GSMSIM: An Educational Simulation Tool For Teaching GSM-based Mobile Communications in Laboratory Lectures

GSMSIM: an educational simulation tool
for teaching GSM-based mobile

communications in laboratory lectures
Pilar García-Díaz, Sancho Salcedo-Sanz, Antonio Portilla-Figueras and David Núñez-Clemente
Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Alcalá University, Madrid, Spain
E-mail: sancho.salcedo@uah.es
Abstract This paper describes an educational simulation tool, GSMSIM, which has been developed
to teach GSM mobile communications in laboratory lectures. The tool has been programmed in
OMNET++, a flexible environment which allows its extension to different aspects of GSM technology,
such as the simulation of calls, traffic, handoffs, etc. This tool has been used in the courses
‘Communication Systems’ and ‘Telecommunication Networks I’, at the University of Alcalá, Madrid,
Spain. We report some of the results obtained in three different scenarios simulating a small,
medium and large city, with different characteristics of network coverage.
Keywords discrete-even simulation; GSM system; laboratory lectures; mobile communications
Mobile telecommunications are currently an important part of our daily life. Mobile
technology is one of the easiest and fastest ways to communicate, so it has taken
over other telecommunication technologies as the most used in the world (see
Fig. 1; note that in both cases the penetration rate of mobile communications is much
higher than other technologies1). Its economic importance is large: the contribution
of the mobile market to the UK economy was 2.2% in 2003, more than three times
the average; and it is forecast to increase to up to 7.5% in 2013.2 This growth and
the evolution to 3rd Generation (3G) and systems beyond 3G, means that this indus-
try requires many specialists. Responding to this trend, almost all technical schools
and universities around the world offer specialised courses in mobile telecommuni-
cations. Specifically, most universities where electrical engineering is taught offer
Fig. 1 Evolution of mobile, fixed and internet users 1993–2003.
International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education 46/3
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260 P. García-Díaz et al.
basic courses about the GSM system (2nd Generation Mobile, or 2G), before offer-
ing other courses on 3G.
Teaching of the GSM system is usually done in two stages. First, the students
receive theoretical lectures about how the system works, with details of all its com-
ponents. Then, the students have the chance to do some laboratory work on the
system. This laboratory work can be done either with real equipment or with simula-
tors.3–5 The former are obviously very expensive, and not available in the majority
of technical schools. On the other hand, simulators are usually commercial software,
usually expensive, and also quite complicated to use, because they are oriented to
the real operation and design of GSM networks used in communications companies.
Therefore these simulators are usually not suitable for teaching GSM mobile com-
munications. Having considered the above points, we have developed a GSM Radio
Access Simulator for its application in laboratory lectures about mobile communica-
tions using the GSM system. This paper describes the developed simulator (GSMSIM),
showing its main properties and advantages over commercial software. Specifically,
we have used a popular simulation platform called OMNeT++, which accepts modules
in C++, so the simulator can be extended or modified by the students in an easy way.
We report the results of using this software in laboratory lectures for the courses
‘Communication Systems’ and ‘Telecommunication Networks I’, in the BS degree
in Telecommunications offered at Alcalá University, Madrid, Spain.
GSM: history and architecture

GSM history
Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications was born due to several reasons,
most importantly the increase in demand for mobile services in the mid-1980s which
could not be met by the very resource-limited 1st Generation of Mobile Telecom-
munications. In 1982 the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
created the Group Special Mobile for the development of 2nd Generation of Mobile
Telecommunications, named GSM. The main milestones of the development of this
system are the following:
• Commission of the Group Special Mobile, (1982);

• GSM agreed to use digital communications (1985);
• Selection of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) as physical medium
access. (1986);
• Memorandum of Undestanding (MoU) signed by 13 European countries to adopt
the GSM standard (1987);
• GSM becomes a ETSI group (1989);
• End point of the release 1 of the GSM specification. System is pre-operational
(1990);
• First commercial implementations (1991).
The rest of the history is well known. About 1995 the GSM mobile service became
a social communication driver, and about 2000 the penetration in Europe was about
90%.

An educational simulation tool for teaching GSM 261
GSM system architecture

Figure 2 shows a simplified scheme of the GSM architecture. Three blocks can be
distinguished:
Network Switching Subsystem (NSS), also referred to as the core network of GSM.
It provides the switching, intelligence and signalling functions of the network. It
also performs inter-working functions with external networks.
Base Station Subsystem (BSS), also known as the access network It enables the user
to communicate with the network.
Operating and Support System (OSS). It performs the management and administra-
tion functions.
In the NSS the most important element is the Mobile services Switching Center
(MSC). It performs the telephony switching functions of the system. It also controls
calls to and from other telephony and data systems, such as the Public Switched
Fig. 2 GSM architecture.

