GSM FUNDAMENTALS

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION
1) GSM FREQUENCY BAND ALLOCATION 2) GSM FREQUENCY PLANING 3) CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE 4) BURST AND FRAME FORMATION

5) FREQUENCY HOPPING (BASEBAND AND SFH)

6) CONGESTION RELIEF MECHANISM 7) DIMENSIONING CONTROL CHANNELS

8) PATH BALANCE, DIVERSITY TIMING ADVANCE

9) GSM ARCHITECTURE

FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

GSM

GSM

880 890

915

925 935

960

GSM Band - 890-915 Mhz. UL , 935-960 Mhz. DL

EGSM Band - 880-915 Mhz. UL , 925-960 Mhz. DL

GUARD BAND = 20MGHz

890

915

935

960

FREQ.

Tx. Band

Rx. Band

GSM FREQUENCY BAND

GSM FREQUENCY SPECTRUM

FREQUENCY BAND IS DIVIDED IN 125 CHANNELS. EACH CHANNEL BANDWIDTH = 200 KHz. Tx - Rx CHANNEL SPACING = 45 MHz.
Ch. No. Tx. Channels Rx. Channels
0 1 2 124 890.0 890.2 890.4 915.0 935.0 935.2 935.4 .. 960.0

CH - 0 IS USED AS GUARD BAND.

EACH CHANNEL IS DIVIDED IN 8 TS. - (TDMA)

GSM BAND ALLOCATION

ORANGE

BPL

DOLPHIN

DOLPHIN

Ch-0

Ch-32

Ch-62 Ch-84

Ch-108 Ch-124

ORANGE

BPL

DOLPHIN

BPL

BPL

DOLPHIN

Ch-0

Ch-32

Ch-62

Ch-83 Ch-87 Ch-98 Ch-102 Ch-124

NEED OF PUTTING CELLSITES 1) PROVIDE COVERAGE LIMITED COVERAGE , MAX RADIUS 32 Kms. (THEOROTICAL) WHY UPLINK FREQUENCY IS IN 890 MHZ RANGE AND DOWNLINK 935 MHZ RANGE ??

MAXIMUM OF 8 SUBSCRIBER CAN TALK ON ONE RADIO

THE CELL RADIUS IS LIMITED BY THE DELAY CAUSED BY THE RADIO WAVES IN REACHING THE CELLSITE

DELAY TIME = DISTANCE/SPEED

DELAY TIME TOLERABLE IS KNOWN ,SPEED OF RADIO WAVES IS KNOWN HENCE MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE DISTANCE CAN BE CALCULATED (32 KMS)

2) PROVIDE CAPACITY
AS THE TRAFFIC GROWS WE NEED TO PUT MORE CARRIERS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE MORE SUBSCRIBERS ACCOMODATED IN A CELL

THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CARRIERS IN GSM BAND IS 120 HENCE THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SUSCRIBERS THAT CAN MAKE SIMULTANEOUS CALLS IS (120 * 8) = 960
INCASE OF OUR BAND = 30 * 8 = 240 SIMULTANEOUS CALLS

AS THE ABOVE CAPACITY IS NOT SUFFICIENT WE NEED TO REUSE THE FREQUENCIES SO THAT WE CAN INCREASE THE CAPACITY AT THE SAME TIME AVOIDING THE INTERFERENCE AND MAINTAINING QUALITY OF SERVICE
THE OUTPUT POWER OF CELLS IS REDUCED SO THAT IT CATERS TO LESS NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS AND DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH THE OTHER CELLS

FREQUENCY REUSE

5 6 3 7 1 2 7 3

4
FREQUENCY SET - 2 2 5 3

6
2

REUSED FREQUENCY SET - 2

COMPROMISE BETWEEN QUALITY AND CAPACITY

Features of GSM
Compatibility Noise Robustness Flexibility and increased capacity Use of standard open interfaces Security and confidentiality

Features of GSM
Cleaner Handovers Subscriber Identification ISDN compatibility Enhanced range of services

