Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GSM Technology
GSM Technology
Overview
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is a common second generation cell phone standard. GSM is a digital standard that was adopted over the original analog system. The GSM network operates at 850 MHz or 1900 MHz bands in the US.
Modulation
GSM uses GMSK or Gaussian minimum shift keying for modulation GMSK is a kind of continuous frequency shift keying
GMSK
The on-off binary signal is first transformed to a polar binary signal. The polar binary signal is filtered such that a Gaussian-shaped signal is produced. Frequency modulation is then applied to the signal
Advantages
Digital data allows for better more effective use of bandwidth Radio signals use less power, this allows batteries to last longer Digital voice encoding allowed for digital error checking to be used. Digital services such as email and SMS or Short Message Service (text messages) were added.
Security
GSM uses some simple encoding algorithms but has been found to be less effective then originally believed. Previous analog systems provided virtually no security. Phones were prone to being cloned with analog systems. GSM prevents cloning problem but also stops legitimate uses of this property.
Disadvantages
The weaker digital signal may not be able to reach cell tower Digital signal will drop out faster then an analog signal.