01 TELECOM TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW

Telecom technology overview | Yekoyesew Eshetae

 Wireless Communication
 Communication can be defined as the process of exchange of information through
means such as words, actions, signs, etc., between two or more individuals.

Parts of Communication System

 Any system which provides communication consists of the three important and basic
parts as shown in the following figure.

The Sender is the person who sends a message. It could be a transmitting station
from where the signal is transmitted.
The Channel is the medium through which the message signals travel to reach
the destination.
The Receiver is the person who receives the message. It could be a receiving
station where the signal transmitted is received.

What is a Signal?

Signal can be a source of energy which transmits some information.

 An electrical impulse or an electromagnetic wave which travels a distance to convey

a message can be termed as a signal in communication systems.
 Depending on their characteristics, signals are mainly classified into two types:
Analog and Digital.

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Analog Signal

 A continuous time varying signal, which represents a time varying quantity can
be termed as an Analog Signal.
 The communication based on analog signals and analog values is called as
Analog Communication.

Digital Signal

 A signal which is discrete in nature or which is non-continuous in form can

betermed as a Digital signal.

The binary digit which has only 1s and 0s are mostly termed as digital values.
Hence, the signals which represent 1s and 0s are also called as digital signals.
The communication based on digital signals and digital values is called as
Digital Communication.

 Modulation is the process of changing the parameters of the carrier signal, in

accordance with the instantaneous values of the modulating signal.
 Advantages for implementing modulation in the communication systems.

 Antenna size gets reduced.

 No signal mixing occurs.
 Communication range increases.
 Multiplexing of signals occur.
 An adjustment in the bandwidth is allowed.
 Reception quality improves.

 Two types communication system

1. Wired network
Wired is the term refers to any physical medium consisting of cables.
The cables can be copper wire, twisted pair or fiber optic.
Wired network is used to carry different forms of electrical signals from
one end to the other.
EXAMPLE #1: LAN (Local Area Network)
2. Wireless communication
Wireless is the term refers to medium made of electromagnetic waves (i.e.
EM Waves) or infrared waves.
All the wireless devices will have antenna or sensors.

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 Typical wireless devices include cellular mobile, wireless sensors, TV
remote, satellite disc receiver, and laptops with WLAN card etc.
Wireless network does not use wires for data or voice communication; it
uses radio frequency waves as mentioned above. The other examples are
fiber optic communication link and broadband ADSL etc.
EXAMPLES:
1. Outdoor cellular technologies such as GSM, CDMA, WiMAX, LTE,
Satellite etc.
2. Indoor wireless technologies such as Wireless LAN(or WiFi), Bluetooth,
IrDA, Zigbee, Zwave etc.

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Wireless Communications

1. Radio waves:
EM wave frequencies ranging from 3KHz to 1GHz
Use omnidirectional antennas.
The radio wave band is under government regulation.
Used for multicast communications, such as radio & television, & paging
systems.
They can penetrate through walls.
2. Micro Waves:
EM waves between 1 & 300GHz
Microwaves are unidirectional; propagation is line of sight.
Use directional antennas ¡V Point to point line of sight communications.
The parabolic dish antenna & the horn antenna are used for transmission &
reception of microwaves.
Used for unicast communication such as cellular telephones, satellite networks,
& wireless LANs.
Higher frequency ranges cannot penetrate walls.
3. Infrared Waves: IR
Infrared Waves => 300 GHz to 400 THz
For short-range communications such as b/n a PC & a peripheral device.
Small distance, typically no more than 10m.
Line of sight (or reflection) propagation, Blocked by walls
e.g. TV remote control, IRD port

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Wireless Communication - Multiple Access
 Multiple access schemes are used to allow many mobile users to share
simultaneously a finite amount of radio spectrum.
 There are several different ways to allow access to the channel. These includes
mainly the following −

 Frequency division multiple-access (FDMA)

 Time division multiple-access (TDMA)
 Code division multiple-access (CDMA)
 Space division multiple access (SDMA)

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)

FDMA is the basic technology for advanced mobile phone services. The features of
FDMA are as follows.

 FDMA allots a different sub-band of frequency to each different user to access

the network.
 If FDMA is not in use, the channel is left idle instead of allotting to the other
users.
 FDMA is implemented in Narrowband systems and it is less complex than
TDMA.
 Tight filtering is done here to reduce adjacent channel interference.
 The base station BS and mobile station MS, transmit and receive simultaneously
and continuously in FDMA.
Channels in different frequency are allocated to different users
E.g. AMPS

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Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)

In the cases where continuous transmission is not required, there TDMA is used instead
of FDMA. The features of TDMA include the following.

 TDMA shares a single carrier frequency with several users where each user
makes use of non-overlapping time slots.
 Data transmission in TDMA is not continuous, but occurs in bursts. Hence a
hand off process is simpler.
 TDMA uses different time slots for transmission and reception thus duplexers
are not required.
 TDMA has an advantage that is possible to allocate different numbers of time
slots per frame to different users.
 Bandwidth can be supplied on demand to different users by concatenating or
reassigning time slot based on priority.
 Channels in different time are allocated to different users
 E.g. GSM、DAMPS

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Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)

Code division multiple access technique is an example of multiple access where several
transmitters use a single channel to send information simultaneously. Its features are as
follows.

 In CDMA every user uses the full available spectrum instead of getting allotted
by separate frequency.
 CDMA is much recommended for voice and data communications.
 While multiple codes occupy the same channel in CDMA, the users having same
code can communicate with each other.
 CDMA offers more air-space capacity than TDMA.
 The hands-off between base stations is very well handled by CDMA.
Users distinguished by scramble code
E.g. CDMA

Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA)

Space division multiple access or spatial division multiple access is a technique which is
MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) architecture and used mostly in wireless and
satellite communication. It has the following features.