GSM terrestrial interfaces

CHANNELS ON THE AIR INTERFACE

CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE

TRAFFIC

CONTROL

TRAFFIC CHANNEL

SPEECH

DATA

HR

FR

9.6K

4.8K

2.4K

SACCH

FACCH

LOGICAL CHANNELS

COMMON CHANNELS

DEDICATED CHANNELS

BROADCAST CHANNELS

COMMON CONTROL CHANNELS

DEDICATED CONTROL CHANNELS

FCH

SCH

BCCH

SDCCH

SACCH

FACCH

PCH

RACH

AGCH

CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE

A) CONTROL CHANNELS
1. BCCH - BROADCAST CONTROL CHANNEL
TRANSMITTED CONTINIOUSLY MOBILE MONITERS THE BCCH EVERY 30 SECS. IN IDLE MODE

CARRIES FOLLWING INFORMATION

CEL ID LAI LIST OF THE FREQUENCIES OF CELL LIST OF THE NEIGHBORS POWER CONTROL INDICATOR CBCH DESCRIPTION

DUMMY BURSTS ARE TRANSMITTED IN TIMESLOTS TO

ENSURE CONTINUITY

CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE

FCCH - FREQUENCY CORRECTION BURST

MOBILE CORRECTS / SYNCHRONISES ITS FREQUENCY AFTER DETECTING THIS CHANNEL

SCH - SYNCHRONISING CHANNEL

CARRIES INFORMATION TO ENABLE THE MOBILE TO SYNCHRONISE TO THE TDMA FRAME AND KNOW THE TIMING OF INDIVIDUAL TIMESLOT

CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE

2). CCCH - COMMON CONTROL CHANNELS TRANSMITTED ALONG WITH THE BCCH. TRANSFERS THE CONTROL INFORMATION BETWEEN MOBILES AND BTS FOR CALL ORIGINATION AND CALL PAGING FUNCTIONS RANDOM ACCESS CHANNEL (RACH)

TRANSMITTED BY MOBILE TO ACCESS THE SYSTEM

PAGING CHANNEL (PCH) TRANSMITTED BY THE BTS WHEN IT WANTS TO CONTACT A SPECIFIC MOBILE ACCESS GRANT CONTROL CHANNEL (AGCH)

TRANSMITTED BY THE BTS USED TO GRANT DEDICATED RESOURCE SUCH AS SDCCH

CELL BROADCAST CHANNEL (CBCH) BROADCAST MESSAGES ARE SEND TO MOBILES IN A CELL , STEALS SDCCH TIMESLOT

CHANNELS ON AIR INTERFACE

3). DCCH - DEDICATED CONTROL CHANNEL USED FOR CALL SETUP / MEASUREMENTS AND HANDOVERS PURPOSE STANDALONE DEDICATED CONTROL CHANNEL (SDCCH) CALL SET UP LOCATION UPDATE SMS ASSOCIATED CONTROL CHANNEL (AGCH)

THESE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH EITHER SDCCH/TCH

SLOW ASSOCIATED CONTROL CHANNEL (SACCH) POWER CONTROL IN DOWNLINK DIRECTION TIMING INFORMATION IN DOWNLINK DIRECTION LINK QUALITY INFORMATION IN UPLINK FAST ASSOCIATED CONTROL CHANNEL (FACCH) TRANSMITTED IN PLACE OF A TCH BURST FACCH STEALS A TCH TIMESLOT PERFORM HANDOVER

FORMATION OF FRAME
TS FREQ- f1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1

FRAME 1 2 1 2

M-1 MULTIFRAME

M-2

GSM BURST AND TDMA FRAME.

