CEN-222 DATA COMMUNICATION AND

NETWORKING
BS (IT)-3A

ASSIGNMENT NO: 01

BY:
ABDUL SAMAD (02-235201-018)

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. SAFDAR

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

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 REPORT
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Sr.No. Name of the chapter Page no.

1. History of GPRS
General overview
1.1 What is GPRS? 2
1. 1.2 Key features 2
1.3 Goals of GPRS 3
1.4 Benefits of GPRS 3
4
2. Architecture of GPRS
5

3. GPRS protocol stack 6

4. GPRS quality of service 7

5. GPRS MS CLASSES 8

Requirements in GPRS systems 9

6.1 Data packet routing in GPRS 10
6. 6.2 mobility management 11
6.3 Routing updates

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7. Advantages of GPRS
12

8. Drawbacks of GPRS 12

Conclusion
9. 12

10. References 13

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CHAPTER 1:
HISTORY OF GPRS
GPRS was one of the main advances that empowered a cell system to interface
with Internet Protocol systems, accomplishing across the board reception in the
mid-2000s. The capacity to peruse the web from a telephone whenever through
“dependably on” data networking, while underestimated in a great part of the
world today, was as yet an oddity when it was introduced. Indeed, even now,
GPRS keeps on being utilized in parts of the world where it has been too
expensive even to consider upgrading cell organize framework to move up to
newer alternatives.
According to a study on the history of GPRS development Bernhard Walke and
his student, Peter Decker, are the inventors of GPRS – the first system providing
universal mobile Internet access.

GPRS OVERVIEW

1.1 What is GPRS:

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet-based mobile data service on
the global system for mobile communications (GSM) of 3G and 2G cellular
communication systems. It is a non-voice, high-speed and useful packet-
switching technology intended for GSM networks.

GPRS can be used to enable connections depending on Internet protocols that

support a wide variety of enterprises, as well as commercial applications. It
enables the sending and receiving of compact data bursts and large data volumes
across mobile phone networks. Prior to sending the data, it is broken into
individual packets and shifted through the core network and radio. The data is
then reassembled at the recipient's end.

1.2 Key Features:

The following three key features describe wireless packet data:

 The always online feature: Removes the dial-up process, making

applications only one click away.
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  An upgrade to existing systems: Operators do not have to replace their
equipment; rather, GPRS is added on top of the existing infrastructure.
 An integral part of future 3G systems: GPRS is the packet data core
network for 3G systems EDGE and WCDMA.

1.3 Goals of GPRS:

GPRS is the first step toward an end-to-end wireless infrastructure and has the
following goals:

 Open architecture
 Consistent IP services
 Leverage industry investment in IP
 Service innovation independent of infrastructure

1.4 Benefits of GPRS:

 Mobility:
The capacity to keep up consistent voice and information interchanges
while moving.

 Cost Efficient:
Communication via GPRS is cheaper than through the regular GSM
network.

 Immediacy:
Allows customers to obtain connectivity when needed, regardless of
location and without a lengthy login session.

 Localization:
Enables customers to acquire data applicable to their present area.

 Easy Billing:
GPRS packet transmission offers an easier to use billing than that offered
by circuit switched administrations.

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CHAPTER 2:

ARCHITECTURE OF GPRS
The full form of GPRS is General Packet Radio Service. The architecture of
GPRS is combined with GSM architecture (as shown in fig.2). GSM (Global
systems for mobile communications) architecture has BSS (Base station
subsystem) and NSS (Network station subsystem). This MS is connected with
BTS (Base transceiver station) and BTSs are controlled by BSC (Base station
controller). This BSC (Base station controller) is controlled by MSC (Mobile
switching centre) and MSC has databases like HLR (Home location register),
VLR (Visitor location register), EIR (Equipment identity register), AUC
(Authentication centre) and PSTN (Public switch telephone network).

FIG:01

GPRS has MS that can carry both data and voice. For enabling of data
the GPRS architecture has PCU (Packet control unit). The BSC is connected
with NSS (Network station subsystem) part with the first entity SGSN (Serving
GPRS Support Node); this will be IP network and then it has GGSN (Gateway
GPRS support node). This is the NSS part and this is connected with firewall
and external network. SGSN is connected with BG (Border gateway), CG
(Charging gateway) and DNS (Domain name server). For GPRS architecture,
addition of new entities in the NSS part are required. The NSS part requires
data connectivity with data centre. So, there are external networks like google
servers etc. The BSC which is having the PCU, requires to conduct SGSN for
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data.
If the user has to call, it will flow through BTS and then BSC and then it will
forward to MSC. If the MS has to access data, then data will take the GPRS route.
It has to access data from the external networks. It means the MS, which has only
the voice or call, will follow the GSM path and the MS, which has both voice
and data, will follow the GPRS path.
There are two types of support node in GPRS: Serving GPRS Support Node
(SGSN) and Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN). Their working roles are
mentioned below.
1. Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN): It has the following main purposes.
 Routing data to and from the MS.
 Verification and charging of calls.
 Location and mobility tracking administration.
 Storages for user’s location and users profile.
2. Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN): It has the following main purposes.
 Data conversion from SGSN to PDP format.
 Reserve the present SGSN address.
 Reserve the user’s location in the location register.

