GSM

Introduction
 History of Mobile Communications
The beginnings: Radio transmission
„archaic mobile communication” • 1873 Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetic waves
• Visual transmission (smoke / light) • 1887 H. Hertz: experimental proof
• Audible transmission (drums, horns) • 1895 Marconi: 1st wireless transmission
• 1901 1st transatlantic transmission
• 1903 Telefunken GmbH, AEG, Siemens + Halske
• 1906 1st speech and sound transmission
• 1909 1st radio broadcast
• 1907 1st mobile transmission: radio station - train
Electronic communication:
„terrestrial network”
• Telegraph
1st telegraph line 1843 Washington
• Telephone
P. Reis 1861
A.G. Bell 1876 World exhibition Philadelphia
 Single Cell Systems
• The first Mobile Telephone Service to offer
duplex connections comparable to fixed
network based telephone services started in
1946 as a car phone service in St. Louis,
Missouri.
• Comparable mobile telephone services
appeared in post-war Europe some years later.
 Cellular Mobile Radio Systems
• The breakthrough in capacity was achieved with
the introduction of the Cellular Radio System in
the late 1970s/early 1980s.
• The coverage of the supply area of a mobile
communication operator involves many radio
cells with cellular radio systems, in which the
aforementioned limitation of the available HF
frequency range is neatly circumvented through
the repeated use of the HF channels.
Single Cell Systems – Cellular Systems
 ‘1G’ Cellular Mobile Radio Systems
• Information transmission of first generation
cellular mobile radio system takes place via
analogue radio interface.
• These systems were tested in many countries in
the end of the 70s.
 ‘2G’ Cellular Mobile Radio Systems
• A further and very significant innovation in
mobile radio communications took place with the
introduction of the second generation cellular
mobile radio system (e.g. GSM) in the early 90s.
• Transmission via radio interface is now digital.
 ‘2G’ Cellular Mobile Radio Systems
• Along with a significant improvement of
transmission quality and expansion of services,
there has been a considerable increase in capacity.
• The increase in subscribers led to more
convenient, lighter and less expensive equipment
with a wide range of possibilities for use.
 Portable Mobile Equipment
• Mobile phones were first introduced in 1988. The
weight of the equipment decreased from 1 kg to
less than a 100 g within few years.
• At the same time, mobility clearly improved
despite decreasing weight owing to improvements
in rechargeable batteries.
GSM
 The GSM Recommendations
• The GSM Standard is a consistent and open
standard for cellular mobile communication
systems established by the ETSI.
• All aspects of the realization of the GSM Standard
have been established in now more than 150
recommendations (technical specifications).
 The GSM Recommendations
• At the same time the Recommendations are
flexible enough for the different realizations of
various vendors.
• The Recommendations are organized into 12
series according to different aspects.
• This structure reflects the structure of the PLMN
(Public Land Mobile Network) system and its
interfaces.
GSM Recommendation
 The Evolutionary Concept
• GSM Phase 1: (closed 1991) comprises all of the
most important prerequisites for digital
information transmission. Speech transmission is
of the greatest importance here. Data transmission
is also defined (0.3 to 9.6 kbps). GSM Phase 1
comprises only a few supplementary services such
as call forwarding and barring.
 The Evolutionary Concept
• GSM Phase 2: (closed 1995) Supplementary
Services comparable to ISDN were included in
the standard. Technical improvements have been
specified, e.g. the Half Rate Speech. In Phase 2,
the decision on future downward-compatibility
with older versions is of high importance.
 The Evolutionary Concept
• GSM Phase 2+: Individual topics are discussed
separately and the update is added to the GSM
standard in Annual Releases. Main topics are new
Supplementary Services as the ASCI services, the IN
feature CAMEL and VHE are very important.
Especially the introduction of features to achieve
higher data rates, i.e. HSCSD, GPRS and EDGE has
received much attention. GSM Phase 2+ thus paves
the way to 3G (UMTS).
 GSM Adaptations

Useable HF
Frequency Range [MHz] Application Area
channels
450.4 – 457.6 / 460.4 – 467.6
GSM400 35 Rural environment
478.8 – 486 / 488.8 – 496
GSM900 890 – 915 / 935 – 960 124 Worldwide except
E-GSM 880 – 905 / 925 – 960 174 America
Worldwide except
GSM1800 1710 – 1785 / 1805 – 1880 374
America

GSM1900 1850 – 0910 / 1930 – 1990 299 America

GSM-R 876 – 880 / 921 – 925 19 Railway systems

PLMN - Public Land Mobile Network
• A PLMN is a terrestrial mobile communication
network set up and run by public and private
operators.
• It is used to provide public mobile communication
services.