3.

3 GSM

GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) is an open, digital cellular

technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data services.

GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephone

system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital
wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses
data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time
slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1,800 MHz frequency band.

GSM was first introduced in 1991. As of the end of 1997, GSM service was available
in more than 100 countries and has become the de facto standard in Europe and Asia.

What does GSM offer?

GSM supports voice calls and data transfer speeds of up to 9.6 kbit/s, together with
the transmission of SMS (Short Message Service).

GSM operates in the 900MHz and 1.8GHz bands in Europe and the 1.9GHz and
850MHz bands in the US. The 850MHz band is also used for GSM and 3G in Australia,
Canada and many South American countries. By having harmonized spectrum across most of
the globe, GSM’s international roaming capability allows users to access the same services
when travelling abroad as at home. This gives consumers seamless and same number
connectivity in more than 218 countries.

Terrestrial GSM networks now cover more than 80% of the world’s population. GSM
satellite roaming has also extended service access to areas where terrestrial coverage is not
available.

HISTORY

In 1982, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations

(CEPT) created the Group Special Mobile (GSM) to develop a standard for a mobile
telephone system that could be used across Europe. In 1987, a memorandum of
understanding was signed by 13 countries to develop a common cellular telephone system
across Europe. Finally the system created by SINTEF lead by TorleivMaseng was selected.

In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunications

Standards Institute (ETSI) and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990.
The first GSM network was launched in 1991 by Radiolinja in Finland with joint technical
infrastructure maintenance from Ericsson. By the end of 1993, over a million subscribers
were using GSM phone networks being operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries.

GSM Frequencies

GSM networks operate in a number of different frequency ranges (separated into

GSM frequency ranges for 2G and UMTS frequency bands for 3G). Most 2G GSM networks
operate in the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz bands. Some countries in the Americas (including
Canada and the United States) use the 850 MHz and 1900 MHz bands because the 900 and
1800 MHz frequency bands were already allocated. Most 3G GSM networks in Europe
operate in the 2100 MHz frequency band.

The rarer 400 and 450 MHz frequency bands are assigned in some countries where
these frequencies were previously used for first-generation systems.

GSM-900 uses 890–915 MHz to send information from the mobile station to the base
station (uplink) and 935–960 MHz for the other direction (downlink), providing 124 RF
channels (channel numbers 1 to 124) spaced at 200 kHz. Duplex spacing of 45 MHz is used.
In some countries the GSM-900 band has been extended to cover a larger frequency
range. This 'extended GSM', E-GSM, uses 880–915 MHz (uplink) and 925–960 MHz
(downlink), adding 50 channels (channel numbers 975 to 1023 and 0) to the original GSM-
900 band. Time division multiplexing is used to allow eight full-rate or sixteen half-rate
speech channels per radio frequency channel. There are eight radio timeslots (giving eight
burst periods) grouped into what is called a TDMA frame. Half rate channels use alternate
frames in the same timeslot. The channel data rate for all 8 channels is 270.833 Kbit/s, and
the frame duration is 4.615 ms.

The transmission power in the handset is limited to a maximum of 2 watts in

GSM850/900 and 1 watt in GSM1800/1900.
The GSM network consists mainly of the following functional parts:

• MSC – the mobile service switching centre (MSC) is the core switching entity in the
network.

The MSC is connected to the radio access network (RAN); the RAN is formed by the
BSCs and BTSs within the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). Users of the GSM
network are registered with an MSC; all calls to and from the user are controlled by the MSC.
A GSM network has one or more MSCs, geographically distributed.

• VLR – the visitor location register (VLR) contains subscriber data for subscribers registered
in an MSC. Every MSC contains a VLR. Although MSC and VLR are individually
addressable, they are always contained in one integrated node.

• GMSC – the gateway MSC (GMSC) is the switching entity that controls mobile terminating
calls. When a call is established towards a GSM subscriber, a GMSC contacts the HLR of
that subscriber, to obtain the address of the MSC where that subscriber is currently registered.
That MSC address is used to route the call to that subscriber.

• HLR –the home location register (HLR) is the database that contains a subscription record
for each subscriber of the network. A GSM subscriber is normally associated with one
particular HLR. The HLR is responsible for the sending of subscription data to the VLR
(during registration) or GMSC (during mobile terminating call handling).

