GSM,GPRS,UMTS,HSDPA and

HSUPA Protocols and Call

flow
By
Kiran Koona

Overview
1.
2.
3.
4.

GSM Protocols and Call flow

GPRS Protocols and Call flow
UMTS Protocols and Call flow
HSDPA and HSUPA Protocols.

GSM

GSM ArchitectureInterfaces

3-Layer Model

Layer 1 Protocol
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
G.703 ITU PCM frame structure
MTP Message Transfer Part

Layer 2 Protocols
LAPDm Link Access Protocol Dchannel-mobile
LAPD Link Access Protocol D-Channel
Layer 3 Protocols
RR Radio Resource Management
MM Mobility Management
CM Connection management
BTSM Base Transceiver Station
Management
SCCP Signalling Connection Control Part
BSSMAP Base Station Subsystem
MAP-Mobile Application Part
DTAP Direct Transfer Application Part
TUP , ISUP

Physical Layer
Txn of bits
2.
Error detection and Correction
3.
Interleaving
4.
Burst Formating
5.
Measurements
6.
Power Control
7.
Modulation and Demodulation
BTS-BSC: 64Kbps
BSC-MSC:2Mbps (32*64Kbps)
1.

Physical Layer

Interfaces with Physical

Layer

Layer-2: LAPDm and LAPD

1.
2.
3.
4.

Flow control
Sequence Numbering
Duplicate detection
Frame formatting

Layer-3: RRM
Protocols: RR, RSM, BSSAP.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.

Cell selection and Reselection Control

Handover procedure
Establishing , maintaining, monitoring and releasing the channels
Monitoring and forwarding of radio connections
Introduction of encryption
Change in transmission mode ,Channel coding depending on
channel conditions Advise L1 and L2
MS level measurement commands control
Frequency redefinition Downlink Freq hopping
Broadcasting System Information Downlink
Paging

RRM Messages

Layer-3:MM
Protocols : DTAP,MAP.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Authentication request/response
Ciphering Information/Commands from MSC
Abort from MSC Auth Failure
Normal location Updating request/response
Periodic location update
TMSI Reallocation Procedure
IMSI attach/detach
IMEI request/response

MM Messages

Layer-3:CM
1.
2.
3.

Call control (CC) - manages call connections,

Supplementary service support (SS) - handles special services
Short message service support (SMS) - transfers brief texts.

CC:
Mobile-originating call establishment Setup message
Mobile-terminating call establishment Paging
Call clearing initiated by the network
Call clearing initiated by the Mobile
DTMF
SS:
Call Forwarding
Call waiting ,Call Hold and Conference
Multi Call
CLIP,CLIR ,COLP and COLR
SMS:

CM Messages

SS 7
To provide General purpose Signaling system to be
used globally.
CCS , Out of Band
ITU-T Q.700 series.
Elements: SSP,STP and SCP.
Access Links: A to F
Analogy: MTP3 IP and SCCPTCP
SCCP: GTT, Ext MTP (Supports CL or CO)
Message Discrimination & distribution
TCAP: Query and Response (CL or CO )
MTP 3: Routing within SPC

SS 7 Architecture
SSP, STP and SCP

SS 7 Logical Network

MAP
MAP messages are carried by TCAP when dealing with Database centre.
MAP Sessions: Open, Close. Message Types: Request, Response, Notification and
Confirmation.

GTT

GSM Call flow

GSM Logical Channels

IMSI Attach

Location Update

Authentication and
Ciphering

Identity (IMSI) checking

Call Origination

2929

Call Clearing

IMSI Detach

MSRN Usage
Our HLR Knows where our Customer is,
Only our GMSC can inquire our HLR

GPRS

GPRS ArchitectureInterfaces

GPRS Protocol Stack

Packet Fragmentation

MAC
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.

MAC arbitrates access to the shared medium between

multiple MSs and GPRS network.
Uplink: Managing limited resourcesSlotted Aloha
Downlink: Queuing and Scheduling of access attempts.
Priority handling between data flows of one UE
Priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic
schedulingDownlink
Channel mapping
Traffic Volume monitoring

RLC
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

SAR
Concatenation
Padding
Error Correction---CRC, ARQ (For AM)
In-Sequence delivery of SDUs
Duplicate detection
Flow control
Sequence number check---UM
Suspend/resume functionality
SDU discard

LLC
Provide a reliable logical link between MS and SGSN.
LLC messages are transparent to RAN.
Transmission in Asynchronous Disconnected Mode and
Asynchronous Balanced Mode
Ciphering.
Transfer of PDUs of Higher Layers
C-Plane: attach, authentication and PDP activation
U-Plane: carry actual data.
Can be AM or UM

SNDCP

Transparent over BSS. Used only in U-Plane

multiplexing of PDPs. Can be AM or UM
compression of user data (including IP header compression) RFC
1154 & 2507
segmentation of data packets to be passed to the LLC layer .

Frame Relay
Meshed N/W
Frame Relay

Frame Relay
Speed up to 2 Mbps.
Simple.
Superseded by ATM

BSSGP
Transport both control and User data.
Provide the required QoS.
One-to-one mapping of BSSGP between SGSN and
BSS.

BSSGP Data Frames

GTP
1.
2.
3.

GTP-U and GTP-C.

