By :

Asim Ihsan
Telecommunication Engineering Department
University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, Mardan Campus,
23200, Pakistan
www.nwfpuet.edu.pk

Introduction
Yet,

very few of us know about the two

major global network technologies
present into a mobile.

Global

System for Mobile

Communication (GSM) and Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA) are
the two major technologies in wireless
communication.

GSM
GSM(Global

System for Mobile

Communications) is a standard
developed by the
European Telecommunications Standards
Institute
(ETSI) to describe protocols for second
generation (2G) digitalcellular networks
used bymobile phones.

It

became the an open standard for

mobile communications with
over 80% market share .

GSM
The

GSM makes use of

narrowband
Time Division Multiple Access (T
DMA)
technique for transmitting
signals.
It has an ability to carry 64 kbps
to 120 Mbps of data rates.
The GSM provides basic to
advanced voice and data services
including Roaming service.

History of GSM
During

the early 1980s, analogue

cellular telephone systems were
experiencing rapid growth in Europe.
Each country developed its own system,
which was incompatible with everyone
else's in equipment and operation.
This was an undesirable situation,
because:
i)The mobile equipment limited to
operation with in national boundaries.

History of GSM
After

many years of research,

GSM was proposed around 1990.
1991Commercial launch of the
GSM service occurs.
Presently GSM supports more
than one billion mobile
subscribers in more than 210
countries throughout the world.

Why GSM?
Roaming

throughout all of

Europe.
Compression of voice to allow
much better bandwidth usage.
Low power and inexpensive
devices
Compatibility with Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN)
and other telephone company
services.

GSM Architecture
The

GSM network can be divided

into Three main parts:
1)The Mobile Station (MS).
2)The Base Station Subsystem
(BSS).
3)The Network and Switching
Subsystem (NSS).

GSM Architecture

Mobile Station(MS)

The

mobile station (MS) consists

of :
i) Mobile equipment (your
cellphone) .
ii) Subscriber Identity Module
(SIM).

Mobile Equipment(your
cellphone)
The

mobile equipment is uniquely

identified by the International Mobile
Equipment Identity (IMEI).
The IMEI number is used by aGSM
network to identify valid devices and
therefore can be used for stopping a
stolen phone from accessing that network.
For example, if amobile phoneis stolen,
the owner can call his or her network
provider and instruct them to "blacklist"
the phone using its IMEI number.

SIM(Subscriber Identity
Module)
The

SIM card contains the International

Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) used
to identify the subscriber to the
system, a secret key for
authentication, and other information.
IMSI = MCC+MNC+MSIN
MCC = Mobile Country Code
MNC = Mobile Network Code
MSIN = Mobile Sucscriber
Identification Number

SIM(Subscriber Identity
Module)
The

SIM card has a secret serial

number that is only known by
your cellular provider and the SIM
card.
You, as the customer, do not know
the number.

This

secret number acts as a key,

and it is 32 bits in length.

Base Station
Subsystem(BSS)
The

Base Station Subsystem is composed

of two parts:
i) The Base Transceiver Station (BTS).
ii) The Base Station Controller (BSC).

i) BTS:
Abase transceiver station(BTS) is a
piece of equipment that facilitates
wirelesscommunication between
user equipment(your cell phone) and a
network.
In a large urban area, there will potentially be a
large number of BTSs deployed.

Base Station
Subsystem(BSS)
ii)Base Station Controller:
The BSC is
the connection between the mobile
station and the Mobile service Switching
Center (MSC). A BSC is a component
that controls one or more base
transceiver stations (BTS).
BSC functions include radio network
management (such as radio frequency
control), BTS handover management
and call setup.

Network Switching
Subsystem(NSS)
The central component of the Network
Subsystem is the Mobile services Switching
Center (MSC).

MSC:
Has several databases that perform
call validation, call routing to the
PSTN,
and roaming validation.
Some of the databases:
HLR (Home Location Register):
It includes all
permanent users information

MSC Databases:
VLR(Visitor Location Register):
It includes
temporary users information according
to users position.
EIR(Equipment Identity Register):
Deny stolen
mobile phones service. Has all valid
serials.
AuC(Authentication Center):
Stores
encryption keys necessary for secure
communications.

PROCEDURE OF CALL SET

UP
The

number is MSISDN
(+90 400 398 0102).
MSISDN = CC + NDC + SN
CC : Country Code
NDC : National Destination Code
SN : Subscriber Number
PSTN central analyse the MSISDN
and connect to GMSC

PROCEDURE OF CALL SET

UP
GMSC

: Gateway Mobile Services

Switching Center.
GMSC analyse the MSISDN and
send message HLR.
HLR (Home Location Register)
It includes all permanent users
information
HLR query MSC/VLR .

PROCEDURE OF CALL SET

UP
MSC/VLR

produce MSRN.

MSRN

(Mobile Station
Roaming Number)

MSRN = CC + NDC + SN
CC : Country Code
NDC : National Destination Code
SN : Subscriber Number
MSC/VLR send MSRN to HLR, HLR
send it to GMSC

PROCEDURE OF CALL SET

UP
GMSC

realise MSC/VLR for

forwarding call
MSC/VLR gets MSRN and starts to
call
MSC/VLR starts to paging process
in location area.The user is found
with paging signal and call set up
.