MOBILE COMPUTING

Unit III
Dr Gnanasekaran Thangavel 1
 UNIT III
 MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATION
SYSTEM

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) – General Packet Radio

Service (GPRS) – Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS).

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GSM – GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBILE
COMMUNICATION

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 GSM SERVICE
GSM provides three categories of services.

I. Bearer service
II. Teleservices
III. Supplementary services

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 Bearer Services
• Bearer Services or Data services are used through a GSM phone to receive and
send data is the essential building block leading to widespread mobile Internet
access and mobile data transfer.
• GSM currently has a data transfer rate of 9.6k.
• New developments that will push up data transfer rates for GSM users are
HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data) and GPRS (general packet radio
service) are now available.

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 Teleservices
The abilities of a Bearer Service are used by a teleservice to transport data.
These services are further transited in the following ways:
•Voice Calls
The most basic Teleservice supported by GSM is telephony. This includes
full-rate speech at 13 kbps
•Emergency calls
where the nearest emergency-service provider is notified by dialing three
digits.

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•Short Text Messages
SMS service is a text messaging service that allows sending and
receiving text messages on your GSM mobile phone.
In addition to simple text messages, other text data including news,
sports, financial, language, and location-based data can also be
transmitted.
•Facsimile or Fax: Using modem fax data is transmitted as digital data
over the analog telephone network.

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 Supplementary services
• Supplementary services are additional services that are provided in
addition to teleservices and bearer services.
• These services include caller identification, call forwarding, call waiting,
multi-party conversations, and barring of outgoing (international) calls

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 Building Blocks

AMPS – Advanced Mobile Phone System

TACS – Total Access Communication System

NMT – Nordic Mobile Telephone System

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 Building Blocks
contd.

AMPS – Advanced Mobile Phone System

analog technology

used in North and South America and approximately 35 other

countries

operates in the 800 MHz band using FDMA technology

 Building Blocks
contd.

TACS – Total Access Communication System

variant of AMPS

deployed in a number of countries

primarily in the UK
 Building Blocks
contd.

NMT – Nordic Mobile Telephone System

analog technology

deployed in the Benelux countries and Russia

operates in the 450 and 900 MHz band

first technology to offer international roaming – only within the Nordic countries

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 System Architecture of GSM
The three main subsystems are

I. Radio Subsystem (RSS)

II. Networking and switching subsystem(NSS)

III. Operation Subsystem (OSS)

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Functional architecture of a GSM system

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GSM Network Architecture
System Architecture

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 Radio Subsystem (RSS)
This subsystem comprises all the radio specific entities.
1. Mobile Station (MS)
The Mobile Station is made up of two entities:

I. Mobile Equipment (ME)

II. Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

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Mobile Equipment

Produced by many different manufacturers

Must obtain approval from the standardization body
Uniquely identified by an IMEI (International Mobile
Equipment Identity)

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Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)

Smart card containing the International Mobile Subscriber

Identity (IMSI)
Allows user to send and receive calls and receive other
subscribed services
Encoded network identification details
Protected by a password or PIN
Can be moved from phone to phone – contains key information
to activate the phone

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 Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
Base Station Subsystem is composed of two parts that
communicate across the standardized Abis interface allowing
operation between components made by different suppliers
1. Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

2. Base Station Controller (BSC)

Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

A BTS comprises all radio equipment such as antenna, signal

processors and amplifiers that are necessary for radio transmission.
It encodes the received signal, modulates it on a carrier wave and feeds
the RF signals to the antenna.
It communicates with both the mobile station and the BSC

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Base Station Controller (BSC)

Manages Resources for BTS

It assigns frequency and time slot for and MS for call set up
It manages the handoff from one BTS to another within the
BSS.
BSC multiplexes the radio channel onto the fixed network
connection to the Mobile Switching Centre.

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Network and Switching Subsystem(NSS)
It is the heart of the GSM system. It connects the wireless networks to the standard public
networks. It carries out usage based charging, accounting and also handles roaming.

Mobile Switching Center (MSC)

Heart of the network

Switch speech and data connections between:
Base Station Controllers
Mobile Switching Centers
GSM-networks
Other external networks
Three main jobs:
1) connects calls from sender to receiver
2) collects details of the calls made and received
3) supervises operation of the rest of the network components

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Home Location Registers (HLR)
- contains administrative information of each subscriber
- IMSI and current location of the mobile
Visitor Location Registers (VLR)
- A temporary database that is updated whenever a new MS enters its area by
reaming.
- contains selected administrative information from the HLR
authenticates the user

tracks which customers have the phone on and ready to receive a call

periodically updates the database on which phones are turned on and ready to

receive calls

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 Operation subsystem (OSS)
The operation subsystem contains all the function necessary for network operation and
maintenance.
Authentication Center (AUC)
mainly used for security
data storage location and functional part of the network
Ki is the primary element

Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

- Database that is used to track handsets using the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment
Identity)
Made up of three sub-classes: The White List, The Black List and the Gray List
Optional database

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 GSM Security
Security in GSM is broadly supported at three levels: Operator level, Customer's level and
System level. These three levels help oversee aspects such as correct billing, avoiding fraud,
protecting services and ensuring anonymity.
Authentication
Protect the network against unauthorized use.
Denying the possibility for intruders to impersonate authorized users.
GSM network operator verify the identity , making it highly improbable to clone someone's
mobile phone identity.
Authentication can be achiced in a simple way by using a password such as PIN.

