1.

A & B
21. A
2. A
22.A
3. B
23.C
4. A
24.A
5. B
25. A
6. C
26. C
7. C
27. C
8. C
28. B
9. A
29. B
10.B
30. C
11.A
31. C
12.C
32. A
13.A
33. C
14.B
34. A
15.A
35. A
16.A
17.A
18.B
19.B
20.A
 Mobile Telephone System

S.S.SABILE
A. Chief, DICSD-CCAD, NTC
 Cellular Communications
Definition and Overview
Definition

A cellular mobile communications is a system that uses a large number

of low-power wireless transmitters to create cells—the basic geographic
service area of a wireless communications system.

Variable power levels allow cells to be sized according to the subscriber

density and demand within a particular region.

As mobile users travel from cell to cell, their conversations are handed
off between cells to maintain seamless service. Channels (frequencies)
used in one cell can be reused in another cell some distance away.
Mobile Communications Principles
Definition

• Each mobile uses a separate,

temporary radio channel to
talk to the cell site. The cell
site talks to many mobiles at
once, using one channel per
mobile. Channels use a pair of
frequencies for
communication—one
frequency (the forward link)
for transmitting from the cell
site and one frequency (the
reverse link) for the cell site to
receive calls from the users

• The basic structure of mobile

networks includes telephone
systems and radio services.
 Cellular System Architecture
• Cells
A cell is the basic geographic unit of a cellular
system. The term cellular comes from the
honeycomb shape of the areas into which a
coverage region is divided.

Cells are base stations transmitting over small

geographic areas that are represented as
hexagons. Each cell size varies depending on the
landscape. Because of constraints imposed by
natural terrain and man-made structures, the
true shape of cells is not a perfect hexagon.

• Clusters
A cluster is a group of cells. No channels are
reused within a cluster. Figure 4 illustrates a
seven-cell cluster.
Cell Splitting
The economic considerations made the concept of creating full
systems with many small areas impractical. To overcome this difficulty,
system operators developed the idea of cell splitting. As a service area
becomes full of users, this approach is used to split a single area into
smaller ones. In this way, urban centers can be split into as many
areas as necessary to provide acceptable service levels in heavy-traffic
regions, while larger, less expensive cells can be used to cover remote
rural regions.
Handoff
• As adjacent areas do not use the
same radio channels, a call must
either be dropped or transferred
from one radio channel to
another when a user crosses the
line between adjacent cells.
• Because dropping the call is
unacceptable, the process of
handoff was created. Handoff
occurs when the mobile
telephone network
automatically transfers a call
from radio channel to radio
channel as a mobile crosses
adjacent cells.
Early Mobile Telephone System Architecture

• Traditional mobile service was structured in a fashion similar to

television broadcasting: One very powerful transmitter located at the
highest spot in an area would broadcast in a radius of up to 50
kilometers.
• The cellular concept structured the mobile telephone network in a
different way. Instead of using one powerful transmitter, many low-
power transmitters were placed throughout a coverage area.
• For example, by dividing a metropolitan region into one hundred
different areas (100 cells) with low-power transmitters using 12
conversations (channels) each, the system capacity theoretically
could be increased from 12 conversations—or voice channels using
one powerful transmitter—to (100 X 12) 1,200 conversations
(channels) using one hundred low-power
History of Cellular Mobile Radio and GSM (Global
Systems for Mobile)

Early 1980s there was analog technologies:

1. Advanced Mobile Phone Services(AMPS) in
North America.
2. Total Access Communications System (TACS)
in the UK.
3. Nordic Mobile Telephone(NMT) in Nordic
countries.
Each country developed its own system, which
caused problems:

 System worked only within the boundaries

of each country.
 Mobile equipment manufacturers markets
were limited by the operating system.

Solution was GSM, which is digital technology

and was developed by CEPT(Conference of
European Posts and Telecommunications)
 NORTH AMERICAN STANDARD
• Originally devised in the late 1970s to early
1980s, analog systems have been revised
somewhat since that time and operate in the
800-MHz range. A group of government, telco,
and equipment manufacturers worked
together as a committee to develop a set of
rules (protocols) that govern how cellular
subscriber units (mobiles) communicate with
the cellular system..
 The Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)
• AMPS was released in 1983 using the 800-MHz to 900-MHz frequency band and the 30-kHz
bandwidth for each channel as a fully automated mobile telephone service. It was the first
standardized cellular service in the world and is currently the most widely used standard for
cellular communications. Designed for use in cities, AMPS later expanded to rural areas. It
maximized the cellular concept of frequency reuse by reducing radio power output.

