Chapter 5

Chapter 5, GSM Cellular System
Chapter 5
GSM Cellular System
5.1 Introduction
Old mobile communication systems, usually called “first generation
mobile systems”, used analog systems. They have some drawbacks such
as low capacity, inefficient use of the frequency spectrum, lack of
security, inflexibility and lack of international roaming. The AMPS
cellular service has been available in the United States to the public since
1983. Systems similar to AMPS were soon deployed internationally. The
development of low-rate digital speech coding techniques and the
continuous increase in the device density of integrated circuits have made
completely digital second-generation systems viable. The “second
generation mobile systems” are designed and use digital systems, with all
the inherent advantages of the digital systems compared to analog
systems. Digital systems can support more users per base station per MHz
of spectrum than analog systems, allowing wireless system operators to
provide service in high density areas more economically. To meet the
growing need to increase cellular capacity in high-density areas different
standardization bodies developed their own standard:
• The Electronic Industries Association (EIA) and the Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA) in the USA adopted the IS-54 standard (D-
AMPS) and later on the CDMA IS-95 standard.
• The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) adopted
the GSM standard.
The “third generation mobile systems” are the integration of all kinds of
wireless systems into one universal mobile telecommunication system.
Work is continuing in the European research consortium, Race, and in
ESTI towards developing UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System) on a joint European basis. At the same time, the ITU is working
globally towards IMT-2000(International Mobile Telecommunication-
2000) with mutual agreement and information exchange. Technically,
these systems by offering bandwidths of more than 2 Mb/s, open new
possibilities for additional services in mobile communication networks,
such as full motion picture transmission.
The digital transmission over the air interface has a number of

advantages over analog transmission:
• Better speech quality.
• Speech privacy and security (improved through encryption).
• High spectral efficiency (traffic density per MHz bandwidth.
82
• Better resistance to interference (also by frequency hopping).

• Data services and ISDN compatibility.
• Efficient use of battery power by RF transmitted power control.
The Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is the most

famous digital mobile communication system. It was designed at first to
be a digital pan-European mobile communication system having many
attractive features. It soon became used in many other countries such as
Egypt. Some of the distinguishing features of GSM are:
1. Roaming in European countries (and now other countries too).
2. Connection to ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network).
3. Use of SIM Cards.
4. Control of transmission power.
5. Frequency hopping.
6. Discontinuous transmission.
7. Mobile-assisted handover.
5.2 Multiple access techniques:

In cellular communications the three main types of multiple access used
to divide the radio frequency spectrum of the cell site radios and the
mobile stations are:
• Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA). Each call is carried
on a separate frequency channel
• Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). Each frequency channel is
further divided into a set of time-slots, each timeslot carries the data
of a voice call.
• Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). A spread-spectrum
technology is used, in which the radio signals associated with a call
are spread across a single broad frequency spectrum (1.25 MHz).
The CDMA frequency access method allows the service provider to
reuse the same frequencies in adjacent cells. This is because a code
is assigned to each call in the spectrum to decipher the signals,
therefore signals in the same frequency but with a different code
appear as noise to the receiving end. Reuse of the same frequency in
adjacent cells allows CDMA to provide a capacity improvement over
the FDMA and TDMA access methods. Another benefit of a CDMA
system is the ability of a CDMA mobile station to communicate to
more than one cell at one time during a call. This functionality,
known as a Soft-Handoff, provides a seamless uninterrupted call
while the MS moves between cells.
83
5.3 GSM architecture:

The GSM system is divided into 4 subsystems as shown in Figure (5.1):
- The mobile station subsystem MS.
- The base station subsystem BSS.
- The switching subsystem SS.
- The operation and maintenance subsystem OMS.
OMS
MS BSS SS
Figure 5.1 GSM System
5.3.1 Mobile Station (MS)
It consists of two parts: the mobile equipment ME and the Subscriber

Identity Module (SIM) card. On the SIM card, all information related to
the subscriber are stored such as: the subscribers International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI), the subscriber’s Mobile Station ISDN number
(MSISDN), subscriber’s facilities, the identity and authentication key Ki,
ciphering key Kc and ciphering algorithms (A3, A5 and A8). The ME
contains RF transmission and reception equipment, and antenna and
control units.
5.3.2 Base Station Subsystem BSS

It consists of a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) located at the BS site and
a Base Station Controller (BSC) which may control several BTS. The
BTS provides the transmission equipment used to give radio coverage of
a cell. The BSC is responsible of the following management functions:
- Channel allocation.
- Link quality supervision.
- Transmission of associated signaling information and broadcast
messages.
- Controlling transmitted power and frequency hopping.
- Error correction encoding and decoding.
- Digital speech trans-coding and data rate adaptation.
- Handover processing.
- Data and signaling encryption.
84
5.3.3 Switching Subsystem (SS)

The switching subsystem SS manages the communication between GSM
users and other telecommunications users. It consists of: a mobile service
switching center (MSC), a networking unit (IWU), a home location
register (HLR), a visitor location register (VLR) & a gateway MSC
(GMSC) as shown in Figure (5.2)
- The MSC coordinates call set-up to and from GSM users. An MSC
controls several BSCs.
- The IWU is a gateway for MSC to interface with external networks for
communication with users outside GSM, such as packet-switched
public data network or circuit switched data network.
- The HLR is a database which contains subscriber's information and
information related to its current location (not the actual one). The
HLR also contains the authentication center (AUC), which manages
the security data for subscriber authentication, and the equipment
identity register (EIR) which stores the data of mobile equipment.
- The VLR is a subscriber's database concerned with the subscribers in
its area of service (which consists of a number of location areas
comprising many cells). Every time an MS registers itself in the VLR
area, the VLR updates itself from the HLR with the information
relevant to this subscriber. The VLR besides contains more detailed
information about subscribers location.
- The GMSC is the gateway to the whole public land mobile network
(PLMN). It is concerned with the routing of incoming calls to MS.
Actually, GMSC is a function implemented into a normal MSC and
sometimes more than one MSC, as the network implies.
AUC
GMSC HLR EIR
GIWU MSC/VLR
Figure 5.2 Switching Subsystem (SS)
85
5.3.4 Operation and Maintenance Subsystem OMS

The OMS is concerned with three functions as shown in Figure (5.3):
(1) Network operation and maintenance functions.
(2) Subscription management, including charging and billing.
(3) Mobile equipment management.
Subscription Network
management SS operation and
and charging maintenance
BSS
Mobile
equipment MS
management
Figure 5.3 Operation and maintenance subsystem
5.4 Air Interface

