Unit III ND

CP5201 Network Design and Technologies – UNIT III
UNIT III CELLULAR NETWORKS 9

GSM – Mobility Management and call control – GPRS – Network Elements – Radio Resource
Management – Mobility Management and Session Management – Small Screen Web Browsing
over GPRS and EDGE – MMS over GPRS – UMTS – Channel Structure on the Air Interface –
UTRAN –Core and Radio Network Mobility Management – UMTS Security
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spécial Mobile is a standard
developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for
second-generation digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as tablets, first deployed in
Finland in December 1991.As of 2014, it has become the global standard for mobile communications with
over 90% market share, operating in over 193 countries and territories.
2G networks developed as a replacement for first generation (1G) analog cellular networks, and the GSM
standard originally described as 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 GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates
for GSM Evolution, or EGPRS).
Subsequently, the 3GPP developed third-generation (3G) UMTS standards, followed by fourth-generation
(4G) LTE Advanced standards, which do not form part of the ETSI GSM standard.
"GSM" is a trademark owned by the GSM Association. It may also refer to the (initially) most common
voice codec used, Full Rate
Technical details
Network structure The network is structured into a number of discrete sections:
Base station subsystem the base stations and their controllers explained
Network and Switching Subsystem the part of the network most similar to a fixed network, sometimes
just called the "core network"
GPRS Core Network the optional part which allows packet-based Internet connections
Operations support system (OSS) network maintenance
csestudymate.wordpress.com Page 1
Base station subsystem GSM is a cellular network, which means that cell phones connect to it by
searching for cells in the immediate vicinity. There are five different cell sizes in a GSM network macro,
micro, pico, femto, and umbrellacells.The coverage area of each cell varies according to the
implementation environment. Macro cells can be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is
installed on a mast or a building above average rooftop level. Micro cells are cells whose antenna height is
under average rooftop level; they are typically used in urban areas. Picocells are small cells whose coverage
diameter is a few dozen meters; they are mainly used indoors. Femtocells are cells designed for use in
residential or small business environments and connect to the service provider‟s network via a broadband
internet connection. Umbrella cells are used to cover shadowed regions of smaller cells and fill in gaps in
coverage between those cells.
GSM carrier frequencies GSM networks operate in a number of different carrier frequency ranges
(separated into GSM frequency ranges for 2G and UMTS frequency bands for 3G), with most 2G GSM
networks operating in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Where these bands were already allocated, the
850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands were used instead (for example in Canada and the United States). In rare
cases the 400 and 450 MHz frequency bands are assigned in some countries because they were previously
used for first-generation systems.
For comparison, most 3G networks in Europe operate in the 2100 MHz frequency band. For more
information on worldwide GSM frequency usage, see GSM frequency bands.
Regardless of the frequency selected by an operator, it is divided into timeslots for individual phones. This
allows eight full-rate or sixteen half-rate speech channels per radio frequency. These eight radio timeslots
(or burst periods) are grouped into a TDMA frame. Half-rate channels use alternate frames in the same
timeslot. The channel data rate for all 8 channels is 270.833 kbit/s, and the frame duration is 4.615 ms.
The transmission power in the handset is limited to a maximum of 2 watts in GSM 850/900 and 1 watt in
GSM 1800/1900.
Voice codecs GSM has used a variety of voice codecs to squeeze 3.1 kHz audio into between 6.5 and 13
kbit/s. Originally, two codecs, named after the types of data channel they were allocated, were used, called
Half Rate (6.5 kbit/s) and Full Rate (13 kbit/s). These used a system based on linear predictive coding
(LPC). In addition to being efficient with bitrates, these codecs also made it easier to identify more
important parts of the audio, allowing the air interface layer to prioritize and better protect these parts of the
signal. GSM was further enhanced in 1997 with the enhanced full rate (EFR) codec, a 12.2 kbit/s codec that
uses a full-rate channel. Finally, with the development of UMTS, EFR was refactored into a variable-rate
codec called AMR-Narrowband, which is high quality and robust against interference when used on full-
rate channels, or less robust but still relatively high quality when used in good radio conditions on half-rate
channel
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) One of the key features of GSM is the Subscriber Identity Module,
commonly known as a SIM card. The SIM is a detachable smart card containing the user's subscription
information and phone book. This allows the user to retain his or her information after switching handsets.
Alternatively, the user can alsochange operatorswhile retaining the handset simply by changing the SIM.
Some operators will block this by allowing the phone to use only a single SIM, or only a SIM issued by
them; this practice is known as SIM locking.
GSM Layers
Layer 1: Physical layer • physical transmission • channel quality measurements• GSM Rec. 04.04, PCM
30 or ISDN links are used (GSM Rec. 08.54 on A bis interface and 08.04 on A to F interfaces)
Layer 2: Data link layer • Multiplexing of layer 2 connections on control/signaling channels • Error
detection (based on HDLC) • Flow control• Transmission quality assurance • Routing
Layer 3: Network layer • Connection management (air interface) • Management of location data •
Subscriber identification • Management of added services (SMS, call forwarding, conference calls, etc.)
GSM Air interface

Layer 1 (GSM Rec. 04.04): Um interface
Layer 2 (GSM Rec. 04.05/06): LAP-Dm protocol (similar to ISDN LAP-D): • connectionless transfer of
point-to-point and point-to-multipoint signaling channels • Setup and tear-down of layer 2 connections of
point-to-point signaling channels • connection-oriented transfer with in order delivery, error detection and
error correction
Layer 3 (GSM Rec. 04.07/08) with sublayers for control signaling channel functions (BCH, CCCH and
DCCH):
Radio resource management (RR): to establish and release stable connection between mobile stations
(MS) and an MSC for the duration of a call and to maintain connection despite user movements - functions
of MSC: cell selection – handover
– allocation and tear-down of point-to-point channels – monitoring and forwarding of radio connections –
enabling encryption – change transmission mode
Mobility management (MM) handles the control functions required for mobility: – authentication –
assignment of TMSI,
– management of subscriber location
Connection management (CM) - set up, maintain and tear down calls connections:
Call control (CC): Manages call connections, –
Supplementary service support (SS): Handles special services,
Short message service support (SMS): Transfers brief text messages

Radio Resource Management (RR) messages are mapped to or from the base station system application
part (BSSAP) for exchange with the MSC: • Transmission mode (change) management • Cipher mode
management• Discontinuous transmission mode management• Handover execution• Call re-establishment•
RR-session release• Load management• SACCH procedures – radio transmission control (power&timing,
downlink), (measurements, uplink)– -general information• Frequency redefinition • General information
broadcasting (BCCH) – cell selection information
– information for idle mode functions– information needed for access – cell identity
GSM Audio
• Speech coding - 20ms (i.e., 160) samples (8kHz @13 bits) are buffered then coded• Error protection
(codec specific)
• Error detection (CRC)• Bad Frame Handling (substitution)
• Voice Activity Detection / Discontinuous Transmission (VAD/DTX)
Manufacturer specific audio features:• noise cancelling• spectrum equalization• echo cancellation
CODECs
Full rate (FR) 13 kbit/s ,
Regular pulse excitation - long term prediction (RPE-LTP)Half rate (HR) 5.65 kbit/s VSELPEnhanced full
rate (EFR) 12.2 kbit/s
ACELPAdaptive Multi Rate (AMR) ACELP, 12.2, 10.2, 7.95, 7.4, 6.7, 5.9, 5.15, 4.75 kbit/s
AMR wideband codec (under standardization)
MSC protocols
MAP (Mobile Application Part) (GSM Rec. 09.02) • controls queries to the different databases in the
mobile radio network (HLR, VLR, and EIR) • responsibilities include access and location management,
MSC-MSC handover, security functions, O&M, SMS, and supplementary services. •
TCAP (Transaction Capabilities Application Part) provides universal calls and functions for handling
requests to distributed application processes
ISUP (ISDN User Part) • controls interworking (e.g. call setup/tear-down) between Public Land Mobile
Networks
(PLMNs) and other networks, and provides the same basic functionalities as TUP
INAP (Intelligent Network Application Part) implements intelligent supplementary services (e.g. free
call, time dependent routingfunctions in a central service center)
TUP (Telephone User Part) implements interworking between PLMNs and other networks• used to
provide international connections and is being replaced by ISUP
GSM Logical Channels
Traffic channels carry speech or data. There are two main categories here, Full rate (13 kpbs) and Half rate.
Control channels used to for control/command/signaling. Control channels are divided into three
categories.
Category 1: Broadcast channels As the name suggests they are point-to-multipoint and downlink only
channels.
FCCH: Frequency correction control channel, this is transmitted by BTS to MS. This helps MS tune its
local oscillator to exact RF carrier frequency of the BTS cell. All zero sequences are transmitted here which
will produce fixed tone at the output of GMSK modulator. The frequency value will be about 67.7075
KHz.
SCH:synchronization channel, this carry BSIC(Base transceiver station identity code) and Frame number
which helps MS tune to specific (Frequency,Ts) physical slot on
TDMA frame in GSM network.
BCCH: Broadcast control channel, carry CGI,MNC,MCC which is received by MS. It is compared with
SIM information, once varified OK connection is established with the network.
Category 2: Common Control channels They are point-to-multipoint and downlink only channels except
RACH which is used in uplink.
PCH:Paging channel,When someone is calling mobile phone, this channel sent information on downlink
to alert called mobile phone.This is known as mobile phone terminated call.
RACH:Random Access channel, used in mobile originated call. When mobile wants to call some other
mobile phone, control information is sent on this channel.
AGCH:Access Grant Channel,transmitted by BTS to MS once network approves request of mobile by