 All users can communicate at the same time using the same channel.
 SDMA is completely free from interference.
 A single satellite can communicate with more satellites receivers of the same
frequency.
 The directional spot-beam antennas are used and hence the base station in
SDMA, can track a moving user.
 Controls the radiated energy for each user in space.

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 Comparison of FDMA, TDMA, CDMA and SDMA

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Cellular Networks

Wireless Communication can be classified into three eras.

 Pioneer Era (Till 1920)

 Pre Cellular Era(1920-1979) 
 Cellular Era (beyond 1979)

The first commercial mobile telephone system was launched by BELL in St. Louis, USA,
in 1946. Few lucky customers got the services. Early mobile systems used single high
power transmitters with analog Frequency Modulation techniques to give coverage up
to about 50 miles and hence only limited customers could get the service due to this
severe constraint of bandwidth.

Cellular Era: -

 To overcome the constraints of bandwidth scarcity and to give coverage to larger

sections, BELL lab introduced the principle of Cellular concept.
 By frequency reuse technique this method delivered better coverage, better
utility of available frequency spectrum and reduced transmitter power.

First Generation mobile Systems

 All these systems were analog systems, using FDMA technology.

 E.g. Advanced Mobile Phone System(AMPS)

Disadvantages of 1G systems

 They were analog and hence are not robust to interference. 

 Different countries followed their own standards, which were incompatible.

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Second generation mobile system

 It is digital cellular.
E.g. GSM

What is GSM?

GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication. It is a digital cellular
technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data services.
 GSM is a circuit-switched system that divides each 200 kHz channel into eight 25
kHz time-slots.
 GSM operates on the mobile communication bands 900 MHz and 1800 MHz in
most parts of the world. In the US, GSM operates in the bands 850 MHz and 1900
MHz.
 GSM owns a market share of more than 70 percent of the world's digital cellular
subscribers.
 GSM makes use of narrowband Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
technique for transmitting signals.
 GSM was developed using digital technology. It has an ability to carry 64 kbps to
120 Mbps of data rates.
 Presently GSM supports more than one billion mobile subscribers in more than
210 countries throughout the world.
 GSM provides basic to advanced voice and data services including roaming
service. Roaming is the ability to use your GSM phone number in another GSM
network.

Advantages of 2G
o Improved spectrum efficiency
o International roaming
o Low-cost mobile sets and base stations (BSs)
o High-quality speech
o Compatibility with Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and other

o Improved Spectral Utilization achieved by using advanced modulation

techniques.
o Lower bit rate voice coding enabled more users getting the services
simultaneously.
o Reduction of overhead in signaling paved way for capacity enhancement.
o Good source and channel coding techniques make the signal more robust
to Interference.
o New services like SMS were included.
o Improved efficiency of access and hand-off control was achieved.

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 GSM Architecture
A GSM network comprises of many functional units.
 The GSM network(overall mobile network architecture) can be broadly divided into:
The Mobile Station (MS)
The Base Station Subsystem (BSS)
The Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)
The Operation Support Subsystem (OSS)

1. The Mobile Station

The MS consists of the physical equipment, such as the radio transceiver, display and
digital signal processors, and the SIM card. It provides the air interface to the user in
GSM networks. As such, other services are also provided, which include:

 Voice teleservices
 Data bearer services
 The features' supplementary services

MS =phone + SIM

Or MS= IMEI + IMSI

IMEI= International Mobile Equipment Identity

IMSI= International Mobile Subscriber Identity

Functions of Mobile Station

 Radio transmission and reception

 Radio channel management
 Speech encoding/decoding
 Radio link error protection
 Flow control of data
 Rate adaptation of user data to the radio link
 Mobility management

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 2. Base Station Subsystem (BSS)

The BSS is composed of two parts:

 The Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

 The Base Station Controller (BSC)

 The BTS and the BSC communicate across the specified Abis interface,
enablingoperations between components that are made by different suppliers
 The radio components of a BSS may consist of four to seven or nine cells.
 A BSS may have one or more base stations.
 The BSS uses the Abis interface between the BTS and the BSC.
 A separate high-speed line (T1 or E1) is then connected from the BSS to the
MobileMSC.

The Base Transceiver Station (BTS)

 The BTS houses the radio transceivers that define a cell and handles the radio link
protocols with the MS.
 In a large urban area, a large number of BTSs may be deployed.

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  The BTS corresponds to the transceivers and antennas used in each cell of the
network.
 A BTS is usually placed in the center of a cell. Its transmitting power defines the
size of a cell.
 Each BTS has between 1 and 16 transceivers, depending on the density of users in
the cell.
 Each BTS serves as a single cell.

