GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical...

Page 1 of 11

RFWIRELESS WORLD
Home of RF and Wireless Vendors and Resources
Articles Tutorials Application notes Vendors Terminology Academic General Downloads

GSM Tutorial
GSM introduction
GSM is the short form of Global System for Mobile Communications. It is called 2G or Second Generation technology. It is developed to make use of same subscriber units or mobile phone terminals throughout the world. There are various GSM standards such as GSM900, EGSM900, GSM1800 and GSM 1900; they mainly differ based on RF carrier frequency band and bandwidth. This tutorial covers GSM network architecture,network elements,various interfaces,specifications,GSM frame structure or GSM frame hierarchy, GSM burst types, GSM physical layer,GSM physical channels, GSM logical channels and their functions,logical channel mapping, GSM mobile network entry procedure.

GSM Network Architecture

GSM network is consists of Mobile station, Base station subsystem and Network and operation subsystem. Following figure depicts complete GSM system network architecture.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 2 of 11

Fig.1 GSM Network Architecture Mobile Station- This Mobile station is GSM mobile phone equipment which houses DSP,RF chip and SIM(subscriber Identity Module). This SIM is enough to carry to avail the service of GSM network. SIM contains subscriber related all the information, network with which subscriber is subscribed with and encryption related information. Base station Subsystem- Base station subsystem houses Base Transceiver station-BTS and Base station controller-BSC. This subsystem take care of radio control related functions and provides GSM air interface for GSM mobile phones to connect with GSM network. To provide GSM service, region/city on earth is divided into various cells. The cell size is usually about 100m to about 35 km. BTS coverage is limited to this cell. Like this many BTSs cover entire region. All this BTSs are interfaced with one BSC in various ways mesh, star etc. This BSC takes care of radio frequency assignments to the mobile phones, takes care of handoff within BSS i.e. between one BTS and the other BTS. Network Subsystem (NSS) - This subsystem provides interface between cellular system and circuit switched telephone network i.e. PSTN. It performs switching and operation & maintenance related functions. NSS takes care of call processing functions such as call setup, switching, tear down and also hand over between BSCs. NSS takes care of security and authentication related functions. There are various network elements in this subsystem as mentioned in GSM network architecture above. They are explained below. These are basically database elements. HLR-Home Location Register, it stores permanent and temporary subscriber related information. VLR- Visitor Location Register, it stores visitor subscriber related information about its facilities, the network it is subscribed to, and its home location and so on. AUC- Authentication center, used to authenticate activities in the system. It holds encryption (A5 key) and authentication keys (A3 key)in both HLR and VLR.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 3 of 11

EIR- Equipment Identification Register, it helps in security as it keeps track of equipment type available in Mobile Station or Terminal.

GSM Interfaces
Air interface between Mobile station and BTS Abis interface between BTS and BSC A interface between BSC and MSC SS7 interface between MSC and PSTN

GSM system Specifications

Access Method- TDMA/FDMA Uplink frequency band- 890 to 915 MHz Downlink frequency band- 935 to 960 MHz System Bandwidth- 200 KHz No. of frequency channels or ARFCN (Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number)-124 Users per channel-8 Frame duration-4.615ms Spectral efficiency-1.35 b/s/Hz Data rate per user- 33.6 kbps (270.833 kbps Gross data rate for 8 users/8users)

