Overview Of The GSM Syst em

and Prot ocol Archit ect ure

We can use GSM as a basic framework to define and develop
the standards for handling the mobility-specific functions of
next-generation PCNs.
M oe Rahnema
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
GSM and PCNs
0163-6804/93/$03.00 1993I EEE
Global system for mobile telecommunication (GSM)
compri ses the CEPT-defined standardization of the
servi ces, functi onal /subsystem i nterfaces, and
protocol architecture, based on the use of worldwide
standards produced by CCI TT and CCI R, for a pan-
European digital land mobile system primarily intend-
ed to serve users in motor vehicles. The di gital mobile
radio networks, for which GSM represents the Euro-
pean standards, provi de powerful message signal-
i ng capabi l i ti es that faci l i tate and enhance
roaming, compared to the first generation analogue
systems, through automatic network location detec-
tion and registration.
GSM provides terminal mobil i ty, with person-
al mobi l i ty provi ded through the i nserti on of a
subscriber identity module (SI M) into the GSM net-
work (mobile station). The SI M carries the personal
number assigned to the mobile user. The GSM-based
cellular mobile networks are currently i n widespread
use i n Europe. At the present ti me, the next gen-
erati on of per sonal communi cati on ser vi ces
(PCS) beyond GSM i s al so bei ng consi dered.
These thi rd generation systems, known as univer-
sal personal communication networks (PCN) will be
usi ng lower power handsets to provi de personal
mobili ty to pedestrians, as wel l. The PCS low-power
handsets are expected to el i mi nate the need to
have di fferent handsets for wi de-area (cel l ul ar)
and local (cordless) applications. The universal PCS
wi ll also provide a higher quali ty of personal-service
mobil ity across the boundaries of many different net-
works (mobile and fixed, wide- and local-area).
Many network capabi l i ti es, however, such as
mobility management, user security protection, and
resource al location, addressed in GSM, are also some
of the critical requirements and issues in UPC net-
w o r k s of the future. GSM i s expected to pl ay a
major rol e i n the speci fi cati on of the standards
for UPC. I n the United Kingdom, PCN is already
bei ng desi gned and depl oyed wi th cl ose adher-
ence to the GSM standards other than the di ffer-
ent operating frequenci es (GSM operates at 900
MHz and the United Kingdom PCN operates at 1800
MHz). Generally, GSM may be viewed as a frame-
work for studyi ng the functi ons and i ssues that
are specific to cellular type personal communication
networks, whatever the means of impl ementation
might be.
I n appl ying and extending GSM to the next gen-
erati on personal communi cati on networks, how-
ever, one shoul d be careful in differentiating some
of the implementation specifics uni que to the GSM
network architecture and application from the func-
tions and issues that woul d be more or less gener-
ally applicable and relevant to cellular networking.
I t is with this point in mind that the reader should
vi ew GSM as a framework or platform on whi ch
to build his or her vision of how GSM may be used
as a guide to design and build the next generation
networks. I n that regard, a good understanding of
the GSM standards and networ k functi ons i s
essential for the professional working on the next
generation personal communicati on networks. This
article is intended to assist with this objective.
The Cellular Concept
C
ellular mobile communication is based on the
concept of frequency reuse. That i s, the limit-
ed spectrum allocated to the service is partitioned
i nto, for exampl e, N non-over l appi ng channel
sets, whi ch are then assi gned i n a regul ar repeat-
ed pattern to a hexagonal cel l grid. The hexagon
is just a convenient idealization that approximates
the shape of a ci rcl e (the constant si gnal l evel
contour from an omnidi recti onal antenna pl aced
at the center) but forms a gri d wi th no gaps or
overlaps. The choice of Nis dependent on many trade-
offs involvi ng the local propagation envi ronment,
traffic distribution, and costs. The propagati on envi-
ronment determines the interference received from
nei ghbori ng co-channel cel l s whi ch i n turn gov-
er ns the r euse di stance, that i s, the di stance
allowed between co-channel cel ls (cells using the
same set of frequency channels).
The cel l size determination is usual ly based on
the local traffic distribution and demand. The more
the concentrati on of traffi c demand i n the area,
the smaller the cell has to be sized in order to avail
the frequency set to a smal ler number of roami ng
MOE RAHNEMA is a
principal communication
engineer at Motorola Satellite
Communications.
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
subscribers and thus limit the call bl ocking proba-
bi l i ty wi thi n the cel l . On the other hand, the
small er the cell i s sized, the more equipment wi ll
be needed in the system as each cel l requires the nec-
essar y transcei ver and swi tchi ng equi pment,
known as the base stati on subsystem (BSS),
through whi ch the mobi l e users access the net-
work over r adi o l i nks. The degree to whi ch the
allocated frequency spectrum is reused over the cel-
lular service area, however, determines the spectrum
effi ci ency i n cel l ul ar systems. That means the
smaller the cel l si ze, and the smal l er the number
of cel l s i n the reuse geometry, the hi gher wi l l be
the spectrum usage effici ency. Si nce digi tal mod-
ul ation systems can operate with a small er si gnal
to noi se (i.e., signal to i nterference) rati o for the
same service quality, they, in one respect, would allow
smaller reuse distance and thus provide higher spec-
trum efficiency. This is one advantage the digital cel-
lular provides over the older analogue cellular radio
communication systems. The interested reader may
refer to [1,2] for the detai ls on spectrum effi cien-
cy analysis in cellular network.
I t is worth mentioning that the digital systems have
commonly used sectored cells with 120-degree or
smal ler di recti onal antennas to further lower the
effecti ve reuse di stance. Thi s al l ows a smal l er
number of cell s i n the reuse pattern and makes a
larger fraction of the total frequency spectrum avail-
abl e wi thin each cell . Currently, research is being
done on i mplementing other enhancements such
as the use of dynamic channel assignment strate-
gies for raising the spectrum efficiency in certain
cases, such as hi gh uneven traffi c di stri buti on
over cells.
