GSM ARCHITECTURE

1. Introduction
2. Wireless
communication
technique
3. Cell Concept
4. GSM RF Interface

SKGOCHHAYAT
 GSM - Network Structure
MS
Um

BTS VLR HLR

BSC
Abis MSC
A B H
MS C AuC
BTS GMSC
E F
Abis
EIR
A E
MSC

BSC PSTN
Um
BTS X.25
VLR
X.25
OMC Server
2
 GSM Network
SS
Switching
AUC System
External
PSTN & VLR HLR EIR
PDN N/W OMC
MSC
MS Mobile Station
BTS Base transceiver System
BSC Base Station Controller
MSC Mobile Switching Center BSS BSC Base Station
HLR Home Location Register
VLR Visitor Location Register BTS
System
EIR Equipment Identity Register
AUC Authentication Center MS
OMC Operation And Maintenance Center 3
 Subsystems in GSM
BSS Base Station Subsystem
NSS Network Switching Subsystem
NMS Network Management Subsystem
 GSM Architecture
GSM VMSC SMSC
Air interface
B
S
C A AUC
interface HLR
Abis
interface
TRAU MSC PSTN

B VLR
BTS S
BTS
C
BTS EIR
OMCS
BTS BTS
BTS
Network and switching subsystem

Mobile A interface SS7 / speech

Station X.25
OMCR SS7

Base Station Subsystem

NMS Network Management Subsystem 5
 Mobile Equipment(ME)
• Frequency and Time Synchronization
• Voice encoding and transmission
• Voice encryption/decryption functions
• Power measurements of adjacent cells
• Display of short messages
• International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI)

6
 SIM
• Portable Smart Card with memory (ROM-6KB to
16KB-A3/A8 algorithm, RAM- 128KB TO 256KB,
EEPROM- 3KB to 8KB )
• Static Information
– International Mobile Subscriber Identity(IMSI)
– Personal Identification Number (PIN)
– Authentication Key (Ki)
• Dynamic Information
– Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity(TMSI)
– Location Area Identity (LAI)
– Phone memories, billing information
– Ability to store Short Messages received

7
SIM-Card and GSM Mobile
Equipment
Global GSM Mobility
Card

= +
The Smart Card to use

GSM
Contains:
- IMSI

SIM-Card
 The SIM-Card Functions Credit Card Size
µ SIM-Card
Global GSM Mobility
Card
15 mm The Smart Card to use
25 mm

GSM
Permanent data:
­Unique mobile subscriber Microchip with stored
identity user information
through IMSI number and
PIMSI
for Packet Mode Removable data:
­Authentication parameter - Temporary Mobile Subscriber
Ki, Number,
­Authentication algorithm - Location Area Identification
A3, - Routing Area Identification (Packet
­Generating encryption key mode)
 Subscriber Identification
IMSI MS - ISDN

Mobile Station -
International Mobile Subscriber Identity
Nature Integrated Services Digital Network Nb

Similar to ISDN,
Conformity with E212
Conformity with E164/E213

Identify a PLMN Identify the subscriber

National Significant Mobile Number
worldwide of a PLMN

Format MCC MNC MSIN

H1 H2 x x x ......... x x x
CC NDC SN
M1 M2 xx xx xx xx

Country
Mobile Mobile Mobile Subscriber National Mobile Subscriber
Code
Meaning Country Network Ident. Nb
H1 H2 = Identity of HLR
(where Destination
(national definition)
Code Code Code * M1 M2 = nbr of logical HLR
subscription
within the home PLMN
has been made)

Nb. digits 3 2 max 10 1 to 3 2 to 4 total max 15

*
This code does not identify a geographical area
but an operator
 Description Stored in SIMGlobal
Card GSM Mobility
Card
MCC MNC The Smart Card to use
= 208 (France) =71(APBSNL)
234 (G-B) 72(TNBSNL)
262 (Germany)20 (Bytel) GSM
IMSI = 15 digits max
404,405(India)

Mobile Mobile Mobile Subscriber Identification Number (MSIN)

Country Network
Code Code H1 H2 X X X X X X
3 digits 2 digits
10 digits max

NMSI Temporary Mobile

Subscriber Identity
LAI
4 octets
Mobile Mobile
Country Network Location Area CodeRouting Area Code
Code Code LAC RAC
3 digits 2 digits

RAI
 Description Stored in the Network
MS-ISDN (15 digits max)

Country National Subscriber Number (SN) Must be dialed

Code Destination to make a call to
Code M1 M2 X X X X X X X X X X X X X mobile
subscriber
2 or 3 digits 10 digits max
3 digits max
MSRN

Is a PSTN-like
National Roaming Number (RN) number used to
Country reach a roaming
Destination
Code MS
Code
Is a PSTN-like
number to track the
National
Country MS that hands over
Destination HO-number to another MSC
Code during call-in-state
Code

CC = 33 (France) NDC = 9448(BSNL-karnataka)

9845,9880(Airtel)
091(India) 9886(Hutch)
001(US) = 660, 661, 618 (Bytel)
12
Descriptor Embodied in the
Mobile Equipment
IMEI enables the operator to
check
the Mobile Equipment
Identity
at call setup and make sure
that no stolen or
unauthorized MS
E D is used in the GSM network
Y PE OV
T PPR
A
TAC FAC SNR SP

Type Approval Serial NumbeR (SPare)

Code Final Assembly
Code
International Mobile Equipment
Identity (IMEI)

Y PE VED
T O
R
A PP
TAC FAC SNR SP

Type Approval Serial number (SPare)

Code Final Assembly
Code

351475 60 IMEI:
926514 4# 0 6 *
#
 MS Classmark
Power classes
Classmark For GMSK modulation
GSM GSM GSM
Revision level Class
400/850/900 1800 1900
RF power 1 1 W** 1 W**
2 8 W* 0.25 W 0.25 W
Encryption algorithm
3 5W 4W 2W
Frequency 2 W**
4
Short message 5 0.8 W
LoCation Services
For 8-PSK modulation
MS Positioning Method GSM
Class GSM GSM
8-PSK modulation 400/850/900 1800 1900
E1 2W 1W 1W
Multi-slot class
E2 0.5 W 0.4 W 0.4 W
* Typical value for car mounted
Multi-band E3 0.2 W 0.16 W 0.16 W
** Typical value for handheld
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
• Handles the radio interface to the mobile station.
• Consists of one or more radio terminals for
transmission and reception
• Each Radio terminal represents an RF Channel
• TRX and MS communicates over Um interface
• Received data transcoding
• Voice encryption/decryption
• Signal processing functions of the radio
interface
• Uplink Radio channel power measurements

16
Base Station Controller (BSC)
• Provides all the control functions and physical links
between the MSC and BTS
• External Interfaces
– ‘Abis’ interface towards the BTS
– ‘A’ interface towards the MSC
• Monitors and controls several BTSs
• Management of channels on the radio interface
• Alarm Handling from the external interfaces
• Performs inter-cell Handover
• Switching from ‘Abis’ link to the ‘A’ link
• Interface to OMC for BSS Management

17
 TC Function
• Conversion of 64kbps to 16kbps and vice
versa
• Used to compact the signals.
• Also used to reduce the data rate at which
traffic is transmitted over air interface
 Necessity of TC
• The 64kbps information if transmitted on
the air interface without modification would
occupy an excessive amount of
bandwidth.
• Therefore the required bandwidth is
reduced to 16Kbps.
 MSC Functions
• Call Control
• Routing of call
• Billing
Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

• Performs call switching

• Interface of the cellular network to PSTN
• Routes calls between PLMN and PSTN
• Queries HLR when calls come from PSTN to mobile
user
• Inter-BSC Handover
• Paging
• Billing

21
 HLR
• Permanent Register of the subscribers
• maintains facilities given to subscriber
Home Location Register (HLR)
• Stores user data of all Subscribers related to the
GMSC
– International Mobile Subscriber Identity(IMSI)
– Users telephone number (MS ISDN)
– Subscription information and services
– VLR address
– Reference to Authentication center for key (Ki)
• Referred when call comes from public land network

23
 VLR
• Maintains subscriber information who are
currently in its service area.
• Gives current location of the subscriber
• Temporary Database
Visitor Location Register (VLR)

• Database that contains Subscriber

parameters and location information for all
mobile subscribers currently located in the
geographical area controlled by that VLR
• Identity of Mobile Subscriber
• Copy of subscriber data from HLR
• Generates and allocates a Temporary
Mobile Subscriber Identity(TMSI)
• Location Area Code
• Provides necessary data when mobile
originates call

25
 Authentication Center (AuC)
• Stores Subscriber authentication data called Ki, a
copy of which is also stored in in the SIM card
• Generates security related parameters to authorize
a subscriber (SRES-Signed RESponse)
• Generates unique data pattern called Cipher key
(Kc) for user data encryption
• Provides triplets - RAND, SRES & Kc, to the HLR
on request.