It also includes the following functions:

Encoding, encrypting, multiplexing, modulating, and feeding the RF signals tothe

antenna
Transcoding and rate adaptation
Time and frequency synchronizing
Voice through full- or half-rate services
Decoding, decrypting, and equalizing received signals
Random access detection
Timing advances
Uplink channel measurements

The Base Station Controller (BSC)

 The BSC manages the radio resources for one or more BTSs.
 It handles radio channel setup, frequency hopping, and handovers.
 The BSC is the connection between the mobile and the MSC.
 The BSC also translates the 13 Kbps voice channel used over the radio link to the
standard 64 Kbps channel used by the Public Switched Telephone Network
(PSDN)or ISDN.
 It assigns and releases frequencies and time slots for the MS.
 The BSC also handles intercell handover.
 It controls the power transmission of the BSS and MS in its area.
 The function of the BSC is to allocate the necessary time slots between the BTS
andthe MSC. It is a switching device that handles the radio resources.
 Additional functions include:

 Control of frequency hopping

 Performing traffic concentration to reduce the number of lines from the MSC
 Providing an interface to the Operations and Maintenance Center for the BSS
 Reallocation of frequencies among BTSs
 Time and frequency synchronization
 Power management
 Time-delay measurements of received signals from the MS

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 3. The Network Switching Subsystem (NSS)

 The Network switching system (NSS), the main part of which is the Mobile
Switching Center (MSC),
o Performs the switching of calls between the mobile and other fixed or
mobile network users, as well as the management of mobile services such
as authentication.

The switching system includes the following functional elements:

Home Location Register (HLR)

 It is a database used for storage and management of subscriptions.

 The HLR is considered the most important database, as it stores permanent data
about subscribers, including
a subscriber's service profile,
location information, and
Activity status.
Service restrictions.
 When an individual buys a subscription in the form of SIM, then all the
information about this subscription is registered in the HLR of that operator.

Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC)

 The central component of the Network Subsystem is the MSC.

 The MSC performs the switching of calls between the mobile and other fixed or
mobile network users, as well as the management of mobile services such as
 registration,
 authentication,
 location updating,
 handovers, and

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  Call routing to a roaming subscriber.
 It also performs such functions as toll ticketing, network interfacing, common
channel signaling, and others. Every MSC is identified by a unique ID.

Functions of MSC

Call handling that copes with the mobile nature of subscribers considering
Location Registration, Authentication of subscribers and equipment, Handover
and Prepaid service.
Management of required logical radio link channel during calls.
Management of MSC-BSS signaling protocol.
Handling location registration and ensuring interworking between mobile
station and VLR.
Controls inter-BSS and inter-MSC hand overs.
Acting as a gateway MSC to interrogate HLR. The MSC which is connected to
the PSTN/ISDN network is called as GMSC. This is the only MSC in the
network connected to the HLR.
Standard functions of a switch like charging.

Visitor Location Register (VLR)

 The VLR is a database that contains temporary information about subscribers that
is needed by the MSC in order to service visiting subscribers.
 The VLR is always integrated with the MSC.
 When a mobile station roams into a new MSC area, the VLR connected to that
MSC will request data about the mobile station from the HLR. Later, if the mobile
station makes a call, the VLR will have the information needed for call setup
without having to interrogate the HLR each time.

 VLR contains information like the following:

Identity of mobile sub,

Any temporary mobile sub identity,
ISDN directory number of the mobile,
A directory number to route the call to the roaming station,
Part of the data of HLR for the mobiles that are currently located in MSC
service area.

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Authentication Center (AUC)

 The Authentication Center is a protected database that stores a copy of the secret
key stored in each subscriber's SIM card, which is used for authentication and
ciphering of the radio channel.
 The AUC protects network operators from different types of fraud found in
today's cellular world.

Equipment Identity Register (EIR)

 The Equipment Identity Register (EIR) is a database that contains a list of all
valid mobile equipment on the network, where its International Mobile
Equipment Identity (IMEI) identifies each MS.
 An IMEI is marked as invalid if it has been reported stolen or is not type
approved.

 The information is available in the form of three lists.

White List- The terminal is allowed to connect to the Network.

Grey List- The terminal is under observation from the network for the
possible problems.
Black List- The terminals reported as stolen are not type approved. They are
not allowed to connect to the network. EIR informs the VLR about the list, the
particular IMEI is in.

4. The Operation Support Subsystem (OSS)

 The operations and maintenance center (OMC) is connected to all equipment in the
switching system and to the BSC.
 The implementation of OMC is called the operation and support system (OSS).

Here are some of the OMC functions:

Administration and commercial operation (subscription, end terminals, charging

and statistics).
Security Management.
Maintenance Tasks.
Software installation
Traffic management
Performance data analysis
Tracing of subscribers and equipment
Configuration management

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 Subscriber administration
Management of mobile equipment
Management of charging and billing

Following is the figure, which shows how OMC system covers all the GSM elements.

 The OSS is the functional entity from which the network operator monitors and
controls the system.
 The purpose of OSS is to offer the customer cost-effective support for centralized,
regional and local operational and maintenance activities that are required for a
GSM network.
 An important function of OSS is to provide a network overview and support the
maintenance activities of different operation and maintenance organizations.

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GSM Architecture (2G)

 HLR and VLR are databases for location management.

 The HLR stores the identity and user data of all subscribers belonging to the
mobileoperator for both local and aboard (roaming) users.
 The VLR contains the permanent data found in the HLR of the user’s
originalnetwork for all subscribers currently residing in its MSC serving
area.
 That is, VLR contains data of its own subscribers of the network that are in its
serving area, as well as that (temporary data) of roamers from other GSM
networks.
 The AuC is related to HLR and contains sets of parameters needed
forauthentication procedures for the mobile stations.
 EIR is an optional database that contains numbers of the mobile phone equipment’s.
 The purpose of EIR is to prevent usage of stolen mobile stations or to
barmalfunctioning equipment.
 2.5G: GPRS – General Packet Radio Service
 Offers speeds up to 114 Kbps.
 2.75G: EDGE – Enhanced Data GPRS Evolution
 Offers speeds up to 384 Kbps.