The Net w ork Inf rast ruct ure
T
he cellul ar concept of networking is based on the
superposi ti on of a di stri buted star type net-
work architecture on the existing fixed landline tele-
phony communicati on i nfrastructure. The basi c
network archi tecture is illustrated in Fig. 1. The tele-
phony network i s used to provi de not onl y the
communicati on l inks between a mobi l e user and
a fixed landline user, but also to provide the con-
nectivity between the mobile users roaming in remote-
ly located cells or in the domain of mobile networks
operated by di ffer ent ser vi ce provi ders. The
BSSs, provide management of the radio resources,
and the switching between the radio channels and
the TDM sl ots on thei r connecti ons wi th the
mobile switching center (MSC). MSCs link groups
of neighboring BSSs through point-to-point l and-
l i ne or mi crowave-based E1 trunks. The MSC
acts as the nerve center of the system. I t control s
cal l signali ng and processing, and coordinates the
handover of the mobi l e connecti on from one
base stati on to another as the mobi l e roams
ar ound. Each MSC i s i n turn connected to the
local publ i c switched telephony network (PSTN,
or I SDN) to provide the connectivity between the
mobi le and the fixed telephony users, as well as the
necessary global connectivity among the MSCs of
the cell ular mobile network. This is intended to make
i t possi bl e for any mobi l e user to communi cate
wi th any other mobi l e or fi xed tel ephony user i n
the world. Thus, the global connecti vity provided
by the existi ng l andl ine telephony i nfrastructure
i s used to l ink up the cel l ul ar mobil e subscribers
throughout the world.
Di rect l i nks between certai n l o c a l M S C s
may also be provided to allow the communication
between two mobi le users to bypass the tel epho-
ny network when there i s consi derabl e traffi c
fl ow between the mobi l e users r oami ng i n the
areas under the coverage of those MSCs. Thus,
the communi cation path between any two mobi le
users roami ng under the coverage of two local
MSCs may or may not switch through the publi c tele-
phony network. I t depends on the connecti vi ty
provided between the two MSCs. The MSC may also
connect to publ i c data networks (PDN), such as
the packet-switched networks, to provide the mobiles
with access to data services.
Net w ork Dat abases and
St andardizat ion
G
SM defines a number of network databases that
are used in performing the functions of mobil-
i ty management and cal l control i n a publ ic land
mobile network (PLMN). These elements include
the locati on registers consisting of the home loca-
tion register (HLR), and the visiting location reg-
i s t e r (VLR), the equipment identi ty register (EI R),
and the authentication center (AC). The HLR main-
tai ns and updates the mobi l e subscri bers l oca-
ti on and hi s or her servi ce profi l e i nformati on.
The VLR mai ntains the same i nformati on local -
ly, where the subscriber i s roami ng. The VLR i s
defined as a stand-alone function (see following para-
graph), but is usually viewed by vendors as part of
the MSC. These regi sters are call ed service con-
trol poi nts (SCP) in the terminology used in intel-
l i gent networki ng (I N). The EI R i s used to l i st
the subscribers equipment identities, which are used
for identifi cation of unauthorized subscriber equip-
ment, and hence denial of servi ce by the network.
The AC provi des the keys and al gori thm for
maintaining the security of subscri ber identities, and
for encrypting information passed over the air inter-
face. The MSC i s equipped with a service swi tch-
i ng poi nt (SSP) modul e whi ch i s used to query
the databases such as a location register to identi-
fy where a mobi le subscri ber i s l ocated and what
hi s or her servi ce profi l e is, for the routi ng, and
processing of calls to (or by) the subscriber.
The GSM specifications have defined logically
separate functions and standard interfaces for each
of the databases, to allow each function to be imple-
mented on a physi cally separate network compo-
nent. The interfaces are specifi ed via the mobil e
appli cation part (MAP) that uses the transacti on
capability applications part (TCAP) of (SS7). These
are al l elements of an I N. GSM i s considered an
I Cellular network infrastructure.
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
I N appli cation and GSM providers are consi der-
i ng the GSM i mpl ementati on as experi ence i n
intelligent networking.
Numbering Plan
T
he numbering consists of at least one international
I SDN number allocated to either the mobile sub-
scri ber, if the mobile is card operated, or to the mobi le
station, otherwise. The mobile station I SDN (MSI S-
DN) conforms to the CCI TT E.164 recommenda-
ti on, and should, i n each country, compl y to that
countrys I SDN numbering plan. The MSI SDN num-
ber basi cal l y consi sts of a country code (CC), a
nati onal desti nati on code (NDC), which speci -
fies a PLMN within that country, and a subscriber
number (SN). This structure is shown in Fig. 2.
The MSI SDN number i s used for dial ing by a
call ing subscriber from the PSTN/I SDN, and is used
to route the call to the gateway MSC of the GSM net-
work. The GSM MSC then uses the MSI SDN to inter-
rogate the appropri ate HLR for the re-routi ng
information required to extend the call to the mobiles
visiting MSC.
The rerouti ng i nformati on i s speci fi ed by the
mobile station roaming number (MSRN) which is
obtained from the HLR and i s used to progress the
call to the cal l ed mobi le. The MSRN i s a tempo-
rary number, allocated by the VLR (associated wi th
the mobiles visiting MSC) and sent to the mobiles
HLR ei ther on l ocati on update (di scussed i n a
l ater secti on) or on a per cal l basi s. The MSRN
has the same structure as the MSI SDN numbers
in the visiting location area where it is allocated.
For provi sion of mobile packet data servi ces, a
mobil e i nternati onal data number conformi ng to
CCI TT recommendation X.121 may be specified.
GSM recommendation 03.70 discusses the require-
ments for the numbering interworki ng functions
required in this case.
Addressing and Call Rout ing
The MSI SDN number i s used for the routi ng of
calls within the PSTN/I SDN networks. The details
of cal l r outi ng r equi rements are di scussed i n
GSM recommendati on 03.04. The fol l owi ng
paragraphs provide a summary discussi on of pos-
sible scenarios involved in call routing.
Nat ional Calls f rom t he Fixed Net w ork
A local or transit exchange, when recei ving a call
desti ned for a mobil e, recogni zes the NDC, and
routes the cal l to a gateway MSC. The gateway
MSC performs the HLR query for the MSRN,
which it then uses to reroute the call.
Int ernat ional Calls f rom t he Fixed
Net w ork
When a local or transit exchange receives an inter-
national call and recognizes the internati onal pre-
fi x, it routes the cal l to the nearest I SC. The I SC
recogni zes that the NDC indicates a PLMN. I f it can
support HLR query (i.e., i f it has TCAP signaling
connecti vity to the HLR) i t queries the HLR and
receives the cal led subscribers roaming number and
routes the call to the visiting MSC. I f not, it routes
the cal l to the I SC of the home PLMN of the
called subscriber.