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Confidentiality
GSM network protects voice, data and sensitive information against eavesdropping
on the radio path.
It is achieved by using encryption techniques by GSM designers.
Data on the radio path is encrypted between the ME and BTS against
eavesdropping.
Anonymity
GSM protects against someone tracking the location of a user or identifying calls
made to the user by eavesdropping on the radio path.
It is achieved by allocating Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSIs) instead
of permanent indentities.

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 Advantages of GSM
Crisper, cleaner quieter calls
Security against fraud and eavesdropping
International roaming capability in over 100 countries
Improved battery life
Efficient network design for less expensive system expansion
Efficient use of spectrum
Advanced features such as short messaging and caller ID
A wide variety of handsets and accessories
High stability mobile fax and data at up to 9600 baud
Ease of use with over the air activation, and all account information is held in a smart card which
can be moved from handset to handset

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 General Packet Radio Service GPRS

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GPRS when integrated with GSM significantly improves and simplifies Internet access.
GPRS is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication
system's global system for mobile communications (GSM).
GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute
(ETSI) in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet-switched cellular technologies.
It is now maintained by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
GPRS usage is typically charged based on volume of data transferred, contrasting with
circuit switched data, which is usually billed per minute of connection time.

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 GPRS Services
GPRS offers end-to-end packet-switched data transfer services which can be categorized
I. Point-to-point (PTP) services
II. Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) services

III. Point-to-point (PTP) service is between tow users and can either be connectionless ofr
connection-oriented.
IV. Point-to-Multipoint (PTM) services is data transfer from one user to multiple users. The two
types of PTM services.
I. One is multicast PTM where the data packets are broadcast
in a certain area and
II. The other is group PTM where the data packets are addressed to a group of users

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 GPRS Architecture

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GSM Network Element Modification or Upgrade Required for GPRS.

Mobile Station (MS) New Mobile Station is required to access GPRS services. These new terminals will be backward
compatible with GSM for voice calls.

BTS A software upgrade is required in the existing base transceiver site.

BSC The base station controller (BSC) requires a software upgrade and the installation of new
hardware called the packet control unit (PCU). The PCU directs the data traffic to the GPRS
network and can be a separate hardware element associated with the BSC.

GPRS Support Nodes The deployment of GPRS requires the installation of new core network elements called the
(GSNs) serving GPRS support node (SGSN) and gateway GPRS support node (GGSN).

Databases (HLR, VLR, All the databases involved in the network will require software upgrades to handle the new call
etc.) models and functions introduced by GPRS.

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 Universal Mobile Telephone System
(UMTS)
Reasons for innovations
 new service requirements
 availability of new radio bands

User demands
 seamless Internet-Intranet access
 wide range of available services

 compact, lightweight and affordable terminals

 simple terminal operation

 open, understandable pricing structures for the whole spectrum of available services

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 The UMTS was developed mainly for countries with GSM networks and it is compatible
with GSMall
 All GSM networks will be upgraded to UMTS
 The UMTS network is different from the 2G networks in the following respects.
 Higher speech quality: In addition to speech traffic, it supports advanced data and
information service – true multimedia network
 Higher data rate: The UMTS supporst 2 Mbps data rate much higher than 2G
 Virtual home environment: A user roaming from his network to other UMTS network will
not feel any discontinuity or service diffrence – giving the feeling of being in the home
network. In 2G a user registered to a visitor location and is also charged a roaming
overheads.

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 UMTS Network Architecture
The UMTS network architecture is divided into three main elements
I. User Equipment (UE),
II. Radio Network Subsystem(RAN)
III. Core Network

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User Equipment (UE)
 UE incorporates greater functionality
 compared to a cell phone.
 It can be thought of as both a mobile phone used for talking and a data terminal
attached to a computer with no voce capability.
Radio Network Subsystem(RAN)
 The RNS is the equivalent of BSS in GSM.
 It provides and mages the wireless interface for the overall network.
Core Network
 The Core network is the equivalent of the GSM Network Switching Subsystem(NSS)

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 References
Book: Prasant Kumar Pattnaik, Rajib Mall, “Fundamentals of Mobile Computing”,
PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi – 2012.
cse.yeditepe.edu.tr/~sbaydere/courses_new/cse402/files/GSM.ppt
www.harding.edu/white/classes_old/engr475/.../lecture_12_gsm.ppt

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 Thank You

Questions and Comments?

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