GSM introduction/ Concepts

and technical views

5/7/16

Prepared by Eltayeb & Mohammed Ahmed

GSM NETWORK COMPONENTS

Another MSC
BTS
BSC
MS

A-bis

MSC/VLR

HLR/AUC

MS

Um

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OMC

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TRX

TRX A transmission/reception facility is called as a transceiver (TRX).

Typically, a cell has several TRXs, and one frequency is allocated to each
TRX. The capacity of a cell can therefore be measured in the number of TRXs.
A time slot that carries user traffic is also called as Traffic Channel (TCH).
For administrative purposes, e.g. providing mobile terminals with control
information, there is also one BCCH in each cell.
example:
if one sector has 4 TRXs, 2 (time slots ) for SDCCH are configured for it, and
we have for Data 4 TS, so we will have 8*4-2-4=26 Time slot reserved for
speech, which can support theorically in best conditions 52 users
simultanously if with 100% Half Rate.

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TRX power

5/7/16

Board Type

Number of TRXs

Output Power

GRFU_1_4

20

GRFU_1_5

16

GRFU_1_6

12

GRRU_1_4

20

GRRU_1_5

13

MRRU_1_4

20

MRRU_1_5

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Prepared by Eltayeb & Mohammed Ahmed

Frequency Hopping

Frequency Hopping is mechanism in which the system changes the frequency

(uplink and downlink) during transmission at regular intervals
Types of Frequency Hopping :
Base Band Frequency Hopping (BBH)
Synthesizer Frequency Hopping (SFH)
Advantages of Hopping :
Provide a similar communication quality for every user.
hopping makes cell planning more flexible

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Hopping Parameters
MA (Mobile Allocation Set):
MA is the set of available RF bands when hopping, containing at most
64 frequency carriers. The frequency being used must be those of the
available frequency
MAIO (Mobile Allocation Index Offset)
MAIO is used to define the initial frequency of the hopping.
Be careful to configure the MAIO of same timeslot in all channels,
otherwise interference occurs.
HSN Hopping Sequence Number 0 63
HSN=0 cycle hopping.
HSN0 random hopping. Every sequence number corresponds a
pseudo random sequence.

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Radio Access Technology &Timing Advance (TA)

The mobile phone should

send the signal in advance!!

U
U se
Us ser r
Us er
e
UsUser r
e
r
Us
er

Transmission delay t

Tim
e

Time
FDMA
Frequency

cy
en
u
eq
Fr

Us
er

- mobile station moves away from the base station during a call
- If the delay is too high, the timeslots of the signal from a certain mobile station and that of
the next signal from another mobile station received by the base station will overlap each
other

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DTX

DTX: Discontinuous Transmission

Shut off the transmission at voice intervals;
Only transmit SID frames
The transcoder at the RX terminal produces
comfortable noise.

VAD: Voice Activity Detection

Save battery life and

reduce interference

Implemented by the transcoder.

Actually, during the communication process, the mobile subscriber talks only 40% of the time
and there is not much useful information transmitted during rest of the time. If all the
information is transmitted to the network, it will not only be a waste of the system resources
but also add more interference to the system. In order to overcome this problem, the DTX
technique is used in the GSM system
SID : Silence Descriptor
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trol

Save the battery life

Reduce network interference
Include both uplink power control and
downlink power control
Level and quality are taken into account

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Channels: Logical Channel Type

GSM900 and DCS1800 have the same logical channel

category
Logical channel

Dedicated channel
(DCH)

Common channel
(CCH)

Broadcast control channel

(BCH)

FCCH

SCH

Common control channel

(CCCH)

BCCH
PCH
(system information)

AGCH

RACH

Voice channel
(TCH)

Control channel

SDCCH

FACCH

TCH/F

TCH/H

SACCH

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GSM Bands comparison

5/7/16

System

GSM 900

GSM 1800

Uplink
Downlink

890-915 MHz
935-960 MHz

1710-1785 MHz
1805-1880 MHz

Wavelength

~ 33 cm

~ 17 cm

Bandwidth

25 MHz

75 MHz

Duplex Distance

45 MHz

95 MHz

Radio Channels

125

175

Transmission Rate

270 kbits/s

270 kbits/s

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Cell selection & reselection where

do I camp on?

