GSM AIR INTERFACE

14.08.2012 mtd-8101

(Group V) {
KIPYEGON ODUNGA KABUGA OKEROSI BITOK

Introduction
This presentation will cover in summary the following: 1. The air interface or radio interface refers to the manner in which communication is achieved between the mobile handset and the base station. 2. Modulation techniques allow us to put information onto the radio wave. 3. Multiple Access techniques allow us to share the limited resources of the radio

spectrum among a number of users.

4. In GSM, there are many signaling and communication activities that must be carried out. These are specified as logical channels, which must be mapped onto the physical channels provided by the radio interface. 5. This mapping is achieved by using Multiframes.

Introduction to GSM Air Interface

A GSM interface is used to strictly define the actions, procedures and functions that must be implemented before any two or more GSM network elements can communicate.

The air interface also known as Um refers to the manner in which communication is achieved between the mobile station and the base station. Its also referred to as the radio interface.

Modulation
Definition The process of putting a baseband signal (voice or data) onto a carrier wave

Modulation techniques

Analogue:
-

Amplitude modulation (AM) Frequency modulation (FM)

Digital:
-

Pulse code Modulation (PCM) Frequency Shift Key modulation(FSK) Phase Shift Key modulation (PSK) Gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK)

Multiple Access Techniques in GSM

Access technique allow several users to share the limited resources of the radio spectrum among a number of users.

GSM applies two forms of multiple access

FDMA- Frequency division multiple access - provides carriers TDMA- Time division multiple access - share access to the carriers Code division multiple access (CDMA )but not

The third method of Multiple Access is

applied in GSM networks.

These methods of access can be used together in one network to reduce congestion.

FDMA
Frequency Division Multiple Access Available frequency spectrum is divided into channels each

of the same bandwidth

Channel separation achieved by filters:

Good selectivity Guard bands between channels

Signaling channel required to allocate a traffic channel to

a user Only one user per frequency channel at any time

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access Access to available spectrum is limited to timeslots

User is allocated the spectrum for the duration of one timeslot

Timeslots are repeated in frames

Frequency Allocation

GSM Uses both FDMA and TDMA multiple access techniques for both the 900 and 1800 bands.

Both uplink and downlink have each 25mhz of total spectrum available

The spectrum is divided into 124 carrier frequencies /channels

Space between two carrier frequencies is 200khz

Each carrier has 8 time slots

Frequency Plan 900MHz band

Protocols on the GSM air Interface

Speech over the radio interface

GSM Channels
We have two types of channels in GSM Physical Channels - The physical resource available for use Logical Channels - The various ways that we use the resource

A physical channels is shared as carriers through methods such as FDMA and TDMA. A logical channel is however divided into Traffic channels and Control channels. See below:

Traffic Channel - Timeslots

A full rate traffic channel is allocated to one timeslot. Normally, bits 1-7 of timeslot 0 are used for control signaling. TCH/F = 13 Kb/s voice or 9.6 Kb/s data TCH/H = 6.5 Kb/s voice or 4.8 Kb/s data One Physical channel (equivalent of 1 Timeslot )can support 1 TCH/F or 2 TCH/H

The half rate is normally implemented if there is congestion in the network.

Logical Channels
TCH - Traffic Channels TCH/F Traffic Channel (full rate) (U/D) TCH/H Traffic Channel (half rate) (U/D) BCH Broadcast Channels FCCH Frequency Correction Channel (D) SCH Synchronization Channel (D) BCCH Broadcast Control Channel (D) CCCH Common Control Channels PCH Paging Channel (D) RACH Random Access Channel (U) AGCH Access Grant Channel (D) CBCH Cell Broadcast Channel (D) NCH Notification Channel (D) DCCH Dedicated Control Channels SDCCH Stand alone Dedicated Control Channel (U/D) FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel (U/D)
U-Uplink D- Downlink

GSM Frame structure

The basic element in the GSM frame structure is the frame itself. It comprises the eight slots, each used for different users within the TDMA system

It defines the structure upon which all the timing and structure of the GSM messaging and signaling is based.