Limitations associated with AMPS include the following:

• low calling capacity
• limited spectrum
• no room for spectrum growth
• poor data communications
• minimal privacy
• inadequate fraud protection

• AMPS was used throughout the world and was particularly popular in the United States,
South America, China, and Australia.
• AMPS uses frequency modulation (FM) for radio transmission. In the United States,
transmissions from mobile to cell site use separate frequencies from the base station to the
mobile subscriber.
Narrowband Analog Mobile Phone Service (NAMPS)
• Since analog cellular was developed, systems have been
implemented extensively throughout the world as first-generation
cellular technology.
• In the second generation of analog cellular systems, NAMPS was
designed to solve the problem of low calling capacity. NAMPS
became operational in 35 U.S. and overseas markets, and NAMPS
was introduced as an interim solution to capacity problems.
• NAMPS is a U.S. cellular radio system that combines existing voice
processing with digital signaling, tripling the capacity of today's
AMPS systems.
• The NAMPS concept uses frequency division to get 3 channels in
the AMPS 30-kHz single channel bandwidth. NAMPS provides 3
users in an AMPS channel by dividing the 30-kHz AMPS bandwidth
into THREE 10-kHz channels.
• This increases the possibility of interference because channel
bandwidth is reduced.
 ANALOG AND DIGITAL MOBILE TELEPHONE
TECHNOLOGIES
• Mobile telephone systems are either analog or
digital. In analog systems, voice messages are
transmitted as sound waves. When you speak into an
analog mobile telephone, your voice wave is linked to
a radio wave and transmitted.

• In digital systems, voice messages are transmitted

as a stream of zeroes and ones. When you speak into
a digital mobile telephone, your voice wave is
converted into a binary pattern before being
transmitted.
 Analog Cellular System

Mobile Network
The UE is divided into 2
parts:
The mobile system is composed
of 3 key parts:
1.the mobile equipment
1.The user equipment (UE)
(ME)
2.Radio Access Network (RAN)
2.The subscriber identity
3. A core interconnecting network
module (SIM) card.
(CN).
 Analog Cellular System
• Base stations typically have two antennas for receiving and
one for transmitting. Dual receiver antennas increase the
ability to receive the radio signal from mobile telephones,
which typically have a much lower transmitter power level
than the transmitters in the base station.
• Base stations are connected to a mobile switching center
(MSC) typically by a high-speed telephone line or microwave
radio system.
• This interconnection must allow both voice and control
information to be exchanged between the switching system
and the base station.
• The MSC is connected to the telephone network to allow
mobile telephones to be connected to standard landline
telephones.
• The RAN is composed of base stations and base station
controllers (BSCs).
• The BSCs connect voice calls to mobile switching centers
(MSCs) and connects data sessions to packet data service
nodes (PDSNs).
• The core network is basically divided into circuit switched
(primarily voice) and packet switched (primarily data) parts. The
core network circuit switch parts contain the serving MSC
(SMSC) and a gateway MSC (GMSC).
• The serving SMSC connects to the RAN system and the
gateway GMSC connects to the public telephone network.
• The core network packet switched parts contain the serving
general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (SGSN) and
a gateway GPRS service node (GGSN).
• The SGSN connects to the RAN system and the GGSN
connects to data networks such as the Internet.
 Cellular System Components
4 major components that work together to provide mobile service to
subscribers:
1. public switched telephone network (PSTN)
2. mobile telephone switching office (MTSO)
3. cell site with antenna system
4. mobile subscriber unit (MSU)

The Cell Site

• The term cell site is used to refer to the physical location of radio
equipment that provides coverage within a cell. A list of hardware
located at a cell site includes power sources, interface equipment,
radio frequency transmitters and receivers, and antenna systems.
Mobile Subscriber Units (MSUs)

The mobile subscriber unit

consists of a control unit and a
transceiver that transmits and
receives radio transmissions to
and from a cell site.

The following three types of

MSUs are available:
• the mobile telephone (typical
transmit power is 4.0 watts)
• the portable (typical transmit
power is 0.6 watts)
• the transportable (typical
transmit power is 1.6 watts)
• Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card

This figure shows a block diagram of a SIM. This

diagram shows that SIM cards have 8 electrical contacts.
This allows for power to be applied to the electronic
circuits inside the card and for data to be sent to and
from the card.

The card contains a microprocessor that is used to store

and retrieve data. Identification information is stored in
the cards protected memory that is not accessible by the
customer. Additional memory is included to allow
features or other information such as short messages to
be stored on the card.
Analog Cellular System
• Two types of radio channels - control channels
and voice channels.