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General Packet Radio System (GPRS) Network Architecture

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 GSM Architecture with Interface


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  GPRS is a hardware and software upgrade to the existing GSM system.
• Two new network nodes are added:
Serving GPRS support node (SGSN)
Gateway GPRS support node (GGSN)
 SGSN is responsible for the delivery of packets from/to mobile stations within
itsservice area.
 Its main tasks are
 Mobility management:
o Location management
o Attachment/detachment
 Packet routing
 Logical link management
 Authentication

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  Charging functions
 GGSN acts as an interface between the GPRS packet network and external packet-
based networks like the Internet.
 It converts protocol data packet (PDP) address from the external packet-based
networks to the GSM address of the specified user and vice versa.
 For each session in GPRS, a PDP context to describe the session is created.
 It describes
o – PDP type (e.g., IPv4)
o – PDP address
 assigned to the mobile station for that session only
o – Requested quality of service (QoS) profile
o – Address of the GGSN
 the access node to that packet network
 There may be several SGSNs or GGSNs.
 All GPRS support nodes are connected through an IP-based GPRS backbone
network.
 HLR stores the followings:
 – User profile
 – Current SGSN address
 – PDP address(es)
e.g., IP address for communication with Internet
 MSC/VLR is extended with additional functions that allow coordination between
GSM circuit-switched services (e.g., telephony) and GPRS packet-switched services.
 Packet-switched services
 Real-time multimedia
 World Wide Web (WWW)
 File download
 E-mail
 Each of these services has different QoS requirements.
 GPRS has three states for location management:
– Idle
– Ready
– Standby
 In idle state, the network does not know the location of the mobile station and
no PDP context is associated with the station.
 When the mobile station sends or receives packets, it is in ready state.
 In this state the network knows which cell the user is in.
 After being silent for a period of time, mobile station reaches standby state.
 To locate a mobile,
o In standby state
 a GSM location area is divided into several routing areas (RAs)
 the network performs paging in the current RA

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 o In ready state
 there is no need for paging
o In idle state
 the network is paging all BTSs in the current location of the mobile
station
 GPRS utilizes the same radio access network as GSM.
 Third generation mobile networks have defined different radio interfaces to provide
higher bit rate services to users.

 The GPRS Speed depends on:

The channel condition,
location of the user (distance from the BTS),
mobile phone processor speed,
Network coverage,
signal strength &
How many users at that time browsing in the same network, etc.

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Third generation mobile system (3G)

 UMTS/WCDMA
 The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third
generationmobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard.
 It is designed for multimedia communications.
 It supports wideband services like high speed Internet access, video & high
qualityimage Tx & video conferencing.

Why 3G?

 Video calls, Video streaming, TV broadcast

 video clips – news, music, sports
 Enhanced gaming, chat, location service
 It is Multimedia cellular

3G Architecture

 UMTS’s basic architecture is split into two domains:

o User equipment (UE) domain
o Infrastructure domain
 UE is used by users to access UMTS services.
 It includes identity module and mobile equipment.

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  The mobile equipment performs radio communication with the network
andcontains applications for the services.
 The infrastructure domain is further split into two domains:
o Network access (NA) domain
o Core network (CN) domain
For UTRAN, network elements are responsible for
 Radio resource management
 Handover management
 Power control
A NodeB is a network component that serves one cell.
There are different types of NodeB like macrocells, microcells and picocells with
different requirements in traffic, coverage and services.
There are two types of NodeB:
o NodeB FDD
o NodeB TDD
NodeB FDD is planned for wider coverage area (macrocells, microcells).
NodeB TDD is targeted to hot spot in coverage.
The core network consists of two domains:
o circuit-switched (CS) domain
o packet-switched (PS) domain
These two domains in CN are overlapping in some common elements.
CS mode is the GSM mode of operation, while PS mode is supported by GPRS.
The entities specific to CS domain are MSC and GMSC.
The entities specific to PS domain are GGSN and SGSN
There are entities shared by both the CS and PS domains:
 Home subscriber server (HSS)
 Authentication center (AuC)
 Equipment identity register (EIR)
 Visitor location register (VLR)
 SMS-support nodes
HSS is a master database for a given user with the following information:
 user identification (numbering, address information)
 user security information (authentication, authorization)
 user location information
 user profile information (to services the user has access)
HLRs for CS and PS domains are subsets of HSS.
HSS also provides IP multimedia functionality in the core network.
Other common entities have similar functions as described for GSM and GPRS.

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UMTS (3G) Architecture interface

 3G networks consist of 2 major parts:

1. Radio access network/RAN &
2. Core network/CN.
 The RAN consists of both the radio & Transmission parts.
 The RNS (Radio Network Subsystem) consists of RNC & NodeB.
 The BS in 3G is known as NodeB.
 The CN in 3G networks consists of 2 domains:
A. Circuit-switched (CS) domain &
B. Packet-switched (PS) domain.
 The CS part handles the real-time traffic & the PS part handles the other traffic.

