GSM Air Interface

(𝑈𝑚 )
PRESENTED BY:
NAVEEN JAKHAR, ITS
ABHISHEK SINGH, ITS
Introduction

 The Air-interface is the central interface of every

mobile system and typically the only one to which a
customer is exposed.
 The physical characteristics of the Air-interface are
particularly important for the quality and success of
a new mobile standard.
RF Spectrum

 GSM 900
 Mobile to BS (UP-LINK) -890 to 915 MHz
 BS to Mobile (DOWN -LINK) -935 to 960 MHz
 Bandwidth - 25 MHz
 GSM 1800 or PCS 1800
 Mobile to Cell (UP-LINK) -1710 to 1785 MHz
 Cell to Mobile (DOWN -LINK) -1805 to 1880 MHz
 Bandwidth - 75 MHz
GSM SPECIFICATIONS

 Carrier Separation - 200 kHz

 Duplex Distance - 45 MHz

 No. of RF Carriers - 124

 Access Method - TDMA/FDMA

 Modulation Method - GMSK

 Transmission Rate - 270.833 Kbps

 Speech Coding - Full rate 13 Kbps

Half rate 6.5 Kbps
GSM Air Interface structure
(FDMA/TDMA)

 GSM utilizes a combination of frequency division

multiple access (FDMA) and time division multiple
access (TDMA) on the Air-interface. That results in a
two-dimensional channel structure,
WHY FDMA and TDMA?

 In a pure FDMA system, one specific frequency is

allocated for every user during a call. That quickly
leads to overload situations in cases of high
demand.
 In fullrate configuration, eight time slots (TSs) are
mapped on every frequency; in a halfrate
configuration there are 16 TSs per frequency.
 in a TDMA system, each user sends an impulse like
signal only periodically, while a user in a FDMA
system sends the signal permanently.
 The difference between the two is illustrated in
Figure
DIGITAL VOICE TRANSMISSION

 Speech Coding
 In GSM speech coding a block of 20 ms is
encoded in one set of 260 bits.
 This calculates as 50X 260 = 13 kbps. Thus GSM
speech coder produces a bit rate of 13 kbps per
subscriber.
 This provides speech quality which is acceptable for
mobile telephony and comparable with wire-line
PSTN phones.
CHANNEL CODING
Interleaving

 The process of interleaving

smaller packages of 456 bits
over a larger time period,
that is, distributing them in
separate TSs.
 How the packets are spread
depends on the type of
application the bits
represent.
 Signalling traffic and packets
of data traffic are spread
more than voice traffic.
 The whole process is referred
to as interleaving.
 The goal of interleaving is to
minimize the impact of the
peculiarities of the Air-interface
that account for rapid, short-
term changes of the quality of
the transmission channel. It is
possible that a particular
channel is corrupted for a very
short period of time and all the
data sent during that time are
lost.
 Interleaving does not prevent
loss of bits, and if there is a loss,
the same number of bits are
lost.
 However, because of
BURST FORMATTING

 Adds training sequence that helps in the working

equalizer to assist in countering the effects of radio
channel on the signal.
 Total of 136 bits added, bringing overall total to 592
bits.
 Each TS of TDMA frame is 0.577 ms long and during
this time 156.25 bits are transmitted.
 One burst contains only 148 bits. Rest of the space,
8.25 bits time, is empty and is called Guard Period (
GP ).
 GP enables MS/BTS to “ramp up” and “ ramp
down”.
GMSK

 The modulation method in GSM is GMSK which

facilitates the use of narrow bandwidth and
coherent detection capability.
 Rectangular pulses are passed through a Gaussian
filter prior to their passing through a modulator.
 The modulation scheme almost satisfies the
adjacent channel power spectrum density
requirements of -60dB specified by CCIR.
FRAME HIERARCHY
 The frame hierarchy is used for
synchronization between BTS and MS,
channel mapping, and ciphering.
 Every BTS permanently broadcasts the
current frame number over the
synchronization channel (SCH) and
thereby forms an internal clock of the
BTS. There is no coordination between
BTSs; all have an independent clock,
except for synchronized BTSs.
 That information is very important,
Physical Versus Logical
Channels

 Physical channels are all the available TSs of a BTS,

whereas every TS corresponds to a physical
channel. Two types of channels need to be
distinguished, the halfrate channel and the fullrate
channel.
 Logical channels are piggybacked on the physical
channels. Logical channels are, so to speak, laid
over the grid of physical channels. Each logical
channel performs a specific task.
LOGICAL CHANNELS
Frequency Correction Burst

 This burst format is used by FCCH channel only.

 The whole data space (142 bits) is used for
unmodulated carrier (pure sinusoid) or carrier
modulated with all zero bits.
 This pure carrier is the ‘identity’ of a beacon
frequency (also called BCCH-frequency or base-
frequency) and FCCH slot
Synchronization Burst

 This burst format is used by SCH channel only.