Nat ional Calls f rom Wit hin t he PLM N
When a l ocal exchange (MSC) receives a call destined
for a mobile, it queries the mobiles HLR for the roam-
ing number of the mobile. On receipt of the MSRN,
it routes the call to the called mobiles visiting MSC.
Addressing Ot her Component s of a
PLM N
Other components of a PLMN, whi ch may be
addr essed for the r outi ng of vari ous si gnal i ng
messages, are the MSCs, and the l ocati on regi s-
ters. I f these el ements are addressed from withi n
the same PLMN, the SS7 point codes (PC) can be
used. Otherwi se, for i nterPLMN routi ng, gl obal
titles (GT) deri ved, for instance, from the mobil e
country code (MCC) and the national destination
codes (NDC) are used.
Radio Channel Struct ure in GSM
I
n GSM, the radio channels are based on a TDMA
structure that is implemented on multiple frequency
subbands (TDMA/FDMA). Each base stati on i s
equipped with a certain number of these preassigned
frequency/time channels.
CEPT has made available two frequency bands
to be used by the GSM system. These are: 890-915
MHz for the direction mobile to base station, and
935-960 MHz for the di recti on base stati on to
mobi l e termi nal . These bands are di vi ded i nto
124 pairs of carriers spaced by 200 kHz, starting with
the pai r 890.2 MHz. Each cel l si te has a fi xed
assignment of a certain number of carriers, rang-
i ng from onl y one to usual l y not mor e than 15
c h a n n e l s.The cell ranges in size from 1 to several km.
The assi gned spectrum of 200 kHz per chan-
nel i s segmented i n ti me by usi ng a fi xed al l oca-
tion, time-division multiple access (TDMA) scheme.
The ti me axi s i s di vi ded i nto ei ght ti me sl ots of
length 0.577 ms. The sl ots numbered from ti me
slot 0 to 7 form a frame with length 4.615 ms. T h e
recurrence of one parti cul ar ti me sl ot i n each
frame makes up one physical channel.
The TDMA scheme uses a gross bit rate of about
270 kb/s (with a Gaussian mi ni mum shi ft keyi ng
modul ati on, GMSK) and requi res sophi st i c a t e d
adaptive receiver techniques to cope with the t r a n s-
mission probl ems caused by mul tipath fading.T h e
TDMA factor of 8 i n combi nati on with a carri er
spaci ng of 200 kHz would correspond to the earl i-
er analog system using single-channel per-carrier w i t h
a 25 kHz carrier spaci ng. The GSM di gital syst e m
allowed operati on at lower carri er to interference
(C/I ) ratio by using the gains provided by digi tal voice
compression along with channel codi ng (powerful
error correction). The reduced C/I rati o i n turn
al l owed the use of shorter channel reuse di s-
tances to achieve spectrum effi ciencies competi-
tive to that achieved by the analog systems.
The TDMA structure i s applied in both the for-
w a r d(base station to mobile) and the reverse ( m o b i l e
to base station) directions. The numberi ng, however,
is staggered by three time slots, to prevent the mobile
stati on from transmi tti ng and recei vi ng at the
I The structure for the GSM MSIS-
I n GSM,
the radio
channels are
based on a
TDMA
structure
that is
i m p l e m e n t e d
on multiple
f r e q u e n c y
s u b b a n d s
( T D M A /
F D M A ) .
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
same ti me. These ti me sl ots are used to carr y
user , and si gnal i ng or contr ol i nformati on i n
b u r s t s . The bursts are sl i ghtl y shorter than the
slots, namely .546 ms, to allow for burst timing align-
ment errors, delay di spersion on the propagati on
path, and for smooth switch on/off of the transmitter.
GSM defi nes a vari ety of traffi c and si gnal -
i ng/control channels of di fferent bit rates. These
channel s are assigned to logi cal channel s derived
from mul ti frame str ucturi ng of the basi c ei ght
sl otted TDMA frames just di scussed. For thi s
purpose, two mul ti frame structures have been
defined: one consisting of 26 ti me frames (result-
ing in a recurrence interval of 120 ms), and one com-
prising 51 time frames (or 236 ms).
The 26 mul ti frame i s used to defi ne traffi c
channel s (TCH), and their slow and fast associ at-
ed control channel s (SACCH and FACCH) that
carry link control information between the mobile
and the base stations. The TCH have been defined
to provide six different forms of services, that is, full-
rate speech or data channels supporting effective bit
rates of 13 kb/s (for speech), 2.4, 4.8, and 9.6 kb/s;
and the half-rate channels with effective bit-rates
of 6.5 (for speech) and kb/s, 2.4 kb/s, and 4.8 kb/s
for data (note that the gross bi t rates on these
channels are higher due to required channel coding,
22.8 kb/s for ful l -rate speech). The ful l -r ate
TCHs are impl emented on 24 frames of the mul-
tiframe, with each TCH occupying one time slot from
each frame. The SACCH i s i mpl emented on
frame 12 (numbered from 0), providing eight SACCH
channels, one dedicated to each of the eight TCH
channel s. Frame 25 in the multiframe is currently
i dl e and r eserved to i mpl ement the addi ti onal
eight SACCH required when half-rate speech chan-
nel s become a real i ty. The FACCH i s obtai ned
on demand by stealing from the TCH, and i s used
by either end for signaling the transfer character-
istics of the physi cal path, or other purposes such
as connection handover control messages. The steal-
i ng of a TCH sl ot for FACCH si gnal i ng i s i ndi -
cated through a flag within the TCH slot.
The 51-frame mul tiframe has a more complex
structure and we wi l l refer the reader to GSM
Recommendati on 05.0 for the speci fi c posi ti ons
of the various logical channels in the mul tiframe.
The 51-frame structure, however, is used to derive
the following signaling and control channels.
S D C C H Stand-al one dedi cated control chan-
nel i s used for the transfer of cal l control si gnal-
i ng to and from the mobi le during call setup. Like
the TCHs, the SDCCH has i ts own SACCH and
is released once call setup is complete.
B C C H Broadcast control channel i s used i n
the BSS to mobil e di rection to broadcast system
informati on such as the synchronization parame-
ters, avai lable services, and cell I D. This channel
is continuously active, with dummy bursts substi-
tuted when there i s no i nformati on to transmi t,
because its signal strengths are monitored by mobiles
for handover determination.
SCH Synchronization channel carries informa-
tion from the BSS for frame synchronization.
FCCH Frequency control channel carries infor-
mation from the BSS for carrier synchronization.
