ELC 443: Selected Topics (1)

GSM
(Part 3)
Lecturer: Dr. Reham Samir
 References
n Behrouz A. Forouzan “Data Communication and
Networking” (5th Edition), McGraw Hill, 2015.

n Theodore S. Rappaport “Wireless Communications

Principles and Practice” (2nd edition), Prentice
Hall,2002.

n Martin Sauter “Communication Systems for the

Mobile Information Society” (1st Edition), Wiley,
2006.
n Javier Gozalvez Sempere “An overview of the GSM
system”.
 Channel Structure
n Physical channels are all the available time slots.

n Logical channels are traffic and control data carried by time slots.

n The first two timeslots are usually used for common logical signaling
channels while the remaining six independent timeslots are used for
user data channels.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves

Different operations that have to be performed in order to pass from the speech source to radio waves and vice versa.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves

n If the source of information is data and not speech, the

speech coding will not be performed.
n Speech Coding
n The GSM speech codec will transform the analog signal
(voice) into a digital representation and compress the
human voice.

n The speech signal is divided into blocks of 20 ms. These

blocks are then passed to the speech codec, which has a
rate of 13 kbps, in order to obtain blocks of 260 bits.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n The Channel coding adds redundancy bits to the original
information in order to detect and correct errors occurred during
the transmission.

n The channel coding is performed using two codes: a block code

and a convolutional code.

n The block code receives an input block and adds parity bits at
the end of the input block.

n A convolutional code also adds redundancy bits in order to

protect the information but a convolutional encoder contains
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n A convolutional code can be defined by three variables : k, n
and K. The value k corresponds to the number of bits at the
input of the block, n to the number of bits at the output of the
encoder and K to the memory of the encoder.

n For the computation of the output, the coder uses not only the
current input but also uses information about the values of the
previous inputs.

n The ratio, R, of the code is defined as follows : R = k/n.

 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Consider a convolutional code with the following values: k is
equal to 1, n to 2 and K to 5. This convolutional code uses then
a rate of R = 1/2 and K = 5.

n This means that it will add a redundant bit for each input bit.

n For the computation of the output bits, the coder uses not only
the current bit but also uses information about the values of the
previous 5 consecutive bits in order to compute the redundancy
bit.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Speech Channels

n Before applying the channel coding, the 260 bits of a

GSM speech signal are divided in three different
classes according to their importance.

n The most important class is the class Ia.

n Next in importance is the class Ib.

n The least important is the class II.

 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Speech Channels
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Speech Channels
n The most important class is the class Ia containing 50 bits
which are extremely important for the overall reproduction
of the voice signal at the receiver side.

n Next in importance is the class Ib, which contains 132 bits.

The least important is the class II, which contains the
remaining 78 bits.

n The class Ia bits are block-coded. Three parity bits, used

for error detection, are added to the 50 class Ia bits.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Speech Channels
n The resultant 53 bits are added to the class Ib bits. Four
zero bits are added to this block of 185 (50+3+132) bits.

n A convolutional code, with r = 1/2 and K = 5, is then

applied (half-rate convolutional coder), obtaining an output
block of 378 bits.

n The class II bits are added to the output block of the

convolutional coder. An output block of 456 bits is finally
obtained.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Data TCH Channels

n The channel coder receives an input block of 240 bits

and adds four zero tail bits at the end of the input
block. The output is consequently a block of 244 bits.

n The convolutional code uses a rate of 1/2, then a block

of 488 bits is generated. These 488 bits are punctured
in order to produce a block of 456 bits.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Channel Coding
n Channel Coding for the GSM Control Channels

n The signalling information is just contained in 184

bits.

n Forty parity bits, and four zero bits are added to the
184 bits before applying the convolutional code (r =
1/2 and K = 5).

n The output of the convolutional code is then a block of

456 bits.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Interleaving
n Due to the redundancy added by the channel coder, it is
possible to correct a high number of faulty bits.

n But if several consecutive bits are changed during the

transmission over the air interface, the channel decoder is
not able to correctly reconstruct the original frame.

n The interleaving rearranges a group of bits in a particular

way to improve the performance of the error correction
mechanisms.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Interleaving
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Interleaving
n The interleaving decreases the possibility of losing whole bursts
during the transmission, by dispersing the errors.

n Being the errors less concentrated, it is then easier to correct

them.

n On the receiver side, the frames are put through the de-
interleaver, which puts the bits again into the correct order.

n If several consecutive bits are changed due to air interface signal

distortion, this operation disperses the faulty bits and the channel
decoder can thus correctly restore the original bits.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Interleaving
n Interleaving for the GSM speech channels
n A burst in GSM transmits two blocks of 57 data bits each.

n The block of 456 bits, obtained after the channel coding, is

divided into eight blocks of 57 bits fit into eight bursts.

n The interleaving depth for speech channels is eight.

n A disadvantage of the interleaver for speech channels is an

increased delay of the voice signal as a speech signal is
spread over eight bursts instead of being transmitted
consecutively in four bursts.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Interleaving
n Interleaving for the GSM data TCH channels
n A particular interleaving scheme, with an interleaving depth
equal to 22, is applied to the block of 456 bits obtained after
the channel coding.

n Interleaving for the GSM control channels

n The 456 bits corresponding to the output of the channel
coder is divided in eight blocks of 57 bits fit into four bursts.

n Therefore the interleaving depth for control channels is four.

 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Burst Assembling
n The busrt assembling procedure is in charge of grouping
the bits into bursts.
n Ciphering

n Ciphering is used to protect (encrypt) signaling and user

data.

n In order to encrypt the data stream, a ciphering key (Kc) is

calculated in the authentication center and on the SIM
card.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Ciphering
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Ciphering
n Kc is calculated by using a random number (RAND) (this
random number is the same as the one used for the
authentication procedure) and the secret key (Ki) as input
parameters for the A8 algorithm.

n Together with the GSM frame number, Kc is used as input

parameter for the A5 ciphering algorithm.

n The A5 algorithm computes a 114-bit sequence which is

XOR combined with the bits of the original data stream.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Ciphering
n A number of different ciphering algorithms have been
specified for GSM. These are called A5/1, A5/2, A5/3, and
so on.

n The A5 algorithm is implemented in the hardware of the

mobile phone.

n The selection of the ciphering algorithm depends on the

capabilities of the mobile station.

n During the establishment of a connection, the mobile station

informs the network which ciphering algorithms it supports.
 From Source Information to Radio Waves
n Modulation
n The modulator maps the digital data onto an analog
carrier, which uses a bandwidth of 200 kHz.

n The modulation chosen for the GSM system is the

Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK).

n GMSK has been selected for GSM as its modulation and

demodulation properties are easy to handle and implement
into hardware and due to the fact that it interferes only
slightly with neighboring channels.