Department of Electronic Engineering

Introduction to GSM
Advanced Communication Systems
ELE 42ACS

Michael Feramez
[email protected]
Lecture 10
www.ee.latrobe.edu.au/~mf 23 September, 2002
1
 Background
• Pan-European Cellular System known as GSM
• Currently referred to as the Global System of
Mobile Communications.
• GSM has two main objectives: Pan-European
roaming and integration with ISDN
• GSM networks on air (August 2001) is 400 in
171 countries supporting 564.6 million users.
• World user growth expected 800.4 million by
end of July 2001. 2
GSM Subscribers Growth

Blue bars = in-year net gains

2001 is an estimate 3
GSM Subscribers by Region

4
 GSM/PSTN/ISDN

BSC MSC

M
SM SS#7
S BTS

M
SM
BTS S PSTN
M
BTS SM
S
ISDN

Others ….
5
 System Elements
• MS (Mobile Station)
 MT (Mobile Terminal)
 TE (Terminal Equipment)
• BS (Base Station)
 BTS (Base Transceiver Station)
 BSC (Base Station Controller)
• MSC (Mobile Switching Centre)

6
 OSI of GSM
Operator User
5. Operation Administration
& Maintenance OAM

4. Communication Management CM

3. Mobility Management MM

2. Radio Resource Management RR

1. Radio transmission (Physical) Transmission

7
 Functional Architecture

A Interface
Base Station Subsystem
HLR (BSS)
BTS MS
MAP

MSC BSC
MAP
Air Interface

VLR OAM
A-bis
Interface

8
 Internal Environment

OSS

MS BSS NSS

OSS Operation Subsystem

Control flow
BSS Base Station Subsystem
User data flow
MS Mobile Station
NSS Network & Switching Subsystem
9
 External Environment
Control flow
User data flow
OSS

BSS NSS PSTN

OSS Operation Subsystem BSS

BSS Base Station Subsystem
PSTN Public Switch Telephone Network
NSS Network & Switching Subsystem 10
 Um
TE MT BTS A-bis NMC ADC
MS
BTS BSC OMC OMC
TE MT
MS BTS BS

A MSC MSC

TE MT BTS
MS
BTS BSC HLR VLR
TE MT
MS BTS BS AUC EIR

A: Interface between BSC and MSC AUC: Authentication Centre

A-bis: Interface between BTS and BSC EIR: Equipment Identity Register
Um: Air Interface between MS and BTS HLR: Home Location Register 11
VLR: Visitor Location Register
 Functions of MSC
• Gateway to other networks (PSTN, ISDN, etc.),
• Paging of MS,
• MS location updating, and
• MS mobility management assisted by:
 Home Location Register (HLR), and
 Visitor Location Register (VLR).

12
 Gateway MSC (GMSC) Key Role

HLR

Directory Routing
Number Number

MSC
User GMSC
Directory Routing VLR
Number Number

GMSC handling of a domestic call 13

 System Description
Analogue 13 bit
RPE-LTP RPE-LTP
I/P to 13 bit uniform to 8
encoder decoder
uniform bit A-Law

Radio Subsystem
13 kbps PSTN
104 kbps

MSC
/
ISDN

13 bit 8 bit A-Law

RPE-LTP RPE-LTP
O/P uniform to to 13 bit
decoder encoder
Analogue uniform

8000 samples/s
Analogue 8000 8000 samples/s 8-bit A-Law
speech samples/s 13-bit uniform ITU-T G.711, G.712,
13-bit uniform code G.713, G.714
code 14
 Radio Subsystem

Encoded speech Encoded speech

456 bits/frame 456 bits/frame

Forward Radio Access Radio Access

De- Error
Error Interleaving & Mod & Demod
Interleaving Correction
Coding GMSK GMSK

Dup Dup

Radio Access Radio Access Forward

Error De-
& Demod & Mod Interleaving Error
Correction Interleaving
GMSK GMSK Coding

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 Transmission
• Speech Coding
 Regular Pulse Excitation (RPE)
 Linear Prediction Coding (LPC)
• Data Service
• Modulation - GMSK
• GSM channels
 Physical channels
 Logical channels
• Multiple-access scheme (TDMA/FDMA, FH)
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 Speech Coding
• A 4-kHz analogue signal is first converted to 64
kbps and then to 13 kbps using RPE-LPC.
• RPE generates the impulse noise to simulate the
nature of speech.
• LPC compresses the speech waveform by using
a filter with 8 transmitted coefficient.
• There are two modes of voice transmission in
GSM; continuous (normal) and discontinuous.
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Speech (13 kbps) 20 ms 20 ms
Speech coder
20 ms at 13 kbps 260 260
Channel encoder
456 bit 456 bit

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
57 bits each 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

TDMA frame (4.615 ms) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Normal Burst (NB)

Tail Bits 57 bit data Training Sequence 57 bit data Tail Bits Guard Period
1 1
3 (first 20 ms) 26 (second 20 ms) 3 8.25

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 Data Services
• The highest data rate is 9600 bps and has two
different modes.
• Transparent mode (T) employs FEC:
 2400 bps (intermediate rate is 3.6 kbps)
 4800 bps (intermediate rate is 6 kbps)
 9600 bps (intermediate rate is 12 kbps)
• Non-Transparent mode (NT) employs ARQ.

