Communications Equipment II

Global System for Mobile

(GSM)
By:
MEng. HOSAM ALMQADIM
Introduction to GSM
 Global System for Mobile (GSM) is a second generation cellular
standard developed to cater voice services and data delivery using
digital modulation .
 Developed by Group Spéciale Mobile (founded 1982).
 After many years of research, GSM was proposed around 1990.
 GSM had an advantage in that it didn’t have to support any legacy
products.
GSM Network Architecture
Mobile Station
 The mobile station (MS) consists of the mobile equipment (the
terminal) and a smart card called the Subscriber Identity Module
(SIM).
 The SIM provides personal mobility, so that the user can have access
to subscribed services.
 The mobile equipment is uniquely identified by the International
Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI).
 The SIM card may be protected against unauthorized use by a
password or personal identity number.
Base Station Subsystem
 BSS is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile
phone and the network switching subsystem.
 The Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts, the Base
Transceiver Station (BTS) and the Base Station Controller (BSC). These
communicate across the standardized Abis interface,
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
 The Base Transceiver Station houses the radio transceivers that define
a cell and handles the radio-link protocols with the Mobile Station. In
a large urban area, there will potentially be a large number of BTSs
deployed, thus the requirements for a BTS are reliability, portability,
and minimum cost.
 Encodes, encrypts, multiplexes, modulates and feeds the RF signals to
the antenna.
 Communicates with Mobile stations and BSC
 Consists of Transceivers (TRX) units
Base Station Controller (BSC)
 The Base Station Controller manages the radio resources for one or
more BTSs. It handles radio- channel setup, and handovers. The BSC is
the connection between the mobile station and the Mobile Switching
Center (MSC).
 Manages Radio resources for BTS
 Assigns Frequency and time slots for all MS’s in its area
 Handles call set up
 Handover for each MS
 It communicates with MSC and BTS
Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)
 It is the GSM core network.
 NSS carries out call switching and mobility management
functions for mobile phones roaming on the network of
base stations.
 The NSS contains the following functional units:
 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
 Home Location Register (HLR)
 Visitor Location Register (VLR)
 Authentication Center (AUC)
 Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
Mobile switching center (MSC)
 The central component of the Network Subsystem is the Mobile services
Switching Center (MSC). It acts like a normal switching node of the PSTN
or ISDN, and additionally provides all the functionality needed to handle
a mobile subscriber, such as registration, authentication, location
updating, handovers, and call routing to a roaming subscriber.
 Responsible for routing voice calls and SMS as well as other services
(such as conference calls, FAX and circuit switched data).
 Manages communication between GSM and other networks (The MSC
provides the connection to the fixed networks (such as the PSTN or
ISDN).)
 Billing information and collection
 Mobility management
 Registration
 Location Updating
 Inter BSS and inter MSC call handoff
Home Location Registers (HLR)
 Stores information about each subscriber that belongs to it MSC in permanent
and temporary fashion.
 As soon as mobile subscriber leaves its current local area, the information in
the HLR is updated.

Visitor Location Register (VLR)

 The Visitor Location Register contains selected administrative information
from the HLR, necessary for call control and provision of the subscribed
services,
 Temporary database which updates whenever new MS enters its area, by HLR
database.
 Controls those mobiles roaming in its area
Authentication Center (AUC)
 The Authentication Center (AuC) is a protected database that stores a copy of the
secret key stored in each subscriber's SIM card, which is used for authentication
and encryption over the radio channel.
 Contains the algorithms for authentication as well as the keys for encryption.
 Protects network operators from fraud.
 Situated in special protected part of the HLR.

Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

 The Equipment Identity Register (EIR) is a database that contains a list of all
valid mobile equipment on the network, where each mobile station is identified
by its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI).
 Stores all devices identifications registered for this network.
 Database that is used to track handsets using the IMEI (International Mobile
Equipment Identity)
 Prevents calls from stolen, unauthorized or defective mobile devices
GSM radio interface – Main characteristics
 Frequency bands:
 GSM 900:
• 890 – 915 MHz: Uplink (MS transmit)
• 935 - 960 MHz: Downlink (MS receive)
 GSM 1800:
• 1710 - 1785 MHz: Uplink
• 1805 - 1880 MHz: Downlink
 Carrier bandwidth: 200 kHz
 Channels / carrier: 8
 Multiple access: TDMA / FDMA
 Duplex: FDD
 Gross bit rate pr carrier: 270,833 kbit/s
 Modulation: GMSK (Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying)
 Spectrum efficiency: 1.35 bps/Hz
 Channels in GSM900

45 MHz

78 78
6 6
45 45
23 23
1 2 3 44 1 123 1241 1 2 3 4 123124

200 kHz
890 MHz 915 MHz 935 MHz 960 MHz

MS transmit MS receive
GSM Radio Interface - TDMA/FDMA
935-960 MHz
124 channels (200 kHz)
downlink

890-915 MHz
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
TDMA - principle
 GSM uses TDMA within each carrier
 Each user occupies the entire carrier one time slot pr. time frame, 8 slots per
frame
From Speech to Radio Transmission

Blah... Blah... Blah... Blah… Blah… Blah...

Digitizing and
Source Decoding
Source Coding

Channel Coding Channel Decoding

Interleaving De-interleaving

Ciphering Deciphering

Burst Formatting Burst De-formatting

Modulating Demodulating
Characteristics of GSM Standard

 Fully digital system using 900,1800 MHz frequency band.

 User/terminal authentication for fraud control.
 Full international roaming capability.
 Low speed data services (up to 9.6 Kb/s).
 Support of Short Message Service (SMS).
 Compatibility with Fixed Services.
Advantages of GSM over Analog system
 Reduced RF transmission power and longer battery life.
 International roaming capability.
 Better security against fraud (through terminal validation and user
authentication).
 Encryption capability for information security and privacy.