26
 EIR (Equipment Identity
Register)
• EIR is a database that contains a list of all valid
mobile station equipment within the
network, where each mobile station is identified
by its International Mobile Equipment
Identity(IMEI).
• EIR has three databases.,
– White list - For all known,good IMEI’s
– Black list - For all bad or stolen handsets
– Grey list - For handsets/IMEI’s that are
on observation

27
 Location Area Identity
• LAI identifies a location area which is a group of
cells..
• It is transmitted in the BCCH.
• When the MS moves into another LA (detected by
monitoring LAI transmitted on the BCCH) it must
perform a LU.
• LAI = MCC + MNC + LAC
– MCC= Mobile Country Code(3 digits), identifies the country
– MNC= Mobile Network Code(1-2 digits), identifies the GSM-
PLMN
– LAC= Location Area Code, identifies a location area within a
GSM PLMN network. The maximum length of LAC is 16
bits,enabling 65536 different location areas to be defined in one
GSM PLMN.

28
 AC
• Verifies SIM cards
• Authentication of SIM is done using
authentication triplets
 ENCRIPTION/CIPHERING
To encode the burst so that it can not be
interpreted by any other device than the
receiver. The ciphering algorithm in GSM is
called A5 algorithm. It does not bits to burst,
meaning that the I/P and O/P to the ciphering
process is the same as the I/P: 456 bits per sec.

[email protected] 30
 GSM
Encryption Process
Plain Text

KEY Encryption
Process

Cipher-text
[email protected] 31
GSM
Generic Authentication Process

RAND
Ki RAND Ki

Radio Path
IMSI
A3 A3 IMSI

SRES
Response Compare
SRES
Yes/No
[email protected] 32
 Authentication

• Authentication is used to check the validity of a mobile

subscriber.

At MS At N/W

Ki Ki
RAND( 128 bits )

A3 A3

SRES SRES
=? ( 32 bits )

AUTHENTICATION

[email protected] 33
 • Ki ( 128 bits) : Identification
Key
- Purpose : Ki is used to calculate SRES and Kc.
- Ki is stored in SIM and HLR.
- Ki is never transmitted over signaling
network.
• RAND ( 128 bits ):Random Number
- Purpose : RAND is used to calculate SRES and
Kc.
• Kc ( 64 bits ) : Ciphering
Key
- Purpose : Kc is used to encrypt data over radio
interface.
• SRES ( 32 bits) :Signed Response
[email protected] 34
 Ciphering

• Ciphering is used to encrypt data on radio interface.

RAND Ki
Kc generation is done at the
time of Authentication.
A8
Frame
No. (22
bits ) Kc ( 64 bits)

A5

Ciphering Stream
Ciphered Bits
XOR
Information Bits ( 114 bits )

CIPHERING
[email protected] 35
 Authentication
Procedure-I
• Authentication procedure is always initiated and
controlled by the n/w.
The purpose of authentication procedure is two fold :
1 . To check identity provided by the MS.
2 . To supply n/w parameters to MS to calculate Kc.

Authentication Request
TIME

Authentication Response

Authentication Reject

MS AUTHENTICATION PROCEDURE N/W

[email protected] 36
Authentication done on each location update and for each new service.but not always,decided by
 Authentication Procedure -II
-When to start Authentication ?
-N/W decides to initiate authentication in the following
scenarios:
A. If CKCN( Ciphering Key Seq. No.) in any initial message from
MS does not match with that stored at self end.
B. After some predetermined number of accesses to the N/W

[email protected] 37
 Authentication Procedure-III
1. N/W initiates authentication by sending Authentication Request
message to the MS
2. Authentication Response by the MS
--MS calculates SRES and Kc after getting RAND from
AUTHENTICATION REQUEST MESSAGE .
-It stores Kc and CKSN (from message) into SIM.
-It sends SRES to the N/W.
3.Authentication Response Processing at N/W
- N/W compares SRES received from MS and that stored at self end.

[email protected] 38
 Authentication Procedure
- If mismatch occures, N/W sends Authentication Reject message
to MS and cleans up all MM( Mobility & Management )
connections.
-If it matches then N/W proceeds for further activities.
4.Authentication Reject message at MS
- Ms sets update status in MS to ROAMING NOT ALLOWED.
-deletes TMSI, LAI and CKSN from SIM.
-considers SIM as invalid until MS switched off or SIM removed.

[email protected] 39
 Authentication Procedure-
Authentication Triplets V
:
- At n/w side, authentication procedure requires
authentication triplets.
- Authentication triplets
contains
-RAND ( 128
bits
- SRES). ( 32
-bits
Kc ().64
bits
- The).network can have more than one triplets.
- The operator can allow reuse of triplets.
- The index of currently used triplet is called CKSN
( Ciphering Key Sequence
Number ).
[email protected] 40
 EIR
• Used for security purposes
• Checks IMEI
• Contains 3 Lists ( White LIST
GREY LIST
Black LIST )
 Black List
• List consisting of Stolen mobile
Instrument’s Serial nos ie., IMEIs
 BSNL
Network Architecture
1 MSC=16 BSC
1 BSC=1024 TRU
OSS
HLR

B
T
PSTN
S ISDN

B TC TC
T
S BSC
BSC MSC VLR
Data
Networks
A Interface
B A-bis interface
T
S

Air interface MSC VLR

14
 GMSC
• GMSC: Call connections between PLMNs ,
routed to a GMSC.The GMSC contains the
Inter working functions to make these
connections
 Interfaces
• MS to BTS ( Air interface)
• BTS to BSC ( Abis Interface)
• BSC to TC ( Ater interface)
• TC to MSC ( A Interface)
• MSC to VLR ( B Interface)
• MSC to HLR ( C Interface)
• HLR to VLR ( D Interface)
 Interfaces
• MSC to other MSC ( E interface)
• MSC to EIR ( F Interface)
• VLR to other VLR ( G Interface)
 GSM System Architecture
BSS NSS
16Kb/s GSTN
R TRAU MSC
64Kb/s
A ISDN
BSC
D VLR
I BTS SS7
O
HLR NSS
MS
BSS : Base Station Sub-system NSS : Network and Switching Sub-system
BSC : Base Station Controller MSC: Mobile service Switching Center
BTS : Base Transceiver Station HLR : Home Location Register 47
TRAU : Transcoder / Rate Adapter Unit VLR : Visitors Location Register
GSM
Transcoder Configurations
64Kbps
To MS BTS TRAU BSC MSC To fixed
networks

64Kbps
To MS BTS
16 Kbps BSC TRAU MSC To fixed
networks

A-bis
To MS BTS BSC TRAU MSC To fixed
Interface
networks
RF Air
A
Interface
Interface
13 kbps encoded voice/ 12 kbps data
16 kbps transmission
64 kbps transmission

Transcoder (XC) configurations

[email protected] 48
Within the BSS, the user-and
signalling data is transported
Various
over a series of interfaces Interfaces
•The A interface connects the
Mobile Services Switching
Center (MSC) with the
TranscoderTC
•The A-ter interface connects
the Transcoder with the Base
Station Controller (BSC)
•The A-bis interface connects
the BSC with the Base
Transceiver Station (BTS)
•Finally, the data is transmitted
to the mobile station via the
air interface Um
 Overview of Interfaces

• Abis
 between
BTS and
BSC
 primary
functions:
traffic
channel
transmission.