• Control channels typically use frequency shift

keying (FSK) to send control messages (data)
between the mobile phone and the base station.
• Voice channels typically use FM modulation with
brief bursts of digital information to allow control
messages (such as handoff) during conversation.
AMPS TRANSMITTER
Analog Systems (1st Generation)

 Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)

 Total Access Communication System (TACS)
 Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT)
 Narrowband AMPS (NAMPS)
 Japanese Mobile Cellular System (MCS)
 CNET
 MATS-E
DIGITAL CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE
NETWORK
 Digital Systems

• TDMA, GSM, PCS, CDMA

• The general characteristics of time division multiple access (TDMA), Global
System for Mobile Communications (GSM), personal communications
service (PCS) 1900, and code division multiple access (CDMA) promise to
significantly increase the efficiency of cellular telephone systems to allow
a greater number of simultaneous conversations.
• Figure 8 shows the components of a typical digital cellular system
 Comparison Between Analog & Digital Mobile Tel. System

  Analog Digital

Standard EIA–553 (AMPS) IS–54 (TDMA + AMPS)

Spectrum 824 MHz to 891 MHz 824 MHz to 891 MHz

Channel Bandwidth 30 kHz 30 kHz

Channels 21 CC/395 VC 21 CC / 395 VC

Conversations Per
1 3 or 6
Channel

Subscriber Capacity 40 to 50 conversations per cell 125 to 300 conversations per cell

TX/RCV Type continuous time shared bursts

Carrier Type constant phase variable frequency constant frequency variable phase

Mobile/Base
mobile slaved to base authority shared cooperatively
Relationship

Privacy poor better—easily scrambled

Noise Immunity poor high

Fraud Detection ESN plus optional password (PIN) ESN plus optional password (PIN)
 Mobile Phone Technologies
Multiple access schemes are used to allow many
mobile users to share simultaneously a common
bandwidth.

The three methods;

1. Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM),

2. Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
3. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA).
FDM
• The available frequency is divided into channels.
• Each conversation is given a channel. When the
system runs out of channels in a given area, no more
telephone calls can be connected.
• In this way, FDM operates much like the channel button
on your television set.
• The bandwidths of FDMA channels are relatively
narrow
(25–30 kHz) as each channel supports only one call
per carrier. That is, FDMA is usually implemented in
narrowband systems.

• The AMPS and NAMPS mobile telephone systems utilize FDM.

FDMA
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
• North American digital cellular (NADC) is called DAMPS and
TDMA. Because AMPS preceded digital cellular systems,
DAMPS uses the same setup protocols as analog AMPS.
TDMA has the following characteristics:
• IS–54 standard specifies traffic on digital voice channels
• Initial implementation triples the calling capacity of AMPS
systems
• Capacity improvements of 6 to 15 times that of AMPS are
possible
• Many blocks of spectrum in 800 MHz and 1900 MHz are
used
• All transmissions are digital
TDMA SYSTEM

- TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users,

where each user makes use of non overlapping time slots.
Analogous to FDMA, if a channel is not in use, then the
corresponding time slots sit idle and cannot be used by other
users.

- Encoded voice is digitized and then placed on a radio-

frequency (RF) channel with other calls.
- This is accomplished by allocating time slots to each call
within the frequency.
- Data transmission for users of a TDMA system is not
continuous but occurs in bursts.
- In the D-AMPS (Digital AMPS) system, each 30 kHz carrier
frequency is divided into three time slots.
- In the GSM and PCS systems, each 200 kHz carrier is divided
into eight time slots.
- The D-AMPS, D-AMPS 1900, GSM, PCS and iDEN systems all
utilize TDMA.
EXAMPLE

The global system for mobile communications (GSM) utilizes the frequency
band 935–960 MHz for the forward link and frequency range 890–915 MHz
for the reverse link. Each 25-MHz band is broken into radio channels of
200 kHz. Each radio channel consists of eight time slots. If no guard band
is assumed, find the number of simultaneous users that can be
accommodated in GSM. How many users can be accommodated if a
guard band of 100 kHz is provided at the upper and the lower end of the
GSM spectrum?

Solution:

The number of simultaneous users that can be accommodated in GSM in

the first case is equal to

25 X 106
(200 X 103)/8

= 1000
In the second case the number of simultaneous users is equal to 992.
TDMA
Extended Time Division Multiple Access
(E–TDMA)
• The E–TDMA standard claims a capacity of
fifteen times that of analog cellular systems.
• This capacity is achieved by compressing
quiet time during conversations.
• E–TDMA divides the finite number of
cellular frequencies into more time slots
than TDMA. This allows the system to
support more simultaneous cellular calls.
CDMA