Telephone Network (PSTN) and other Public Land Mobile Networks by means of the
Gateway Inter-working Unit (GIWU). In this case, the MSC is also named GMSC.
In summary, the MSC is responsible among others for the following functions:
• Setting up and controlling calls;

• Handling speech path continuity of moving subscribers (handover);
• Location updating and location cancelling in the location registers.
The Home Location Register (HLR) is a database that stores and manages customer
subscriptions. It is a logically-centralised function which contains the profiles of all
the customers of the network operator. The customers that are in the influence area
of a MSC are also stored in the Visitor Location Register (VLR). When a user
changes from MSC area the corresponding register in the HLR is updated. The
Equipment Identity Register (EIR) and the Authentication Centre (AUC) contains
respectively information about the customer equipment, that is the mobile terminal,
and security information of the user.
In the BSS, the first element is the mobile station (MS) (our mobile phone). In
fact it is the only part in the mobile network that is really ‘mobile’. The MS is
physically divided into the Terminal Equipment (TE) and the Subscriber Identifica-
tion Module (SIM) which is the smart card the operator gives to the user to become
a customer. The MS is handled by a Base Station (BS) using a radio interface. The
BS contains the radio equipment (transceivers and antennas) needed to serve the
users in its coverage area. The intelligence of this part of the network is provided
by the Base Station Controller (BSC). It performs all radio related functions and is
the BSS’ centre point. It has the following main functions:
• Configuration of the network;

• Administration and remote control of the RBSs;
• Handling connections to MSs.
The last element to be described is the Transcoding and Rate Adaptation Unit
(TRAU). It adapts the transmission speed of the digital voice and data traffic on the
radio path to the standard speed of 64 kbit/s into the network.
Note that this is a simplified architecture and several elements of the complete
system are not described, for example the Short Message Centre, for handling SMSs,
the Intelligent Network Services Centre (IN) or the Billing Gateway (BG) for charg-
ing and accounting purposes.
GSM in operation: description of the process of a call

We distinguish the two different cases of call: outgoing and incoming. In the first
case a subscriber makes a call attempt. In the second one, we analyse the process
of a terminated call. The process of an outgoing call is as follows:6–8
1 Ratio connection: the radio connection between MS and network is estab-
lished, the MS is listening to the system information in the cell.
2 The MS (originating party) indicates that it wants to set up a call. The network
analyses his International Mobile Subscriber Identity number (IMSI).

3 The VLR marks the MS as busy.

4 Location updating: MSC performs properly security functions like location
update, authentication and ciphering.
5 Call initiation: MSC receives a setup message from the MS containing the
kind of service (speech, data, fax) and the destination number (called party).
MSC verifies that the MS has not activated the ‘blocked the outgoing calls’,
then the setup of the call proceeds.
6 The MSC sends a request to the BSC to assign a traffic channel.
7 BSC checks if there is an idle traffic channel, assigns it to the call and tells
the BTS to activate the channel.
8 BTS sends an acknowledgment when the activation is complete to BSC
9 BSC informs the MSC when the assignment is complete.
10 The traffic control subsystem analyses the digits and sets up the connection
to the called subscriber.
11 An alert message is sent to the MS indicating that a ringing tone has been
generated on destination side.
12 When the destination subscriber answers, the network sends a connect
message to the MS indicating that the call is accepted.
13 The MS returns a connect acknowledgment, which completes the call
set-up.
The incoming call process is similar to the previous one, except that the calling party
does not know where the called party is located. The call is routed to the nearest
Gateway MSC in the home PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) of the called
MS.
1 The Gateway MSC analyses the number dialled by the calling part (Mobile
Station Integrated Services Digital Networks number or MSISDN) and finds
out which HLR the destination subscriber is registered in.
2 The Gateway MSC asks the HLR for information so the call can be routed
to the MSC/VLR where the MS is temporary registered. With help of MSISDN
the HLR finds the IMSI and the data record for the subscriber. IMSI is an
identity number for the subscription used in the signalling network.
3 The HLR contacts the VLR asking for the roaming number (MSRN).
4 The HLR forwards the roaming number to the Gateway MSC, then the
Gateway MSC can route the call to the appropriate MSC.
5 The MSC knows which location area the MS is located in and sends a paging
message to the BSCs handling this location area.
6 The BTSs pages the MS using IMSI. The MS sends a request for a signalling
channel (SDCCH) when it detects its identity in the paging message.
7 The MSC performs authentication and starts ciphering. The MSC may send
information to the MS about the services that are requested.
8 The BSC orders the BTS to activate a traffic channel and to release the
SDCCH.
A ringing tone for the calling subscriber is generated in MSC.