GPRS has some network interfaces. They are given below:

•Air interface: Connects MS and BTS. It’s also called as Um interface.
•Abis interface: Connects BTS and BSC.
•Gb interface: Connects BSC with the SGSN.
•Gn interface: Connects SGSN and GGSN.
•Gp interface: User profile with the signalling information between
SGSN and GGSN of other area.
•Gr interface: Connects SGSN and HLR. Exchange the user information
between SGSN and HLR.
•Gc interface: Connects GGSN and HLR. Exchange the location
information between GGSN and HLR.
•Gs interface: Connects the SGSN with VLR.
•Gf interface: Connects SGSN with EIR. It is used to register the MS in
the network.
•Ga interface: Connects SGSN/GGSN with CG.
•Gi interface: Connects GGSN with external PDN (Packet data
network).
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CHAPTER 3:

GPRS PROTOCOL STACK:

Following diagram shows the GPRS protocol stack and end-to-end message
flows from the MS to the GGSN. The protocol between the SGSN and GGSN
using the Gn interface is GTP. This is a Layer 3 tunnelling protocol.

One of the most important things to note here is that the application

FIG:02
communicates via standard IP, which is carried through the GPRS network and
out through the gateway GPRS looks like a normal IP sub-network to users both
inside and outside the network.

Also notice that packets travelling between the GGSN and the SGSN use the
GPRS tunnelling protocol so the internal backbone network does not have to deal
with IP addresses outside the GPRS network. This GTP is run over UDP and IP.

Between the SGSN and the MS a combination of subnetwork Dependent

Convergence Protocol and Logical Link Control is used. SNDCP compresses data
to minimize the load on the radio channel. The LLC provides a safe logical link
by encrypting packets. The same LLC link is used as long as a mobile is under a
single SGSN.

When the mobile moves to a routing area that lies under a different SGSN the
LLC link is removed and a new link is established with the new Serving GSN
X.25 services are provided by running X.25 on top of TCP/IP in the internal
backbone.

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CHAPTER 4:

GPRS QUALITY OF SERVICE:

The Quality of Service QoS requirements of typical mobile packet data
applications are very diverse. For example different GPRS applications like real
time multimedia, Web browsing, and e-mail transfer need a different QoS
support. This QoS becomes a very important feature of GPRS services.

GPRS allows defining QoS profiles using the parameters service precedence,
reliability, delay, and throughput. These parameters are described below:

 Service Precedence:
The service precedence is the priority of a service in relation to another
service. There exist three levels of priority: high, normal, and low.

 Reliability:
The reliability indicates the transmission characteristics required by an
application. Three reliability classes are defined, which guarantee certain
maximum values for the probability of loss, duplication, miss-sequencing, and
corruption of packets.

 Delay:
The delay is defined as the end-to-end transfer time between two
communicating mobile stations or between a mobile station and the Gi interface
to an external packet data network.

This includes all delays within the GPRS network, e.g., the delay for request
and assignment of radio resources and the transit delay in the GPRS backbone
network. Transfer delays outside the GPRS network, e.g., in external transit
networks, are not taken into account.

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CHAPTER 5:

GPRS - MS CLASSES
The handset is probably the most well-known piece of equipment, because this is
the part we use to make phone calls and to access data services. When we talk
about advanced services, the handset is commonly called an MS, which consists
of terminal equipment (TE) and a mobile terminal (MT).

TE is the device that hosts the applications and the user interaction, while the MT
is the part that connects to the network.

In the following example Palm Pilot is TE and Mobile phone is MT.

In order to take advantage of the new GPRS services, we need new GPRS enabled
handsets. There are three different classes of GPRS terminal equipments:

• Class A:
Class A terminals can handle packet data and voice at the same time. In other
words, we need two transceivers because the handset has to send and/or receive
data and voice at the same time. This situation makes class A terminals
significantly more expensive to manufacture than class B and C terminals.

• Class B:
Class B terminals can handle both packet data and voice, but not at the same time.
In other words, you can use the same transceiver for both, keeping the cost of the
terminals down.
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 • Class C:
Class C terminals can only handle either voice or data. Examples of class C
terminals are GPRS PCM/CIA cards, embedded modules in vending machines,
and so on.

CHAPTER 6:

REQUIREMENTS IN GPRS SYSTEMS

One of the main requirements in the GPRS network is the routing of data packets
to and from a mobile user. The requirement can be divided into two areas: data
packet routing and mobility management.

6.1 Data Packet Routing:

The main functions of the GGSN involve interaction with the external data
network. The GGSN updates the location directory using routing information
supplied by the SGSNs about the location of an MS. It routes the external data
network protocol packet encapsulated over the GPRS backbone to the SGSN
currently serving the MS. It also decapsulates and forwards external data network
packets to the appropriate data network and collects charging data that is
forwarded to a charging gateway (CG).

