VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI, KARNATAKA-590 014

Seminar Report on
GSM Hardware Architecture
In the subject

Wireless Network and Communication

by

NIKHIL AS 4MT21MT402
RAVEESH RAI 4MT21MT403
LIONEL PERARRO 4MT18MT012

To
Mr. Santhosh S
Sr. Asst. Professor

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering
2022-2023
 MANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY &ENGINEERING
(Accredited by NAAC with A+ Grade, An ISO 9001:2015 Certified Institution )
(Affiliated toVisvesvaraya Technological University Belagavi)
Badaga, Mijar, Mangalore-574225, Karnataka

Department of Mechatronics Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Seminar Report entitled ‘’GSM HARDWARE

ARCHITECTURE’’ carried out by Mr. NIKHIL AS, USN 4MT21MT402; Mr. LIONEL
PERARRO, USN 4MT18MT012; Mr. RAVEESH RAI ,USN 4MT21MT403 are
bonafide students of Mangalore Institute of Technology & Engineering in partial fulfilment
for the award of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics Engineering of the Visvesvaraya
Technological University, Belagavi during the year 2022-23. It is certified that all
corrections/suggestions indicated for Internal Assessment have been incorporated in the Report
deposited in the department.

Mr. Santhosh S Dr. B. Mohan Kumar Naik

Course Teacher Head of the Department
 Contents: -
• What is GSM?
• Architecture of GSM.
• Hardware Components of GSM.
• Modern GSM Module.
 WHAT IS GSM?

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard

developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to
describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks used
by mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. GSM is also a trade
mark owned by the GSM Association GSM may also refer to the Full Rate voice
codec.
2G networks developed as a replacement for first generation (1G) analog cellular
networks. The GSM standard originally described a digital, circuit-switched
network optimized for full duplex voice telephony. This expanded over time to
include data communications, first by circuit-switched transport, then by packet
data transport via General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and Enhanced Data
Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).
 Architecture of GSM.
A GSM network comprises of many functional units. These functions and interfaces are
explained in this chapter. The GSM network can be broadly divided into −

• The Mobile Station (MS)

• The Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
• The Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)
• The Operation Support Subsystem (OSS)
BSS : BSS stands for Base Station Subsystem. BSS handles traffic and signaling between a
mobile phone and the network switching subsystem. BSS having two components BTS and
BSC.

NSS : NSS stands for Network and Switching Subsystem. NSS is the core network of GSM.
That carried out call and mobility management functions for mobile phone present in network.
NSS have different components like VLR, HLR and EIR.

OSS : OSS stands for Operating Subsystem. OSS is a functional entity which the network
operator monitor and control the system. OMC is the part of OSS. Purpose of OSS is to offer
the customer cost-effective support for all GSM related maintenance services.

Let’s understand the functionality of different components.

1. MS : MS stands for Mobile System. MS comprises user equipment and software needed
for communication with a mobile network. Mobile Station (MS) = Mobile Equipment(ME)
+ Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). Now, these mobile stations are connected to tower and
that tower connected with BTS through TRX. TRX is a transceiver which comprises
transmitter and receiver. Transceiver has two performance of sending and receiving.

2. BTS : BTS stands for Base Transceiver Station which facilitates wireless communication
between user equipment and a network. Every tower has BTS.

3. BSC : BSC stands for Base Station Controller. BSC has multiple BTS. You can consider
the BSC as a local exchange of your area which has multiple towers and multiple towers have
BTS.
4. MSC : MSC stands for Mobile Switching Center. MSC is associated with communication
switching functions such as call setup, call release and routing. Call tracing, call forwarding
all functions are performed at the MSC level. MSC is having further components like VLR,
HLR, AUC, EIR and PSTN.

VLR : VLR stands for Visitor Location Register. VLR is a database which contains the exact
location of all mobile subscribers currently present in the service area of MSC. If you are
going from one state to another state then your entry is marked into the database of VLR.

HLR : HLR stands for Home Location Register. HLR is a database containing pertinent data
regarding subscribers authorized to use a GSM network.. If you purchase SIM card from in
the HLR. HLR is like a home which contains all data like your ID proof, which plan you are
taking, which caller tune you are using etc.