The fundamental unit of time is called a burst period and it lasts for approximately 0.577 ms (15/26 ms).
Eight of these burst periods are grouped into what is known as a TDMA frame.

Frame Hierarchy

TDMA Frames
-

Time Division means that the frequency is divided up into blocks of time and only certain logical channels are transmitted at certain times. The time divisions in TDMA are known as Time Slots. Each TDMA frame is divided into 8 time slots GSM uses Gaussian Minimum-Shift Keying (GMSK) as its modulation method. -GMSK provides a modulation rate of 270.833 kilobits per second (kb/s). At that rate, a maximum of 156.25 bits can be transmitted in each time slot (576.9 s).

TDMA Multiframes
TDMA frames are grouped into two types of Multiframes

26-frame Multiframes for traffic channels (Traffic channel Multiframes) which is composed of 26 TDMA frames

51-frame Multiframes for control channels (Control channel Multiframes) which is

composed of 51 TDMA frames

Traffic Channel (TCH) Multiframes

The diagram shows a Traffic Channel (TCH) Multiframes with TS2 (green) being allocated to a Mobile Station (MS). The red arrow indicates the sequence of transmission. The sequence starts in TDMA frame 0 at TS0, proceeds through all eight time slots, then starts again with TDMA frame 1. The MS has been allocated a Traffic Channel in TS2. Therefore the MS will only transmit/receive during TS2 of each TDMA frame.

Bursts

The information content carried in is called a burst. Each burst allows 8.25 bits for guard time. This is to prevent bursts from overlapping and interfering with transmissions in other time slots.

There are four main types of bursts

1.NORMAL BURST

This GSM burst is used for the standard communications between the basestation and the mobile, and typically transfers the digitized voice data.

2.FREQUENCY CORRECTION BURST

This burst is used for frequency synchronization of the mobile station. The broadcast of the FB usually occurs on the logical channel FCCH.
It is used for time synchronization of the mobile. The data payload carries the TDMA Frame Number (FN) and the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC). It is broadcast with the frequency correction burst. The Synchronization Burst is broadcast on the Synchronization Channel (SCH). This burst is used the by mobile station for random access. It is designed to compensate for the unknown distance of the mobile station from the tower, when the MS wants access to a new BTS, it will not know the correct Timing Advance.

3.SYNCRONIZATION BURST

4.RANDOM ACCESS BURST

Interleaving Introduction

Interleaving is a technique where sequential data words or packets are spread across several transmitted data bursts.

In this way, if one transmitted burst or group is lost as a result of noise or some other drop-out, then only a small proportion of the data in each original word or packet is lost and it can be reconstructed using the error detection and correction techniques employed.

This method rearranges a group of bits in a particular way. It is combined with FEC codes in order to

improve the performance of the error correction mechanisms. Interleaving decreases the possibility of
losing whole bursts during the transmission, by dispersing the errors. Since the errors become less concentrated, it is then easier to correct them.

At the physical layer a burst in GSM transmits 2 blocks of 57 data bits each. Thus, the 456-bit block output of the channel coder fit into 4 bursts (4*114 = 456). The 456 bits are, thus, divided into 8*57-bit blocks. As interleaving is applied during the forming of the blocks, the 1st block of 57 bits contains the bit numbers (0, 8, 16, .....448), the second one the bit numbers (1, 9, 17, .....449), etc. The last block of

57 bits will then contain the bit numbers (7, 15, .....455).

Interleaving . .
Interleaving for the GSM speech channels

The 456-bit block, obtained after the channel coding, is divided in 8*57-bit blocks in the same way as it is explained in the previous paragraph. But these 8 blocks are distributed differently. The first 4 blocks of 57 bits are placed in the even-numbered bits of 4 consecutive bursts. The other four blocks are placed in the odd-numbered bits of the next four bursts. The interleaving depth of the GSM interleaving for speech channels is then 8. A new data block also starts every 4 bursts. The interleaver for speech channels is called a block-diagonal interleaver.