• CDMA is a digital air interface standard, claiming 8 to 15 times the capacity of

analog. It employs a commercial adaptation of military, spread-spectrum,
single-sideband technology. Based on spread spectrum theory, it is essentially
the same as wireline service—the primary difference is that access to the local
exchange carrier (LEC) is provided via wireless phone. Because users are
isolated by code, they can share the same carrier frequency, eliminating the
frequency reuse problem encountered in AMPS and DAMPS. Every CDMA cell
site can use the same 1.25-MHz band, so with respect to clusters, n = 1. This
greatly simplifies frequency planning in a fully CDMA environment.
• CDMA is an interference-limited system. Unlike AMPS/TDMA, CDMA has a soft
capacity limit; however, each user is a noise source on the shared channel and
the noise contributed by users accumulates. This creates a practical limit to
how many users a system will sustain. Mobiles that transmit excessive power
increase interference to other mobiles. For CDMA, precise power control of
mobiles is critical in maximizing the system's capacity and increasing battery
life of the mobiles. The goal is to keep each mobile at the absolute minimum
power level that is necessary to ensure acceptable service quality. Ideally, the
power received at the base station from each mobile should be the same
(minimum signal to interference).
DIRECT SEQUENCE CDMA

CDMA systems, does not attempt to allocate disjoint frequency or time

resources to each user. Instead the system allocates all resources to
all active users.

In direct sequence (DS) CDMA systems, the narrowband message

signal is multiplied by a very large-bandwidth signal called the
spreading signal. All users in a DS CDMA system use the same carrier
frequency and may transmit simultaneously.

Each user has its own spreading signal, which is approximately

orthogonal to the spreading signals of all other users. The receiver
performs a correlation operation to detect the message addressed to
a given user. The signals from other users appear as noise due to
decorrelation.
For detecting the message signal, the receiver requires the spreading
signal used by the transmitter. Each user operates independently
with no knowledge of the other users (uncoordinated transmission).

Potentially, CDMA systems provide a larger radio channel capacity than

FDMA and TDMA systems.
CDMA TRANSMISSION OVER AN ADDING CHANNEL,
SYNCHRONOUS CASE
CDMA TRANSMISSION OVER AN ADDING CHANNEL,
ASYNCHRONOUS CASE
DS CDMA SYSTEM UPLINK MODEL
DS CDMA SYSTEM BASE STN. RCVR.
Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)
• FWA is a radio-based local exchange service in
which telephone service is provided by common
carriers . It is primarily a rural application—that is,
it reduces the cost of conventional wireline.
• FWA extends telephone service to rural areas by
replacing a wireline local loop with radio
communications.
• Other labels for wireless access include fixed loop,
fixed radio access, wireless telephony, radio loop,
fixed wireless, radio access, and Ionica.
• FWA systems employ TDMA or CDMA access
technologies.
FWA
• SUMMARY

• Analog systems are FDM. Digital systems

can utilize either TDMA or CDMA.

• FDM systems typically allow one call per

10 KHz or 30 KHz of spectrum. Early
TDMA systems tripled the capacity of
FDM systems.

• CDMA is an improvement of TDMA.

 MOBILE PHONE SYSTEMS OVERVIEW
Mobile Phone Genera- Channel Spacing Access Method COMMENTS
System tion

AMPS 1G 30 kHz FDMA • Advanced Mobile Phone System

• Was first developed and used in the USA.
NAMPS 1G 10 kHz FDMA • Narrow band version of AMPS
• Used in the USA and Israel
• 10 kHz channel spacing - conserve spectrum,
• Allow a larger number of users.
TACS 1G 25 kHz FDMA • Developed by Motorola was originally used in the UK.
• 900 MHz, this system spread worldwide.
• Further channels were allocated to reduce congestion, in a standard
known as Extended TACS or ETACS

NMT 1G 12.5 kHz FDMA • Nordic Mobile Telephone.

• First cellular technology; Used commercially & launched in 1979.
• It was used initially on 450 MHz and later at 900 MHz. It was used
chiefly in Scandinavia but it was adopted by up to 30 other countries
including Oman.

NTT 1G 25 kHz FDMA • Nippon Telegraph and Telephone; used in Japan in the 900 MHz
• 55 MHz transmit receive spacing.
• A high capacity version known as HICAP was also developed.
 • Adopted in West Germany (East Germany was separate at this time).
C450 1G 20 kHz FDMA • Used the 450 MHz band along with a 10 MHz receive / transmit
spacing.
GSM 2G 200 kHz TDMA •Originally called Groupe Speciale Mobile, the initials later stood for
Global System for Mobile communications.
• Developed in Europe and first introduced in 1991.
• Originally used on frequencies around 900 MHz, but its use has been
expanded to other bands including those around 1800 MHz, 1900 MHz
and 850 MHz (the latter two are mainly used in North America).
•GSM is the most widely used cellular technology.
•The original name for GSM used at 1800 MHz.
DCS 1800 2G 200 kHz TDMA
•The original name for GSM used at 1900 MHz.
PCS 1900 2G 200 kHz TDMA
• US Digital Cellular (USDC) and was introduced in 1991. It is
sometimes called North America Digital Cellular and known by its
TDMA 2G 30 kHz TDMA standard number IS-54 that was later updated to standard IS136.
• Designed to operate alongside the AMPS system.

