Traffic Rates

GSM has standardized voice codec for the air interface

Full-rate (FR) codec reduces the 64 kbit/s voice
stream to about 13 kbit/s.
Enhance FR (EFR) is proposed with better quality at
the same rate.
Half-rate (HR) codec
has been defined for GSM that only requires a
bandwidth of 7 kbit/s.
While there is almost no audible difference
between the EFR codec and a PCM-coded
speech signal, the voice quality of the HR codec
is noticeably inferior.
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Traffic Rates
260 bits of voice data is generated every 20 ms (13
kbps).
By adding forward error correction (FEC), the data is
converted to 456 bits.
The bits are interleaved to reduce effect of burst error.
26 frames composes a voice multi-frame.
One burst of 24 frames is assigned for a TCH channel.
One burst is left for SAACH and one burst is used to
listen to the BCCH of the neighboring cell for hand off.
Transmission rate: 24ⅹ114/(120 ms) = 22.8bps

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Transcoding and Rate Adaptation Unit (TRAU)
In the mobile network, the compression and decompression
of the voice data stream is performed in the Transcoding and
Rate Adaptation Unit (TRAU),
TRAU is responsible for trans-coding the user data from
12.2~16Kb/sec to standard ISDN rates of 64Kb/sec.
It can physically reside on either BSC side or MSC side.
• If it resides on the
MSC side, it provides
substantial changes in
the backhaul – 4 users
over a single E-1
TDMA channel.

Page 35 Cellular Networks

GSM Core Structure

36 Cellular Networks
GSM Components

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The Base Station Controller (BSC)
Designed to offload most of the radio link related processes
from the BTS and MSC (establishment, release and
maintenance of all connections of cells connected to).
Switch calls from MSC to correct BTS.
The BSC is responsible for radio resource
managements
Activate, monitor, assign, and release all signaling and voice
channels in the connected BTSs.
Make the decisions for the handover between BTSs.
It is in charge of controlling the transmission power for every air
interface connection.

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The Base Station Controller (BSC)
Control channel assignment is based on BSC decision.
Traffic channel is requested by the MSC for both mobile-
originated and mobile-terminated calls.
Once the mobile device and the MSC have exchanged all
necessary information for the establishment of a voice call via
an SDCCH, the MSC sends an assignment request for a voice
channel to the BSC.
The interface between the BTS and BSC is called A-bis.
Generally carried by a DS-1, ES-1, or E1 TDM circuit.
Uses TDM subchannels for traffic (TCH), LAPD protocol
for BTS supervision and telecom signaling, and carries
synchronization from the BSC to the BTS and MS.

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The Base Station Controller (BSC)
It can happen that the subscriber roams out of the
coverage area of the cell in which the call was initially
established.
In this case, the BSC has to redirect the call to the
appropriate cell. This procedure is called handover
(handoff).
Handover decision is made by BSC using channel
measurements:
The downlink signal quality measurements are reported to the
BSC by the mobile device via SACCH.
The uplink signal quality is constantly measured by the BTS and
reported to the BSC.

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Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
It is a regular ISDN switch center with some functionality
to support mobility.
All the calls are routed (switched) via MSC.
The management activities to establish and maintain a
connection are part of the Call Control (CC) protocol
Registration of mobile subscribers as MS is switched on.
Call establishment and switching.
Forwarding of SMS messages.

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Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
As subscribers can roam freely in the network, the MSC
is also responsible for the Mobility Management (MM)
Authentication of subscribers at connection establishment.
If no active connection exists between the network and the
mobile device, the MSC has to report a change of location.
If the subscriber changes its location while a connection is
established with the network, the MSC is part of the process
that ensures that the connection is not interrupted and is
rerouted to the next cell.

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Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
The MSC is connected to each BSC via a number of 2-
Mbit/s E-1 (31 users) connections. This interface is called
the A-interface and usually is carried over SDH.
As an MSC only has a limited switching capacity and
processing power, a PLMN is usually composed of
dozens of independent MSCs. Each MSC thus covers
only a certain area of the network.
One of the MSC has an added functionality for
communication with public network – Gateway MSC
(GMSC).
MSCs are connected together via E-interface.
MSC records all the billing and transfer it to the billing
server.
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The Home Location Register (HLR)
The HLR is the subscriber database of a GSM network.
The International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) is an
internationally unique number that identifies a subscriber.
The C-interface is used to connect the MSCs of a network
with the HLR of the mobile network.
The Basic Parameters stored in the HLR are listed below:
Subscriber ID
Current Subscriber VLR (Current Location)
Supplementary Services Subscriber to
Subscriber Status (Registered or Deregistered)
Authentication Key and AUC Functionality
The network may contain more than one HLR, but there is
only one database record per subscriber

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The Visitor Location Register (VLR)
Each MSC has an associated Visitor Location Register
(VLR).
It holds the record of each subscriber that is currently
served by the MSC.
These records are only a copy of the original records,
which are stored in the HLR.
The VLR is mainly used to
reduce the signaling between
the MSC and the HLR.
VLR is simply implemented as a
software component in the
MSC.

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Other Components
Operation Maintenance Center (OMC)
In charge of monitoring all the components of the network,
error and failure detection, SLA provisioning.
Authentication center (AUC)
Usually part of HLR.
The AUC contains an individual key per subscriber (Ki), which
is a copy of the Ki on the SIM card of the subscriber.

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