Abstract

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a new non-

voice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a
mobile telephone network. It supplements today's Circuit Switched Data and Short
Message Service. GPRS is NOT related to GPS (the Global Positioning System), a
similar acronym that is often used in mobile contexts. GPRS has several unique
features which can be summarized as:

SPEED: Theoretical maximum speeds of up to 171.2 kilobits per second (kbps)

are achievable with GPRS using all eight timeslots at the same time. This is about
three times as fast as the data transmission speeds possible over today's fixed
telecommunications networks and ten times as fast as current Circuit Switched
Data services on GSM networks.

IMMEDIACY: GPRS facilitates instant connections whereby information can be

sent or received immediately as the need arises, subject to radio coverage. No dial-
up modem connection is necessary. This is why GPRS users are sometimes
referred to be as being "always connected".

NEW APPLICATIONS, BETTER APPLICATIONS: GPRS facilitates several

new applications that have not previously been available over GSM networks due
to the limitations in speed of Circuit Switched Data (9.6 kbps) and message length
of the Short Message Service (160 characters). GPRS will fully enable the Internet
applications you are used to on your desktop from web browsing to chat over the
mobile network.
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1. Introduction
The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a new
service that provides actual packet radio access for Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) and Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) users. It
provides for the transmission of IP packets over existing cellular networks,
bringing the Internet to the mobile phone. Anything the Internet offers, from web
browsing to chat and email, will be available from GSM and TDMA service
providers via GPRS-enabled devices.
The main benefits of GPRS are that it reserves radio
resources only when there is data to send and it reduces reliance on traditional
circuit-switched network elements. The increased functionality of GPRS will
decrease the incremental cost to provide data services, an occurrence that will, in
turn, increase the penetration of data services among consumer and business users.
In addition, GPRS will allow improved quality of data services as measured in
terms of reliability, response time, and features supported. The unique applications
that will be developed with GPRS will appeal to a broad base of mobile
subscribers and allow operators to differentiate their services. These new services
will increase capacity requirements on the radio and base-station subsystem
resources. One method GPRS uses to alleviate the capacity impacts is sharing the
same radio resource among all mobile stations in a cell, providing effective use of
the scarce resources. In addition, new core network elements will be deployed to
support the increased use of data services more efficiently.
In addition to providing new services for today’s mobile
user, GPRS is important as a migration step toward third-generation (3G)
networks. GPRS will allow network operators to implement an IP-based core
architecture for data applications, which will continue to be used and expanded
upon for 3G services for integrated voice and data applications. In addition, GPRS

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will prove a testing and development area for new services and applications, which
will also be used in the development of 3G services.
GPRS is a non-voice, value added, packet-switched,
mobile communication system. GPRS is implemented over the existing GSM
network. So it shares GSM frequency bands and makes use of many properties of
physical layer of the original GSM system, most importantly time-division
multiple access frame structure, modulation techniques, and structure of GSM time
slots.

2. GPRS Architecture

From a high level, GPRS can be thought of as an overlay

network onto a second-generation GSM network. This data overlay network
provides packet data transport at rates from 9.6 to 171 kbps. Additionally, multiple
users can share the same air-interface resources.

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GPRS attempts to reuse the existing GSM network

elements as much as possible, but in order to effectively build a packet-based
mobile cellular network, some new network elements, interfaces, and protocols
that handle packet traffic are required. Therefore, GPRS requires modifications to
numerous network elements.

2.1 GPRS Subscriber Terminals

New terminals (TEs) are required because existing GSM
phones do not handle the enhanced air interface, nor do they have the ability to
packetize traffic directly. A variety of terminals will exist, including a high-speed
version of current phones to support high-speed data access, a new kind of PDA
device with an embedded GSM phone, and PC Cards for laptop computers. All
these TEs will be backward compatible with GSM for making voice calls using
GSM.

2.2 GPRS BSS

Each BSC will require the installation of one or more
PCUs and a software upgrade. The PCU provides a physical and logical data
interface out of the base station system (BSS) for packet data traffic. The BTS may
also require a software upgrade, but typically will not require hardware
enhancements.
When either voice or data traffic is originated at the
subscriber terminal, it is transported over the air interface to the BTS, and from the
BTS to the BSC in the same way as a standard GSM call. However, at the output
of the BSC the traffic is separated; voice is sent to the mobile switching center
(MSC) per standard GSM, and data is sent to a new device called the SGSN, via
the PCU over a Frame Relay interface.