RACH.
CBCH:Cell Broadcast channel, Used to carry the short message service cell broadcast.
Category 3: Dedicated Control channels

They are bidirectional and point-to-point Channels.
SDCCH: Stand alone dedicated control channel, used for call setup.
SACCH: Slow associated control channel, is used for control and supervisory signals associated with the
traffic channels.
FACCH: Fast associated control channel, is used for control requirements such as handoff/handovers.
GSM TimingA very elaborate timing structure ranging from 1/4 of a bit (900ns) to an encryption
hyperframe (3 hours 28 minutes and 53.76s)! Unit Time bit 3.69us
slot 156.25 bits (577 us) frame 8 slots (4.615 ms) traffic multiframe 26 frames (120 ms) or control
multiframe 51 frames (235.4 ms) superframe 51 traffic multiframes or 26 control multiframes (6.12 s)
hyperframe 2048 superframes (3 hours 28 minutes and 53.76s)
Authentication User authentication normally takes place when the MS is turned on (user must keyin a PIN
code on the handset in order to activate the hardware before this automatic
procedure can start).
Authentication occurs with each incoming call and outgoing call. This is based on checking that “Ki”
(secret encryption key) stored in the AuC matches the “Ki”stored in SIM card of the MS.
Authentication and Encryption
GSM data rates

The following table of data rates is from page 39 of [5]
Connection Typea
a. T = Transparent, NT = Non-transparent Two-way delay
TCH/F9.6 T 330 ms
TCH/F9.6 NT > 330 ms
TCH/F4.8 T 330 ms
TCH/F2.4 T 200 ms
TCH/H4.8 T 600 ms
TCH/H4.8 NT > 600 ms
TCH/H2.4 T 600 ms
Phone locking Sometimes mobile network operators restrict handsets that they sell for use with their own
network. This is called locking and is implemented by a software feature of the phone. A subscriber may
usually contact the provider to remove the lock for a fee, utilize private services to remove the lock, or use
software and websites to unlock the handset themselves. It is possible to hack past a phone locked by a
network operator.
In some countries (e.g., Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Iran,
Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand) all phones are sold
unlocked
GSM security GSM was intended to be a secure wireless system. It has considered the user authentication
using a pre-shared key and challenge-response, and over-the-air encryption. However, GSM is vulnerable
to different types of attack, each of them aimed at a different part of the network.
The development of UMTS introduced an optional Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), that uses
a longer authentication key to give greater security, as well as mutually authenticating the network and the
user, whereas GSM only authenticates the user to the network (and not vice versa). The security model
therefore offers confidentiality and authentication, but limited authorization capabilities, and no non-
repudiation.
Standards information The GSM systems and services are described in a set of standards governed by
ETSI, where a full list is maintained
GSM open-source software Several open-source software projects exist that provide certain GSM
features:
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

GPRS features: • True packet radio system - sharing network and air interface resources• Volume based
charging• TCP/IP (Internet & Intranet) interworking, SMS over GPRS, (and X.25interworking)• Peak data
rate from 9.05 kbps .. 171.2 kbps• Protocols designed for evolution of radio• EDGE - new GSM
modulation • Migration into 3rd Generation
GPRS nodes
GPRS introduces new network elements• Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)• authentication &
authorization, GTP tunneling to GGSN, ciphering & compression, mobilitymanagement, session
management, interaction with HLR,MSC/VLR, charging & statistics,as well as NMS interfaces.• Gateway
GPRS Support Node (GGSN)• interfacing to external data networks (basically it is a network
router)encapsulating data packets in GTP and forwarding them to right SGSN,routing mobile originated
packets to right destination, filtering end usertraffic, as well as collecting charging and statistical
information of datanetwork usage
GPRS is the result of committees trying to “adapt” Mobile IP to GSM systems
GPRS INTERFACES AND PROTOCOLS

