ECE 5221 Personal Communication Systems

Introduction to GSM

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department

 Course Outline

 Part 1: Introduction
o Historical overview
o Elements of network architecture
o Elements of air interface
 Part 2: Signal processing and network features
o Voice processing
o GSM Network features
 Part 3: Network design The GSM logo used on numerous
handsets and by carries who wish to
o Coverage planning identify a GSM product
o Capacity planning
o Migration towards 3G and beyond

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 History

 Driving Factors:
• Incompatibility of the European analog cellular systems
• Reaching of capacity limits
• Costs of the equipment

 1982, Conference of European Post and Telecommunications formed Group Speciale Mobile (GSM)

 1987, 15 operators from 13 countries signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

 1991, Finland’s operator Radiolinia launched first GSM network in July 1991

 1992, Massive deployment of GSM started

 By 2000 GSM became the most popular 2G technology worldwide

 GSM standard still evolving and enriched with new features and services

GSM = Global System for Mobile communications

(GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile)

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 Deployment worldwide

 930 networks in 222 countries and regions

 More than 3 billion subscribers worldwide

 More than 80% worldwide market share

Worldwide map of GSM coverage (source [Link])

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 GSM in the USA
ATT coverage map
 1994, US FCC auctioned large blocks of
spectrum in 1900MHz
 GSM started deployment in PCS band
 1995, American Personal
Communications launched first GSM
network
 In 2002, 850 band opened for GSM
T-Mobile coverage map
 Currently there are ~ 95M GSM
subscribers
 Largest GSM operators
 ATT
 T-Mobile

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 GSM Standards

GSM Standard
 Divided into 12 series
Series Specifications area
01 General  Standardization efforts coordinated
by ETSI
02 Service aspects
03 Network aspects  [Link]
04 MS-BS interface and protocol  Specifications available online –
05 Physical layer and radio path free of charge
06 Speech coding specification  Standardization and public
07 Terminal adapter for MS availability of specification - one of
fundamental factors of GSM
08 BS-MSC interface success
09 Network internetworking
10 Service internetworking
11 Equipment and type approval specification
12 Operation and maintenance

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 GSM Network Layout
M SC
BSS
A re a
BSS
G a te w a y
M SC
BTS NSS
BSC TRAU M SC PSTN
BTS VLR H LR

BTS
BSS M SC
M S C A re a A re a
PLM N - P u b lic L a n d M o b ile N e tw o r k

 GSM system layout is standardized

o Standardization involves:
 Elements of the network
 Communication Interfaces
o Standard layout allows for the use of equipment from different suppliers

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 GSM Components and Interfaces
G

Air - Interface

H LR
D D

Abis - Interface
VLR C VLR

B B

E G a te w a y
BSC M SC
M S M SC
A - Interface
BTS

F F
E IR

 Network has many functional components

 Components are integrated through a network protocol – MAP
 Standardized interfaces
 Um (air interface)
 A – GERAN interface
 A-Bis (somewhat standardized)
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 Mobile Station (MS)
 Two functional parts
T R A N S C E IV E R U N IT ANTENNA o HW and SW specific for
CO NTRO L
S E C T IO N
ASSEM BLY
GSM radio interface
R e c e iv e A u d io C hannel
S ig n a l
P r o c e s s in g
E n c o d in g
In te r le a v in g
C ip h e r in g
RF
P ro c e s s in g o Subscriber Identity
D is p la y
M essage
G e n e ra to r R E C E IV E R
A n te n n a
Module (SIM)
D u p le x e r  SIM – detaches user identity
C o n tro l
S IM from the mobile
K e y b o a rd
o Stores user information
C hannel
T r a n s m it A u d io
S ig n a l
D e c o d in g
D e in t e r le a v in g
C ip h e r in g
RF o Without SIM – only
emergency calls
M essage P ro c e s s in g
P r o c e s s in g
R e g e n e ra to r
T R A N S M IT T E R

Functional diagram of GSM mobile

SIM card

Most popular GSM phone

Nokia 1100 – 200M+ sold
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 Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
 BTS is a set of transceivers (TX/RX).

 GSM BTS can host up to 16 TX/RX.

 In GSM one TX/RX is shared by 8 users.

 The main role of TX/RX is to provide

conversion between traffic data on the
network side and RF communication on the
MS side.

BTS antenna system  Depending on the application, it can be

configured as macrocell, microcell, omni,
sectored, etc.