FRAME-1

FRAME-2

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

INFO
TB
GP

T.S.
STEALING FLAG

INFO
TB
GP

NORMAL BURST

NORMAL BURST
1) INFO - CONTAINS SPEECH ,DATA OR CONTROL INFORMATION

2) GUARD PERIOD - TO ALLOW SMALL MARGIN OF ERROR TIMESLOT = 0.577 ms. ACTUAL BURST = 0.546 ms. GUARD PERIOD = 0.577 - 0.546 = 0.03 ms. 3) STEALING FLAGS - TO DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN TCH AND FACCH. FACCH IS STOLEN TCH.
4) TRAINING SEQUENCE - FOR RECEIVER EQUALISATION ESTIMATES PHYSICAL PATH LOSS - 26 BITS LONG

5) TAIL BITS - TO MARK START AND END OF BURST.

26 TCH MULTIFRAME
4.615ms 0.577ms

TIMESLOT - (TCH)

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

SACCH 120 ms.

IDLE

TCH MULTIFRAME
IDLE TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH 12 SACCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH DOWNLINK TCH TO MS 0 TCH 25 IDLE TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH 12 SACCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH TCH UPLINK TCH TO MS 0 TCH 25

26 FRAME COMES IN TO PICTURE ONLY WHEN A CALL IS SITTING ON TCH

THE FRAME IS FORMED BY MONITERING THE DATA GOING ON TCH TIMESLOT OF THE TDMA FRAME ,THE FORMAT REPEATS AFTER 26 TDMA FRAMES HENCE IT IS CALLED AS 26 FRAME MULTIFRAME. TIMESLOT NUMBER 12 i.e. 13 IN 26 FRAME IS USED FOR SACCH IN WHICH MS SENDS THE MEASUREMENT REPORT. TS 25 ie. 26 IN 26 FRAME IS IDLE. IN THIS TIME SLOT MS DECODES BSIC OF NEIGHBORING CELLS.

51 - FRAME MULTIFRAME CONTROL CHANNEL

4.615ms

0.577ms

TIMESLOT - (TCH)

0 1 235.365 ms

49 50

DOWNLINK TO MS

50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

IDLE C C C C C C C C S F C C C C C C C C S F C C C C C C C C S F C C C C C C C C S F C C C C B B B B S F

R = RACH B = BCCH F = FCCH S = SCH C = CCCH

BCCH/CCCH MULTIFRAME

50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

UPLINK TO MS

TDMA FRAMES

1. TDMA T.S. 2. TDMA FRAME

= 0.557 ms = 4.615 ms

3. 26 FRAME MULTIFRAME = 120 ms 4. 51 FRAME MULTIFRAME = 235.5 ms 5. SUPER FRAME 6. HYPER FRAME = 6.12 = s

3:28:53:760

TIMING ADVANCE

FRAME 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DOWNLINK BS - MS FRAME 1 1 MS - BS UPLINK 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

3 TS offset

TIMING ADVANCE INFORMATION IS SENT TO THE MOBILE TWICE EVERY SECOND USING THE SACCH.

CODING OF SPEECH AND INTERLEAVING

20ms Information block

0.577ms information bursts

SPEECH (260 bits) CONTROL (184 bits)

SPEECH ( 8 bursts)

ENCODING

INTERLEAVING

CONTROL (4 bursts) DATA (22 bursts)

DATA (240 bits)

SPEECH CHANNEL CODING

CONTINUOUS SPEECH
20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms

CLASS 1A 50 BITS

260 BITS CLASS 1B 132 BITS

CLASS 2 78 BITS

50

132

78

CONVOLUTIONAL CODE
378 BITS 456 BITS 78

INTERLEAVING
20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms 20ms

456 BITS
57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57

FRAME 1

FRAME 2

FRAME 3

FREQUENCY HOPPING

ADVANTAGES OF HOPPING
A) BETTER OVERALL QUALITY OF NETWORK B) EASE OF FREQUENCY PLANNING C) VERY EFFECTIVE IN THE CONGESTED NETWORK.

