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GSMTutorial
GSM(GlobalSystemforMobilecommunications)isanopen,digitalcellulartechnologyusedfortransmitting
mobilevoiceanddataservices.GSMdiffersfromfirstgenerationwirelesssystemsinthatitusesdigital
technologyandTimeDivisionMultipleAccess(TDMA)transmissionmethods.GSMisacircuitswitched
systemthatdivideseach200kHzchannelintoeight25kHztimeslots.GSMoperatesinthe900MHzand
1.8GHzbandsinEuropeandthe1.9GHzand850MHzbandsintheUS.The850MHzbandisalsousedfor
GSMand3GSMinAustralia,CanadaandmanySouthAmericancountries.GSMsupportsdatatransfer
speedsofupto9.6kbit/s,allowingthetransmissionofbasicdataservicessuchasSMS(ShortMessage
Service).Anothermajorbenefitisitsinternationalroamingcapability,allowinguserstoaccessthesame
serviceswhentravellingabroadasathome.Thisgivesconsumersseamlessandsamenumberconnectivityin
morethan210countries.GSMsatelliteroaminghasalsoextendedserviceaccesstoareaswhereterrestrial
coverageisnotavailable.
GlobalSystemforMobileCommunications.ThefirstEuropeandigitalstandard,developedtoestablish
cellularcompatibilitythroughoutEurope.It'ssuccesshasspreadtoallpartsoftheworldandover80GSM
networksarenowoperational.Itoperatesat900MHz.

GSM900andGSM1800
GSM900andGSM1800areusedinmostpartsoftheworld.
GSM900uses890915MHztosendinformationfromtheMobileStationtotheBaseTransceiver
Station(uplink)and935960MHzfortheotherdirection(downlink),providing124RFchannels
(channelnumbers1to124)spacedat200kHz.Duplexspacingof45MHzisused.Insomecountries
theGSM900bandhasbeenextendedtocoveralargerfrequencyrange.This'extendedGSM',E
GSM,usesfrequencyrange880915MHz(uplink)and925960MHz(downlink),adding50
channels(channelnumbers975to1023and0)totheoriginalGSM900band.TheGSM
specificationsalsodescribe'railwaysGSM',GSMR,whichusesfrequencyrange876915MHz
(uplink)and921960MHz(downlink).Channelnumbers955to1023.GSMRprovidesadditional
channelsandspecializedservicesforusebyrailwaypersonnel.Allthesevariantsareincludedinthe
GSM900specification.
GSM1800uses17101785MHztosendinformationfromtheMobileStationtotheBase
TransceiverStation(uplink)and18051880MHzfortheotherdirection(downlink),providing374
channels(channelnumbers512to885).Duplexspacingis95MHz.
GSM1800isalsocalledPCSinHongKongandtheUnitedKingdom.MostoftheGSMoperators
inIndiausethe900MHzband.OperatorslikeHutch,Airtel,Idea,andsomeothers,use900MHzin
ruralareasand1800MHzinurbanareas.
GSM850
GSM850andGSM1900areusedintheUnitedStates,Canada,andmanyothercountriesintheAmericas.
GSM850isalsosometimeserroneouslycalledGSM800.InAustralia,GSM850isthefrequencyallocated
toTelstra'sNextGNetworkwhichwasswitchedoninOctober2006.TheNextGNetworkisastepupfrom
the3GNetworkandisavailibleatfasterspeedsAustraliawidecomparedtothe3GNetworkwhichis
limitedtoonlymajorpopulationcentres.
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GSM850uses824849MHztosendinformationfromtheMobileStationtotheBaseTransceiver
Station(uplink)and869894MHzfortheotherdirection(downlink).Channelnumbers128to251.
Cellularisthetermusedtodescribethe850MHzband,astheoriginalanalogcellularmobilecommunication
systemwasallocatedinthisspectrum.Providerscommonlyoperateinoneorbothfrequencyranges.
EuropeanTelecommunicationsStandardsInstitute(ETSI),originalGSMstandardizationbody.
ConstellationusedbyGSM:QPSK,8PSK,16QAM.

ThemethodchosenbyGSMisacombinationofTimeandFrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess
(TDMA/FDMA).TheFDMApartinvolvesthedivisionbyfrequencyofthe(maximum)25MHzbandwidth
into124carrierfrequenciesspaced200kHzapart.Oneormorecarrierfrequenciesareassignedtoeach
basestation.Eachofthesecarrierfrequenciesisthendividedintime,usingaTDMAscheme.The
fundamentalunitoftimeinthisTDMAschemeiscalledaburstperiodanditlasts15/26ms(orapprox.
0.577ms).EightburstperiodsaregroupedintoaTDMAframe(120/26ms,orapprox.4.615ms),which
formsthebasicunitforthedefinitionoflogicalchannels.OnephysicalchannelisoneburstperiodperTDMA
frame.

Timedivisionmultipleaccess(TDMA)isachannelaccessmethodforsharedmedium(usuallyradio)
networks.Itallowsseveraluserstosharethesamefrequencychannelbydividingthesignalintodifferent
timeslots.Theuserstransmitinrapidsuccession,oneaftertheother,eachusinghisowntimeslot.Thisallows
multiplestationstosharethesametransmissionmedium(e.g.radiofrequencychannel)whileusingonlythe
partofitsbandwidththeyrequire.TDMAisusedinthedigital2GcellularsystemssuchasGlobalSystemfor
MobileCommunications(GSM),IS136,PersonalDigitalCellular(PDC)andiDEN,andintheDigital
EnhancedCordlessTelecommunications(DECT)standardforportablephones.Itisalsousedextensivelyin
satellitesystems,andcombatnetradiosystems.
TDMAisatypeofTimedivisionmultiplexing,withthespecialpointthatinsteadofhavingonetransmitter
connectedtoonereceiver,therearemultipletransmitters.Inthecaseoftheuplinkfromamobilephonetoa
basestationthisbecomesparticularlydifficultbecausethemobilephonecanmovearoundandvarythe
timingadvancerequiredtomakeitstransmissionmatchthegapintransmissionfromitspeers.