Femto-cell

Typical BTS installation

Macrocell BTS radio
cabinet hosts TX/RX Page 10
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 Base Station Controller (BSC) and TRAU
 BSC plays a role of a small digital exchange.
 It can be connected to many BTSs and it offloads a great deal of
processing from MSC
 One BSC connects to several tens to couple of hundred BTS
 Some of BSC responsibilities:
o Handoff management
o MAHO management
o Power control
o Clock distribution
Typical BSC o Operation and maintenance
 TRAU is responsible for transcoding the user data from 16Kb/sec
to standard ISDN rates of 64Kb/sec.
 It can physically reside on either BSC side or MSC side.
 If it resides on the MSC side, it provides substantial changes in
the backhaul – 4 users over a single T-1/E-1 TDMA channel.
 TRAU, BSC and BTSs form Base Station Subsystem (BSS

TRAU = Transcoding and Rate Adaptation Unit

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 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

 Responsible for connecting the mobile to the landline

side
 GSM MSC is commonly designed as a regular ISDN
switch with some added functionality for mobility
support
 GSM Network can have more than one MSC

 One of the MSC has an added functionality for

communication with public network – Gateway MSC
(GMSC)
 All calls from the “outside networks” are routed through
GMSC

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 Registry HLR/VLR

 HLR – Home Location Registry  VLR – Visitor Location registry

 Database for permanent or semi-  Temporary database that keeps the
permanent data associated with the user information about the users within the
 Logically, there is only one HLR per service area of the MSC
network  Usually there is one VLR per MSC
 Typical information stored in HLR:  The main task of the VLR is to reduce
International Mobile Service Identification the number of queries to HLR. When
Number (IMSI), service subscription the mobile, registers on the system its
information, supplementary services, information is copied from HLR to VLR
current location of the subscriber, etc.
 VLR is usually integrated with the switch
 HLR is usually implemented as an
integral part of MSC

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 AUC/EIR

 AUC – Authentication center  EIR – Equipment Identity Registry

 Integral part of HLR  Responsible for tracking equipment
 GSM specifies elaborate and eligibility for service
encryption  Maintains three lists
 Three levels o White list – approved mobile
o A5/1 USA + Europe types
o A5/2 COCOM country list o Black list – barred mobile types
o No encryption – rest of the o Gray list – tracked mobile types
world

Over years – many other vendor specific features added to the system

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 GSM Air Interface - Um

Interface between the MS and the GSM network

Subject to rigorous standardization process
We examine:
o Channelization
o Multiple access scheme
o Interface organization:
 On the physical level
 On the logical level

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 Frequency allocation

GSM is FDD technology

Mapping formulas
 For PCS-1900 band
o ARFCNul = (Fc-1850)/0.2+511; ARFCNdl = (Fc-1930)/0.2+511
 For GSM-850
o ARFCNul = (Fc-824)/0.2+127; ARFCNdl = (Fc-969)/0.2+127
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 TDMA Access Scheme
 Multiple users operate on the same
f u 0, s 1 frequency, but not at the same time.
 Advantages of TDMA:
S 1
S 2
S 3
.... S 8 s1
o Relatively low complexity
f u 0, s 2 Uplink ( From MS to BS)
f d0, s 1 , s 2 , ...,s 8 o MAHO
o Different user rates can be
.... s7 s8 s1 s2 s3
accommodated
f u 0, s 8 Downlink ( From BS to MS )
o Easier integration with the
Wireless Communication Channel
landline
Base Station  Disadvantages:
o High sync overhead
TDMA = Time Division Multiple Access o Guard times
o Heavily affected by the
multipath propagation

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 GSM as a TDMA system
USER 1,
ARFCN 1

 GSM is a
combination of USER 2,
FDMA and TDMA ARFCN 1
USER 1 USER 2 .... USER 8

 TDMA supports: USER 8,

ARFCN 1

ARFCN
o Up to 8 full rate
1
USER 6 USER 7 USER 8 USER 1

users ARFCN 2

o Up to 16 half rate USER 9,

ARFCN
users 2

USER 10,
 GSM uses ARFCN 2

Frequency Division
Duplexing USER 16,
ARFCN 2
BTS

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 GSM bursts

 Data sent over one time slot =

burst
 Five types: normal, frequency
correction, synchronization,
dummy, access
 Format of a burst defied by its
function
 DL: normal, frequency correction,
synchronization, dummy
 UL: normal, access