GSMSIM: an educational simulation tool for GSM networks

Background, objectives and platform used
As mentioned above, commercial mobile network simulators are usually expensive,
complex and unsuitable as teaching aids. There are few educational tools or
simulators for teaching GSM networks at BS degree level,5 and to the best of our
knowledge, no specific simulation tool for GSM networks.This paper describes the
tool GSMSIM (GSM-SIMULATOR). GSMSIM is based on a discrete-event simu-
lation environment, called OMNeT++, which has been used before for educational
purposes.9
OMNeT++ runs on Linux, other Unix-like systems and Windows (XP, Win2K),
and is a public-source and open-architecture simulation environment. OMNeT++
provides component architecture for models. These components (modules) are pro-
grammed in C++, and then are assembled into larger components and models using
a high-level language (NED). NED files describe the structure of the module (param-
eters and connections to other modules) whereas C++ files implement their behav-
iour (initialisation, message management and store data for possible statistics). Due
to its generic and flexible modular architecture, the simulation kernel and models
can be embedded easily into new applications. The primary application area of
OMNeT++ is the simulation of communication networks.
GSMSIM tool description

The module MS (Mobile Station) simulates typical mobile phones. An ordinary
simulation has several objects of type MS, since they are the most numerous ele-
ments in the GSM network, representing final users. The MS module is one of the
most important of the program, because final users demand most of the operations
of the network. As in the real world, MS is continuously active and running during
the simulation, whether or not there are any calls or the phone is out of coverage.
We explain below four major characteristics of GSMSIM: mobile stations’ move-
ments, updating of location, calls processing and received power measurement.
The position of each MS is defined by three parameters: its coordinates (x,y), the
type of movement defined by a velocity and a direction. The position of phones is
updated one time per second (simulation time, no processing time), so movements
in the program are very similar to real life. You can define a phone which travels
in a car at up to 120 km/h, or a phone at walking pace of 1.5 km/h.
All phones in the simulation network can move inside a limited rectangular
simulation area defined by the points A, B, C and D in Fig. 3. This version of
GSMSIM has two classes of movement: linear and random. A phone which performs
a linear movement follows a defined path MN, where M and N are points on the
limited area. The phone changes direction when it reaches one of these points, so
the user can simulate streets and roads. Note this model is an adaptation of the
Random Waypoint Model.10
Random movement in GSMSIM consists of changing direction continuously. The
new direction is independent of the previous one. This type of movement does not
modify the speed, only the direction. The MS keeps the direction for a prefixed time

Fig. 3 Examples of two type of movements for mobile stations in the simulation area
ABCD: linear on the path MN, random from P to Q.
randomly chosen between 1 and 200 s (configurable by the user). Future versions
will work with other classes of movement, e.g. that of a person walking along dif-
ferent streets in a semi-random movement, with some guides or axis in the simula-
tion area, like in a rectangular mesh.
After the simulation time, the user obtains a map of trajectories of a particular
MS, or a group of them. The results section of this document offers several examples
of phone trajectories.
In the simulation, all the MSs demand services to the network. GSMSIM simulate
calls between two present MSs or call between a present MS and a fictitious MS out
of the simulation area. User configures the occurrence probability of calls between
two MSs in the simulation.
Call generation is modelled by means of a Poisson process with an exponential
function characterised by an average inter-arrival time. GSMSIM also considers an
exponential service time distribution to define call duration. The user configures in
both cases the characteristic parameter of an exponential function: average inter-
arrival time and average service time. In a company atmosphere, common values
for these parameters are 30 min between new calls and 2 min long.
The simulator also considers the call-retry action: in the case that call establish-
ment is not possible, the MS tries again after 30 s. GSMSIM registers the mentioned
parameters to generate a statistical summary: offered traffic, processed traffic,
rejected calls and real duration of calls. These summaries allow the students to study
the quality of service of the network.
Figure 4 shows the call processing for a MS. First, the program selects the BTS
from which the phone receives maximal power. We call this BTSi. Then, the MS
requests a signalling channel to BSC through the AIR module. The AIR module
decides how to route messages between MS, BTS and BSC. The BSC is the respon-
sible module of channel allocation management (assignment, control, supervision,
handover and release). When a message arrives to the BTS module asking for a
dedicated channel, the BTSi consults the BSC. If the response is affirmative then

