Concepts of Channels in GSM

A company vehicle is used for several purposes in a day Similarly in GSM, the timeslots are used for different purposes at different times

Frames and Multiframes

Control Channel Multiframe Traffic Channel Multiframe

50

25

4.615 ms

Frame

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 Data 1 Midamble 1 Data 3 8.25 bits
156.25 bits 576.92 micro sec

Time Slot

Channels in GSM Air interface

Logical Channels : ARFCN x, Timeslot y, Frame Number - N
Logical Channels

Control Channels

Traffic Channels

Control Channels
Control Channels
BCH Broadcast CCCH Common DCCH Dedicated Control Channel control Channels control Channels

FCH SCH BCCH

PCH AGCH RACH

SDCCH SACCH FACCH

Traffic Channels
Traffic Channels

TCH - F TCH - H

BCH (Broadcast Channel)

One ARFCN, On all the time, in every cell Uses Timeslot 0 on a channel, in Downlink FCH Frequency correction channel (allows mobile to tune to BTS frequency. This channel carries a 142 bit zero sequence and repeats once in every 10 frames on BCH) SCH Synchronization channel (carries the Frame number and BSIC). It also repeats once in 10 Frames

BCH (Broadcast Channel)

BCCH Broadcast Control CHannel. It has information encoded on it which identifies the network (LAC). It also carries list of the channels in use in the cell (CA tables) Synchronization

Common Control Channel

CCCH shares Timeslot 0 with BCH on a Multiframe CCCH consists of PCH, RACH and AGCH PCH Paging channel is used to alert mobiles on incoming calls. PCH carries IMSI to page for Mobiles in the cell. PCH is Downlink channel. RACH Random Access Channel is a short burst sent by mobile to BTS, to initiate a call request. RACH uses timeslot 0 on reverse BCH channel on uplink

RACH Random Access Channel

Used by mobile to get attention from Base Station Several mobiles might originate RACH simultaneously Mobile doesnt know path delay
So RACH has to be a special short burst Mobile sends normal burst after getting timing advance on downlink SACCH AGCH - Acknowledge channel requests from MS and allocate a SDCCH.

DCCH Dedicated Control Channels

SDCCH Standalone Dedicated Common Control Channel. It is used as a interim channel before final assignment of TCH. SDCCH is used for signaling and Authentication message transfers. It can be called the stepping stone between BSC and TCH The SDCCH, by using less of the cells resource of physical channels, improves efficiency, and provides a useful holding channel for the mobile until speech data needs to be exchanged.

Dedicated Control Channels (cont..)

FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel Interrupts TCH on uplink and downlink Rapid message exchange for handovers Control bits on either side of midamble 0 indicates TCH and 1 indicates FACCH Bothways uplink and downlink

SACCH Slow associated Control Channel

Downlink (BTS MS) Mobile Tx Power Commands Mobile Timing Advance Cells Channel Configuration Uplink (MS - BTS) Received signal quality report (RXQual) Received signal level report (RXLev) Adjacent BCH power measurement

TCH Traffic Channel

3 Data 1 Midamble 1 Data 3 8.25 bits

Traffic Channel carries the voice data Two blocks of 57 bits contain voice data One TCH is allocated for every active call. While call is in progress if there is degradation in quality of current channel, BTS may shift the communication to another TCH on a different Carrier and/or Timeslot A full rate TCH carries 13 kbps voice data, and Half rate TCH carries a 6.5 kbps voice data