OMC : OMC stands for Operation Maintenance Center. OMC monitor and maintain the
performance of each MS, BSC and MSC within a GSM system.

AUC : AUC stands for Authentication Center. AUC authenticates the mobile subscriber that
wants to connect in the network.

EIR : EIR stands for Equipment Identity Register. EIR is a database that keeps the record of
all allowed or banned in the network. If you are banned in the network them you can’t enter
the network, and you can’t make the calls.

PSTN : PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. PSTN connects with MSC.
PSTN originally a network of fixed line analog telephone systems. Now almost entirely digital
in its core network and includes mobile and other networks as well as fixed telephones. The
earlier landline phones which places at our home is nothing but PSTN.
 Hardware Components of GSM.

Figure depicts gsm mobile phone block diagram. Typically hardware components of a mobile
phone include display (LCD, touch screen), keypad, microphone, speaker, SIM card, battery,
USB port, antenna, memory unit(RAM,ROM), camera, CODEC, RF part, DAC/ADC,
baseband part (L1/Layer1/physical layer) running on DSP, Application/protocol layers
running on CPU, ON/OFF switch and Bluetooth/GPS features.

MOBILE PHONE RF TRANSCEIVER

As shown in the figure, every mobile phone will have RF part which consists of RF frequency
up converter and rf frequency down converter. For GSM system, up converter converts
modulated baseband signal(I and Q) either at zero IF(Intermediate frequency) or some IF to
RF frequency(890-915 MHz). RF down converter converts RF signal(935 to 960 MHz) to
baseband signal(I and Q). For GSM, GMSK modulation is used. There are two approaches
employed in GSM Mobile phone receiver, i.e. heterodyne or homodyne. The basic component
used for frequency conversion is RF mixer.To know more read our page on heterodyne vs
homodyne. To know more on design of RF frequency converter one can refer our page in the
articles section. Refer RF vs IF table mentioning common intermediate frequencies used for
different applications.

MOBILE PHONE ANTENNA AND TX/RX SWITCH

Antenna is the metallic object which converts electro-magnetic signal to electric signal and
vice versa. Commonly used antennas in the mobile phone are of various types such as helix
type, planar inverted F type, whip or patch type. Microstrip based patch type of antennas are
popular among mobile phones due to its size, easy integration on the PCB and multi frequency
band of operation. Todays mobile phones support various GSM bands and also various
technologies such as CDMA,LTE,WiMAX and also WLAN,Bluetooth and so on. In these
scenario this type of patch antennas do the job. To know more on antenna refer antenna
tutorial.

Tx/Rx Switch : As there is only one antenna used for both transmit and receive at different
times, Tx/Rx Switch is used to connect both Tx path and Rx path with antenna at different
times. Tx/Rx Switch is controlled automatically by DSP based on GSM frame structure with
respect to the physical slot allocated for that particular GSM mobile phone in both downlink
and uplink. For FDD systems diplexer is used in place of switch which acts as filter to separate
various frequency bands. To know RF switch basics and manufacturers read page on RF
switch in terminology section.

MOBILE PHONE BASEBAND PART

This part basically converts voice/data to be carried over GSM air interface to I/Q baseband
signal. This is the core part which changes modem to modem for various air interface
standards viz.CDMA,Wimax, LTE,HSPA and more. It is often named as physical layer or
Layer 1 or L1. It is ported usually on DSP(Digital Signal Processor) to meet latency and power
requirements of mobile phone. For Speech/audio, codec is used to compress and decompress
the signal to match the data rate to the frame it has to fit in. CODEC converts speech at 8 KHz
sampling rate to 13 kbps rate for full rate speech traffic channel. To do this RELP (Residually
Excited Linear Predictive coder) speech coder is used which packs 260 bits in 20 ms duration
to achieve 13 kbps rate. The baseband or physical layer will add redundant bits to enable error
detection as well as error correction. Error detection is obtained with CRC and error correction
with forward error correction techniques such as convolutional encoder(used at transmit part)
and viterbi decoder(used at receive part). Other than this interleaving is done for the data of
one burst which helps in spreading the error over the time hence helps receiver de-interleave
and decode the frame(consecutively data burst) correctly.For more refer our page on GSM
Physical Layer.

