Mobile Communications 2nd Generation

Overview
Basic concept of cellular communication First Generation Cellular Systems Second Generation Cellular Systems GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
Radio Interface
Signal Modulation Technique Multiple Access Technique

Handover
Location Management Services

Beginning of Mobile Communcation

Increased usage

The usage of mobile phones has increased considerably The majority of the UK population now has a mobile phone Traditionally they have been used for voice calls

This is now moving away to data usage

17.3% of O2s profits last year were data related (www.mmo2.com/docs/media/financial_performance_preliminary3.html, 2003) Mostly this related to SMS usage Changes are expected though E-Commerce M-Commerce

Device Technology

As increased capabilities come through on devices increased data use will be required.

Downloading software

Beginning of Mobile Communcation

Where we are today

Electromagnetic waves first discovered as a communications medium at the end of the 19th century These single cell systems were severely constrained by ...

Restricted mobility Low capacity Limited service and ... Poor speech quality

Devices were heavy, bulky, expensive and susceptible to interference

First Generation Cellular Systems

First generation (1G) of cellular systems introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s Evolved out of the growing number of mobile communication users The use of semiconductor technology and microprocessors made mobile devices smaller and lighter 1G systems were based on analogue communication in the 900MHz frequency range

Voice transmission only easy to tap

The most prominent 1G systems are

Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) - America Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) - France Total Access Communications System (TACS) UK

Jan 1985 Vodafone introduced the TACS system

First Generation Cellular Systems

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

Splits allocated spectrum into 30 channels, each channel is 30kHz Allocates a single channel to each established phone call The channel is agreed with the serving base-station before transmission takes place on agreed and reserved channel Channel used by device to transmit and receive on this channel

Ineffective methods since each analogue channel can only be used by one user at a time
FDMA does not take full advantage of available spectrum

First Generation Cellular Systems

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
Frequency

Second Generation Cellular Systems

Development driven by the need to improve speech quality, system capacity, coverage and security First system that used digital transmission Examples of Second Generation (2G) cellular systems ...

Digital AMPS (D-AMPS) in the US, Personal Digital Communication (PDC) in Japan, Intrim Standard `94 (IS-94) in Korea and the US Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) Originally called Groupe Spciale Mobile which later changed to the English version

The GSM standard was defined by ETSI in 1989

A majority of countries over the world have adopted GSM900 and the GSM1800 which are all based on the same original GSM specification.

The US uses an additional GSM 1900

GSM System Radio Interface

Base frequency: 900MHz Two frequency bands of 25MHz each (890-915MHz uplink, 935-960MHz downlink) Channel spacing 200kHz 124 channels per frequency band Gaussian Minimum Shift Keyring (GMSK) Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Hard Handover (MAHO) Maximum Bandwidth available: 9600 bits per second

Full Rate = 9600bps, Half rate 4800 Bps

GSM System Modulation

Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) Phase modulation technique Intended to encode the binary with the minimum of changes to the carrier wave. The carrier wave only changes when a sequence of data is broken The phase of the signal varies linearly with exactly 90deg Technique gives fairly good spectral efficiency and constant signal amplitude

GSM System Multiple Access

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Allows larger transmission rates than in an FDMA system Used in combination with FDMA

Based on the idea to break individual frequencies into 8 timeslots of is 0.577 ms length (total 4.615ms) these are referred to as a frame
Each mobile device uses a particular slot different from slots used by other users Information transmitted in one slot is referred to as burst To allow transmission all voice communication needs to be converted into binary

TDMA requires timeslot synchronisation

GSM System Multiple Access

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

Guard Time: Interval between bursts used to avoid overlapping Preamble: First part of the burst Message: Part of burst that includes user data Postamble: Last part of burst used to initialise following burst
Multiframe Frame 1 Frame N

Slot 1

Slot 2

Slot i

Slot 8

..

Slot 1

Slot 8

Slot
Guard Time Preamble Message Postamble Guard Time

GSM System Multiple Access

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
Time Frequency

GSM System Multiple Access

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Multiple access technique used by american System (NOT used by the European GSM system)

Based on the spread-spectrum technique:

Spread spectrum indicates that the signal occupies more spectrum than in FDMA and TDMA system Transmission mode where the transmitted data occupies a larger bandwidth than that required to transfer data

Access technique realised before transmission by addition of a code that is independent of the data sequence

code used at the receive end which must operate synchronized with the transmitter, to despread the received signal in order to recover the initial data