Time/Frequency/Amplitude diagram for GSM

normal burst

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 Normal Burst

 Used to carry information on both control and traffic channels

 Mixture of data and overhead
 GSM defines 8 training sequences assigned in color code mode
 Both on the forward and reverse link

3 57 1 26 1 57 3

T a il T r a ffic /S ig n a lin g F la g T r a in in g S e q u e n c e F la g T r a ffic /S ig n a lin g T a il

Normal burst

• Total of 114 encoded user information bits

• Total of 34 overhead bits

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 Frequency Correction Burst

 Sometimes referred to as the F-burst

 Provides mobile with precise reference to the frequency of the broadcast control
channel
 Inserting the F-bursts on the control channel produces spectral peak 67.7 KHz
above the central frequency of the carrier
 Only on the forward link
Power Spectrum Density

3 142 3 BW = 200KHz
T a il F ix e d B it S e q u e n c e (A ll z e r o s ) T a il

Frequency correction burst

•Format of the F-burst fc fc+ 67.7 KHz frequency

•Fixed sequence consists of all zeros

•Spectral characteristics of the control
channel.
•The peak in the spectrum allows for easier
MS network acquisition
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 Synchronization Burst

 Facilitates the synchronization of the MS to the network at the base band

 Commonly referred to as S-burst
 Only on the forward link
 The same sync sequence is used in all GSM networks

3 39 64 39 3

T a il S y n c h r o n iz a tio n T r a in in g S e q u e n c e S y n c h r o n iz a tio n T a il

Synchronization burst

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 Dummy Burst

 Supports MAHO

 Used to ensure constant power level of the broadcast

control channel
 Only on the forward link

3 142 3

T a il P r e d e fin e d B it S e q u e n c e T a il

Dummy burst

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 Access Burst

 Used when the MS is accessing the system

 Shorter in length – burst collision avoidance
 Extended synchronization sequence
 Used only on the reverse link

8 41 36 3

T a il S y n c h r o n iz a tio n A c c e s s B its T a il

Access burst

GSM mobiles use slotted ALOHA to access the system

In the case of collision – a hashing algorithm is provided

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 GSM TDMA Hierarchical Organization
H y p e rfra m e
3 h 2 8 m in 5 3 s 7 6 0 m s

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047

5 1 x 2 6 S u p e rfra m e o r 2 6 x 5 1 S u p e rfra m e
6s 120 m s

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 46 47 48 49 50

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 21 22 23 24 25

2 6 M u ltif r a m e 5 1 M u lt if r a m e
120 m s 2 3 5 .4 m s

0 1 2 3 4 23 24 25 0 1 2 3 4 48 49 50

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 T D M A F ra m e
4 .6 1 5 m s

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 GSM Time Division Duplex
 Communication on the forward and reverse link does not
happen simultaneously
 Delay of three slots between TX and RX
 Time division duplexing avoids RF duplexer at the RF stage
o Reduces the cost of mobile
o Saves battery

F o r w a r d L in k - B T S T r a n s m it s

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0

R e v e r s e L in k - M S T r a n s m it s

5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5

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 GSM Logical Channels
G S M L o g ic a l
C h a n n e ls

C C H - C o n tr o l C h a n n e l
C B C H - C e ll B r o a d c a s t C h a n n e l
TC H CC H CB CH

T C H /F T C H /H B CH CC CH DC CH

FCC H P CH
A CCH S DCCH

S CH A G CH D C C H - D e d ic a t e d C o n t r o l C h a n n e ls
S D C C H - S t a n d - a lo n e D e d ic a t e d
C o n tr o l C h a n n e l
B CCH RA CH A C C H - A s s o c ia t e d C o n t r o l C h a n n e ls
S A C C H - S lo w A s s o c ia t e d C o n t r o l
S A CCH FA CCH Channel
T C H - T r a f f ic C h a n n e l
F A C C H - F a s t A s s o c ia t e d C o n t r o l
T C H / F - T r a f f ic C h a n n e l ( F u ll R a t e ) Channel
T C H / H - T r a f f i c C h a n n e l ( H a lf R a t e )
B C H - B r o a d c a s t C h a n n e ls C C C H - C o m m o n C o n t r o l C h a n n e ls