CCCH Common control channels are used for
transferri ng si gnal i ng i nformati on between al l
mobi les and the BSS for call origination and call-
paging functi ons. There are three common con-
trol channels:
PCH: paging channel used to call (p a ge) a mobil e
from the system.
RACH: random access channel used by the mobiles
tryi ng to access the system. The mobi l es use
the sl otted Al oha scheme over this channel for
requesting a DCCH from the system at call ini-
tiation.
AGCH: access grant channel used by the sys-
tem to assign resources to a mobile such as a DCCH
channel.
Note that the AGCH and the PCH are never used
by a mobile at the same ti me, and therefore are imple-
mented on the same logical channel. All the con-
trol si gnali ng channel s, except the SDCCH, are
i mpl emented on ti me sl ot 0 i n di fferent TDMA
frames of the 51 mul ti frames usi ng a dedi cated
RF carrier frequency assi gned on a per cell basis.
The multi frame structure for the SDCCH and its
associ ated sl ow associ ated control channel
(SACC) is implemented on one of the physical chan-
nels (TDM slots and RF carriers) selected by the sys-
tem operator.
M obilit y M anagement
M
obility management is concerned with the func-
ti ons of tracki ng the l ocati on of roami ng
mobiles and registering the information in appro-
pri ate network el ements, and handli ng connec-
tion handoffs for users in the communication process.
These functi ons are di scussed i n the fol l owi ng
sections.
Connect ion Handof f s
This may be done between channel s i n the same
cell, between channel s in di fferent cells under the
same BSS coverage, or between cel l s under the
coverage of di fferent BSSs, and even di ffer ent
MSCs. I n GSM, the BSS may autonomousl y han-
dl e the connecti on handoffs i n the same cel l, or
between cells under its own coverage. This is called
internal connection handoffs. The MSC is involved
i n managi ng connecti on handoffs that need to
take place between cel l s under coverage of two
different BSSs. These are cal led external connec-
tion handoffs. When the BSS indicates that an exter-
nal handover i s requi red, the deci si on of when
and whether an external handover shoul d occur
is then taken by the MSC. The MSC uses the signal
quality measurement information reported by the
mobile stations (MSs) which are pre-processed at
the BSS for external handover determination.
The origi nal MSC handl i ng a cal l wi l l al ways
keep control of the cal l in an external handover
to a different and even a subsequent MSC.
When the BSS performs an i nternal connec-
tion handoff, i t i nforms the MSC at the comple-
tion of the process. The need for a connection handoff
may be i ndi cated by the mobi l e user, thr ough
messagi ng on the FACH, for i nstance, or by the
BSS as i t keeps tracki ng the quali ty of the si gnal s
recei ved. The BSS moni tors the qual i ty of the
radi o si gnal recei ved and al so transmi ts such
results to the MSC who keeps a more gl obal view
on the radi o channel s belonging to its BSSs. The
Co m m o n
control
channels are
used for
t r a n s f e r r i n g
s i g n a l i n g
i n f o r m a t i o n
between all
mobiles and
the BSS
for call
o r i g i n a t i o n
and call-
paging
f u n c t i o n s .
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
MSC may al so i ni ti ate the need for a connecti on
handoff for traffi c reasons i n an attempt to bal -
ance out the traffic load in the network.
Handling of Locat ion Inf ormat ion
Location i nformation i s mai ntai ned and used by
the network to locate the user for call routing pur-
poses. The network regi sters the users l ocati on
in a register cal led the users, HLR, which i s asso-
ci ated with an MSC located in the PLMN, to which
the user i s subscribed. Each BSS keeps broadcast-
ing, on a periodic basi s, the cel l i denti ti es on the
broadcast control channels of the cell s under its
coverage. The mobiles wi thin each cell keep mon-
i tori ng such informati on. As changes in locati on
are detected (from the last informati on recorded
by them), they each report the new l ocati on to
the BSS which routes i t to the VLR, of the MSC
to which it is connected. The VLR , i n turn, sends the
location information to the users HLR, where i t
i s al so r ecorded. I n the meanti me, the HLR
di rects the ol d VLR to del ete the ol d vi si ti ng
location of the mobile from its data base, and also
sends a copy of the users ser vi ce profi l e to the
new VLR. Location updating is performed by the
mobi l i ty management (MM) protocol subl ayer
that will be discussed later in the article.
Call Rout ing and Signaling
A
call may be initiated by a mobile user to anoth-
er mobile or a fixed landline user, or in reverse,
by a fi xed landline user to a mobile. For routi ng a call
to a mobile user, however, the network si gnali ng
needs to first locate the mobile. We will illustrate this
for the case when a call is initiated by a landline user,
and then comment on the scenari o i n whi ch the
cal l i s i ni ti ated by a mobi l e to another mobi l e.
When the call i s i ni tiated by a mobi l e to a l and-
line user, the procedure is rather straightforward.
I n the case of a call initiated by a landline user,
the PSTN may use the mobile station I SDN num-
ber, MSI SDN, to route the call to the closest Gate-
way MSC within the mobiles PLMN. The GMSC in
turn uses the MSI SDN to interrogate the mobiles
HLR for the routing information required to extend
the cal l to the vi si ti ng MSC of the mobi l e at the
t i m e.This vi siting MSC (or more specifically the,V L R
within the local MSC) is identified in the mobiles
HLR by the MSRN which speci fies the visiting MSC.
The MSRN i s a temporary number al l ocated by
the VLR and sent to the HLR on location updat-
ing, or call ini tiation. The MSRN should have the
same structure as the MSI SDN numbers in the VLR
area where it is allocated. The VLR then initiates
the paging procedure and the MSC pages the mobil e
station wi th a pagi ng broadcast to all BSSs of the
locati on area, as the exact base station area of the
mobile may not be known. After paging response,
the current BSS is located. The RR and MM con-
necti ons are establ i shed, dur i ng whi ch both
authentication of the user (for access to the network),
as wel l as ci pher mode setti ng are performed.
The VLR then sends the required parameters for
call setup to the MSC, and may also assign the mobile
a new TMSI for the call. The MSC sends a setup mes-
sage to the mobile station.
The mobi l e stati on, on recei vi ng the set-up
message performs a compatibility check and returns
a call-confirmed message to the network, which may
i ncl ude the bearer capabi l i ty of the mobi l e sta-
ti on. The BSS may at thi s poi nt assi gn a traffi c
channel , TCH, to the cal l , or may assi gn i t at a
l ater stage, the l atest bei ng on recei pt of the
connect message from the mobi l e stati on. I f
user alerting is carried out at the MS, an alerting mes-
sage i s sent to the call i ng subscri ber. When, the
subscri ber answers the call , the MS sends a con-
nect message, which at the network side initiates the
compl eti on of the traffi c channel al l ocation and
swi tch through of the connecti on. The connect
message i s progressed to the cal li ng subscri ber.
