GSM Network

Components
GSM Network components
 The Mobile Station (MS)
 It consists of mobile phones, faxes, etc
 The Base Station (BS)
 This part of the network provide the interface between MS and
the land-based switching equipment.
 The network switching system
 This consists of the Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC)
and its associated system control databases.
 It is the part of the network that connects the GSM network and
the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
 The Operation and Maintenance
 This enables the network provider to configure and maintain the
network from a central location.
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Base Station Subsystem (BSS) H G

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EIR HLR VLR OMC

F C B
BTS other BSSs
A-bis Mobile
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BSC Switching
BTS
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BTS
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MS other MSCs

BTS: Base Transceiver Station

BSC: Base Station Controller
HLR: Home Location Register
VLR: Visited Location Register
OMC: Operation & Maintenance Centre
EIR: Equipment Identity Register
AUC: Authentication Centre
The Mobile Station
 The mobile station consists of two parts
 Mobile Equipment (ME).
 The subscriber identity module (SIM).
 The ME is the hardware used by the subscriber to access
the network.
 the hardware has a unique identity number which is permanently
stored in it called the International Mobile Identity (MEI).
 The SIM is a card which plugs into the ME.
 This card identifies the MS subscriber and provides information
regarding the service that subscriber should receive.
 The subscriber is identified by an identity number called the
International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).
 SIM Card
 The SIM contains:
 International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).
 It identifies the MS subscriber. It is transmitted during
initialization.
 Temporary Mobile subscriber identity (TMSI).
 This number identifies the subscriber and is periodically
changed to protect from interferers.
 Location Area Identity:
 Identifies the current location of the subscriber.
 Subscriber Authentication Key (Ki):
 This is used to authenticate the SIM card.
 MobileStation International Services Digital
Network (MSISDN).
 This is the telephone number.
 Base Station System

 It is located in the cell site. It comprises of a

combination of digital and RF equipment.
 It provides the link between the MS and the
MSC.
 The BS communicates with the MS over the
digital air interface and with the MSC via 2
Mbits/s links.
 The Base station consists of three major
hardware components:
 The Base Station transceiver: provides the air
interface for a particular cell
 Base Station controller: Provides control for
the BS. It communicates directly with the
MSC. The BSC may control single or multiple
BSs.
 The Transcoder: Used to compact the signal
from the MS so that they are sent more
efficiently.
 Base Station Controller
 Provides control of the BS. The functions of the BSC
are
 Channel management
 Channel Allocation
 Radio Channel management
 Handover control