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 3G (WCDMA) coverage
 WCDMA works in 2.1GHz
 To use the WCDMA (3G) service, customers must use an apparatus with:
 Mobile transmit = 1920 - 1980 MHz = Uplink
 Mobile Receive = 2110 - 2170 MHz = Downlink
 Channel Spacing = 5MHz band
 USIM card – UMTS Subscriber Identity Module
 3G/WCDMA offers data rates:
 144 Kbps (moving at high speed)
 384 Kbps (walking/pedestrian)
 2 Mbps (indoor)
 Up to 56 Mbps with enhancement technologies

 3.5G: HSPA = HSDPA/HSUPA – High Speed Downlink/Uplink Packet Access

 3.75G: HSPA+, Internet-HSPA

Fourth generation mobile system (4G)

4G: 4th generation of cellular wireless Ex. LTE advanced

Long Term Evolution/LTE is the project name of a new high performance air-
interface for cellular mobile comm. systems.
It provides a comprehensive & secure IP based services to users "Anytime,
Anywhere" at high data rates
It is based on the GSM/EDGE & UMTS/HSPA network technologies,
It is increasing the capacity & speed using a d/nt radio interface together with
CN improvements.
 Long Term Evolution/LTE
Downloading data rate up to 100 Mbps
Upload data rate up to 50 Mbps with 20 MHz bandwidth

 The main advantages with LTE are:

 Great increase of spectrum efficiency
 High throughput,
 Low latency,
 Plug-&-play use
 Improved end-user experience
 A simple architecture resulting in low operating costs
 Support for older technologies such as GSM, cdmaOne, UMTS & CDMA2000

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Major LTE Radio Technologies:

 Uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for downlink

 Uses Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) for uplink
 Uses Multi-input Multi-output (MIMO) for enhanced throughput
 Reduced power consumption
 Higher RF power amplifier efficiency (less battery power used by handsets)

 LTE supports scalable carrier bandwidth, from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz & supports
bothFDD & TDM.
 The IP-based network architecture, called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
&designed to replace the GPRS Core Network,
 Supports seamless handovers for both voice & data to cell towers with
olderNetwork technology such as GSM, UMTS & CDMA2000.
 The simpler architecture results in lower operating costs

LTE Architecture

ddd

Telecom technology overview Page 28

 In the evolved UMTS evolution, also known as Evolved Packet System
(EPS), the new blocks are
1. Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), also known as the evolved access network and
2. Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as the evolved packet core network.
 E-UTRAN consists of a network of evolved nodeBs (eNodeBs).
 There is no centralized controller in E-UTRAN.
 Thus, the E-UTRAN architecture is known to be flat.
 The eNodeBs are normally connected to each other by an interface known as X2.
 The eNodeBs are connected to the mobility management entity (MME) by
an interface known as S1-MME and to the serving gateway (GW) by an
interfaceknown as S1-U.
 The protocols that are running between the eNodeBs and the MT (or user equipment
(UE)) are known as the Access Stratum (AS) protocols.

 EPC is the IP-based core network defined by 3GPP in Rel-8 for use by LTE & other
access technologies.
 The EPC consists of several functional entities
 Mobility management entity (MME)
 Serving gateway (GW)
 Packet data network (PDN) gateway
 Policy and charging rules function (PCRF)
 MME
In charge of all the control plane functions related to subscriber and
session management
Security procedures
Terminal-to-network session handling
Idle terminal location management
Tracking Area list management, P-GW & S-GW selection
MME selection for handovers with MME change
 The MME is connected to the home subscriber server (HSS) through an interface
known as S6.
 HSS is the concatenation of the home location register (HLR) and the
authentication center (AuC).
 HSS supports the database containing all subscription information.
Serving GW
o Termination point of packet data interface towards E-UTRAN
o Serves as local mobility anchor when UEs move across eNodeBs
 Packets are routed through this point for intra E-UTRAN mobility and
mobility with other 3GPP technologies such as 2G GSM and 3G UMTS.

o Packet routing & forwarding

o Transport level packet marking in the uplink & the downlink (DSCP)

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 o Accounting on user & QCI granularity for inter-operator charging

PDN GW
Termination point of packet data interface towards PDN.
Anchor point for sessions towards the PDN.
Supports policy enforcement features (which apply operator defined rules for
resource allocation and usage)
Packet filtering (like deep packet inspection for virus signature detection)
Evolved charging support (like per URL charging)
 URL is an address of a web page on the World Wide Web (WWW).

Policy and charging rule functions (PCRF)

 Responsible for policy control decision-making and for controlling the flow-
based charging functionalities in the PDN GW.
 Provides QoS authorization of data flow through PDN GW.
 Ensures user’s subscription profile.
 The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) is a generic platform offering IP-based
multimedia services.
 The call session control function (CSCF) play a key role in IMS architecture.
 CSCF has three types
o Proxy
o Interrogating
o Serving
 CSCF establishes, terminates and modifies IMS sessions.

Multimedia gateway control function (MGCF)

Supports call control protocol conversion.
Supports media gateway (MGW).
Supports interrogating CSCF.
 MGW
 Responsible for media conversion.
 Responsible for bearer control.
 Payload processing (e.g., codec, echo canceller,).

The Frequency bands

 The LTE standard can be used with many d/nt frequency bands.
 In North America, 700, 800, 1900 & 1700/2100 MHz are used; 2500 MHz in
South America;
 800, 900, 1800, 2600 MHz in Europe;
 1800 & 2600 MHz in Asia; & 1800 MHz in Australia & New Zealand.
 In Ethiopia, LTE FDD uses @1800MHz band (Band 3), 2600MHz & 800MHz.

