When a mobile station is first switched on it is necessary to read the BCCH in order to determine its orientation within the

network.

The mobile must first synchronize in frequency and then in time. The FCCH, SCH and BCCH are all transmitted on the same carrier frequency which has a higher power density than any of the other channels in a cell because steps are taken to ensure that it is transmitted information at all times.

The mobile scans around the available frequencies, picks the strongest and then selects the FCCH.

WHY DO WE NEED FREQUECY HOPPING ?

Frequency hopping serves three major purpose in GSM

1) FREQUECY RESUSE AND TO AVOID CO-CHANNEL INTERFERENCE 2) INCREASES THE CHANNEL CAPACITY OF LIMITED GSM CHANNELS 3) DECREASES MULTIPATH INTERFERENCE OF RADIO SIGNAL.

" Frequency Hopping rule is simple, that our conversation must remain on the same physical channel and time slot for the entire time we are on a particular site. If the network were able to move us from slot to slot, and from frequency to frequency, then we could randomize the effects of interference " Here below i would discuss how Frequecy hopping fights all the three major disadvantage specifed above. As we know GSM uses physical channels, but each of those channels is divided into 8 time slots. One user consumes one slot, thus allowing 8 users to be on a GSM channel simultaneously. Each GSM channel is 200 kHz wide, thus giving a 30 MHz license-holder a grand total of 75 physicals channels within their spectrum allotment. Obviously 75 channels isnt enough to spread evenly among the 200 some odd cell sites around the GTA, each of which has 3 independent sectors. A sector is an area covering 120 degrees around the site. Thats a grand total of 600 sectors and only 75 channels. Obviously the idea is to reuse channels in multiple sites, and to keep those cochannels far enough apart that they dont interfere with one another. Next The most common type of interference suffered by a dense GSM network is therefore co-channel inference. This means that your phone call is interfered with by another site operating on the same physical channel and time slot. Unlike analog, where co-channel interference would often result in you actually hearing the other conversation, that never happens in GSM. Another problem facing narrowband radio systems is multipath. This happens when large objects such as buildings reflect your desired signal. The reflection can sometimes be just as strong as the direct signal, and the two can interfere with one another. Consider co-channel interference. Not all of the slots are in use on all of the physical channels on each site where they are reused, so although slot 4 on channel 522 might be clobbered by another conversation, slot 7 on channel 530 probably isnt. So, if we can take each call er on a particular sector and jump them from slot to slot, and from frequency to frequency, then each user runs a far lower risk of suffering from co-channel interference. And when such interference does occur, chances are good that the error correction algorithms can take care of it. You know that the number of frequencies for GSM is 124 and it is not much. The range is divided for some operators. What happen when the sites configuration is high? They do not have enough frequencies. One way, they expand their range to use CDS 1800. So, they have to spend more money. There are two types of frequency hopping: Baseband and Syntherizer. The main technique for frequency hopping is that 1 carrier atleast uses more than one predefined frequecy to serve their purpose. In Baseband hopping, the transmitter will change its frequency on frame basis. All TRX can hop, but the list of frequencies is limited to the number of TRX in the cell. For instance, if you have 4 TRX, the amount of frequencies will be 4. It uses a round robin mechanism, for each TDMA frame, one of those four frequencies are used in round robin pattern.

In syntherizer hopping, the transmitter will change its frequency on time slot basis. That is why they also said it is fast hopping. All TRX except BCCH TRX will hop over a list of frequencies (= frequency hopping sequence). You can put as many frequencies as you want in the list (up to more than 30 usually). Only the BCCH TRX requires a fixed frequency (bcch frequency that shouldn't be included in the FHS !).

The frequency hopping sequences are orthogonal inside one cell (i.e. no collisions occur between communications of the same cell), and independent from one cell to an homologue cell (i.e. using the same set of RF channels, or cell allocation). The hopping sequence is derived by the mobile from parameters broadcast at the channel assignment, namely, The mobile allocation (set of frequencies on which to hop), MA: Mobile allocation of radio frequency channels, defines the set of radio frequency used in the mobiles hopping sequence. The index channels to be

offset (to

distinguish the different mobiles of the cell using the same mobile allocation).

MAIO: Mobile allocation index offset.(0 to N 1, 6 bits). MAIO is applied to same timeslot of different TRX (belonging to a same cell). For instance, timeslot #3 will have a different MAIO, because they're using the same HSN. The each

hopping sequence number of the cell (which allows different sequences on homologue cells)
HSN: Hopping sequence (generator) number (0 to 63, 6 bits). HSN =0, means cyclic hopping (no hopping, generally BCCH carrier)

NOTE:

Only the 1st timeslot of the BCCH TRX cannot hop. There is no real need for The broadcast channel (BCCH) to hop(Bcoz no tarffic is carried on this channel so no error or interference). Remaining 7 full rate channels or 14 half rate channels may use frequency hopping. Everytime a timeslot uses the BCCH frequency, it cannot use downlink power control.