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2.3 GPRS Network

In the core network, the existing MSCs are based upon
circuit-switched central-office technology, and they cannot handle packet traffic.
Thus two new components, called GPRS Support Nodes, are added:
• Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)
• Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)
The SGSN can be viewed as a “packet-switched MSC;” it
delivers packets to mobile stations (MSs) within its service area. SGSNs send
queries to home location registers (HLRs) to obtain profile data of GPRS
subscribers. SGSNs detect new GPRS MSs in a given service area, process
registration of new mobile subscribers, and keep a record of their location inside a
given area. Therefore, the SGSN performs mobility management functions such as
mobile subscriber attach/detach and location management. The SGSN is connected
to the base-station subsystem via a Frame Relay connection to the PCU in the
BSC.
GGSNs are used as interfaces to external IP networks such
as the public Internet, other mobile service providers’ GPRS services, or enterprise
intranets. GGSNs maintain routing information that is necessary to tunnel the
protocol data units (PDUs) to the SGSNs that service particular MSs. Other
functions include network and subscriber screening and address mapping. One (or
more) GGSNs may be provided to support multiple SGSNs. More detailed
technical descriptions of the SGSN and GGSN are provided in a later section.
In general there is a many-to-many relationship between
the SGSNs and GGSNs: AGGSN is the interface to external packet data networks
for several SGSNs; an SGSN may route its packets over different GGSNs to reach
different packet data networks.

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2.4 GPRS Mobility Management

Mobility management within GPRS builds on the
mechanisms used in GSM networks; as a MS moves from one area to another,
mobility management functions are used to track its location within each mobile
network. The SGSNs communicate with each other and update the user location.
The MS profiles are preserved in the visitor location registers (VLRs) that are
accessible by the SGSNs via the local GSM MSC. A logical link is established and
maintained between the MS and the SGSN in each mobile network. At the end of
transmission or when a MS moves out of the area of a specific SGSN, the logical
link is released and the resources associated with it can be reallocated.

3. Technology Overview:

GPRS offers the flexibility and throughput of packet

switching. At the same time, because it is designed to work on the existing GSM
network, it is relatively easy and cost-effective to implement. It uses the same
GSM radio frequencies and base stations that are already in place.

3.1 How GPRS Works

GPRS uses packet switching to transfer
data from the mobile device to the network and back. This
provides significant benefits. On a packet-switched network, a
device can be always connected and ready to send information
without monopolizing the data channel. Channels are shared in
packet switched networks, but in circuit-switched networks each
channel is dedicated to only one user. Therefore, that user has to
pay for the exclusive use of the channel. Another benefit of

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packet switching is that there are no call setup or suspend

delays. The mobile device can begin sending packets
immediately whenever it is
used. By overlaying the GSM network, GPRS is able to take
advantage of the world's leading digital phone system, with a
global subscriber base of over 646.5 million and growing (GSM
Association, 01/02). GSM service is available in more than 150
countries and has become the de facto standard in Europe and
Asia. It operates on the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands in
Europe and Asia Pacific and 1900 MHz in North America. In the
near future, North American operators will also begin using the
850 MHz frequency band for GSM/GPRS. GPRS improves on the
data transmission capability of GSM while using the existing voice
transmission capability. Users can have high quality voice
conversations using circuit switched data up to 14.4 kbps and
transfer data using packet switched GPRS at up to 53.6 kbps
(85.6 kbps with advanced wireless networks).

3.2 Time Slot Aggregation

Still another benefit of GPRS is the ability
to use more time slots, and therefore assign more data packets,
into each transmission frame to a particular user. Since GPRS can
combine multiple slots in a single transmission, the effective
bandwidth is increased. The theoretical limit for GPRS is eight
time slots. GPRS assigns a .5-millisecond time slot to each data
packet. The system is notified at the time of transmission as to
how many time slots or kbps are needed on both the sending and
receiving devices. The ability to combine only the required

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number of time slots for each transmission gives GPRS the

flexibility to support both low-speed and high-speed data
applications in a single network. Not only does GPRS combine
multiple time slots, it also varies the transmission speed of the
time slots based on the coding scheme selected. The selection of
coding schemes is transparent to the user and determines the
level of error correction the network uses to send the data. The
better the link is between the user and the network, the less error
correction is needed. Less error correction means higher
throughput. (Coding scheme 1 has the highest level of error
correction.)
For example, Coding Scheme 2 provides a
rate of 13.4 kbps per slot. The number of slots is simply
multiplied by 13.4 kbps to determine the aggregated speed (see
Figure). Four coding schemes have been specified for GPRS, CS-1
to CS-4. As of March 2002, only CS-1 and CS-2 had been deployed
on commercial GPRS networks.