There are three important routing schemes:

• Mobile-originated message: This path begins at the GPRS mobile and

ends at the host
• Network-initiated message when the MS is in its home network: This
path begins at the host and ends at the GPRS mobile
• Network-initiated message when the MS roams to another GPRS
network: This path begins at the host of visited network and ends at the
GPRS mobile

The GPRS network encapsulates all data network protocols into its own
encapsulation protocol called the GPRS tunnelling protocol (GTP). The GTP
ensures security in the backbone network and simplifies the routing mechanism
and the delivery of data over the GPRS network.
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6.2 Mobility Management:

The operation of the GPRS is partly independent of the GSM network. However,
some procedures share the network elements with current GSM functions to
increase efficiency and to make optimum use of free GSM resources (such as
unallocated time slots).

An MS can be any of the following three states in the GPRS system. The three-
state model is unique to packet radio. GSM uses a two-state model either idle or
active.

• Active State:

Data is transmitted between an MS and the GPRS network only when the MS is
in the active state. In the active state, the SGSN knows the cell location of the
MS.

Packet transmission to an active MS is initiated by packet paging to notify the

MS of an incoming data packet. The data transmission proceeds immediately
after packet paging through the channel indicated by the paging message. The
purpose of the paging message is to simplify the process of receiving packets.
The MS listens to only the paging messages instead of to all the data packets in
the downlink channels. This reduces battery usage significantly.

When an MS has a packet to transmit, it must access the uplink channel (i.e., the
channel to the packet data network where services reside). The uplink channel is
shared by a number of MSs, and its use is allocated by a BSS. The MS requests
use of the channel in a random access message. The BSS allocates an unused
channel to the MS and sends an access grant message in reply to the random
access message.

• Standby State:

In the standby state, only the routing area of the MS is known. (The routing area
can consist of one or more cells within a GSM location area).

When the SGSN sends a packet to an MS that is in the standby state, the MS must
be paged. Because the SGSN knows the routing area of the MS, a packet paging

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message is sent to the routing area. On receiving the packet paging message, the
MS relays its cell location to the SGSN to establish the active state.

• Idle State:

In the idle state, the MS does not have a logical GPRS context activated or any
packet-switched public data network (PSPDN) addresses allocated. In this state,
the MS can receive only those multicast messages that can be received by any
GPRS MS. Because the GPRS network infrastructure does not know the location
of the MS, it is not possible to send messages to the MS from external data
networks.

6.3 Routing Updates:

When an MS that is in an active or a standby state moves from one routing area
to another within the service area of one SGSN, it must perform a routing update.
The routing area information in the SGSN is updated, and the success of the
procedure is indicated in the response message.

A cell-based routing update procedure is invoked when an active MS enters a new

cell. The MS sends a short message containing the identity of the MS and its new
location through GPRS channels to its current SGSN. This procedure is used only
when the MS is in the active state.

The inter-SGSN routing update is the most complicated routing update. The MS
changes from one SGSN area to another, and it must establish a new connection
to a new SGSN. This means creating a new logical link context between the MS
and the new SGSN and informing the GGSN about the new location of the MS.

CHAPTER 7:

ADVANTAGES OF GPRS
GPRS technology provides some benefits. They are given below:
 Speed: GPRS technology offers much higher data rate than GSM
technology. GPRS provides speed limit up to 171kbps and offers
throughput up to 40Kbps.

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  Packet switched: GPRS technology offers packet switching while GSM
technique was a circuit switched system. Circuit switching and packet
switching can be used in parallel.
 Always on capability: GPRS provides an “Always On” capability.
 Spectral efficiency: Because of the shared use of radio channels, GPRS
provides a better traffic management and it has service access to a greater
number of users.
 Packet transmission: Generally, GPRS works more efficiently for long
data packet transmission compared to short ones.

CHAPTER 8:

DRAWBACKS OF GPRS
GPRS technology has some disadvantages as well. They are given below:
 Since GPRS utilizes the GSM band to transfer data, calls and other
network-related functions cannot be used when a connection is active.
 Depending on the individual service provider, GPRS is usually to be paid
per megabyte or kilobyte. But, this has been modified in various places,
where there are no longer charge for per usage of GPRS downloads.
Instead GPRS downloads are rather unlimited with a flat fee to be paid
every month.

CHAPTER 9:

CONCLUSION

In existing cellular systems, GPRS technology provides a significant

improvement of data transfer capacity. GPRS technology announces the
beginning of new generation of cellular communication. This technology is
much faster than GSM and CDMA. GSM can support only the voice or call. But,
GPRS supports both voice and data.

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CHAPTER 10:

REFERENCES:
1) GSM phase 2+ general packet radio service GPRS: Architecture, protocol
and Air interface: An ieee paper by: Christian bettstetter, Hans-Jorgvogel,
and Jorg Eberspacher Technische Universitat Monchen(TUM)
2) http://www.ieee.org/
3) http://www.gl.com/
4) http://www.tutorial.com/
5) Book: Data communications and networking By Behrouz A Forouzan.

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