GGSN-SGSN. The user data packets arriving at the SGSN from the MS or at the GGSN from the external
PDN are encapsulated before onward transmission within the GPRS backbone network.
The GPRS tunneling protocol for user plane (GTP-U) is used to tunnel the user data between SGSN and
GGSN over the Gn interface and between GSNs from different PLMNs over the Gp interface. GTP carries
the user packets, i.e., X.25 or IP.
TCP/UDP is used to transport GTP packets within the GPRS intra-PLMN backbone. TCP carries GTP
PDUs (G-PDUs) for protocols that require a reliable data link, e.g., X.25. UDP carries G-PDUs for
protocols that do not require a reliable data link, e.g., IP.
Below UDP/TCP, IP is used as a network layer protocol to route the packets from the upper layer through
the backbone network. Currently, IPv4 is used with a future option to upgrade to IPv6
SGSN-BSS. the subnetwork dependent convergence protocol (SNDCP) is used to transfer data packets
between SGSN and MS. SNDCP is designed to carry N-PDU transparently between SGSN and MS
regardless of the network layer protocol, i.e., IP, X.25, or any other future protocol that an end application
might use. SNDCP also converts the network layer PDUs on the Gn interface into a format suitable for the
underlying GPRS network architecture. The functions of SNDCP include the following
■ Multiplexing of N-PDUs from one or several network layer entities (PDPs such as X.25 or IP) onto a
virtual logical connection ■ Buffering of PDUs for acknowledge service
■ Delivery sequence management for each NSAPI ■ Compression and decompression of the user data
■ Compression and decompression of protocol headers
■ Segmentation of a network protocol data unit (N-PDU) into LLC protocol data units (LL-PDUs) and
reassembly of LLPDUs into an N-PDU
■ Negotiation of the control parameters between the SNDCP entities
logical link control (LLC) protocol is used for packet data transfer between the SGSN and the MS. The
LLC provides a highly reliable, ciphered logical link between the MS and the SGSN.
The LLC frame format is based on the LAPD protocol with a few modifications to make it suitable to be
used on a radio link. It uses both acknowledged and unacknowledged data transfer, depending upon the
requirement on QoS. The LLC also manages frame retransmission and buffering based on the negotiated
QoS
The data from several mobile stations is multiplexed over a Gb link in downlink direction. The same is true
for the uplink direction, where the data destined to several MSs is to be multiplexed over a Gb link. How
can LLC frames belonging to a MS be routed to the right MS (RLC/MAC) via a BSS? The base station
subsystem GPRS protocol (BSSGP), which is a new and GPRS-specific protocol, in conjunction with the
network service (NS) layer, performs this task. The tasks performed by the BSSGP are:
■ In the uplink direction, the BSSGP at the BSS provides the needed information to route the user data to
the SGSN. The information is derived from the RLC/MAC.
■ In the downlink direction, the BSSGP layer at the SGSN provides radio-related information used by the
RLC/MAC function.
■ Node management functions between the SGSN and the BSS.
The relay function at the BSS transfers LLC frames between the RLC/MAC layers and the BSSGP layer.
The BSSGP uses the following identifiers to indicate to the NS layer the destination of packets:
■ BSSGP virtual connection identifier (BVCI)
■ Link selection parameter (LSP)
■ Network service entity identifier (NSEI)
BVCI virtual connection identifier identifies entities at the SGSN and the BSS between which the data
and signaling information is to be transferred. Each BVCI between two peer entities is unique.
The network service (NS) layer uses frame relay over the Gb interface. The NS layer uses a data link
connection identifier (DLCI) to indicate the routing path between SGSN and the BSS. The NS layer derives
the DLCI value from the BVCI, LSP, and NSEI given by BSSGP Layer.
The physical connection (bearer) between the BSS and the SGSN is E1/T1. The bearer channel (BC)
carries frame relay signaling and data.
On a bearer channel, several logical flows are maintained; i.e., permanent virtual connections (PVCs).
The PVC is identified by the DLCI. These are set by the network providers.
■ A network service virtual links identifier (NSVLI) identifies the virtual link on a physical bearer.
NSVLI = DLCI + BC.
■ The end-to-end virtual connection between the BSS and the SGSN is known as NS-VC.
■ A group of NS-VCs is identified by NSEI. BSS-MS. Layer 2, the data link layer, at the Um interface
consists of two sublayers:
■ A logical link control layer between MS and SGSN, which has been described in the previous section
■ A radio link control (RLC)/medium access control (MAC) layer
he main task of the RLC sublayer is to establish a reliable link between the MS and the BSS. The functions
of RLC layer include:
■ LLC PDU transfer between the LLC and the MAC layers.
■ Segmentation of LLC PDUs into smaller RLC data blocks and reassembly of the blocks to fit into a
TDMA frame. This is done because the LLC PDU size is too big to be transferred on the air interface
efficiently. A unique temporary frame identity (TFI) identifies each segment. The TFI is derived from the
MS identifier TLLI (see Section 4.5 for the definition) and the frame sequence number.
■ Backward error correction of RLC data blocks. The backward error correction is based on the NAK
automatic repeat request (ARQ) protocol. If the receiving RLC entity detects a missing TFI, it requests
retransmission of the missing block. Once the missing block is available, the LLC frame is built and passed
to the upper layer.
The medium access control (MAC) controls and manages the common transmission medium to enable
data transfer from and to multiple MSs. It employs algorithms for contention resolution, scheduling, and
prioritization based on negotiated QoS.
Signaling plane The signaling plane architecture consists of a set of protocols to support the functions of
the transmission/user plane. Most of the protocols used are the same as those in the transmission plane.
GPRS mobility management (GMM) supports mobility management functions. GMM includes functions
such as GPRS attach/detach, security, and cell and routing area update.
Session management (SM) includes the function to create, manage and control the user sessions. Create
PDP context, Delete PDP context are a few examples of session management procedures.
Issues with patents and open source Patents remain a problem for any open-source GSM implementation,
because it is not possible for GNU or any other free software distributor to guarantee immunity from all
lawsuits by the patent holders against the users. Furthermore, new features are being added to the standard
all the time which means they have patent protection for a number of years
MAP protocol is used between the SGSN and the HLR It has been extended to support GPRS-specific
procedures. The applications/users, i.e., SGSN and HLR, use the MAP protocol to transport the signaling
information related to location update, subscription data, handovers, etc.
The GSM base station subsystem application part (BSSAP) has been extended to support GPRS
specific procedures and is called BSSAP+. It is used for signaling transfer between the MSC/VLR and the
SGSN (Figure 4-8). BSSAP+ supports the procedures for combined GPRS/IMSI attach, combined location
update (GSM & GPRS), and paging for an MS using GPRS. BSSAP+ relies on SCCP and the underlying
MTP protocol to transport messages between communicating entities.
The GPRS tunneling protocol control plane (GTP-C) is used between two GSNs over the Gn/Gp
interface. The GTP-C signaling flow is logically associated with, but separate from, the GTP-U tunnels.
This protocol tunnelssignaling messages between SGSNs and GGSNs (Gn) and between SGSNs in the
backbone network (Gp). This supports procedures such as create PDP context and PDU notification.
GPRS Coding Schemes The upload and download speeds that can be achieved in GPRS depend on a
number of factors such as:the number of BTS TDMA time slots assigned by the operator,the channel
encoding used., the maximum capability of the mobile device expressed as a GPRS multislot class
Multiple access schemes The multiple access methods used in GSM with GPRS are based on frequency
division duplex (FDD) and TDMA. During a session, a user is assigned to one pair of up-link and down-
link frequency channels. This is combined with time domain statistical multiplexing which makes it
possible for several users to share the same frequency channel. The packets have constant length,
corresponding to a GSM time slot
Channel encoding The channel encoding process in GPRS consists of two steps: first, a cyclic code is used
to add parity bits, which are also referred to as the Block Check Sequence, followed by coding with a
possibly punctured convolutional code.[5] The Coding Schemes CS-1 to CS-4 specify the number of parity
bits generated by the cyclic code and the puncturing rate of the convolutional code.
Bitrate
GPRS Bitrate including excluding
Coding RLC/MAC RLC/MAC Modulation Code
[a][b] rate
scheme overhead (kbit/s/slot) overhead[c]
(kbit/s/slot)
CS-1 9.20 8.00 GMSK 1/2
CS-2 13.55 12.00 GMSK ≈2/3
CS-3 15.75 14.40 GMSK ≈3/4
CS-4 21.55 20.00 GMSK 1
This is rate at which the RLC/MAC layer protocol data unit (PDU) (called a radio block) is transmitted. As
shown in TS 44.060 section 10.0a.1,[6] a radio block consists of MAC header, RLC header, RLC data unit
and spare bits. The RLC data unit represents the payload, the rest is overhead. The radio block is coded by
the convolutional code specified for a particular Coding Scheme, which yields the same PHY layer data
rate for all Coding Schemes.
TDMA
Download Upload timeslots
Technology (kbit/s) (kbit/s) allocated
(DL+UL)
CSD 9.6 9.6 1+1
HSCSD 28.8 14.4 2+1
HSCSD 43.2 14.4 3+1
21.4
(Class
GPRS 85.6 8 & 10 4+1
and
CS-4)
42.8
(Class
GPRS 64.2 3+2
10 and
CS-4)
59.2
EGPRS (EDGE) 236.8 4+1
(Class
8, 10
and
MCS-
9)
118.4
(Class
EGPRS (EDGE) 177.6 10 and 3+2
MCS-
9)
GPRS Multislot Classes- in order to quantify the performance of various handsets or mobiles, GPRS
multislot classes are defined.
GPRS mobiles are able to support data transmission as well as voice. GPRS mobiles are available with a
variety of levels of operation.
These are often defined by defining them as a particular GPRS class. These GPRS classes indicate the level
of service they are able to provide
.In many respects many GPRS mobile phones may not look different to ordinary GSM phones, but they are
able to offer a level of data service that cannot be provided by a standard GSM phone. Some GPRS phones
may even offer a keyboard for emails, etc.
Class A: - This class describes mobile phones that can be connected to both GPRS and GSM services at the
same time.
Class B: - These mobiles can be attached to both GPRS and GSM services but they can be used on only
one service at a time. A Class B mobile can make or receive a voice call, or send and or receive a SMS
message during a GPRS connection. During voice calls or texting the GPRS service is suspended but it is
re-established when the voice call or SMS session is complete.
Class C: - This classification covers phones that can be attached to either GPRS or GSM services but user
needs to switch manually between the two different types
The multislot class determines the speed of data transfer available in the Uplink and Downlink directions. It
is a value between 1 and 45 which the network uses to allocate radio channels in the uplink and downlink
direction. Multislot class with values greater than 31 are referred to as high multislot classes.
Multislot Classes for GPRS/EGPRS