MEI INTERNATIONAL MOBILE SUBSCRIBER IDENDITY IMEI INTERNATIONAL MOBILE SUBSCRIBER IDENDITY IMEI
The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call network provider and instruct them to block the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless, regardless of whether the phone's SIM is changed.

Unlike the Electronic Serial Number or MEID of CDMA and other wireless networks, the IMEI is only used to identify the device, and has no permanent or semi-permanent relation to the subscriber. Instead, the subscriber is identified by transmission of an IMSI number, which is stored on a SIM card. Example of the IMEI code 37-209900-176148-1 TAC: 372099 so it was issued by the BABT and has the allocation number 2099

FAC: 00 so it was numbered during the transition phase from the old format to the new format (described below) SNR: CD: 176148 1 so it uniquely is identifying a GSM a unit Phase of 2 this or model higher

SVN: 23 - The 'software version number' identifying the revision of the software installed on the phone. 99 is reserved Final Assembly Code (FAC) For different vendor

01,02 07 10, 30 40, 47 50 51 51 51 60 70 75 80 85 Panasonic 41, Option 44 , 20 40

AEG Motorola Nokia Ericsson Siemens International Bosch Sony Siemens Ericsson Alcatel Sagem Dancall Philips

Retrieving IMEI information from a GSM device On many devices the IMEI number can be retrieved by entering *#06#. The IMEI number of a GSM device can be retrieved by sending the command AT+CGSN through data cable. The IMEI information can be retrieved from most Nokia mobile phones by pressing *#92702689# (*#WAR0ANTY#), this opens the warranty menu in which the first item is the serial number (the IMEI). The warranty menu also shows other information such as the date the phone was made and the life timer of the phone.The IMEI can frequently be displayed through phone menus, under a section titled 'System Information', 'Device', 'Phone Info' or similar.

Computation of the Check Digit The last number of the IMEI is called the Check Digit and is defined using a formula called "Luhn formula", thus sometimes the last digit is called the Luhn Check Digit and does not necessarily always set to 0. According to the IMEI Allocation and Approval Guidelines, The Check Digit is calculated according to Luhn formula (ISO/IEC 7812). The Check Digit shall not be transmitted to the network. The Check Digit is a function of all other digits in the IMEI. The Software Version Number (SVN) of a mobile is not included in the calculation. The purpose of the Check Digit is to help guard against the possibility of incorrect entries to the CEIR and EIR equipment.The check digit shall always be transmitted to the network as "0". This check digit is computed in three steps as shown in the following example. Given 14 most significant digits of the IMEISV without the SVN which are the 6-digit TAC, 2-digit FAC, and 6-digit SNR and are labelled as follows: TAC = D14 D13 ... D9 (with D9 the least significant digit of TAC); FAC = D8 D7 (with D7 the least significant digit of FAC); and SNR = D6 D5 ... D1 (with D1 the least significant digit of SNR). Example IMEI: 49015420323751? (ignore the last digit) TAC: D14:4 D13:9 D12:0 D11:1 D10:5 D09:4 FAC: D08:2 D07:0 SNR: D06:3 D05:2 D04:3 D03:7 323751 20 490154

D02:5 D01:1 Computation of its check number / CHK for the IMEI proceeds as follows: Step 1: Double the values of the odd labelled digits D1, D3, D5 ... D13 of the IMEI. .D14:4=4 D13:9x2=18 .D12:0=0 D11:1x2=2 .D10:5=5 D09:4x2=8 .D08:2=2 D07:0x2=0 .D06:3=3 D05:2x2=4 .D04:3=3 D03:7x2=14 .D02:5=5 D01:1x2=2

Step 2: Add together the individual digits of all the seven numbers obtained in Step 1, 1+8 + 2 + 8 + 0 + 4 + 1+4 + 2 = 30 and then add this sum to the sum of all the even labelled digits D2, D4, D6 ... D14 of the IMEI. 4 + 0 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 5 = 22 The result is: 30 + 22 = 52 or 4 + 1+8 + 0 + 2 + 5 + 8 + 2 + 0 + 3 + 4 + 3 + 1+4 + 5 + 2 = 52 Step 3: If the number obtained in Step 2 ends in 0, then set CHK to be 0. If the number obtained in Step 2 does not end in 0, then set CHK to be that number subtracted from the next higher number which does end in 0.

Since 52 ends in "2", CHK can't be set to "0". The next higher number that does end in "0" after 52 is 60, so we set: CHK = 60 - 52 = 8 So the IMEI number is: 490154203237518 and it ends in 8.