GSM/GPRS/EDGE Basic Principles

ZTE University
Objective

 At the end of this course, you will be able to:

 Learn GSM development history
 Learn and master network structure of GSM system and
functions & principles of different portions
 Learn and be familiar with GSM wireless channel and
protocol
 Learn and be familiar with main service call process for
GSM
Content

 Chap.1: GSM Overview

 Chap.2: GSM Network Structure
 Chap.3: Interfaces and Protocols
 Chap.4: GSM Radio Channel
 Chap.5: Basic Service and Signaling Process
 Chap.6: Voice Processing and Key Radio
Technology
 Chap.7: GPRS and EDGE
GSM Overview

 This chapter mainly introduces some basic

information for GSM, including GSM development
history, supported service type, specification, and
system features.

 GSM Basic Concepts

 Services Supported by GSM System

 GSM Specification
GSM Overview

 This section introduces network structure of GSM

system and basic functions of various NEs.
 GSM Area Division Concepts
 GSM composition
 Mobile Switching System (MSS)
 Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
 Operation & Maintenance Subsystem (OMS)
 Mobile Station (MS)
 GSM System Number
GSM Area Division Concepts

Relationship between Areas in GSM

GSM composition

PSTN

Um A IBM

Interfac IBM
Interf
e ace MS

MS
Other
BSS MSS
PLMN

GSM System Composition

Mobile Switching System (MSS)

 The MSS consists of such entities as the mobile

switching center (MSC), home location register
(HLR), visitor location register (VLR), equipment
identity register (EIR), authentication center (AUC)
and short message center (SMC).
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

 BSS serves as a bridge between the NSS and MS.

It performs wireless channel management and
wireless transceiving. The BSS includes the Base
Station Controller (BSC) and Base Transceiver
Station (BTS).
Operation & Maintenance Subsystem (OMS)

The OMS consists of two parts: Operation &

Maintenance Center – System (OMC-S) and OMC-
Radio (OMC-R). The OMC-S serves the NSS, while
the OMC-R serves the BSS.
Mobile Station (MS)

The MS consists of mobile terminals and Subscriber

Identity Module (SIM) card.
GSM System Number

 GSM system number contains:

 Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (MSISDN)
 International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
 Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number (MSRN)
 Handover Number
 Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identification (TMSI)
 Location Area Identification (LAI)
GERAN interfaces

 This chapter introduces GERAN interfaces, User

plane/control plane protocol stack at PS and CS.

Interfaces

 PS-Domain Protocol Stack

 CS-Domain Protocol Stack

Interfaces

GSM interfaces
PS-Domain Protocol Stack

User plane protocol stack at PS domain

PS-Domain Protocol Stack

Control plane protocol stack at PS

domain
CS-Domain Protocol Stack

User plane protocol stack at CS domain

CS-Domain Protocol Stack

Control plane protocol stack at CS

domain
GSM Working Frequency Band

 This section introduces GSM radio frame, channel

concept, division & function for different channels,
mapping combination mechanism between
channels.
 GSM Working Frequency Band

 Structure of GSM Radio Frame

 Physical Channel and Logical Channel

 System Messages
GSM Working Frequency Band

Currently, the GSM communication system works at

900MHz, extended 900MHz and 1800MHz.
1900MHz band is adopted in some countries.
Structure of GSM Radio Frame
 There are five layers for structure of GSM radio frame, that
is, timeslot, TDMA frame, multiframe, super frame, and
hyper frame.
1 hyper frame = 2048 super frames =2715648 TDMA frame

1 hyper frame = 1326 TDMA frame (6.12s)

(=51 (26 frames) multi-frames or 26 (51 frames) multi-frames

1 (26 frames) multi-frame = 26 TDMA frame (120ms) 1 (51 frames) multi-frame = 51 TDMA frame (3036/13 ms)

TDMA Frame

Hierarchical frame structure in GSM system

Physical Channel and Logical Channel

GSM uses TDMA and FDMA technologies for physical

channel, as shown in the figure below.
Time

Frequency
Time

Frequency
System Messages

System message falls into 12 types: type1, 2, 2bis,

2ter, 3, 4, 5, 5bis, 5ter, 6, 7, 8.
Basic Service and Signaling Process

 This section introduces GSM terminal start,

position register / update, service call and
handover service implementation and signaling
interaction process.
 Mobile subscriber state
 Location Update
 Typical Call and Handover Process
 Basic Signaling Process
Mobile subscriber state

 The mobile subscriber has three states as follows:

 MS starts, network does "Attach" marks on it
 MS shutdowns, separated from network
 MS Busy
Location Update
Location Update at Same MSC Office
BSC M
LAI
S
1

MSC/VLR （2）
（1）
（3） LAI （4） M
2 S

Location update between different MSCs

MSC/VLR1 M
（5）
S

HLR
（2）
（3） （1） M
MSC/VLR2
（4） S
Typical Call and Handover Process

Call process
Typical Call and Handover Process

Handover process
Basic Signaling Process
MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：LOC UPD REQ
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP：LOC UPD ACCEPT

DT1：Clear CM D
DT1：Clear COM
DR：CH REL
CH REL RLSD
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLC
REL IND
UA
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

Location Update Process of MS

Basic Signaling Process
MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：IM SI DETACH
CREF
DR：CH REL
CH REL
DEACT SACCH
DISC
REL IND
UA
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