The connection between the mobile station and the base transceiver
station is called air interface. Transmission is through air where the
multiple access technique is by both FDMA and TDMA.
- The FDMA is assured by the existence of 124 frequency carriers each
of 200 kHz, in both down link and up link bands [935-960 MHz, 890-
915 MHz].
- TDMA is achieved by forming frames of 8 time slots on each carrier.
- Transmission rate = 270 kb/s.
In GSM there are two types of channels: physical channels and logical
channels.
5.4.1 Physical Channels
The time slots are called the physical channels on the GSM interface.
Transmission of the TDMA frames on air is synchronized and follows a
86
predetermined frame structure. The data carried by the physical channels

may be traffic data (voice, data, fax…) or signaling and link control data
(frequency correction, synchronization, channel allocation). This depends
on the nature of the logical channel mapped on the physical channels.
5.4.2 Logical Channels

Logical channels can be subdivided into two categories (as shown in
Figure (5.4)): traffic channels (TCH) and control channels (CCH). A brief
description of each of the above channels will be given in the following
section.
Logical channels
TCH CCH
1/8 Broadcast Common

1 1/2
channels control
channels
FCCH SCH BCCH
PCH AGCH RACH
Figure (5.4): GSM logical channels
5.4.2.1 Traffic channels (TCH)

There are three types of traffic channels:
- Full rate (TCH/F) which carries information at a rate of 22.8 k bit/sec.

- Half rate (TCH/H) which carries information at a bit rate of 11.4 k
bit/sec.
- One eighth (TCH/8): used for low-rate signaling channels, common
channels, and data channels.
At the beginning only full rate channel exists where speech coding of 13
k bit/sec is augmented to 22.8 k bit/sec through channel coding. This
information is transmitted on one time slot each frame. Now when speech
coders of 6.5 k bit/sec rate and of toll quality, has been achieved, the half
rate traffic is also deployed. The half rate traffic channels are used by
87
altering traffic from two subscribers on the same time slot. Thus doubling
the system capacity is obtained.
5.4.2.2 Control channels (CCH)

There are three groups of control channels:
* Broadcast channels (BCH)
* Common control channels (CCCH)
* Dedicated control channels (DCCH)
5.4.2.2.1 Broadcast channels

Three kinds of broadcast channels are defined as follows:
a) Frequency correction channel (FCCH)

This channel is transmitted on the down link, point-to-multipoint, where
a pure carrier signal is transmitted, to help the MS both identify the
BCCH carrier and synchronize to its frequency.
b) Synchronization Channel (SCH)

This is transmitted on the down link, point-to-multipoint. Having
identified that the received carrier is a BCCH carrier, the MS has to
synchronize to the structure within this particular cell and also to make
sure that the chosen base station is a GSM base station. The received
information on the SCH describes the TDMA structure of this cell
(TDMA frame number) and also the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC).
c) Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
This channel is transmitted on the down link, point-to-multipoint. Some

general information concerning the cell is transmitted on this channel, e.g.
the Location Area Identity (LAI), the maximum output power allowed in
the cell and the BCCH-carriers for the neighboring cells, on which the
MS will perform measurements. A list of the six strongest carriers is
updated regularly by the mobile as a result of the measurements.
Notice
- Each BTS is assigned a number of carriers numbered C0, C1, C2, … Cn.
The carrier frequency C0 is used to carry BCCH and is thus called
BCCH carrier, and it works at full permissible power.
88
- After performing the above steps the MS becomes tuned to a base

station and synchronized with the frame structure of the cell covering
the area where it is. The MS now can start roaming, waiting for calls to
arrive or making calls.
- Every time the MS decides to camp on another cell, the same

procedure is followed to read the new cell’s FCCH, SCH and BCCH.
5.4.2.2.2 Common Control Channels (CCCH)

These channels are used for transferring control information on a point-
to-point basis. There are three types of common control channels:
- Paging channel (PCH), transmitted on the downlink.
- Random Access Channel (RACH), transmitted on the uplink.
- Access Grant Channel (AGCH), transmitted on the downlink.
a) Paging Channel (PCH)

The information on PCH includes the MS’s identity number (IMSI) or
(TMSI- a temporary number) to whom a paging message is sent to
indicate the existence of an incoming call or an incoming short message.
The MS listens to the PCH channel within certain time intervals to know
whether a paging message (an incoming call or a short message) is
addressed to it or not. The paging does not take place on the whole
network, but only in the cells belonging to the location area where the
paged MS has registered recently.
b) Random Access Channel (RACH)

The MS uses the RACH in one of two cases: either in response to a
paging message received on the PCH, or for initiating an MS outgoing
call. This channel is carried by the BCCH carrier. Using this channel the
MS sends a request for SDCCH (to be described later) channel allocation
to the BTS.
c) Access Grant Channel (AGCH)

This channel is used by the BTS to inform the MS of an SDCCH
allocation as a reply to the MS request made on the RACH.
5.4.2.2.3 Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH)

These channels are used to transmit information point-to-point on both up
link and down link (therefore called dedicated), between BTS and MS.
89
They are used either for call set up procedures or for special signaling
required during the call. There are three types of DCCH channels.
- Standalone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH).

- Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH).
- Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH).
a) Stand Alone Dedicated Channel (SDCCH)

This dedicated channel is used for signaling purposes: e.g. call set up
procedures and textual messages (short message and cell broadcast)
transmission in the idle mode. Both BS and MS tune to the assigned
SDCCH (information transmitted on AGCH) and call set up procedure
then follows ending by the allocation of a free traffic channel. After that
the SDCCH is released and becomes available for any other call setup.
This channel operates at a very low rate and uses (TCH/8) channel. There
are two types of SDCCH: one having four sub-channels and is notated
SDCCH/4, and the other is SDCCH/8 having 8 sub-channels.
b) Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)

An SACCH is always allocated in conjunction with either a traffic
channel or with an SDCCH. It is used when the MS is in active mode
(during call) as well as during a call set up. It is transmitted periodically
within a TDMA multi-frame:
- On the down link transmissions the SACCH carries commands from

the BS to the MS for setting its output power level and also
information about time advance.
- On the up link the MS informs the BS about its own output power level
and the measured received RF signal strength and the quality of the
signals from adjoining cells. Also the MS location is updated.
c) Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)

This channel is used for urgent handover occurring during conversation.
The channel works by stealing one 20 m sec segment of speech and
exchanging it for signaling information necessary for the handover. This
stealing mode is not noticed by the subscriber since the speech coder will
repeat the previous speech block.
90
5.4.2.2.4 Call Broadcast Channel (CBCH)