• Um
 Radio interface between MS and BTS
 each physical channel supports a number of logical
• A
 between BSC and MSC
 primary functions: message transfer between different
BSCs to the MSC
THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS OF
THE GSM NETWORK
Duplexing Methods for Radio
Links

Base Station

Forward link
Reverse link

Mobile Station
 Paired Radio Channels in GSM
Case of GSM 900

Uplink Downlink BTS

890 MHz Frequency 915 MHz935 MHz Frequency 960 MHz

0 channel # 124 0 channel # 124

Example:
Channel 48
Duplex spacing = 45 MHz
Frequency band spectrum = 2 x 25 MHz
Channel spacing = 200 kHz

54
 Duplex Technique
• Duplex - How the up link and Down link of a
user is separated
• FDD - Frequency Division Duplex
– (eg:In GSM the up link and down link of a user is
separated by 45MHz )
• TDD - Time Division Duplex
– (the up link and down link of a user will be at the same
frequency but at different Time )

55
 Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)
• Forward link frequency and reverse link frequency is
different
• In each link, signals are continuously transmitted in
parallel.

Forward link (F1)

Reverse link (F2) Base Station

Mobile Station
 Example of FDD systems

Mobile Station Base Station

Transmitter BPF BPF Transmitter

F1 F2

Receiver BPF BPF Receiver

F2 F1

BPF: Band Pass Filter

 Time Division Duplex (TDD)
• Forward link frequency and reverse link frequency is the
same.
• In each link, signals take turns just like a ping-pong
game.

Forward link (F1)

Reverse link (F1)

Base Station

Mobile Station
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
 Example of TDD Systems

Mobile Station Base Station

Transmitter Transmitter

BPF BPF
Receiver F1 F1 Receiver

Synchronous Switches

BPF: Band Pass Filter

 Duplexing Methodology
• Frequency Division Duplexing FDD
• Time Division Duplexing TDD
• GSM and CDMA systems use Frequency
Division Duplexing and corDECT uses
Time Division Duplexing
 GSM Band Allocations (MHz)
GSM Duplex Duplex
Uplink Downlink Band
systems Spacing channels
2x7.
450.4- 460.4- 2
GSM 450 10 35
457.6 467.6 2x7.
GSM 480 10 35
478.8-486 488.8-496 2
GSM 850 45 124
824-849 869-894
2x25

GSM 900 890-915 935-960 2x25 45 124

E-GSM (900) 880-915 925-960 2x35 45 174
R-GSM (900) 876-880 921-925 2x04 41 40

GSM 1800 1710-1785 1805-1880 2x75 95 374

GSM 1900
Frequencies 1850-1910
are in MHz 1930-1990 2x60 80 299

Carrier frequency = ARFCN = Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number

Traffic Traffic/Signaling
«bla bla bla...»

Signaling « RING ! »
riiiiing

Network
GSM System specifications
Frequency band
Uplink 890 - 915 MHz
Downlink 935 - 960MHz
Duplex Frequency Spacing 45MHz
Carrier separation 200KHz
Frequency Channels 124
Time Slots /Frame(Full Rate) 8
Voice Coder Bit Rate 13Kbps
Modulation GMSK
Air transmission rate 270.833333 Kbps
Access method FDMA/TDMA
Speech Coder RPE-LTP-LPC

63
 MS
GSM - Network Structure
Um

BTS VLR HLR

BSC
Abis MSC
A B H
MS C AuC
BTS GMSC
E F
Abis
EIR
A E
MSC

BSC PSTN
Um
BTS X.25
VLR
X.25
OMC Server
64
 Access Techniques
Uplink 890 MHz to 915 MHz
Down Link 935 MHz to 960 MHz
25 MHz divided into 125 channels of 200 KHz
bandwidth

UP 890.0 890.2 890.4 914.8 915.0

DOWN935.0 935.2 935.4 959.8 960.0

65
 Access Techniques ...

Time Division Multiple Access

Each carrier frequency subdivided in time
domain into 8 time slots
Each mobile transmits data in a frequency, in
its particular time slot - Burst period = 0.577
milli secs.
8 time slots called a TDMA frame. Period
is .577 * 8 = 4.616 milli secs
0.577 ms

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4.616 ms
66
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
 Basic Components of GSM
AUC other VLRs

Base Station Subsystem (BSS) H G

D
EIR HLR VLR OMC

F C B
BTS other BSSs
A-bis Mobile
A Services
BSC Switching
BTS PSTN
Centre
Um ISDN
(MSC)
CSPDN
BTS
PSPDN
E
MS other MSCs
BTS: Base Transceiver Station
BSC: Base Station Controller
HLR: Home Location Register
VLR: Visited Location Register
OMC: Operation & Maintenance Centre
EIR: Equipment Identity Register
AUC: Authentication Centre
69
 GSM Radio Interface - CYCLES

Hyperframe = 2048 Superframes

3 Hours 28 Minutes 53 Seconds and 760 milliseconds

0 2047

Superframe = 26× 51
multiframes
0 6.12 Seconds 50

0 25

26 Multiframe 51 Multiframe
120 mS Approx 235 mS
0 1 2 24 25 0 1 48 49 50
TDMA
frame
4.615 mS
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 Organisation of Speech & Data
Frames 0-11 : TCH Frames 12 : Frames 13-24 : Frames 25 :
SACCH TCH Unused

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 – frame
multiframe
Duration: 120 ms
TDMA frame
BP 0 BP 1 BP 2 BP 3 BP 4 BP 5 BP 6 BP 7 Duration: 60/13
ms
=4.615
ms

3 57 1 26 1 57 3 8.25
Tail Data Stealin Training Stealin Data Tail Guar
bit bits g sequenc g bits bits d
s bit e bit bits
Normal burst
Duration 15/26
ms
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
SKGOCHHAYAT SDE COMPUTER
BSNL CUTACK
 Fundamentals
960 MHz

959.8MHz 12 TS: Time slot

4

DOWNLI 12 GSM utilizes two bands of 25 MHz. 890-915 MHz

Downlink (TDMA frame) = 8 TS
NK
3 band is used for uplink while the 935-960 MHz is
… used for downlink.
200KHz

935.2 Mhz …. 3
The frequency bands are divided into 200 KHz
935 MHz
…
…
0 1 2 4 5 6 7
wide channels called ARFCNs (Absolute Radio
Frequency Channel Numbers) i.e. there are 125
2 Data burst = 156.25 bit periods
ARFCNs out of which only 124 are used.
= 576.9s
915 MHz1
Each ARFCN supports 8 users with each user
914.8 MHz
12 transmitting / receiving on a particular time slot
45 MHz 4 (TS).
200KHz 12 Delay 3
UPLINK 3
…
0 1 2 4(TDMA
Uplink 5 6frame)
7
890.2 MHz ….
…
890 MHz
… Therefore 1 TDMA frame = 156.25 x 8 = 1250 bits
2 and has a duration of 576.92s x 8 = 4.615 ms
The technology
75
1
 GSM Delays Uplink TDMA Frames
BTS side The start of the uplink TDMA TDMA Frame (4.615 ms)
is delayed of three time-slots
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
R R R R R R R R
Downlink TDMA

BTS
T T T T T T T T

Down Up
MSs side
link link

MS1 R T

MS2 R T

Fixed transmit
delay of three
time-slots
 Timing Advance
1 - Propagation Delay

d2 d1>>d2 M1
M2

BTS Frame reference TS0 TS1 TS2 TS3 TS4 TS5 TS6 TS7

Propagation Delay tp
Bits Overlapping
MSs transmit
 Timing Advance
Without Timing Advance: Collision
TX BTS CAN WHAT GSM HOW WHEN WHAT
RX BTS yes the ms-isdn
TA
RX MS1 CAN
TX MS1 +3TS yes

