THE RADIO INTERFACE

The most important interface in GSM technology. i.e.

THE GSM TECHNOLOGY

WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT..??
It is universal media for transmission and reception of signals. Key element to enable mobility and wireless access and provide roaming facility. It is limited resource shared by all users. It must be well defined to obtain compatibility between MS and BTS.

THE GSM TECHNOLOGY

The frequency spectrum is very congested, with only narrow slots of bandwidth allocated for cellular communications. Standard GSM has a total of 124 frequencies available for use in a network. Most network providers are unlikely to be able to use all of these frequencies and are generally allocated a small subset of the 124.The spectral efficiency depends on radio interface and transmission. The spectrum efficiency can be increased by decreasing the interference . It includes : -Frequency reuse -Sectorization.
THE GSM TECHNOLOGY

FREQUENCY RE-USE
Three types of frequency reuse patterns
7 Cell reuse pattern 4 cell reuse pattern 3 cell reuse pattern Frequency re-use increases the capacity and hence spectrum efficiency.
2 7 1 6 5 4 3

D Cell Dia = R

7/21 cell cluster

SECTORIZATION
Omni directional antennas radiates same frequency in every direction, thereby increasing the chances of interference and no. of cells in a particular area too. Sectorization splits a site into number of cells ,which increases the capacity of the system. Directional antennas are used which ensures that radio from one sector is concentrated in a particular direction which : --increases the signal strength. --makes frequency reuse pattern to be used efficiently.

OMNI CELL
1 ANTENNA

b2 b1 b3
120O CELLS
3 ANTENNAS

ACCESS METHODS
Since radio frequency is limited, so there is no dedicated channel to individuals but it is provided on demand. Radio channels are shared by all users. Both FDMA and TDMA methods helps to provide radio access to subscribers and hence provides mobility.

TDMA TECHNOLOGY
Time division multiple access is a digital technology that allows a number of users to access a single radio frequency channel without interference by allocating a unique time slots to each user within the channel. Each carrier frequency is subdivided in time domain into 8 time slots Each mobile transmits data in a frequency, in its particular time slot - Burst period = 0.577 milli secs. 8 time slots called a TDMA frame. Period is .577 * 8 = 4.616 milli secs 0.577 ms
0 1 2 3 4.616 ms 4 5 6 7

HOW IT WORKSu?
Let us consider that four different conversation is going on simultaneously. TDMA divides a single A. Marry had a little lamb. RF carrier into 8 slots B. Ramu is a good boy. C. There was an old man who lived in a shoe. and provides each conversation a single D.Jack and Jill went up the hill slot for very short duration. After the four slots conversation has been transmitted, process is repeated again.
RF channel Marry had a Freq. 1 Slot 1 Ramu is a Slot 2 There was an Slot 3` Jack and Slot 4

TDMA ADVANTAGES
It can easily adapt to transmission of data as well as voice communication. ability to carry 6 kbps to 120 Mbps of data rates which allows services like fax, voice band data, and SMS as well as multimedia too. Since TDMA technology separates users according to time, it ensures that there will be no interference from simultaneous transmissions. It provides users with an extended battery life, since it transmits only portion of the time during conversations. most cost effective technology to convert an analog system to digital.

TDMA DISADVANTAGES
One major disadvantage using TDMA technology is that the users has a predefined time slot. When moving from one cell site to other, if all the time slots in this cell are full the user might be disconnected. Likewise, if all the time slots in the cell in which the user is currently in are already occupied, the user will not receive a dial tone. Another problem in TDMA is that it is subjected to multipath distortion. A signal coming from a tower to a handset might come from any one of several directions. It might have bounced off several different buildings before arriving which can cause interference. to overcome this distortion, a time limit can be used on the system. The system will be designed to receive ,treat and process that signal within a certain time limit. Once the time limit is expired the signal is ignored.

960 MHz 959.8MHz

124 123

TS: Time slot

DOWNLINK
200KHz

. 2 1

935.2 Mhz 935 MHz

0 1

GSM utilizes twoDownlink bands of (TDMA 25 MHz. 890-915 MHz frame) = 8 TS band is used for uplink while the 935-960 MHz is used for downlink.

2 3

4 5 6 7

The frequency bands are divided into 200 KHz wide channels called ARFCNs (Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Numbers) there are 125 Data burst = 156.25 bit periods i.e. = 576.9 Qs ARFCNs out of which only 124 are used.
124 123

915 MHz 914.8 MHz

45 MHz
200KHz

Each ARFCN supports 8 users with each user transmitting / receiving on a particular time slot (TS).

UPLINK
890.2 MHz 890 MHz

. 2 1

0 1

2 3

4 5 6 7

Uplink (TDMA frame)

Therefore 1 TDMA frame = 156.25 x 8 = 1250 bits and has a duration of 576.92Qs x 8 = 4.615 ms

FREQUENCY DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS (FDMA)

Divide available frequency spectrum into channels each of the same bandwidth Channel separation achieved by filters: Good selectivity Guard bands between channels Signaling channel required to allocate a traffic channel to a user Only one user per frequency channel at any time Used in analog systems, such as AMPS, TACS Limitations on: frequency re-use number of subscribers per area

UPLINK AND DOWNLINK FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION

Uplink
890 MHz Frequency 915 MHz 935 MHz

Downlink
Frequency

BTS 960 MHz

channel #

124 Example: Channel 48

channel #

124

Duplex spacing = 45 MHz Frequency band spectrum = 2 x 25 MHz Channel spacing = 200 kHz

CONTDu

The bandwidth of 25 MHz is divided into equal parts of 200 kHz and this band of 200kHz is called as GUARD BAND.  The single radio frequency is called as ABSOLUTE RADIO FREQUENCY CHANNEL NUMBER (ARFCN). Frequency allotment is always done in pairs i.e. if 890.2 MHz is allocated as transmission frequency then 935.2 MHz will be allocated to the same operator as receiving frequency. The spacing between trans and receive frequency is called as DUPLEX SPACING and it is equal to 45 MHz

FROM SPEECH TO RADIO TRANSMISSION

Blah... Blah... Blah...
Digitizing and Source Coding Channel Coding

Blah Blah Blah...

Source Decoding

Channel Decoding

Interleaving

De-interleaving

Ciphering

Deciphering

Burst Formatting

Burst De-formatting

Modulating

Demodulating

THE GSM TECHNOLOGY