Speech Coding
 
GSM is a digital communications standard, but voice is analog, and therefore it must be converted to a digital bit
stream. GSM uses Pulse Coded Modulation (64kbps) to digitize voice, and then uses the Full-Rate speech codec to
remove the redundancy in the signal and achieve a bit rate of 13 kbps
 
Please go to the Coding Section to learn more about speech coding

  Channel Coding 
 Channel Coding   Once the voice signal has been coded into a digital bit stream. extra bits are added to the bit stream
so that the receiver can recognize and correct errors in the bit stream which could have occurred during transmission.
GSM uses a technique called convolutional coding.   Please go to the Coding Section to learn more about channel
coding  
 

  Interleaving  
Interleaving is the processes of rearranging the bits. Interleaving allows the error correction algorithms to correct more of the
errors that could have occured during transmission. By interleaving the code, there is less possibility that a whole chuck of code
can be lost.   Consider this example to see how interleaving works.   We need to transmit 20 bits. Furthermore, 10 bits can be
transmitted in one transmission burst, and the error correcting mechanism can correct 3 errors per 10 bits. Take a look at the
following two scenarios:
    With interleaving the receiver is able to get
all 20 bits correctly but without interleaving we lose 1 complete burst.   In GSM the interleaving is much more complicated than
the simple example above. The 456 bits outputed by the convolutional encoder are divided into 57 bit blocks by selecting the
0th, 8th, 16th through 448th bits in the first block, the 1st, 9th 17th through 448th bits in the 2nd block and so on to have 8
blocks [2]. Then the bits in the first 4 blocks are placed in the even bit positions for the total block of 456 bits, and the bits in the
second set of 4 blocks are placed in the odd positions [2].

  Multiple Access  
GSM allows many users to use their cellphones at the same time. GSM uses a combination of Time-Division Multiple Access
(TDMA) and Frequency-Division Multiple Acess (FDMA) to share the limited bandwith that is provided by regulators to the
service providers.   FDMA divides the spectrum into small slices, and then each frequency slice is seperated in time into many
blocks by TDMA. An individual using GSM receives a block every several blocks.   The transmission of the voice signal is no longer
continious because of the division of the the frequency slice in time, but the data is transmitted in bursts. The burst assembly
operation takes the final encoded data and groups it into bursts.   Please go to the Multiple Access Section to learn the specific
GSM FDMA and TDMA implementations,how a frequency is chosen for a particular user, and how the data is divided into bursts.

 Ciphering  
Ciphering is used to encrypt the data so that no one can overhear the conversation of another user.   In GSM the two parties
involved in encrypting and decrypting the data are the Authentication Center (AuC) and the SIM card in the mobile phone. Each
SIM card holds a unique secret key, which is known by the AuC. The SIM card and AuC then, follow a couple algorithms to first
authenticate the user, and then encryt and decrypt the data.   For authentication, the AuC sends a 128-bit random number to the
mobile phone [1]. The SIM card uses it's secret key and the A3 algorithm to perform a function on the random number and sends
back the 32-bit result [1]. Since the AuC knows the SIM card's secret key, it performs the same function, and checks that the
result obtained from the mobile phone matches the result it obtained. If it does, the mobile user is authenticated.   Once
authentication has been performed, the random number and the secret key are used in the A8 algorithm to obtain a 64-bit
ciphering key [1]. This ciphering key is used with the TDMA frame number in the A5 algorithm to generate a 114 bit sequence [1].
Note: the ciphering key is constant throughout a conversation, but the 114 bit sequence is different for every TDMA frame.   The
114 bit sequence is XORed with the two 57 bit blocks in a TDMA burst [1]. The only user that can decrypt the data is the mobile
phone or the AuC since they are the only ones that have access to the secret key, which is needed to generate the ciphering key,
and the 114 bit sequence.   Note that the A3, A5, and A8 algorithms are not known to the public domain, however some
information about A5 has been leaked. It is known that A5 has a 40-bit key length, which allows for the encryption to be broken
in a matter of days, but since cellular calls have a short lifetime, the weakness of the algorithm is not an issue [3].
  Modulation
 
The original analog voice signal, has been digitized, interleaved, grouped, and encoded, and the digital data is ready to
be transmitted. The digital bit stream must be encoded in a pulse and transmitted over radio frequencies.
 
Modulation changes the '1' and '0's in a digital representation to another representation that is more suitable for
transmission over airwaves.
 
Please go to the Modulation to learn about the how the bit representation is changes, and what is transmitted.