F C C H - F r e q u e n c y C o r r e c t io n C h a n n e l P C H - P a g in g C h a n n e l
S C H - S y n c h r o n iz a t io n C h a n n e l A G C H - A c c e s s G ra n t C h a n n e l

B C C H - B ro a d c a s t C o n tro l C h a n n e l RA CH - Random A ccess Channel

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 Traffic Channels (TCH)

 Traffic channel carries speech and user data in both directions

o Full rate ~ 33.85 Kb/sec
o Half rate ~ 16.93 Kb/sec
o Full rate uses 1 slot in every frame
o Half rate uses 1 slot in every other frame

Full Rate TCH can carry: Half Rate TCH can carry:
• Voice (13 Kb/sec) • Voice (6.5 Kb/sec)
• Date at rates: • Date at rates:
-9.6 Kb/sec
 Data rates differ due to differences in Error Control-4.8 Kb/sec
Coding
-4.8 Kb/sec -2.4 Kb/sec
-2.4 Kb/sec

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 Control Channels

 GSM Defines 3 types of Control Channels:

1. Broadcast Channels (BCH) C C H
 Broadcast information that helps mobile
system acquisition, frame synchronization,
etc. They advertise properties and services
of the GSM network.
BCH
 Forward link only
2. Common Control Channels (CCCH)
CC CH
 Facilitate establishment of the link between
MS and system
 Both forward and reverse link
3. Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH) DC CH
 Provide for exchange the control information
when the call is in progress
 Both forward and reverse – in band signaling

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 Broadcast Channels (BCH)
 Three types of BCH:
1. Synchronization channel (SCH)
BC H
 Provides a known sequence that helps mobile
synchronization
at the baseband
SC H
 Communicates with S-burst
 Broadcasts Base Station Identity Code (BSIC)
2. Frequency Correction channel (FCH) FC H
 Helps mobile tune its RF oscillator
 Communicates with F-burst
3. Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) BC C H
 Provides mobile with various information about
network, its services, access parameters,
neighbor list, etc.

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 Broadcast Channels (BCH) cont’d.
 In general, the information sent over BCCH can be grouped into four categories:
1) Information about the network
2) Information describing control channel structure
3) Information defining the options available at the particular cell
4) Access parameters

Some BCCH messages

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 Common Control Channel (CCCH)
 Three types of CCCH:
1. Random Access Channel (RACH) C CC H
 Used by mobile to initialize communication
 Mobiles use slotted ALOHA
 Reverse link only R AC H
2. Paging Channel (PCH)
 Used by the system to inform the mobile
about an incoming call PC H
 Forward link only
 GSM Supports DRX
3. Access Grant Channel (AGC)
 Used to send the response to the mobiles
AG C
request for DCCH
 Forward link only

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 Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH)

 Three types of DCCH:

1. Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel
DCCH
(SDCCH)
 Used to exchange overhead information
when SDCCH
the call is not in progress
2. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
 Used to exchange time delay tolerant SACCH
overhead
information when the call is in progress
3. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)
 Used to exchange time critical information FACCH
when the call is in progress

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 Logical Channels - Summary

Channel UL only DL only UL/DL Point to Broadcast Dedicated Shared

point
BCCH X X X
FCCH X X X
SCH X X X
RACH X X X
PCH X X X
AGCH X X X
SDDCH X X X
SACCH X X X
FACCH X X X
TCH X X X

UL - Uplink DL - Downlink
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 Timing Advance
d 2 , Slot 2
 Mobiles randomly
distributed in space d 1 >d
MS 2
2

 Timing advance
prevents burst collision d 1 , Slot 1
on the reverse link MS 1

 Maximum BTS
advancement is 63
bits SLOT 0 SLOT 1 SLOT 2 SLOT 3 SLOT 4 SLOT 5 SLOT 6 SLOT 7

Collision

T1- Delay of MS 1
T 1 MS 1 Signal

T2- Delay of MS 2
T 2 MS 2
Signal

1 8 m s 
D max   3  10  63bit  3.693  10 6   35km
2 s bit 
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 Signal Processing –
From Voice to Radio Waves

As a digital TDMA technology GSM implements extensive

signal processing
Transmit Sid e

Channel
Voice Sampling,
Encoding
Burst
Quantization and Interleaving Formating Ciphering Modulation
Sig nal source encoding
(Error Correction
Mapping
Coding)

