error corrections themselves.
• Delay within a GPRS network is incurred by channel access delay,
coding for error correction, and transfer delays in the fixed and
wireless part of the GPRS network.
• The delay introduced by external fixed networks is out of scope.
• However, GPRS does not produce additional delay by buffering
packets as store and-forward networks do.
• If possible, GPRS tries to forward packets as fast as possible.
• The GPRS architecture introduces two new network elements,
which are called GPRS support nodes (GSN) and are in fact
routers.
• All GSNs are integrated into the standard GSM architecture, and
many new interfaces have been defined.
• The gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) is the interworking unit
between the GPRS network and external PDN.
• This node contains routing information for GPRS users, performs
address conversion, and tunnels data to a user via encapsulation.
• The GGSN is connected to external networks (e.g., IP or X.25) via
the Gi interface and transfers packets to the SGSN via an IP-based
GPRS backbone network (Gn interface).
• The GPRS architecture introduces two new network elements,
which are called GPRS support nodes (GSN) and are in fact
routers.
• All GSNs are integrated into the standard GSM architecture, and
many new interfaces have been defined.
• The gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) is the interworking unit
between the GPRS network and external PDN.
• This node contains routing information for GPRS users, performs
address conversion, and tunnels data to a user via encapsulation.
• The GGSN is connected to external networks (e.g., IP or X.25) via
the Gi interface and transfers packets to the SGSN via an IP-based
GPRS backbone network (Gn interface).
• The other new element is the serving GPRS support node (SGSN)
which supports the MS via the Gb interface.
• The SGSN, for example, requests user addresses from the GPRS
register (GR), keeps track of the individual MS’s location, is
responsible for collecting billing information (e.g., counting bytes),
and performs several security functions such as access control.
• The SGSN is connected to a BSC via frame relay and is basically on
the same hierarchy level as an MSC.
• The GR, which is typically a part of the HLR, stores all GPRS-
relevant data.
• GGSNs and SGSNs can be compared with home and foreign agents,
respectively, in a mobile IP network.
• In Figure 4.16, packet data is transmitted from a PDN, via
the
GGSN and SGSN directly to the BSS and finally to the MS.
• The MSC, which is responsible for data transport in the traditional
circuit-switched GSM, is only used for signaling in the GPRS
scenario.
• Before sending any data over the GPRS network, an MS must attach
to it, following the procedures of the mobility management.
• The attachment procedure includes assigning a temporal identifier,
called a temporary logical link identity (TLLI), and a ciphering
key sequence number (CKSN) for data encryption.
• For each MS, a GPRS context is set up and stored in the MS and in
the corresponding SGSN.
• This context comprises the status of the MS, the CKSN, a flag
indicating if compression is used, and routing data.
• Besides attaching and detaching, mobility management also
comprises functions for authentication, location management, and
ciphering.
• In idle mode an MS is not reachable and all context is deleted.
• In the standby state only movement across routing areas is updated
to the SGSN but not changes of the cell.
• Permanent updating would waste battery power, no updating would
require system-wide paging.
• The update procedure in standby mode is a compromise.
• Only in the ready state every movement of the MS is indicated to
the SGSN.
• All data within the GPRS backbone, i.e., between the GSNs, is
transferred using the GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP).
• GTP can use two different transport protocols, either the reliable
TCP (needed for reliable transfer of X.25 packets) or the non-
reliable UDP (used for IP packets).
• The network protocol for the GPRS backbone is IP.
• To adapt to the different characteristics of the underlying networks,
the sub network dependent convergence protocol (SNDCP) is
used between an SGSN and the MS.
• On top of SNDCP and GTP, user packet data is tunneled from the
MS to the GGSN and vice versa.
• To achieve a high reliability of packet transfer between SGSN and
MS, a special LLC is used, which comprises ARQ and FEC
mechanisms for PTP (and later PTM) services.
• A base station subsystem GPRS protocol (BSSGP) is used to
convey routing and QoS-related information between the BSS and
SGSN.
• BSSGP does not perform error correction and works on top of a
frame relay (FR) network.
• Finally, radio link dependent protocols are needed to transfer data
over the Um interface.
• The radio link protocol (RLC) provides a reliable link, while the
MAC controls access with signaling procedures for the radio
channel and the mapping of LLC frames onto the GSM physical
channels.
• The radio interface at Um needed for GPRS does not require
fundamental changes compared to standard GSM.