Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GSM Lecture
GSM Lecture
GSM
What is GSM ?
BTS BSC
VLR
MS
BTS EIR
AUC
MS HLR
GSM System Architecture
Mobile Equipment
S b ib Identity
Subscriber Id i Module
M d l (SIM)
| Smart card contains the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
| Allows user to send and receive calls and
receive other subscribed services
| Encoded network identification details
| Protected by a password or PIN
| Can be moved from phone to phone –
contains key information to activate the
phone
System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
| Encodes,encrypts,multiplexes,modulates
, yp , p , and feeds the RF
signals to the antenna.
| Frequency hopping
| Communicates with Mobile station and BSC
| Consists of Transceivers (TRX) units
System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
|RF Spectrum
GSM 900
Mobile to BTS ((uplink):
p ) 890-915 Mhz
BTS to Mobile(downlink):935-960 Mhz
Bandwidth : 2* 25 Mhz
GSM 1800
Mobile to BTS (uplink): 1710
1710-1785
1785 Mhz
BTS to Mobile(downlink) 1805-1880 Mhz
Bandwidth : 22* 75 Mhz
GSM Specification
13 Kbps
Channel Coding Channel decoding
22.8 Kbps
Interleaving De-interleaving
22.8 Kbps
Ciphering De-ciphering
33.6 Kbps
Radio Interface
Modulation
270.83 Kbps
Demodulation
Physical Channel
GSM-Frame Structure
Logical Channels
H lf rate
Half t 11.4kbps
11 4kb
Speech
TCH
(traffic) Full rate 22.8kbps
2.4 kbps
Data
4.8 kbps
9.6 kbps
p
BCH FCCH(Frequency correction)
SCH(Synchronization)
PCH(Paging)
CCCH
RACH(Random Access)
CCH AGCH(Access Grant)
(control)
SDCCH(Stand Alone)
Dedicated
SACCH(Slow-associated)
FACCH(Fast-associated)
GSM Frequency Bands
System Band Uplink Downlink Channel Number
GSM 900 (E-GSM) 900 880.0 - 915.0 925.0 - 960.0 975 - 1023, (0, 1-124)
GSM-R (R-GSM) 900 876.0 - 915.0 921.0 - 960.0 955 - 973, (0, 1-124, 975 - 1023)
PCS
CS 1900
900 1900
900 1850.0
850 0 - 1910.0
9 00 1930.0
930 0 - 1990.0
990 0 512 - 8
5 810
0
GSM-900, GSM-1800 – Used in most countries (Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia)
Multi-band and multi-mode
phones
| Dual band phones
z GSM 900 and 1800 MHz. (Europe, Asia, Australia, Brazil)
z GSM 850 and 1900 MHz (North America)
| Tri band phones
z 900, 1800, 1900 (Europe)
z 850, 1800, 1900 (North America)
| Quad band phones
z Supports all four major GSM frequency groups.
| Multi-mode phones
z Can operate on GSM systems as well as on mobile
mobile-phone
phone
systems using other technical standards. Often these
phones use multiple frequency bands as well.
Mobile Station
The GSM telephone set and the SIM are the only system elements with which
most users of GSM have direct contact.
Base Station Subsystem
Base Station Subsystem
| The umbrella cell configuration consists of one BTS with high transmission power and
an antenna installed high above the ground that serves as an “umbrella” for a number
of BTSs with low transmission power and small diameters
| The umbrella cell configuration has its merits in certain situations and therefore may
result in relief from load and an improvement of the network
network.
| For example, when cars are moving at rather high speeds through a network of small
cells, almost consecutive handovers from one cell to the next are necessary to maintain
an active call. This situation is applicable in every urban environment that features city
highways.
g y
| Consequently, the handovers result in a substantial increase of the signaling load for
the network as well as in an unbearable signal quality degradation for the end user. On
the other hand, small cells are required to cope with the coverage demand in an urban
environment.