The network al so sends an acknowl edgement to
the MS, that enters the active state.
I GSM protocol architecture.
I LAPDm address field format.
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
Prot ocol Layering
Archit ect ure
T
he GSM protocol archi tecture used for the
exchange of si gnal i ng messages pertai ning to
mobi lity, radio resource, and connection manage-
ment functi ons i s shown i n Fi g. 3. The protocol
l ayeri ng consi sts of the physi cal l ayer, the data
l i nk l ayer, and the Layer 3. I t i s noted to the
OSI -minded reader to be careful in not confusing
the Layer 3 protocol functi ons defined by GSM with
what i s normall y defi ned to be the Layer 3 func-
tions i n the OSI model . The GSM Layer 3 proto-
col s are used for the communi cati on of network
resource, mobility, code format and call-related man-
agement messages between the various network enti-
ti es involved. Since, in the OSI model, some of these
functions are actually provi ded by the higher lay-
er s, the term message l ayer may be a more
appropriate term for refering to the Layer 3 in GSM.
The message l ayer (Layer 3) protocol i s made up
of three subl ayers cal l ed the resource manage-
ment (RR) i mpl emented over the l i nk between
the MS and the BSS, the mobility management (MM),
and connecti on management (CM) subl ayer s
provi di ng the communi cati on between the MS
and the MSC. Layer 3 al so i mplements the mes-
sage transport part (MTP), l evel 3, and the si g-
naling connecti on control part of the CCI TT SS7 on
the l i nk between the BSS and the MSC (the A
i nterface) to provide the transport and address-
i ng functi ons for signaling messages belonging to the
vari ous cal l s routed through the MSC.I n di s-
cussing the functional ity provi ded by the Layer 3
in the GSM protocol stack, particular attention should
be paid to not confuse the details of this layers func-
ti onal i ty with what is commonl y provi ded by the
Layer 3 of the OSI protocol stack. I n GSM, the
CM, and MM subl ayers, for i nstance, provi de
actual l y some of the functi onal i ti es whi ch are
real i zed by the transport, the sessi on, and the
presentation layers of OSI , as will be seen later. The
functions of each protocol layer/sublayer is discussed
in some detail in the following.
Physical Layer
The physical layer on the radio link was discussed i n
the section on radio channel structure. The traffic
channels on the landside are formed from TDM slots
i mpl emented on 2.048 Mb/s l i nks (E1 tr unks).
The signaling channels are basically logically mul-
tiplexed on an aggregate of the TDM slots.
Link Layer on t he Air Int erf ace
The data li nk layer over the radio l ink (connect-
ing the MS to the BSS) is based on a LAPD-like pro-
tocol , l abel ed LAPDm, that has been modi fi ed
for operati on wi thi n the constrai nts set by the
r adi o path. I n par ti cul ar , LAPDm uses no
flags (and therefore no bit stuffing) for frame delim-
i tati on. I nstead, frame deli mi tation i n LAPDm is
done by the physical l ayer that defines the trans-
mission frame boundaries. LAPDm uses a Length
I ndi cator fi el d to di sti ngui sh the i nformati on
car ryi ng fi el d fr om fi l l -i n bi ts used to fi l l the
transmi ssi on frame. LAPDm uses an address
fi eld to carry the service access poi nt i denti fier,
(SAPI ), (3 bi ts i n thi s case) whi ch LAPD al so
uses to i dentify the user of the servi ce provi ded
by the protocol . When usi ng command/control
frames, the SAPI i denti fi es the user for whi ch
a command frame i s intended, and the user trans-
mitting a response frame. The format for the address
fi el d i s shown i n Fi g. 4. The 2-bi t l i nk protocol
discri mi nator (LPD) is used to specify a particu-
l ar recommendati on of the use of LAPDm, the
C/R i s a single bit which specifies a command or
response frame as used in LAPD, and a 1-bit extend-
ed address (EA) i s used to extend the address
fi el d to more than one octet (the EA bi t i n the
last octet of the address shoul d be set to 1, other-
wise to 0). The 8-bit is reserved for future uses.
LAPDm uses a contr ol fi el d as i s used i n
LAPD to carry sequence numbers, and to speci fy
the type of frame. LAPDm uses three types of frames
used for supervi sory functi ons, unnumbered
information transfer and control functions (unac-
knowl edged mode), and numbered information
transfer (mul ti frame acknowl edged mode) as
used in LAPD. LAPDm uses no cyclic redundan-
cy check bits for error detection. Error correction
and detection mechanisms are, instead, provided by
a combinati on of bl ock and convolutional coding
used (in conjuction with bit interleaving) in the phys-
i cal layer. The general frame format for LAPDm
is shown in Fig. 5.
Link Layer on t he A Int erf ace
On the terrestri al li nk connecti ng the BSS to the
MSC (the A i nterface), the MTP l evel 2 of the
SS7 protocol is used to provide the OSI Layer 2 func-
tions of reliable transport for the signal ing messages,
such as recovery from transmission errors through
error detection and retransmission.
M essage Layer Prot ocols and
Funct ions
Radio Resource (RR) M anagement
Sublayer
The RR management sublayer terminates at the BSS
and performs the functions of establ ishi ng physi-
cal connections over the radio for the purpose of
transmitting call-related si gnaling information such
as the establishment of signaling and traffic chan-
nels between a specific mobile user and the BSS. The
RR management functi ons are basi call y i mpl e-
mented in the BSS.
I LAPDm general frame format.
LA P D m
is a
L A P D- l i k e
protocol that
has been
modified for
o p e r a t i o n
within the
c o n s t r a i n t s
set by the
radio pass.
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
M obilit y M anagement Sublayer (M M )
The MM sublayer is terminated at the MSC and
the rel ated messages fr om or to the MS ar e
relayed transparently in the BSS using the DTAP
process. The MM subl ayer pr ovi des functi ons
that can be cl assi fi ed i nto three types of proce-
dures. These are called the MM specific procedures,
the MM common procedures, and the MM con-
necti on-rel ated procedures. These procedures
are discussed in the following.