DISADVANTAGES OF HOPPING
1) POOR QUALITY INCASE OF LOW TRAFFIC 2) LIMITED NUMBER OF NBCCHS PER SECTOR CAN BE EQUIPPED 3) SOME VENDORS DO NOT ALLOW SIMULTANEOUS FIXED AND HOPPING PLAN 4) DIFFICULTY IN ISOLATING THE FREQUENCY INTERFEREING

TYPES OF HOPPING
A) BASE BAND HOPPING B) SYNTHESIZED FREQUENCY HOPPING

TYPES OF FREQUENCY HOPPING

BASEBAND HOPPING -

1) ONLY UPLINK FREQUENCY IS CHANGED TIMESLOT BASIS

2) NEED TO PROVIDE THE SAME NUMBER OF FREQUENCY AS THE NUMBER FREQUENCIES ONE NEEDS TO HOP. TX1 RX1

TX2 RX2

TX1 RX2

TX2 RX1

NB NB 1 2

NB NB 1 2

TIME T0

TIME T1

B) SYNTHESIZED FREQUENCY HOPPING

1) FREQUENCY IN BOTH TRAMIT AND RECEIVE ARE CHANGED

2) NO LIMITATION ON THE NUMBER OF RADIOs

3) THE RADIO HOPS ON THE SET OF CHANNELS PRESCRIBED. 4) CELLS WITH SMALL NUMBER OF CARRIERS WILL MAKE GOOD CANDIDATES FOR SHF AND CELLS WITH MANY CARRIERS ARE GOOD CANDIDATES FOR BASEBAND HOPPING. 5) THERE CAN BE ONE TYPE OF HOPPING ON A BTS.

C1 TS-7 TS-6 TS-5 TS-4 TS-3 TS-2 TS-1 TS- 0 f1 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f1 f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 TIME

Frame 1

Frame 2

1 * 3 FREQUENCY HOPPING PLAN

ELEMENTS OF SFH.
1) MOBILE ALLOCATION LIST : THIS CARRIES THE LIST OF THE FREQUENCIES ON WHICH MS WILL HOP. 2) MOBILE ALLOCATION INDICATION OFFSET (MAIO) : THIS PARAMETER GIVES THE STARTING FREQUENCY OF HOPPING 3) HOPPING SEQUENCE NUMBER : (HSN) THIS PARAMETER TELLS THE MS THE ALGORITHM IT IS TO USE. THERE ARE 63 ALGORITHMS. 1) 0 - CYCLIC 2) 1-63 PSEUDO RANDOM HOPPING 4) HOPPING INDICATOR : (FHI) THERE ARE 4 HOPPING INDICATOR EACH VALUE CORRESSPONDS TO ONE SET OF MA LIST AND HSN VALUES OF FHI :0 , 1 , 2 ,3 ( 255 IS USED FOR NON HOPPING) THIS IS USEFUL FOR HAVING MULTIPLE HOPPING PLANS

IMPLEMENTATATION OF SFH IN OUR NETWORK MA LIST : 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 ,39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 HSN = 20
V1 B1 32 38 44 V1 V1

+2

B1 34 40 46

-1

33 39 45

V3

V2

V3

V2

V3

V2

FHI1 = (HSN1+MALIST1) FHI2 = (HSN2+MALIST2)

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONGESTION RELIEF PARAMETERS INVOLVED IN CONGESTION RELIEF

1) ho_exist_congest (0 , 1 or 2) 0 - Indicates the congestion Relief is not implemented. 1 - Congestion Relief is enabled (one call at one time) 2 - Congestion Relief is Enabled (all calls satisfying criteria. 2) Congest_ho_margin - The handover margin at which congestion HO takes place
STATISTICS PEGGED 1) ma_cmd_ms_blocked - indicates blocked calls with and without congestion relief

2) Congest_exist_ho_attmpts - indicates the calls that were offloaded by congestion relief mechanism.
3) Alloc_tch_fail - Calls blocked due to handins to a busy cell. 4) TCH Congestion - The time in miliseconds when the cell was in congestion