Sectorized (Collocated) Base
Transceiver Stations
| Switch Matrix
z Because the BSC has the functionality of a small digital
exchange, its function is to switch the incoming traffic
channels ((A-interface from the MSC)) to the correct Abis-
interface channels. The BSC, therefore, comes with a
switch matrix that (1) takes care of the relay functionality
and (2) can be used as the internal control bus
| T
Terminal
i lC Control
t l El
Elements
t off th
the Abi
Abis-Interface
I t f
z The connection to the BTSs is established via the Abis-terminal
control elements (TCEs), which, more or less independently from
the BSC’s central unit, provide the control function for a TRX or a
BTS.
z The number of Abis TCEs that a BSC may contain depends largely
on the number of BTSs and on the system manufacturer.
z Major tasks of the Abis-TCEs are to set up LAPD connections
toward the BTS peers, the transfer of signaling data, and last—but
not least—the
least the transparent transfer of payload
payload.
z Depending on the manufacturer, the Abis TCEs also may be
responsible for the administration of BTS radio resources.
| Database
z The BSC is the control center of the BSS.
BSS In that capacity,
capacity the BSC
must maintain a relatively large database in which the maintenance
status of the whole BSS, the quality of the radio resources and
terrestrial resources, and so on are dynamically administrated.
Furthermore, the BSC database contains the complete BTS
operations software for all attached BTSs and all BSS specific
information, such as assigned frequencies.
Transcoding Rate and
Adaptation Unit
| One off the
O th mostt interesting
i t ti functions
f ti in
i GSM involves
i l the
th TRAU,
TRAU which
hi h
typically is located between the BSC and the MSC.
| The task of the TRAU is to compress or decompress speech between the
MS and the TRAU. The used method is called regular pulse excitation–long
term prediction (RPE-LTP).
| It is able to compress speech from 64 Kbps to 16 Kbps, in the case of a
fullrate channel and to 8 Kbps in the case of a halfrate channel.
| Although speech compression is intended mainly to save resources over the
Air-interface, it also is suitable to save line costs when applied on terrestrial
links
Speech Coding
A law and µ-law
A-law µ law
GSM Network
N t k Planning
Pl i
Dr. Chandimal Jayawardena
Radio Network Planning
Process
| The network planning process itself is
not standard.
| Though some of the steps may be
common, the process is determined
by the type of project, criteria and
targets. The process has to be applied
case by
b case.
Network Planning Projects
| Network planning projects can be divided into three main categories based on
howmuch external planning services the operator is using
using.
| No services means simply that the operator is responsible for the network
planning from the very beginning until the end.
z This type of comprehensive responsibility for the network planning is more
suitable for traditional network operators,
p , who have extensive knowledge g of their
existing network and previous network planning experience than newcomers in
this technology field. There is risk, however, that if the operator is the only person
responsible for network planning there might be a difficulty in maintaining
knowledge of the latest equipment and features.
| The opposite network planning solution is when the network operator buys the
new network with a turnkey agreement.
z In this case, the operator is involved only in defining the network planning
criteria. After the network roll-out has been finished and enters the care phase an
agreement about the future has to be made. The care services can be
outsourced as wellwell, but the operator might also be interested to take some
portion of the network operations and start to learn the process. An operator
taking all the responsibility after the outsourced planning phase includes some
risk. A better solution is to learn the network operation at a pace agreed with the
network vendor.
| The network operator can also buy network planning consultancy services.
z In this, the operator performs majority of the planning function and outsource
selected aspects of the job. In this way some special know-how can be bought to
supplement the knowledge of the network planning group. This is generally used
in cases where new technologies need to be introduced in mature networks.
Network Planning Project
Organization
Network Planning Criteria and
Targets
Network planning is a complicated process consisting of several phases. The
final target for the network planning process is to define the network design
design,
which is then built as a cellular network.