Multislot Class Downlink TS Uplink TS Active TS
1 1 1 2
2 2 1 3
3 2 2 3
4 3 1 4
5 2 2 4
6 3 2 4
7 3 3 4
8 4 1 5
9 3 2 5
10 4 2 5
11 4 3 5
12 4 4 5
30 5 1 6
31 5 2 6
32 5 3 6
33 5 4 6
34 5 5 6
Attributes of a multislot class Each multislot class identifies the following:

the maximum number of Timeslots that can be allocated on uplink
the maximum number of Timeslots that can be allocated on downlink
the total number of timeslots which can be allocated by the network to the mobile
the time needed for the MS to perform adjacent cell signal level measurement and get ready to transmit
the time needed for the MS to get ready to transmit
the time needed for the MS to perform adjacent cell signal level measurement and get ready to receive
the time needed for the MS to get ready to receive.
The different multislot class specification is detailed in the Annex B of the 3GPP Technical Specification
45.002
Usability The maximum speed of a GPRS connection offered in 2003 was similar to a modem connection
in an analog wire telephone network, about 32–40 kbit/s, depending on the phone used. Latency is very
high; round-trip time (RTT) is typically about 600–700 ms and often reaches 1s. GPRS is typically
prioritized lower than speech, and thus the quality of connection varies greatly
History of GPRS GPRS opened in 2000 as a packet-switched data service embedded to the channel-
switched cellular radio network GSM. GPRS extends the reach of the fixed Internet by connecting mobile
terminals worldwide.
The CELLPAC protocol developed 1991-1993 was the trigger point for starting in 1993 specification of
standard GPRS by ETSI SMG. Especially, the CELLPAC Voice & Data functions introduced in a 1993
ETSI Workshop contribution anticipate what was later known to be the roots of GPRS. This workshop
contribution is referenced in 22 GPRS related US-Patents. Successor systems to GSM/GPRS like W-
CDMA (UMTS) and LTE rely on key GPRS functions for mobile Internet access as introduced by
CELLPAC
Short Message Service (SMS) Short Message Service (SMS) offers connectionless (message) delivery
(similar to “two way-paging”)
If the GSM telephone is not turned on, the message is held for later delivery. To Ensure that each time a
message is delivered to an MS, the network expects to receive an acknowledgement from the MS that the
message was correctly received.
SMS supports messages up to 140 octets (160 characters of GSM default Alphabet see GSM 03.38) in
length.
SMS concatination - combines several messages
SMS compression - defined standard for compression of content
With internation roaming these messages can be delivered by any GSM network around the world to where
ever the MS currently is. Two types of messages: cell broadcast and point-to-point service
Short Message Service Architecture
SM-SC Short Message Service Centre

SMS GMSC SMS Gateway MSC
IWMSC Interworking MSC
SM-SCs • High reliability• High availability• High performance

• existing SM-SCs talk TCP/IP as well as other protocols
There exist SMS brokers from whom you can buy SMS capacity in bulk, they receive your messages and
then transfer them to operators thatthey haveagreements with.
Three kinds of SMSs User-specific display to a user

ME-specific ME processes the message when it is received
Nokia has special function to play ring tone, display a business card, modify the default icon, …
SIM-specific SIM processes the message when it is received
(for use via SIM toolkit applications)
Entering Short Messages To improve the speed of entering SMSs (and other text)• Full keyboards (such
as Ericsson‟s Chat Board)• Onscreen keyboard (such as Plam‟s on-screen keyboard)• Fitaly keyboard -
arranges letters based on their frequency andprobability transitions in English • Predictive text input
algorithms• Tegic T9 - utilizes numeric keypad and probability to work out probably string • e-acute‟s
Octave keyboard • Handwriting recogntion• Word recognition, such as Psion‟s CalliGrapher • Character
recognition, such as Palm‟s Graffiti • CJKOS - an OS extension for Palm for Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean • Speech recognition
Voice Messaging System (VMS) A value-added service which redirects incoming calls (i.e., forwards
them) to a voice mailbox whenMSis turned off, low on battery, left unattended (after ringing for xx
seconds) or temporarily out of coverage.
A Voice Message Alert (VMA) can be send (via SMS) to the MS to let the user know there is a waiting
voice message
Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) Version 2 is currently a
Proposed Standard (RFC 2421) Applicability Statement, it is an application of Internet Mail originally
intended for sending voice messages between voice messaging systems
International Roaming GSM‟s roaming feature allows a user to make and receive calls in any
GSMnetwork and to use the same user-specific services worldwide.
Requires a roaming agreement between the individual operators.
Operation/Administration/MaintainenceOperation/Administration/Maintainence (OA&M) follows ITU-

T Telecommuncations Management Network (TMN) model, which has severalcomponents
Operations system (OS) OS uses Operating System Function (OSF) to provide overallmanagement,
billing, account, management of mobile equipment, HLRmeasurement, …
Network Element Functions (NEFs) provides monitoring and control of Network Elements (NEs):
HLR,VLR, AuC, EIR, MSC, BSC, and BTS
Data Communication Network OS, NEs, and other TMN elements via Data Communication
Function(DCF)
Mediation device (MD) adapts the OS to a specfic NE
Q-Adapter (QA) uses Q-adapter function to adapte non-TMN equipment
Workstation (WS) OA&M personnel interact with OS via Workstation functions (WSFs)
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) • enhanced modulation technique designed to
increase network capacityand data rates in GSM networks
• provide data rates up to 384 Kbps. • EDGE lets operators without a 3G license compete with 3G networks
GSM/EDGE Radio Access network (GERAN) the radio interface used in Enhanced Data Rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE) Maximum data rate: 384 kbps
EGRPS EDGEan extension/enhancement of GPRS including 4 new DataPacket Traffic Channels using
8-PSK modulation and a incremental redundancymechanism extended to the GMSK based data packet
traffic channels.• Support for simultaneous, multiple radio access bearers with different QoS profiles. •
New bearer classes: – Conversational Class - Voice & video conferencing where small delay is required –
Streaming Class - Capable of processing as transfer is taking place, needs somewhat constant delay and
throughput
– Interactive Class - on-line applications – Background Class - Delay insensitive but requires few errors
(may require multiple
re-transmissions to hide errors)
Network Elements GPRS works in a very different way compared to the circuit-switched GSM network.
This is why three new network components were introduced into the mobile network and software updates
had to be made for some of the existing components
The main new network architecture entities that are needed are:
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node - the SGSN forms a gateway to the services within the network.
The SGSN or Serving GPRS Support Node element of the GPRS network provides a number of takes
focussed on the IP elements of the overall system. It provides a variety of services to the mobiles: Packet
routing and transfer
Mobility management
Attach/detach
Logical link management
Authentication
Charging data
There is a location register within the SGSN and this stores location information (e.g., current cell, current
VLR). It also stores the user profiles (e.g., IMSI, packet addresses used) for all the GPRS users registered
with the particular SGSN.
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node, GGSN, forms the gateway to the outside world. The GGSN,
Gateway GPRS Support Node is one of the most important entities within the GPRS network architecture.
The GGSN organises the interworking between the GPRS network and external packet switched networks
to which the mobiles may be connected. These may include both Internet and X.25 networks.
The GGSN can be considered to be a combination of a gateway, router and firewall as it hides the internal
network to the outside.
In operation, when the GGSN receives data addressed to a specific user, it checks if the user is active, then
forwarding the data. In the opposite direction, packet data from the mobile is routed to the right destination
network by the GGSN.
PCU Packet Control Unit, PCU, which differentiates whether data is to be routed to the packet switched
or circuit switched networks. network component, the PCU.
The PCU is the packet-switched counterpart of the BSC and fulfills the following tasks
GPRS network upgrading One of the key elements for any network operator is the cost of capital
expenditure (capex) to buy and establish a network. Capex costs are normally very high for a new network,
and operators endeavour to avoid this and use any existing networks they may have to make the optimum
use of any capital. In addition to the capex, there are the operational costs, (opex). These costs are for
general maintenance and other operational costs that may be incurred. Increasing efficiency and reliability
will reduce the opex costs.
Radio Resource Management – Mobility Management and Session Management applying RRM
techniques to the global system for mobile communication (GSM)/enhanced data rates for GSMevolution
(EDGE) system. Even though the presented results are focused on the GSM/EDGE system, the principles
employed by most of the considered RRM techniquescan be applied to other radio access networks (RANs)
Fundamentals of RRM in GSM/EDGE The second generation of cellular systems was marked by a
transition from analog to digital radio communications.
GSM emerged in this context, with its phase 1specification and initial deployment dating back to the early
1990s.
GSM had a significantrole in unifying the previously diverging European standards
In 1999, the enhanced GPRS (EGPRS) was introduced and then adopted as the packet system of the
GSM/EDGE radio access network, which is the focus of this section.
In the following section, an overview of GSM/EDGE is presented along with some of its standard
functionalities.
GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network Overview The GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN)
represents the evolution of theGSM system for providing improved packet data transmission.
The GPRS andEGPRS are radio technologies that provide packet-switched connections betweenMS and
BS, while the GERAN is composed of several network elements that are interconnected through standard
interfaces
Base station subsystem (BSS): It comprehends the base transceiver station (BTS), or simply BS, which is
the onsite base station, and the base station controller (BSC), which is a controlling unit responsible for a
group of BTSs.
Core network: It has functionalities such as mobility management, authentication, charging, among others,
and also provides access to networks outside of the cellular system.
In the case of circuit-switched connections, the mobile switching center (MSC) is the main element of the
core network, providing accessibility to the conventional public-switched telephone network (PSTN)
Channel Structure The GSM/EDGE system implements multiple access through frequency division as
well as through time division. Each frequency carrier has a cyclic time structure associated, which is
composed of hyperframes, superframes, multiframes, frames, and timeslots
Besides the displayed frame structure, which is employed for traffic channels,there is an alternative
signaling frame structure that defines a multiframe with 51 frames and a superframe with 26
multiframes.2.1
The basic time unit is the timeslot, which is equivalent to roughly 0.577 ms. A sequence of eight timeslots
defines a time division multiple access (TDMA) frame, and a group of four frames composes a TDMA
radio block.
Among the 26 frames of the multiframe structure in Fig. 2.1, the 13th and the last frame are reserved for
control and other functionalities. Therefore, the other 24 frames may be employed for traffic, i.e., six radio
blocks
The logical channels may be divided into traffic and control channels. Next, some of the most relevant
logical channels are presented:
Traffic channel (TCH): This is a circuit-switched traffic channel used for voiceas well as circuit-switched
data transmission.
Packet data traffic channel (PDTCH): This is a packet-switched traffic channelused for data
transmission.
Broadcast control channel (BCCH): This is a downlink control channel thatdistributes general
information to the MSs concerning the system configuration.
The information may include number of common control channels, possiblecombinations of control
channels, whether support for packet-switched traffic is enabled, among others
Common control channel (CCCH): It corresponds to a set of common controlchannels that are used for
implementing access management functions.
Dedicated control channel (DCCH): It corresponds to a set of dedicated control channels that are used for
measurements, signaling, among other functionalities.
Protocols This section presents an overview of the protocol stack of the GSM/EDGE networkfor packet
data transmission. are organized among the different network elements in the 3GPP standards.
The focus of this chapter lies on the radio link between theMS and the BS, which is supported by the
following three protocol layers:
Link layer control (LLC): It offers a reliable and secure logical link betweentheMS and the SGSN for
superior layers. One of its main functionalities consists of performing the segmentation of packets arriving
fromhigher layers.
Radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC): These protocolsprovide services for the
transfer of information over the physical layer.
Among their functionalities are the error-correcting procedures enabled through the selective
retransmission of erroneous blocks
GSM RF or physical layer: It provides data transfer services over the physical channel between the BS
and the MS. Among its functionalities are the coding of data and the detection/correction of transmission
errors in the physical medium.
Link Adaptation The link adaptation (LA) mechanism of EGPRS, which is described in tries to provide
the best possible quality to the MS through the modification of the current MCS. This adaptation occurs
according to the availability of link quality measurementsand it intends to exploit the channel diversity and
maximize data rates bysuitably selecting an MCS according to the channel state
Frequency Hopping The frequency hopping (FH) technique consists of periodically changing the
transmission frequency with the purpose of introducing diversity. The diversity effectmay include both
frequency and interference diversity, which are illustrated in
Random frequency hopping (RFH): It performs the hopping in an unorderedfashion, according to a