Check optimum BTS

(maximum power from BTSi)
Signaling channel request

(MS - BSC)
ACK Signaling channel request

(BTSi - MS)
Traffic channel assignment

(BTSi - MS)
Release signaling channel

(BTSi - MS)
Communication
Release traffic channel

(BTSi - MS)
Fig. 4 Call generation process in GSM systems.
BSC assigns a channel between MS and BTSi. When BTSi assigns a traffic channel
to the phone, it releases the signalling channel. The call finishes when one of the
MSs ends the communication or there is any problem in the network. In any of these
cases, BSC releases the channel. GSMSIM operates the location updating for each
mobile phone. This operation updates the register of local user data on VLR, which
stores information about mobile phone positions in the area. The action is usually
executed due to different reasons: the phone has changed position, the device has
been switched on or the operator demands information about the phone state. The
network needs information periodically about the position and status of each phone.

The user of GSMSIM defines the waiting time for the network to ask for an update.
A common value is 2 min.
The MSs need to receive a minimum of power from a BTSi in order to operate
properly. Due to the MSs moving over the simulation area, it is necessary to measure
the received power from the nearest BTS to each MS. This information is essential
both to assign signalling or traffic channels and to decide when a handover is needed
(i.e. a change in the assignment of a BTS to the MS). During the information trans-
fer phase, the MS periodically calculates the received power from the BTSi, and
informs the BSC if a handover is required. The BSC collects the received power
measurements of the six BTSs with more influence over each terminal phone. The
BSC receives these reports through the AIR module. The MS assigned to the BTSi,
initiates a handover when another BTSj transmits with more power than BTSi.
GSMSIM offers power reports for each MS, i.e. the received power for each MS
in the simulation. The AIR module saves this information with a configurable fre-
quency. After simulation, the user can obtain this information on a graphical repre-
sentation that is very helpful to students.
The program estimates the maximum distance from the BTS to the MS. If the MS
is far away from the BTS, it will not detect any signal. Users can configure the
sensitivity of each MS. The following equations let us calculate the attenuation of
power from an antenna (L) when the MS detects a signal from the BTS, where (L0)
corresponds to the attenuation to a distance of 1 m in free space, that is without
obstacles; ( f ) is the frequency; (n) is the loss exponent of value 2.6; and (d) is the
distance in metres. A MS with received power less than or equal to −102 dB m is
out of coverage. GSMSIM establishes as a minimum −102 dB m, so values less than
−102 dB m are considered to be −102 dB m.
The frequency of transmission is a configurable parameter; we use 900 MHz. This
version of GSMSIM considers energy propagation in free space; future versions will
operate in areas with obstacles, as in the real world. Users of GSMSIM can obtain
graphical representations of coverage of the BTSs in the simulation area. The results
section offers several examples of phone trajectories within different coverage
areas.
Simulations using the GSMSIM tool

In this paper we present three simulations, corresponding to two scenarios of differ-
ent complexity, with different areas, number of BTSs and MSs. The simulation time
for all of them is 36 000 s, (a busy hour). The simulation area is always a rectangu-
lar area of dimensions NxM.
Scenario 1: a city centre with total coverage

Table 1 summarises its main characteristics. The configuration file ‘omnetpp.ini’ is
also helpful to describe this scenario and simulation results. We present an extract
of this file in Table 2. The simulation is one hour long (line 1 of Table 2). The area
under study is a perfect square of sides one kilometre long (lines 2, 3 of Table 2).
There is a single BTS situated in the centre (lines 4, 32, 33 of Table 2), which

