Global System for Mobile

Assistant Professor
LPU

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 What is GSM

Global System for Mobile (GSM) is a second

generation cellular standard developed to
cater voice services and data delivery
using digital modulation

More than 800 million end users in 212

countries and representing over 70% of
today's digital wireless market.
source: GSM Association
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 GSM Since Beginning

• Developed by Group Spéciale Mobile in1982

Aim : to replace the incompatible analog system
• Presently the responsibility of GSM standardization resides with special mobile
group under ETSI ( European telecommunication Standards Institute )
• Under ETSI, GSM is named as “ Global System for Mobile communication”
• Phase I of GSM specifications was published in 1990
• Commercial service started in mid-1991
• Today many providers all over the world use GSM (more than 212
countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia, America, India etc..)
• More than 1300 million subscribers in world and 45 million subscriber in India.

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 GSM in World

Figures: March, 2005 Arab World

3% Asia Pacific
3%
3% Africa
3% (INDIA)
East Central Asia
4% 37% Europe
Russia
43% 4% India
1%
North America
4 South America
 GSM in India

Figures: March 2005

Reliance
3%
Spice MTNL Bharti
Aircel
4% 4% 2% BSNL
Bharti
27% Hutch
BPL
6% IDEA
BPL
IDEA Aircel
13%
BSNL Spice
Hutch 22% Reliance
19%
MTNL
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 Cont…
GSM has its origin from the Group special Mobile,
in Europe. Although this technology originates from
the Europe, but now it is used in more than 212
countries in the world.

GSM technology was the first one to help

establish international roaming. This enabled the
mobile subscribers to use their mobile phone
connections in many different countries of the
world’s is based on digital signals ,unlike 1G
technologies which were used to transfer analogue
signals.
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 Advantages
Uses radio frequency efficiently,Due to digital
radio path it is more tolerable to disturbance.
Speech quality much better than analog system
Data transmission is supported throughout the
GSM system
Speech is encrypted and subscriber
information security is guaranteed.

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 Cont…
 With ISDN compatibility, new services are offered
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of
communications standards for
simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and
other network services over the traditional circuits of
the public switched telephone network.
 International roaming is technically possible within all
countries

 Once connected to network you can use the phone to

make calls and data transmission such as text and
multimedia messaging.

 Other services that a GSM network can provide are call

barring and forwarding, call waiting and call holding plus it
also allows users to identify incoming calls through caller
identity service
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 GSM Services
Tele-services
Bearer or Data Services
Supplementary services

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 Tele Services
Telecommunication services that enable
voice communication via mobile phones
Offered services

Mobile telephony
Emergency calling

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 BEARER SERVICES
 Include various data services for information
transfer between GSM and other networks like
PSTN[Public switched telephone n/w.], ISDN
[Integrated services digital n/w] etc at rates
from 300 to 9600 bps
 Short Message Service (SMS)
 up to 160 character alphanumeric data transmission
to/from the mobile terminal
 Voice mailbox
 Electronic mail

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 SUPPLIMENTRY SERVICES

 Call related services :

• Call Waiting- Notification of an incoming call

while on the handset
• Call Hold- Put a caller on hold to take
another call
• Call Barring- All calls, outgoing calls, or
incoming calls
• Call Forwarding- Calls can be sent to various
numbers defined by the user
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 Architecture of GSM Network
Structure
GSM System Architecture-I

Mobile Station (MS)

Mobile Equipment (ME)
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

Base Station Subsystem

(BSS)
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
Base Station Controller (BSC)
Network Switching
Subsystem(NSS)
Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
Home Location Register (HLR)
Visitor Location Register (VLR)
Authentication Center (AUC)
14 Equipment Identity Register
(EIR)
 TERMINOLOGIES:
• BTS: Base Transceiver Stations (Cell Site)
• MSC: Mobile Switching Center
• HLR: Home Location Register
• VLR: Visiting Location Register
• EIR: Equipment Identity Register
• IMSI(International Mobile Subscriber Identity) -> stored in SIM
(Subscriber Identity Mobile)
• AUC: Authentication Centre
• PSTN: Public switched telephone network (telephone lines, fiber
optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular
networks, communications satellites)
• ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network
(digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network
services)

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The Gateway Mobile Switching Centre (GMSC) is a special kind of MSC that is
used to route calls outside the mobile network. Whenever a call for a mobile
subscriber comes from outside the mobile network, or the subscriber wants to
make a call to somebody outside the mobile network the call is routed through the
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GMSC.
 GSM System Architecture-I
 1. Mobile Station (MS)
1.1 Mobile Equipment (ME)
1.2 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)
 2. Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
2.1 Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
2.2 Base Station Controller (BSC)
 3. Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)
3.1 Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
3.2 Home Location Register (HLR)
3.3 Visitor Location Register (VLR)
3.4 Authentication Center (AUC)
3.5 Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

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 System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS)

1. The Mobile Station is made up of two entities:

1.1 Mobile Equipment (ME)

1.2 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

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 System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS)

1.1 Mobile Equipment

 Portable, vehicle mounted, hand held device
 Uniquely identified by an IMEI (International
Mobile Equipment Identity)
 Voice and data transmission
 Monitoring power and signal quality of
surrounding cells for optimum handover
 Power level : 0.8W – 20 W
 160 character long SMS.