Uses TCP for Reliable link
Uses UDP for non-Reliable link

IP, TCP and UDP

IP: IPv4 or IPv6. Datagram Service. Class full or Class
less Addressing.
TCP: Connection Oriented.
Ack ARQ. Sequence Number Checking.
Three-way handshake. Point-to-Point Add
Flow Control and Congestion Control.
UDP: Connection less.
Used for Delay Sensitive applications.
Supports Multicast Addressing.

GPRS Callflow

GPRS Logical Channels

GPRS Attach

PDP Context Activation

PDP

Data Transfer from MS

Data Transfer to MS

Web Access in GPRS

PDP Context Deactivation

Security

GPRS Detach

UMTS

Architecture-Interfaces

R99 Protocol Stack

Access Stratum

MAC
Logical to Transport Conversion
Mac-b located at Node-B
Mac-c/sh and Mac-d are at SRNC.

MAC functionalities
1.
2.

3.
4.

5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.

Mapping between logical channels and transport channels

Selection of appropriate TF (from the TFCS) for each Transport
Channel, depending on the instantaneous source rate
Priority handling between data flows of one UE
Priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling
Downlink
Identification of UEs on common transport channels
Multiplexing/demultiplexing of higher layer protocol data units
(PDUs)
Traffic volume monitoringDown link
Dynamic Transport Channel type switching
CipheringRLC (TM)
Access Service Class (ASC) selection for RACH transmission

RLC
1.

2.

3.

Transparent mode (Tr) , Unacknowledged Mode (UM) or

Acknowledged Mode (AM)
Tr and UM RLC entities are defined to be unidirectional, whereas the
AM-mode entities are described as bidirectional
TrVoice Call Video Call, UMVOIP, Streaming

RLC functionalities
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

11.

Segmentation and reassembly

Concatenation
Padding
Transfer of user data
Error correction----ARQ
In-sequence delivery of higher layer PDUs
Duplicate detection
Flow control
SN check (unacknowledged data transfer mode).
Ciphering is performed in the RLC layer for acknowledged and
unacknowledged modes.
Suspend/resume function for data transfer

RLC Dataflow

RRC
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.

Broadcast of system information

Paging and notification
Initial cell selection and reselection
Establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC
connection
Establishment and release of Radio bearers
Control of ciphering
Integrity protection of signalling messages
UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting
RRC connection mobility functions
Support of SRNS relocation
Support for downlink outer loop power control in the UE
Open-loop power control
CBS-related functions (BMC)
Handovers---preparation and execution
Control of requested QoS
Routing of Higher layer PDUs (Direct transfer)
MBMS control

RRC States

BMC
BMC: Broadcast/Multicast Control Protocol
SMS-CB service
1.
2.

3.
4.

Storage of CB
Traffic volume monitoring and radio resource request for
CBS
Scheduling of BMC messages
Transmission of BMC messages to UE

PDCP
PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol
1.
2.

3.

4.

PS Domain
PDCP contains compression methods, which are needed to get
better spectral efficiency over radio interface.
IP Packet header compression. Eg: 40 bytes for IPv4 and at least
60 bytes for IPv6. (RFC 2507)
Transfer of user data

Non Access Stratum

Protocol Interworking
architecture
Transport
: Carry Signaling and User data.
Radio N/W : Establish, maintain and Release RB.
System: Create Communication with Core network.

Transport Network
protocols

Radio network protocols

System network protocols

UMTS Call flow

R99 Channels

Basic Model of Network

transactions

RRC Connection Setup

RRC Connection CCCH (By passing Node-B)

Paging
Paging Type 1 through PCCH
Paging Type-2 through DCCH
RRC Connection CCCH

Authentication and Security

Control

DCCH Channel and MM messages

Transaction setup and RAB

allocation (CS)
Setup : DCCH Call Proceeding: DTCH

Transaction setup and RAB

allocation (PS)

Transaction Clearing with RAB

release

RRC Connection release

LU in CS domain

RU in PS domain

HSDPA and HSUPA

R99 RRM Architecture

HSDPA and HSUPA RRM

Architecture

New Functionalities

HSDPA and HSUPA Channels

R99 Protocol Stack

HSPA Protocol stack

HSDPA Protocol Stack

HSDPA user plane Protocol

Architecture

Fast Node-B Scheduling

H-ARQ ,Incremental Redundancy

Soft Buffer at Node-B and UE
Retransmission at N/W borders No Soft
Handover

HSUPA Protocol Stack

HSUPA user plane protocol

Mac-es/e : UplinkArchitecture
Scheduling
Mac-e: Hybrid ARQ , Buffer
Mac-es : In-sequence delivery (Soft Handover)
RLC re transmissions may take place if Physical
layer re transmissions is exceeded initiated by RNC.

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

3G TS 25.321, MAC Protocol Specification.

3G TS 25.322, RLC Protocol Specification.
3G TS 25.323, PDCP Protocol Specification
3G TS 25.331, RRC Protocol Specification
3G TS 25.324, Broadcast/Multicast Control Protocol (BMC)
Specification
3G TS 25.302, Services Provided by the Physical Layer
3GPP TS 25.331 RRC specification
3GPP TS 25.413 RANAP
3GPP TS 25.423 RANSAP
3GPP TS 25.433 NBAP
GSM.System.Engineering.-.Artech BOOK, by Asha Mehrotra.
GPRS BOOK-MC-HIL by R.J. Bates.
WCDM for UMTS-Wiley H.Holma and A.Toskala
SS7 MC-HILL by Travel Russel

Datagram

Virtual Circuit