TABLE 1 General characteristics of Scenario 1

Simulation area: 1 km (1000 m × 1000 m)
2
Number of MS: 50 mobile stations

30 MS with linear trajectories
20 MS with random trajectories: change direction after lifetime (random between 0 to 200 s)
Speed of MS: (minimal 0.0 m/s) (maximum 7.1 m/s) (average 1.7 m/s)
Power measurements: one measure per second
MSISDN : 6009000xx, where xx is the MS number (from 0 to 49)
Number of MSC: 1
Number of BTS: 1
Transmission power of BTS: 4 dB m
Position of the BTS: the simulation area has permanent coverage of the BTS.
Number of traffic channels of the BTS: 14
Calls processing in MS:
Exponential function with inter-arrival time of 10 min
Exponential service time distribution (duration of calls) with average service time of 2 min
Probability of intra-MSC calls: 0% (every MS calls always to another MS out of the simulation, that is
assigned to a fictitious MSC not present in the simulation)
manages the total area. The transmitted power attenuation of 4 dB m (line 36) cor-
responds to a circumference of radius 731 m (see Fig. 5).
This scenario includes 50 MSs moving inside the zone of study (line 5 of
Table 2), 30 of which have linear trajectories and 20 have random ones. In Table 2,
linear trajectories are characterised by ‘pathType = 0’; random paths are categorised
by ‘pathType = 1’. The program assigns a unique MSISDN to every MS, which
follows the format 6009000xx, where xx is the identifier of each MS in the simula-
tion. This scenario is quite simple, but contains enough GSM parameters to obtain
several conclusions. The configuration file also collects information about the initial
position and speed of each MS. Remember that not all MSs have the same speed.
Figure 5 shows the paths of 50 MSs during a busy hour on the simulation area. A
zoom of the area under study is displayed on the right-hand side of the figure.
Figure 6 illustrates the paths of several MSs as example: MS(0), MS(4), MS(5)
and MS(7), which correspond to MSISDN´s numbers 600900000, 600900004,
600900005 and 600900007.
Figure 6 also shows the received power attenuation of these MSs during a busy
hour simulation. At the top, the figure presents the case of 2 MSs with linear trajec-
tories MS(0), and MS(7) (lines 16, 31 in Table 2). The case of MS(4) and MS(5)
are shown at the bottom. Note that these two MSs have random trajectories (lines
21, 26 in Table 2). It is interesting to see that MSs following linear trajectories
generate regular graphics of power attenuation that present symmetries, whereas
MSs with random movements have no regular representations of power attenuation.
It can be seen in Fig. 6 that the MS(0) follows the diagonal of the square through
the centre. The path corresponds in Table 2 to lines 12 and 13 for coordinates of
initial point (0; 0), line 15 to direction and line 16 to the linear trajectory. The single
BTS is also positioned on the centre. Over this point, (500; 500) of the simulation
area, the MS has an attenuation which fits with the maximal in the graphic

TABLE 2 Configuration file of Scenario 1

[1] sim-time-limit = 3600s
[2] gsmsim.xwidth = 1000;
[3] gsmsim.ydepth = 1000;
[4] gsmsim.number_bts = 1;
[5] gsmsim.number_ms = 50;
[6] gsmsim.param_n = 2.6;
[7] gsmsim.prob_intra_msc_call = 0;
[8] gsmsim.delay_pwr_meas = 1.0;
[9] gsmsim.time_lureq = 1.0;
[10] gsmsim.call_length_mean = 120.0;
[11] gsmsim.call_interarrival_mean= 600.0;
[12] gsmsim.ms[0].xc = 0;
[13] gsmsim.ms[0].yc = 0;
[14] gsmsim.ms[0].vmod = 2;
[15] gsmsim.ms[0].angle = 45;
[16] gsmsim.ms[0].pathType = 0;
[17] gsmsim.ms[4].xc = 400;
[18] gsmsim.ms[4].yc = 950;
[19] gsmsim.ms[4].vmod = 1.7;
[20] gsmsim.ms[4].angle = 71.5;
[22] gsmsim.ms[5].xc = 550;
[23] gsmsim.ms[5].yc = 550;
[27] gsmsim.ms[7].xc = 570;
[28] gsmsim.ms[7].yc = 570;
[32] gsmsim.bts[0].xc = 500;
[33] gsmsim.bts[0].yc = 500;
[34] gsmsim.bts[0].numTCH = 14;
[35] gsmsim.bts[0].numSDCCH = 12;
[36] gsmsim.bts[0].dBm = 4.
(−31.4482 dB m). These values do not fit exactly because values on figures corre-
spond to experimental ones, sampling every second in the simulation. Note also that
the number of maxima or minima on the graphic for MS(0) and MS(7) depends only
on the speed of the MS. In simulation, MS(0) moves to 2 m/s beginning from coor-
dinates (0; 0), (lines 12–16 in Table 2), that match up with a minimum of received
power. MS(7) speed is 1.14 m/s and starts from coordinates (570; 570), which coin-
cides with a maximum at t = 0 s.
Figure 7 shows the number of traffic channels assigned during a busy hour simu-
lation (left-hand picture). Due to the BTS having 14 traffic channels to serve the
communication demand (line 34 in Table 2), the number of busy traffic channels is
always less than or equal to 14. When the BTS has the 14 traffic channels assigned,

Fig. 5 Simulation area, including the trajectories of the MSs in Scenario 1.