•Pacific or Personal Digital Cellular.

• Found in Japan where it has gained very widespread use.
PDC 2G 25 kHz TDMA • Has many similarities with IS-54 although it uses a different speech
coder and a 25 kHz bandwidth.
•General Packet Radio Service.
GPRS 2.5G 200 kHz TDMA •A data service that can be layered onto GSM.
• Uses packet switching instead of circuit switching to provide the
required performance. Data rates of up to 115 kbps attainable.
•Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution.
EDGE 2.5 / 3G 200 kHz TDMA • Uses a different form of modulation (8PSK) and packet switching,
which is overlaid on top of GSM to provide the enhanced performance.
Systems using the EDGE system may also be known as EGPRS
systems.
  This is the brand name for the cellular technology with the standard
reference IS95.
CDMA 2G 1.25 CDMA  It was the first CDMA system to gain widespread use. The initial
One MHz specification for the system was IS95A, but its performance was later
upgraded under IS95B, which the CDMAOne specification actually uses.
 Apart from voice, it also carries data at rates up to 14.4 kbps for IS95A
and under IS95B, data rates of up to 115 kbps are supported.

 This cellular technology supports both voice and data capabilities

within a standard 1.25 MHz CDMA channel.
CDMA 2.5G 1.25 CDMA  CDMA2000 builds on CDMAOne to provide an evolution path to 3G.
2000 1X MHz  The system doubles the voice capacity of CDMAOne systems and also
supports high-speed data services.
 Peak data rates of 153 kbps are currently achievable with figures of
307 kbps quoted for the future, and 614 kbps when two channels are
used.

CDMA The EV-DO stands for Evolution Data Only.

This is an evolution of CDMA 2000 that is designed for data only use
2000 3G 1.25 CDMA and its specification is IS 856.
1xEV-DO MHz  It provides peak data rate capability of over 2.45 Mbps on the forward
or downlink , i.e. from the base station to the user.
The aim of the system is to deliver a low cost per megabyte capability
along with an always-on connection costed on the data downloaded
rather than connection time.

CDMA This stands for Evolution Data and Voice.

 It is an evolution of CDMA2000 that can simultaneously transmit voice
2000 3G 1.25 CDMA and data.
1xEV-DV MHz The peak data rate is 3.1 Mbps on the forward link. The reverse link is
very similar to CDMA2000 and is limited to 384 kbps. In view of the
success of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, it has never been deployed, although it
reached an advanced stage of development.
 UMTS 3G 5 MHz CDMA / TDMA Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.
Uses Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) with one 5 MHz wide channel for
(W-CDMA) both voice and data, providing data speeds up to 2 Mbps.

HSPA 3.5G 5 MHz CDMA / TDMA

High Speed Packet Access using High Speed Downlink Packet
(HSDPA Access and High Speed Uplink Packet Access.
and HSPA provides for high-speed packet data at speeds up to 14.4 Mbps
HSUPA) in the downlink using packet data.

TD- 3G 1.6 CDMA Time Division Synchronous CDMA.

A cellular technology developed in China to establish their position on
SCDMA MHz the cellular telecommunications arena.
It uses the same bands for transmit and receive, allowing different
time slots for base stations and mobiles to communicate.
Unlike other 3G systems, it uses only a time division duplex (TDD)
system.

LTE 3.99 /   OFDMA The Long Term Evolution path for the UMTS / W-CDMA cellular
technology.
4G It provides broadband data throughputs and uses orthogonal
frequency division multiplex (OFDM) as the modulation technique and
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access as the access
technique.

UMB 3.99G /   OFDMA Ultra-Mobile Broadband.

This is the 3.99 / 4G evolution cellular technology for CDMA2000.
4G
Digital Cellular Systems (2nd Generation)

• Global System for Mobile Communication

(GSM)
• North American TDMA (IS-136 TDMA)
• Extended TDMA (E-TDMA)TM
• Integrated Dispatch Enhanced Network
(iDEN)
• Code Division Multiple Access (IS-95 CDMA)
• Japanese Personal Digital Cellular (PDC)
Packet Digital Cellular Systems
(Generation 2.5)

• General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

• Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution
(EDGE)
• CDMA2000™ 1xRTT
• Evolution Data Only (1xEVDO)
• Evolution Data and Voice (1xEVDV)
Wideband Digital Cellular Systems (3rd
Generation)

• Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

(WCDMA)
• Code Division Multiple Access 2000
(CDMA2000)
• Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-
SCDMA)
• UMTS (W-CDMA)
• HSPA (HSDPA and HSUPA
(4th Generation)