4. GPRS Terminals

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A complete understanding of the application availability

and GPRS timeline requires understanding of terminal types and availability. The
term “terminal equipment” is generally used to refer to the variety of mobile
phones and mobile stations that can be used in a GPRS environment; the
equipment is defined by terminal classes and types. Gateway GPRS Serving Node
(GGSN) and data network components interoperate with GPRS terminals that
follow the GPRS standards.

4.1 GPRS Terminal Classes

A GPRS terminal can be one of three classes: A, B, or C.
Class A terminal supports GPRS and other GSM services (such as SMS and voice)
simultaneously. This support includes simultaneous attach, activation, monitor,
and traffic. As such, a Class A terminal can make or receive calls on two services
simultaneously. In the presence of circuit-switched services, GPRS virtual circuits
will be held or placed on busy rather than being cleared.
A Class B terminal can monitor GSM and GPRS channels
simultaneously, but can support only one of these services at a time. Therefore, a
Class B terminal can support simultaneous attach, activation, and monitor, but not
simultaneous traffic. As with Class A, the GPRS virtual circuits will not be closed
down when circuit-switched traffic is present. Instead, they will be switched to
busy or held mode. Thus, users can make or receive calls on either a packet or a
switched call type sequentially, but not simultaneously.
A Class C terminal supports only non simultaneous attach.
The user must select which service to connect to. Therefore, a Class C terminal
can make or receive calls from only the manually (or default) selected service. The
service that is not selected is not reachable. Finally, the GPRS specifications state
that support of SMS is optional for Class C terminals.

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4.2 Device Types

In addition to the three variables, each handset will have a
unique form factor. Some of the form factors will be similar to current mobile
wireless devices, while others will evolve to use the enhanced data capabilities of
GPRS. The earliest available type will be closely related to the current mobile
phone. These will be available in the standard form factor with a numeric keypad
and a relatively small display.
PC Cards are credit card-sized hardware devices that
connect via a serial cable to the bottom of a mobile phone. Data cards for GPRS
phones will enable laptops and other devices with PC Card slots to be connected to
mobile GPRS-capable phones. Card phones provide functionality similar to that
offered by PC Cards, without needing a separate phone. These devices may need
an earpiece and microphone to support voice services.
Smart phones are mobile phones with built-in voice,
nonvoice, and Web-browsing services. Smart phones integrate mobile computing
and mobile communications into a single terminal. They come in various form
factors, which may include a keyboard or an icon drive screen. The Nokia 9000
series is a popular example of this form factor. The increase in machine-to-
machine communications has led to the adoption of application-specific devices.
These “black-box” devices lack a display, keypad, and voice accessories of a
standard phone. Communication is accomplished through a serial cable.
Applications such as meter reading utilize such black-box devices.
Personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pilot series or Handspring
Visor are data-centric devices that are adding mobile wireless access. These
devices can either connect with a GPRS-capable mobile phone via a serial cable or
have GPRS capability built in.
A final category of GPRS terminals is handheld
communications. Again, these are primarily data-centric devices that are adding

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mobile wireless access. Access can be gained via a PC Card or via a serial cable to
a GPRS-capable phone.

5. Implementing GPRS in an Organization

There are a number of different ways the

mobile professional can be connected to the corporate network
via a notebook computer, using the GPRS network. It will be up to

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the IS manager and telecom manager to decide which option

serves their needs best. The following section provides
information on the two most common scenarios: enterprise
controlled connection, and connection through an ISP.

5.1 Enterprise Controlled Connection

This scenario allows for strong
authentication and seamless allocation of IP addresses from the
corporate network. The GGSN is configured with the IP address of
the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, the IP
address of the Remote Access Dial- in User System (RADIUS)
server, and the required radius key. The user’s device will need to
be configured with the desired APN and any relevant information
about the DNS and Windows Internet Name (WINS) server. To
become connected, the user provides all credentials required at
the logon screens. The user will then be allocated an IP address
and can gain access to the corporate network. The link between
the corporate network and the GPRS network can be physically
implemented using a variety of common methods such as leased
T1/E1 lines.

5.2 Connecting Through an ISP

Like the enterprise-controlled connection, this method
requires authentication before gaining access to the corporate network. The
difference is that the connection is made by way of an Internet Service Provider
(ISP). After connecting to the ISP by selecting its APN, and completing the ISP
authentication process successfully, the user is allocated an IP address and obtains
PDP context. Through this link to the Internet, the user is able to connect to the

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corporate network. Configuration of the DNS and WINS may involve client
software tools. Once PDP context is activated, access is similar to any other link
from the Internet to the corporate network. Most companies use a VPN (Virtual
Private Network) as an added security measure.