Simulation area zoom.
congestion in calls is produced. During congestion, any new call attempts will
be rejected. The graphic on the right of Fig. 7 registers the number of blocked calls
(8 during the busy hour), successful calls (231) and total demand (239 call attempts).
The calls generation process is a Poisson process with average generating calls rate
of 6 calls per hour, that is an average inter-arrival time of 10 min or 600 s as seen
from line 11 in Table 2. The service time distribution is exponential with average
service time established in 2 min (120 s, line 10 in Table 2). Scenario 1 considers
that all calls are out-MSC, i.e. every MS in the simulation area is calling to a ficti-
tious MS depending on another MSC not present in the simulation area, (line 7 in
Table 2).
Figure 8(a) shows the call duration of each MS during the simulation. The service
time distribution is a random exponential distribution11 as can be seen in Fig. 8(b):
The following equations characterise the probability distribution of service time,
where τ represents the permanence time in a particular state, in our case, it means
that the call finishes after τ seconds. The parameter μ represents the average service
rate, which in the simulation is 0.5 calls/min (120−1 calls/s).
Figure 8(b) represents the expression with values of the simulation in Scenario 1.
Note that, they are experimentally obtained values, not theoretic. The probability of
a call length longer than 2 minutes is mathematically, that is 36.79%, whereas the
43.29% of calls in the simulation had durations longer than 2 minutes. With the
experimental value of average call length, this probability is nearer to, getting
38.96%. We confirm in this way that, the service time distribution valid as expo-
nential one. Figure 8(c) shows the number of calls for each MS processed during

Fig. 6 Examples of four MS in Scenario 1: (Above) two MS with linear trajectories;

(Below) two MS with random trajectories; (Left) Received power in MS;
(Right) trajectories of the mobile stations.
the simulation. This analysis helps us to check the demand per customer. We observe
for example that the MS identified by number 5 does not realize any call during the
simulation.
Scenario 2: a medium city, with good coverage characteristics,

but with small areas without service
This scenario has several idle BTSs, so it is more realistic than the first one. Students
can analyse new parameters as handover or failed calls due to MSs receive less
power than necessary. Table 3 summarises the main characteristics of Scenario 2.
Table 4 is an extract of the configuration file ‘omnetpp.ini’. The first line in this
file establishes the simulation length. As in Scenario 1, it is a busy hour. The area
simulation of Scenario 2 is larger than the first scenario, lines 2 and 3 of Table 4
assigns 2 kilometres long to both sides of the square area. Some parameters are
similar in both scenarios, as number of MSs. Users can configure the initial position,

Fig. 7 Number of channels assigned during the simulation of Scenario 1.
Fig. 8 Successful calls during a busy hour in Scenario 1: (a) Duration of

successful calls per MS; (b) Probability distribution of call duration; (c) Number of
calls generated per MS.


Simulation area: 4 km (2000 m × 2000 m)
2
Number of MS: 50 mobile stations

30 MS with linear trajectories
20 MS with random trajectories: change direction after lifetime (random between 0 to 200 s)
Speed of MS: (minimal 0.0 m/s) (maximum 7.1 m/s) (average 1.7 m/s)
Power measurements: one measure per second
MSISDN: 6009000xx, where xx is the MS number (from 0 to 49)
Number of MSC: 1
Number of BTS: 3
Transmission power of BTS: 7 dB m
Position of the BTS: there is a small area without coverage of the BTSs.
Number of traffic channels of the BTS: 7
Calls processing in MS:
Exponential function with inter-arrival time of 10 min
Exponential service time distribution (duration of calls) with average service time of 3 min (180 s)
Probability of intra-MSC calls: 33% (probability that a call generated in the current MSC has as
destination another MS located in the same MSC)
speed and kind of trajectory of every MS. Lines 9–23 on Table 4 shows this infor-
mation only for the MS´s: MS(0), MS(9) and MS(33), which correspond to MSISDNs
600900000, 600900009 and 600900033. We select the third one to analyse later the
received power during the simulation.
In this case, the simulation is on a network with a single MSC; however, the
program can simulate calls between MSs within the simulation and other MSs which
depends on a MSC out of the simulation area. Scenario 1 worked only with calls
from a MS to a fictitious MS connecting to another MSC, but Scenario 2 considers
calls between MSs present in the area, and so depending of the current MSC. Line
6 of Table 4 assigns the probability of 33% of intra-MSC calls.
Lines 7 and 8 of the table indicate average rates of service time and call generat-
ing distributions. The average service time call is now 3 minutes and the calls
generating process of each MS is an exponential distribution of average rate of 1/600
calls per second, that means call attempts every 10 min.
Line 4 informs us that we consider three BTSs in the simulation. We have defined
these three BTSs to be equivalent, (see lines 24–38 of Table 4). The most significant
BTS characteristics are 7 traffic channels and a transmission power of 7 dB m.
Figure 9 shows the simulation area limited by white lines and the BTSs coverage
in red, blue and green colours. BTS distribution consists of two BTSs in the North
of the area (BTS(0) and BTS(1)) and the third one in the South (BTS(2)). This figure
also includes the whole trajectories of the MSs during the simulation. We observe
that in this case there are MSs moving in zones without coverage. Any call attempt
on those positions will fail.
Figure 10 shows three examples of MS with different trajectories: MS(0), MS(9)
with linear trajectories and MS(33) with random one. On the left hand side of the
figure, the received power from each MS during its route is displayed. Students can
match fixed points on graphs, for example minimal or maximal points of received


