GSM

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by

the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for
second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as mobile phones
and tablets.

The GSM architecture consists of three major interconnected subsystems that interact with
themselves and with users through certain network interface. The subsystems are Base Station
Subsystem (BSS), Network Switching Subsystem (NSS) and Operational Support Subsystem
(OSS). Mobile Station (MS) is also a subsystem but it is considered as a part of BSS.

1. Mobile Station (MS): Mobile Station is made up of two entities.

A. Mobile equipment (ME):

 It is a portable, vehicle mounted, hand held device.

 It is uniquely identified by an IMEI number.
 It is used for voice and data transmission. It also monitors power and signal quality of
surrounding cells for optimum handover. 160 characters long SMS can also be sent using
Mobile Equipment.
B. Subscriber Identity module (SIM):

 It is a smart card that contains the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)
number.
 It allows users to send and receive calls and receive other subscriber services. – It is
protected by password or PIN.
  It contains encoded network identification details. it has key information to activate
the phone.
 It can be moved from one mobile to another
2. Base Station Subsystem (BSS):

It is also known as radio subsystem, provides and manages radio transmission paths between the
mobile station and the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC). BSS also manages interface between the
mobile station and all other subsystems of GSM. It consists of two parts.

A. Base Transceiver Station (BTS):

 It encodes, encrypts, multiplexes, modulates and feeds the RF signal to the antenna.
 It consists of transceiver units.
 It communicates with mobile stations via radio air interface and also communicates with
BSC via Abis interface.
B. Base Station Controller (BSC):

 It manages radio resources for BTS. It assigns frequency and time slots for all mobile
stations in its area.
 It handles call set up, transcoding and adaptation functionality handover for each MS
radio power control.
 It communicates with MSC via A interface and also with BTS.
3. Network Switching Subsystem (NSS):

It manages the switching functions of the system and allows MSCs to communicate with other
networks such as PSTN and ISDN. It consist of

A. Mobile switching Centre:

 It is a heart of the network. It manages communication between GSM and other

networks.
 It manages call set up function, routing and basic switching.
 It performs mobility management including registration, location updating and inter BSS
and inter MSC call handoff.
 It provides billing information.
 MSC does gateway function while its customers roam to other network by using
HLR/VLR.
B. Home Location Registers (HLR):

 It is a permanent database about mobile subscriber in a large service area. – Its database
contains IMSI, IMSISDN, prepaid/post-paid, roaming restrictions, supplementary
services.
C. Visitor Location Registers (VLR):
  It is a temporary database which updates whenever new MS enters its area by HLR
database. – It controls mobiles roaming in its area. It reduces number of queries to HLR.

D. Authentication Centre:

 It provides protection against intruders in air interface. – It maintains authentication keys

and algorithms and provides security triplets (RAND, SRES, Ki).
E. Equipment Identity Registry (EIR):

 It is a database that is used to track handset using the IMEI number.

 It is made up of three sub classes- the white list, the black list and the gray list.
4. Operational Support Subsystem (OSS):

It supports the operation and maintenance of GSM and allows system engineers to monitor,
diagnose and troubleshoot all aspects of GSM system. It supports one or more Operation
Maintenance Centres (OMC) which are used to monitor the performance of each MS, Bs, BSC
and MSC within a GSM system. It has three main functions:

 To maintain all telecommunication hardware and network operations with a particular

market.
 To manage all charging and billing procedures
 To manage all mobile equipment in the system.
Interfaces used for GSM network :
1)UM Interface –Used for communication between BTS and MS
2)Abis Interface— Used for communication between BSC and BTS
3)A Interface— Used for communication between BSC and MSC
4) Singling System number 7 (SS 7)- Used for communication by MSC with other network .

How Does GSM Work?

GSM is a globally recognized digital cellular communication protocol. It is a broad-area
communications technology that uses digital radio channels to provide audio, information, and
multimedia communication. Every GSM radio channel is 200 kHz broad and is further divided
into frames of eight time slots. The GSM system consists of mobile stations, base stations, and
interweaving switching systems.
GSM allows 8 to 16 audio users to share a single radio channel, and each radio transmission
station can have numerous radio channels. Because of its simplicity, cost, and accessibility, GSM
is now the most often utilised network technology in the Internet of Things (IoT).

A frame is one where no time slot is repeated. A frame contains eight time slots TS0 to TS7.
One time slot duration= 576.92 μsec
Number of bits transmitted during 1 time slot= 156.25 bits

Thus, duration of one frame = 576.92μsec×8=4.6153 msec

Each bit duration= 576.92 μsec / 156.25 bits=3.6922 μsec

Transmission rate = 156.25 bits / 576.92 μsec=270.833 kbps

One user’s transmission rate = 270.833 kbps / 8 = 33.854 kbps

Fig. GSM frame structure

One single time slot in frame has eight fields as follows:

 Tale bits: They are present at the start and end of every time slot to distinguish one time
slot from another. It identifies beginning and end of the burst.
 Coded data: This is the actual information to be transmitted. Out of 156.25 bits 114 are
information bearing bits that are transmitted as two 57 bits sequences close to beginning
and end of the time slot.
 Stealing flag: This bit helps base station to distinguish whether the coded data is control
or actual information. At the time of urgency control its are also sent using voice channel
at that time stealing bit becomes ‘0’ indicating coded data carries control information.
 Midamble: This consists of 26 bits training sequence. It helps the adaptive equalizer in
mobile or base station receiver to analyze radio channel characteristics before coding. It
gives the amount of fading the channel provides helping to decide which equalizer to be
used.
 Guard period: A guard time of 8.25 bits is provided at the end of every time slot to
prevent overlapping with next time slot preventing actual information from getting
tampered.
During a frame a GSM subscriber uses on one time slot to transmit and one time slot to receive
and may use spare five time slots to measure signal strength on adjacent five base station as well
as its own base station..