pseudo-random sequence determined based on system parameters and the algorithm presented
Cyclic frequency hopping (CFH): It performs the hopping in an ordered fashion, according to a
previously established cyclic sequence.
Parameter Description
MAL Mobile allocation list containing the frequencies available for allocation
MAIO Mobile allocation index offset indicating the offset within the MAL
Nfreq Number of frequencies per mobile allocation list
FN TDMA frame number currently in use
HSN Hopping sequence number allocated to each sector
MAI Mobile allocation index referencing the frequency of MAL to be used
Advanced Radio Resource Management for GSM/EDGE

Since the deployment of the first GSM-based networks, the demand for mobile communicationhas
increased enormously. Conventional GSM/EDGE networks havereached their capacity limits and, in order
to serve the growing demand for mobile communication, solutions to increase system capacity are required
Spectrum is a scarce resource whose use is granted and regulated by estate institutions,such that a capacity
expansion through the acquisition of new frequencybands may become very expensive
Power Control Power control (PC) is a well-established RRM technique which aims at, mainly,reducing
interference levels in a wireless network and conserving battery power ofterminals.. In this section, some
particular aspects of PC in the context of GSM/EDGE networks are detailed
Dynamic Channel Allocation Dynamic channel allocation (DCA) assumes that there is a central channel
pool, from which the channels may be allocated on-demand, i.e., there is no fixed distributionof the
channels among the cells. This higher flexibility allows that the fluctuationsin the offered traffic and co-
channel interference be treated with a higherefficiency
Measurements and SIR Estimation The GSM/EDGE cellular network does not count with direct SIR
measurements.
The SIR must be inferred based on the measurement report mechanisms availablein the network
Channel Selection and Admission Control The considered DCA algorithm prioritizes the channel
presenting the best SIR. In the case when several channels perceive no interference, or when the estimated
SIR is the same, the choice is done at random among them
Management of Multiple ServicesThe support of multiple services, such as web-browsing, e-mail,

audio/video streaming,among others, is one of the main features of the third generation of cellular systems
and beyond.
Multi-antenna TechniquesThe application of multi-antenna techniques to mobile communication systems

iscapable of providing capacity gains as well as the improvement of the quality ofservice perceived by the
subscribers.
The spatial filtering realized through the use ofnarrow beams, which can be either selected from a fixed set
(switched fixed beams)or adaptively steered toward the desired MSs (adaptive beamforming), is able to
significantly reduce the co-channel interference levels
Simulation and Modeling of GSM/EDGE Networks Studying the performance of modern wireless
networks, such as GSM/EDGE, is a complex task. Due to the large number of variables and mechanisms
involved, a pure analytical study is not feasible and computer simulations are applied to investigatethe
system‟s characteristics of interest
Cellular Grid, Frequency Reuse, and Mobility Models the cellular network is modeled as a macrocellular
system composedof tri-sectored cells organized in 1/3 or 1/1 uniform frequency reuse patterns
Propagation Models There are different average path loss models, which are adequate for
differentpropagation scenarios . Herein, the Okumura–Hata model is employed, which applies to urban and
suburban environments where the average buildingheight is approximately uniform.
Small Screen Web Browsing over GPRS and EDGEEDGE offers sufficient bandwidth today for web
browsing. If the user wants to access informationon a small mobile device, a number of different
approaches can be taken to overcome the limitations of the relatively slow data transmission, the small
screens, the limited processing power, etc
WAP 1.1 Used in Early GPRS Devices The initial WAP 1.1 standard was designed for web browsing in,
from today‟s point of view, very constrained devices, which are not widely used anymore. Thediscussion in
this section is therefore mostly of historical nature.Special attention was given to the following limitations:
• Very limited bandwidth of the connection, which has an impact on the speed a page canbe downloaded.
• Very limited processing power of the mobile device, which has an impact on how quickly pagescan be
rendered on the screen.
• Reliability of the connection. Pages should be loaded as quickly as possible to reduce the effectsof
transmission interruptions and lost network coverage on the user experience
WML
WSP WML
UDP HTTP
IP TCP
GPRS IP
ETHERNET,
ATM….
IP network IP network
(e.g.GPRS) (e.g.GPRS)
WAP WAP
gateway gateway
WAP 2.0Since the adoption of the WAP 1.1 standard, capabilities of both the networks and the mobile
devices have improved significantly. The mobile device processing power has increased, which allows,
among other things, fast data downloads by aggregating several GPRS timeslots
Instead of using a proprietary language for describing WAP pages, WAP 2.0 makes use of a subset of
XHTML called XHTML Mobile Profile. As XHTML is backward compatible to HTML, ordinary web
pages can be viewed as well
Small Screen Web Browsing with Network Side Compression Currently, many high-end mobile devices
have built-in web browsers that can download and display standard web pages. The bigger the screen, the
better a web page can be displayed. The two downsides of this approach are the time it takes to download a
standard web page over GPRS and EDGE andthe limited processing capability of the mobile device, which
results in a slow rendering of the web page. As a consequence, this approach results in a much degraded
user experience for many web pages
Small Screen Web Browsing – Quality of Experience The quality of experience of a small screen web-
browsing session from the user‟s point of view mainly consists of short page load times and a high click
success rate. The click success rate is defined in this context as the percentage of pages that start getting
displayed within a certain amountof time after the user has selected a link to another page. A typical
maximum value for this reaction time is 7 seconds
Screen size: As web browsers are included even in very small phones today, user experience is limited by
small displays that require the user to scroll through pages a lot more often than on bigger displays. A good
approach for a page design optimized for mobile devices is to find a compromise that suits both big and
small mobile device displays.
A fast processor can render pages a lot faster than a slower one. A processor architecture that offers high
processing power and a good power-saving mode once the page has been rendered greatly increases the
user experience while preserving battery power. Processor speed also has an influence on how fast pages
can be scrolled up and down.
Good integration of the web browser into the mobile device operating system and wireless stack.
As discussed in Chapter 1, different companies produce different parts of the overall software of a mobile
device. The web browser, for example, is one of the most visible parts of the mobile device software that is
often outsourced by phone manufacturers to third-party companies.
To quickly react to user input, the browser should be integrated very tightly with the phone‟s operating
system and
especially the GPRS stack.
The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) over GPRS Another mobile data application that has
become popular is the multimedia messaging service or MMS. MMS is advertised by mobile network
operators as the multimedia successor of the text-based short messaging service (SMS) that can transport
not only text but also pictures, music and videos. The architectures of SMS and MMS, however, are
fundamentally different.
If a mobile device wants to send an MMS message, it establishes an IP connection to the MMS server via
the GPRS network. The PDP context activation procedure that is required to get an IP address in the first
place has already been described before. Instead of using the same APN as for a transparent connection to
the Internet, the MMS service usually requires its own APN
MMS
WSP
UDP
IP
GPRS
IPnetwork(e.
g.GPRS) WAP
gateway
MMS
HTTP
TCP
GSM MMS IP
SMSC relay ETHERNET
MMS ATM
server
Sample MMS settings