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 Modulation
• Gaussian Minimum-Shift Keying (GMSK) with
BT = 0.3 normalised bandwidth Gaussian filter.
• Transmission rate: (1/T) = 270 kbps
• Baseband: B = 270 x 0.3 = 81 kHz
• The GSM RF channel is 200 kHz which means
the bandwidth efficiency is 270 kbps / 200kHz
= 1.35 b/s/Hz

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 GMSK Modulation
cos t
cos [(t, n)]
cos [t + (t, n)]

(t, n) cos

Gaussian
dt Filter

Phase pulse shaping sin

sin [(t, n)] -sin t

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 GSM Channels
• Physical channels
 Full rate
 Half rate
 One-eighth rate
• Logical channels
 Downlink common channels
 Uplink common channel
 Signalling channels

22
 Physical Channels
• Physical channel in a TDMA system is defined
as a timeslot with a timeslot number TN in a
sequence of TDMA frames.
• GSM employs TDMA combined with FH and
hence the physical channel is partitioned in
both time and frequency.
• FH is known to be very efficient in combating
channel fading.

23
 TCH (Traffic Channels)
• TCH/F 22.8 kbps (Full Rate)
 TCH/F9.6
 TCH/F4.8
 TECH/F2.4
• TCH/H 11.4 kbps (Half Rate)
 TCH/H4.8
 TCH/H2.4
• TCH/8 (One-eighth Rate)
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 Downlink Common Channels
• FCCH - Frequency Correction Channel
• SCH - Synchronisation Channel
• BCCH - Broadcast CCH
• PAGCH - Paging and Access Grant Channel
• CBCH - Call Broadcast Channel

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 1 TDMA Frame = 8 Timeslots
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 Timeslot = 156.25 Bit Duration

Normal Burst (NB)

Tail Bits Encrypted Bits Training Sequence Encrypted Bits Tail Bits Guard Period
3 58 26 58 3 8.25

Frequency Correction Burst (FCB)

Tail Bits Fixed Bits Tail Bits Guard Period
3 142 3 8.25

Synchronisation Burst (SB)

Tail Bits Encrypted Sync Bits Extended Training Encrypted Sync Bits Tail Bits Guard Period
3 39 Sequence 64 39 3 8.25

Access Burst (AB)

Tail Bits Synchronisation Encrypted Bits Tail Bits Guard Period
8 Sequence 41 36 3 68.25
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 Uplink Common Channel
• RACH - Random Access Channel is used by
MS to access a call.
• RACH/F - Full rate, one timeslot every 8 BP.
• RACH/H - Half rate, using 23 timeslots in the
51 x 8 BP cycle.
• The frame is 8 BP (Burst Periods) of 4.615 ms
duration.

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 Signalling Channels
• CCCH - Common Control Channel
• ACCH - Associated CCH
• SACCH - Slow Associated CCH
• FACCH - Fast Associated CCH
• SDCCH - Stand-alone Dedicated CCH

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 Multiple-Access Scheme
• A combination of FDMA and TDMA
• A total of 124 FDMA channels of 200 kHz
bandwidth each.
• The Uplink frequency band 935 - 960 MHz (25
MHz) and Downlink 890 - 915 MHz (25 MHz).
• The duplex separation is 40 MHz.
• TDMA employs 8 timeslots forming a frame of
4.16 ms, 0.577 ms per timeslot.
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 TDMA/FDMA
Amplitude

45 MHz

F1 F2 F’1 F’2
F0
Cell Rx Cell Tx
Frequency 30
 Frequency Hopping
• GSM employs a slow frequency hopping rate
defined in bits per hop.
• The regular rate is 217 hops/s, with 270 kbps
transmission rate, the result is 1200 bits/hop.
• It is worth mentioning that FH improves the
propagation performance when considering the
effect of frequency selective fading.