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ApplicationsforGSM:
DigitalCommunicationsuchGPS,CellPhones,Laptops.

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1.)MobileStation
Themobilestation(MS)consistsofthemobileequipment(theterminal)andasmartcardcalledthe
SubscriberIdentityModule(SIM).TheSIMprovidespersonalmobility,sothattheusercanhaveaccessto
subscribedservicesirrespectiveofaspecificterminal.ByinsertingtheSIMcardintoanotherGSMterminal,
theuserisabletoreceivecallsatthatterminal,makecallsfromthatterminal,andreceiveothersubscribed
services.
ThemobileequipmentisuniquelyidentifiedbytheInternationalMobileEquipmentIdentity(IMEI).TheSIM
cardcontainstheInternationalMobileSubscriberIdentity(IMSI)usedtoidentifythesubscribertothe
system,asecretkeyforauthentication,andotherinformation.TheIMEIandtheIMSIareindependent,
therebyallowingpersonalmobility.TheSIMcardmaybeprotectedagainstunauthorizedusebyapassword
orpersonalidentitynumber.

2.)MobileSwitchingCentre
ThecentralcomponentoftheNetworkSubsystemistheMobileservicesSwitchingCenter(MSC).Itacts
likeanormalswitchingnodeofthePSTNorISDN,andadditionallyprovidesallthefunctionalityneededto
handleamobilesubscriber,suchasregistration,authentication,locationupdating,handovers,andcallrouting
toaroamingsubscriber.Theseservicesareprovidedinconjuctionwithseveralfunctionalentities,which
togetherformtheNetworkSubsystem.TheMSCprovidestheconnectiontothefixednetworks(suchasthe
PSTNorISDN).SignallingbetweenfunctionalentitiesintheNetworkSubsystemusesSignallingSystem
Number7(SS7),usedfortrunksignallinginISDNandwidelyusedincurrentpublicnetworks.
TheHomeLocationRegister(HLR)andVisitorLocationRegister(VLR),togetherwiththeMSC,provide
thecallroutingandroamingcapabilitiesofGSM.TheHLRcontainsalltheadministrativeinformationofeach
subscriberregisteredinthecorrespondingGSMnetwork,alongwiththecurrentlocationofthemobile.The
locationofthemobileistypicallyintheformofthesignallingaddressoftheVLRassociatedwiththemobile
station.Theactualroutingprocedurewillbedescribedlater.ThereislogicallyoneHLRperGSMnetwork,
althoughitmaybeimplementedasadistributeddatabase.
TheVisitorLocationRegister(VLR)containsselectedadministrativeinformationfromtheHLR,necessary
forcallcontrolandprovisionofthesubscribedservices,foreachmobilecurrentlylocatedinthegeographical
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areacontrolledbytheVLR.Althougheachfunctionalentitycanbeimplementedasanindependentunit,all
manufacturersofswitchingequipmenttodateimplementtheVLRtogetherwiththeMSC,sothatthe
geographicalareacontrolledbytheMSCcorrespondstothatcontrolledbytheVLR,thussimplifyingthe
signallingrequired.NotethattheMSCcontainsnoinformationaboutparticularmobilestationsthis
informationisstoredinthelocationregisters.
Theothertworegistersareusedforauthenticationandsecuritypurposes.TheEquipmentIdentityRegister
(EIR)isadatabasethatcontainsalistofallvalidmobileequipmentonthenetwork,whereeachmobile
stationisidentifiedbyitsInternationalMobileEquipmentIdentity(IMEI).AnIMEIismarkedasinvalidifit
hasbeenreportedstolenorisnottypeapproved.TheAuthenticationCenter(AuC)isaprotecteddatabase
thatstoresacopyofthesecretkeystoredineachsubscriber'sSIMcard,whichisusedforauthentication
andencryptionovertheradiochannel.

3.)BaseStationSubsystem(BSS)
TheBaseStationSubsystemiscomposedoftwoparts,theBaseTransceiverStation(BTS)andtheBase
StationController(BSC).ThesecommunicateacrossthestandardizedAbisinterface,allowing(asintherest
ofthesystem)operationbetweencomponentsmadebydifferentsuppliers.
TheBaseTransceiverStationhousestheradiotranceiversthatdefineacellandhandlestheradiolink
protocolswiththeMobileStation.Inalargeurbanarea,therewillpotentiallybealargenumberofBTSs
deployed,thustherequirementsforaBTSareruggedness,reliability,portability,andminimumcost.
TheBaseStationControllermanagestheradioresourcesforoneormoreBTSs.Ithandlesradiochannel
setup,frequencyhopping,andhandovers,asdescribedbelow.TheBSCistheconnectionbetweenthe
mobilestationandtheMobileserviceSwitchingCenter(MSC).

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GaussianPulseShapeforGSM.

from:http://ej.iop.org/links/rqPN3A4,P/Pj0p_COG2xGBuLSav5vpA/joa4_4_003.pdf

physicallayersdocument:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_layer

Speechcoding:
PulseCodedModulation(PCM)
RegularPulseExcitedLinearPredictiveCoder(RPELPC)
EnhancedFullRate(EFR)

Channelcodingandmodulation:
convolutional.
GaussianfilteredMinimumShiftKeying(GMSK).

StandardizationsforGSMfoundin:
http://webapp.etsi.org/exchangefolder/tr_101075v040104p.pdf

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