[1] sim-time-limit = 3600s
[2] gsmsim.xwidth = 2000;
[3] gsmsim.ydepth = 2000;
[4] gsmsim.number_bts = 3;
[5] gsmsim.number_ms = 50;
[6] gsmsim.prob_intra_msc_call = 33;
[7] gsmsim.call_length_mean = 180.0;
[8] gsmsim.call_interarrival_mean = 600;
[9] gsmsim.ms[0].xc = 0;
[10] gsmsim.ms[0].yc = 0;
[14] gsmsim.ms[9].xc = 880;
[15] gsmsim.ms[9].yc = 980;
[19] gsmsim.ms[33].xc = 1400;
[20] gsmsim.ms[33].yc = 1200;
[21] gsmsim.ms[33].vmod = 4.42;
[24] gsmsim.bts[0].xc = 500;
[25] gsmsim.bts[0].yc = 1500;
[28] gsmsim.bts[0].dBm = 7;
[29] gsmsim.bts[1].xc = 1500;
[30] gsmsim.bts[1].yc = 1500;
[34] gsmsim.bts[2].xc = 1000;
[35] gsmsim.bts[2].yc = 666;
power from the MS. These correspond to points on the route with minimal and
maximal coverage on the simulation area. The number of maximal and minimal
values of received power depends on the speed of the MS in the simulation.
Students can observe handovers in this simulation. At beginning of a call, the MS
is assigned a traffic channel in the BTS which reaches the MS with the largest power.
After a time, it is possible that another BTS covers the MS with a larger power. The
network realises a handover when the difference in power exceeds a given threshold.
GSMSIM has configured this threshold to be 9 dB (see, e.g., Fig. 10(a)). Another
interesting point of this simulation are the zones without coverage. When the received
power from a BTS is less or equal than −102 dB m, GSMSIM considers that the MS

Fig. 9 Simulation area in Scenario 2: coverage of three BTSs and the trajectories of the
mobile stations during a busy hour simulation.
is out of coverage. In this simulation the trajectory of case (a) has a segment without
coverage. As can be seen on the right figure, the route ends to the south, out of any
influence of the BTS. The MS trajectory crosses this part twice during the simula-
tion: at the beginning and in the interval [2188–2354] s. Any attempt to call during
intervals will fail because the received power from any BTS is lower than −102 dB m.
In the case of Fig. 10(b), the corresponding MS has good coverage all along its
trajectory, and there is always a BTS transmitting more power than the minimal
required. The trajectory in the case of MS corresponding to Fig. 10(c) also has one
part without coverage to the southwest of the area. During the simulation, this MS
travels across this part of the area around 3300 s, as can be seen on power curves
on the figure.
Figure 11 presents the traffic channels assignation for the three BTSs considered
in this simulation. This figure also contains a table with the average number of busy
channels per BTS, and the standard deviation. These values are useful to study the
resource utilisation and resizing of the network. As an example in the figure, the
three BTSs have similar average utilisation grades, from 2 to 3 traffic channels.
However BTS(0) has a regular utilisation during the whole simulation whereas the
two others stay totally idle for a long time (20 min approx.). Due to the similar
average utilisation grade of three, that means that in the first 40 min both BTSs have
a bigger load than BTS(0). In this way, the blocking probability is bigger in BTS(1)
and BTS(2), as you can see on the left graph of Fig. 12, which summarises the total
blocked/successful calls per BTS in the simulation.

Fig. 10 Examples of MS in Scenario 2: (left) received power of each MS from the three
BTSs; (right) trajectories of every MS in the area during a busy hour simulation showing
BTS coverage; (a) MS with identifier 0, which has a linear trajectory; (b) MS with
identifier 9, which has a linear trajectory; (c) MS with identifier 33, which has a random
trajectory.

Fig. 11 BTS traffic channel assigment during the simulation in Scenario 2.

