Short Message Service
Application Notes Analysis
March 2003
Introduction
SUNRISE TELECOM Short Message Service (SMS) is the transmission
of short text messages to and from a mobile
phone. SMS is a relatively simple messaging sys-
tem provided by the mobile phone networks.
SMS messages are supported by GSM, TDMA
and CDMA based mobile phone networks cur-
rently in use.
Once a message is sent, it is received by a Short
Message Service Centre (SMSC), which must
then direct it to the appropriate mobile device.
To do this, the SMSC sends a SMS Request to the
home location register (HLR) to find the roaming
customer. Once the HLR receives the request, it
will respond to the SMSC with the subscriber
status: 1) inactive or active 2) where subscriber is
roaming. If the response is 'inactive', then the
SMSC will hold onto the message for a period of
time. When the subscriber accesses his device,
the HLR sends a SMS Notification to the SMSC,
and the SMSC will attempt delivery.
The SMS-gateway mobile switching centre (SMS-
GMSC) is an MSC capable of receiving a short
message from an SMSC, interrogating a home
location register (HLR) for routing information,
and delivering the short message to the visited
MSC of the recipient mobile station.
The SMS interworking MSC (SMS-IWMSC) is an
MSC capable of receiving a short message from
the mobile network and submitting it to the
appropriate SMSC. In other terms, the SMS
Gateway MSC provides access to the Short
Message Service Center for short messages to be
delivered to mobile stations, while the SMS
Interworking MSC provides access to the Short
Message Service Center for short messages sub-
mitted by mobile stations. The SMS-GMSC/SMS-
IWMSC are typically integrated with the SMSC.
The SMSC is a Store & Forward machine, which
accepts messages from different sources
(modem, other digital terminals, other SMSC,
Internet) and stores them in memory until it can
forward them to the receiving digital mobile ter-
minals. The maximum amount of time the mes-
sages will be stored in memory, if the SMSC is
unable to deliver them immediately (because the
terminal is off or out of range), depends on the
network operator, but it can also be pre-pro-
grammed as a special parameter at the moment
in which the message is sent. The maximum stor-
age time can be a period extending from 1 hour
to a few weeks. At the end of this time limit the
message is automatically removed from the
SMSC and will never be delivered to the mobile
terminal.
Each digital network generally has one or more
SMSC each having it's own phone number. This
phone number, once it is programmed on a GSM
phone, allows the sending and receiving of mes-
sages, depending on whether the subscriber
phone is able to use the service and whether the
subscriber has been granted the use of the serv-
ice by the network operator.
If the subscriber has not been granted the use of
the service then he will not be able to use it even
if he has programmed the SMSC phone number
on his mobile phone correctly.
The SMSC can be connected to SMSC belonging to other All the statistic counters are generated and stored sepa-
digital network operators on the basis of international rately for each link under monitor, allowing a quick inter-
roaming agreements, this allows subscribers to send and pretation of the eventual problems related to a specific
receive messages to and from users of other digital net- interconnected operator.
works in other nations.
Although services based on SMS have been feasible for
many years, the recent mobile phone penetration and large
scale adoption of the existing services by users, have made
the SMS based services even more attractive to service
providers. SMS traffic has been doubling every six months
and is generating enormous revenues worldwide.
All the main operators have roaming agreements that allow
the subscriber of one operator to send/receive SMS to/from
subscribers of other operators.
Considering the revenues generated by the SMS traffic, the
wireless operators are now facing the problem of monitor-
ing the traffic that is forwarded and received to/from the
other interconnected operators, mainly for the following
purposes:
- Check if interworking problems are causing loss of traf-
fic and the consequent loss of revenues.
An automatic report can be configured to periodically pro-
- Check the billing that is periodically exchanged between
duce statistics related, in example, to each month or week,
the interconnected operators.
for every single operator.
- Verify the quality of service perceived by the subscribers,
following the introduction of innovative services provid- The typical deployment is the installation of the probe near
ed by SMS. the SMSC. Usually, the SMSC is connected to the other
operators SMSC through multiple signalling timeslots that
SMS Monitoring System can reside onto separate physical trunks (E1 or T1). In
order to minimize the amount of physical trunks required,
The SS#7 Monitor package with the MAP option, available
more signalling timeslots are usually concentrated on one
onto the Sunrise Telecom Protocol Servers, is the ideal solu-
E1/T1.
tion for verifying the intra/inter-carrier traffic of SMS.
This feature offers a detailed monitor of all the SMS activity
allowing the customer to quickly verify if there are losses of
SMS traffic transiting inside or outside the PLMN (Public
Land Mobile Network). Used in conjunction with the well-
known SS#7 monitor features and a centralized Server for
the long-term storage, it allows a complete control of all the
links interconnecting the SMSC of the different operators.
The probe monitors continuously the links carrying the
MAP traffic. Each SMS transaction is analyzed and counted
as "successful" or "unsuccessful". Furthermore, a TDR
(Transaction Detail Record) is generated and stored onto
the local hard disk.