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 Radio Resource Management
• Radio channels (resources) are allocated for
call setup, handover, and release on a call basis.
• Management involves three functions: location,
handover, and roaming.
• Three link protocols are used for RR functions:
 Radio Link Protocol (LAPDm)
 Link Access protocol (LAPD)
 Message Transfer Protocol (MTP)

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 Mobile-Originating Call

Mobile Station Base Station

Random Access

Immediate Assignment
Exchange of Call Setup Information

Traffic Channel Assignment

Data Flow

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 Mobile-Assisted Handoff (MAHO)
• MAHO algorithm is carried out within the MS.
• MS scans for another RF carrier under direction
from a BS.
• BS requests MS to measure the signal strength
of a specific RF carrier.
• Upon request, MS forwards the result to BS.
• BS initiates handover on the basis of:
 Signal strength at MS from the candidate BTS
 Signal strength at the candidate BTS from MS

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 Mobility Management
• Location updates, handovers, and roaming
• Cell selection
• Authentication:
 PIN checked locally by SIM
 GSM network RAND and SRES
• Encryption
• User identity protection - Security management,
SIM (MS side) and AUC (network side).

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 Cell Selection
MS chooses the best cell depending on:
1. The level of the signal received by MS,
2. The maximum transmission power of MS
3. Two parameters p1 and p2 specified by the cell

C1 = A - max(B, 0)
A = received level average - p1
B = p2 - maximum RF power of the MS
p1 = a value between -110 and -48 dBm
p2 = a value between 13 and 43 dBm
MS maximum power = 29 to 43 dBm

Both values of p1 and p2 are broadcast from the cell.

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 Authentication
• Authentication protects the network against
unauthorised access.
• Phase One - PIN is checked locally by the SIM.
• Phase Two - A 128-bit RAND is sent from the
network to MS.
 RAND mixes with MS’ secret parameter Ki in A3
process algorithm producing a 32-bit SRES.
 SRES (signed result) is sent from MS to network
for verification.
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Authentication Computation
RAND
Ki RAND

Ki RAND

A3 A3

SRES
SRES
Equal?

MS Network
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 User Identity Protection
• SIM (MS side) and AUC (network side) are the
repositories of the subscriber’s key Ki.
• The key Ki never transmits over the air.
• Both sides perform A3 and A8 computations.

39
 Communication Management
• CM layer provides telecommunication services
(speech, fax, and data) via RR and MM layers.
• The management functions of CM layer are:
 Call Control
 Service Management
 Short Message Service

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 1 hyperframe = 2048 superframes=2,715,648 TDMA frames (3 hours, 28 minutes, ..)

0 1 2 3 2046 2047

1 superframe = 1326 TDMA frames (6.12 s)

e.g. TCH/FS 0 1 2 49 50

e.g. BCCH 0 1 24 25

1 multiframe = 26 TDMA frames (120 ms) 1 multiframe = 51 TDMA frames (235 ms)

0 1 11 SACCH 12 13 24 Idle/SACCH 0 1 2 49 50

1 TDMA frame = 8 timeslots (4.615 ms)

0 1 2 7

1 timeslot = (156.25 bits duration ~ 0.577 ms

TB TB GP
3 58 Encrypted bits 56 bits Training Seq. 58 Encrypted bits 3 8.25

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 GSM Specification

Access method TDMA/FDMA

Frequency band (MS to BS) 890 - 915 MHz
Frequency band (BS to MS) 935 - 960 MHz
Channel bandwidth 200 kHz
Modulation GMSK
Bit rate 270.833 kbps
Filter BT = 0.3 (Gaussian)
Voice channel coding RPE-LPC Convolutional 13 kbps
Frequency Hopping Slow hopping (217 hops/s)
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 Cont.

Frame Interval 8 timeslots = 4.615 ms

Timeslot 0.577 ms
Interleaving 40 ms
Associated control channel Extra frame
Handoff method MAHO
Adaptive equalisation yes (up to 16 s time dispersion)
Users per channel 8
MS power level 0.8, 2, 5, 8, 20 Watts
Number of channels 124
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MS Mobile Station
TE Terminal Equipment
MT Mobile Terminal
BS Base Station
BTS Base Transceiver Station
BSC Base Station Controller
MSC Mobile Switching Centre
HLR Home Location Register
VLR Visitor Location Register
NMC Network Management Centre
OMC Operation and maintenance Centre
ADC Administration Centre
AUC Authentication Centre
EIR Equipment Identifier Register
44
MAHO Mobile Assisted Handoff
GMSC Gateway MSC
RPE Regular Pulse Excitation
LPC Linear Prediction Coding
BP Burst Period

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 References
• Lee, William C. Y., Mobile Cellular Telecommunications
Systems, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
• Gibson, D. Jerry, The Communications Handbook, 1997 CRC
Press, Inc.
• Good website for information: www.gsmworld.com

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