Each cell broadcasts a short message every 2 seconds from the network to
the MS in the idle mode.
Note that during idle mode the MS listens to the five down link channels
FCCH, SCH, BCCH, which are broadcasted regularly and PAGCH &
CBCH which send message every 2 seconds and also uses SDCCH to
register location with a particular BS to the network.
5.4.3 TDMA Frame Structure

A TDMA frame comprises 8 time slots. The information format
transmitted during one TSin the TDMA frame is called a burst. The time
interval required to transmit one time slot is called the burst period (BP)
and is equal to 0.577 m sec. Thus, the TDMA frame occupies 4.615 m
sec.
There are two kinds of TDMA multi-frames:

- The traffic multi-frame: is composed of 26 consecutive TDMA frames
carrying TCHs of time duration 120 m sec.
- The control multi-frame: is composed of 51 consecutive TDMA frames

carrying control channels of time duration 235 m sec.
* Super-frame: A super-frame consists of 51 TDMA traffic multi-frames

or 26 TDMA control multi-frames. A super-frame is thus composed of
51 x 26 = 1326 TDMA occupying 6.12 sec.
* Hyper-frame: It is composed of 2048 consecutive super-frames,

occupying a total time of 3 hours, 28 minutes, 53 seconds and 760
milliseconds. A hyper-frame is thus composed of 2,715,648 TDMA
frames. Each frame has its serial number in the hyper-frame. It is this
number which is used via the SCH for the sake of frame
synchronization.
5.4.4 Types of Bursts

There are five different types of bursts:
- Normal burst.
- Frequency correction burst.
- Synchronization burst.
- Access burst.
- Dummy burst.
91
Each time slot is composed of 156.25 bits with bit duration of 3.69 µs
which renders the time slot or burst period equal to 0.577 m sec.
5.4.4.1 Normal Burst

This burst is used to carry information on TCH and on the control
channels BCCH, PCH, AGCH, SDCCH, SACCH and FACCH. The
normal burst format is shown in Figure (5.5)
TB Flag Flag TB
3 57 Encrypted bits 1 26 training bits 1 57 Encrypted bits 3 Guard 8.25
Figure 5.5 Normal Burst
It is composed of two encrypted information bit sequences separated by a

training sequence to be used by the equalizer for training and two flags
set to 1 when the burst is used for signaling. Three tail bits (always 000)
are inserted at the beginning and end to set and reset the Viterbi equalizer.
The burst thus contains 148 bits. The 8.25 bits guard period allows the
transmitter to ramp up and down within limits specified by the GSM
recommendations. The training sequence has a known bit pattern used by
the equalizer to create a channel model. It is in the middle of a burst to
best model the channel which constantly changes.
5.4.4.2 The frequency correction burst

This burst is used by the FCCH for helping the MS identify the GSM
frequency. It is formatted with an all zeros bit pattern as shown in Figure
(5.6).
TB TB
3 Fixed Bits 142 3 Guard 8.25
Figure 5.6 Frequency Correction Burst
5.4.4.3 The synchronization Burst

This burst is used for bit synchronization. The encrypted bits contain data
about the frame number to which this burst belongs. It also contains the
BSIC number of the transmitting BTS. The synchronization burst format
is shown in Figure (5.7).
92
TB TB
3 Encrypted sync bits Training sequence Encrypted sync bits 3 Guard 8.25
39 64 39
Figure 5.7 Synchronization Burst
5.4.4.4 The Access Burst

As shown in Figure (5.8) this burst has a large guard band compared to
the other bursts (68.25 bit intervals). This is because on the RACH, the
MS first starts to communicate with the BTS. At this stage the mobile
does not know how far it is located from the BTS and accordingly it
cannot determine how much it should time advance in order to
compensate for the propagation delay to avoid inter-symbol interference.
MS identity is contained in the encrypted bits.
TB TB
8 Sync. Sequence 41 Encrypted bits 36 3 Guard 68.25
Figure 5.8 Access Burst
5.4.4.5 Dummy Burst

When the MS is switched on, it listens to the BCCH frequency in order to
know important information such as the LAI required to decide whether a
location update should be done or not. Therefore the BCCH frequency
must always be transmitted. If no traffic channels are using this carrier,
the dummy burst is sent on those time slots to ensure continuous
transmission. The encrypted bits are exchanged with mixed bits with
certain bit pattern.
TB Flag Flag TB
3 57 information 1 26 training sequence 1 57 information 3 GP 8.25
bits bits
Figure 5.9 Dummy Burst
Note:
The long guard period (68.25 bits = 252 µ sec) provided in the access
burst guarantees that the signals from all mobiles in a cell reach the base
station without overlapping. In GSM cells of coverage distance up to 35
km are allowed, where the round trip from the BS to the MS and back
again is 233.3 µ sec. This long guard period is needed when the MS
attempts its first access to the BS or after a hand over has occurred.
93
When the BS detects a 41-bit random access synchronization sequence

with a long guard period (refer to Figure (5.8)), it measures the received
signal delay relative to the expected signal from a MS of zero range
(which is called time advance) and signals it to the MS using a 6-bit
number which advances its time base over the range of 0 to 63 bits (1 bit
= 3.69 µ sec). In this way all the TDMA bursts arrive at the base station
in their correct timeslots without overlapping. The BS continuously
monitors the signal delay from the MS and instructs the MS to update its
time advance parameter [3].
5.4.5 Mapping of Logical Channels on Physical Channels

The transmission of the logical channels (control and traffic) on physical
channels is called mapping. A physical channel is defined as being a time
slot number on a specific carrier. A BTS is assigned n (duplex) carriers,
each having 8 time slots (numbered TS0, TS1,.., TS7 ). The carriers are
called Co, C1, … Cn. The time slot TSO on carrier Co is used to map the
BCH and CCCH control channels. The dedicated control channels are
mapped on TS1 of carrier Co. Co is called the BCCH carrier and it is
transmitted at full permissible power, to enable an MS coming to service
to camp on and synchronize to the BTS serving the area where he is. It is
to be noted that Co for one BTS needs not be equal to Co of another BTS.
5.4.5.1 Logical channel mapping on TSO
Figure (5.10) shows the logical channels mapping on TSO. A control

