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Modula tion
The modulation chosen for the GSM system is
the Ga us si an M ini mum Shi ft K eyin g
(GMSK ) .
Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) is a
method of saving battery power for the MS.
An MS with the DTX function detects the
input "voice" and turns the transmitter ON
only while "voice“ is present.
When there is no voice input, the transmitter
is turned OFF.
Discontinuous transmission (DTX)
So DTX is used to suspend the radio
transmission during the si lence periods.
This exploits the observation that only 40-
50% during a conversation does the speaker
actually talk.
DTX helps also to reduce interference
between different cells and to increase
system capacity.
An added benefit of DTX is that power is
conserved at the mobile unit.
Voic e A ctivi ty D etection (VAD)
The DTX function is performed by means of VAD
It is this which has to determine whether the sound
represents speech or noise, even if the background
noise is very important.
If the voice signal is considered as noise, the
transmitter is turned off producing then, an
unpleasant effect called clipping.
Co mfort n oise
A side-effect of the DTX function is that when
the signal is considered as noise, the
transmitter is turned off and therefore, a total
silence is heard at the receiver.
This can be very annoying to the receiving
user since it appears as a dead connection.
In order to overcome this problem, the
receiver creates a minimum of background
noise called comfort noise.
Comfort noise eliminates the impression that
the connection is dead.
Pow er con trol
To minimize co-channel interference and to conserve
power, both the mobiles and the Base Transceiver
Stations operate at the lowest power level that will
maintain an acceptable signal quality.
The BTSs perform timing measurements; they also
perform measurements on the power level of the
different mobile stations. These power levels are
adjusted so that the power is nearly the same for
each burst.
The BTS controls its power level. The MS measures
the strength and the quality of the signal between
itself and the BTS. If the mobile station does not
receive correctly the signal, the BTS changes its
power level and retransmits.
Dis con tin uou s r ecep tion
Another method used to conserve power at
the MS is Discontinuous Reception (DRX).
The paging channel, used by the BTS to
signal an incoming call, is structured into
subchannels.
Each MS is assigned one of these sub-
channels and needs to listen only to its own
sub-channel.
In the time between successive paging sub-
channels, the mobile can go into “sleep
mode”, when almost no power is used.
Timing Advance
In the GSM cellular mobile phone standard, timi ng ad vance
value corresponds to the length of time a signal from the mobile
phone takes to reach the base station.
GSM uses TDMA technology in the radio interface to share a
single frequency between several users, assigning sequential
timeslots to the individual users sharing a frequency.
Each user transmits periodically one-eighth of the time within
one of the eight timeslots.
Since the users are various distances from the base station and
radio waves travel at the finite speed of light, the precise time
at which the phone is allowed to transmit a burst of traffic
within a timeslot must be adjusted accordingly.
Timing Advance (TA) is the variable controlling this adjustment.
This synchronization between BTS and MS is
achieved by using the concept of Timing Advance
(TA).
From the measurements, the BTS can calculate the
Timing-Advance and send it back to the MS in the
first downlink transmission.
From the TA value received from the BTS, the MS
know when to send the frame, so that it can arrive at
the BTS in synchronism.
The values of the TA is continuously calculated and
transmitted to the MS during the call.
TRANSMISSION RATE
The amount of information transmitted over a
radio channel over a period of time is known
as the transmission rate.
Transmission rate is expressed in bits per
second or bit/s.
In GSM the net bit rate over the air interface
is 270kbit/s.