RX MS2 WHAT
TX MS2 the

RX MS3 GSM
D
TX MS3
D ms-isdn

RX MS4 HOW
TX MS4

RX MS5
TX MS5 Propagation Delay WHEN

RX MS6 WHAT
TX MS6

RX MS7
TX MS7

RX MS8
TX MS8

78
 Timing Advance
3 - With Timing Advance: No Collision
TX BTS CAN WHAT GSM HOW WHEN WHAT
RX BTS yes the ms-isdn

RX MS1 CAN
TX MS1 +3TS - TA yes

RX MS2 WHAT
TX MS2 D the

RX MS3 GSM
TX MS3 D ms-isdn

RX MS4 HOW
TX MS4

RX MS5
TX MS5
Propagation Delay WHEN

RX MS6 WHAT
TX MS6

RX MS7
TX MS7
Timing Advance = 2 * Propagation Delay
RX MS8
TX MS8

79
 GSM Time Division Multiplex
Frame
Time-slot
and
TDMA frame
Physical Channels
TDMA frame

TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

(frames repeat continuously)

Time
0 4.615 ms 9.23 ms

Physical channel # 2 = recurrence of time-slot # 2

 Physical Channel
BTS
BTS time Without FH
With FH
n+1
TDMAs
7
n TS
0

n-1 MS1

MS2

MS3

1 //
FDMA 2 124 ARFCN
 Radio Link Aspects
• From Speech to RF Signal
HALLO... HALLO...
Digitizing and
Source Decoding
Source Coding

Channel Coding Channel Decoding

Interleaving De-interleaving

Ciphering Deciphering

Burst Formatting Burst De-formatting

Modulating Demodulating
 GSM - FDMA/TDMA
935-960 MHz
124 channels (200 kHz)
downlink
cy
en
qu

890-915 MHz
fre

124 channels (200 kHz)

uplink
higher GSM frame structures
time

GSM TDMA frame

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4.615 ms

GSM time-slot (normal burst)

guard guard
space tail user data S Training S user data tail space
3 bits 57 bits 1 26 bits 1 57 bits 3
546.5 µs
577 µs 83
S: indicates data or control; tail = 000
GSM Coding and Modulation: Speech

Viterbi’s Use GMSK, a

algorithm variant derived from
OQPSK (270k
sym/sec);
but 1 bit/symbol

An option of slow
hopping per slot

84
GSM Coding and Modulation: Speech

• Source speech coding:

– one sample (260 bits) per 20 ms
Audio sample (20ms)

85
 GSM Speech: Convolutional Encoding

A Flip-Flop stores one bit for

one unit of time
y1

x: 101100…
y2

86
 GSM Channel Encoding
• Encode the important segments (Types Ia
Ib) of each audio sample using
convolutional coding

87
 Interleaving
• Spread a single audio sample (20 ms) into
8 bursts

88
 GSM
Speech to Radio waves
Analog Analog

Speech Coding Speech Decoding

Channel Coding Channel Decoding

Interleaving De-interleaving

Burst formatting Burst formatting

Ciphering Deciphering

Modulation Demodulation
200kHz BW 200kHz BW
 GSM Timeslot and Frame structure

Frequency

200KHz

BP time
15/26ms
interval
SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 90
The 8-PSK characteristics
Figure 5.15 Time domain for an 8-QAM signal
The 4-QAM and 8-QAM constellations
 π/4-Shifted QPSK
• Variation on QPSK
– Restricted carrier phase transition to +/-π/4 and +/- 3π/4
– Signaling elements selected in turn from two QPSK constellations,
each shifted by π/4
– Maximum phase change is ±135° vs. 180° for QPSK, thus
maintaining constant envelope (i.e., amplitude of QPSK signal not
constant for short interval during 180° phase changes)
• Popular in Second Generation Systems
– North American Digital Cellular (IS-54): 1.62 bps/Hz
– Japanese Digital Cellular System: 1.68 bps/Hz
– European TETRA System: 1.44 bps/Hz
– Japanese Personal Handy Phone (PHP)
QPSK modulation
QPSK receiver
 MINIMUM SHIFT KEYING (MSK)
MSK is a special form of binary CPFSK. Two level FSK modulation,
where transmission bit rate “R” is exactly four times the frequency
shift (between 1s and 0s) is called Minimum Shift Keying MSK has
following properties.
a) For a modulation bit rate of R Higher frequency = f + 0.25R and
Lower frequency = f - 0.25R and hence difference between higher
and lower frequency = 0.5R
b) The signal has a constant envelope.
MSK is attractive because it has relatively compact spectrum and its
out-of-band performance is better than FSK.
An ETSI standard DECT technology uses Gaussian filtered frequency
shift keying (GFSK) with a nominal deviation of 288 Khz. It has
properties of a constant envelope and relatively narrow bandwidth
modulation scheme.
 Minimum Shift Keying
• Special form of (continuous phase) frequency shift
keying
– Minimum spacing that allows two frequencies states to be
orthogonal
– Spectrally efficient, easily generated
Generating Minimum Shift Keying
 Simple GMSK modulation and demodulation

EE 552/452 Spring 2007

 Gaussian Minimum Shift
Keying(GMSK)
• MSK + premodulation Gaussian low pass filter
• Increases spectral efficiency with sharper cutoff,
excellent power efficiency due to constant
envelope
• Used extensively in second generation digital
cellular and cordless telephone applications
– GSM digital cellular: 1.35 bps/Hz
– DECT cordless telephone: 0.67 bps/Hz
– RAM Mobile Data
 Duplexing and Multiple Access
Techniques in use
No Name of Multiple Access Duplexing
System

1 GSM FDMA-TDMA FDD

2 CDMA CDMA FDD

3 Cor- TDMA-multi carrier TDD

DECT
 Cellular Concepts:
“Grade Of Services”(GOS).
Radius Area Subscriber Total RF
(Sq.KM) Traffic Channels
1 3.14 100 3.0E 8

3 28.03 900 27E 38

10 314 10000 300E 360

Providing 360 RF channels for 10,000 subscribers in an area of 314 sq.km

on a single base station is not feasible and if still either the area of coverage
or sub density increases, the system cannot function at all for want of
bandwidth
 Advantages & Disadvantage
• Advantages of Cellular Principle
• Base stations can transmit at low power
compared to a single high power transmitter.
• It requires less RF bandwidth to cover a given
area. Frequency reuse gives good spectrum
efficiency. (FDMA-TDMA)
• Disadvantage of cellular principle
• Reuse introduces interference.
• Established calls should be handed over to next
cell to avoid dropping of calls when the customer
is in mobility.
 Mobile Environment
• Unlike connectivity differs from UHF/Microwave (LOS)
system. In mobile communication due to the mobility of
the user from the BTS LOS to BTS may exist or may not
exist.
• The radio wave is subject to:
Attenuation
Reflection
Doppler shift
Interference from other transmitter.
Note: These effects cause loss of signal strength and
distortion which will impact the quality of voice or data.
To cope with the harsh conditions, any mobile
technology makes use of an efficient and protective
signal processing. Proper cellular design must ensure
that sufficient radio coverage is provided in the area.
 Basic Cellular Concept
frequency re-use

base station

skgochhayat 106
CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS

WHAT IS A CELL ?
• A base station (transmitter) having a
number of RF channels is called a cell

• Each cell covers a a limited

number of mobile subscribers
within the cell boundaries
( Coverage area)

• Typical Cell Radius = 35 Km

(Start up), 1 KM (Mature)
107
 Cells
D3 A1 C2 C3 B1 D2

• A cell is the basic geographic C1 A2 A3 D1 B2 B3 C1

unit of cellular system. C3 B1 D2 D3 A1 C2 C3

• The term cellular comes from
A1 B2 B3 C1 A2
the honeycomb areas into A3 D1

which a coverage region is D2 A1 C2 C3 B1 D2

A1 D3

divided.
• Cells are base stations
transmitting over small
geographic areas that are
represented as hexagons.
• Each cell size varies
depending upon landscape.
Because of constraint imposed
by natural terrain and man-
made structures, the true
shape of cell is not a perfect
hexagon.
 Features of Digital Cellular Systems
Small cells
A cellular system uses many base stations with relatively small
coverage radii (on the order of a 100 m to 35 km).
Frequency reuseThe spectrum allocated for a cellular network is
limited. As a result there is a limit to the number of channels or
frequencies that can be used. For this reason each frequency is used
simultaneously by multiple base-mobile pairs. This frequency reuse
allows a much higher subscriber density per MHz of spectrum than
other systems. System capacity can be further increased by reducing
the cell size (the coverage area of a single base station), down to
radii as small as 200 m.
Small, battery-powered handsets In addition to supporting much
higher densities than previous systems, this approach enables the
use of small, battery-powered handsets with a radio frequency that is
lower than the large mobile units used in earlier systems.
Performance of handovers
In cellular systems, continuous coverage is achieved by executing a
“handover” (the seamless transfer of the call from one base station to
another) as the mobile unit crosses cell boundaries. This requires the
mobile to change frequencies under control of the cellular network.
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS

2
7 3 2
1 7 3 Given Freq Resource
R D
6 4 1
5 6 4
5 12 3 456 7
Frequency Reuse Pattern “N”=7

CELLULAR PRINCIPLE N=7

The spectrum allocated for a cellular network is limited. A cellular network can only
provide service to a large number of subscribers, if the channels allocated to it can
be reused. Channel reuse is implemented by using the same channels within cells
located at different positions in the cellular network service area.
110
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS

2 GIVEN FREQ.
RESOURCE
7 3

1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 4
5

A group of cells is called a cluster.

No frequencies are reused in a cluster .
111
 Cluster

4 1
3 5 2
1 3
2 6
7

K=7 K=3
 Frequency Utilization v.s. K
Frequency can’t be reused in the same pattern
(K is the no of Cell in the Cluster
K=i²+j²+I*j)
1. Larger K
i. More channels in a pattern
ii. then performance increases
iii. Call capacity decreases per cell
2. Smaller K
i. Less channels in a pattern, high channel
distortion
ii. performance decreases
iii. Call capacity increases per cell
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
CO-CHL INTERFERENCE :Interference caused by
another cell/mobile using the same frequency

Co Chl Interference is
a Function of “Q”
the re-use ratio:
D
R Q =D / R

Higher Q Reduced Co-Chl Interference 

Lower Q Increased Co-Chl Interference 
114
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
N Q=D/R Remarks
1 1.73 LOWER Q
Higher Interference X
3 3 Increased System Handling
Capacity
4 3.46 Higher Q
Less Interference 
7 4.58 Higher N, More Cluster Size

9 5.20 Less RF freq/cell

12 6.00 Less Traffic Handling
Capacity of the system

Q = D /R = 3N N =Cluster Size( No. of cell)

R = Size (Radius of Cell)
CO - Chl Interference D = Distance between two Co- Chl Cells
 Cell Mode Layout

Omni-directional cell
O
Adopt omni-directional antenna
the overall directional propagation
characteristic is the same.

Directional cell

In general, cell with multi-sector is in

common use. Every directional cell
adopts directional antenna.
SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 116
 BTS Mode
 Capacity

When the traffic is very low, and no possibility for quick increment, Omni-
directional cell is used in common. Otherwise, we suggest to adopt the sector
cell.

Note: TRX-transceiver,each TRX handles 1 frequency.

 Coverage Area
Sector cell is often used to enlarge the cell coverage radius because of the
higher antenna gain.
For special coverage ,such as road coverage, two-sector cell is adopted firstly.

SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 117

 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
Co- Chl Interference Reduction Technique
• Use Directional Antennas Instead of Omni Directional Antennas
• Antenna Front to Back Coupling Reduces Potential Interference
• Receives interference from lesser directions

f3
1
3 * f1
2

Omni Directional
f2 Three Sectored Cell

118
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
Improvement in Co- Chl Interference

f3
1
3 * f1
2

f2 Three Sectored Cell

Q= 4.6 ,N=7 , S/I=14 db (Omni) S/I= 24.5 dB (Three Sectored)

Q= 4.6 ,N=7 , S/I=14 db (Omni) S/I= 29 dB (Six Sectored)

119
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
FREQUENCY REUSE PATTERN

f3
1
3 * f1
2

f2 Three Sectored Cell

GSM = 4/12 ; 4 Cell Pattern & each cell with 3 sectors

DAMPS = 7/21 ; 7 Cell Pattern & each cell with 3 sectors

CDMA = 1/3 ; 1 Cell Pattern & each cell with 3 sectors

120
 CELLULAR MOBILE CONCEPTS
FREQUENCY REUSE PATTERN

4/12 7/21

121
 Cell Planning

• Reusing frequencies
in different
7-cell reuse
geographic areas: pattern
– 7 cell repeat pattern A1
A3
is typical, but other G1 A2 B1
A1 G3 B3
patterns are also A3
A2 B1 G2 C1 B2
G3 G1 B3 C3
common. B2 F1 C2 D1
G2 C1 F3 D3
– 7/21 cell pattern C3
C2 D1 F2 E1 D2
F1 D3 E3
F3 D2 E2
F2 E1
E3 Frequency
E2
reuse
 Cell Patterns

4 1
3 5 2
1 3
2 6
7

K=7 K=3
 Frequency Reuse

D3 A1 C2 C3 B1 D2

C1 A2 A3 D1 B2 B3 C1

C3 B1 D2 D3 A1 C2 C3

A1 B2 B3 C1 A2 A3 D1

D2 A1 C2 C3 B1 D2
A1 D3

“4 ´ 3” reuse mode:
one group includes 3 sectors /site ,12 frequency which are
distributed to 4 sites. Every site owns 3 frequency.

SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 124

 Frequency Reuse

B3 A1 B2 B3 A1 B2

C1 A2 A3 C1 A2 A3 C1

C3 B1 C2 C3 B1 C2 C3

A1 B2 B3 A1 B2 B3 A1

A3 C1 A2 A3 C1 A2
A1 A3

“3 ´ 3” reuse mode:
one group includes 3 sectors /site ,9 frequency which
are distributed to 3 sites. Every site owns 3 frequency.
SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 125
The Cellular Concept: Spatial Reuse

Note:
Today w/ CDMA or WIMAX there can be frequency reuse of 1.
 Cells In Reality
• Cellular model vs reality: shadowing and
variable large-scale propagation due to
environment
 Interference In Cellular Networks
• Assume the asynchronous users sharing the
same bandwidth and using the same radio
base station in each coverage area or cell.
– Intra-cell/co-channel interference due to
the signal from the other users in the
home cell.
– Inter-cell/adjacent channel interference
due to the signal from the users in the
other cell.
– Interference due to the thermal noise.

• Methods for reducing interference:

– Frequency reuse: in each cell of cluster
pattern different frequency is used
• By optimizing reuse pattern the
problems of interference can be
reduced significantly, resulting in
increased capacity.
– Reducing cell size: in smaller cells the
frequency is used more efficiently: cell
sectoring, splitting
– Multilayer network design (overlays):
macro-, micro-, pico-cells
Cell Splitting increases capacity
 Trend towards Smaller Cells
• Drivers:
– Need for higher capacity in areas with high user density
– Reduced size and cost of base station electronics.
• [Large cells required $1 million base stations]
– Lower height/power, closer to street.

• Issues:
– Mobiles traverse a small cell more quickly than a large cell.
• Handoffs must be processed more quickly.
– Location management becomes more complicated, since there
are more cells within a given area where a mobile may be located.
– May need wireless backhaul (NLOS backhaul hops may be required
also)
– Wireless propagation models don’t work for small cells.
• Microcellular systems are often designed using square or
triangular cell shapes, but these shapes have a large margin of
error
 Sectoring improves S/I

• Capacity increase > 3X.

• Each sector can reuse time and code slots.
• Interference is reduced by sectoring, since users only
experience interference from the sectors at their frequency.
 SIR w/ and w/o 3 Sectors

Source: J. Andrews et al, Fundamentals of Wimax

 Sectoring: Tradeoffs
More antennas.
Reduces trunking efficiency.
Even though intersector handoff is simpler
compared to intercell handoff, sectoring
also increases the overhead due to the
increased number of inter-sector handoffs.
In channels with heavy scattering, desired
power can be lost into other sectors, which
can cause inter-sector interference as well
as power loss.
 Traffic Engineering
• Frequency Reuse
– In designing a frequency reuse plan, it is necessary to develop a
regular pattern on which to assign frequencies
– The hexagon is chosen because it most closely approximated the
coverage produced by an omni or sector site
– Common reuse factor : 4/12, 7/21
Mobility/Handoff in Umbrella Cells

Avoids multiple handoffs.

