GPRS Protocol Stack

General Packet Radio Service http://www.vocal.com

VOCAL Technologies, Ltd. modem software libraries include a complete range of ETSI / ITU / IEEE compliant
modulations, optimized for execution on ANSI C and leading DSP architectures (ADI, AMD-Alchemy, ARM, DSP
Group, LSI Logic ZSP, MIPS and TI). This software is modular and can be executed as a single task under a
variety of operating systems or it can execute standalone with its own kernel.

GPRS Protocol Stack or General Packet Radio Service is a packet switched technology, based on GSM. The
radio and network resources are only accessed when data actually needs to be transmitted between the mobile
user and the network. This data is divided into packets and is then transferred via the radio and core network.
Between alternating transmissions, no network resources need to be allocated.

GPRS Protocol Stack offers up to 115 kbps, depending on the network availability, channel coding scheme and
terminal capability. This increase in speed with respect to GSM is achieved by using more than one timeslot of
the TDMA frame. Due to the packet switched characteristics the allocation of the available timeslots may vary
from one instant to the next (e.g. it may have 8 timeslots at one time and 4 later on).

Timeslot building requires new functionality on the mobile side. GPRS Protocol Stack needs a Serving support
node (SGSN), a Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) and a charging gateway function to support packet
switched transactions. The packet switched traffic is separated from the circuit switched traffic at the BSC/PCU
and diverted to the core network. To support point-to-multipoint features, a point–to-multipoint Service Center
(PTM-SC) needs also to be added.

GPRS Protocol Stack Terminology:

• Depending on the environmental radio conditions, one of the four coding schemes (CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4)
can be selected. CS1 and CS2 offer good error detection and correction with low throughput; in the first step
of only these two techniques may be used. CS3 and CS4 provide higher throughputs but have little or no
error correction capabilities.

GPRS Protocol Stack Features:

• Compliant with Layer 1 Radio.

• Compliant with Layer 1 Vocoder.
• Compliant with Layer 2 & 3 ETSI GSM phase 2+.
• Table 1 shows the different data rates that can be achieved with the different coding techniques:

Table 1 Data rates for GPRS Protocol Stack

User Data Rate CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4

1 Timeslot 9.05 kbps 13.4 kbps 15.6 kbps 21.4 kbps
8 Timeslot 72.4 kbps 107.2 kbps 124.8 kbps 171.2 kbps

• Because is packet switched traffic, new protocols and channel types are required. In the mobile device is
permanently attached to the network, providing a virtual connection without cost and data transfer (GPRS-
Attach). GPRS-Attach procedure is executed whenever a enabled mobile station is switched on and needs
to inform the network about its presence.
• The two peers of a attach procedure are the mobile station (MS) and the Serving Support Node (SGSN).
Depending on the availability of the packet Common Control Channel (PCCCH), the GPRS-Attach
procedure may be executed on Circuit Common Control Channel (CCCCH).

Technologies, Ltd.
© 2001 VOCAL Technologies, Ltd. Custom Product Design Division
200 John James Audubon Parkway
http://www.vocal.com Buffalo, New York 14228
716-688-4675
GPRS Protocol Stack-0004A-1
 • Figure 1 shows the GPRS Protocol Stack system architecture, indicating new functionality required for
phase2+ operation.

Um
Interface

Base Abis A interface Telephony

MS Interface
BSC MSC
Station Networks

Gs
Gb Interface
Interface
Internet/
Gn Interface
SGSN GGSN Other
Network

GPRS
Backbone

Figure 1. GPRS Protocol Stack system architecture

GPRS Protocol Stack Configurations:

Layer 1. Radio. This layer includes the following GSM phase2+ ETSI standards:

• GSM 05.02 Access & Multiple Multiplexing.

• GSM 05.03 Interleaving Code/Decoder Channel.
• GSM 05.04 Demodulator and Modulator.
• GSM 05.05 Receiver and Transmitter.
• GSM 05.10 Synchronization.

Layer 1.Vocoders. This layer includes the following GSM phase2+ ETSI standards:

• GSM 06.10 Full rate speech transcoding.

• GSM 06.20 Half rate speech transcoding.
• GSM 06.60 Enhanced Full rate speech transcoding.
• GSM 06.90 Adaptive multi-rate speech transcoding.
• GSM 06.93 Discontinuous transmission for Adaptive Multi-rate.

Layer 2 & 3 GSM phase 2+ ETSI standards:

• GSM 03.09 Hand-over.

• GSM 03.22 Link control.
• GSM 04.04 PROTOCOLS Layer 1.
• GSM 04.05 PROTOCOLS Layer 2.
• GSM 04.06 PROTOCOLS Layer 2.
• GSM 04.07 PROTOCOLS Layer 3.
• GSM 04.08 PROTOCOLS Layer 3.
• GSM 05.08 Power control.

Technologies, Ltd.
© 2001 VOCAL Technologies, Ltd. Custom Product Design Division
200 John James Audubon Parkway
http://www.vocal.com Buffalo, New York 14228
716-688-4675
GPRS Protocol Stack-0004A-2