• LTE
• UMB

• NGN ?????
 Introduction to
GSM SAMUEL S. SABILE, PECE
Chief, Domestic and International Carrier Services Division, CCAD, NTC, PH
 Global System for Mobile COMM. (GSM)
• 900/1800 MHz band (US: 850/1900 MHz)
• For 900 MHz band
– Uplink: 890-915
– Downlink: 935-960
• 25 MHz bandwidth - 124 carrier frequency channels,
spaced 200KHz apart
• Time Division Multiplexing for 8 full rate speech
channels per frequency channel.
• Circuit Switched Data with data rate of 9.6 kbps
• Handset transmission power limited to 2 W in
GSM850/900 and 1 W in GSM1800/1900.
Architecture
The GSM network
GSM Architecture
 OPEN INTERFACES
1. A-Interface - between BSC and MSC, E1 link.
2. Abis-Interface - between BTS and BSC using
LADP (Link Access Data Protocol) protocol.
3. B-Interface - between MSC and VLR
4. C-Interface - between MSC and HLR
5. D-Interface - between HLR and VLR
6. E-Interface - between MSCs
7. F-Interface - between MSC and EIR
8. Um-Interface - between MS and BSS.
 Base Station Subsystem
Consists of
1. BASE TRANSCEIVER STATION (BTS)
– radio equipments responsible for radio coverage
2. BASE STATION CONTROLLER
– Controls a few BTS
– Manage radio resource management, signaling transmission,
power control, handover control, frequency hopping control etc.
3. TRANSCODER/RATE ADAPTER UNIT (optional)
– A device placed between GSM elements (BTS, BSC and
MSC)
to conserve bandwidth resources.
– Combines four 13 kbps speech channels to one 64 kbps data
stream. Thirty 64 kbps channels can then be multiplexed to a E1
channel. Located at BTS, BSC (more often) or MSC.
GSM Architecture- Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
.
 The Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
• Base Transceiver Station BTS - transceivers serve
different frequencies.
• Frequency hopping by handsets and transceivers
• Sectorization using directional antennas

• Base Station Controller (BSC) controls several (tens

to hundreds) of BTSs
– allocation of radio channels
– handovers between BTSs
– concentrator of traffic
– databases with information such as carrier frequencies,
frequency hopping lists, power reduction levels, etc. for each
cell site
 Network and Switching Subsystem (NSS)

• Perform functions such as call setup, paging,

resource allocation, location registration,
encryption, interfacing with other networks,
handoff control, billing, synchronization, echo
canceling and interface with external networks.
• Consist of 4 elements
– MSC, HLR, VLR, AuC and EIR
– MSC is the processor, the others are database
units.
Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)
• GSM circuit-switched core network manages
communication between mobile phones & PSTN
• Mobile Switching Center (MSC) : provides circuit
switched calling, mobility management, GSM
services for users
1. Gateway MSC – interfaces with PSTN, determines
which visited MSC the subscriber being called is
currently located at
2. Visited MSC - MSC where a customer is currently
located. The Visitor Location Register (VLR)
associated with this MSC has subscriber's data.
3. Anchor MSC - MSC from which handover initiated.
4. Target MSC - MSC toward which a handover should
take place.
 NSS - Home Location Register (HLR)

• HLR contains a list of subscribers belonging to

one or more MSC areas.
• Permanent subscriber data including IMSI,
MSISDN, roaming restriction, permitted
supplementary services and authentication
key.
• Temporary subscriber data consist of MSRN,
data related to encryption, VLR address, MSC
address and roaming restriction.
• HLR is usually centralized within a network.
 NSS --- Visitor Location Register (VLR)

• Similar to HLR but for visitors

• When a roamer appears, his HLR data is
transferred to the local VLR.
• VLR is usually co-located with MSC.
 NSS - Authentication Center (AuC)

1. Performs authentication function for each

subscriber within the system.
2. A key Ki kept in SIM and AuC. This key is
never transmitted over air.
3. Authenticate by using a random challenge.
4. Vulnerability is present when encrypted
authentication keys must be transmitted from
HLR to VLR.
 NSS - Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

Records the IMEI of all subscribers in

three lists.

1. White list - clean equipment

2. Black list -stolen equipment
3. Gray list -equipment with minor
problems
Operation and Support Subsystem (OSS)

OSS consists of two entities not fully specified

in GSM, as follows:
1. Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC)
2. Network Management Center (NMC)

• Performs alarm handling, fault management,

performance management, configuration
management, traffic data acquisition, activate and
deactivate functions, and long term planning.
Normally centralized in a network.
• Implementation of these functions are operator
specific.
Base station subsystem
Base Station Subsystem(BSS) = BTS + BSC

BTS

BSC
 Mobile Switching Center(MSC)
. The central component of the Network
Subsystem
(30 + 2)* 64Kbps = 2,048Mbps(E1) or better to
the other network interfaces(PSDN,ISDN)
1. Billing
2. Location registration
3. Gateway to SMS
4. Synchronizing BSS
5. Handover management
GSM Architectures 3 broad parts:

