GSM

Global System for

Mobile Communications

ENGR 475 – Telecommunications

October 31 – Halloween!!
Harding University

Jonathan White
 Outline
 European history
 Operating Frequencies/ General
Characteristics
 Why digital
– ISDN interface
 European History
 In the mid 1980’s, most of Europe didn’t
have a cellular network.
– They weren’t committed to analog.
 After many years of research, GSM was
proposed around 1990.
– Covered Germany, France, England, and
Scandinavia.
 Goals:
– Roaming throughout all of Europe.
– All digital to have ISDN type throughput (64
Kbps)
 Never achieved.
– Low power and inexpensive devices
 European History
 Main Goal:
– Compression of voice to allow much
better bandwidth usage.
 GSM would use vocoders that used LPC –
linear predictive coding.
 GSM had an advantage in that it didn’t
have to support any legacy products.
 Security really wasn’t the reason
digital was chosen at the time.
 European History
 All
of Europe began using the GSM
system.
– Japan also switched to GSM and helped
develop very inexpensive SIM cards.
 GSM was an open source standard.
– Products could be made by many
vendors.
 8000 page standard was published in
1993.
 GSM Services
 GSM was designed to do 3 things:
– 1. Bearer data services: Faxes, text
messages, web pages.
 Basic GSM had a basic data rate that is
limited to 9.6 kbps
– Extended by GMRS and EDGE to around 384 Kbps
– 2. Voice traffic
 But, at a lower quality than analog.
– 3. Other features:
 Call forwarding, caller id, etc…
– Meaning, we need to connect to the SS7 network
 GSM Architecture
 Very similar to the analog
architecture.
 3 parts:
– Mobile Phone
 Digitizes and sends your voice.
– Cell phone tower / Base Station
 Controls the radio link.
– Network switching system
 The brains in the system.
 GSM Architecture

 SIM – Subscriber Identity

Module.
– Allows you to switch phones.
– Stores your phonebook and
ringtones.
 ME – Mobile Equipment.
– Your cellphone
 UM – User Mobile
Frequency
– The actual radio frequency
you are using.
 GSM Architecture

 BTS – Base Transceiver Stations.

– The radio antennas.
– In GSM, 1 sends and 1 receives.
 Only 2 are necessary.
 BSC – Base Station Controller.
– Packages up all the radio signals and sends
them to the switch.
– Handles handoffs and some other low-level
functionality.
– Manages up to 50 or so radio antennas
 Provides better network segmentation.
 Abis – Typically a T1 SS7 connection using
ISUP
 GSM
Architecture
 MSC – Mobile Switching Center
– Has several databases that perform call
validation, call routing to the PSTN, and roaming
validation.
– Some of the databases:
 HLR: Home Location Register
– Main customer database
– Motorola only has 60 HLRs in the United States.
 VLR: Visitor Location Register
– Works in tandem with the HLR. Roamer database.
 EIR: Equipment Identity Register
– Deny stolen mobile phones service. Has all valid serials.
 AuC: Authentication Center
– Stores encryption keys necessary for secure
communications.
GSM Architecture
 Radio Frequencies
 Operates in the 1850 MHz band and
from:
– 1850 to 1910 MHz Mobile to Base
– 1930 – 1990 MHz Base to Mobile
 There are 300 forward/reverse channels in this
band.
 Each channel is 200 KHz
 GSM uses TDMA to fit 8 conversations
on a channel.
 So, technically, GSM is TDMA and FDMA
based.
 GSM Burst Periods
 Since GSM is TDMA based, it uses
burst periods to make up a frame.
– 8 burst periods make up one frame.
– A burst is like a slot in the train.
– A burst period is where a phone gets to
send digital information.
 Phones send around 14 bits of information in
every burst.
– However, a burst period only lasts .577
ms.
 Phones are only bursting information at around
1700 times a second, much less than the 8000
times a second a landline phone samples at.
 GSM Frames
 8 burst periods make 1 frame.
 The frame length in time is 4.615 ms
– .577 ms times 8
 Each frame carries 164 bits
– 114 are for voice
– The rest are for synchronization and CRC
checks
 Each frame can carry up to 8 voice
samples, or, the frame can be dedicated to
other necessary information.
 GSM Frames
 Different frames mean different
things.
– For instance, this data structure
contains information about the cell site.
 The cell phone scans for this information
when it is turned on.
 GSM Frames
 This
is the burst that occurs when
the mobile transmits its access key
back to the base station.
 Speech Coding
 GSM uses LPC – Linear Predictive Coding.
– Uses interpolation.
– Basically, previous samples, which don’t change
very quickly, are used to predict current samples.
 So, instead of actually sending the voice
sample, the delta in the voice sample is
sent.
 Also, silence is not transmitted.
– This increases throughput by about 40%.
– This bits can be used for other conversations.
 Digital Modulation
 Uses Gaussian minimum shift keying.
 Very complex, uses filters, phase
shifts, and frequency shifts to
actually send out binary digits.
 Power Requirements
 Since GSM is purely digital, it
requires a lot less power since it
doesn’t have to transmit an analog
wave.
 The maximum output power of a
GSM phone is only 2 watts.
– And this can be notched down by the
controlling cell phone tower.
– The minimum power is only 20 mW.
 GSM Call Processing
 Unlike AMPS, the cell tower can
transmit on any of its frequencies.
 The cell phone is actually pre-
programmed in the SIM card to have
a set of radio frequencies that it
should check first.
– When this fails, it needs to search
through all frequencies.
 When it detects the tower identifying
itself, call processing begins.
 SIM Card Secrets
 The SIM card has a secret serial
number that is only known by your
cellular provider and the SIM card.
– You, as the customer, do not know the
number.
 Thissecret number acts as a key,
and it is 32 bits in length.
Authentication and Security
 GSM uses a challenge/response public key
setup.
 The base station sends a random number to
the mobile.
– This acts as the base station’s public key.
 The mobile then uses an algorithm called A3
to encrypt it’s secret key using the random
public key that it was sent by the base
station.
– A5 is a derivative of DES.
 Several rounds of shifts and XORs.
Authentication and Security
 This encrypted information is then
sent back to the base station.
 The base station performs a reverse
operation, and checks to see that the
mobile sent the correct secret code.
– If not, it is denied access.
 A3has proved to be very difficult to
break.
– Though, given a significant amount of
time, it can be broken.
Authentication and Security
 GSM also uses another database for
security.
 This database maintains a list of
stolen cell phones, and cell phones
that have technical errors.
– These are also not allowed access to the
digital network.
 GSM conclusion
 Widely used.
– Upwards of 70% of phones.
 Uses SIM cards so customers can use any
phone and for security.
 Allows more customers than analog.
 Worse voice quality than analog.
 Purely digital.
 Open source, very complex standard.
 Uses TDMA.
 Will be replaced by CDMA in the near
future.