SMS

The Telecom Source 10 Slide Technology Series

Telecom Source Consulting Inc. www.thetelecomsource.com | 905-854-5400

Introduction
SMS stands for Short Message Service SMS was first introduced in 1991 in Europe as a text messaging service based on European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standards for mobile networks SMS is being used in a wide range of social and business applications such as electronic voting, delivery of stock quotations, delivery of e-mail notification SMS is currently supported on the major mobile network technologies including: GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) CDMA (Carrier Division Multiplex Access) SMS supports the sending and receiving of text, images, animation and sound SMS messages are originated and received by Short Messaging Entities (SME). Examples of SMEs are: mobile phones; servers; personal computers

Basic Network Architecture

SME SMSC SMS-GMSC/ SMS-IWMSC MSC/SGSN MS

Outside the scope of GSM specifications HLR VLR

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7.

Short Message Entity (SME) sends or receives short messages Short Message Service Centre (SC) stores-and-forwards messages between the SME and the MS Gateway MSC For Short Message Service (SMS-GMSC) - receives messages from the SC, interrogates the HLR for routing information and forward the messages to the MSC or SGSN Home Location Register (HLR) - a database used for permanent storage and management of user/subscriber profiles Inter-Working MSC For Short Message Service (SMS-IWMSC) - receives messages from the MSC or SGSN and forwards them to the SC Mobile Service Centre (MSC) performs switching functions for mobile stations in a geographical area Visitor Location Register (VLR) - a database that contains temporary information about roaming subscribers. The MSC and the VLR are always on the same platform. Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) performs packet switching functions for mobile stations in a geographical area. The SGSN is used instead of the MSC when SMS info is transferred over GPRS. Mobile Station (MS) a device on the mobile network capable of receiving and sending short messages

SMS Protocol Services and Features

SMS is a point-to-point store and forward technology with 2 basic services: Short Message Mobile Terminated (SM-MT) - to transmit a message from the short message service centre to the mobile station. SMS-DELIVER PDU (Protocol Data Unit) Short Message Mobile Originated (SM-MO) to transmit a message from mobile station to service centre SMS-SUBMIT PDU SMS allows message delivery to handsets either active/in-use or powered off Mobile stations receive transport data protocol units (TPDU) denoted as SMS-Deliver Mobile stations send transport data protocol units (TPDU) denoted as SMS-Submit Note: the TPDU contains the user data (the short message) SMS protocol permits request of message delivery confirmation report SMS messages contain up to 140 octets which is equivalent to: 160 Latin characters (7 Bit Coding) Text Mode 70 Unicode characters (double byte) e.g. Arabic Characters, Chinese Characters SMS messages can also contain up to 140 octets of binary information SMS messages are transported in the core network using SS7 (Signaling System 7)

SMS Service Elements

Validity Period is the service element that indicates the time period for which the SMSC will guarantee the existence of the short message when attempting to deliver it Service Centre Time Stamp is the service element that indicates the time stamp of message arrival at the SMSC Protocol Identifier is the service element in to indicate higher layer protocol or indicates interworking with certain types of telemetic services (e.g. paging, email) More Messages to Send is the service element by which a SMSC informs the MS that there is one or more messages waiting in the SC to be sent to the MS Priority is the service element indicating that delivery of the message will be attempted regardless of the MS being temporarily absent or having no free memory Message Waiting is the service element that enables the mobile network to provide the HLR, SGSN and VLR with the information that there is a message waiting in the originating SMSC for a MS Alert Service Centre is the service element used by mobile networks to inform an SMSC that a previously unreachable MS (temporarily absent or no memory) is ready to receive messages

SM-MT Service SMS-Deliver TPDU Structure

1-10 Octets 1 Octet 2-12 Octets 1 Octet 1 Octets 7 Octets 1 Octet 0-140 Octets

SCA PDU Type: 7 RP 6 UDHI

PDUType

OA

PID

DCS

SCTS

UDL

UD

5 SRI

2 MMS

1 MTI

Bits

MTI bit 1 = 0 bit 0 = 0

Parameter SCA PDU Type RP UDHI SRI MMS MTI OA PID DCS SCTS UDL UD Service Centre Address - Telephone number of the Service Centre Protocol Data Unit Type Reply Path - Parameter indicating that Reply Path exists

Description

User Data Header Indicator - Parameter indicating that UD field contains a header Status Report Indication - Parameter indicating if the SME has requested a status report More Messages to Send - Parameter indicating whether or not there are more messages to send Message Type Indicator - Parameter describing the message type 00 means SMS-Deliver Originator Address - Address of the originating SME Protocol Identifier - Parameter indicating the SMSC how to process the Short Message (e.g. Fax) Data Coding Scheme - Parameter identifying the coding scheme within the User Data (UD) Service Centre Time Stamp - Parameter identifying the time when the SMSC received the message User Data Length - Parameter indicating the length of the UD-field User Data - Data Field of the Short Message