ADC AND DAC

ADC(Analog to Digital Converter) and DAC(Digital to Analog Converter) is used to convert
analog speech signal to digital signal and vice versa in the mobile handset. At Transmit path,
ADC converted digital signal is given to speech coder. There are various ADCs available,
among them popular one is sigma delta type. AGC(Automatic Gain Control) and
AFC(Automatic Frequency Control) is used in the receiver path to control gain and frequency.
AGC helps maintain working of DAC satisfactorily, as it keeps signal within the dynamic
range of DAC.AFC keeps frequency error within limit to achieve better receiver performance.

MOBILE PHONE SOFTWARE | PROTOCOL STACK

Other than physical layer there are other layers involved in GSM mobile phone to make it
work with GSM network/base station. To know more on the protocol stack used in mobile
refer GSM Protocol Stack. The entire protocol stack is ported on CPU of ARM or of any other
type of processors.
Application layer
It also runs on CPU. various applications run in GSM mobile phone. It include audio,video
and image/graphics applications. It supports various audio formats such as
MP3,MP4,WAV,rm. JPEG image formats are usually available. It supports video formats
e.g.MPEG-1 to MPEG-5. Mobile phone supports CIF, QCIF video standard resolutions.

MOBILE PHONE OS (OPERATING SYSTEM)

various operating systems are supported in mobile phone such as Symbian,java,android,RT-
Linux,Palm. It runs on CPU of different manufacturers. For time critical applications RTOS
(real-time operating system) is used.
BATTERY
It is the only major source of power to make/to keep mobile phone functional. There are
various types of batteries made of Nickel Cadmium(NiCd),Nickel Metal Hydride(NiMH),
based on lithium,Li-ion and so on. The major factors for designers is to reduce battery size,
last for more talk time,increase battery life. Battery comes usually with 3.6 or 3.7 voltage and
600mAh or 960 mAh ratings. Battery Charger is usually provided with mobile phone to
charge the mobile phone battery. Battery charger is AC to DC converter.
Connectivity (WLAN, Bluetooth, USB, GPS)
To make data transfer fast enough between mobile phone and other computing
devices(laptop,desktop,tablet) or between mobile and mobile various technologies are
evolved which include WLAN,Bluetooth,USB. GPS(global positioning system) is used for
location assistance and will enable google map to work efficiently.

MICROPHONE AND SPEAKER

Microphone : Microphone or mic converts air pressure variations(result of our speech) to
electrical signal to couple on the PCB for further processing. Usually in mobile phone mic of
types condenser,dynamic,carbon or ribbon is used.

Speaker : It converts electrical signal to audible signal(pressure vibrations) for human being
to hear. This is often coupled with audio amplifier to get required amplification of audio
signal. It also tied with volume control circuit to change(increase or decrease) the amplitude
of the audio signal.

Camera: Now-a-days with almost all the mobile phone camera feature is available for one to
click pictures at various occasions. It is the major specifications in increasing cost of mobile
phone. There are various mega pixel camera for mobile phones are available such as 12 mega
pixel, 14 mega pixel and even 41 mega pixel available in smartphones.This has become
evident because of advancement in sensor technology.If one wants to buy low cost mobile
phone, they usually go for non camera mobile phone.
DISPLAY AND KEYPAD
Display: There are various display devices used in mobile phone such as LCD(liquid crystal
display), TFT(Thin-film transistor) screen,OLED(organic light emitting diode),TFD(thin film
diode), touch screen of capacitive and resistive type etc.
Keypad : Earlier days keypad was simple matrix type keypad which contains numeric digits(
0 to 9), alphabets( a to z),special characters and specific function keys. These has been
designed for various applications such as accepting call,rejecting call,cursor
movement(left,right,top,down) dialling number, typing name/sms/mms and so on. Now-a-
days keypad has been removed from the phone design and it has become part of mobile phone
software. It pops on the display screen itself which can be operated by user using touch of a
finger tip.
Modern GSM Module.