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In short about LTE architectures

 LTE architecture is a simplified & flat one compared to UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+,

themain changes include:
 CS core network is removed in LTE network architecture, there is only PS
domain. VoIP is applied in LTE.
 The PS domain of the CN adopted architecture similar to soft switch. It
separates the control plane from the user plane.
 GGSN is replaced by Packet Data Network Gateway/PDN-GW/
 SGSN is replaced by control plane in Serving Gateway & Mobility
Management Entity (MME)
 The MSC server & MGW are removed from the core network. Voice services
provided based on IP.
 UMTS RNC “removed”, RNC functionalities moved to the eNode-B
 eNode-B connected directly to the Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

The functions of the eNodeB include:

 The eNodeB implements all functions regarding radio access to the EPC network.
Management & establishment of radio resources
Header compression & user plane ciphering
MME selection when no route to an MME can be determined from the
information provided by the UE

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 GSM channels

 GSM channel means a media that used to transmit information between

basestations and mobile stations.
 Channels used in GSM are of two types:
1. Physical Channels and
2. Logical channels
 Physical channel is the medium over which the information is carried, in the case
of a terrestrial interface this would be a cable.
 Unit of radio resource of a radio system e.g., frequency band, time slot, code, etc.
 This channel is characterized by both its frequency and its position within
the TDMA frame
 GSM 900 frequency band
Uplink frequency = 890Mhz-915Mhz
Downlink frequency =935Mhz-960Mhz
Two frequency bands, of 25 MHz each one, have been allocated for the
GSM system.
 Uplink frequency = 890+(0.2*ARFCN)
 Downlink frequency = uplink frequency + 45
 ARFCN :- stands for Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number
 It is a unique number given to each radio channel in GSM.
 The ARFCN can be used to calculate the exact frequency of the radio channel.
 Within the GSM900 band ARFCN 1 to 124 are used.
 In the GSM1800 band ARFCN 512 to 885 are used.
 A complete list of the ARFCNs and the associated radio channels is given in the table below.

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  GSM Physical Channel
 A single GSM Carrier is divided into eight timeslots.
 Therefore can support up to eight MS subscribers simultaneously.
 The timeslots are arranged in sequence and are conventionally numbered 0 to
7.
 Each repetition of this sequence is called a “TDMA frame”.

 1 carrier = have 8 time slots

 1 time slots assign for 1 subscriber.

BURST:

The information carried in one timeslot is called a “burst”.

The timing of the burst transmissions to and from the mobiles is critical.
Each time slot of a TDMA frame lasts for duration of 156.25 bit periods or
576.9 µsec or 0.576 ms …
so a frame takes 4.615 ms
GSM’s data transmission rate is 270.83 kbps per carrier frequency.
Therefore one bit duration is 3.692 µsec

Four different types of bursts (structure of burst) can be distinguished in GSM:

The frequency-correction burst is used on the FCCH. It has the same length
as the normal burst but a different structure.
The synchronization burst is used on the SCH. It has the same length as the
normal burst but a different structure.
The random access burst is used on the RACH and is shorter than the
normal burst.
The normal burst is used to carry speech or data information. It lasts
approximately 0.577 ms and has a length of 156.25 bits.

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  GSM Logical Channels
o Run over a physical channel, but not necessarily in all its time slots.
o Have to be managed: call set up, maintenance, tear down.
o GSM Logical Channels consists of two types: Control Channels and Traffic
Channels.

 Logical channels classified in to two

1. Traffic channel
2. Control or signaling channel
1. GSM Traffic Channels
A traffic channel (TCH) is used to carry speech and data traffic.
TCHs for the uplink and downlink are separated in time by 3 burst periods.
Therefore MS does not have to transmit & receive simultaneously, thus
simplifying the electronics.
Traffic channel classified in to two.
1. Full rate TCH channel
 TCH/F, 22.8 kbps
 1 Subscriber uses 1 Time Slot which means in TDMA Frame
there are total 8 Subscribers
2. Half rate TCH channel
 TCH/H, 11.4 kbps
 Double the capacity of a system at the cost of voice quality.

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  1 Time Slot is used by 2 Subscribers on sharing bases that
means 16 Subscribers in 1 TDMA Frame

2. GSM Control channels

 There are three main control channels in the GSM system
1. Broadcast Channel (BCH)
2. Common Control Channel (CCCH)
3. Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
 Each control channel consists of several logical channels having different
Control Functions.
1. Broadcast Channel (BCH)
 The broadcast channel operates on the forward link/Downlink channels of a
specific ARFCNs
 Carry only downlink information and are responsible mainly for
synchronization and frequency correction.
 This is the only channel type enabling point-to-multipoint communications in
which short messages are simultaneously transmitted to several mobiles
 It transmits data only in (TS 0) of certain ARFCNs. Other TSs are available for
TCHs.
 The BCH provides synchronization for all mobiles within the cell.
 It is also monitored by mobiles in neighboring cells so that the received power
and MAHO decisions can be made by out-of-cell users.
 MAHO (Mobile Assisted Handover) is a process where a mobile phone
assists in the base station in the decision to transfer the call
(handoff/handover) to another base station.

BCH Characteristics

 Each cell has a designated BCH carrier

 All BCH timeslots transmit continuously on full power
 TS 0 contains logical control channels
 TS1-7 optionally carries traffic

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 Broadcast channel (BCH) classified as:-

1. Broadcast control channel (BCCH)

2. Synchronization channel (SCH)
3. Frequency correction channel (FCCH)

1. Broadcast control channel (BCCH)

BCCH is a forward/downlink control channel.
Information such as cell and network identity.
The BCCH is transmitted by the BTS at all times.
The RF carrier used to transmit the BCCH is referred to as the BCCH carrier.
Information on BCCH is monitored by the MS periodically (at least every 30
secs), when switched on & not in a call.
The BCCH is transmitted at constant power at all times, and its signal strength
is measured by all MS which may seek to use it.
BCCH Carries the following information:
o Location Area Identity (LAI).
o List of neighboring cells which should be monitored by the MS.
o List of frequencies used in the cell.
o Cell identity.
o Power control indicator.
o Access control (for example, emergency calls, call barring).
o List of Channels currently in use within a cell.

