1 NOKIA BSS.

PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
2 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

4. Radio Path
Module Objectives

This module describes the GSM Radio Path.
After studying this material you should be
able to:

Explain at least one of the problems in the air interface and
its solution in the GSM
Name at least three logical channels in the air interface and
explain their functions without using any reference.
3 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Fast Fading (Rayleigh Fading)
-Caused by multipath propogation. Signal received is the vector
sum of original transmitted signal.
-Typical in PLMN, in city areas where many reflectors exist, tall
buildings and mountains.
Fast Fading
-Selective Fading (time dispersion)
-Flat Fading


4 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Selective Fading
-Reflected signal coming from objects that are far away (1-5km)

-Bit Rate in GSM is 270kbit/s.Time corresponds to 1.1km bit
length.This distance&longer distances causes problems.
-Typical in areas of mountainous terrain or areas with large
expansions of water or both.
-Result is a problem called ISI (Inter Symbol Interference)
BTS
5 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Selective Fading-Solution

-We model the air interface and treat it as a filter.

-26 bits are added into the middle of every burst called the training
sequence code.
-After receiving a burst, we pass the burst through a filter in
MS/BTS.
-When we find the best possible filter we use this filter to interpret
the data/speech bits.
-Not all possible filters are tried but only the ones that are the most
likely to reduce time used in filtering.
-We use Viterbi Equalizers.

Air-Interface Filter
Signal awaited
to be received
6 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Flat Fading
-Caused by the Vector Summation of signals from near objects.
-Summation can be beneficial but can also be zero and cause
fading dips.
-In GSM 900/DCS 1800 dips occur approximately 17/8.5cm.
RX sensitivity
Approx.
17cm
Fading dips
-Fading dips are most likely to occur at every half wave length and
therefore are frequency dependent.
-Faster the MS moves, less information is lost because of fading dips.
7 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Flat Fading-Solutions
-Frequency Hopping
-Channel Coding/Speech Coding
-Interleaving
-Antenna/Receiver Diversity
8 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Frequency Hopping
F2
F1
F3
F4
Time
-Dips are frequency dependent so by changing the transmitted
frequency we can move the dips to different locations.
-Beneficial especially to slow moving MSs
-Optional in the BTS, but obligatory in MS
-For each cell(sector)the hopping sequence is the same.
-Information of the sequence is broadcast on the control channels.
-Hopping sequence must be different on each BTS site.
-Frequency that sends the control channels must remain on the same
frequency and power level.
9 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Speech Coding
-Performed in TCSM and MS.
-In GSM we use LPC-LTP-RPE coding
LPC Linear predictive coding
LTP Long term prediction
RPE Regular pulse excitation
Hybrid Speech Coder,Waveform Coder&Vocoder

-In order to reduce synthetic sound caused by vocoder coder
we use some additional information from waveform coder.
-20ms samples of speech,
Parameters of filters are transmitted.
Not actual speech.
10 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Channel Coding(Block Coding and Convolutional Coding)
Block Coding
-Used to detect errors
-Adds additional bits into the information sent
(check-sum bits, convolutional-coder reset bits)
Convolutional Coding
-Used to detect and correct errors detected
-Doubles the amount of bits coded


11 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

SPEECH
SEGMEN-
TATION
SPEECH
CODING
BLOCK
CODING
CONVOL-
TUTIONAL
CODING
INTER-
LEAVING
CIPHERING
BURST
FORMAT-
TING
TRX
MODULA-
TION
33.8 Kbits
900/1800 MHz
20 ms
13 Kbits/sec
= 260 bits
22.8 Kbits
= 456 bits
Channel coding
Properties of Radio Path
12 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path