A summary of the main factors affecting network planning are listed below:
| Market analysis
z Competitor analysis
z Potential customers
z User profiles: services required and usage
| Customer requirements
z Coverage requirements
z Capacity requirements
z Quality targets: call setup success, drop call rate, etc.
z Financial limitations
z Future deployment plans
| Environment factors and other boundary conditions
z Area topography
z Hotspot locations
z Available frequency band
z Recommended base transceiver station (BTS) locations
Network Planning Process
Steps
| The network planning process consists of several phases, which
can be combined at a higher level to main phases that differ
depending on the logics.
Preplanning
| The preplanning phase covers the assignments and preparation before the
actual network planning is started
started.
| As in any other business it is an advantage to be aware of the current market
situation and competitors.
| The network planning criteria is agreed with the customer. As specified earlier,
the requirements depend on many factors, the main criteria being the coverage
and quality targets.
| The network planning criteria is used as an input for network dimensioning.
Following are the basic inputs for dimensioning:
z coverage requirements, the signal level for outdoor, in-car and indoor with the
coverage probabilities;
b bili i
z quality requirements, drop call rate, call blocking;
z frequency spectrum, number of channels, including information about possible
needed guard bands;
z subscriber information
information, number of users and growth figures;
z traffic per user, busy hour value;
z services.
| The dimensioning gives a preliminary network plan as an output, which is then
supplemented in coverage and parameter planning phases to create a more
detailed plan.
Planning
| The planning phase takes input from the dimensioning, initial network
config ration This is the basis for nominal planning
configuration. planning, which
hich means
radio network coverage and capacity planning with a planning tool.
| The nominal plan does not commit certain site locations but gives an
initial idea about the locations and also distances between the sites.
| The nominal plan is a starting point for the site survey, finding the real
site locations. The nominal plan is then supplemented when it has
information about the selected site locations; as the process proceeds
coverage planning becomes completed.
completed
z The final site locations are agreed
| The output of the planning phase is the final and detailed coverage
and capacity plans. Coverage maps are made for the planned area
and final site locations and configurations.
Detailed Planning
| After the planning phase has finished and the site location and configurations
are known detailed planning can be started
started.
| The detailed planning phase includes frequency, adjacency and parameter
planning.
| Planning tools have frequency planning algorithms for automatic frequency
planning.
| The planning tool can also be utilized in manual frequency planning. The tool
uses interference calculation algorithms and the target is to minimize firstly the
co-channel interference and also to find as low an adjacent channel interference
as possible.
| Frequency planning is a critical phase in network planning. The number of
frequencies that can be used is always limited and therefore the task here is to
find the best possible solution.
| Neighbour planning is normally done with the coverage planning tool using the
frequency plan information
information.
| In the parameter planning phase a recommended parameter setting is allocated
for each network element.
| For radio planning the responsibility is to allocate parameters such as handover
control and power control and define the location areas and set the parameters
accordingly.
GSM Network Planning
Criteria
| The definition of the radio network planning criteria is
done at the beginning of the network planning process.
| The network operator has performance quality targets for
the cellular network and these quality requirements are
also related to how the end user experiences the
network.
| Typical network quality targets are as follows:
Radio Network
Dimensioning
| Dimensioning is the main part of the preplanning phase. In addition to
the dimensioning parameters the priority of the parameters also needs
to be agreed.
| It is imperative to agree the network layout, usage of three sector sites
or a combination of three sector and omni sites with the operator.
| O important
One i t t planning
l i issue
i iis also
l whether
h th only l macro cells
ll are used
d
in the beginning or a combination of macro, micro and pico cells.
| The macro cells are used in rural and suburban areas to cover large
areas. The macro cell has a cell range of 1–35 km and is characterised
b an outdoor
by td antenna,
t which
hi h covers a llarge area. A
Antennas
t are above
b
rooftops.
| Micro cells are used in city areas to cover areas close by and antennas
are on the walls. The micro cell has a cell range of less than 1 km and
i ffor outdoor
is d coverage. Th
The antennas are typically
i ll mounted d on walls
ll
and below the average rooftop level.
