Main GPRS

Procedures

Group 2:
Tuomas Suontausta
Antti Ärrälä

Agenda
! Mobility Management
! Attach procedure
! Detach procedure
! PDP activation
! Data transfer
! PDP deactivation
! Security Functions
! Questions

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 Acronyms
! SGSN: Serving GPRS Support Node
! GGSN: Gateway GPRS Support Node
! MS: Mobile Station
! MM: Mobility Management
! TLLI: Temporary Logical Link Identifier
! P_TMSI: Packet Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity
! PDP: Packet Data Protocol
! GMM: GPRS mobility management
! RA: Routing Area
! IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity
! BSS: Base Station Subsystem
! TID: Tunnel Identifier
! HLR: Home Location Register
! NSAPI: Network Service Area Point Identifier

Mobility Management
! Before a mobile station (MS) can send
or receive data, it must attach to a
Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)
! During the attachment procedure a
TLLI and a P_TMSI are assigned to the
MS
! After attaching one or more PDPs can
be negotiatiated with the SGSN
! There are 3 MM states related to a
GPRS subscriber and each state
describes the level of functionality and
information allocated Figure 1: Radio resource state machine

! In idle state,
state, the MS is not yet attached
to to the GPRS mobility management
(GMM)

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Mobility Management continued
! In ready state,
state, the MS is attached
to GMM and is known in the
accuracy of the cell.
cell. Each cell is
associated with the routing area
(RA).
! The MS can receive and send data
for all relevant service types
! If the ready timer expires,
expires, the MS
will move to the standby state
! In the standby state,
state, the
subscriber is still attached to the Figure 2: Mobility management state model of mobile
GMM and is known in the station and SGSN

accuracy of the RA

Mobility Management continued

! While in standby state, if the
subscriber wants to send or
receive data, a PDP context
must be activated in advance
! If the standby timer expires,
the MM contexts in both the Figure 3: PDP context state machine
MS and SGSN
independently return to the
idle state and may be deleted

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 GPRS Attach
! A GPRS MS is not reachable or known
by the network until the MS performs the
attach procedure and switches into the
ready mode
! To attach to the network,
network, the MS
provides its identity and indicates which
type of attach procedure is to be
performd
! There are 3 types of attach procedures:
procedures:
! GPRS attach.
attach. Needs the MS’s P_TMSI
and RAI
! IMSI attach.
attach. Specific to GSM but may be
performed via GPRS if a TMSI or
P_TMSI are not already assigned to the
MS
! IMSI/GPRS attach.
attach. Will be possible in a Figure 4: GPRS attach procedure to move to the ready mode
later release of GPRS

GPRS Attach Scenario

! The MS wants to initiate a packet
data session. To do this,
this, the MS
must first attach itself to the
SGSN. Four steps are involved:
involved:
! The MS sends an attach request
with its identity (P_TMSI or
TMSI) to the SGSN
! The SGSN verifies whether the
user is authorized for that
particular service by checking
with the HLR
! After authorization,
authorization, the SGSN
sends back a reply to the MS
with a TLLI Figure 5: The steps in performing a GPRS attach
! A database is maintained at the
SGSN that maps the mobile
identity with the TLLI assigned
to it

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 Mobile Station-Initiated GPRS Detach
! To move from the ready state to
the idle state,
state, the MS initiates a
GPRS detach procedure
! The result is that the SGSN may
delete the MM and PDP
contexts
! If GPRS detaches,
detaches, the active
PDP contexts in the GGSN
regarding this particular MS are
deactivated by the SGSN
sending a Delete PDP Context
Request message to the GGSN
! The GGSN acknowledges with Figure 6: MS-initiated GPRS detach procedure
a Delete PDP Context response
! The SGSN sends a GPRS
Detach Accept message to the
MS

Network-Initiated GPRS Detach

! When necessary for the
network to detach a MS, the
SGSN informs the MS that
it has been detached by
sending a Detach Request
to the MS
! The active PDP contexts in
the GGSN are deactivated
by the SGSN
! The MS sends a GPRS
Detach Accept message Figure 7: The network initiated GPRS detach procedure
back to the SGSN anytime
after the Detach Request
message