M M Connect ion Relat ed Procedures
These are the procedures used to establi sh, main-
tain, and release a MM connection between the MS
and the network (MSC) over whi ch an enti ty of
the connecti on management (CM) subl ayer can
exchange i nformati on wi th i ts peer. More than
one MM connecti on may be acti ve at the same
ti me to serve mul ti pl e CM enti ti es. Each CM
entity within the MS will have its own MM connection,
and each connection i s identified by the protocol dis-
criminator, and a transaction identifier within the
related signali ng messages exchanged. The trans-
acti on i denti fi er i s sort of anal ogous to the cal l
reference used by I SDN to identify si gnaling mes-
sages from different cal ls on the D channel . Thus
parallel calls can be supported by the same MS which
are then i denti fi ed by a di fferent val ue for the
transacti on i denti fi er parameter. Establi shment
of a MM connection requires that no MM-specif-
ic procedure (discussed later) be active.
The MM connections provi de servi ces to the
di fferent enti ti es of the upper connecti on man-
agement (CM) subl ayer whi ch currentl y consi st
of the cal l control (CC), the short message ser-
vi ces (SMS), and the cal l -i ndependent suppl e-
mentary services (SS). An MM connection is initiated
by a CM service request message which i dentifies
the requesti ng CM enti ty and the type of service
requi red of the MM connecti on. The servi ces
provided by the MM connections include such things
as enciphering (for privacy of user information), and
authentication (of the users-access to the network
and the service requested) which would be actual-
ly provided by the presentation, and application l ay-
ers in the OSI framework. Each of these services
would involve the exchange of mul tiple messages
between the MS and the network before the required
MM connecti on i s established and the requesting
entity within the CM sublayer is notified.
M obilit y M anagement Specif ic
Procedures
The MM speci fi c pr ocedures do not set up an
MM connection. They can onl y be initiated when n o
other MM-specific procedure is running, and no MM
connecti on i s establ i shed. These proced u r e s
consist of location updating, and the I MSI attach
procedures. These are discussed in the following.
Locat ion Updat ing
Location updating is the procedure for keeping the
network informed of where the mobile is roaming.
Location updating is always initiated by the mobil e
station on ei ther detecting that it is in a new loca-
tion area by peri odicall y monitori ng the locati on
information broadcast by the network on the broad-
cast channel, and compari ng it to the information
previously stored in its memory, or by receiving an
i ndi cati on from the network that it is not known
in the VLR upon trying to establ ish an MM con-
nection. Anytime, the network updates the mobiles
locati on, it sends it an updatedtemporary mobile sub-
scriber i d e n t i f i c a t i o n ( T M S I ) , i n ci phered mode,
whi ch is stored in the MS and used for subsequent
mobil e identificati on in pagi ng and cal l initiati ng
operati ons. The purpose of usi ng the TMSI as
opposed to the users I MSI is to keep the subscribers
identity confidential on the radio link. The TMSI has
no GSM- specific structure, and has signi ficance only
wi thin the l ocation area assi gned. The TMSI has
to be combined with the location area identifier (LAI )
to provide for unambiguous identification outside
the area where it is assigned.
IM SI At t ach
The I MSI attach procedure is the complement of the
I MSI detach procedure, a functi on of the MM
common procedures (discussed later). Both of these
procedures are network options whose necessi ty
of usage are i ndi cated through a fl ag i n the sys-
tem i nformati on broadcast on the BCCH chan-
nel. The I MSI detach/attach procedures mark the
MS as detached/attached in the VLR (and option-
al ly i n the HLR) on MS power down or power up
or subscriber information module (SI M) removed or
i nserted (The I MSI detach disabl es the locati on
updati ng functi on to prevent unnecessary si gnal-
i ng overhead on the network). Any i ncomi ng
call s, i n that case, are either rejected or forward-
ed as may be specified by the user). The I MSI is used
to i ndi cate the I MSI as acti ve i n the network.
This procedure is invoked i f an I MSI i s activated
in a MS (power up, or SI M i nsertion) i n the cov-
erage area of the network, or an activated MS enters
the networks coverage area from outside. The I MSI
attach procedure is then performed onl y if the stored
l ocati on area at the ti me i s the same as the one
bei ng broadcast on the BCCH channel of the
serving cell . Otherwise, a normal l ocation u p d a t-
ing procedure is i nvoked regardl ess of whether the
network supports I MSI attach/detach procedures.
M M Common Procedures
The MM common procedures can be initiated at any
time while a dedicated radi o channel exists between
the network and the MS. They do not set up an
MM connecti on, but can be i ni ti ated duri ng an
MM specifi c procedure, or while an MM connection
is i n place. The MM Common procedures consi st
of I MSI detach, TMSI reallocation, and authenti-
cation/identification. These are discussed next.
IM SI Det ach
The I MSI detach procedure is invoked by the mobile
stati on to i ndicate i nactive status to the network.
No response or acknowledgement is returned to
the MS by the network on setti ng the acti ve flag
for the I MSI .
The I MSI detach procedure is not started if at the
time a MM-specific procedure is active. I n that case,
the I MSI detach procedure is delayed, if possibl e
unti l the MM-speci fi c procedure i s fini shed, oth-
erwise the I MSI detach request is omitted.
I f at the time of a detach request, a radio con-
necti on i s i n exi stence between the MS and the
network, the MM subl ayer wil l rel ease any ongo-
ing MM connections before the MM detach indi-
cation message is sent.
Lo c a t i o n
updating
is the
procedure
for keeping
the network
informed
of where
the mobile
is roaming.
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
TM SI Reallocat ion
The purpose of TMSI reallocation is to provide iden-
ti ty confi denti al i ty. That i s, to protect the user
from being i denti fied and located by an intruder.
This procedure must be performed at least at each
change of the MSC coverage area. Reall ocati on
in any other case is left to the network operator.
I f the TMSI provi ded by a mobi l e stati on i s
unknown in the network, for instance, in the case
of a data base fai l ure, the MS has to provi de i ts
I MSI on request from the network. I n thi s case
the identification procedure has to be performed
before the TMSI procedure can be initiated.
Aut hent icat ion
The purpose of the authenti cation procedure is
to l et the network veri fy the identi ty provi ded by
the user when requested, and to provi de a new cipher-
ing key to the mobile station. The cases when authen-
tication procedures shoul d be used are defined i n
GSM Recommendati on 02.09. The authenti ca-
ti on procedure i s al ways i niti ated and control l ed
by the network.