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2. Synchronization channel (SCH)
It’s also a Downlink Channel.
SCH allows each mobile to frame synchronize with the base station.
It transmits two Important Information
A. Frame number.
B. Base Site Identity Code (BSIC).
The frame number (FN) ranges from 0 to 2715647.
The BSIC is uniquely assigned to each BTS in a GSM system.
The BS issues course timing advancement command to the mobile station over
the SCH

3. Frequency correction channel (FCCH)

 FCCH is a forward control channel.

 It is transmitted on same ARFCN i.e. of BCCH
 The FCCH allows each subscriber unit to synchronize its internal frequency
standard (local oscillator) to exact frequency of the base station

2. Common Control Channel (CCCH)

 A group of uplink and downlink channels between the MS and the BTS.
 These channels are used to convey information from the network to MSs and
provide access to the network.
 The common control channels occupy TS 0 of every GSM frame that is not
otherwise used by the BCH.
 CCCH consist of three different channels.
1. Paging channel(PCH)
2. Random access channel (RACH)
3. Access Grant channel (AGCH)
1. Paging channel(PCH)
 It exists only on downlink (Forward channel).
 The paging channel (PCH) provides paging signals to all mobiles.
 Notifies a specific mobile of an incoming call which originates from the PSTN.
 The PCH transmit the IMSI of the target subscriber, along with a request for
acknowledgment from the mobile unit.
 the PCH is also used to provide cell broadcast ASCII text messages to all
subscribers, as part of the SMS feature of GSM

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2. Random access channel (RACH)
 The RACH is the only reverse link (uplink) channel.
 MS acknowledges a page from the PCH on RACH.
 RACH is also used by mobiles to originate a call.
 The RACH used a slotted ALOHA access scheme.
 At the BTS, every frame (even the idle frame) will accept RACH transmissions
from mobiles during TS 0
3. Access Grant channel (AGCH)
 AGCH is used by the BS to provide forward link communication.
 The AGCH is used by the BS to respond to a RACH sent by a mobile station.
 It carries data for MS to operate in a particular physical channel (time slot and
ARFCN).
 The AGCH is the final CCCH message sent by the base station before a
subscriber is moved off the control channel.

3. Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)

 Responsible for roaming, handovers, encryption, etc. The DCCHs include the
following channels;
 Like Traffic Channels they are bidirectional.
 Same format and function in both the forward and reverse links.
 DCCHs may exist in any time slot and any ARFCN except TS 0 of the BCH
ARFCN.
 There are three types of Dedicated Control Channels in GSM.
1. Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)
2. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
3. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)

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1. Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)
 The SDCCH carries signaling data following the connection of the MS with the
BTS just before a TCH assignment.
 The SDCCH ensures the Connection b/w MS and BS during the verification of
subscriber unit & allocation of resources for the MS.
 It is a dedicated point-to-point signaling channel which is not tied to the
existence of a TCH (stand-alone),
 The SDCCH is requested from the MS via the RACH and assigned via the
AGCH.
 The SDCCH can be thought of as an intermediate and temporary channel.
 A SDCCH may also be used for
 call setup,
 Authentication
 location updating
 SMS point to point
 e-Fax

2. Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)

 The SACCH is always associated with a TCH or a SDCCH and maps onto the
same physical channel.
 Each ARFCN systematically carries SACCH data for all of its current users.
 On the downlink, SACCH sends slow but regularly changing control
information to the mobile station.
o Transmit power level instruction.
o And specific timing advance instruction.
 On reverse channel SACCH sends
o Received signal strength (form Serving BTS).
o Quality of the TCH.
o BCH measurement results (from neighboring cells)
 The SACCH is transmitted during the 13th frame of every speech dedicated
control channel

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3. Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)

 FACCH carries urgent messages, and contains essentially the same type of
information as the SDCCH.
 A FACCH is assigned whenever a SDCCH has not been dedicated for a particular
user and there is an urgent message (e.g. handoff request).
 The FACCH gains access to a time slot by “stealing” frames from the traffic
channel to which it is assigned

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 Here is the summarized information of control/signaling logical channel

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Telecom technology overview Page 42
Handoff/handover

 Handoff (also called Handover) is the mechanism that transfers an ongoing call
from one cell to another cell as a user moves through the coverage area of a
wireless cellular system.
 The main objective of handover is to maintain the ongoing calls. Many times it is
initiated by crossing a cell boundary or by deterioration in quality of the signal in
the current channel.
 Handovers are used to prevent an ongoing call to be disconnected.

TYPES OF HANDOFF:
 Handoffs are broadly classified into two categories
1. Hard handoff and
2. Soft handoffs.
 They are also characterized by “make before break” and “break before make”.
 In the soft handoff, during the handoff process, both existing and new
resources are used but
 In hard handoff, current resources are released before new sources are
used.
HARD HANDOFF
 Hard handoff is essentially a “break before make “connection.
 In hard handoff, the link to the prior base station is terminated before or as the
user is transferred to the new cell’s base station,
 This means that the mobile station is linked to no more than one base
station at a given time.
 Initiation of the handoff may begin when the signal strength at the mobile received
from base station 2 is greater than that of base station 1.
 A major problem with this approach to handoff decision is that the received signals
of both base stations often fluctuate.
 Hard handoff is primarily used in FDMA (frequency division multiple access) and
TDMA (time division multiple access), in which different frequency ranges are
used in adjacent channels in order to minimize channel interference.
o So it becomes impossible to communicate with both BSs when the MS moves
from one BS to another BS (since different frequencies are used).