Um
Interface
Receive Sid e

Source Decoding Channel Burst

Voice and Waveform Decoding
De
Formating
De-
De-Modulation
-Interleaving Ciphering
Sig nal Generation (Error Correction ) Mapping

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 Sampling and Quantization
 Sampling
o Sampling theorem 111 +3V
110 +2V
specifies conditions for 101 +1V
discretization of band 0V Analog Signal
limited analog signals 001 -1V
010 -2V
o Voice needs to be 011 -3V

sampled at the sampling

rate greater then Sampling Pulse
8000Hz
 Quantization 111 +3V
110 +2V
101 +1V
o Discrete values 0V PAM
assigned to continuous 001 -1V
samples 010 -2V
011 -3V
o Quantization noise 101 110 101 100 010 010 010 100 111 111
PCM
o In GSM, voice is
sampled at 8 K
samples/sec and
quantized with 8192
levels (13 bit words)

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 Speech Source Encoding

 Speech coder reduces the data rate

needed for voice signal representation
 GSM specifies operation of :
SPEECH CHANNEL
o Full rate vocoder BPF A/D
converter
TO

ENCODER CODING MODULATOR

 13Kb/sec MICROPHONE

o Half rate vocoder BAND-PASS

300 Hz-3.4 kHz

 5.6Kb/sec
o Enhanced Full Rate (EFR)
SPEECH CHANNEL
 12.2Kb/sec LP D/A
converter
DECODER DECODER
o AMR (Adaptive multi rate)
LOW-PASS

 AMR-FR (4.75-12.2Kb/sec) 4 kHz

 AMR-HR (4.75-7.95Kb/sec)
 AMR rate - function of C/I
Vocoders enable efficient channel
utilization

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 Performance comparison of some
commercial vocoders

Mean Opinion Scores (MOS) - Voice Quality

source IIR. The First Annual CDMA Congress
London, Oct. 29-30, 1997
4.5
Mu-PCM
4
3.5
8Kb/s EVRC
3 (CDMA)
2.5 13Kb/s CELP
2 (CDMA)

1.5 IS-136 ACELP

1
0.5 GSM EFR

0
Clean Speech 20dB SNR 20dB SNR 15dB SNR
Babble Car Street

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 Channel Encoding
 Error control coding (ECC) increases the robustness of the
signal
 ECC increases the overhead and reduces the efficiency of the
communication
 In GSM, the ECC increases the overhead per user by 57%

50 3
ERROR DETECTING CODE
TYPE Ia 189
BITS
CONVOLUTIONAL
ENCODER
378

MUX
132 r=1/2
TYPE Ib
BITS 456
K=5
189
FROM VOCODER

TO
0 INTERLEAVER
4
78
TYPE II
BITS

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 Interleaving
Data is written
column-wise
 In mobile 
communications, the b1 b6 b11 b16 b21 
b b b12 b17 b22 
 2 7 Data is read
errors are “bursty” b3 b8 b13 b18 b23  row-wise
  
 Optimal performance b4 b9 b14 b19 b24 
b5 b10 b15 b20 b25 
from ECC is obtained Burst Error
Interleaver Caused by
for uniform error Rayleigh Fading
b1b 6b b b b 2b 7b b b b3b 8b b b b 4b 9b b b ..
distribution 11 16 21 12 17 22 13 18 23 14 19 24

 Interleaving increases Errors are spread over the bit stream

the performance of ECC b1b 2b 3b 4b5b 6b 7b 8b 9b 10 b 11 b 12 b 13 b 14 b 25 b 16 b 17 b 18 b 19 b 20 ...

in mobile environment

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 Modulation: GMSK (Gaussian MSK)

Simplified GMSK block diagram

POWER SPECTRAL
dB
DENSITY Spectral
characteristics
0
of GMSK
-20

MSK
 GMSK has excellent spectral
-40
characteristics
-60 o Low sidelobes
-80 o Robust to non- linearities
GMSK Filtered MSK
 Price paid is in the increased
0 1 2 3 (f-f o
) / Rb Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)

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 Equalization

 Necessary due to the multipath

propagation
 Needs to have :
Unequalized Equalized
o Fast convergence Data Data
RF Adaptive
o Low complexity Processing Equalizer
 Two modes of operation
1. Training
2. Equalization Equalization
Extraction of Algorithm
 GSM equalizer capable of equalizing for
two equal multi paths separated by 16 Synchronization
microseconds Bits