1. Subscribers carries MOBILE STATION.

2. BSS controls the radio link with the
mobile station.
3. NETWORK SUBSYSTEM, which main
part is MSC.
GSM Architectures
 The Registers Completing the NSS

• Home Location Register (HLR) contains all

information of each subscriber registered in the
corresponding GSM network
• Visitor location Register (VLR) contains selected
information from the HLR, which is necessary for
call control and provision of the subscribed
services, for each mobile currently located in the
geographical area controlled by the VLR

NSS = HLR + VLR + MSC

• Equipment Identity Register (EIR) contains a
list of all valid mobile equipment on the network

• Authentication Center (AUC) stores a copy of

the secret key stored in each subcribers SIM
card

• EIR and AUC are used for security and

authentication purposes
GSM Architectures
GSM Architectures
 GPRS core network
• Mobility management, session management,
and transport for IP services
• GPRS Tunneling Protocol, GTP (over UDP)
allows end users mobility with continued Internet
connectivity
• GPRS support nodes (GSN)
– GGSN - Gateway GPRS Support Node
– SGSN - Serving GPRS Support Node
FREQUENCY REUSE
 Frequency reuse
• Frequency reuse is the process of using
the same radio frequencies on radio
transmitter sites within a geographic
area, which are separated by sufficient
distance to cause minimal interference
with each other.

• Frequency reuse allows for a dramatic

increase in the number of customers
that can be served (capacity) within a
geographic area on a limited amount of
radio spectrum (limited number of radio
channels).
 Frequency reuse
• Frequency planning is the assignment
(coordination) of radio channel frequencies in
wireless systems that have multiple transmitters
to minimize the amount of interference caused by
transmitters that operate on the same frequency.

• Frequency planning is used to help ensure that

combined interference levels from nearby
transmitters that are operating on or near the
same frequency do not exceed a certain
interference (desired signal to interference) level
compared to the desired signal.
 Frequency reuse
• The ability to reuse frequencies depends on various
factors, including the ability of channels to operate in with
interference signal energy attenuation between the
transmitters.

• A frequency plan is the assignment of radio frequencies to

radio transmission sites (cell sites) that are located within a
defined geographic area.

• A common frequency reuse plan for GSM is the ability to

reuse a radio frequency on every 4th site that has three
120 degree sectors each of the 12 total sectors.

• This plan is commonly called “4/12”.

The GSM Bands
The power level of
a transmitter within
a single cell must
be limited to
reduce the
interference with
the neighboring
cells.
Neighboring cells
cannot share the
same channels

Different size of
patterns: 4,7,12 or 21
cells in one cluster
FREQUENCY REUSE
 Reuse Distance (ru)
• The closest distance between the centres of two
cells using the same frequency (in different
clusters) is determined by the choice of the
cluster size C and the lay-out of the cell cluster.
• This distance is called the frequency 're-use'
distance. It can be shown that the reuse distance
ru, normalised to the size of each hexagon, is

ru = √3 C
where: C = i2 + ij + j2
 Reuse Distance
• For hexagonal cells, i.e., with 'honeycomb' cell
lay-outs commonly used in mobile radio,
possible cluster sizes are C = i2 + ij + j2, with
integer i and j (C = 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, ...). Integers i
and j determine the relative location of co-
channel cells.

• 7-cell reuse
with i = 2 and j =1.
Frequency reuse plan for C = 3, with
hexagonal cells. (i=1, j =1)
Frequency reuse plan for C = 7 (i=2, j
=1).
 FREQUENCY REUSE

• The reuse distance, ru is calculated as

ru = √3 C

• where ru is the cell radius and

• C is the number of cells per cluster.
• Cells may vary in radius in the ranges (1 km to
30 km). The boundaries of the cells can also overlap
between adjacent cells and large cells can be divided
into smaller cells .
 FREQUENCY REUSE

• The frequency reuse factor is the rate at which the

same frequency can be used in the network.
• It is 1/K (or K according to some books) where K is
the number of cells which cannot use the same
frequencies for transmission.
Common values for the frequency reuse factor are
1/3, 1/4, 1/7, 1/9 and 1/12 (or 3, 4, 7, 9 and 12
depending on notation).
• In case of C sector antennas on the same base
station site, each with different direction, the base
station site can serve C different sectors.
 FREQUENCY REUSE
• C is typically 3.
• A reuse pattern of C/K denotes a further
division in frequency among C sector
antennas per site. Some current and
historical reuse patterns are 3/7 (North
American AMPS), 6/4 (Motorola NAMPS),
and 3/4 (GSM).
• If the total available bandwidth is B, each cell
can only utilize a number of frequency
channels corresponding to a bandwidth of
B/K, and each sector can use a bandwidth of
B/CK.
 FREQUENCY REUSE