 This channel makes a mobile station time-
synchronized with the base station clock. That is why
the synchronization training sequence is very large
for this burst comparing to other burst types.
 Only one training sequence is defined for this burst.
Access Burst

 This burst format is used by RACH and AGCH channels.

 When a mobile station sends an RACH message and receives
an AGCH reply, neither MS nor the BTS does have the timing-
advance information.
 For that reason, the actual message is relatively short and
have a long guard band (GB) in order to make sure that there
will be no overlap with the next burst.
 The length of the guard band in the access burst (68.25 bits x
3.69 = 251.16 ms) is equivalent to 37.5 km propagation delay.
 The GSM allows a cell radius up to of 35 km.
 That is, an RACH message from an MS at a distance of up to 35
km from the base station can reach to the base station
antenna without overlapping the next burst.
 The FACCH channel uses this burst during handover operation
Normal Burst

 This burst format is used by all other channels

(except FCCH, SCH, RACH and AGCH).
 This normal burst is used by TCH, SDCCH, SACCH,
FACCH, BCCH and PCH.
 A few important features of the burst is stated
below.
 Maximum 57 x 2 = 114 bits of voice/data per burst
 Flag bit is to indicate if the channel is carrying user
traffic (Flag = 0) or control message bits (Flag = 1).
 That is the flag is 0 for TCH and 1 for others.
Dummy Burst

 This is like normal burst but has no meaning of its

payload bits
CONTROL MULTIFRAME
TRAFFIC MULTIFRAME (FULL
RATE)

 This example shows 2 users using

full rate voice traffic channels.
(One user uses the slot 2 at every
frame and the other user use the
slot 4 at every frame).
 At the center of the 26-frame
traffic channel multiframe (i.e,
Frame 12) is the Slow Associated
Control Channel (SACCH) which
carries link control information to
and from the MS–BTS. At the last
frame is 1 idle frame. All the
remaining frame are allocated
for Traffic. There is no dedicated
FACCH frame or slots. FACCH
steals TCH whenever it needs.
TRAFFIC MULTIFRAME (HALF
RATE)

 This example shows 26-

multiframe structure for
TCH/HR, showing 2 users
using HR voice traffic
channel. In this example,
the two users shares the slot
2 of every frame in
alternating fashion. You
would notice that there are
two Frames for SACCH. The
Frame 12 is for SACCH
of user 1 and Frame 25 is for
SACCH of user 2.
 CONTROL MULTIFRAME

(BROADCAST CHANNELS)
An example of control channel
multiframe structure for Broadcast
Channel (Base Control Channel)
which is made up of FCCH, SCH,
BCCH, CCCH. It is for Downlink
multiframe structure.
 In Uplink, every frame is for single
channel - RACH. Some key facts
about DL Base Control Channel are
 There are five FCCH equally spaced
within the 51 multiframe.
 Each FCCH is followed by a SCH,
meaning that there are five SCH as
well.
 Four frames (Frame 2-5) are
allocated for BCCH.
 The last frame (Frame 50) is allocated
for Idle.
 All the remaining Frames are
allocated for CCCH(e.g, PCH or
AGCH).
Mapping of Logical Channels Onto
Physical Channels
OPERATIONAL ASPECTS

 Subscribers are not allocated dedicated channels

 TCH allocated to users only when needed
 Hence IDLE MODE & DEDICATED MODE
 IDLE MODE

 When MS is powered on (active) without being in

dedicated mode
 MS stays continuously in touch with BS
 Listens to transmissions from BS to intercept Paging
Messages ( for incoming calls)
• Monitors Radio Environment in order to evaluate
Channel Quality & choose the most suitable BS
• Listens to BS to avail short message broadcast
service
ACCESS PROCEDURE

 Access to system ( switch over from IDLE to

DEDICATED Mode)
 MS indicates to BS that it needs a connection
 BS accepts the request & indicates which traffic
channel it may use
 For above purpose specific transmission is done over
“ Common Channels”
OTHER FEATURES

 Discontinuous Transmission
 Synchronization between uplink and downlink
 Diversity
Discontinuous Transmission

 Speech activity only 40% of time.

 Needs Voice activity detection.

 Annoying clicks/inefficient DTX.

 Generation of Comfort Noise at receiver to avoid

the feeling of the set being dead.
SYNCHRONIZATION BETWEEN
UPLINK AND DOWNLINK

 For technical reasons, it is necessary that the MS and

the BTS do not transmit simultaneously. Therefore,
the MS Is transmitting three timeslots after the BTS.
 The time between sending and receiving data is
used by the MS to perform various measurements on
the signal quality of the receivable neighbour cells.
 Depending on the
distance between the
two, a considerable
propagation delay
needs to be taken into
account.
 That propagation
delay, known as timing
advance (TA), requires
the MS to transmit its
data a little earlier as
determined by the
DIVERSITY

 Space Diversity
 Mounting two receiver antenna physically
separated a distance.
- Probability of both of them being affected by a
deep fading dip at same time is low.
THANK YOU!