IMSI Detach Process

MS BTS BSC M SC
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT

Basic Signaling Process

CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：CM SERV REQ
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP:CM SERV ACCP

DTAP:SETUP

DTAP:CALL PROC

DT1:ASS REQ
PHY CONT REQ
PHY CONT CONF
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK

ASS CM D
DR：ASS CM D
Mobile-Originated Call and Called
SABM
UA
EST IND
Party On-hook Process
ASS COM DI：ASS COM
DT1：ASS COM
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

DTAP：Alerting
DTAP：Connect
DTAP：Connect ACK
数据流
DTAP：Disconnect
DTAP：Release
DTAP：Release COM
DT1：Clear CM D
DR：CH REL
CH REL DT1：Clear COM
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLSD
REL IND
UA RLC
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK
MS BTS BSC M SC

PAG CM D UDT：PAG
PAG REQ
CH REQ
CH RQD
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
IM M ASS CM D
Basic Signaling Process
IM M ASS
SABM
EST IND
UA CR：PAG RES
CC
DT1：CIPH M ODE CM D
ENCRY CM D
CIPH M ODE CM D
CIPH M ODE COM
DI：CIPH M ODE COM
DT1：CIPH M ODE COM

DTAP:SETUP

DTAP:CALL CONF

DT1:ASS REQ
PHY CONT REQ
PHY CONT CONF
CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
DR：ASS CM D
Mobile-Terminated Call and Calling
ASS CM D
SABM
Party On-hook Process
EST IND
UA
ASS COM DI：ASS COM
DT1：ASS COM
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

DTAP：Alerting
DTAP：Connect
DTAP：Connect ACK
数据流
DTAP：Disconnect
DTAP：Release
DTAP：Release COM
DT1：Clear CM D
DR：CH REL
CH REL DT1：Clear COM
DEACT SACCH
DISC RLSD
REL IND
UA RLC
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK
Basic Signaling Process

MS BTS1 BTS2 BSC M SC

M EAS REP
M EAS RES

CH ACT
CH ACT ACK
DR：HO CM D
HO CM D
HO ACCESS
HO DET
PHY INFO

SABM
EST IND
UA

HO COM
DI：HO COM
DT1：HO PERF
RF CH REL
RF CH REL ACK

Inter-cell Handover Process

key radio enhanced technologies

 This section describes basic voice processing for

GSM, and several key radio enhanced
technologies.
 Voice Processing
 Frequency multiplexing
 Adaptive equalizing
 Diversity Receiving
 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
 Power Control
 Timing Advance
 Frequency Hopping Technology
Voice Processing

Voice Processing in the GSM System

Frequency multiplexing

Frequency multiplexing is the core concept of the cellular

mobile radio system. In a frequency multiplexing system,
users at different geographical locations (different cells)
can use channels of the same frequency at the same time
(see the figure above).
Adaptive equalizing

Equalizer can do equalizing at frequency domain

and time domain. GSM uses time domain
equalizing, enabling the better performance in
whole system.
Diversity Receiving

Diversity reception technology is commonly used in GSM.

Diversity consists of different forms: Space diversity,
frequency diversity, time diversity and polarity diversity.
Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)

The DTX mode accomplishes two objectives: Lower the total

interference level in the air and save the transmitter power.

Speech Frame Transmission in DTX Mode

Power Control
Power control means to control the actual transmitting power (keep it
as low as possible) of MS or BS in radio propagation, so as to reduce
the power consumption of MS/BS and the interference of the entire
GSM network.

Power Control Process

Timing Advance
In the GSM, the MS requires three intervals between timeslots when
receiving or transmitting signals. See the figure below.

Uplink and Downlink Offset of TCH

Frequency Hopping Technology
Frequency hopping (FH) refers to hopping of the carrier frequency
within a wide frequency band according to a certain sequence.

Basic Structure of FH
section describes evolution of GSM
technologies
 This section describes evolution of GSM
technologies: basic concept, network structure,
radio channel, and basic application of GPRS and
EDGE.
 Definition and Feature
 Inheritance and Evolution
 GPRS Radio Channel
 Radio Link and Media Access Control Flow
 Terminal and Application
Definition and Feature

 The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is the

packet data service introduced in GSM Phase2+.
 The GPRS has the following features:
 Seamless connection with IP network
 High rate
 Always online and flow charging
 Mature technology
Definition and Feature
 Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) is a kind
of technology for transition of GSM to 3G.
 The EDGE has the following features:
 EDGE neither changes GSM or GPRS network structure nor
introduces new network element, but only upgrades the BSS.
 EDGE does not change the GSM channel structure, multiframe
structure and coding structure.
 EDGE supports two data transmission modes: packet service (non-
real time service) and circuit switching service (real time service).
 EDGE adopts octal 8PSK modulation technology, supports 303%
of GMSK payload, and provides higher bit rate and spectral
efficiency.
 Compared with GPRS, EDGE adopts new coding mode.
GPRS Radio Channel

 This section introduces GPRS physical channel,

GPRS logic channel, mapping of logical channel
combination in the physical channel, and GPRS
channel coding.
Radio Link and Media Access Control Flow

 This section introduces paging flow, TBF setup

flow, GPRS suspend/resume flow, and TBF
release flow.
Terminal and Application

 The GPRS MSs fall into three categories: Type A,

B, and C.