 Introduces overhead of about 18%

3 57 1 26 1 57 3

T a il T ra ffic /S ig n a lin g F la g T ra in in g S e q u e n c e F la g T r a f fic /S ig n a lin g T a il

Sequence used for equalizer training

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 GSM Network Features

 Mobile Assist Handoff (MAHO)

 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
 Dynamic Power Control (DPC)
 Frequency Hopping (FH)
 Intercell Handoff

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 Mobile Assisted Handoff (MAHO)

Measurement Link Cell DTX Measurement

 GSM Implements type Source
MAHO RSL Downlink Serving Cell Full Set Mobile
 In the process of RSL Downlink Serving Cell Subset Mobile
evaluating handoff
candidates, GSM RSL Downlink Neighbors N/A Mobile
systems evaluate
Quality Downlink Serving Cell Full Set Mobile
measurements
performed by both the Quality Downlink Serving Cell Subset Mobile
MS and BTS
RSL Uplink Serving Cell Full Set BTS

RSL Uplink Serving Cell Subset BTS

 There are three types of RSL Uplink Neighbors Full Set BTS
measurements: RSL Uplink Neighbors Subset BTS

Quality Uplink Serving Cell Full Set BTS

1. Signal Strength Quality Uplink Serving Cell Subset BTS
Measurements
Timing Advance Uplink Serving Cell N/A BTS
2. Signal Quality
Measurements
3. Timing Advance
Measurements

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 MAHO - Signal Strength Measurements
 Performed on uplink and downlink
 Reported as a quantized value RXLEV:
RXLEV = RSL[dBm] + 110
 Minimum RXLEV:
-110, MAX RXLEV = -47
 On the downlink, measurement
performed for both serving cell and up
to 32 neighbors
 Up to 6 strongest neighbors are
reported back to BTS through SACHH

Example measurement report

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 46

 MAHO - Signal Strength Measurements

 Measurements of the
-40 580 neighbors are performed on
the BCCH channels – not
570
-50
affected by the DTX
560
-60
 Measurements on the serving

BCCH ARFCN
RX LEV (dBm)

550
-70 channel – affected by the
540 DTX.
-80
530
 Perform over a subset of
-90 520 SACCH that guarantees
-100 510 transmission even in the case
0 500 1000 1500 2000 of active DTX
Measurement

RX LEV (dBm) BCCH  Before processing, the RXLEV

measurements are filtered to
prevent unnecessary handoffs
Example RSL measurement

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 MAHO – Signal Quality Measurements
 

Measurement report
 Performed on uplink and downlink
 Only on the serving channel
 Reported as a quantized value RXQUAL
 For a good quality call RXQUAL < 3
 Measurements are averaged before the
handoff processing
 If DTX is active, the measurements are
performed over the subset of SACCH that
guarantees transmission

RXQUAL BER
0 Less than 0.1 RXQUAL
1 0.26 to 0.30 measurements
2 0.51 to 0.64
3 1.0 to 1.3
4 1.9 to 2.7
5 3.8 to 5.4
6 7.6 to 11.0
7 Above 15

RXQUAL mapping table

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 48
 MAHO – Time Alignment Measurement

 Performed on uplink (BTS)

 Only on the serving channel
 Used by the BTS to estimate
distance to the MS
 Expressed in number of bits
of TX advancement
 Can be between 0 and 63
 TA

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 49

 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
 Typical voice activity is around 60%
 DTX discontinues transmission during
silent periods
 Benefits of DTX Mobile station Environment Typical
voice
o Uplink: activity
 System interference reduction Handset Quiet location 55%
 Lower battery consumption
o Downlink Handset Moderate office noise 60%
 System interference reduction with voice interference
 Reduction of the intermodulation Handset Strong voice 65-70%
products
interference (ex. airport,
 Lower power consumptions railway station)
Hands free / Variable vehicle noise 60%
 Downsides of DTX usage: handset

o MAHO measurements are less accurate

o Voice quality is degraded due to
slowness of VAD

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 50

 Dynamic Power Control (DPC)
 

 There are three reasons for DPC:

1. Reduction of battery consumption
2. Elimination of “near-far” problem
3. Reduction of system interference

Power Class GSM (900MHz) PCS-1900 / GSM – 1800

[W] [W]

1 20(1) 1

2 8 0.24

3 5 Not Defined

4 2 Not Defined

5 0.8 Not Defined

(1) Not available commercially

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 51

 Dynamic Power Control (DPC)