multi-frame is composed of 51 (TSO) time slots, with a control multi-
frame length 51 x 4.615 = 235 m sec. On the down link TSO of the first
frame carries FCCH, TSO of the second frame carries SCH, TSO of the
3rd , 4th , 5th , 6 th frames carry BCCH. In the same way follows four
CCCH channels (either AGCH or PCH channels). After that follows 4
blocks of ten frames, each block consists of 1 FCCH, 1 SCH and 8
CCCH. The last frame (the 51th frame) carries in its TSO an idle burst
carrying no information. On the up link TSO of all the frames carry
RACH channel.
5.4.5.2 Logical channel mapping on TS1
Mapping the logical dedicated control channels is executed on the

physical channel TS1 on Co.
94
F S BBBBC CC C F S C C C CC C C C F S C CC C C CC C F S C C C CC C C CF S CCCCC CC C I
0 10 20 30 40 50
Down link logical channels mapping
R R RRRRR RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R R RR R RRRRR RR R R
0 10 20 30 40 50
Uplink logical channels mapping
F: FCCH S:SCH B: BCCH C:PCH or AGCH R: RACH I:IDLE
Figure 5.10 Logical channels mapping on TSO
Figure (5.11) shows the mapping where 8 SDCCH channels together with
their associated 8 SACCH’s and 6 idle bursts occupy TS1 of 102
consecutive frames. The cycle repeats again and again. The symbols DX
and AX signify that the mobile “X” uses the SDCCH number DX for
setting up a call or updating location or exchanging system parameters
with the GSM PLMN and the SACCH for exchanging control signaling
such as power regulations. After the mobile “X” has been transferred to a
TCH to start a call it releases this channel which becomes available for
other mobiles use.
.
012 - - - - 7012 - - - - 7012 - - - - Dx: SDCCH no. x

Ax: SACCH no. x
I : idle
Cycle
begins
D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A0 A1 A2 A3 I I I
D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A4 A5 A6 A7 I I I
End of
Cycle
Figure 5.1 Mapping of SDCCH + SACCH on TS1
It is to be noticed that both up link and down link mapping are the same.
Also, eight SDCCHs are laid on one TS (TS1) because the bit rate during
call set-up and registration is quite low.
By now TSO and TS1 on Co are mapped by the logical control channels,
leaving TS2 → TS7 free for use as traffic channels.
5.5.6 Mapping Logical Traffic Channels on Physical Channels

Figure (5.12) shows the down link mapping of TCH and SACCH on 26
time slots TS (i) taken from 26 consecutive frames. As can be seen 12
95
TCH are followed by one SACCH, 12 TCH and one idle channel
constitute the traffic multi-frame. The TCH contains encoded speech or
data. The SACCH controls signaling, e.g. order for power output change.
On the up link the same mapping is used with an offset in time, i.e. TS(i)
on the down link does not occur at the same time as TS(i) on the up link.
An offset of three TS’s is managed between the two as shown in Figure
(5.13).
T T T T T T T T T T T T S T T T T T T T T T T T T I
0 10 20
T: TCH S: SACCH I: Idle
Figure 5.12 Mapping of logical traffic channels on physical channels
TDMA frame no.
0 1
Downlink BS to MS
C transmissi
on
MS to BS
Uplink Co transmissi
on
0 1
offset
TDMA frame no.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ↓
↓ ↓
↑ ↑ ↑
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 5.13 Time offset between up and down link TCH
- Traffic channels are mapped on TS2 → TS7 on Co , and TS0 → TS7 on

C1 → Cn.
- When half-rate TCH becomes available, the mapping of TCH of two
mobiles will be mapped on alternative frames as shown in Figure
(5.14). The idle burst will be used as a SACCH for the second mobile.
This leads to doubling the channel capacity.
96
TDMA-frame
T T T T T T T T T T T T A T T T T T T T T T T T T I
26 frames = 120 ms
Multi-frame for full-rate channel
0: T T T T T T A T T T T T T
1: T T T T T T T T T T T T A
Multi-frame for half-rate channels MS0 and MS1
Figure 5.14 Full rate and half rate traffic channels
5.5. Signal Processing and Transmission

The GSM is a digital communication system where the speech which is
an analog signal is processed to take the digital form having a bit rate
suitable to the radio channel bandwidth and properly protected against
errors and eaves-dropping. In both MS and BS there are transceivers
which have the same structure. The MS transmitter and receiver block
diagram is shown in figure (5.15). The analog speech signal is first
digitized using an A/D converter (fs = 8 KHz,13 bits/sample, i.e, at a bit
rate of 104 kb/s), then segmented into 20 m sec segments which are fed to
a speech coder (Regular Pulse Excited RPE) which delivers 260
bits/20msec. (i.e. working at a bit rate 13 k bit/sec). In order to reduce the
rate of bit errors which will occur due to channel impairments (noise,
fading,…), channel coding is applied which increases the bit rate to 22.8
kbit/sec. Further precautions against deep fades which cause burst errors
is achieved by interleaving. Ciphering is then applied for protection
against eavesdropping. The resulting bit sequence is then subdivided into
blocks and used for burst formatting (adding start and stop bits, flags,
etc…). It is this burst which will be transmitted after modulation on a
carrier in the assigned time slot. Voice activation detector (VAD) is
included to enable or disable transmission depending on whether speech
is present at the RPE speech encoder. This allows a substantial reduction
of the power consumption as well as that of interference imposed on other
users. The effect of subjectively annoying silent periods, are mitigated at
the receiver by adding comfort noise during these intervals. In the BTS
the same transmitter is used except that the incoming speech signal from
PSTN is 64 kbit/sec PCM signal which will change its bit rate to 13
kbit/sec as shown in Figure (5.16), through the use of a D/D converter.
The signal is then fed to the speech coder as in the MS transmitter.
97
The receiver in either MS or BTS has the block diagram shown in Figures
(5.15),(5.16), where the blocks do the inverse processing of signals
compared to those of the transmitter.
The PCM signal used in telephony which achieves a good quality has a
bit rate 64 kbit/sec. When 8 such signals are time division multiplexed,
the resultant signal will have a bit rate equal to 8 x 64 = 512 kbit/sec. The
bandwidth required to transmit this signal depends on the type of
modulation used. As was mentioned before the RF carriers are separated
by 200 KHz, which implies the use of lower bit rate speech coders.
98
Antenna
Duplexer
Power Amplifier LNA
Transmitter Receiver
Modulator Demodulator
33.8Kb/s
Burst Viterbi
formating Equalizer
Ciphering
interleaver De-ciphering
22.8Kb/s De-interleaver
Channel Viterbi
coding Decoding
13Kb/s
Speech Speech
coding Decoding
104Kb/s
A/D converter D/A converter
Microphone Speaker
Figure 5.15 MS block diagram
99
Antenna
Duplexer
Power Amplifier LNA
Transmitter Receiver
Modulator Demodulator
33.8Kb/s
Burst Viterbi
formating Equalizer
Ciphering
Interleaver De-ciphering
22.8Kb/s De-interleaver
Channel Viterbi
coding Decoding
13Kb/s
Speech Speech
coding Decoding
13 bits
8 KHz Receiving part
D/A converter
8 KHz
8 bits
64 Kbit/s PCM
Transmitting part
Figure 5.16 BTS block diagram
5.5.1 Speech Coding