“Overlay” Wireless Networks: Mobility & Handover
 Basic Components of GSM
AUC other VLRs

Base Station Subsystem (BSS) H G

D
EIR HLR VLR OMC

F C B
BTS other BSSs
A-bis Mobile
A Services
BSC Switching
BTS PSTN
Centre
Um ISDN
(MSC)
CSPDN
BTS
PSPDN
E
MS other MSCs
BTS: Base Transceiver Station
BSC: Base Station Controller
HLR: Home Location Register
VLR: Visited Location Register
OMC: Operation & Maintenance Centre
EIR: Equipment Identity Register
AUC: Authentication Centre
SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 137
 Frequency Resource

GSM900 : EGSM900 :
up: 890~915MHz up: 880~890MHz
down: 935~960MHz down: 925~935MHz
duplex interval: 45MHz duplex interval: 45MHz
bandwidth: 25MHz ， bandwidth: 10MHz ，
frequency interval: 200KHz
frequency interval: 200KHz

GSM1800 : GSM1900MHz:
up: 1710-1785MHz up:1850~1910MHz
down: 1805-1880MHz down:1930~1990MHz
duplex interval: 95MHz ， duplex interval: 80MHz ，
working bandwidth: 75MHz ， working bandwidth: 60MHz ，
frequency interval: 200KHz frequency interval: 200KHz

SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 138

 Frequency Resource

Single Band Network General Priority

Which one? 900MHz High

1800MHz

Low
1900MHz

New Operator
Reason
Propagation
Characteristic

For Operator For Subscriber

SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 139
 Frequency Resource

Single Band Network

Single Band 900MHz

Dual Band 1800MHz

Triple Band 1900MHz

In a sense, the network determines the handsets can be selected.

But nowadays, most handsets support dual band.

SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 140

 Frequency Resource
Single Band Network
Cell coverage radius :

We know

Propagation characteristic

The higher the propagation

frequency 900MHz
1800MHz
The higher the propagation loss
1900MHz
The smaller the cell coverage radius.
SDE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 141
 Radio Resource management
• Establish stable connections between the
mobile stations and the BSC (Base Station
Controller)
• Maintain them despite user movement for
the duration of a call.
• Release the connections between the
mobile stations and the BSC.
Parameters related to Optimization
Areas of improvement :
Power Control.
Discontinuous transmission.
Handover.
Call re-establishment.
Frequency hopping.
Traffic distribution.
Minimization of interference.
 Types of Logical Channels
• Traffic channel
• Broadcast channels
• Common control channels
• Dedicated control channels
 Traffic Channels
• TCH/F (Traffic CHannel Full rate)
• The TCH/F carries information at a gross bit rate of 22.8
kbit/s (after channel coding). The net (or effective) bit
rate at the TCH/F is for speech 13 kbit/s and for data 12,
6 or 3.6 kbit/s (before channel coding). The transmission
rates of the data services allow services which are
compatible to the existing, respectively, 9.6, 4.8 and 2.4
kbit/s PSTN and ISDN services.
• TCH/H (Traffic CHannel Half rate)
• The TCH/H carries information at a gross bit rate of 11.4
kbit/s. The net bit rate at the TCH/H is for speech 5.6
kbit/s and for data 6 or 3.6 kbit/s.
• A TCH/F or a TCH/H may also be used to send signaling
information (for example call forwarding and short
messages). In that case a small portion of the time slot is
used.
 GSM Radio Interface - CYCLES

Hyperframe = 2048 Superframes

3 Hours 28 Minutes 53 Seconds and 760 milliseconds

0 2047

Superframe = 26× 51
multiframes
0 6.12 Seconds 50

0 25

26 Multiframe 51 Multiframe
120 mS Approx 235 mS
0 1 2 24 25 0 1 48 49 50
TDMA
frame
4.615 mS
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 Organisation of Speech & Data
Frames 0-11 : TCH Frames 12 : Frames 13-24 : Frames 25 :
SACCH TCH Unused

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 – frame
multiframe
Duration: 120 ms
TDMA frame
BP 0 BP 1 BP 2 BP 3 BP 4 BP 5 BP 6 BP 7 Duration: 60/13
ms
=4.615
ms

3 57 1 26 1 57 3 8.25
Tail Data Stealin Training Stealin Data Tail Guar
bit bits g sequenc g bits bits d
s bit e bit bits
Normal burst
Duration 15/26
ms
Signaling Channels
Signaling channel

Broadcast Common Control Standalone

Channels (BCH Channels (CCCH) Dedicated
Control Channel
(SDCCH)
Cell Broadcast Paging Channel
Channel (CBCH) (PCH)
Associated Control
Channel (ACCH)

Synchronization Random Access

Channel (SCH) Channel (RACH) Fast Associated
Control Channel
(FACCH)

Access Grant
Frequency Channel (AGCH)
Correction
Channel (FCCH) Slow Associated
Control Channel
(SACCH)

Broadcast Control
Channel (BCCH)
 Traffic Channels
Full Rate Traffic Channel
(TCH/FS)

Traffic Channel Multiframes are composed of only 26 TDMA frames. On each

multiframe, there are 24 frames for Traffic Channels, 1 frame for a SACCH, and
the last frame is Idle.
Half Rate Traffic Channel
(TCH/HS)

When using Half-Rate Speech Encoding (TCH/HS), the speech encoding bit
rate is 5.6 kb/s, so one time slot can handle two half-rate channels. In this
case, one channel will transmit every other TDMA frame, and the other
channel would be transmitted on the other frames. The final frame (25), which
is normally used as an Idle frame, is now used as a SACCH for the second
half-rate channel.
GSM-Frame Structure
Here is the math:

As you remember from the Introduction to TDMA Tutorial. A

single time slot has a data throughput of 24.7 kilobits per second
(kb/s).

1. Calculate bits per TCH Multiframe: 114 bits per burst, 24 of the
26 frames used for voice/data.
114 bits × 24 frames = 2736 bits

2. Calculate bits per microsecond (ms): 2736 bits per TCH

multiframe, multiframe duration = 120ms
2736 bits ÷ 120ms = 22.8 bits/msec
3. Convert microseconds (ms) to seconds:
22.8 bits/sec × 1000 = 22,800 bits per second (22.8 kb/s)
 GSM
Mobile Station - Power Levels
POWER MAXIMUM PEAK TOLERANCE TOLERANCE REMARK
CLASS POWER (dB) NORMAL (dB) EXTREME

1 20W(43dbm) ±2 dB ±2.5 dB

2 8W(39dbm) ±2 dB ±2.5 dB Vehi

cle
3 5W(37dbm) ±2 dB ±2.5 dB mou
nted
4 2W(33dbm) ±2 dB ±2.5 dB

5 .8W(29dbm) ±2 dB ±2.5 dB
 Power Control

Signal
Range (in dBm)
Level
0 Rxlevel < -110
1 -110 < Rxlevel < -109
2 -109 < Rxlevel < -108
3 -108 < Rxlevel < -107
.. ..
.. ..
.. ..
.. ..
.. ..
62 -49 < Rxlevel < -48
63 Rxlevel > -48

SIGNAL LEVELS
 Power Control

Signal
Range (in BER)
Quality

0 BER < 0.2

1 0.2 < BER < 0.4
2 0.4 < BER < 0.8
3 0.8 < BER < 1.6
4 1.6 < BER < 3.2
5 3.2 < BER < 6.4
6 6.4 < BER < 12.8
7 BER > 12.8