GSM frame structure or frame hierarchy

In GSM frequency band of 25 MHz is divided into 200 KHz of smaller bands, each carry one RF carrier, this gives 125 carriers.As one carrier is used as guard channel between GSM and other frequency bands 124 carriers are useful RF channels.This division of frequency pool is called FDMA. Now each RF carrier will have eight time slots. This division time wise is called TDMA. Here each RF carrier frequency is shared between 8 users hence in GSM system, the basic radio resource is a time slot with duration of about 577 microsec. As mentioned each time slot has 15/26 or 0.577ms of time duration. This time slot carries 156.25 bits which leads to bit rate of 270.833 kbps. This is explained below in TDMA frame structure. For E-GSM number of ARFCNs are 174, for DCS1800 ARFNCs are 374. The GSM frame structure is designated as hyperframe,superframe,multiframe and frame. The minimum unit being frame (or TDMA frame) is made of 8 time slots. One GSM hyperframe composed of 2048 superframes. Each GSM superframe composed of multiframes (either 26 or 51 as described below). Each GSM multiframe composed of frames (either 51 or 26 based on multiframe type). Each frame composed of 8 time slots. Hence there will be total of 2715648 TDMA frames available in GSM and the same cycle continues. As shown in the figure 2 below, there are two varients to multiframe structure. 1. 26 frame multiframe - Called traffic multiframe,composed of 26 bursts in a duration of 120ms, out of these 24 are used for traffic, one for SACCH and one is not used. 2. 51 frame multiframe- Called control multiframe,composed of 51 bursts in a duration of 235.4 ms. This type of multiframe is divided into logical channels. These logical channels are time sheduled by BTS. Always occur at beacon frequency in time slot 0, it may also take up other time slots if required by system for example 2,4,6.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 4 of 11

Fig.2 GSM Frame Structure As shown in fig 3. each ARFCN or each channel in GSM will have 8 time slots TS0 to TS7. During network entry each GSM mobile phone is allocated one slot in downlink and one slot in uplink. Here in the figure GSM Mobile is allocated 890.2 MHz in the uplink and 935.2 MHz in the downlink. As mentioned TS0 is allocated which follows either 51 or 26 frame multiframe structure. Hence if at start 'F' is depicted which is FCCH after 4.615 ms ( which is 7 time slot duration) S(SCH) will appear then after another 7 slots B(BCCH) will appear and so on till end of 51 frame Multiframe structure is completed and cycle continues as long as connection between Mobile and base station is active. similarly in the uplink, 26 frame multiframe structure follow, where T is TCH/FS (Traffic channel for full rate speech), and S is SACCH.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 5 of 11

Fig.3 GSM Physical and logical channel concept Frequencies in the uplink = 890.2 + 0.2 (N-1) MHz Frequencies in the downlink = 935.2 + 0.2 (N-1) MHz where, N is from 1 to 124 called ARFCN As same antenna is used for transmit as well as receive, there is 3 time slots delay introduced between TS0 of uplink and TSO of downlink frequency. This helps avoid need of simultaneous transmission and reception by GSM mobile phone. The 3 slot time period is used by the Mobile subscriber to perform various functions e.g. processing data, measuring signal quality of neighbour cells etc.

GSM Burst types

There are various bursts as mentioned below in GSM normal burst. 1. Normal burst: The fields in each slot are described below. Trail bits (TB)- These are 3 bits at beginning and end of each time slot. Used for synchronization. Coded data- This encrypted data coded data are placed in two 57-bit fields in each time slot. Stealing bit- It is used to indicate decoder at receiver whether the incoming burst is carrying signaling data or it is carrying user data. Training sequence- It is used for multipath equalization, this is used to extract the desired signal from unwanted reflections. This training sequence also used to determine channel the burst has travelled, this helps in correcting rest of the frame and hence helps in decode the transmitted information properly. Guard bits- These are about 8.25 bits, used to avoid overlap of different bursts. 2. Frequency Correction Burst It is composed of following fields. TB (8 bits)

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 6 of 11

Fixed bit sequence (142 bits) TB (3 bits) Guard Time (8.25 bits) . Synchroni ation Burst TB (3 bits) Coded Data (39 bits) Synchronization sequence (264 bits) Coded Data (39 bits) TB (3 bits) Guard Time (8.25 bits) . Dummy Burst TB (3 bits) Mixed (142 bits) TB (3 bits) Guard period (8.25 bits) . Access Burst Extended TB (8 bits) Synch sequence bits(41) Encrypted bits (36) TB (3 bits) Extended Guard period (68.25 bits)

GSM physical layer

GSM physical layer is nothing but the modules through which speech will pass through before they are transmitted in the air. These modules are depicted in the figure below.