An important issue is to reduce the bit rate of the digital speech signal
while in the same time keeping the reproduced signal quality in
acceptable levels. There are many types of speech coders built to achieve
this goal, which can be classified into three main classes:
a) Waveform coders (64 k b/sec -16 kb/s)

b) Vocoders (1.2 k b/sec - 2.4 kb/sec)
100
c) Hybrid coders (1.2 k b/sec 16 kb/sec)
The speech coder used in GSM is of the hybrid type and is called Regular
Pulse Excited Speech coder. It works at 13 kb/sec rate (260 bit/20 m sec
speech segment). Details of speech coding will be studied later.
5.5.2 Channel Coding

As was explained before, the RF channel used for mobile
communications is liable to many impairments such as fading and noise.
Bit errors occur with rates depending on the levels of these impairments.
In order to reduce this bit error rate, channel coding is used. In GSM
systems channel coding is achieved in two steps using both block and
convolution coding. The speech coder subdivides the speech signal in 20
m sec segments, and codes it at 13 kbit/sec, delivering 260 bit/20 m sec
segment. These bits are divided into:
• 50 very important bits

• 132 important bits
• 78 not so important bits
The importance of bits comes from the effect of its loss on the reproduced
speech quality at the decoder. Referring to Figure (5.17), it can be seen
that the 50 very important bits are block coded resulting in 53 bits (50
original bits + 3 parity bits). These 53 bits together with the 132
important bits and 4 tail bits are fed to convolution coder and encoded to
378 bits (rate 1:2). The resulting bit blocks are concatenated with the
remaining unprotected 78 bits and thus a final block results with length
456 bits. Through convolution coding some errors can be corrected. After
convolution decoding the block coded part can be detected whether the
information is too damaged to use, where in this case it will be ignored
(very important bits are erroneous).
101
132 78
50
Important bits Least important bits
Most important bits
Block Coding
53 bits 4 trailing bits
Block Coding
378 bits
Total Message 456 coded bits
Figure 5.17 Channel coding in GSM
Channel coding for data and control channels are left for the student self
study. The effect of using GSM and channel coding on the BER
performance of the mobile system is shown in Figure (5.18).
100
Post-Decoding BER
10-1
10-2
10-3
No Channel Coding
10-4
10-5
GSM
-6
10
0 10 20 30 40 50
E /N (dB)
b o
Figure 5.18 Effect of channel coding on BER in GSM

102
5.5.3 Bit Interleaving
The channel coding explained previously is mostly effective in detecting

and correcting single error bursts which are not too long. In actual cases,
long fading dips may cause long bursts of bit errors. To combat this effect
bits are interleaved such that consecutive bits of message are not sent
consecutively. Interleaving converts burst errors into random errors.
Interleaving in GSM is achieved in two levels. In the first level of
interleaving the 456 bits output from the channel coder (occurring in 20
m sec) are subdivided to 8 blocks each of 57 bits. The first bit from the 8
blocks are taken and put in a new block. The same procedure is done with
the bits 2 to 8 from the 8 blocks. Thus we obtain 8 new blocks of 57 bits
each as shown in Figure (5.19). If one of these new blocks is lost then
only one bit will be lost from the original block which can be remedied
by the channel coding.
The original 456 bits message

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 …………………………… 452 453 454 455
The 57 bits segments
0 8 16 … 432 440 448 The first segment
1 9 17 … 433 441 449 The second segment
2 10 18 … 434 442 450 The third segment
3 11 19 … 435 443 451 The fourth segment
4 12 20 … 436 444 452 The fifth segment
5 13 21 … 437 445 453 The sixth segment
6 14 22 … 438 446 454 The seventh segment
7 15 23 … 439 447 455 The eighth segment
Figure 5.19 First level bit interleaving
Returning back to Sec. (5.4.4.1), it was mentioned that the normal burst is
mapped with two 57 coded bits. If these two 57 bits are taken from the
same speech frame (20 m sec length) then a loss of the burst would result
in a loss of 25% of the information bits. A second level of interleaving is
applied where the 57 bit blocks from two speech frames are interleaved
with each other as shown in Figure (5.20). This reduces the loss in
information bits to 12.5% due to the loss of a burst. Interleaving is very
103
effective for data transmission but not effective for voice transmission as
it operates in real time and a long delay in response cannot be tolerated.
Delay = 8 x 4.615 ms=36.92 ms.
Speech frame A Speech frame B Speech frame C Speech frame D

456 bits = 8x57 456 bits = 8x57 456 bits = 8x57 456 bits = 8x57
A/8
A/8
A/8
A/8
B/8 A/8
B/8 A/8
B/8 A/8
B/8 A/8
C/8 B/8
C/8 B/8
C/8 B/8
C/8 B/8
D/8 C/8
D/8 C/8
D/8 C/8
Figure 5.20 Second level of interleaving
5.5.4 Modulation
The bursts of bits are modulated on the RF carrier using the Gaussian
Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), which is a digital phase modulation
technique with a constant envelope, and the resulting bandwidth is
narrower than the ordinary MSK. This modulation system proves to be
robust against signal fading and interference while maintaining good
spectral efficiency.
The key parameter in controlling both bandwidth of the modulated signal

and the resistance to interference is the product of the 3 dB bandwidth
and the bit interval (B.T). It is found that an increase of 2 dB in
interference resistance is obtained when BT is increased from 0.2 to 0.5.
The GSM system uses a value of BT = 0.3. More information on GMSK
modulation and demodulation can be found in digital communications
text books.
5.5.5 Frequency Hopping

Frequency hopping is used together with interleaving to combat channel
fading. The principle of frequency hopping is that each TDMA frame is
transmitted via a different RF channel. If the present TDMA burst
104
happened to be in a deep fade, the next burst most probably will not be, as
long as the hopping is carried out to a frequency sufficiently far from the
present one and thus having a differently fading envelope. It is to be
noticed that frequency hopping reduces the amount of time spent by the
MS in a fade to 4.615 ms (the duration of a TDMA burst). The GSM
specifies a slow frequency hopping (217 hops/sec). A set N of RF
channels called mobile allocation are assigned for use in MS hopping
sequence. The set is limited to 1≤ N ≤ 64 channels out of the 124
legitimate GSM channels. Further details on frequency hopping will be
given later.
5.5.6 Power Control