Received signal
RX RX
Signal
Processing
Antennas
Antenna/Receiver Diversity
-Two receiver aerials
-Signal received seperately and strongest is selected by
DSPU.
-Aerials six/three meters apart, thus giving 6db gain in signal strength.
-GSM 900 approximately 6 meters,GSM 1800 approximately 3 meters.
13 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Properties of Radio Path
Solution
-Adaptive power control, transmission power of BTS/MS
changes
-Adaptive power control is active on all speech and common
channels but not on broadcast channels
BTS
Slow Fading
-Caused by hills and other objects on the signal way
14 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Channel Organization
There are 2 different types of channels in GSM/DCS
Physical Channel
-Single TSL on a single frequency
-8 physical channels per frequency (TDMA frame)
-Information sent on 1 channel is termed a burst
Logical Channel
-Within a burst
-Information sent is of particular type
(speech/signalling/data/sms)
-There are 11 logical channels
-Logical channels are mapped so that they take minimum
space in order to maximize amount of traffic channels.
15 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

4. Radio Path
4.2 Channel Organization
COMMON
CHANNELS
COMMON
CHANNELS
BROADCAST
CHANNELS
BROADCAST
CHANNELS
COMMON
CONTROL
CHANNELS
COMMON
CONTROL
CHANNELS
DEDICATED
CONTROL
CHANNELS
DEDICATED
CONTROL
CHANNELS
TRAFFIC
CHANNELS
TRAFFIC
CHANNELS
FCCH
FCCH
SCH
SCH
BCCH
BCCH
SDCCH
SDCCH
SACCH
SACCH
FACCH
FACCH
PCH
PCH
RACH
RACH
AGCH
AGCH
TCH/F
TCH/F
TCH/H
TCH/H
TCH/EFR
TCH/EFR
DEDICATED
CHANNELS
DEDICATED
CHANNELS
LOGICAL
CHANNELS
LOGICAL
CHANNELS
Training Material
16 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Broadcast channels
Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH)
Pure sine wave.
The MS searches for this channels to switch on.
Downlink.
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
After locking to the frequency the MS synchronises with
the SCH.
The SCH contains the BSIC of the BTS and the TDMA
frame number (used in encryption).
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
Common information about the BTS:
Used frequencies
Frequency hopping sequence
Channel combination
Paging groups
Surrounding cell information
17 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Common control channels
Paging Channel (PCH)
Used by BTS to page a mobile.
A downlink channel only.
Random Access Channel (RACH)
Used by the MS to request a dedicated
control channel.
Used for e.g. mobile originated calls.
An uplink channel only.
Access Grant Channel (AGCH)
Used by the BTS to assign a dedicated
control channel.
A downlink channel only.
18 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Dedicated channels
Stand Alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)
Bi-directional channel.
Used for call set-up procedures, e.g. authentication.
The traffic channel (TCH) is assigned by using
SDCCH.
Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH)
Associated with SDCCH and TCH.
Measurement reports.
MS power control.
Timing alignment.
Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH)
Associated with TCH.
For quick control communication, e.g. handover.
Physically replaces 20 ms of speech, stealing
mode
19 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Traffic channels
Full Rate
Bi-directional channel.
Used for speech or data
transmission.
User data bit rate 13 kbit/s.
Half Rate
Bi-directional channel.
Used for speech or data
transmission.
User data bit rate 6-7 kbit/s.
Enhanced Full Rate (EFR)
Bi-directional channel.
Used for high quality speech
transmission.
User data bit rate 13 kbit/s.

20 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

4. Radio Path
Training Material
Continuously transmits information
to the Mobile Stations
FCCH
Frequency Correction Channel
Pure sine wave carrier for easy
recognition by MS
SCH
nisat io Synchro n Channel
Immediately after FCCH, provides
BSIC and current TDMA frame no.
BCCH
Used for setting up signalling connections
between the MS and the BSS
PCH
Paging Channel
Downlink channel used to page
the MS for an incoming call
RACH
Random Access Channel
Uplink channel used by the MS to
request an SDCCH channel for call
setup or in response to a page
AGCH
Access Grant Channel
Downlink channel used to assign
an SDCCH to an MS
Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel
Channels used for signalling
related to a particular call
Bi-directional channel used for call
setup procedures, eg authentication
Slow Associated Control Channel
Associated with SDCCH and TCH for
call control, eg power control,
timing advance, measurements
Fast Associated Control Channel
Steals a TCH for fast information
transfer in situations such as
handovers
Used for transmitting and receiving
speech and data
TCH/F
Full rate speech or
data channel
TCH/H
Half rate speech or
data channel
Broadcast Control Channel
Broadcasts general BTS information:
- used frequencies
- frequency hopping sequence
- channel combinations
- paging groups
- neighboring cell information
4.3 Logical
Channels