Fig.4 GSM Physical Layer These modules are speech coding, channel coding, interleaving, ciphering, burst assembly, modulation. Speech coding block uses 13kbps RELP (Residually Excited Linear Predictive coder). Channel coding block uses convolution coding of rate 1/2 with constraint length of 5. Interleaving block does diagonal interleaving, after 456 encoded bits in 20ms duration are broken into 57 bits sub-

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 7 of 11

blocks. There will be about total 8 sub blocks of 57 bits each. Ciphering block uses A3 and A5 encryption algorithms. Encryption is changed call by call to enhance privacy. Burst assembly block frames the burst as required by GSM frame structure. The same is modulated and Gaussian filtered. Modulation block minimizes the occupied BW using GMSK modulation with BT of 0.3. For more details on GSM Physical layer refer our page in articles section.

GSM channel types

There are two main channels; physical channel and logical channel. Physical channel is specified by specific time slot/carrier frequency. Logical channel run over physical channel i.e. logical channels are time multiplexed on physical channels; each physical channel(time slot at one particular ARFCN) will have either 26 Frame MF(Multi-frame) or 51 Frame MF structure describe here. logical channels are classified into traffic channel and control channel. Traffic channel carry user data. Control channels are interspersed with traffic channels in well specified ways. For example, every 26 TDMA frames a logical channel gets bandwidth in a physical channel. Traffic channel are mainly of two types half rate and full rate traffic channels. There are various control channels such as BCCH (Broadcast control channel), SCH (synchronous channel), FCCH ( Frequency control channel), DCCH(Dedicated control channel). All these channels help maintain GSM network and also helps GSM mobile phone connect to GSM network and maintain the connection and help tear down the connection. Figure below mention all the channels used in GSM.

Fig.5 GSM Channels

GSM Lo ical channels and their functions

As shown in the figure there are two main types of channels in the GSM. Traffic channels and control channels. Different bursts are mapped to these channels uniquely as per GSM TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION 05.02. 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. Cate ory 1: Broadcast channels

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 8 of 11

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. Cate ory 2: Common Control channels They are point-to-multipoint and downlink only channels except RACH which is used in uplink. CH: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. Cate ory : 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 mobile phone network entry procedure

Fig.6 GSM Call Setup, it depicts basic flow of logical frames between BTS and MS to establish voice/data connection.

Summary
This GSM tutorial is the concise representation of GSM which covers GSM basics, network architecture, network elements, frame structure, speech processing in GSM and GSM specifications.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physical... Page 9 of 11

Ads by Google

GSM Modem

GSM GPRS

GSM Control

GSM Modules

Useful Links
GSM protocol stack which covers GSM layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3 basics.Read More GSM Physical layer or GSM layer 1 modules in depth.READ MORE

GSM standard References

3GPP TS 05.02 and other useful documents relating to GSM can be found at following link http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/05-series.htm

GSM Modem manufacturers

Read more on GSM Modem and GPRS Modem Manufacturers/Suppliers.

News from the M2M world..

m2mworldnews.com 100% focused on M2M: market data, applications, business, technology.

Sub Menu
RFW Home About Us Contact Us Sitemap

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physi... Page 10 of 11

Ericsson Microwave Links

www.relinknetworks.com Buy MINI-LINK directly from production

Industrial radiolink
www.schildknecht.info PLC communication by wireless profibus

Mobile Ad Providers
www.leadbolt.com/AdNet Dramatically Increase Your Mobile App Revenues w/ LeadBolt's Network.

Broadband Test Antennas

www.aaronia.com EMC & LogPer Antennas at low cost wide frequency range 20MHz to 18GHz

Find Signal Interference

www.sat.com Detect, Analyze & Locate Satellite Spectrum Monitor

Search

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013

GSM Tutorial-GSM system basics,network,interfaces,frame structure,burst types,physi... Page 11 of 11

Ads by Google

International GSM Phone GSM World Wireless GSM ArticlesTutorialsApplication notesVendorsTerminologyAcademicGeneralDownloads 2012 All rights reserved www.rfwireless-world.com

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/gsm-tutorial.html

1/9/2013