CONGESTION RELIEF MECHANISM

USING HO MARGINS THE CELLS CAN BE OFFLOADED

CELL -2

CELL -2

6 db

2 db

HYSTERISIS

0 db
6 db HYSTERISIS

0 db
8 db

CELL -1

CELL -1

OFFLOAD

DIMENSIONING OF THE SDCCH CHANNELS

NEED FOR THE SDCCHs

1) MAKING AND RECEIVING CALLS 2) FOR SENDING AND RECEIVING THE SMS. 3) USED FOR LOCATION UPDATE a) PERIODIC LOCATION UPDATE - (4 HOURS) b) UPDATE WHILE LAC CROSSOVER

CELLS HAVING HIGH ACTIVITY (CALLS AND SMS ) NEED MORE SDCCHs. CELLS ON THE LOCATION AREA BOUNDARY NEED MORE SDCCHs FOR THE LOCATION UPDATES.

HIGHWAY

CELL 1 LAC 1

CELL 2 LAC 2

SENARIO 1 LAC BOUNDARY ALONG THE ROAD ie. IN THE DIRECTION OF MOTION OF TRAFFIC.

LAC PLANNING

HIGHWAY CELL 2 LAC 2 SENARIO 2 LAC BOUNDARY ACROSS THE ROAD ie. IN THE DIRECTION OPPOSITE TO THE DIRECTION OF MOTION OF TRAFFIC. CELL 1 LAC 1

TRADE OFF BETWEEN SDCCHs AND PCHs

1) CASE - 1 AREA OF LAC IS SMALL

A) NEED FOR THE LOCATION UPDATE WILL BE HIGH B) NEED FOR THE SDCCHs WILL BE HIGH C) COMPARATIVELY LESS NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS WILL BE THERE 4) NEED FOR THE PAGING CHANNEL WILL BE LOW.

1) CASE - 2

AREA OF LAC IS LARGE

A) NEED FOR THE LOCATION UPDATE WILL BE LESS B) NEED FOR THE SDCCHs WILL BE LESS C) COMPARATIVELY HIGH NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS WILL BE THERE 4) NEED FOR THE PAGING CHANNEL WILL BE HIGH.

LAC 1

LAC 1

LAC 1

LAC 1

LAC 1

LAC 1 LAC 1

CASE - 1

LAC 2

LAC 1

CASE - 2

PATH BALANCE
PATH BALANCE = 110 + PATH LOSS PATH BALANCE = 110 + (UPLINK PATH LOSS - DOWN LINK PATH BALANCE 1 watt 40 watts

3 db loss TRX TRX 2 1 2 watts

20 watts

PATH BALANCE
1 watt 20 watts

3 db loss TRX TRX 2 1 2 watts 10 watts Downlink loss = 10/40 = 6 db

Uplink loss = 1/2 = 3 db

Path Balance = 110 + (Uplink Loss - Downlink loss) Path Balance = 110 + ( 3 - 6) Path Balance = 107 db (downlink problem)

PATH BALANCE
0.5 watt 40 watts

3 db loss TRX TRX 2 1

2 watts
20 watts Downlink loss = 20/40 = 3 db Uplink loss = 0.5/2 = 5 db Path Balance = 110 + (Uplink Loss - Downlink loss) Path Balance = 110 + ( 6 -3) Path Balance = 113 db (downlink problem)

RX DIVERSITY
10 wavelengths App. RX TX RX-D

COMBINER

INTELLEGENT CHOICE

RESULTANT SIGNAL

GSM Architecture
UM Interface Or Air Interface A bis Interface RSL Nailed SS7
Operation & X.25 Maintenance Center-R

IWF MS
BTS BTS

MS
BTS

BSC

R X C D R
A Interface

VLR
Group Switch Subsystem

E C

MS HLR Mobile Station Base Station Subsystem Mobile Switching Center

P S T N

64 kb/s 32 TS 16 kb/s Um 1 DIU BTS A-BIS BSC A- INT XCDR DIU DIU DIU
7 1/2

MSC

LTG 2 Mb/s 2 Mb/s

16 kb/s