• CN – the core network (CN) consists of, amongst other things, MSC(s), GMSC(s) and
HLR(s). These entities are the main components for call handling and subscriber
management. Other main entities in the CN are the equipment identification register (EIR)
and authentication centre (AUC). CAMEL has no interaction with the EIR and AUC; hence
EIR and AUC are not further discussed.

• BSS – the base station system (BSS) is composed of one or more base station controllers
(BSC) and one or more base transceiver stations (BTS). The BTS contains one or more
transceivers (TRX). The TRX is responsible for radio signal transmission and reception. BTS
and BSC are connected through the Abis interface. The BSS is connected to the MSC through
the A interface.
• MS – the mobile station (MS) is the GSM handset. The structure of the MS will be
described in more detail in a next section.

A GSM network is a public land mobile network(PLMN). Other types of PLMN are
the time division multiple access (TDMA) network or code division multiple access CDMA)
network. GSM uses the following sub-division of the PLMN:

Fig 3.7 GSM Architecture

 Home PLMN (HPLMN) – the HPLMN is the GSM network that a GSM user is a sub-
scriber of. That implies that GSM user’s subscription data resides in the HLR in that
PLMN. The HLR may transfer the subscription data to a VLR (during registration in a
PLMN) or a GMSC (during mobile terminating call handling). The HPLMN may also
contain various service nodes, such as a short message service centre (SMSC), service
control point (SCP), etc.
 Visited PLMN (VPLMN) – the VPLMN is the GSM network where a subscriber is
currently registered. The subscriber may be registered in her HPLMN or in another
PLMN. In the latter case, the subscriber is outbound roaming (from HPLMN’s per-
spective) and inbounds roaming (from VPLMN’s perspective). When the subscriber is
currently registered in her HPLMN, then the HPLMN is at the same time VPLMN.1
 Interrogating PLMN (IPLMN) – the IPLMN is the PLMN containing the GMSC that
handles mobile terminating (MT) calls. MT calls are always handled by a GMSC in
the PLMN, regardless of the origin of the call. For most operators, MT call handling
is done by a GMSC in the HPLMN; in that case, the HPLMN is at the same time
 IPLMN. This implies that calls destined for a GSM subscriber are always routed to
the HPLMN of that GSM subscriber. Once the call has arrived in the HPLMN, the
HPLMN acts as IPLMN. MT call handling will be described in more detail in subse-
quent sections. When basic optimal routing (BOR) is applied, the IPLMN is not the
same PLMN as the HPLMN.

Modem

Fig 3.8 GSM Modem

Modem stands for modulator-demodulator:

A modem is a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data over, for
example, telephone or cable lines. Computer information is stored digitally, whereas
information transmitted over telephone lines is transmitted in the form of analog waves. A
modem converts between these two forms.

Fortunately, there is one standard interface for connecting external modems to

computers called RS-232. Consequently, any external modem can be attached to any
computer that has an RS-232 port, which almost all personal computers have. There are also
modems that come as an expansion board that you can insert into a vacant expansion slot.
These are sometimes called onboard or internal modems.

bps: How fast the modem can transmit and receive data. At slow rates, modems are measured
in terms of baud rates. The slowest rate is 300 baud (about 25 cps). At higher speeds,
modems are measured in terms of bits per second (bps). The fastest modems run at 57,600
bps, although they can achieve even higher data transfer rates by compressing the data.
Obviously, the faster the transmission rate, the faster you can send and receive data. Note,
however, that you cannot receive data any faster than it is being sent. If, for example, the
device sending data to your computer is sending it at 2,400 bps, you must receive it at 2,400
bps. It does not always pay, therefore, to have a very fast modem. In addition, some
telephone lines are unable to transmit data reliably at very high rates.

voice/data: Many modems support a switch to change between voice and data modes. In data
mode, the modem acts like a regular modem. In voice mode, the modem acts like a regular
telephone. Modems that support a voice/data switch have a built-in loudspeaker and
microphone for voice communication.

auto-answer: An auto-answer modem enables your computer to receive calls in your

absence. This is only necessary if you are offering some type of computer service that people
can call in to use.