SIGNAL QUALITY LEVELS

 Measurements
• Downlink measurements (Mobile Station)
• Strength of the signal being receiving from its serving BTS (in dBm)
• Quality of the signal being received from its serving BTS (in bit error
rate).
• Uplink Measurements (BTS)
• Strength of the signal being received from the mobile station.
• Quality of the signal being received from the mobile station.
• MS Sends the Measurements in the SACCH (Slow
Associated Control Channel) via the serving BTS to the
BSC every SACCH multi-frame. This corresponds to the
transmission of data every 104 TDMA frames or 480 ms.
The base station measures the quality of the uplink.
Also, it transfers the measurements in the SACCH to the
BSC every 480ms.
 RANGE
• MS from maximum down
to 20mW in steps of 2 dB.
• BS from maximum down
in 15 steps, each 2dB.
• Advantages;
a) Minimize transmit power.
b) Reduce interference to
co channel user .
Timing: 2dB step in every
60ms(=13TDMA
frame).15steps take
900ms.
 Power control
• Strategy:
– Measuring of power levels in MS & BS reporting to
BSC.
– Power setting acc. To measured value.
• Specific cell parameter to be evaluated by
Operator defind algorithms.
– TX Power comand(5 bit TXPWR field in downlink
SACCH layer-I header) from BSS to MS.
– MS confirm the currently used power level by setting
MS-TXPWR-CONF is in the uplink SACCH L1
header.
 6.6 Handover triggers
• BSC takes the following objectives for
optimizing the handover performance into
account:
• Maintain a good speech quality
• Minimize the number of calls dropped
• Maximize the amount of time the mobile
station is in the “best” cell
• Minimize the number of handovers.
 6.6.1 Conditions that can trigger a handover
• The BSC will perform a handover due to:-
Distance (or propagation delay) between the
mobile station and the BTS becomes too big.
Received signal level (or signal strength) on the
downlink or uplink becomes too bad.
Received signal quality on the downlink or uplink
becomes too bad.
Path loss situation for the mobile station to
another cell is better.
Duration that the mobile station stays in a cell.
 HO Processing & decision
• HO process is implemented in the MSC,
BSS,& MSC.
Radio link measurement.
Measurement preprocessing.
HO Threshold Comparison.
HO decision algorithm.
 Handoff
• Handoff: provide continuous service by
handover from one cell to another.
– Hard handoff(GSM)
• Break before make
• TDMA and FDMA
– Soft handoff(WLL)
• make before break
• CDMA

• Signal strength contours (path loss)

 Handoff (1/2)
Handoff :
• Cellular system tracks mobile stations in order to maintain their communication links.
• When mobile station goes to neighbor cell, communication link switches from current cell
to the neighbor cell.
Hard Handoff :
• In FDMA or TDMA cellular system, new communication establishes after breaking current
communication at the moment doing handoff. Communication between MS and BS
breaks at the moment switching frequency or time slot.

switching

Cell B Cell A

Hard handoff : connect (new cell B) after break (old cell A)

 Soft Handoff (2/2)
Soft Handoff :
• In CDMA cellular system, communication does not break even at the moment doing
handoff, because switching frequency or time slot is not required.

transmitting same signal from both BS A and

BS B simultaneously to the MS

Cell
Cell A
B

Soft handoff : break (old cell A) after connect (new cell B)

 Handoff
• Handoff Initiation
– Relative signal strength
(point A in the following
figure)
– Relative signal strength
with threshold (point B)
– Relative signal strength
with hysteresis (point C)
– Relative signal strength
with hysteresis and
threshold (point D)
 Handover Control
6.6.5 Signal level and signal
quality handover :
1. Reasons for handover are
the signal level for (or
signal strength) and the
signal quality on either the
uplink or the downlink
received from the mobile
station and the base
station.
2. If the BSC determines that
either the signals have too
low quality or too less
strength, it can decide to
start the handover
procedure.
 Handoff
• Handoff Decision
– Network-controlled handoff
• Network makes a handoff decision and BSs collect
measurements of MSs
– Mobile-assisted handoff
• MSs makes measurements and the network makes the
decision
– Mobile-controlled handoff
• MS is completely in control of the handoff process
 6.6.2 Handover in a multiple cell layer
network (Umbrella Cell).
In a multiple cell
layer network the
policy in mind is: a
slow moving mobile
station should be
connected to one of
the lower layer cells
while a fast moving
mobile station will
cause less
handovers in a large
Avoids multiple handoffs.
cell of the upper
layer.
“Overlay” Wireless Networks: Mobility & Handover
 6.6.4 Distance handover (Timing Advance)

Timing Alignment :
- The problem occurs when the information transmitted by MS
does not reach BTS on allocated timeslot.
• Timing Advance (TA) TDMA requires precise timing of both the MS and
BTS systems. When a MS wants to gain access to the network, it sends
an access burst on the RACH. The further away the MS is from the BTS,
the longer it will take the access burst to arrive at the BTS, due to
propagation delay. access burst would arrive so late that it would occur
outside its designated timeslot.

TDMA Frame
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

TS3 B –on TS2

TS2

A –on TS3

BTS
Access Burst
An access burst has 68.25 guard bits at the end of it. (RACH)

Duration of a bit.=1 sec ÷ 270,833 bits=3.69 µs

Access burst has a guard period of 68.25 bits this results in a maximum
delay time of approximately 252µs (3.69µs × 68.25 bits).
The speed of light (c) is 300,000 km/s.
Distance 300 m/µs × 252µs=75.5KM
In order to compensate for the two-way trip= 75.6km ÷ 2 = 37.8 km
 How a BSS Determines a Timing Advance
• Determine one-way propagation time
• 3.69µs ÷ 2=1.845µs
• Distance (using speed of light.) 300
m/µs × 1.845µs=553.5m
 GSM – RF Interface

Timing Advance : ( To counteract problem of Time

Alignment )
- MS instructed to do its transmission certain bit-times earlier
or later – to reach its timeslot at BTS in right time.

- In GSM systems maximum 63 bit-times can be

used.
Start
- This limits the GSM cell size to 35 Km radius. Sending

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Time
 6.8.1 Discontinuous transmission
• Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) is a
mechanism that allows the radio
transmitter to be switched off most of the
time during speech pauses.
• The uplink mode
• The downlink mode
 Discontinuous Speech Transmission (DTX)
Two aims can be achieved by adopting DTX mode:
• lower the total interference electric level in the air
• save transmitter power.
Note that transmitting in DTX mode does not save timeslots on the air-
interface

 TRAU BTS

 BTS MS

 480 ms

comfort noise frame speech pause information 500 bit/s. this low rate
flow is sufficient to encode the background noise
(comfort noise)
Speech frame
speech is encoded at 13kbit/s when the user is
effectively speaking. 174
[email protected]
 Frequency Hopping
• Each radio frequency Channel (ARFCN) is influenced differently by
propagation conditions. What affects channel 23 may not affect
channel 78 at all.
• Within a given cell, some frequencies will have good propagation
in a certain area and some will have poor propagation in that area.
• GSM uses Slow Frequency Hopping (SFH). It is considered slow
because the system hops relatively slow, compared with other
frequency hopping systems.
• In GSM, the operating frequency is changed every TDMA frame.
 Type of hopping
• There are two types of frequency
hopping method available for the BTS:
(i) Synthesizer hopping
(ii) Baseband hopping.
• Synthesizer Hopping - This requires the
TRX itself to change frequencies
according to the hopping sequence.
So, one TRX would hop between
multiple frequencies on the same
sequence that the MS is required to.
 Baseband Hopping
• Baseband Hopping - In this method there are several
TRX and each one stays on a fixed frequency within
the hopping frequency plan. Each TRX would be
assigned a single time slot within a TDMA frame. For
example, time slot 1 might be
assigned to TRX 2 in one TDMA
frame and in the next TDMA
frame it would be assigned to
TRX 3, and the next frame would
be TRX 3. So, the data on each
time slot would be sent on a
different frequency each frame,
but the TRXs on the BTS do not need to change
frequency. The BTS simply routes the data to the
appropriate TRX, and the MS knows which TRX to be
on for any given TDMA frame.
 BA List
• Every cell maintains a BCCH
Allocation List or BA List which
is a list of frequencies ARFCN of
neighboring cells. This
information is useful for the MS
for performing and reporting
SAY
measurements, and eventually SERVING
FREQ :- 116
in cell reselection and handover. 74,117,118,11
The BA List is formed from 9

information in the SI.