APN orangemms
Username Orange
Password Multimedia
IP address of proxy gateway 192.168.224.10
MMS server URL http://mms.orange.co.uk
will inform the user that a new MMS message is waiting in the network. The user notification priorto the
MMS download can be useful in cases where receiving an MMS is not free, for example,with some
operators when roaming abroad. If the mobile device is allowed to download the MMS automatically, there
is no user interaction and the user is only notified once the MMS message has been fully retrieved.
Pictures: JPEG, GIF, WBMP. The maximum guaranteed image size is 160 × 120 pixels. This corresponds
to the display resolution of small mobile devices. If pictures are sent with a higher resolution they might
have to be downsized in the receiving mobile device or by the MMS server.
Nevertheless, it makes sense to include pictures with a higher resolution in the MMS as the user might later
on transfer the picture to a PC via Bluetooth, for example, to benefit from the higher resolution of the PC‟s
display.
Text: ASCII 8-bit, UTF-8 or UTF-16.
Audio: AMR (Adaptive Multirate).
Video: 3GPP MPEG-4 format. Many PC audio/video players offer plugins for this format so that received
videos can be transferred to PCs for playback as well.
Web Browsing via GPRS

Impact of Delay on the Web-Browsing Experience
While a high bandwidth connection is certainly one of the most important factors for a good web-browsing
experience, the round-trip delay (RTD) time of the connection must also not be underestimated. The RTD
time is defined in this context as the time it takes to receive a response to a transmitted frame.
As per the processes presented above, the time between entering a URL and being shown the first
part of the web page can be estimated as follows:
Total Delay (EDGE) = Delay DNS query + Delay TCP Establish + Delay Request/Response
= 750 ms + 320 ms + 660 ms

= 1730 ms
Web Browser Optimization for Mobile Web Browsing
Pipelining is activated in the Firefox browser as follows:
• In the URL field, about:config has to be entered to get the list of all parameters that can be changed.
• Pipelining is activated by setting the network.http.pipelining parameter to TRUE.
• A good value for the number of accumulated requests that should be set in network.http.
pipelining.maxrequests is eight
Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS)

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation wireless
telecommunication system and follows in the footsteps of GSM and GPRS. Since GSM was
standardized in the 1980s, huge progress has been made in many areas of telecommunication.
This allowed system designers at the end of the 1990s to design a new system that went far beyond the
capabilities of GSM and GPRS. UMTS combines the properties of the circuit-switched voice network with
the properties of the packet-switched data network and offers a multitude of new possibilities compared to
the earlier systems
Overview, History and Future The trends and developments seen in fixed-line networks are also
appearing in mobile networks albeit with a delay of about 5 years. In fixed networks, the number of people
using the network not only for voice telephony but also to connect to the Internet is increasing as steadily as
the transmission speeds.
When the Internet first became popular, circuit-switched modems were used to establish a dial-up
connection to the network featured speeds of about 14.4 kbit/s, later models achieved around 50 kbit/s in
the downlink (network to user) direction.
Another incredible step forward was made around the year 2002 when technologies like cable and
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) modems reached the mass market and dramatically increased
transmission speeds for end users
For UMTS, these advances were consistently used.
While voice communication was the most important application for a wireless communication system when
GSM was designed, data services are now playing an ever more important role in wireless networks.
Therefore, the convergence of voice and high-speed data services into a single system has been a driving
force in the UMTS standardization from the beginning
3GPP Release 99: The First UMTS Access Network Implementation Initially, 3GPP specification
releases were named after the year of ratification, while later on a version
number was used. This is why the first combined 3GPP GSM/UMTS release was called Release 99
while subsequent versions were called Release 4, Release 5, Release 6 and so on. At the time of
publication, 3GPP is in the process of working on Release 10, which combines GSM, UMTS, LTE and
LTE-Advanced
As no major changes were necessary in the core network it was possible to connect the UMTS radio access
network (UTRAN) to a GSM and GPRS core network. The MSCs and SGSNs only required a software
update and new interface cards to support the Iu(cs) and Iu(ps) interfaces. Figure 3.1 shows the network
elements of a combined GSM and UMTS network
UTRAN
PSTN
RNC MSC MSC

Node-B
UE
Node-B MSC MSC
RNC
MSC MSC
GSM BSS
Internet
TRAU
BSC
Server
3GPP Release 4: Enhancements for the Circuit-Switched
Core NetworkA major enhancementPCU for circuit-switched voice and data services has been specified with
3GPP Release 4. Up to and including Release 99, all circuit-switched voice calls were routed through
theGSM and UMTS core network via E1 connections inside 64 kbit/s timeslots.
The most importantenhancement of Release 4 is a new concept called the Bearer-Independent Core
Network, or BICNfor short. Instead of using circuit-switched 64 kbit/s timeslots, traffic is now carried
inside IP packets.
For this purpose, the MSC has been split into an MSC-Server (MSC-S), which is responsible for
CallControl (CC) and Mobility Management (MM), and a Media Gateway (MG), which is responsible
forhandling the actual bearer (user traffic)
3GPP Release 5: IMS and High-Speed Downlink Packet Access A further step toward an all IP wireless
network is the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The groundworkfor IMS was laid in 3GPP Release 5.
Subsequent versions of the standard have extended it withnew functionalities. Instead of using the circuit-
switched part of the radio network, the IMS handles voice calls and other services via the packet-switched
As the IMS is an IP-based system it cannot directly communicate with circuit-switched telephony systems
that are still dominant in wireless networks. Nevertheless, it has to be ensured that every user
can talk to every other user regardless of the kind of telephony architecture that is in use at each end.
As can be seen in Figures 3.2 and 3.3 this is achieved by using MGs, which convert between IMS VoIP,
BICN and the classic circuit-switched timeslot transmission.
Unfortunately, the IMS suffers from a number of difficulties that have so far prevented it from becoming an
alternative to the Release 99 or Release 4 MSC architecture. Some of these are as follows
3GPP Release 6: High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) The HSPA functionality continued to
evolve in 3GPP Release 6. This revision of the specificationbrought the introduction of methods to increase
uplink speeds, which have remained the same sinceRelease 99. This feature set, referred to as HSUPA
(High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) in public,
enables uplink datarates of several megabits per second for a single user under ideal conditions. Taking
realistic signal conditions into account, the number of users per cell and mobile device capabilities, HSUPA
enabled devices can still achieve significantly higher uplink speeds than was possible withRelease 99
UMTS Channel Structure on the Air Interface