6. Security
The security offered by GPRS resembles that offered by
GSM and includes the following key components: anonymity, authentication
and confidentiality (user data and signaling).
6.1 Anonymity
The purpose of this component is to
provide privacy to the subscriber, ensuring that it is not easy to
identify the subscriber from their radio signal or SGSN
connection.

6.2 Authentication
In order to bill correctly and to prevent
fraud, the mobile operator needs to know who is using the
system. The SGSN takes care of this authentication.
6.3 Confidentiality
The goal of confidentiality is to protect
user data and signaling information over the radio link. GPRS
Encryption Algorithms are provided in the GPRS specifications.
The mobile terminal and the network negotiate the GEA that will
be used. In order to establish complete end-to-end security,

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additional measures need to be taken. It is advisable to integrate

GPRS clients into the existing corporate VPN, creating a mixed
wired/wireless VPN environment. A VPN client runs on the
notebook PC or handheld PC. A secure tunnel is created that
spans from the GPRS- enabled client device to the VPN Gateway.
This ensures users will be able to have real-time, secure access to
critical corporate information that resides behind the VPN
Gateway. The combination of GSM/GPRS security mechanisms
with a solid VPN implementation provides robust security for
anywhere, anytime access.

7. GPRS Data Communication

Some cooperation still exists between elements of the
current GSM services and GPRS. On the physical layer, resources can be reused
and some common signaling issues exist. In the same radio carrier, there can be
time slots (TSs) reserved simultaneously for circuit-switched and GPRS use. The
most optimum resource utilization is obtained through dynamic sharing between
circuit-switched and GPRS channels. During the establishment of a circuit-
switched call, there is enough time to preempt the GPRS resources for circuit-
switched calls that have higher priority.

7.1 GPRS Service

The GPRS provides a bearer service from the edge of a
data network to a GPRS MS. The GPRS protocol layering is illustrated in Figure.
The physical radio interface consists of a flexible number of TDMA time slots
(from 1 to 8) and thus provides a theoretical raw data rate of 171 kbps. A Media
Access Control (MAC) utilizes the resources of the physical radio interface and
provides a service to the GPRS Logical Link Control (LLC) protocol between the

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MS and the serving GSN (SGSN). LLC is a modification of a High-Level Data

Link Control (HDLC)-based Radio Link Protocol (RLP) with variable frame size.
The two most important features offered by LLC are the support of point-to-
multipoint addressing and the control of data frame retransmission. From the
standpoint of the application, GPRS provides a standard interface for the network
layer.

7.2 Data Routing

One of the main issues in the GPRS network is the routing
of data packets to/from a mobile user. The issue can be divided into two areas:
data packet routing and mobility management.

7.2.1 Data Packet Routing

The main functions of the GGSN involve interaction with
the external data network. The GGSN updates the location directory using routing
information supplied by the SGSNs about the location of a MS and routes the
external data network protocol packet encapsulated over the GPRS backbone to
the SGSN currently serving the MS. It also decapsulates and forwards external
data network packets to the appropriate data network and collects charging data
that is forwarded to a charging gateway. In Figure, three different routing schemes
are illustrated: mobile-originated message (path 1), network-initiated message

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when the MS is in its home network (path 2), and network-initiated message when
the MS has roamed to another GPRS operator’s network (path 3). In these
examples, the operator’s GPRS network consists of multiple GSNs (with a
gateway and serving functionality) and an intra-operator backbone network. GPRS
operators will allow roaming through an inter-operator backbone network. The
GPRS operators connect to the inter-operator network via a boarder gateway (BG),
which can provide the necessary interworking and routing protocols (for example,
Border Gateway Protocol [BGP]). It is also foreseeable that GPRS operators will
implement QoS mechanisms over the inter-operator network to ensure service-
level agreements (SLAs). The main benefits of the architecture are its flexibility,
scalability, interoperability, and roaming.

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The GPRS network encapsulates all data network protocols into its own
encapsulation protocol, called the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP), as shown in
Figure. This is done to ensure security in the backbone network and to simplify the
routing mechanism and the delivery of data over the GPRS network.