In the GSM system the BS and MS are classified according to the
transmitter output power. There are eight power classes of the BS
transmitted power: 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160 and 320 watt.
For the MS there are four transmitted power classes only: 2, 5, 8 and 20
W. The power of the MS is adaptive and dictated by the BS, to reduce the
co-channel interference while maintaining the quality of the radio
channel. Reducing the MS transmitted power saves power consumption
which is important for hand-held mobile stations [3].
For the MS, there are 16 different power control levels with 2 dB spacing
between adjacent steps. The lowest power class is 13 dBm (20 mW), and
the highest power level is equal to the maximum peak power
corresponding to the class of the MS.
In the BS’s the same 16 steps of 2 dB spaced power levels are provided to
achieve adaptive RF power control. The output power of a BS is
controlled by the network manager to adjust the radio coverage by the
BS.
5.5.7 Carrier and Burst Synchronization

A unique set of time base counters is defined to ensure perfect BS-MS
synchronism through the following operations.
The BS sends frequency correction (FCB) and synchronization bursts

(SB) on specific timeslots of the BCCH carrier to the MS to ensure that
the MS’s frequency standard is exactly the same as that of the BS, and to
inform the MS about the required initial state of its internal counters. The
time base counters used to uniquely describe the internal timing states of
BS’s and MS’s are the quarter bit number (QN = 0 .. 624) counting the
quarter bit intervals in bursts, Bit Number (BN = 0 … 156), Timeslot
105
Number (TN = 0 .. 7), and TDMA frame Number (FN = 0 .. 26.51.2048),

given in the order of increasing interval duration. The MS sets up its time
base counters after receiving a SB by determining QN from the 64
extended training sequence in the center of the SB, setting TN = 0 and
decoding the 78 encrypted, protected bits carrying the 25 SCH control
bits shown in Figure (5.21). These bits are divided to: 6 bits which
consists of three PLMN color code bits and three BS color code bits
supplying a unique BS Identifier Code (BSIC) to inform the MS, which
BS it is communicating with.
PLMN BS T1 : super-frame T2 : multi-frame T3' : block frame

color color Index index index
3 bits 3 bits 11 bits 5 bits 3 bits
BSIC 6 bits RFN 19 bits
Figure 5.21 SCH message format
The 19 bit segment called Reduced TDMA Frame Number (RFN) is

derived from the full TDMA Frame Number (FN), constrained to the
range [0.. (26.51.2048) - 1] = [0 … 2,715,647] in terms of three sub
segments T1, T2 and T3. These sub segments are computed as:
T1 (11 bits) = (FN div (26.51))

T2 (5 bits) = (FN mod 26)
T3′ (3 bits) = ((T3 - 1) div 10)
T3 = (FN mod 51)
T1 is the super-frame index in a hyper-frame

T2 is the multi-frame index in a super-frame
T3 is the frame index in a multi-frame
The MS computes FN required in various control algorithms such as

encryption, hand over etc., upon receiving the SB, as follows:
FN = 51. ((T3-T2) mod 26) + T3 + 51.26.T1 where T3 = 10 T3′ + 1
5.5.8 Hand over Processing

The GSM hand over (HO) algorithm is based on the evaluation, storage
and processing of a number of parameters. The MS continuously
measures the down link received level (Pr), the down link received quality
from the serving cell and the down link received levels from the nth
106
adjacent cells and sends these information to the serving BS via the
SACCH. This operation is repeated for every new SACCH multi-frame of
480 ms duration. The BS evaluates the average of the measurements for
at least 32 measures over a time duration 32 x 480 m sec ≅ 15 sec. The
averaged parameters are compared to thresholds in the BS and if they
reveal not satisfactory, the BS tries to rectify small deviations by the RF
power control to meet the required conditions before HO is initiated.
The HO process may be explained using Figure (5.22a). Consider an MS

traveling from cell A to cell B. The path loss straight lines for the two
cells are shown together with the minimum received power level to allow
HOs to these cells which are P r min A and Pr min B. When the received power
level at BS of cell A falls below Pr min A, the MS requests HO to cell B.
The same happens if MS is traveling from cell B to cell A and its received
signal level falls below Pr min B , then it hand over to BS (A).
P rA P rB
PrminA
PrminB
BSA a cb BSB
(a)
P rA HO margin A P rB
HO margin B
BSA a b BSB
(B-A) (A-B)
(b)
Figure 5.22 Hand over: (a) without hysteresis (b) with hysteresis
A margin known as HO margin is introduced to make the HO operation

more stable by requiring the path loss of the adjacent cell to be
considerably more favorable than that of the present serving cell. This is
107
shown in figure (22-b) where new path- loss lines are drawn taking the
HO margin into account. Now the HO from cell A to cell B occurs at
point b while the HO from cell B to cell A occurs at point a.
5.5.9 Authentication and Encryption
The SIM card contains amongst others, the parameters necessary for
authentication and encryption, these are the International Mobile
Subscriber Identity (IMSI), the individual subscriber authentication key
Ki and the authentication algorithm A3. When an MS attempts to access
the network by identifying himself, the network sends to him a 128 bit
random number R. The MS calculates a signed response S by using the
confidential algorithm A3 to mix R and Ki. The result S is sent back to the
network where it is compared to the result calculated by the network
using the same R, Ki and A3. The verification is achieved when the two
results are equal. The process is shown in Figure (5.23). Using another
confidential algorithm A8 stored on the SIM card, the MS uses Ki and R
to calculate the ciphering key K c as shown in figure(5.24) which is also
calculated by the network and is used for cyphering messages using
another confidential ciphering algorithm A5. This process is shown in
Figure (5.25) and it is to be noticed that no confidential information is
sent unprotected on air.
Ki RAND RAND
128 bits
Ki RAND
A3
A3
SRES
32 bits
SRES Equal ?
MS Network
Figure 5.23 Authentication Procedure
108
Ki
A8 Kc
RAND
Figure 5.24 Calculation of ciphering key Kc
Frame number Frame number