Cell selection/reselection processes, are

performed in idle mode.
The MS uses the cell selection algorithm to
look for a cell (of the chosen PLMN) where
it can camp on.
If the MS looses coverage of that cell ; it
will look for the most suitable alternative
and it will camp on that cell> cell
reselection.
During Idle Mode the Network doesnt
know the cell which the MS is camping on,
it only knows the Location Area where the
mobile registered himself in.
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Handover
Requirements for GSM handover
The process of handover or handoff within any cellular system is of great
importance. It is a critical process and if performed incorrectly handover can
result in the loss of the call. Dropped calls are particularly annoying to users
and if the number of dropped calls rises, customer dissatisfaction increases
and they are likely to change to another network. Accordingly GSM
handover was an area to which particular attention was paid when
developing the standard.

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Handover cont.
Types of GSM handover
Within the GSM system there are four types of handover that can be performed for
GSM only systems:
Intra-BTS handover: This form of GSM handover occurs if it is required to
change the frequency or slot being used by a mobile because of interference, or
other reasons. In this form of GSM handover, the mobile remains attached to the
same base station transceiver, but changes the channel or slot.
Inter-BTS Intra BSC handover: This for of GSM handover or GSM handoff
occurs when the mobile moves out of the coverage area of one BTS but into
another controlled by the same BSC. In this instance the BSC is able to perform
the handover and it assigns a new channel and slot to the mobile, before
releasing the old BTS from communicating with the mobile.
Inter-BSC handover: When the mobile moves out of the range of cells
controlled by one BSC, a more involved form of handover has to be performed,
handing over not only from one BTS to another but one BSC to another. For this
the handover is controlled by the MSC.
Inter-MSC handover: This form of handover occurs when changing between
networks. The two MSCs involved negotiate to control the handover.
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Case Analysis
Missing relations appearance

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Case Analysis
cont.
Missing relations occurred:
- Fake overshooting case , you may wonder why this cell is
serving in the area?!
- Too many reasons could lead to such a case
Availability issues on near by cells, Cross sector on the cell should
be covering which may lead to call be served by the wrong
neighbors to the crossed sectoretc
- BSCs Border areas Handover issues.

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Case Analysis : overshooting

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Case Analysis cont.

Overshooting cases
- Overshooting effects:
Appearance of missing relations
Interference
Un wanted traffic increase which may lead to congestion
issuesetc
- Down tilt / Up tilt solutions

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Case Analysis: interference

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Case Analysis cont.

Interference Case
- Interference effects:
Appearance of bad quality spots
Dropped calls
Handover failures
- Solutions:
- MA list Swap or Split (depends on the operators actual
Frequency plan).
- Physical actions: Down tilt/ Up tilt depending on actual TA
Measurements (traffic distribution/failures) of the interfered
cells. So it is important to strengthen the carrier and decrease
power of the interferer by down-tilt
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Case analysis:
accessibility

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Case Analysis cont.

Although radio conditions are good in general and we can see
very good levels of the neighbor cells but serving cell is an
1800 band cell instead, with an accepted but not good levels
inside.
There are bad level samples because of the handover priority
issue between band 1800 and 900.
Recommended is to make KHN-Alhalfaya-04-G-2595-3 (900
band) serves because it has very good radio conditions.
Such a radio condition can affect the accessibility sometimes,
because the MS is served at the edge of the cell.
We can solve it by different solutions , either tilts or modifying
the Handover parameters
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Case Analysis cont.

Such a radio condition can affect the accessibility sometimes,
because the MS is served at the edge of the cell.
We can solve it by different solutions , either tilts or modifying
the Handover EDGE parameters taking into consideration the
actual power control and Handover algorithms used ; which is
vendor specific.

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Discussion.
Cell reselection to 3G failures
Any suggestions?!!!
Handovers from 3G failures
Problems and solutions?!
A very important point is to have your 3G/2G
information linked in together in order to
understand the interoperability between such
technologiesReselection, Handover
redirection.etc
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Thank you

Sabal Optimization Team