 DPC for MS
o Depending on its power class, MS can adjust its power between the max and min
value in 2dB steps
o MS can perform 13 adjustments every SACCH period, i.e., 480ms
o Large adjustments > 24 dB will not be completed before the arrival of new
command
o Commonly implemented as BSC feature. Many vendors are moving it at the BTS
level
 DPC for BTS
o Vendor specific
o Based on MAHO reports

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 52

 Hierarchical Cell Structure (HCS)
 Incorporates various cell sizes into
layers of RF coverage
S ig n a l
S tre n g th
 Three common layers:
1. Umbrella cells (HL = 0)
M a c ro c e l
R e s e le c t io n
H L = 1 P o in t s 2. Macrocells (HL = 1)
3. Microcell (HL = 2)

P re fe rre d
SS_SU FF
 HCS provides a way to assign
M ic r o - C e ll
H L = 2
preference levels between the cells
S e le c t M ic r o - C e ll  Very effective way for capacity and
D is ta n c e
interference management

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 53

 Handling of Fast Moving Mobiles

 If the mobile is moving at a high speed, it will

spend a short time in the coverage area of the
microcell

 To prevent excessive handoffs, a temporal

GSM introduces temporal penalty – prevents
immediate handoff initialization

 If the duration of mobile stay within the

coverage area is shorter than the temporal
penalty, it will never initialize handoff

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 54

 Frequency Hopping (FH)

 FH - multiple carriers used over the course of radio transmission

o There are two kinds of FH:
1. Slow Hopping – change of carrier frequency happens at the rate
slower than the symbol rate
2. Fast Hoping – carrier frequency changes faster than the symbol
rate
o GSM implements slow FH Scheme
o Carrier frequency is changed once per time slot
o There are two reasons for frequency hopping
1. Frequency Diversity
2. Interference avoidance

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 55

 Frequency Diversity of FH

 Mobile environment is
characterized with small
scale fading
 The depth of signal fade is a
function frequency
 If two signals are sufficiently
separated in frequency
domain they fade
independently
 Frequency diversity gain
diminishes for fast moving
mobiles

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 56

 Interference Avoidance of FH
 FH averages interference
 Allows for tighter reuse of frequencies
 Increases the capacity of the system

f1 f1 f4 f3 f2
User 1 T 2T 3T 4T 5T

f2 f1 f1 f4 f3
User 2 T 2T 3T 4T 5T

f3 f2 f1 f1 f4
User 3 2T 3T 4T 5T
T

f4 f3 f2 f1 f1
User 4 2T 3T 4T 5T
T

f1 f4 f3 f2 f1
User 5 2T 3T 4T 5T
T

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 57

 Baseband FH in GSM
 Each radio operates on a
fixed frequency
 The bursts are routed to
1 TX/RX
Carrier
Freuqnacy individual radios in
f1
accordance to their hopping
Carrier
sequence
2 TX/RX Freuqnacy Combiner
f2

Carrier
n TX/RX Freuqnacy  Advantages of baseband hopping
fn
 No need to “real time” retune – simpler
radios
Bus for Routing  More efficient combiners
and Switchning

 Disadvantage of baseband hopping

 Number of hopping frequencies limited
by the number of radios

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 58

 Synthesized FH in GSM

 Each radio is hopping in an

independent way
Carrier  Radios retune – “real time”
1 TX/RX Freuqnacy
f 0 ,f 1 ,...,f m

Carrier Broadband
2 TX/RX Freuqnacy
f 0 ,f 1 ,...,f m Combiner

Carrier
n TX/RX Freuqnacy
 Advantages of synthesized hopping:
f 0 ,f 1 ,...,f m

Set of the hopping frequencies can be assigned in an

arbitrary way

 Disadvantage of synthesized hopping:

Need for expensive and lossy combiners

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 59

 FH Algorithms

Cyclic Hopping
o Frequencies are used in the consecutive order
o If the radio is performing cyclic FH the order of frequencies in the
sequence goes from the lowest ARFCN to the highest ARFCN
 f1 , f 2 , f 3 , f 4 , f1 , f 2 , f 3 ,
• Random Hopping
• Implemented in a pseudo – random way
• Uses one of 63 available pseudorandom sequences
• The actual frequency is obtained as a modulo operation with
number of available frequencies in allocation list (FH group)

 f1 , f 2 , f 4 , f 4 , f 3 , f 2 , f 3 ,

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 60

 Intracell Handoff

Measurement indicates:

o Poor RXQUAL High Interference

o Good RXLEV

 There is high probability that the call will improve with the handoff to
different carrier within the same cell
 To avoid unnecessary handoffs, system introduces maximum number
of intercell handoffs