Data compression: Some modems perform data compression, which enables them to send
data at faster rates. However, the modem at the receiving end must be able to decompress the
data using the same compression technique.

Flash memory: Some modems come with flash memory rather than conventional ROM,
which means that the communications protocols can be easily updated if necessary.

Fax capability: Most modern modems are fax modems, which mean that they can send and
receive faxes.

In brief:

A GSM modem is a wireless modem that works with a GSM wireless network. A
wireless modem behaves like a dial-up modem. The main difference between them is that a
dial-up modem sends and receives data through a fixed telephone line while a wireless
modem sends and receives data through radio waves.

A GSM modem can be an external device or a PC Card / PCMCIA Card. Typically,

an external GSM modem is connected to a computer through a serial cable or a USB cable. A
GSM modem in the form of a PC Card / PCMCIA Card is designed for use with a laptop
computer. It should be inserted into one of the PC Card / PCMCIA Card slots of a laptop
computer.
 Like a GSM mobile phone, a GSM modem requires a SIM card from a wireless
carrier in order to operate.

As mentioned in earlier sections of this SMS tutorial, computers use AT commands to

control modems. Both GSM modems and dial-up modems support a common set of standard
AT commands. You can use a GSM modem just like a dial-up modem.

In addition to the standard AT commands, GSM modems support an extended set of AT

commands. These extended AT commands are defined in the GSM standards. With the
extended AT commands, you can do things like:

 Reading, writing and deleting SMS messages.

 Sending SMS messages.
 Monitoring the signal strength.
 Monitoring the charging status and charge level of the battery.
 Reading, writing and searching phone book entries.

The number of SMS messages that can be processed by a GSM modem per minute is very
low, that is only about six to ten SMS messages per minute.

Introduction to AT Commands

AT commands are instructions used to control a modem. AT is the abbreviation of

ATtention. Every command line starts with "AT" or "at". That's why modem commands are
called AT commands. Many of the commands that are used to control wired dial-up modems,
such as ATD (Dial), ATA (Answer), ATH (Hook control) and ATO (Return to online data
state), are also supported by GSM/GPRS modems and mobile phones. Besides this common
AT command set, GSM/GPRS modems and mobile phones support an AT command set that
is specific to the GSM technology, which includes SMS-related commands like AT+CMGS
(Send SMS message), AT+CMSS (Send SMS message from storage), AT+CMGL (List SMS
messages) and AT+CMGR (Read SMS messages).

Note that the starting "AT" is the prefix that informs the modem about the start of a
command line. It is not part of the AT command name. For example, D is the actual AT
command name in ATD and +CMGS is the actual AT command name in AT+CMGS.
However, some books and web sites use them interchangeably as the name of an AT
command.

Here are some of the tasks that can be done using AT commands with a GSM/GPRS modem
or mobile phone:

 Get basic information about the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. For example,
name of manufacturer (AT+CGMI), model number (AT+CGMM), IMEI number
(International Mobile Equipment Identity) (AT+CGSN) and software version
(AT+CGMR).
 Get basic information about the subscriber. For example, MSISDN (AT+CNUM) and
IMSI number (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) (AT+CIMI).
 Get the current status of the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. For example,
mobile phone activity status (AT+CPAS), mobile network registration status
(AT+CREG), radio signal strength (AT+CSQ), battery charge level and battery
charging status (AT+CBC).
 Establish a data connection or voice connection to a remote modem (ATD, ATA, etc).
 Send and receive fax (ATD, ATA, AT+F*).
 Send (AT+CMGS, AT+CMSS), read (AT+CMGR, AT+CMGL), write (AT+CMGW)
or delete (AT+CMGD) SMS messages and obtain notifications of newly received
SMS messages (AT+CNMI).
 Read (AT+CPBR), write (AT+CPBW) or search (AT+CPBF) phonebook entries.
 Perform security-related tasks, such as opening or closing facility locks (AT+CLCK),
checking whether a facility is locked (AT+CLCK) and changing passwords
(AT+CPWD).
(Facility lock examples: SIM lock [a password must be given to the SIM card every
time the mobile phone is switched on] and PH-SIM lock [a certain SIM card is
associated with the mobile phone. To use other SIM cards with the mobile phone, a
password must be entered.])
 Control the presentation of result codes / error messages of AT commands. For
example, you can control whether to enable certain error messages (AT+CMEE) and
whether error messages should be displayed in numeric format or verbose format
(AT+CMEE=1 or AT+CMEE=2).
  Get or change the configurations of the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. For
example, change the GSM network (AT+COPS), bearer service type (AT+CBST),
radio link protocol parameters (AT+CRLP), SMS center address (AT+CSCA) and
storage of SMS messages (AT+CPMS).
 Save and restore configurations of the mobile phone or GSM/GPRS modem. For
example, save (AT+CSAS) and restore (AT+CRES) settings related to SMS
messaging such as the SMS center address.