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7.2.2 GPRS Mobility Management

The operation of the GPRS is partly independent of the
GSM network. However, some procedures share the network elements with
current GSM functions to increase efficiency and to make optimum use of free
GSM resources (such as unallocated time slots). (See Figure)

An MS has three states in the GPRS system: idle, standby,

and active. The three-state model represents the nature of packet radio relative to
the GSM two-state model (idle or active). Data is transmitted between aMS and
the GPRS network only when the MS is in the active state. In the active state, the
SGSN knows the cell location of the MS. However, in the standby state, the
location of the MS is known only as to which routing area it is in. (The routing
area can consist of one or more cells within a GSM location area.) When the

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SGSN sends a packet to a MS that is in the standby state, the MS must be paged.
Because the SGSN knows the routing area in which the MS is located, a packet
paging message is sent to that routing area. After receiving the packet paging
message, the MS gives its cell location to the SGSN to establish the active state.
Packet transmission to an active MS is initiated by packet
paging to notify the MS of an incoming data packet. The data transmission
proceeds immediately after packet paging through the channel indicated by the
paging message. The purpose of the packet paging message is to simplify the
process of receiving packets. The MS has to listen to only the packet paging
messages, instead of all the data packets in the downlink channels, reducing
battery use significantly.
When an MS has a packet to be transmitted, access to the
uplink channel is needed. The uplink channel is shared by a number of MSs, and
its use is allocated by a BSS. The MS requests use of the channel in a packet
random access message. The transmission of the packet random access message
follows Slotted Aloha procedures. The BSS allocates an unused channel to the MS
and sends a packet access grant message in reply to the packet random access
message. The description of the channel (one or multiple time slots) is included in
the packet access grant message. The data is transmitted on the reserved channels.
The main reasons for the standby state are to reduce the
load in the GPRS network caused by cell-based routing update messages and to
conserve the MS battery. When a MS is in the standby state, there is no need to
inform the SGSN of every cell change—only of every routing area change. The
operator can define the size of the routing area and, in this way, adjust the number
of routing update messages. In the idle state, the MS does not have a logical GPRS
context activated or any Packet-Switched Public Data Network (PSPDN)
addresses allocated. In this state, the MS can receive only those multicast
messages that can be received by any GPRS MS. Because the GPRS network

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infrastructure does not know the location of the MS, it is not possible to send
messages to the MS from external data networks. A cell-based routing update
procedure is invoked when an active MS enters a new cell. In this case, the MS
sends a short message containing information about its move (the message
contains the identity of the MS and its new location) through GPRS channels to its
current SGSN. This procedure is used only when the MS is in the active state.
When an MS in an active or a standby state moves from one routing area to
another in the service area of one SGSN, it must again perform a routing update.
The routing area information in the SGSN is updated and the success of the
procedure is indicated in the response message. The inter-SGSN routing update is
the most complicated of the three routing updates. In this case, the MS changes
from one SGSN area to another and it must establish a new connection to a new
SGSN. This means creating a new logical link context between the MS and the
new SGSN, as well as informing the GGSN about the new location of the MS.

8. Applications for GPRS

A wide range of corporate and consumer applications are
enabled by nonvoice mobile services such as SMS and GPRS. This section will
introduce those that are particularly suited to GPRS.

8.1 CHAT

Chat can be distinguished from general information

services because the source of the information is a person with chat whereas it
tends to be from an Internet site for information services. The "information
intensity"- the amount of information transferred per message tends to be lower
with chat, where people are more likely to state opinions than factual data. In the
same way as Internet chat groups have proven a very popular application of the
Internet, groups of likeminded people- so called communities of interest- have

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begun to use nonvoice mobile services as a means to chat and communicate and
discuss.

Because of its synergy with the Internet, GPRS would

allow mobile users to participate fully in existing Internet chat groups rather than
needing to set up their own groups that are dedicated to mobile users. Since the
number of participants is an important factor determining the value of participation
in the newsgroup, the use of GPRS here would be advantageous. GPRS will not
however support point to multipoint services in its first phase, hindering the
distribution of a single message to a group of people. As such, given the installed
base of SMS capable devices, we would expect SMS to remain the primary bearer
for chat applications in the foreseeable future, although experimentation with using
GPRS is likely to commence sooner rather than later.

8.2 TEXTUAL AND VISUAL INFORMATION

A wide range of content can be delivered to mobile phone

users ranging from share prices, sports scores, weather, flight information, news
headlines, prayer reminders, lottery results, jokes, horoscopes, traffic, location
sensitive services and so on. This information need not necessarily be textual- it
may be maps or graphs or other types of visual information.

The length of a short message of 160 characters suffices

for delivering information when it is quantitative- such as a share price or a sports
score or temperature. When the information is of a qualitative nature however,
such as a horoscope or news story, 160 characters is too short other than to
tantalize or annoy the information recipient since they receive the headline or
forecast but little else of substance. As such, GPRS will likely be used for
qualitative information services when end users have GPRS capable devices, but
SMS will continue to be used for delivering most quantitative information

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services. Interestingly, chat applications are a form of qualitative information that

may remain delivered using SMS, in order to limit people to brevity and reduce the
incidence of spurious and irrelevant posts to the mailing list that are a common
occurrence on Internet chat groups.

