First and Second Generation

Justin Champion Room C208 - Tel: 3273

www.staffs.ac.uk/personel/engineering_and_technology/jjc1

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Contents
Start

of mobile devices TACS GSM Technlogy

PCS 1G to 2G technology

History
Earliest

Wireless Communications was Morse Code Then came radio Now we are able to carry our personal radios in the form of mobile devices First Generation mobile devices

Based on Analogue communications First started in the UK in Jan 1985, with BT Cellnet & Vodafone

Transmission in the UK and Italy was called Total Access Cellular System (TACS) and was based on an American design (AMPS) Germany adopted C-Net France adopted Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT)

PCS 1G to 2G technology

TACS
Operated

in the 900 MHz range Works by the use of multiplex the traffic by the use of Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
The signal from these devices was not secure Anyone could listen into them, remember the Squidgy Tapes?

PCS 1G to 2G technology

FDMA
Breaks

up the available frequency into 30 KHz channels

Allocates a single channel to each phone call The channel is agreed with the Base station before transmission takes place on agreed and reserved channel The device can then transmit and receive on this channel

No other device can share this channel even if the person is not talking at the time!

The voice/sound is transmitted as analogue data, which means that a large than required channel has to be allocated.

PCS 1G to 2G technology

FDMA

Frequency

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Second Generation (2G) Technology

Mobile

phones became popular and requirements changed

Users wanted more from the phones
The frequency for the phones to use was limited and better use of this frequency was required Guarantee that a call was possible when needed Privacy was needed as the phones may be used for business or personal conversations. The phones needed to be smaller for ease of carrying Improved battery life

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

1982

the European Commission requested that 900 MHz be reserved for the use of GSM
Before the use of TACS and NMT !!!!

1989

ETSI defined the standard which was GSM

Originally called Groupe Spciale Mobile later changed to English

PCS 1G to 2G technology

GSM Operates
Using Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) This allow the frequency to be broken up into slots

The frequencies used are GSM 900 , GSM 1800 and GSM 1900 Separate frequencies are used for the uplink and downlink 890-915MHz uplink, 935-960MHz downlink for example 200KHz spacing on the frequency 124 channels per frequency band For GSM each slice is 0.577 ms

These slots are then divided into time slices

This means that there is eight times the capacity as before in one part of the frequency

PCS 1G to 2G technology

TDMA
Frequency

Time

Frequencies 890 MHz - 960 MHz Europe 1710 1880 MHz - Europe 1850 MHz 1950 MHz - America

PCS 1G to 2G technology

GSM Operates
Using

Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA)

This allow the frequency to be broken up into slots These slots are then divided into time slices

For GSM each slice is 0.577 ms

To allow this to happen all voice communications needs to be converted to binary Synchronisation is required for the use of TDMA

GSM System Multiple Access

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Guard Time: Interval between bursts used to avoid overlapping Preamble: First part of the burst Message: Part of burst that includes user data Postamble: Last part of burst used to initialise following burst
Multiframe Frame 1 Frame N

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot i

Slot 8

..

Slot 1

Slot 8

Slot
Guard Time Preamble Message Postamble Guard Time

PCS 1G to 2G technology

GSM Operates
Using

Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) The voice is sampled using a ADC
8KHz / second, with an 8 bit result

PCS 1G to 2G technology

GSM Features
Uses encryption to make phone calls more secure Data networking Group III facsimile services 9600 bps transmission speed Short Message Service (SMS) for text messages and

paging Call forwarding Caller ID Call waiting Multi-party conferencing

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card

Essential Contains

for the GSM network

Subscriber Authentication key

128 bit encryption key

International Mobile Subscriber Identity Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity Mobile Station International Service Digital Network PIN to secure the card SMS messages Personal data, phone numbers, Phone settings etc

PCS 1G to 2G technology

SIM continued
Each one is unique e-commerce

Purchasing items from your phone, with certainty that your device bought the item This is used to authenticate your device A random number is sent The A3/A8 algorithm then works on the number and returns a 32bit response. If this matches the one which the network has calculated the device is authenticated

Authentication encryption is used called the A3/A8

A5 Encryption is used for the voice calls Virgin Cola, has a vending machine where you pay via the phone

(news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/986334.stm, 2000)

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Short Message Service (SMS)

Also

known as Simple message service ETSI standard for SMS is detailed in GSM 03.40 Intended to allow user to replace pagers with GSM devices Allows the transmission of 160 Characters 7 bit characters using a western alphabet

The character numbers are reduce for other alphabets

Extremely successful This was never expected or planned for 1985 Vodafone in the UK was the first use of the system

PCS 1G to 2G technology

SMS Continued
Transfers

the SMS message in a single packet

Octet = 8 Bytes

SCA PDU Type VP

Service Centre Address Protocol Data Unit Type Validity Period

MR DA UDL

Message Reference Destination Address User Data Length

PID DCS UD

Protocol Identifier Data Coding Scheme User Data

PCS 1G to 2G technology

SMS Continued
Example

SMS transmission packet saying Hallo World

018011000A8143372890550000A70BC82093F9045D9F522611
(www.spallared.com/nokia/smspdu/smspdu.htm#_Toc485435709, 2003)

SMSC = Short Message Service Centre HLR = Home Location Register

Base Station

GSM SMS Infrastructure

SMSC

Base Station

HLR

PCS 1G to 2G technology

SMS Continued
SMS

is not delay sensitive

It is best effort to deliver the message The HLR for the device is requested to see if it is turned on If the device is turned off the SMSC will store the message for a period of time

This time can be defined in the PDU in the VP section or more commonly the SMSC has a defined period to store messages for.

When the device is turned on again the HLR is informed and this then requests the SMS message from the SMSC

GSM System Location Management

GSM consists of three major systems:

The Switching System (SS) Base-station System (BSS) Operation and Support System (OSS)

The Switching System performs call processing and subscriber related functions The system contains the following functional units

Home Location Register (HLR) Mobile Switching Center (MSC) Visitor Location Register (VLR) Authentication Center (AUC) Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

GSM System Location Management

HLR is the most important database

Storage and management of subscriptions Permanent data includes:

Subscriberss service profile Subscriberss location information Subscribers activity status

Subscribing to a particular providers service registers you in the HLR of that provider

The MSC performs the telephony switching functions of the network

Controlls call to and from other telephone and data systems Also performs functions such as

Toll ticketing Network interfacing Common Channel signalling

GSM System Location Management

VLR contains data on visiting (roaming) subscribers

Integrated with the MSC When a roamer enters the service area the VLR queries the appropriate HLR If a roamer makes a call the VLR will already have the information it needs for call setup

The AUC verifies the identity of the user and ensures and ensures the confidentiality of each call

By provide authenticity and encryption parameters for every call Protects network operators from fraud Assures a certain level of security for the content of each call

The EIR is a database that includes info solely about the identity mobile equipment

Prevents calls from stolen, unauthorised or defective mobile devices

PCS 1G to 2G technology

GSM Infrastructure

The specifications created by ETSI do not require any of the following infrastructure but recommends it !

All mobile operators have it

MSC

VLR

HLR

VLR

MSC

MSC Mobile Switching Center VLR Visitor Location Register HLR Home Location Register

PCS 1G to 2G technology

Summary
1G

Communications 2G GSM Communications

Physical Transmissions SMS Messages GSM Infrastructure