Ident if icat ion
This procedure is used by the network to request
a mobi le station to provide specific i dentificati on
parameters to the networ k, such as the users
i nter nati onal mobi l e subscri ber or equi pment
identifiers (IMSI or I MEI ). The mobile station should
be ready to respond to an i denti ty request mes-
sage at any ti me while RR connection exists between
the mobile and the network.
Connect ion M anagement
Sublayer (CM )
T
he CM sublayer terminates at the MSC and con-
tains entiti es that currently consist of CC includ-
ing call-related supplementary services, SMS, and
cal l independent supplementary services support
(SS). Once a MM connection has been establi shed,
the CM can use i t for i nformati on transfer. The
CC entity uses the CCI TT Q.931 protocol, with minor
modifications, for the communication of cal l con-
trol-related messages between the MS and the MSC.
The SMS i s a GSM-defined service that provides for
speedy packet mode ( connecti onless ) commu-
nication of messages up to 140 bytes between the MS
and a third party service center. These messages can
be sent or received by the mobile station whil e a voice
or data call is in the active or inactive state. I t is accept-
abl e, however, i f the servi ce i s aborted whi l e a
call is in a transi tional state such as handover or busy-
to-idl e. The servi ce center i s responsibl e for the
col l ecti on, storage, and del i very of shor t mes-
sages, and is outside the scope of GSM.
BSS Applicat ion Part (BSSAP)
T
he BSS, in addition to providing the channel switch-
ing and aerial functions, performs radio resource
management, and interworking functions b e t w e e n
the data l i nk protocol s used on the radio and the
BSS-MSC side for transporting signal ing-rel ated
m e s s a g e s . These functi ons are provi ded by the
BSS Management Application Process (BSSMAP),
and the Direct Transfer Application Process (DTAP).
The BSSMAP is used to impl ement al l proce-
dures between the MSC and the BSS that requi re
i nterpretati on and the processi ng of i nformati on
rel ated to si ngl e cal l s, and resour ce manage-
ment. Basi cally, the BSSMAP i s the process with-
i n the BSS that control s radi o resour ces i n
response to i nstructi ons from the MSC (i n that
sense, the BSSMAP represents the RR subl ayer
to the MSC). For i nstance, the BSSMAP i s used
in the assignment and switching of radio channels
at call setup, and handover processes.
The DTAP process is used for the transparent
transfer of MM/CM si gnaling messages between the
MS and the MSC. That i s, the DTAP functi on
provides the transport level protocol interworking
function for transferring Layer 3 signaling messages
from and to the MS to and from the MSC wi th-
out any analysis of the message contents.
Signaling Transport Prot ocols
T
he CCI TT SS7 MTP and SCCP protocols are
used to i mpl ement both the data li nk and the
Layer 3 transport functions for carrying the call con-
trol and mobility management signaling messages
on the BSS-MSC link. The MM and CM sublayer
signaling information from the mobile station is rout-
ed over si gnal i ng channel s (such as the DCCH,
SACCH, FACCH) to the BSS from where they are
transparentl y rel ayed through the DTAP process
to an SCCP, of CCI TT SS7 type l ogi cal channel ,
assigned for that call, on the BSS-MSC link for trans-
mission to the peer CC entity in the MSC for pro-
cessi ng. Si mi larl y, any cal l si gnali ng i nformati on
i ni ti ated by the MSC on the SCCP connection i s
relayed through the DTAP process i n the BSS to the
assi gned si gnal i ng channel , usi ng the LAPDm
data li nk protocol, for delivery to the mobile station.
The i nterworki ng between the Layer 2 proto-
col on the radio side and the SS7 on the BSS-MSC
li nk i s provi ded by a distribution data unit withi n
the i nformation field of the SCCP. These param-
eters are known as the discrimination, and the data
l i nk connecti on i denti fi er (DLCI ) parameters.
The discrimination parameter (currently dedi cat-
ed one octet) uses a single bit to address a message
either to the DTAP or the BSSMAP processes. The
DLCI parameter (sized one octet) i s made up of two
subparameters that identify the radio channel type
(such as the DCCH, SACCH, FACCH), and the
Service Access Point I nterface (SA P I )value (in the
LAPDm protocol) used for the message on the radio
li nk. The SCCP provides for the logical multiplexing
of signal ing information from different calls onto
the same physical channel (such as a si ngl e 64 kb/s
slot of a 2.048 Mb/s E1 trunk) on the BSS-MSC link.
For each call supported by a BSS, an SCCP logical
connection is established on the BSS-M S Cl ink. A n y
information pertaining to a specificcall flows through
i ts associ ated SCCP connecti on and that i s how
si gnal i ng i nformati on exchange pertai ni ng t o
different calls are identified in the BSS or MSC.
The connectionless service mode of the SCCP
is al so supported for the transfer of OA&M relat-
ed messages as wel l as BSSMAP messages that
do not pertain to any specific call (Note that BSSMAP
messages pertai ning to specific cal ls, such as hand-
off messages, ar e transmi tted usi ng the SCCP
connection established for the call). The SCCP rout-
i ng function uses the SubSystem Number (SSN)
The authenti-
cation proce-
dure allows
the network
to verify the
identity pro-
vided by the
user when
r e q u e s t e d ,
and to pro-
vide a new
ciphering key
to the mobile
s t a t i o n .
I EEE Communications Magazine April 1993
in the Service I nformation Octet (SI O) within the
MTP l evel 3 message to di sti ngui sh messages
addressed to the OA&M functi on fr om those
addressed to either the DTAP or the BSSMAP appli-
cation parts. The high-level address translati on capa-
bility of the SCCP, known as global title translation,
may then be used to provi de addi ti onal address-
i ng capabi l i ti es such as use of E.164 numberi ng
for addr essi ng di fferent OA&M enti ti es. The
global titl e translation feature of the SCCP al so pro-
vides the MSC the capabi li ty to address si gnaling
messages to remote MSCs that may be l ocated in
a different PLMN.
The interworking functions between the CM, MM
and BSSMAP enti ti es and the correspondi ng
entities of the SS7 (i.e., the I SDN-UP), MAP, SCCP,
and the transactions capabi l iti es appl ication part
(TCAP) is provided by the MSC.
Paging
P
agi ng messages for mobi l es are sent vi a the
BSSMAP to the BSS as a connectionless mes-
sage through the SCCP/MTP. The pagi ng mes-
sage may i ncl ude the mobi l es I MSI in order to
al l ow deri vati on of the paging popul ati on num-
ber. A single paging message transmitted to the BSS
may contain a l ist of cells in which the page is to be
broadcast. The larger the paging area is defi ned, the
l ower the frequency of locati on updates and hence
the associ ated traffi c overhead on the network.