Allows many devices to transmit simultaneously in the same frequency band

GSM System Multiple Access

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
Code

Channel 1 Channel 2

Channel 3
Frequency

Channel N

Time

GSM System Multiple Access

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Principle: Each MH is allocated a random sequence or code this must be different and orthogonal or quasi-orthogonal (i.e. decorrelated) from all other sequences CDMA provides protection against multipath fading interference, privacy, interference rejection, anti-jamming capability, low probability of interception and allows macrodiversity Three basic spread-spectrum techniques are defined:

Direct Sequence CDMA DS-CDMA Fast Frequency Hopping CDMA FH-CDMA Time Hopping CDMA TH-CDMA

GSM System Handover

Hard Handover Scheme

Mobile-assisted handover (MAHO) as mobile measure signal strength but network-controlled as the network makes decision The mobile device changes over to the new base-stations with a short interruption of the connection To make sure the interruption is as short as possible the path to the new base-station is established in advance through the network before changing over Switching to the new path and rerouting of the transmitted information are performed simultaneously Advantage: The hard handover only uses one channel at any time Disadvantage: Possible loss of connection dropped call

GSM System Handover

Hard Handover
Before During After

Network

Network

Network

BS

BS

BS

BS

BS

BS

Mobile Device

Mobile Device

Mobile Device

BS = Base-Station

GSM System Subscriber Identification

SIM Essential component for the GSM Network

GSM system introduced Subscriber Identity Card (SIM) SIM card is a chip based smart card that stores ...

Identity of subscriber Personal password Subscription data Temporary Number Authentication and ciphering algorithms, etc.

Use of SIM cards allows the user to personalise mobile device (e.g. Access to services, routing of calls) Required to be able to access GSM system User will only have access to GSM services with mobile device if he/she has already subscribed to these services User may have to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN)

GSM System Location Management

GSM consists of three major systems:

The Switching System (SS) Base-station System (BSS) Operation and Support System (OSS)

The Switching System performs call processing and subscriber related functions The system contains the following functional units

Home Location Register (HLR) Mobile Switching Center (MSC) Visitor Location Register (VLR) Authentication Center (AUC) Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

GSM System Location Management

HLR is the most important database

Storage and management of subscriptions Permanent data includes:

Subscriberss service profile Subscriberss location information Subscribers activity status

Subscribing to a particular providers service registers you in the HLR of that provider

The MSC performs the telephony switching functions of the network

Controlls call to and from other telephone and data systems Also performs functions such as

Toll ticketing Network interfacing Common Channel signalling

GSM System Location Management

VLR contains data on visiting (roaming) subscribers

Integrated with the MSC When a roamer enters the service area the VLR queries the appropriate HLR If a roamer makes a call the VLR will already have the information it needs for call setup

The AUC verifies the identity of the user and ensures and ensures the confidentiality of each call

By provide authenticity and encryption parameters for every call Protects network operators from fraud Assures a certain level of security for the content of each call

The EIR is a database that includes info solely about the identity mobile equipment

Prevents calls from stolen, unauthorised or defective mobile devices

GSM System Location Management

MSC
VLR HLR

VLR

MSC

MSC Mobile Switching Center

VLR Visitor Location Register HLR Home Location Register

GSM System Services

Services provided by GSM system:

Teleservices

Services that relate to the terminal equipment (e.g. Telephone, videotext and mail) Different services available, dependin on end-to-end transmission type, transmission mode, terminal capability Supports data rates of 300bps up to 9600bps Group III Standard Point-to-point transmission of alphanumeric messages with a maximum of 160 characters Messages saved on SIM

Data Services

Facsimile

Short Message Service

GSM System Services

SMS:
Allows

a text message to be sent using 7-bit alaphnumeric characters based on the western alaphbet ETSI standard for SMS is detailed in GSM 03.40

Two character Sets

ASCII + limited additional European characters (GSM Default) Unicode

The

success was never planned for!

It was designed as a replacement for the pager, which is one way text communication

GSM System Services

SMS Continued
Transfers

the SMS message in a single packet

Octet = 8 Bytes

SCA PDU Type VP

Service Centre Address Protocol Data Unit Type Validity Period

MR DA UDL

Message Reference Destination Address User Data Length

PID DCS UD

Protocol Identifier Data Coding Scheme User Data

GSM System Services

SMS Continued
Example

SMS transmission packet saying Hello

(www.spallared.com/nokia/smspdu/smspdu.htm#_Toc485435709, 2003)

GSM System Services

SMS Continued
Infrastructure
SMSC = Short Message Service Centre HLR = Home Location Register

Base Station

GSM SMS Infrastructure

SMSC

Base Station

HLR

GSM System Services

Summary
We

have looked at communications from

1G 2G

Operations of these networks

Data services