| The pico cells are used to cover either very specific hot spot in an
outdoor area or to give indoor coverage. The pico cell has a cell range
less than 500 m and is characterised by antennas mounted low on the
walls, clearly below the rooftop level. They are used for both indoor and
outdoor coverage
Link Budget Calculations
| The radio link budget aims to calculate the cell
coverage area.
| One of the required parameters is radio wave
propagation
ti tto estimate
ti t theth propagation
ti loss
l between
b t
the transmitter and the receiver. The other required
parameters are the transmission power, antenna gain,
cable losses
losses, receiver sensitivity and margins.
margins
Link Budget Calculations
cont.
When defining the cell coverage area, the aim is to balance the
uplink and downlink powers.
The links are calculated separately and are different from the
transmission powers
powers.
The BTS transmission power is higher than the MS transmission
power and therefore the reception of the BTS needs to have high
sensitivity.
ii i
The radio signal experiences the same path loss when travelling
from the BTS to the MS as from the MS to the BTS.
The GSM link budget parameters are:
z BTS sensitivity z Cable and connector losses
z MS sensitivity z Other equipment loss factors
z MS and BTS powers z Mast head amplifier (MHA) and
z Antenna gains booster
z Diversity gain z The interference degradation
margin
Link Budget Calculations cont.
| BTS sensitivity
iti it
z Specified on the ETSI GSM recommendation 05.05 and the recommended value
is −106 dBm. This is a general recommendation and therefore when preparing a
link budget with a certain manufacturer’s equipment this vendor’s
recommendations can be used.
| MS sensitivity
z is also specified in the ETSI recommendation 05.05, where the receiver
sensitivity value is separate for each MS class.
z MS class 4, which means GSM 900, the recommended value is −102 dBm.
z MS class 1, GSM 1800, the value is −100 dBm.
| The MS sensitivity can also be calculated using the information of receiver noise
F and minimum Eb/N0.
| The value for the noise is 10 dB and the minimum Eb/N0 is 8 dB, as defined in
th ETSI recommendation
the d ti 03.30.
03 30 Th
The receiver
i sensitivity
iti it Si iis solved
l d ffrom th
the
following equation, where the input noise power Ni is the product of three
parameters: the Boltzman constant k, temperature T0 = 290K and bandwidth W
= 271 kHz (54 dB):
Link Budget Calculations
cont.
| MS and BTS powers
z MS TX (transmission) power is defined by the MS class in ETSI specifications
specifications.
For MS class 4 (GSM 900) the maximum TX power is 2Wand for class 1 (GSM
1800) 1W.
z BTS TX power depends on the BTS type and vendor. The TX power is
adjustable, which enables the link budget to be balanced.
| Antenna gains
z The BTS antenna gain is dependent on the antenna type and whether the
antenna is omnidirectional or directional. The gain of a directional BTS antenna is
dependent on the horizontal and vertical half power beam widths. It is also
dependent on the physical size of the antenna which in turn has an impact on the
frequency range.
z Also frequency range is inversely proportional to the size of the antenna, which is
then connected to the radiating aperture of the antenna.
z The antenna gain is around 16–20 dBi when there is a widely used antenna with
60 6 horizontal
60–65◦ h i lh
halflf power b
beam width
id h and
d 5–10
10 vertical
i lh halflf power b
beam
width.
z In the link budget calculations for the MS antenna the gain is generally 0 dBi. The
actual MS antenna gain is complicated to estimate, because the gain is highly
p
dependent on the mobile user’s relative location towards the base station when
the amount of body loss varies.
| Diversity gain
z can be used for correcting unbalance between the uplink and downlink. The
typical way to arrange diversity is to have it in the BTS reception. One basic
method is to separate receiver antennas vertically or horizontally; the method is
Link Budget Calculations
|
cont.
Cable and connector losses
z are case specific and need to be measured or calculated separately.