On the other hand, l arge pagi ng areas resul t i n
i ncreased use of transmi tti ng power as well as the
radio resources (channels). Therefore, the optimum
si ze for the pagi ng area (locati on area) i s detem-
i ned by a proper bal ance between the costs of
paging and the costs of location updates.
The paging messages received from the MSC are
stored in the BS, and corresponding paging messages
are transmitted over the radio interface at the appro-
priate time. Each pagi ng message relates to only one
mobile station and the BSS has to pack the pages into
the relevant 04.08 paging message (include Layer
3 information). Once a pagi ng message is broad-
cast over the radio channel(s), i f a response message
is received from the mobile, the rel evant signaling
connecti on i s set up towards the MSC and the
page response message is passed to the MSC.
Summary Remarks
T
he descripti on of the GSM network functions,
system architecture and protocol s are spread
over a large number of GSM documents, each of
which contains many details with some of the crit-
ical issues and hi ghli ghts covered withi n those detail s.
Therefore, i t i s not an easy task to extract out
some of the crucial concepts and design specifics,
and present i t i n some l ogi cal and wel l -r el ated
format. I have tried my best, however, to achieve this
goal in this article.
This articl e was meant to provide a concise, brief,
but adequately detailed description of the GSM sys-
tem and protocol architecture that can serve as a
qui ck, rather sel f-contai ned conceptual frame-
work for extending and relating the mobility-specific
functi ons of the next generati on personal com-
munication networks to the GSM network functions,
and the protocols used to achi eve them. Final ly, a
l i st of r eferences have been provi ded for any
more detailed information on the issues addressed
in the article.
Acknow legement s
The author woul d l i ke to thank Bomber Bi shop
and Davi d Leeper from Motorol a, and Prapeep
Sherman from AT&T for thei r careful reading of
the ori gi nal manuscri pt and for provi di ng useful
comments.
Ref erences
[ 1] W.C.Y. Lee, Spect rum Ef f i ci ency i n Cel l ul ar, IEEE Tr ans. on Veh. Tech. ,
vol . 38, no. 2, M ay 1989.
[ 2 ] W. C. Y. Lee, Spect r um Ef f i ci ency an d Di g i t al Cel l u l ar, 3 8t h I EEE
Veh. Tech. Conf . Records, pp.643, June 1988..
[ 3 ] GSM Recom m end at i o n 0 4.0 3 , M S- BSS In t erf ace: Ch an nel St ru c-
t ures and Access Capabi l i t i es.
[ 4 ] GSM Reco m m en d at i on 05 . 01 , Ph ysi cal Li n k Layer o n t h e Rad i o
Pat h (General Descri pt i on).
[ 5 ] GSM Recomm en d at i on 05 . 02, M u l t i pl exi ng and M ul t i p l e Access
on t he Radi o Pat h.
[ 6] Conf erence Proceedi ngs, Di git al Cel l ular Radi o Conf erence, Hagen FRG,
Oct . 1988.
[7] GSM Recommendat i on 00 2.02, Bearer Servi ces Support ed by a PLM N.
[ 8 ] GSM Reco m m en d at i on 0 9 . 01 , Gen er al Asp ect s on PLM N I n t er -
w o r k i n g .
[ 9] GSM Recom mend at i on 0 3. 04, Si gnal i ng Requ i rem en t s Rel at ed t o
Rout i ng of Cal l s t o M obi l e Subscri bers.
[10 ] GSM Recommendat i on 08.02, BSS-MSC Int erf ace-Int erf ace Principles.
[ 11] GSM Recommendat i on 08.04, BSS-M SC Layer 1 Speci f i cat i ons.
[ 12] GSM Recom mend at i on 08 .06, Si gnal i ng Transpor t M echan i sms
f or BSS-M SC Int erf ace.
[ 13 ] GSM Reco mm en da t i o n 09 . 02 , M o b i l e Ap pl i cat i o n Par t ( M AP)
Speci f i cat i on.
[ 14] GSM Recommendat i on 08.08, BSS-M SC Layer 3 Speci f i cat i ons.
[ 15 ] GSM Reco m men d at i o n 04 .0 8, M o bi l e Ra di o I n t erf ace-Layer 3
Speci f i cat i ons.
Biography
M O E RA H N EM A r ecei ved a B. S. degr ee i n en g i neeri ng sci en ce f r o m t he
Uni versi t y of Kent u cky at Lexi n gt o n i n 197 8 w i t h h onor s. He r ecei ved
t he M .S. d eg ree an d t he more advan ced eng i neeri n g degr ee i n Avi on -
i cs f ro m M IT i n 198 1. From 1983 t o 198 4, he t aught and st udi ed com -
muni cat ion sci ences at Nort heast ern Uni versi t y f rom w hi ch he also r eceived
t he Engi n eer degr ee i n el ect ri cal and comput er engi neer i ng wi t h Ph.D-
l evel cou rsew or k. He w o rked as a sen i o r com mu ni cat i o n desi gn en gi -
neer at i nf i net i n Andover, M ass f r om 1 984 t o 1985 , where he designed
t he di gi t al sig nal p rocessi ng f i rmw are f or a 4800 baud modem. From 198 5
t o 1989, he w or ked as a member of t he t echni cal st af f at GTE Laborat ori es,
an d dev el o p ed a new syst em ar ch i t ect u r e f o r f a st p acket sw i t ch i n g
based on t he sl ot t ed ri ng concept ( publ i shed i n IEEE Transact i ons on Com -
m u n i c a t i o n s, Apr i l 1990 ). From 1989 t o 19 9 1, h e w o r ked as a p ri n ci -
pal engineer at Arinc on t he design and analysi s of ai r/ground communicat ion
n et w o r ks f o r t h e ai rl i n es i n dust r y. He j o i ned M o t o r o l a as a p ri nci pa l
co mm uni cat i o n en gi n eer i n 1 992, an d si nce has b een w orki ng o n t he
Ir i d i um sat el l i t e p r oj ect . Hi s i n t erest s i n cl u de w i rel ess n et w orks, com -
muni cat i on syst ems, and di gi t al si gnal processi ng.
The o p t i m u m
size for the
paging a r e a
is determined
by a proper
b a l a n c e
between t h e
costs of
paging and
the costs of
l o c a t i o n
u p d a t e s .