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 System Architecture
Mobile Station (MS) contd.

1.2 Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

 Smart card contains the International Mobile

Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
 Allows user to send and receive calls and
receive other subscribed services
 Encoded network identification details
- Key Ki,Kc and A3,A5 and A8 algorithms
 Protected by a password or PIN
 Can be moved from phone to phone – contains
key information to activate the phone

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 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts

that communicate across the standardized Abis
interface allowing operation between components
made by different suppliers

1. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

2. Base Station Controller (BSC)

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 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Transceiver Station (BTS):

 Encodes,encrypts,multiplexes,modulates and
feeds the RF signals to the antenna.
 Frequency hopping
 Communicates with Mobile station and BSC
 Consists of Transceivers (TRX) units

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 System Architecture
Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

Base Station Controller (BSC)

 Manages Radio resources for BTS
 Assigns Frequency and time slots for all MS’s in its
area
 Handles call set up
 Transcoding and rate adaptation functionality
 Handover for each MS
 Radio Power control
 It communicates with MSC and BTS

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 System Architecture
Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)

Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

 Heart of the network

 Manages communication between GSM and other
networks
 Call setup function and basic switching
 Call routing
 Billing information and collection
 Mobility management
- Registration
- Location Updating
- Inter BSS and inter MSC call handoff
 MSC does gateway function while its customer roams to
other network by using HLR/VLR.
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 System Architecture
Network Switching Subsystem
 Home Location Registers (HLR)

- permanent database about mobile subscribers in a large

service area(generally one per GSM network operator)
- database contains IMSI,MSISDN,prepaid/postpaid,roaming
restrictions,supplementary services.

 Visitor Location Registers (VLR)

- Temporary database which updates whenever new MS

enters its area, by HLR database
- Controls those mobiles roaming in its area
- Reduces number of queries to HLR
- Database contains IMSI,TMSI,MSISDN,MSRN,Location
25 Area,authentication key
 System Architecture
Network Switching Subsystem
 Authentication Center (AUC)
- Protects against intruders in air interface
- Maintains authentication keys and algorithms and
provides security triplets ( RAND,SRES,Kc)
- Generally associated with HLR

 Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

- Database that is used to track handsets using the IMEI
(International Mobile Equipment Identity)
- Made up of three sub-classes: The White List, The Black
List and the Gray List
- Only one EIR per PLMN

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 GSM Specifications-1
 GSM 900
Mobile to BTS (uplink): 890-915 MHz
BTS to Mobile(downlink):935-960 MHz
Bandwidth : 2* 25 MHz

 GSM 1800
Mobile to BTS (uplink): 1710-1785 MHz
BTS to Mobile(downlink) 1805-1880 Mhz
Bandwidth : 2* 75 MHz

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 Call Routing
Call Originating from MS
Call termination to MS

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 Outgoing Call
1. MS sends dialled number to BSS
2. BSS sends dialled number to
MSC
3,4 MSC checks VLR if MS is
allowed the requested service.If
so,MSC asks BSS to allocate
resources for call.
5 MSC routes the call to GMSC
6 GMSC routes the call to local
exchange
of called user
7, 8,
9,10 Answer back(ring back) tone
is routed from called user to MS
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via GMSC,MSC,BSS
 1. Calling a GSM
subscribers
Incoming Call 2. Forwarding call to
GSMC
3. Signal Setup to HLR
4. 5. Request MSRN
from VLR
6. Forward responsible
MSC to GMSC
7. Forward Call to
current MSC
8. 9. Get current
status of MS
10.11. Paging of MS
12.13. MS answers
14.15. Security checks
16.17. Set up
30 connection
 Handovers

 Between 1 and 2 –
Inter BTS / Intra BSC
 Between 1 and 3 –
Inter BSC/ Intra MSC
 Between 1 and 4 –
Inter MSC

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 Security in GSM
 On air interface, GSM uses encryption and TMSI
instead of IMSI.
 SIM is provided 4-8 digit PIN to validate the
ownership of SIM
 3 algorithms are specified :
- A3 algorithm for authentication
- A5 algorithm for encryption
- A8 algorithm for key generation

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 Characteristics of GSM Standard
 Fully digital system using 900,1800 MHz
frequency band.
 TDMA over radio carriers(200 KHz carrier spacing.
 8 full rate or 16 half rate TDMA channels per
carrier.
 User/terminal authentication for fraud control.
 Encryption of speech and data transmission over
the radio path.
 Full international roaming capability.
 Low speed data services (upto 9.6 Kb/s).
 Compatibility with ISDN.
 Support of Short Message Service (SMS).
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 Advantages of GSM over Analog system
 Capacity increases
 Reduced RF transmission power and longer
battery life.
 International roaming capability.
 Better security against fraud (through terminal
validation and user authentication).
 Encryption capability for information security
and privacy.
 Compatibility with ISDN,leading to wider range
of services

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