Note that mobile phone manufacturers usually do not implement all AT commands,
command parameters and parameter values in their mobile phones. Also, the behavior of the
implemented AT commands may be different from that defined in the standard. In general,
GSM/GPRS modems designed for wireless applications have better support of AT commands
than ordinary mobile phones.

In addition, some AT commands require the support of mobile network operators. For
example, SMS over GPRS can be enabled on some GPRS mobile phones and GPRS modems
with the +CGSMS command (command name in text: Select Service for MO SMS
Messages). But if the mobile network operator does not support the transmission of SMS
over GPRS, you cannot use this feature.

Basic Commands and Extended Commands

There are two types of AT commands: basic commands and extended commands.

Basic commands are AT commands that do not start with "+". For example, D (Dial),
A (Answer), H (Hook control) and O (Return to online data state) are basic commands.

Extended commands are AT commands that start with "+". All GSM AT commands
are extended commands. For example, +CMGS (Send SMS message), +CMSS (Send SMS
message from storage), +CMGL (List SMS messages) and +CMGR (Read SMS messages)
are extended commands.

General syntax of AT Commands

The general syntax of extended AT commands is straightforward. The syntax rules

are provided below. The syntax of basic AT commands is slightly different. We will not
cover the syntax of basic AT commands in this SMS tutorial since all SMS messaging
commands are extended AT commands.

Syntax rule 1. All command lines must start with "AT" and end with a carriage return
character. (We will use <CR> to represent a carriage return character in this SMS tutorial.) In
a terminal program like HyperTerminal of Microsoft Windows, you can press the Enter key
on the keyboard to output a carriage return character.Example: To list all unread inbound
SMS messages stored in the message storage area, type "AT", then the extended AT
command "+CMGL", and finally a carriage return character, like this:

AT+CMGL<CR>

Syntax rule 2. A command line can contain more than one AT command. Only the first AT
command should be prefixed with "AT". AT commands in the same command-line string
should be separated with semicolons.

Example: To list all unread inbound SMS messages stored in the message storage area and
obtain the manufacturer name of the mobile device, type "AT", then the extended AT
command "+CMGL", followed by a semicolon and the next extended AT command
"+CGMI":

AT+CMGL;+CGMI<CR>

An error will occur if both AT commands are prefixed with "AT", like this:

AT+CMGL;AT+CGMI<CR>

Syntax rule 3. A string is enclosed between double quotes.

Example: To read all SMS messages from message storage in SMS text mode (at this time
you do not need to know what SMS text mode is. More information will be provided later in
this SMS tutorial), you need to assign the string "ALL" to the extended AT command
+CMGL, like this:

AT+CMGL="ALL"<CR>
Syntax rule 4. Information responses and result codes (including both final result codes and
unsolicited result codes) always start and end with a carriage return character and a linefeed
character.

Example: After sending the command line "AT+CGMI<CR>" to the mobile device, the
mobile device should return a response similar to this:

<CR><LF>Nokia<CR><LF>
<CR><LF>OK<CR><LF>

The first line is the information response of the AT command +CGMI and the second line is
the final result code. <CR> and <LF> represent a carriage return character and a linefeed
character respectively. The final result code "OK" marks the end of the response. It indicates
no more data will be sent from the mobile device to the computer / PC.

When a terminal program such as HyperTerminal of Microsoft Windows sees a carriage

return character, it moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. When it sees a
linefeed character, it moves the cursor to the same position on the next line. Hence, the
command line "AT+CGMI<CR>" that you entered and the corresponding response will be
displayed like this in a terminal program such as HyperTerminal of Microsoft Windows:

AT+CGMI
Nokia
OK