8.3 STILL IMAGES

Still images such as photographs, pictures, postcards,

greeting cards and presentations, static web pages can be sent and received over
the mobile network as they are across fixed telephone networks. It will be possible
with GPRS to post images from a digital camera connected to a GPRS radio
device directly to an Internet site, allowing near real-time desktop publishing.

8.4 MOVING IMAGES

Over time, the nature and form of mobile communication

is getting less textual and more visual. The wireless industry is moving from text
messages to icons and picture messages to photographs and blueprints to video
messages and movie previews being downloaded and on to full blown movie
watching via data streaming on a mobile device. Sending moving images in a
mobile environment has several vertical market applications including monitoring
parking lots or building sites for intruders or thieves, and sending images of
patients from an ambulance to a hospital. Videoconferencing applications, in
which teams of distributed sales people can have a regular sales meeting without
having to go to a particular physical location, is another application for moving
images.

8.5 WEB BROWSING

Using Circuit Switched Data for web browsing has never

been an enduring application for mobile users. Because of the slow speed of

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Circuit Switched Data, it takes a long time for data to arrive from the Internet
server to the browser. Alternatively, users switch off the images and just access the
text on the web, and end up with difficult to read text layouts on screens that are
difficult to read from. As such, mobile Internet browsing is better suited to GPRS.

8.6 DOCUMENT SHARING/ COLLABORATIVE WORKING

Mobile data facilitates document sharing and remote

collaborative working. This lets different people in different places work on the
same document at the same time. Multimedia applications combining voice, text,
pictures and images can even be envisaged. These kinds of applications could be
useful in any problem solving exercise such as fire fighting, combat to plan the
route of attack, medical treatment, advertising copy setting, architecture,
journalism and so on. Even comments on which resort to book a holiday at could
benefit from document sharing to save everyone having to visit the travel agent to
make a decision. Anywhere somebody can benefit from having and being able to
comment on a visual depiction of a situation or matter, such collaborative working
can be useful. By providing sufficient bandwidth, GPRS facilitates multimedia
applications such as document sharing.

8.7 AUDIO

Despite many improvements in the quality of voice calls

on mobile networks such as Enhanced Full Rate (EFR), they are still not broadcast
quality. There are scenarios where journalists or undercover police officers with

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portable professional broadcast quality microphones and amplifiers capture

interviews with people or radio reports dictated by themselves and need to send
this information back to their radio or police station. Leaving a mobile phone on,
or dictating to a mobile phone, would simply not give sufficient voice quality to
allow that transmission to be broadcast or analyzed for the purposes of background
noise analysis or voice printing, where the speech autograph is taken and matched
against those in police storage. Since even short voice clips occupy large file sizes,
GPRS or other high-speed mobile data services are needed.

8.8 JOB DISPATCH

Non-voice mobile services can be used to assign and

communicate new jobs from office-based staff to mobile field staff. Customers
typically telephone a call center whose staff takes the call and categorize it. Those
calls requiring a visit by field sales or service representative can then be escalated
to those mobile workers. Job dispatch applications can optionally be combined
with vehicle positioning applications- such that the nearest available suitable
personnel can be deployed to serve a customer. GSM nonvoice services can be
used not only to send the job out, but also as a means for the service engineer or
sales person can keep the office informed of progress towards meeting the
customer’s requirement. The remote worker can send in a status message such as
"Job 1234 complete, on my way to 1235".

The 160 characters of a short message are sufficient for

communicating most delivery addresses such as those needed for sales, service or
some other job dispatch application such as mobile pizza delivery and courier
package delivery. However, 160 characters do require manipulation of the
customer data such as the use of abbreviations such as "St" instead of "Street".

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Neither does 160 characters leave much space for giving the field representative
any information about the problem that has been reported or the customer profile.
The field representative is able to arrive at the customer premises but is not very
well briefed beyond that. This is where GPRS will come in to allow more
information to be sent and received more easily. With GPRS, a photograph of the
customer and their premises could, for example, be sent to the field representative
to assist in finding and identifying the customer. As such, we expect job dispatch
applications will be an early adopter of GPRS-based communications.

8.9 CORPORATE EMAIL

With up to half of employees typically away from their

desks at any one time, it is important for them to keep in touch with the office by
extending the use of corporate email systems beyond an employee's office PC.
Corporate email systems run on Local Area computer Networks (LAN) and
include Microsoft Mail, Outlook, Outlook Express, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus
Notes and Lotus cc: Mail.Since GPRS capable devices will be more widespread in
corporations than amongst the general mobile phone user community, there are
likely to be more corporate email applications using GPRS than Internet email
ones whose target market is more general.