SM-MO Service SMS-Submit TPDU Structure

1-10 Octets 1 Octet 1 Octet 2-12 Octets 1 Octet 1 Octets 0, 1 or 7 Octets 1 Octet 0-140 Octets

SCA PDU Type: 7 RP

Parameter SCA PDU Type RP UDHI SRR VPF RD MTI MR DA PID DCS SCTS UDL UD

PDUType

MR

DA

PID

DCS

VP

UDL

UD

6 UDHI

5 SRR

4 VPF

2 RD

1 MTI

Bits

MTI bit 1 = 0 bit 0 = 1

Description Service Centre Address - Telephone number of the Service Centre Protocol Data Unit Type Reply Path - Parameter indicating that Reply Path exists User Data Header Indicator - Parameter indicating that UD field contains a header Status Report Request - Parameter indicating if the MS has requested a status report Validity Period Format - Parameter indicating whether or not the VP field is present Reject Duplicates parameter indicating if SMSC will accept a message with same MR and DA from the same OA Message Type Indicator - Parameter describing the message type 01 means SMS-Submit Message Reference - Successive numbers (0255) of all SMS-SUBMIT frames sent by the MS. Destination Address - Address of the destination SME Protocol Identifier - Parameter indicating the SMSC how to process the Short Message (e.g. Fax) Data Coding Scheme - Parameter identifying the coding scheme within the User Data (UD) Service Centre Time Stamp - Parameter identifying the time when the SMSC received the message User Data Length - Parameter indicating the length of the UD-field User Data - Data Field of the Short Message

Message Flow SM-MT

SMSC
Transfer

GMSC

HLR

MSC

VLR

MS

Message sendRoutingInfoForShortMsg forwardShortMessage sendInfoForMT-SMS Page Authenticate Deliver Report SM-Delivery Delivery Report
Note: ETSI/GSM MAP sendRoutingInforForShortMsg equivalent in IS41 (North American standard) is SMSrequest mechanism, while forwardShortMessage is Short Message Delivery-Point-to-Point (SMD-PP)

Message Transfer

ReportStatus

Message Flow SM-MO

SMSC SMSIWMSC HLR MSC VLR
Access Request Authenticate Message Transfer sendInfoForforwardShortMessage Message Transfer Delivery Report Delivery Report Delivery Report
Note: ETSI/GSM MAP forwardShortMessage equivalent in IS41 (North American Standard) is Short Message Delivery-Point-to-Point (SMD-PP) mechanism

MS

MO-SMS

Short Message Service Centre - SMSC

Short Message service Centre plays a central role in the management of SMS message origination and SMS message delivery Interestingly, detailed functionality of SMSC is outside the scope of standardization, hence several vendor specific products and protocols: EMI (External Machine Interface) CMG, now LogicaCMG UCP (Universal Computer Protocol) Logica, now LogicaCMG CIMD (Computer Interface to Message Distribution) Nokia OIS (Open Interface Specification) SEMA Group, now Airwide Solutions Computer Access Service and Protocol Ericsson SMS Forum is an industry initiative to create a common standard SMPP (Short Message Peerto-Peer) using Internet as the transport network The ETSI/GSM standard does specify minimum mandatory SMSC requirements: Each SMS-Deliver to a MS must have unique time stamp with one second accuracy Only one outstanding SMS-Deliver (i.e. message for which a report not yet received) If requested by MS or SME, initiate overwriting of previously received short messages

Additional Features and Issues

SMS standard allows concatenation of messages to enable transmission of longer messages (i.e. messages longer than 140 octets) Short Messages may be compressed with algorithms described in GSM 03.42 Compression only applies to user-data and excludes user-data-header If compressed message are greater than 140 octets, then the messages can be concatenated In North America wireless subscribers can address text messages using 5-digit numbers (short codes) An example of the use of short codes is for SMS voting One objective of short codes is to reduce or minimize Spam Short codes are being used to price and market services (e.g charge back to application provider) Service gateway products are available that address multi-network (GSM/CDMA) and multi-protocol (e.g. EMI/OIS) inter-working Security is an emerging concern similar to that with e-mail, for example: SPAM sending of unsolicited messages and ads via SMS (e.g. to entice users to call numbers that have a high per minute charge) Virus - resend of message to all numbers in the phones address book (e.g. via a Trojan Horse) Identity Theft - retrieval of personal information from a SIM (Subscriber Interface Module) card

Telecom Source Consulting Inc.

www.thetelecomsource.com info@thetelecomsource.com