A individual
An i di id l connector
t gives
i a lloss off around
d00.1
1 dB
dB, b
butt d
depending
di on
the cable installations there can be several in one antenna line.
where λ is the wavelength and Gr is the gain of the receiver (RX) antenna.
| The received power density can also be written as:
where
e e f is
s the
t e frequency
eque cy in megahertz
ega e t aand
d d is
s the
t e distance
d sta ce in
kilometers.
| In reality the radio wave propagation path is normally a non-line-
of-sight situation with surrounding obstacles like buildings and
trees Therefore the applicability of the free space propagation
trees.
loss is limited.
| The received signal actually consists of several components,
which have been travelling g through
g different paths facing
g
reflection, diffraction and scattering.
Okumura Hata Model
Okumura–Hata
| The Okumura–Hata model is a well-known propagation
model, which can be applied for a macro cell environment to
predict median radio signal attenuation.
| The Okumura–Hata model is an empirical model, which
means that it is based on field measurements.
| Okumura performed the field measurements in Tokyo and
published results in graphical format. Hata applied the
measurement results into equations. The model can be
applied without correction factors for quasi-smooth terrain in
yp correction
an urban area but in case of other terrain types
factors are needed.
| The weakness of the Okumura–Hata model is that it does
not consider reflections and shadowing. The parameter
restrictions for this model are:
Okumura Hata Model cont
Okumura–Hata cont.
| The Okumura–Hata model for path loss prediction can by written as where f
is the frequency (MHz), Hb is the base station antenna height (m), a(Hm) is
the mobile antenna correction factor, d is the distance between the BTS and
MS (km) and Lother is an additional correction factor for area type correction.
| The correction factor for the MS antenna height is represented as follows for
a small or medium sized city,
| Non-line-of-sight situation
where
Lrts = the rooftop–street diffraction and
scatter loss Lmsdd = the multiscreen
diffraction loss.
Coverage Planning in GSM
Networks
| The target
Th t t for
f coverage planning
l i isi to
t find
fi d optimal
ti l locations
l ti ffor
base stations to build continuous coverage according to the
planning requirements.
| The model selection is done according to the planning parameters,
e g frequency
e.g. frequency, macro/microcell environment
environment, BTS antenna height height.
| The coverage prediction is based on the map and the model and
therefore the accuracy is dependent on those as well.
| As the link budget calculations are created for all the network
configurations, which means different combinations of the planning
parameters, the cell size determination can be started.
| The number of different combinations is targeted to be kept as
small as possible, but some different BTS profiles are normally
needed. Sometimes there can be restrictions in the antenna usage,
e.g. only
l smallll ones can b
be usedd iin th
the city
it area, andd thi
this createst
different link budgets for urban and rural areas.
| The link budget defines the maximum allowed path loss with certain
configurations. Firstly, the theoretical maximum for the cell size is
calculated using the selected basic propagation model.
Capacity Planning in GSM
Networks
| In the capacity planning phase a detailed capacity per cell level is
estimated.
i d Th
The prior
i taskk was to select
l the
h bbase station
i llocations
i and
d
calculate the coverage area using actual BTS parameters. The capacity
allocation is based on these coverage maps and traffic estimates, which
can be a separate layer on the map of the planning tool.
| The amount of traffic is expressed in Erlangs, which is the magnitude of
telecommunications traffic.
| An Erlang describes the amount of traffic in one hour. The definition for
Erlangg is the following:
g
Example: 25 users make a phone calls in an hour. Average call duration isthree minutes.
How much traffic are the users creatingg in Erlangs?
g
Frequency Planning
| The number
Th b off carriers
i per sector
t can b be calculated
l l t dbby di
dividing
idi ththe
available bandwidth by the product of the re-use rate and
bandwidth for a single carrier, i.e. dividing the number of channels
by the frequency re-use rate. Using a re-use rate of 12, the number
of TRXs, carriers per sector, is calculated below:
| the capacity of the network with 100 BTSs and 600 cells can be
calculated as