8.10 INTERNET EMAIL

Internet email services come in the form of a gateway

service where the messages are not stored, or mailbox services in which messages
are stored. In the case of gateway services, the wireless email platform simply
translates the message from SMTP, the Internet email protocol, into SMS and
sends to the SMS Center. In the case of mailbox email services, the emails are
actually stored and the user gets a notification on their mobile phone and can then

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retrieve the full email by dialing in to collect it, forward it and so on. Upon
receiving a new email, most Internet email users do not currently get notified of
this fact on their mobile phone. When they are out of the office, they have to dial
in speculatively and periodically to check their mailbox contents. However, by
linking Internet email with an alert mechanism such as SMS or GPRS, users can
be notified when a new email is received.

8.11 VEHICLE POSITIONING

This application integrates satellite-positioning systems

that tell people where they are with nonvoice mobile services that let people tell
others where they are. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a free-to-use
global network of 24 satellites run by the US Department of Defense. Anyone with
a GPS receiver can receive their satellite position and thereby find out where they
are. Vehicle positioning applications can be used to deliver several services
including remote vehicle diagnostics, ad-hoc stolen vehicle tracking and new
rental car fleet tariffs. The Short Message Service is ideal for sending Global
Positioning System (GPS) position information such as longitude, latitude, bearing
and altitude. GPS coordinates are typically about 60 characters in length. GPRS
could alternatively be used.

8.12 REMOTE LAN ACCESS

When mobile workers are away from their desks, they

clearly need to connect to the Local Area Network in their office. Remote LAN
applications encompasses access to any applications that an employee would use

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when sitting at their desk, such as access to the intranet, their corporate email
services such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes and to database applications
running on Oracle or Sybase or whatever. The mobile terminal such as handheld or
laptop computer has the same software programs as the desktop on it, or cut down
client versions of the applications accessible through the corporate LAN. This
application area is therefore likely to be a conglomeration of remote access to
several different information types- email, intranet, and databases. This
information may all be accessible through web browsing tools, or require
proprietary software applications on the mobile device. The ideal bearer for
Remote LAN Access depends on the amount of data being transmitted, but the
speed and latency of GPRS make it ideal.

8.13 FILE TRANSFER

As this generic term suggests, file transfer applications

encompass any form of downloading sizeable data across the mobile network. This
data could be a presentation document for a traveling salesperson, an appliance
manual for a service engineer or a software application such as Adobe Acrobat
Reader to read documents. The source of this information could be one of the
Internet communication methods such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), telnet, http
or Java- or from a proprietary database or legacy platform. Irrespective of source
and type of file being transferred, this kind of application tends to be bandwidth
intensive. It therefore requires a high-speed mobile data service such as GPRS,
EDGE or 3GSM to run satisfactorily across a mobile network.

8.14 HOME AUTOMATION

Home automation applications combine remote security

with remote control. Basically, you can monitor your home from wherever you are
on the road, on holiday, or at the office. If your burglar alarm goes off, not only do

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you get alerted, but you get to go live and see who are perpetrators are and perhaps
even lock them in. Not only can you see things at home, but you can do things too.
You can program your video, switch your oven on so that the preheating is
complete by the time you arrive home (traffic jams permitting) and so on. Your
GPRS capable mobile phone really does become like the remote control devices
we use today for our television, video, hi-fi and so on. As the Internet Protocol (IP)
will soon be everywhere- not just in mobile phones because of GPRS but all
manner of household appliances and in every machine- these devices can be
addressed and instructed. A key enabler for home automation applications will be
Bluetooth, which allows disparate devices to interwork.

9. Related GPRS Challenges

9.1 BILLING

GPRS is a different kind of service from those typically

available on today’s mobile networks. GPRS is essentially a packet switching
overlay on a circuit switching network. The GPRS specifications stipulate the
minimum charging information that must be collected in the Stage 1 service
description. These include destination and source addresses, usage of radio
interface, usage of external Packet Data Networks, usage of the packet data
protocol addresses, usage of general GPRS resources and location of the Mobile
Station. Since GPRS networks break the information to be communicated down
into packets, at a minimum, a GPRS network needs to be able to count packets to
charging customers for the volume of packets they send and receive. Today's
billing systems have difficulties handling charging for today's nonvoice services. It
is unlikely that circuit switched billing systems will be able to process a large
number of new variables created by GPRS.