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Activating a PDP Context for Packet
Routing and Transfer
! Before data can be sent or received,
received, a PDP context (a data address)
address) must be
activated (created for the MS)
! A GPRS subscribtion contains several PDP addresses and an individual PDP
context is maintained in the MS, SGSN and GGSN for every PDP address
! It is possible to inquire/set
inquire/set the following parameters in PDP:
! Requested QoS (peak bit rate,
rate, mean bit rate,
rate, delay requirements,
requirements, reliability level
expected…)
expected…)
! Data compression or no data compression
! Wheteher or not to use TCP/IP header compression
! PDP address and type requested
! Each PDP context can be either active or inactive and 3 PDP context functions
are available – activate,
activate, deactivate,
deactivate, modify
! The MS is responsible for activationa and deactivation
! GGSN is responsible for activation (for incoming packets)
packets) and deactivation
! SGSN is responsible for modification
! A MS in standby or ready state can initiate activation or deactivation at anytime to
activate the PDP context in the MS, the SGSN or the GGSN

GPRS Context Activation-Scenario

! The MS has attached to the SGSN.
The MS has been assigned a TLLI that
the wireless network knows.
knows. However,
However,
the external network nodes (e.g.
e.g. IP) do
not yet know of the MS. Therefore,
Therefore, the
MS must initiate a PDP context with
the GGSN.
! The MS sends a PDP context
activation request to the SGSN
! The SGSN chooses the GGSNand
requests the GGSN to create a context Figure 8: The steps in activating a PDP context
for the MS. The SGSN will selsect a
GGSN that serves the particular type
of context needed
! The GGSN replies to the SGSN with
the TID information
! The SGSN sends a message to the MS
informing it that a context has been
activated

Figure 9: The SGSN and GGSN tables

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Mobile-Initiated PDP Data Protocol Context
Activation
! Establish a PDP context
between the MS and
network
! Performed automatically
or manually

Figure 10: The mobile-initiated PDP activation.

...continued
! Activate PDP Context Request message constains the
following:
! NSAPI
! PDP type
! PDP address
! Request QoS
! Access Point Name (APN)
! PDP configuration options
! The MS only exchanges messages with the SGSN

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 ...continued
! When SGSN receives an APN
from the MS, it checks to see if the
APN ends with .gprs
! When the SGSN has valitated the
MS parameters, it determine which
GPRS gateway to select for the
given APN.
! the SGSN sends a request
DNS query
! the DNS responds with a list
of the available GGSNs to use Figure 11: The mobile-initiated PDP context activation continued.

! the SGSN sends the activated

PDP context to the GGSN
and open a GTP tunnel

Network-Initiated Packet Data Protocol

Context Activation
! a PDP PDU receive
! GGSN may send IMSI message to
the HLR (via SGSN)
! The HLR returns Send Routing
Information for GPRS ACK
! GGSN sends a PDU Notification
Request Message to the SGSN
! SGSN sends a PDU Notification
Response Message
Figure 12: The network-initiated PDP context activation .
! The SGSN sends a Request PDP
Context Activation message to the
MS

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GPRS Data Transfer from the MS
! A logical link exists between
the SGSN and the MS
! SGSN holds mapping
information of the TLLI and
NSAPI to the corresponding
TID and GGSN IP
addresses
! At the GGSN the header is
stripped off and the original Figure 13: GPRS Data transfer from mobile.
IP or X.25 packet is obtained

GPRS data transfer to the MS

! The GGSN looks up the
tables to determine the
particular SGSN address and
TID
! The GGSN forms an IP
datagram
! The SGSN maps TID and
SGSN to the corresponding
TLLI and NSAPI values Figure 14: GPRS Data flow to the MS.
! The SGSN adds a header
with the NSAPI and TLLI to
the original IP packet, and
forwards it to the MS

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Mobile-Initiated Packet Data Protocol Context
Deactivation
! MS sends a Deactivate PDP
Context request message to
the SGSN
! The SGSN sends a Delete
PDP Context request (TID)
message to the GGSN
! The GGSN return a Delete
PDP Context Response
(TID) message to the SGSN
Figure 15: Mobile-initiated PDP context deactivation.
! The SGSN returns a
Deactivate PDP Context
Accept (NSAPI) message to
the MS

Network-initiated packet data protocol

context deactivation
! The GGSN sends a Delete
PDP Context Request (TID)
message to the SGSN
! The SGSN sends a
Deactivate PDP Context
Request message (NSAPI) to
the MS
! The MS returns a Deactivate
PDP Context Accept
(NSAPI) to the SGSN Figure 16: Network-initiated PDP context deactivation.

! The SGSN sends a Delete

PDP Context Response
message (TID) to the GGSN

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 Security Functions
! Authentication
! Ciphering (encryption)
! authenticating the user

Figure 17: Security funktions.

Web access on GPRS

! First the MS performs
GPRS attach procedur to
become ready
! Second the PDP context
activation to establish
communications with an
Internet host
Figure 18: Web access on GPRS.

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 References
! GPRS General Packet Radio Service
(Regis J. “Bud” Bates)

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