GSM Fundamentals

GSM Architecture

Objectives
At the end of this learning element, the student should be able to:

Name the three subsystems of GSM. List eight different network elements (generic architecture) and
name at least one task per element. Describe the benefits of a Release 4 core network.

Mobile Subscriber

Where is the subscriber Who is the subscriber What does the subscriber
want

Information about the subscriber

The Mobile Station MS

GSM Mobile Station

GSM PLMN Organization

Network Switching Subsystem Switching Mobility Management Connection Management Charging

Air

MS

BSS NMS

NSS
O&M

Base Station Subsystem Radio Resource Management Radio Link Management

Network Management System Fault Management Configuration Management Performance Management

Network Switching Subsystem

MSC GMSC VLR HLR EIR AC Mobile services Switching Centre Gateway MSC Visitor Location Register Home Location Register Equipment Identity Register Authentication Centre

AC EIR

HLR

HLR

VLR

GMSC

MSC

Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC)

MSC
Call control Mobility management Initiation of paging Collection of changing information Often associated with VLR

GMSC
Call control Interrogation of HLR Collection of changing information Often used for interworking with external networks

Registers in the NSS

VLR
Identification numbers of subscribers Security information Services that the subscriber can use

HLR
Subscriber Profile Routing Information

EIR
Lists for Mobile Equipment (ME) checks

AC
Data for authentication (SIM) and ciphering

Mobile Number Portability Solution - SRR

M SIS DN 1 - rero ut ing inf o

1

M SIS DN 2 - rero ut ing inf o

H LR

H LR

. .

O th e r n etw or k s D ataba se SRR i

SGSN

MSC

MSC Server + MGW Concept (Separation of control and user plane traffic)
MSC Server Site 1
Only control plane is routed to the core network site

User plane is optimized within the same access network site

RNC2

RNC2

MGW

Transport Network

Site 2

Site 4

RNC3

RNC3

Site 3

MGW

User plane is optimized between access network sites

MGW

Inter-Site

RNC4

RNC4

POI

PSTN

User plane is optimized for PSTN calls

Rel-04 Architecture
CSE CAP D MSCServer A GERAN UTRAN Iu A Iu Mc (H.248) CSMGW Nb Mc (H.248) CSMGW PSTN, ISDN, PLMN, etc. Nc CAP C GMSCServer

HLR

Base Station Subsystem

BSC
TC

BTS BTS

BSC
TC

BTS

Elements:
Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS),
and

Transcoder and Rate Adaptation Unit (TRAU, TC) Functions: Radio path control, BTS and TC control, synchronisation with MSC Air and A interface signaling, connection establishment MS-NSS Mobility management, speech transcoding Collection of statistical data

Base Station Controller (BSC)

BSC

Connection establishment between MS and NSS

Mobility management Statistical raw data collection Air- and A-interface signaling support BTS and TRAU Control

Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

Air interface signaling Ciphering Speech processing (channel coding, interleaving, and burst formatting) Generation of alarms and statistics Baseband/Radio frequency transformation

Omnidirectional and Sectorized Cells

f1,f2, f3 BTS BTS f1 Omnidirectional BTS f5, f6 BTS f1, f2 BTS f2

2 sectorized BTS

BTS BTS f3, f4 3 sectorized BTS

f = carrier frequency band

Position of the Transcoder

BSC

Transcoder and Submultiplexer (TCSM)

MSC
TC
TC

SM2M

TC TC

A ter Interface A ter Interface A Interface

Network Management Subsystem

NMS/2000

BTS

Data Communications Network

DN2 BTS BSC HLR AC EIR MSC VLR

BTS

BTS

SMSC

Functions of NMS (1)

Fault management
Collection of alarm reports from network elements. One point for managing all fault situations.

Functions of NMS (2)

Configuration management
Management of radio network configuration. Maintain up to date information on the network element
status.

Functions of NMS (3)

Performance management
Collection of measurement data from network elements. Produce performance result from raw data.

Interfaces
VLR VLR

BSS

NSS
VLR VLR EIR EIR

D
HLR HLR AC AC

B Um Abis
BT S BSC

Ater

TC

BT S

(G)MSC

(G)MSC

Generic GSM Architecture

BSS - Base Station Subsystem VLR BTS BTS BTS BTS BTS BSC
PSTN ISDN PSPDN

OMC
HLR EIR AC

BSC

MSC
IWF

NSS - Network Subsystem NMS - Network Management System

Transcoder

MS Air Abis A

SC