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 61

 GSM RF Planning / Design

 Link Budget and Nominal Cell Radius Calculation

 Receiver Sensitivity
 Required C/I ratio
 Mobile Transmit Power
 Examples of Link Budget
 Calculation of a Nominal Cell Radius
 Frequency Planning and Reuse Strategies
 Frequency Planning Using Regular Schemes
 Automatic Frequency Planning
 Capacity of GSM Networks

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 62

 GSM Migration Towards 3G

Migration:
U M TS
D a ta R a te
1. High speed circuits 2 M b /s e c

switched data (HSCSD) EDG E

3 8 4 K b /s e c

2. Packet switched data

(GPRS,EDGE) G PR S
1 1 4 K b /s e c

3. Integrated packet H SC SD
6 4 K b /s e c
services – possibly under H S C SD - H ig h S p e e d C ir c u it S w itc h e d D a t a

different access scheme G SM 2+

G
E
P
D
R S
G E
-
-
G
E
e n e r a l P a c k e t R a d io S y s te m
n h a n c e d D a ta G S M E n v ir o n m e n t
9 .6 K b /s e c U M TS
(UMTS)
- U n iv e r s a l M o b ile T e le p h o n e S e r v ic e

1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
1999
2000 2000 2001 2002
T im e lin e

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 63

 GSM 2+ Data Services

 GSM’s traffic channel can support the data transfer of a bit rate up to 9.6Kb/sec
o This data rate can be used for:
 Short messages
 Fax services
 E-mail, etc.
o Circuit switched data services
o Not suitable for Internet
 Too slow
 Too costly (user would pay for the “circuit” even if there is no traffic
exchanged

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 64

 High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD)

 HSCSD is using existing GSM organization to provide data

services of a somewhat higher data rates
 It can combine several existing traffic channels into a single
connection, i.e., it allows for mobiles multislot operation
 HSCSD can be implemented through software upgrades on
existing networks and no hardware upgrades are needed
 Seems to be less accepted by the service providers

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 65

 General Packed Radio Data (GPRS)

 GPRS is another new transmission capability for GSM that will be especially
developed to accommodate for high-bandwidth data traffic
 GPRS will handle rates from 14.4Kbps using just one TDMA slot, and up to
115Kbps and higher using all eight time slots
 It introduces packet switching - can accommodate the data traffic
characteristics

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 66

 GPRS Network architecture

VLR
PSTN
New type of BTS
B D
node: BSC
C HLR

GPRS Service BTS MSC

Node (GSN) AUC

Gr
BSC EIR
BTS
SGSN

A-Bis A
Interface Interface Outside
BTS Gn GGSN Packet
Interface Network

BTS - Base Station

BSC - Base Station Contoller
Um MSC - Mobile Switching Center SGSN - Service GPRS Support Node
Interface VLR - Visitor Location Register
HLR - Home Location Register GGSN - Gateway GPRS Support Node
AUC - Authentification Center
B,C,D,E,F - MAP EIR - Equipment Identity Register
Interfaces

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 67

 GPRS Call routing

Routing is performed “parallel” to the GSM network

GPRS - PDN
BTS

SGSN
GGSN

SGSN
GGSN

GPRS - PDN

BTS

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 68

 Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE)
 Packet switched
 Upgrades the modulation scheme
o From GMSK to 8-PSK
o Maximum speed ~59 Kb/sec per time slot, ~473.6 Kb/sec for all 8 time slots
o Variable data rate – depending on the channel conditions
 Defines several different classes of service and mobile terminals

EDGE enabled data mobile

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 69

 Practically achievable data rates

 Theoretical rates are constrained by mobile

power and processing capabilities
 Most mobiles support less than the maximum
allowed by standard
Practically achievable data rates

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 70

 Universal Mobile Telephone Service (UMTS)

 UMTS – 3G cellular service

 Provides data rates up to 2Mb/sec
 Possibly standardized as W-CDMA

Outline of UMTS
(WCDMA) network

Florida Institute of Technology ECE Department Page 71