UserPlane and Control Plane GSM, UMTS and other fixed and wireless communication systems
differentiate between two kinds ofdata flows. In UMTS, these are referred to as two different planes. Data
flowing in the user plane isdata which is directly and transparently exchanged between the users of a
connection like voice dataor IP packets. The control plane is responsible for all signaling data that is
exchanged between theusers and the network.
Control plane User plane
Core network
CC, MM Voice or
GMM/SM IP packets RRC
messages End to end Bearerr
Radio network (UTRAN)
Common and Dedicated Channels Both user plane data and control plane data is transferred over the
UMTS air interface in so-called„channels‟. Three different kinds of channels exist:
Terminal
Dedicated channels: These channels transfer data for a single user. A dedicated channel is used, for
example, for a voice connection, for IP packets between the user and the network or a location update
message.
Common channels: The counterpart to a dedicated channel is a common channel. Data transferred in
common channels is destined for all users of a cell. An example for this type of channel is the broadcast
channel, which transmits general information about the network to all users of a cell in order to inform
them of, for example, the network the cell belongs to, the current state of the network, etc.
Shared channels: Very similar to common channels are shared channels. These channels are not
monitored by all devices but only by those that have been instructed by the network to do so. An example
of such a channel is the High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) of HSDPA
Logical, Transport and Physical Channels To separate the physical properties of the air interface from
the logical data transmission, the UMTSdesign introduces three different channel layers. Figure 3.13 shows
the channels on different layers indownlink direction while
Logical Channels The topmost channel layer is formed by the logical channels. Logical channels are used
to separate
different kinds of data flows that have to be transferred over the air interface. The channels contain no
information on how the data is later transmitted over the air. The UMTS standards define the following
logical channels:
The BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel): This channel is monitored by all mobile devices in Idle state
to receive general system information from the network. Information distributed via this channel, for
example, includes how the network can be accessed, which codes are used by the neighboring
cells, the LAC, the Cell-ID and many other parameters
The PCCH (Paging Control Channel): This channel is used to inform users of incoming calls or SMS
messages. Paging messages are also used for packet-switched calls if new data arrives from the network
once all physical resources (channels) for a subscriber have been released owing to a long period of
inactivity
The CCCH (Common Control Channel): This channel is used for all messages from and to individual
mobile devices (bidirectional) that want to establish a new connection with the network. This is necessary,
for example, if a user wants to make a phone call, send an SMS or to establish a channel for packet-
switched data transmission.
The DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel): While the three channels described above are common
channels observed by many mobile devices in the cell, a DCCH only transports data for a single subscriber
The DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel): This channel is used for user data transfer between the network
and a single user. User data can, for example, be a digitized voice signal or IP packets of a packet-switched
connection
The CTCH (Common Traffic Channel): This channel is used for cell broadcast information. In GSM, the
same mechanism is used by some network operators to inform subscribers of fixedline phone network area
codes which are used around the current cell that can be called from the mobile device for a cheaper tariff,
to inform about the location of the cell, for broadcasting news, etc
Transport Channels Transport channels prepare downlink data frames for transmission over the air
interface by splitting
them up into smaller parts, which are encapsulated into RLC/MAC-frames that are more suitable for
transmission over the air interface. The RLC/MAC header that is placed in front of each frame contains,
among other things, the following information:
• length of the frame (10, 20, 40 or 80 milliseconds);
• type of integrity checking mechanism (CRC checksum);
• channel coding format for error detection and correction;
• rate matching in case the speed of the physical channel and the layers above do not match;
• control information for detection of discontinuous transmission (DTX) in case the other end has no data to
send at a particular time
Logical channels are mapped to the following transport channels:
The BCH (Broadcast Channel): Transport channel variant of the logical BCCH.
The DCH (Dedicated Channel): This transport channel combines data from the logical DTCH and
the logical DCCH. The channel exists in both uplink and downlink directions as data is exchanged in both
directions.
The PCH (Paging Channel): Transport channel variant of the logical PCCH.
The RACH (Random Access Channel): The bidirectional logical CCCH is called RACH on thetransport
layer in uplink direction. This channel is used by mobile devices to send RRC Connection
Request messages to the network if they wish to establish a dedicated connection with the network(e.g. to
establish a voice call).
Physical Channels Finally, physical channels are responsible for offering a physical transmission medium
for one ormore transport channels. Furthermore, physical channels are responsible for channel coding, that
is, the addition of redundancy and error detection bits to the data stream.
The following physical channels are used in a cell:
The P-CCPCH (Primary Common Control Physical Channel): This channel is used for distributing
broadcast information in a cell.
The S-CCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel): This channel is used to broadcast the
PCH and the FACH.
The PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel): The physical implementation of the RACH.
The AICH (Acquisition Indication Channel): This channel is not shown in the channel overview figures
as there is no mapping of this channel to a transport channel. The channel is used exclusively together with
the PRACH during the connection establishment of a mobile device with the network.
More about this channel and the process of establishing a connection
The DPDCH (Dedicated Physical Data Channel): Lub-FP This channel is the
physical counterpart of a dedicated channel to a single AAL2/IP Lur-FP mobile device.
The channel combines user data and signaling AAL2/IP messages from
(Packet) MM, CC and SM.
Node
The DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel): This channel
-B is used in addition to a DPDCH in
both uplink and downlink directions
Logical Channels: These channels describe different flows of information like user data and signaling
data. Logical channels contain no information about the characteristics of the transmission channel.
Transport Channels: These channels prepare data packets that are received from logical channels for
transmission over the air interface. Furthermore, this layer defines which channel coding schemes (e.g.
error correction methods) are to be applied on the physical layer.
Physical Channels: These channels describe how data from transport channels is sent over the air interface
and apply channel coding and decoding to the incoming data streams.
The UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