DE RTTC BHUBANESWAR 179
 Location Related Identities

3 digits 2 digits 2 octets max

( 16 bits )

MCC MNC LAC

LAI
LAI = MCC + MNC + LAC

MCC - Mobile Country Code. For India 404/405 USA 310/316 It is

assigned by the ITU-T
MNC - Mobile Network Code. . It is assigned by the government (DOT) of each
country West bengal 74, Bihar-75,Orissa-76
LAC - Location Area Code . It is assigned by an operator
• Maximum length of LAC is 16 bits.
• Thus there can be maximum of 216 =65,536 Location Areas defined in one GSM
PLMN.
 CELL GLOBAL IDENTITY
(CGI)

The CGI is used for cell identification within a location area.

This is done by adding a Cell Identity (CI) to the components of a LAI. CI has a
length of 16 bits.
CGI consists of:CGI = MCC + MNC + LAC + CI
 BASE STATION

63
IDENTITY CODE (BSIC)

76

79

66
113

77
FOR BSNL NCC=7
7-0 ,7-1,……..7-7.
NCC = Network Color Code (3 bits 0-7), identifies the 12 NON HOPING
PLMN. Note that it does not uniquely identify the FREQ X 7=96 NO
operator. NCC is primarily used to distinguish between OF COMBINATION .
operators on each side of a border. BCCH+BSIC
COMBINATION
BCC = Base Station Color Code (3 bits 0-7), identifies SHOULD NOT BE
the Base SAME IN NEAR BY.
Station to help distinguish between BTS using the
same BCCH frequencies.
Base Station Identification Code
(BSIC).
• BSIC allows for cell changes across cells
that are not necessarily neighbors in a
geographic sense. So an MS could do a
cell reselection across cells with the same
frequency but different BSIC. Such a
possibility arises if the immediate
neighbors are hidden (no line of sight)
whereas a far away cell can provide better
service due to clear LOS radio path.
BSIC+ARFCN is unique in a particular area.
 HSN MAIO
• The HSN is used to define the hopping
sequence from one frequency list, and
MAIO is used to set the initial frequency
on this list.
• To understand how HSN and MAIO are
used in planning, we first need to know
some brief concepts.
Frequency Hopping & MA List
• Frequency Hopping – or FH: one of the
great advantages of the GSM system, in
the constant search to reduce
interference. More on the FH due to a new
tutorial.
• MA List: set of frequencies (channels)
assigned to a particular sector, ie are
those channels that can be used to attend
calls from users.
 EXAMPLE
• To illustrate, let's
consider a sector with 4
TRX, where the first TRX
is used for BCCH and
the others are TCH TRX.
• The MA List with the
channels of traffic then
would be:
 Frequency Hopping
• The main reason for using slow frequency hopping is because the
MS must also change its frequency often in order to monitor
adjacent cells. The device in a transceiver that generates the
frequency is called a frequency synthesizer. On a MS, a synthesizer
must be able to change its frequency within the time frame of one
time slot, which is equal to 577 µs. GSM does not require the BTS
to utilize frequency hopping. However, a MS must be capable of
utilizing frequency hopping when told to do so.
The frequency hopping and timing sequence is known as the
hopping algorithm. There are two types of hopping algorithms
available to a MS.
• Cyclic Hopping - The transceiver hops through a
predefined list of frequencies in sequential order.
• Random Hopping - The transceiver hops through the
list of frequencies in a random manner. The sequence
appears random but it is actually a set order.
 HSN AND MAIO (Mobile
Allocation Index Offset)
• First, the definition of HSN: Hopping
Sequence Number. It is a number that defines
the frequency hopping algorithm, and can
vary from 0 to 63, ie there are 64 hopping
algorithms to be used in GSM.
• If HSN is zero, the frequency hopping
sequence is cyclic, ie without changes.
• If HSN is greater than zero, then frequencies
vary pseudo-randomly.
 Hopping Cont…..
1. When we enabled the Hopping - our case - all TRX in
the SAME SECTOR has the SAME HSN. And if the we
have 1x1 SFH it is recommended to have the SAME
HSN for ALL SECTORS of the BTS.
2. In our example, the MA List is small - just three
frequencies. The size of the MA List should be taken
into account in the planning of HSN: HSN should be the
designated so as to minimize the average probability of
collision, according to the designated MAIOs.
 How MAIO's are designed?
• First defining MAIO: Mobile Allocation Index
Offset. It's MAIO that designate the initial
position of frequency - among the frequencies
available in MA List, that list with the frequency
hopping. It is the frequency that TRX uses so
get hopping.
• MAIO planning is straightforward if the number
of TRX is small compared to the length of the
sequence of hopping.
• For example, MAIO 0 means that the TRX
should use the first frequency, or f1.
 HSN,MAIO,FREQ PLANNING.
BSNL got 31 no of radio carrier.
• F17 • F18
• F2/• •F10
Fixed F1 to F15
Hopping Freq F16 to F31.
• • • F7• F12
• F16 • F19
• F6
F1 •F9F4/

CYCLIC HSN=0, MAIO=1,MAIO2

• F5 • F8

RANDOM HSN=1.
F3/ F11

HSN=63.
•

MAIO Sequence
F16,F17,F18,F19..F31 MAIO=1
• 4/ F17,F18,F19..F31,F16 MAIO=2
1 F18,F19..F31,F16, F17MAIO=3
2 191
 T1 T2 T3 T4 …. …. T1 T1 T1
4 5 6

F16
F1
F16 F17 F18 F19 F20 F21 ..... F30 F31
α
F17 F18 F19 F20 F21 ..... F30 F31 F16
β
F18 F19 F20 F21 ..... F30 F31 F16 F17
γ

α α β β γ γ

F5

F9
HSN0 MAIO=1 HSN0 MAIO=3 HSN0 MAIO=5

HSN0 MAIO=7 HSN0 MAIO=9 HSN0 MAIO=11

HSN0 MAIO=13 HSN0 MAIO=15 HSN0 MAIO=17
 HSN,MAIO,FREQ PLANNING.
BSNL got 31 no of radio carrier.
• F17 • F18
• F2/• •F10
Fixed F1 to F15
Hopping Freq F16 to F31.
• • • F7• F12
• F16 • F19
• F6
F1 •F9F4/

CYCLIC HSN=0, MAIO=1,MAIO2

• F5 • F8

RANDOM HSN=1.
F3/ F11

HSN=63.
•

MAIO Sequence
F16,F17,F18,F19..F31 MAIO=1
• 4/ F17,F18,F19..F31,F16 MAIO=2
1 F18,F19..F31,F16, F17MAIO=3
2 193
 HSN,MAIO,FREQ PLANNING.
BSNL got 31 no of radio carrier.
• F17 • F18
• F2/• •F10
Fixed F1 to F12
Hopping Freq F13 to F31.
• • • F7• F12
• F16 • F19
• F6
F1 •F9F4/

CYCLIC HSN=0, MAIO=1,MAIO2

• F5

RANDOM HSN=1.
F3/ F11

HSN=63.
•

MAIO Sequence
F13,F14,F15,F16..F31 MAIO=1
• 4/ F14,F15,F16..F31,F14 MAIO=2
1 F15,F16..F31,F13,F14 MAIO=3
2 194
 PARAMETER
• MCC MNC LAC CI 404 76 1004 20039.
• BCCH 116 BAND 900 P/E PRIMARY
• BSIC 7-4 (NCC FOR BSNL 7)
• HOP FREQ 63,64,66,67,68,69, 70,71,80, 81,
82,87,88,111,112,113,122,123,124.
• HOP FREQ 512,513,514,…… in 1800 band.
• SPEECH CODE AMR H/R
• HSN=33 MAIO=4
1800

Note HO from1800 to 900 if signal goes to-90dBm 900 MHz

Thank you
A
RTTC
BHUBANESWAR
PRESENTATION.