(22 bits) (22 bits)
Kc (64 bits) Kc (64 bits)
A5 A5
S1 S2 S1 S2
(114 bits) (114 bits) (114 bits) (114 bits)
Plain ⊕ ⊕ Plain
text Ciphering Deciphering text
Plain ⊕ ⊕ Plain
text Deciphering Ciphering text
MS BTS
Figure 5.25 Messages ciphering and deciphering
5.5.10 Signal Strength Measurement by Mobile Station during Call

Connection
The MS continuously measures the received signal power from the

serving BTS and reports it to the BSC. In addition, it also measures the
received signal strength from the neighboring BTSs and reports them to
the BSC (via SACCH) which uses this information to make decisions
when hand over is required. The MS is informed via the SACCH which
BCCH carriers are to be monitored for hand over purposes and their
signal strength are measured one by one. The MS working scenario is as
follows:
Transmit - measure - receive - transmit - measure - receive ….
109
A mean value of the measurements for each carrier is calculated and

reported to the BSC. To determine the BTS identity BSIC sent on SCH
on Co, TSO, the MS has to measure over a time period of at least 8TS to
be sure that TSO will occur during the measurement, which will only be
valid when measuring on an idle frame (remember that the MS is not
synchronized with the neighboring BTS’s.
110
Appendices
1) Speech coding:
In PCM-coded speech, each speech channel delivers 64 kb/s. 8 such
channels would give rise to a bit rate of 512 kb/s over the air interface.
It is required then to reduce the bit rate significantly for each speech
channel to be able to keep the spectrum within the allowed frequency
band. This is accomplished by speech coding. This is done by sending
information about the speech instead of itself. Actually we know that
the speech is created from the diaphragm, through the lungs and into
the vocal tract where we have the vocal cords and the tongue, so we
can create an all parametric model of the speech. The speech can be
separated into voiced and unvoiced sounds. The voiced speech sounds
(e.g. vowels) are produced when the vocal cords vibrate with rate
depending on the sound. For the unvoiced sounds, on the contrary yhe
vocal cords do not vibrate (e.g. s and f sounds).
The voiced speech production can be modeled with the vocal tract
filter being fed by a pulse source while the excitation in unvoiced
speech can be considered to be a noise generator. Since the speech
organs are slow in adapting, we can say that the filter parameters
representing the speech organs are approximately constant for 20 ms.
On the transmitting side we create a model or a filter H with the
inverse characteristics compared to the filter model for creation of
speech. An analysis function in the speech coder calculates the filter
parameters for H so the output signal will be as close as possible to a
noise signal with white spectrum. The speech coder also estimates the
frequency of the vocal cords. The filter parameters are then
transmitted over the air (so we can establish an inverse filter 1/H) and
information about the “excitation sequence” (= output from H). The
output on the receiving side should be understandable speech of good
quality.
True Excitation sequence

speech H=(1/”filter”)
Filter
parameters
Synthesized
1/H
speech
111
2) The equalizer
Every kind of channel has its own features concerning bandwidth,
attenuation and so on. An optimum receiver is adapted to the particular
type of channel used for the transmission, which means that the
receiver knows ( or has a fair idea of) what the channel looks like-
otherwise it is not an optimal receiver. So at the receiver the Viterbi
equalizer creates a mathematical model of the transmission channel,
which in this case is the air interface, and calculates the most probable
transmitted data.
The data is transmitted in bursts which are placed within timeslots of
length approximately 0.577 ms. In the middle of each burst a known bit
pattern called the “training sequence” is transmitted (S). By comparing
the known sequence, in a correlator at the receiver with the received bit
pattern(S), the equalizer creates a channel model. The channel is
considered to be constant during one burst. A probable transmitted bit
sequence is then fed through the channel mode and the output is
compared to the received bit sequence. By looking at the difference
between these two bursts the Viterbi equalizer selects a more probable
transmitted bit pattern which is again fed through the channel model.
The process is repeated until a “good enough” bit pattern is found. To
limit the processor load (i.e. processing time) a powerful algorithm is
used to neglect the least likely bit patterns.
The GSM specification prescribes an equalizer that should be able to
handle a reflected signal delayed up to four bit times, corresponding to
about 15 µs, or a path difference between direct and reflected signal of
about 4.5 km.
3) Measurements of signal strength by Mobile Station:
Measurements are performed in both idle mode (when MS is switched on

and moving around) and in call-connected mode.
Idle mode:
Cell selection is made at “power on” of the mobile.
1. The mobile scans all RF channels in the GSM system and
calculates average levels for each of them. The mobile tunes to the
strongest carrier and finds out if it is a BCCH carrier. If so, the
mobile reads BCCH-data to find out if the cell can be locked to
(chosen PLMN, bared cell, etc). Otherwise the mobile tunes to the
second strongest carrier etc.
112
2. The mobile may optionally include a BCCH-carrier memory of

valid BCCH-carriers in the home PLMN. I that case it will only
have to search these carriers. If this ends successfully, the mobile
performs as in 1.
On BCCH, the mobile is informed which BCCH-carriers it is to
monitor for cell re-selection purposes. A List of the six strongest
carriers is updated regularly by the mobile as a result of the
measurements.
Call-connected mode:
Durig a call, the mobile continuously reports (via SACCH) to the
system how strong the received signal strength is from the BTSs in its
surroundings. These measurements are used by the BSC to make fast
decisions of target cells when a hand over is required.
The measurements on neighboring cells during a call take place when
the mobile is not doing anything else, i.e. between transmission and
reception on the allocated timeslot. The signal strength of the serving
cell is monitored during the reception of the TS allocated to the
mobile. On SACCH, the mobile is informed which BCCH- carriers are
to be monitored for handover purposes, and the strength of these are
measured one by one. The working schedule is therefore:
Transmit- measure- receive- transmit- measure –receive, and so on.
A mean value of the measurements for each carrier is then derived and
reported to the BSC. Now, to be sure that the measured values
correspond with the proper BTS, the identity of the BTS must also be
determined. The identity of a BTS is given in BSIC, sent on Co, Tso.
An example is shown in figure. It can be seen that:

• MS receives and measures signal strength on serving cell, TS2.
• MS transmits.
• MS measures signal strength for at least one of the neighboring
cells.
• MS reads BSIC on SCH (TS0) for one of the neighboring cells.
The six neighboring cells with highest mean signal strength value and
valid BSICs are then reported via SACCH to BSC.
Since the MS might not be synchronized with a neighboring cell for
which it is trying to determine the identity, the MS does not know
when TS0 on that BCCH-carrier will occur. Therefore it has to
measure over a time period of at least 8 TS to be sure that TS0 will
occur during the measurement. This is accomplished with an idle
frame as shown in the previous figure.
113
4) Frequency hopping:
As mentioned earlier, when talking about Rayleigh fading, the fading

pattern is frequency- dependent. This means that the fading dips occur
at different places for different frequencies. We can simply say that to
benefit from this phenomenon, we change carrier frequency between a
number of frequencies during the call and one of them has a fading
dip, we will loose only a fraction of the information. With complex
signal processing, we can restore information again. As shown in
figure, during TDMA frame N, C1 is used and during TDMA frame
N+1, C2 is used. The call, will use the same time slot but change
frequencies in a known pattern which is repeated cyclically.
Downlink C1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0
Uplink C1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0
N TDMA frame no. N+1
Downlink C2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0
Uplink C2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 0
N TDMA frame no. N+1
References
[1] Saleh FARUQUE, "Cellular Mobile Systems Engineering". Artech House
Publishers, 1996.
[2] W.C.Y. Lee, "Mobile Cellular Telecommunications, Analog and Digital
Systems", McGraw Hill, 1995
[3] Raymond Steele, "Mobile Radio Communications". PENTEH Press and
IEEE Press, 1994.
114
Problems
1) A GSM operatror is assigned 62 frequencies. The blocking

rate is not more than 2%. The cluster is N= 12(4 Tricells).
a) Calculate the number of traffic channels.
b) Calculate the maximum traffic handled by the
system.
c) If the average holding time of calls is 100 sec.,
Calculate average number of calls.
d) Calculate trunking efficiency and cochannel
interference for a propagation loss of 40dB/decade.
e) Repeat the above calculations for cluster of 3 tricells.
Comment.
2) Describe the functions of the broadcast and the common

control channels and show how they are mapped on
physical channels.
3) What are the different kinds of bursts in GSM? Explain

why the number of bits in Random Access Burst is less.
4) Discuss the ways used to combat fading effects in GSM.
5) Explain channel coding, bit interleaving, ciphering and

handover in GSM.
6) What are the difference between physical channel and

logical channels in GSM system? Describe the functions of
the logical channels.
7) For the GSM system:

a) Describe the bit structure of the normal burst and
random access burst. Explain why the guard bits
count in each of them is different.
b) Explain the technique by which the equalizer is used
to model the communication channel.
115
c) Explain how the signal strength measurement is

achieved by the mobile station in both idle state and
call connected mode.
8) For GSM system:

a) Describe the role of the broadcast and the common
control channels and show how they are mapped on
the physical channels.
b) Show in details how the system designer manages to
combat the fading effects on its performance.
9) a) What is the difference between time advance and time

offset in GSM?
b) Show how a subscriber is authenticated when he makes
a call in GSM, also show how his speech is ciphered on
the air?

offset in GSM?
b) Explain how logical channels are mapped on the
physical channels in GSM.
11) What is the difference between physical channels and

logical channels in GSM system. Describe the functions of
the logical channels.
12) Explain how channel coding and bit interleaving are

used to combat channel impairments (noise and fading).
13) Explain briefly the sources of both types of fading

(slow and fast) and the ways used by GSM systems to
combat these types of fading
14) For the GSM system, explain the technique by which

the equalizer is used to model the communication channel.
116

offset in GSM.
b) Show how diversity is used in mobile
communications to ameliorate the received signal to noise
ratio
16) Consider the GSM mobile communication system:

a. The transmission channel in mobile communications
suffers from fast fading. Describe how the qualization
of this channel is achieved.
b. The efficiency of a burst is measured by the ratio of
the number of information bits to the total number of
bits in a burst, calculate the efficiency of the different
logical GSM channels.
c. Explain how the bursts are designed such that they do
not overlap at the base station.
17) For the GSM mobile phone system :

d. Show how the GSM capacity can be doubled by using
the half rate speech coder.
e. Explain why both channel coding and bit interleaving
are executed in two stages.
117

Chapter 5

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 5

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 5, GSM Cellular System

The digital transmission over the air interface has a number of

• Better resistance to interference (also by frequency hopping).

The Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) is the most

5.2 Multiple access techniques:

5.3 GSM architecture:

Figure 5.1 GSM System

5.3.1 Mobile Station (MS)

It consists of two parts: the mobile equipment ME and the Subscriber

5.3.2 Base Station Subsystem BSS

5.3.3 Switching Subsystem (SS)

GMSC HLR EIR

Figure 5.2 Switching Subsystem (SS)

5.3.4 Operation and Maintenance Subsystem OMS

Figure 5.3 Operation and maintenance subsystem

5.4 Air Interface

5.4.1 Physical Channels

predetermined frame structure. The data carried by the physical channels

5.4.2 Logical Channels

1/8 Broadcast Common

Figure (5.4): GSM logical channels

5.4.2.1 Traffic channels (TCH)

- Full rate (TCH/F) which carries information at a rate of 22.8 k bit/sec.

5.4.2.2 Control channels (CCH)

5.4.2.2.1 Broadcast channels

a) Frequency correction channel (FCCH)

b) Synchronization Channel (SCH)

c) Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)

This channel is transmitted on the down link, point-to-multipoint. Some

- After performing the above steps the MS becomes tuned to a base

- Every time the MS decides to camp on another cell, the same

5.4.2.2.2 Common Control Channels (CCCH)

a) Paging Channel (PCH)

b) Random Access Channel (RACH)

c) Access Grant Channel (AGCH)

5.4.2.2.3 Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH)

- Standalone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH).

a) Stand Alone Dedicated Channel (SDCCH)

b) Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)

- On the down link transmissions the SACCH carries commands from

c) Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)

5.4.2.2.4 Call Broadcast Channel (CBCH)

5.4.3 TDMA Frame Structure

There are two kinds of TDMA multi-frames:

- The control multi-frame: is composed of 51 consecutive TDMA frames

* Super-frame: A super-frame consists of 51 TDMA traffic multi-frames

* Hyper-frame: It is composed of 2048 consecutive super-frames,

5.4.4 Types of Bursts

5.4.4.1 Normal Burst

Figure 5.5 Normal Burst

It is composed of two encrypted information bit sequences separated by a

5.4.4.2 The frequency correction burst

Figure 5.6 Frequency Correction Burst

5.4.4.3 The synchronization Burst

Figure 5.7 Synchronization Burst

5.4.4.4 The Access Burst

Figure 5.8 Access Burst

5.4.4.5 Dummy Burst

Figure 5.9 Dummy Burst

When the BS detects a 41-bit random access synchronization sequence

5.4.5 Mapping of Logical Channels on Physical Channels

5.4.5.1 Logical channel mapping on TSO