Interleaving for the GSM data TCH channels A particular interleaving scheme, with an interleaving depth equal to 22, is applied to the block of 456 bits obtained after the channel coding. The block is divided into 2 blocks of 6 bits each, 2 blocks of 12 bits each, 2 blocks of 18 bits each and 16 blocks of 24 bits each. It is spread over 22 bursts in the following way :

the 1st and 22nd bursts carry one block of 6 bits each (2) the 2nd and 21st bursts carry one block of 12 bits each (2) the 3rd and 20th bursts carry one block of 18 bits each (2) from 4th to 19th burst, a block of 24 bits is placed in each burst (16)

Channel Coding
Channel coding adds redundancy bits to the original information to detect and correct, if possible, transmission errors. Channel coding for the GSM data TCH channels Channel coding is performed using two codes: a block and a convolutional code.
o

The block code is defined in the GSM Recommendations 05.03. It receives an input block of 240 bits and adds 4-zero tail bits at the end of the input block; this results a block output of 244 bits.

A convolutional code adds redundancy bits to protect the data. A convolutional encoder contains memory. This property differentiates the two types of code. A convolutional code

can be defined by three variables : n, k and K. The value n corresponds to the number of
output bits from the encoder, k to the number of input bits and K to the memory of the encoder. The ratio (R) of the code is defined as R = k/n.

Channel Coding

For example, a convolutional code with k=1, n=2 and K=5, uses a ratio of R = 1/2 and delay of K=5, which means that it will add one redundant bit for each input bit (1 in 2 output bits is an input bit). The code uses 5 consecutive bits to compute the redundancy bit. As the convolutional code is a 1/2 rate for an input block of 244 bits an output block of 488 bits is generated. These 488 bits are punctured to produce a block of 456 bits. 32 bits, obtained as follows, are not transmitted : C (11 + 15 j) for j = 0, 1, ..., 31 The output block of 456 bits is then passed to the interleaver.

Channel coding for the GSM speech channels

Before applying channel coding, the 260 bits of a GSM speech frame are divided in 3 different classes according to function and importance. The most important class is the class Ia containing 50 bits. Next in importance is the class Ib, which contains 132 bits. The least important is the class II, which contains the remaining 78 bits. The different classes are coded differently:

Power Control

The power levels and power control of GSM mobiles is of great importance because of the effect of power on the battery life.

GSM power level table ( GSM 1900)

The power of the GSM mobiles is closely controlled so that the battery of the mobile is conserved, the levels of interference are reduced and performance of the base-station is not compromised by high power local mobiles.

BTS controls the power output of the mobile, keeping the GSM power level sufficient to maintain a good signal to noise ratio, while not too high to reduce interference, overloading, and also to preserve the battery life.

The BTS controls the power of the mobile by sending a GSM "power level" number. The mobile then adjusts its power accordingly.

GSM Power Classes

Not all mobiles have the same maximum power output level. In order that the base station knows the maximum power level number that it can send to the mobile, it is necessary for the base station to know the maximum power it can transmit.

This is achieved by allocating a GSM power

class number to a mobile. This GSM power class number indicates to the base station the maximum power it can transmit and hence the

maximum power level number the base station

can instruct it to use.

The GSM power classes vary according to the

band in use.

GSM power class designations have been allocated to indicate the power capability of various mobiles.

Brief Summary

References

AIRCOM International (2002), Document number: P/TR/005/G102/3.0a, GSM system overview, England, AIRCOM International

www.aircom.co.uk

http://www.radio-electronics.com

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://gsmfordummies.com/tdma/tdma.shtml

http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/t.pagtzis/wireless/gsm/radio.html

Questions and Comments

thanks
(Group V ) {
KIPYEGON ODUNGA KABUGA OKEROSI BITOK