 Frequency hopping, traffic channel

management, control channel management,
paging, power control, all are controlled by the
BSC and the BTS.Channel coding and
decoding, idle channel observation,
measurement reporting are functions of the
BTS.
Base Station System (BSS) Configuration
 BSS is composed of transcoder, BSC, BTS.
 A BSC can control more than one BTS.
 The BTS and the BSC can be in the same location or at
different locations (remote).
 Another BSS configuration is a daisy chain where the
BTS communicates with the BSC through a chain of
BTSs (indirect connection).
 Daisy chain reduces cabling required.
 Disadvantage of the daisy chain is the delay. Thus, the
chain should be short.
 Other topology is the loop topology where if the
connection between the BTS and the BSC is lost,
another connection can be used.
 Transcoder
 The transcoder is used to convert the voice or
data signal coming from the MSC (64 kbits/s) to
the BSS and MS interface that is (16 kbits/s).
 If the 64 bits/s signal was transmitted it will
occupy excessive bandwidth.
 The transcoder function can be located at the
MSC, BSC or the BTS.
 There are two types of speech coding
used:
 Full rate speech algorithm: It produces 13
kbits/s speech signal and 3kbits/s of control
data which is commonly referred to as TRAU
data (Transcoder Rate Adaptation Unit).
 Enhanced full rate speech algorithm: It
produces 12.2 kbits/s from each 64 kbits/s
channel and the TRAU data is 3.8 kbits/s.
Network Switching Centre
 The components of the Network Switching
Center:
 Mobile Services Switching Centre
 Home Location Register- HLR
 Visitor Location Register-VLR
 Equipment Identity Register-EIR
 Authentication Centre-AUC
 Interworking Function-IWF
 Echo Canceller-EC
 The location Register entities are the HLR, VLR
and EIR. They are database nodes used to track
the MSs locations.
Mobile Services Switching Centre (MSC)
 The purpose of the MSC is same as that
of any telephone exchange.
 The MSC carries out different functions in
the network. When the MSC provides the
interface between the PSTN and the BSSs
in the GSM network it will be known as
Gateway MSC.
 The network usually has more than one
MSC. One MSC can serve a big city of
one million population.
 The functions carried out by the MSC
 Call Processing: Control of data/voice call
setup, inter-BSS and inter-MSC handovers.
 Operation and Maintenance support: database
management.
 Internetwork Interworking: Manages the
interface between the GSM network and the
PSTN.
 Billing: Collects call billing data.
Home Location Register (HLR)
 The HLR is the reference database for subscriber
parameters.
 The information is entered into the database by the
network provider when a new subscriber is added to
the system.
 The HLR database contains the master database of
all subscribers.
 The data it contains is remotely accessed by the
MSCs and the VLRs in the network.
 There can be more than one HLR in the network.
 Each subscriber has one record only in the HLRs
 The subscriber data may be accessed by either the
IMSI or the MSISDN.
Visitor Location Register (VLR)
 The VLR contains temporary data which of the subscriber active
in a particular area covered by the VLR.
 It may contain data from the HLR. Thus, it eliminates the need for
excessive and time-consuming references to the HLR database.
 The additional data stored in the VLR is:
 Mobile status (busy/free/ no answer, etc)
 Location Area Identity (LAI)
 Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI).
 Mobile station Roaming Number (MSRN).
 Cells within the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) are grouped
together into geographical areas. Each area is assigned a
Location Area Identity (LAI). A LAI may contain 30 calls.
 The VLR controls several LAI’s and as the subscriber
moves from one LAI to another the LAI is updated in the
VLR.
 The VLR controls the allocation of new Temporary Mobile
Subscriber Identity (TMSI) number and notifies the HLR.
The TMSI may be updated in any of the following
situations:
 Call setup
 On entry to new LAI
 On entry to new VLR
 The VLR can allocate a Mobile Station Roaming Number
to a subscriber operating outside its home system. The
number is assigned from a list of numbers held at the
VLR (MSC). The MSRN is then used to route the call to
the MSC which controls the base station in the MSs
current location.
 The database in the VLR can be accessed by the IMSI,
TMSI or the MSRN.
Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
 The EIR contains a centralized database for validating the
International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI).
 The database is concerned solely with the MS equipment
and not with the subscriber.
 The EIR database consists of lists of IMEIs organized as
follows:
 White list: Contains those IMEIs which are known to have been
assigned to valid MS equipment.
 Black list: Contains IMEIs of MS which have been reported stolen
for example.
 Gray list: Contains IMEIs of MS which have problems (for
example faulty software).
 The EIR database is remotely accessed by the MSCs in
the network and can be also accessed by MSCs in a
different PLMN.
Authentication Center (AUC)
 The AUC is a processor system that performs
the authentication function.
 It is normally co-located with the HLR.
 AUC/HLR centre can be co-located with the
MSC or located remotely.
 The authentication process will usually take
place each time the subscriber initializes on the
system.
Interworking Function (IWF)

 The IWF performs the function of enabling

the GSM system to interface with the
various forms of public and private data
networks currently available.
 The basic features of the IWF are:
 Data rate adaptation.
 Protocol conversion.
Operations and Maintenance System
 The operations and maintenance system provides the
capability to manage the GSM network remotely.
 The Operations and Maintenance System comprises of two
parts:
 Network Management Centre (NMC): It has the view of
the entire PLMN and is responsible for the management
of the network as a whole. The NMC resides at the top of
the hierarchy and provides global network management.
 Operations and Maintenance Centre (OMC): It is a
centralized facility that supports the day to day
management of a cellular network as well as providing a
database for the network and planning tools. An OMC
manages a certain area of the PLMN.