Introduction to GMSK:
Gaussian Filtered
Minimum Shift Keying
Gina Colangelo
EE194 - SDR
Topics
Background
Minimum Shift Keying (MSK)
Gaussian Filtering
Spectral Efficiency GMSK vs. MSK
Common Applications
Introduction
Digital modulation schemes are becoming
increasingly important in wireless
communication systems.
Using an unfiltered binary data stream to
modulate an RF carrier will produce an RF
spectrum of considerable bandwidth.
Techniques have been developed to
minimize this bandwidth, improve spectral
performance, and ease detection.
Background
MSK or Minimum Shift Keying is a digital
modulation scheme in which the phase of the
remains continuous while the frequency
changes.
GMSK or Gaussian-filtered Minimum Shift
Keying differs from MSK in that a Gaussian
Filter of an appropriate bandwidth is used
before the modulation stage.
We will first discuss MSK to understand the
need for GMSK.
MSK – Minimum Shift Keying
MSK is a continuous phase FSK (CPFSK)
where the frequency changes occur at the
carrier zero crossings.
MSK is unique due to the relationship
between the frequency of a logic 0 and 1.
The difference between the frequencies is always
½ the data rate.
This is the minimum frequency spacing that
allows 2 FSK signals to be coherently orthogonal.
MSK – How It Works
The baseband modulation starts with a bitstream of
0’s and 1’s and a bit-clock.
The baseband signal is generated by first
transforming the 0/1 encoded bits into -1/1 using an
NRZ filter.
This signal is then frequency modulated to produce
the complete MSK signal.
The amount of overlap that occurs between bits will
contribute to the inter-symbol interference (ISI).
Example of MSK
1200 bits/sec baseband MSK data signal
Frequency spacing = 600Hz
a) NRZ data b) MSK signal
Pros of MSK
Since the MSK signals are orthogonal and
minimal distance, the spectrum can be more
compact.
The detection scheme can take advantage of
the orthogonal characteristics.
Low ISI (compared to GMSK)
Cons of MSK
The fundamental problem with MSK is that the
spectrum has side-lobes extending well above
the data rate (See figure on next slide).
For wireless systems which require more
efficient use of RF channel BW, it is necessary
to reduce the energy of the upper side-lobes.
Solution – use a pre-modulation filter:
Straight-forward Approach: Low-Pass Filter
More Efficient/Realistic Approach: Gaussian Filter
The Need for GMSK
Gaussian Filter
Impulse response defined by a
Gaussian Distribution – no overshoot or
ringing (see lower figure)
BT – refers to the filter’s -3dB BW and
data rate by:
f 3dB
BT
BitRate
Notice that a bit is spread over more
than 1 bit period. This gives rise to ISI.
For BT=0.3, adjacent symbols will
interfere with each other more than for
BT=0.5
GMSK with BT=∞ is equivalent to MSK.
Trade-off between ISI and side-lobe
suppression (top and bottom figures)
The higher the ISI, the more difficult the
detection will become.
GMSK – Applications
An important application of GMSK is GSM, which is
a time-division multiple-access system.
For this application, the BT is standardized at 0.3,
which provides the best compromise between
increased bandwidth occupancy and resistance to
ISI.
Ninety-nine percent of the RF power of GMSK
signals is specified to confine to 250kHz (+/- 25kHz
margin from the signal), which means that the
sidelobes need to be virtually zero outside this
frequency band and the ISI should be negligible.
References
Haykin, S. 2001: “Communication Systems”.
4th ed. New York, NY. John Wiley & Sons.
GMSK: Practical GMSK Data Transmission
[Link]
DF/2003AUG29_NTEK_AN.PDF
Minimum Shift Keying: A Spectrally Effiecient
Modulation
[Link]
egrati/msk_pasupathy_1979.pdf