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GPRS call records are generated in the GPRS Service

Nodes. The GGSN and SGSN may not be able to store charging information but
this charging information needs to be processed. The incumbent billing systems
are often not able to handle real time Call Detail Record flows. As such, an
intermediary charging platform is a good idea to perform billing mediation by
collecting the charging information from the GPRS nodes and preparing it for
submission to the billing system. Packet counts are passed to a Charging Gateway
that generates Call Detail Records that are sent to the billing system. However, the
crucial challenge of being able to bill for GPRS and therefore earn a return on
investment in GPRS is simplified by the fact that the major GPRS infrastructure
vendors all support charging functions as part of their GPRS solutions.
Additionally, a wide range of other existing non-GSM packet data networks such
as X.25 and Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) are in place along with
associated billing systems.

It may well be the case that the cost of measuring packets

is greater than their value. The implication is that there will NOT be a per packet
charge since there may be too many packets to warrant counting and charging for.
For example, a single traffic monitoring application can generate tens of thousands
of packets per day. Thus the charging gateway function is more a policing function
than a charging function since network operators are likely to tariff certain
amounts of GPRS traffic at a flat rate and then need to monitor whether these
allocations are far exceeded.

This is not to say that we will end up with the free Internet
Service Provider model that has become established on the fixed Internet in which
users pay no fixed monthly charge and network operators rely on advertising sales
on mobile portal sites to make money. There is a premium for mobility and there is
frankly a shortage of mobile bandwidth that limits the extent to which that

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bandwidth is viewed as a commodity. And given the additional customer care and
billing complexity associated with mobile Internet and nonvoice services, network
operators would be ill advised to reduce their prices in such a way as to devalue
the perceived value of mobility.

9.2 TARIFFING

Decisions on charging for GPRS by packet or simply a flat

monthly fee are contentious but need to be made. Charging different packets at
different rates can make things complicated for the user, whilst flat rates favour
heavy users more than occasional ones. We believe that the optimal GPRS pricing
model will be based on two variables- time and packet. Network operators should
levy a nominal per packet charge during peak times plus a flat rate, no per packet
charge during non peak times. Time and packet related charging will encourage
applications such as remote monitoring, meter reading and chat to use GPRS
overnight when spare network capacity is available. Simultaneously, a nominal per
packet charge during the day will help to allocate scarce radio resources and
charge radio heavy applications such as file and image transfer more than
applications with lower data intensity. It has the advantage that it will
automatically adjust customer charging according to their application usage. As
such the optimal charging model could well be a flat rate charge during off-peak
times along with a per packet charge during peak times.

9.3 CUSTOMER SERVICE

Value-added network services such as mobile data, mobile

Internet and unified messaging all generate certain specific customer problems and
requirements, thereby requiring customer service personnel to be aware of these
issues and know how to solve them.

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Non-voice services are surprisingly complex- involving

unique configurations of phone types, data cards, handheld computers,
subscriptions, operating systems, Internet service providers and so on. Some
network operators require customers to opt into certain value added services rather
than including them as part of the core subscription- necessitating a customer
service process. It is even possible to write a 350 page book about the SHORT
message service (it is called "YES2SMS")! In theory, the need for dedicated
customer service for Circuit Switched Data, SMS and other nonvoice mobile
services will decrease in the future as terminals and services become easier to use
and as the services themselves are used more widely for customer service
purposes. The reality in the short and medium term is that the need for customer
support for value-added services will increase not decrease as awareness of
services and their usage increases, and as new services and terminals come onto
the marketplace.

Rather than keeping everything in-house or outsourcing

everything, we are a proponent of an approach that keeps first line support and
customer contact in-house, whilst outsourcing the difficult specific customer
service problems arising from connectivity issues and so on. In this way, the
network operator is aware of and in control of the kinds of questions and problems
its customers are asking. It is well worth incurring the cost to get the customer
aware, educated and initially set up with data services, because, for example, once
the PC data card has been successfully connected to the laptop to the Internet
software and so on, the same configuration can be repeatedly used. The one-off
customer requirement leads to ongoing usage.

10. Conclusion

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GPRS, widely considered a 2.5G technology, is a step

along the evolutionary path that ultimately leads to 3G. Since GSM is the most
widely subscribed wireless network type worldwide, and GPRS is deployed on the
GSM network, it appears that GPRS has the potential to become the most
prevalent wireless data access technology. Several possible evolutionary paths lead
to 3G, but GPRS offers one of the most streamlined and logical progressions.

11. References
1) http://www.intel.com/go/gprs
2)"GPRS Technology", Intel Corporation, 2002, Available from:
http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/resources/doc_library/white_papers/G
PRS-WhitePaper.pdf
3) http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/index.shtml
4) http://www.cisco.com
5) GPRS - How does it work and how good is it? By Nikhil M. Deshpande, Ph.D.
Intel Corporation.

6) http://www.mobilein.com

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