Node-B, Iub Interface, NBAP and FP The base station, called Node-B in the 3GPP standards, is
responsible for all functions required for sending and receiving data over the air interface. This includes, as
shown in Section 3.3, channel coding, spreading and despreading of outgoing and incoming frames as well
as modulation. Furthermore,the Node-B is also responsible for the power control of all connections
For the exchange of control and configuration messages on the Iub interface, the Node-B Application Part
(NBAP) is used between the RNC and the Node-B. It has the following tasks:
• cell configuration; • common channel management; • dedicated channel management such as the
establishment of a new connection to a subscriber; • forwarding of signal and interference measurement
values of common and dedicated channels to the RNC
The RNC, Iu, Iub and Iur Interfaces, RANAP and RNSAP
The heart of the UMTS radio network is the RNC. As can be seen in Figures 3.20 and 3.21, all interfaces of
the radio network are terminated by the RNC.
In the direction of the mobile subscriber the Iub interface is used to connect several dozen Node-Bs to an
RNC. During the first years after the initial deployment of UMTS networks, most Node-Bs were connected
to the RNC via 2Mbit/s E-1 connections either via fixed-line or microwave links
MSC SGSN
Lu(cs)
Lu-FP
AAL2/IP RNC
lub lur lub
RNC
The Iur interface completes the overview of the UTRAN interfaces for this chapter. This interface connects
RNCs with each other to support the soft handover procedure between Node-Bs that are
Bandwidth /Quality of Service Bandwidth requirements, of the user Available spreading codes
Interference level Service level,Distance of the, user to the center, of the cell, Speed of the user
Adaptive Multirate (AMR) Codec for Voice Calls For UMTS, it was decided to use the AMR codec for
voice encoding. AMR was already introduced as an optional voice codec for GSM, as described in Chapter
1; however, in UMTS, AMR is mandatory.
With AMR, the codec is no longer only negotiated at the establishment of a voice call but the systemcan
change the codec every 20 milliseconds
Radio Resource Control (RRC) States The activity of a subscriber determines in which way data is
transferred over the air interface betweenthe mobile device and the network
Idle State In this state, a mobile device is attached to the network but does not have a physical or
logicalconnection with the radio network. This means that the user is involved neither in a voice call nor in
a data transfer. From the packet-switched core network point of view, the subscriber might still have an
active PDP context (i.e. an IP address) even if no radio resources are assigned at the moment
Cell-DCH State The Cell-DCH RRC state is used similarly to the GSM Lu-FP
dedicated mode for circuit-switched voicecalls. While in this state, a physical GTP
connection is established between the mobile device and the network. UDP/IP
In the UTRAN this means that the mobile device has been assigned its own AAL5/IP
spreading codein the downlink direction and its own spreading and scrambling codes in
the uplink direction
Cell-FACH State The Cell-FACH state is mainly used when only a small amount of data needs to be
transferred to orfrom a subscriber. In this mode, the subscriber does not get a dedicated channel but uses
the FACH to receive data
Cell-PCH and URA-PCH States The optional Cell-PCH (Cell-Paging Channel) RRC state and the URA-
PCH (UTRAN RegistrationArea – Paging Channel) RRC state can be used to reduce the power
consumption of the mobile deviceduring extended times of inactivity
Core Network Mobility Management From the point ofview of the MSC and the SGSN, the mobile
device can be in any of the MM orPMM states described below. The MSC knows the following MM states
MM Detached: The mobile device is switched off and the current location of the subscriber isunknown.
Incoming calls for the subscriber cannot be forwarded to the subscriber and are eitherrejected or forwarded
to another destination if the Call Forward Unreachable (CFU) supplementary service is activated
MM Idle: The mobile device is powered on and has successfully attached to the MSC . The subscriber can
at any time start an outgoing call. For incoming calls, the mobile
device is paged in its current Location Area.
MM Connected: The mobile device and MSC have an active signaling and communication connection.
Furthermore, the connection is used for a voice or a video call. From the point of view of the RNC, the
subscriber is in the Cell-DCH RRC state as this is the only bearer that supports
circuit-switched connections.
PMM Detached: The mobile device is switched off and the location of the subscriber is unknown to the
SGSN. Furthermore, the mobile device cannot have an active PDP context, that is, no IP address is
currently assigned to the subscriber.
PMM Connected: The mobile device and the SGSN have an active signaling and communication
connection. The PMM connected state is only maintained while the subscriber has an active PDP context,
which effectively means that the GGSN has assigned an IP address for the connection.
In this state, the SGSN simply forwards all incoming data packets to the Serving RNC (S-RNC).
In contrast to GSM/GPRS, the UMTS SGSN is aware only of the S-RNC for the subscriber and not of the
current cell
Mobility Management in the Cell-DCH State For services like voice or video communication it is very
important that little or no interruption ofthe data stream occurs during a cell change. For these services,
only the Cell-DCH state can be used.
In this state, the network constantly controls the quality of the connection and is able to redirect the
connection to other cells if the subscriber is moving
Mobility Management in the Cell-DCH State For services like voice or video communication it is very
important that little or no interruption of the data stream occurs during a cell change. For these services,
only the Cell-DCH state can be used.
In this state, the network constantly controls the quality of the connection and is able to redirect
theconnection to other cells if the subscriber is moving
RSSI: To describe the total signal power received in milliwatts. The value is usually expressed in dBm
(logarithmic scale) and typical values are −100dBm for a low signal level to −60 dBm for a very strong
signal level.
RSCP (Received Signal Code Power): The power the pilot channel of a base station is received with. The
RSCP can be used, for example, to detect UMTS cell edge scenarios where no neighboring UMTS cell is
available to maintain the connection. In this case, the network takes action when the
RSCP level falls below a network-operator-defined threshold
EcNo: The received energy per chip (Ec) of the pilot channel divided by the total noise power density (No).
In other words, the EcNo is the RSCP divided by the RSSI. The better this value the better the signal can be
distinguished from the noise. The EcNo is usually expressed in decibels as it is a relative value.
Hard Handover By receiving measurement results from the mobile device of the active connection and
measurement
results of the signal strength of the broadcast channel of the neighboring cells, the RNC is able to recognize
if a neighboring cell is more suitable for the connection
user tower
lub
user tower RNC
Soft Handover With this kind of handover, a voice call is not interrupted at any time during the procedure.
user tower
On thebasis of signal quality measurements of the current and neighboring cells, the RNC can decide to
setthe mobile device into soft handover state. All data from and to the mobile device will then be sentand
received not only over a single cell but also over two or even more cells simultaneously.
Allcells that are part of the communication are put into the so-called Active Set of the connection. If aradio
connection of a cell in the Active Set deteriorates, it is removed from the connection
lub
user tower lu(cs), lu(ps)
user tower RNC

Reduction of the spreading factor: For this option, the spreading factor is reduced for some frames. Thus,
more data can be transmitted during these periods, which increases the speed of the connection.
This allows the insertion of short transmission gaps for interfrequency measurement purposes without
reducing the overalltower
speed of the connection. As the spreading factor changes, the transmission power has
to be increased to ensure an acceptable error rate.
Puncturing: After the channel coder has added error correction and error detection bits to the original data
stream, some of them are removed again to have time for interfrequency measurements.
To keep the error rate of the radio bearer within acceptable limits, the transmission power has to be
increased.
Reduction of the number of user data bits per frame: As fewer bits are sent per frame, the transmission
power does not have to be increased. The disadvantage is the reduced user dataratewhile operating in
compressed mode
Mobility Management in Idle State While in Idle state, the mobile device is passive, that is, no data is
sent or received. Nevertheless,there are a number of tasks that have to be performed periodically by the
mobile device.
To be able to respond to incoming voice calls, short messages, MMS messages, etc., the PCH is monitored.
If a paging message is received that contains the subscribers IMSI or TMSI, the mobile device reacts and
establishes a connection with the network.
Mobility Management in Other States In Cell-FACH, Cell-PCH or URA-PCH state, the mobile device is
responsible for mobility managementand thus for cell changes. The big difference between these states and
the Idle state is that a logicalconnection exists between the mobile device and the radio network when a
packet session is active.
Depending on the state, the mobile device has to perform certain tasks after a cell change
As the SGSN detects during the location and routing area update that there is still a logical connection to a
different RNC, it sends a message to the previous RNC that the subscriber is no longer under its control.
Thus, it is ensured that all resources that are no longer needed to maintain
the connection are released
UMTS Security Like GSM, UMTS has strong security measures to prevent unauthorized use and
eavesdropping on
user data traffic and conversations. UMTS also includes enhancements to overcome a number
ofweaknesses that have been found, over the years, in the way GSM protects networks and users. The
following are the main weaknesses:
• The GSM circuit-switched part does not protect the link between the base station and the BSC. In many
cases microwave links are used, which are vulnerable to third party monitoring.
• GSM allows man-in-the-middle attacks with equipment that masquerades as a GSM base station.
• The CK length used in GSM is 64 bits. Although secure when GSM was first developed in the early
1990s, the length is considered insufficient today.
• A number of weaknesses with the A5/1 stream cipher have been detected, as described in which allow
decryption of a voice conversation with the appropriate equipment

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CP5201 Network Design and Technologies – UNIT III

UNIT III CELLULAR NETWORKS 9

Network structure The network is structured into a number of discrete sections:

Operations support system (OSS) network maintenance

GSM Air interface

Supplementary service support (SS): Handles special services,

Short message service support (SMS): Transfers brief text messages

GSM Logical Channels

TDMA frame in GSM network.

AGCH:Access Grant Channel,transmitted by BTS to MS once network approves request of mobile by

Category 3: Dedicated Control channels

Authentication and Encryption

GSM data rates

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

GPRS INTERFACES AND PROTOCOLS

■ Negotiation of the control parameters between the SNDCP entities

■ A radio link control (RLC)/medium access control (MAC) layer

Multislot Classes for GPRS/EGPRS

Attributes of a multislot class Each multislot class identifies the following:

Short Message Service Architecture

SM-SC Short Message Service Centre

SM-SCs • High reliability• High availability• High performance

Three kinds of SMSs User-specific display to a user

Operation/Administration/MaintainenceOperation/Administration/Maintainence (OA&M) follows ITU-

Random frequency hopping (RFH): It performs the hopping in an unorderedfashion, according to a

Advanced Radio Resource Management for GSM/EDGE

Management of Multiple ServicesThe support of multiple services, such as web-browsing, e-mail,

Multi-antenna TechniquesThe application of multi-antenna techniques to mobile communication systems

Sample MMS settings

Web Browsing via GPRS

= 750 ms + 320 ms + 660 ms

Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS)

RNC MSC MSC

UMTS Channel Structure on the Air Interface

Control plane User plane

Radio network (UTRAN)

Logical channels are mapped to the following transport channels:

The following physical channels are used in a cell:

The UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

lub lur lub

user tower RNC

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