Time Sampled Statistics are also available for traffic shaping report
The probes can Applications
monitor up to 31
signalling timeslots - Links usage monitoring
on each E1 or T1. - SMS traffic reporting
- Operators interworking surveillance
For long-term
- Troubleshooting
storage purposes,
a Traffic Collec-tor - Traffic analysis
Server can be - Billing verification
installed to gather - Welcome messages
data from multiple
probes and store
them onto rela-
tional database or
text files.
A Server equipped
with the Microsoft
SQL Relational Database allows an easy development of 3rd
party applications, like Billing Verification Systems or Traffic
Reporting Statistics, or simply to solve eventual disputes
that can arise between operators during the billing proce-
dures.
Remote users can in any time access the probes through
their client-server interfaces, for troubleshooting and real-
time analysis.
All the pictures shown here are from a monitoring system
based upon the GHEPARDO-RSR platform.

Each Transaction
Message can be
directly extract
from the TDR
result screen

Physical Interfaces
Up to 8 E1 or T1 with 124 signaling timeslots (Ghepardo
Small)
Up to 16 E1 or T1 with 248 signaling timeslots (Ghepardo
Large)
Up to 32 E1 or T1 with 192 signaling timeslots (3GMaster)
Multi-signalling-timeslots configurations up to 31/24 on
single E1/T1
All the
Transaction Performances
Messages are Up to 1.500.000 TDR-per-hour
counted including
the Error ones
Ordering Information
For GHEPARDO Platform:
GP-SS7 SS#7 basic Monitor
GP-MAP MAP Release '96 option
GP-MAP-CDR TDR generation for GP-MAP
GP-GP-GR MAP Release '98 option
GP-GP-CDR-MAP TDR generation for GP-GP-GR
GP-LOCAL-SDF TDR storage onto local hard disk

For 3GMaster Platform:

3GM-GSM Analysis suite for GSM including MAP
Release '96 and TDR
3GM-GPRS Analysis suite for GPRS including MAP
Release '98 and TDR

Your representative:

Roman Porenta
E-mail: rporenta@omnicor.com

Omnicor
1170 Foster City Blvd., Suite 312
Foster City, CA 94404 USA

Phone: +1(650) 572 0122 Ext. 111

Fax:+ 1(650) 572 0533
www.omnicor.com

Sunrise Telecom Pro.Tel Division S.r.l.

Via J. Peri, 41, 41100 Modena ITALY
Tel: +39 059 403711 Fax: +39 059 403715
E-mail: info@sunrisetelecom.it
Website: http://www.sunrisetelecom.it/

Sunrise Telecom Incorporated (Headquarters)

302 Enzo Drive, San Jose CA 95138 USA
Tel: +1 408 363 8000 Fax: +1 408 363 8313
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