Example of
frequency
reuse factor
or pattern
1/4
Three- sectored Antenna
 Types of Cells

Macrocells (3 to 35 km)
Microcells (0,1 to 1 km)
Picocells (0,01 to 1km)
Nanocells (1m to 10m)
Selective cells
and
tiered cells (two
sectors, two
frequencies)

Umbrella cells
- covers several
microcells
 Multiple Access
• FDMA/TDMA/FDD
• GSM 900 uses 50 MHz in two 25 MHz bands for
up and down links.
• Provides a maximum 125 carriers at 200 kHz
spacing in each band.
• EGSM adds 10 MHz or 50 carriers to each band.
• GSM-1800 uses two 75 MHz bands with a
maximum of 375 carriers at 200 kHz spacing.
• Each carrier is divided into 8 TDMA channels.
Signal Processing - 1
 Frame Structure

• A frame has duration 4.615 ms. Consists of 8

slots. Each slot can accommodate one burst of
duration 577 micro-second.
• Two kinds of multiframe:
– traffic MF = 26 frames(120ms),
– control MF = 51 frames.
• Superframe --- same structure as multiframe.
• 2048 superframes form a hyperframe
TRAFFIC CHANNEL STRUCTURE
SYNCHRONIZATION CHANNEL
Frame and Burst Structure
• GSM Bursts
For carrying traffic, network control data, frequency
correction, synchronization and random access data.
• Flag - indicate the type of information, traffic or
network control.
• Training - for channel adaptive equalization.
• Tail - all-zero bits to indicate the start and the end
of the burst.
• Guard - ramping time for transmitter ON/OFF, to
avoid overlapping between adjacent time slots.
Necessarily much longer for Access Burst.
• Synchronization - a known sequence for time
synchronization.
GSM Burst Format
SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY
 Traffic load and cell size
 The number of channels is directly proportional
to the number of cells.)
 The maximum traffic capacity of sectored
antennas (directional) is greater than that of
omnidirectional antennas by a factor which is
the number of sectors per cell (or cell cluster).
 The more traffic generated, the more base stations
will be needed to service the customers.
 The number of base stations for a simple cellular
network is equal to the number of cells.
 Traffic load and cell size
• The traffic engineer can achieve the goal of satisfying
the increasing population of customers by increasing
the number of cells in the area concerned, so this will
also increases the number of base stations.
• This method is called cell splitting (and combined
with sectorization) is the only way of providing
services to a burgeoning population. This simply
works by dividing the cells already present into
smaller sizes hence increasing the traffic capacity.
Reduction of the cell radius enables the cell to
accommodate extra traffic.
• The cost of equipment can also be cut down by
reducing the number of base stations through setting
up three neighbouring cells, with the cells serving
three 120° sectors with different channel groups.
 Traffic load and cell size
• Mobile radio networks are operated with finite,
limited resources (the spectrum of frequencies
available).
• These resources have to be used effectively to
ensure that all users receive service, that is, the
quality of service is consistently maintained.
• This need to carefully use the limited spectrum,
brought about the development of cells in mobile
networks, enabling frequency reuse by
successive clusters of cells.
 Traffic load and cell size
• Spectral efficiency is defined as the traffic capacity unit
divided by the product of bandwidth and surface area
element, and is dependent on the number of radio
channels per cell and the cluster size (number of cells in
a group of cells):

Efficiency = Nc / (BW x Ac)

 where Nc is the number of channels per cell,

 BW is the system bandwidth, and
 Ac is Area of cell.
 Traffic capacity versus coverage
 Cellular systems use one or more of four different techniques of access
(TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, SDMA). CDMA cellular systems can allow an
increase in traffic capacity at the expense of the quality of service.
 In TDMA/FDMA cellular radio systems, Fixed Channel Allocation (FCA)
is used to allocate channels to customers.
 In FCA the number of channels in the cell remains constant
irrespective of the number of customers in that cell. This results in
traffic congestion and some calls being lost when traffic gets heavy.
 A better way of channel allocation in cellular systems is Dynamic
Channel Allocation (DCA) which is supported by the GSM, DCS and
other systems.
 Traffic capacity versus coverage
• Dynamic Channel Allocation is a better way not only for handling bursty
cell traffic but also in efficiently utilising the cellular radio resources.
• DCA allows the number of channels in a cell to vary with the traffic
load, hence increasing channel capacity with little costs.
• Since a cell is allocated a group of frequency carries (e.g. f1-f7) for each
user, this range of frequencies is the bandwidth of that cell, BW. If that
cell covers an area Ac, and each user has bandwidth B then the
number of channels will be BW/B.
• The density of channels will be BW ÷(Ac x B) .
• This formula shows that as the coverage area Ac is increased, the
channel density decreases.
End of presentation