Types of Hard Handover

 There are two types of hard handover;
1. Inter-cell Handover
2. Intra-cell Handover

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Inter-cell Handover
 The most basic form of handover is when a phone is redirected from its current cell
(source) to a new cell, while call in progress.
 The source and the target are different cells (even if they are on the same cell site), is
called inter-cell handover.
 So the purpose of inter-cell handover is to maintain the call as the subscriber is
moving out of the area covered by the source cell and entering the area of the target
cell.
Intra-cell Handover:
 In this handover, the source and the target are one and the cell is same and only the
used channel is changed during the handover.
 So in this handover, in which the cell is not changed, is called intra-cell handover
 The purpose of intra-cell handover is to change one channel, which may be faded or
interfered with a new clearer or less fading channel.

Advantages of Hard Handover:

 An advantage of the hard handover is that at any moment in time one call uses only
one channel.
o The hard handover is usually not perceptible by the user and the event is
indeed very short.
 Another advantage of the hard handover is that it is cheaper and simpler because
the phone's hardware does not need to be capable of receiving two or more
channels in parallel.

Disadvantage of Hard Handover:

 A disadvantage of hard handover is that if a handover fails the call may be
temporarily disrupted or even terminated abnormally.

SOFT HANDOFF:
 Soft handoff (or handover) is a mobile cellular network technology commonly used
in systems that enables the overlapping of the repeater coverage zones, so that
every mobile station is always well within range of at least one of the base stations.
 A Soft handoff mechanism works by first switching and establishing connection
with another base station before disconnecting from the existing base station in the
network, so it is also sometimes referred to as “Make-before-Break” Handoff.

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Advantages of Soft Handover:
 In soft handovers the connection to the source cell is broken only when a
reliableconnection to the target cell has been established and therefore there
are lower chances that the call will be terminated abnormally due to failed
handovers.
 Other advantage is that simultaneously channels in multiple cells are
maintainedand the call could only fail if all of the channels are interfered or fade
at the sametime.

Disadvantage of Soft Handover:

 The main disadvantage of soft handovers is that it uses several channels in the
network to support just a single call.
o So the number of remaining free channels is reduced and thus the capacity of
the network also reduces.
Advantages of soft handover over hard handover:
 In soft handoff, during handoff execution mobile does not lose contact with the
system.
 Ping ponging is eliminated and an extra measure of performance is obtained
through diversity combining to mitigate fading.
 More control may be given to the mobile in handoff decisions.

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 Mobile network value added service (VAS)

1. Call Waiting

Description

 Call Waiting is a feature that informs you, while you are on a call that another
party is trying to reach you. The party trying to reach you hears ringing, and
you hear the call-waiting tone (beep tone).

Benefits of the service

 You will not miss important calls while you are handling other calls.

2. Call Divert /Call Forward

Description

 This is a service that allows you to forward your incoming calls to another
phone.
 You can activate and deactivate the feature using your telephone.
 Call forwarding (or call diversion) can be made by a user under the following
condition:

o If busy
o If out of reach
o If not answered
o For all calls

3. Call Barring

Description

 Enables you to restrict or bar certain or all types of calls to and from your mobile
phone, i.e. outgoing calls, outgoing international calls, incoming calls.

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4. Conference Call

Description

 Conference call is a service that enables ethio mobile users to make a group call
being at different locations. Conference call service can be made with a maximum
of five people.
 Benefits
YOU CAN:

 have an opportunity to connect up to five peoples simultaneously on the same

call
 create your conference at a press of a few keys
 use it for quick business team meeting working in different places
 enjoy the usual voice call tariff for group meeting & more benefits

5. SMS Text Message

Description

 SMS text messages are perfect when you are too busy to call, or if you just want
to send a small piece of information - where to meet, what time, somebody's
phone number, and so on..
 Ethio SMS service helps you to send and receive messages of up to 160
characters.

6. Voice Mail
Description

 Voice Mail is a service which will answer your calls automatically and allow
callers to leave a voice messages under the following conditions:

 When you are out of network reach;

 Busy;
 Your mobile is switched off; or
 Not answered in time.

 You will receive a short message (SMS) notification whenever you receive a new
message in your mail box.

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Major Benefits of the service

 Important callers never receive “no answer”, “switched off”, “out of network
coverage” or “busy” signals;
 Allows a business to run more efficiently contributing to overall productivity;
and
 It ensures that you don’t miss your important calls.

7. CLIP

Description

 The "Calling Line Identity Presentation (CLIP)" service enables you to see the
phone number of the calling person as well as the date and time of the call on the
screen of the subscriber terminal equipment (telephone, fax machine and other
devices).
 It is activated by default to all mobile subscribers.

Benefit of the service

 Customer can see the number and name of the caller on the screen

8. Voice Short Message Service (VSMS)

Description of the service

 Voice SMS service enables you to record and send voice messages like a short
text message. The receiver can listen the voice message by dialing the number
code received through text message.
 Benefits of Voice Short Message

You can record and send your voice SMS in your preferred language.
It is less time consuming to send voice message.
Enable customers to express their emotions in voice message.
Easy to send voice messages on the move.
All handset types can support the service
Listening to new messages is free of charge.
You can directly listen the message by dialing the number you received with
the notification text message.

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9. Call me back service

Description

 Call me back service enables all prepaid mobile subscribers to ask another mobile
subscriber (both prepaid and postpaid mobile subscribers) to call back.

Benefit of the service

 It enables you to get connected 24/7 even when the credit balance is zero.

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 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G mobile network summary

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Telecom technology overview Page 51