Fig. 12 (Left) percentage of successful and failed handovers for each BTS; (right)
percentage of successful and blocked calls per BTS during the simulation.
Considering the BSC of the scenario, the blocked calls during the busy hour
simulation reach the 13.6% (30 blocked calls and 190 successful calls). Possible
solutions to decrease this high percentage may be:
• Review the conditions for a handover;

• Check the traffic channel assignation algorithm for call attempts. If the BTS with
more influence (power transmission) over a MS has any idle traffic channel, then
exanimate the second BTS with more influence;
Finally, the right part of the Figure shows the number of handovers for every BTS
and globally for the BSC. The BSC begins 14 handover during the simulation, 3 of
which fail. It would be necessary to evaluate reasons for the very high percentage
of failed handover operations (21%).
Educational aspects of the simulations performed

The two scenarios above were proposed to the students as part of their laboratory
work. In Scenario 1, students can determine the coverage radius of a BTS by means
of the received power equation. They can also compare the trajectory of a MS
and the received power during time simulation. GSMSIM allows students to analyse
the utilisation factor of a BTS, checking the number of assigned traffic channels
at any time. This issue is very useful for identifying inefficiencies in the network
and candidate points for future capacity increases. In this scenario, students can
also understand the grade of service of the network, calculating the number of
successful/failed calls and the blocking probability or time congestion. Finally,
students can check that the service times of calls follow a random exponential
distribution, obtaining the service times of calls and determining the probability of
a call finishing after t s.
Scenario 2 introduces different concepts of a GSM network, such as areas out of
coverage and successful/failed handover operations. As there are several BTSs, it is
possible to determine which BTS is transmitting with the largest power on a MS in
a given moment. Students can associate time intervals in the simulation with the
route-path where a specific MS goes through a zone out of coverage. In those posi-
tions, the call process is interrupted or any call attempt will fail.
Our experience using the simulator in the laboratory is positive. The students
highlight the interesting graphical possibilities of GSMSIM as its most appealing

characteristic. Most students on the courses agree that the laboratory using GSMSIM
has helped them to improve their understanding of the GSM system.
Conclusions
In this paper we have presented a simulation-based tool (GSMSIM) to teach GSM
mobile communications in the laboratory. The tool provides a good starting point
for students to familiarise themselves with the GSM system. GSMSIM is pro-
grammed in OMNeT++, and has been used to teach several important aspects of the
GSM system, such as channel assignment, power received by the mobile station,
handovers, and percentages of calls blocked, in different scenarios simulating a
small, medium and large city. Since GSMSIM can be easily programmed using C++,
the students can simulate their own scenario, and obtain interesting results by
modifying the number of base stations, mobile stations or other parameters.
References
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GSM radio interface Simulation’, IEEE Trans. Educ., 49(1) (2006), 61–66.
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GSMSIM: An Educational Simulation Tool For Teaching GSM-based Mobile Communications in Laboratory Lectures

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GSMSIM: An Educational Simulation Tool For Teaching GSM-based Mobile Communications in Laboratory Lectures

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GSMSIM: an educational simulation tool

for teaching GSM-based mobile

Keywords discrete-even simulation; GSM system; laboratory lectures; mobile communications

Fig. 1 Evolution of mobile, fixed and internet users 1993–2003.

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GSM: history and architecture

• Commission of the Group Special Mobile, (1982);

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GSM system architecture

Fig. 2 GSM architecture.

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• Setting up and controlling calls;

• Configuration of the network;

GSM in operation: description of the process of a call

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3 The VLR marks the MS as busy.

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GSMSIM: an educational simulation tool for GSM networks

GSMSIM tool description

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Check optimum BTS

Signaling channel request

ACK Signaling channel request

Traffic channel assignment

Release signaling channel

Release traffic channel

Fig. 4 Call generation process in GSM systems.

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Simulations using the GSMSIM tool

Scenario 1: a city centre with total coverage

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TABLE 1 General characteristics of Scenario 1

Number of MS: 50 mobile stations

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TABLE 2 Configuration file of Scenario 1

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Fig. 5 Simulation area, including the trajectories of the MSs in Scenario 1.

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Fig. 6 Examples of four MS in Scenario 1: (Above) two MS with linear trajectories;

Scenario 2: a medium city, with good coverage characteristics,

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Fig. 7 Number of channels assigned during the simulation of Scenario 1.

Fig. 8 Successful calls during a busy hour in Scenario 1: (a) Duration of

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TABLE 3 General characteristics of Scenario 2

Number of MS: 50 mobile stations

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