21 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

4. Radio Path
Training Material
TDMA Frames and Multiframes (Downlink)
TSL0 TSL1 TSL2 TSL3 TSL4 TSL5 TSL6 TSL7
0 FCCH TCH
1 SCH TCH
2 BCCH TCH
3 BCCH TCH
4 BCCH TCH
5 BCCH TCH
6 CCCH TCH
7 CCCH TCH
8 CCCH AGCH TCH
9 CCCH TCH
10 FCCH TCH
11 SCH TCH
12 CCCH SACCH
13 CCCH TCH
14 CCCH PCH TCH
15 CCCH TCH
16 CCCH TCH
17 CCCH TCH
18 CCCH PCH TCH
19 CCCH TCH
20 FCCH TCH
21 SCH TCH
22 SDCCH TCH
23 SDCCH TCH
24 SDCCH TCH
25 SDCCH IDLE
26 SDCCH
27 SDCCH
28 SDCCH
29 SDCCH
30 FCCH
31 SCH
32 SDCCH
33 SDCCH
34 SDCCH
35 SDCCH
36 SDCCH
37 SDCCH
38 SDCCH
39 SDCCH
40 FCCH
41 SCH
42 SACCH
43 SACCH
44 SACCH
45 SACCH
46 SACCH
47 SACCH
48 SACCH
49 SACCH
50 IDLE
51 FCCH
52 SCH
M
U
L
T
I
F
R
A
M
E
,

5
1

T
D
M
A

F
R
A
M
E
S
M
U
L
T
I
F
R
A
M
E
,

2
6

T
D
M
A

F
R
A
M
E
S
22 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

GSM burst types (1)
tail
bits
3
fixed bits ("0")
142
tail
bits
3
guard
period
8,25 bits
FREQUENCY CORRECTION BURST
tail
bits
3
encrypted bits
57
S
B
1
training
sequence
26
S
B
1
encrypted bits
57
tail
bits
3
guard
period
8,25 bits
NORMAL BURST
TDMA FRAME ~ 4.615 ms
576.9 s
23 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

GSM burst types (2)
ext. tail
bits
8
synchronisation
sequence
41
encrypted bits
36
tail
bits
3
extended guard period
68,25 bits
ACCESS BURST
tail
bits
3
encrypted bits
39
extended training
sequence
64
encrypted bits
39
tail
bits
3
guard
period
8,25
bits
SYNCHRONISATION BURST
tail
bits
3
mixed bits
142
tail
bits
3
guard
period
8,25 bits
DUMMY BURST
24 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Burst types
Frequency correction burst
Used to transmit the FCCH channel. No information.
Synchronisation burst
Used to transmit synchronisation information.
Access burst
Used to send RACH information.
RACH contains the first message from the MS to the BTS.
It has a long guard period to allow the BTS to calculate the MS distance
from the BTS and to provide timing advance information to the MS.
Normal burst
Used to send all other logical channel information.
Dummy burst
Used to fill up unused timeslots in the TRX, which transmits the BCCH
channel.
No real information.
25 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

TIMESLOTS AND BURST
A TSL is a time interval of about 576.9 microseconds
us, that is 156.25 bit duration and its physical content
is called a burst. Its the formatted information
corresponding to one part of a TDMA channel. Five
different types of bursts exists in the system. Each of
these bursts contains particular information.
26 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

Normal burst, this channel is used to carry
information on traffic and control channels, expect
RACH, SCH, FCCH
Frequency correction burst, is used for
synchronisation of the mobile
Synchronisation burst, This is used for time
synchronisation of the mobile
Access burts, This burst is used for random
access to provide for burst from a mobile which
does not know the timing advance at the first
access or after handover
Dummy burts, This is broadcast when no other
information is, as a fill in certain circumstances. It
contains no information, but is of the same format
as a normal burst. Lets see contain of normal
burst....

27 NOKIA BSS.PPT/EG

TB Encrypted bits
Training
sequence
Encrypted bits TB GB
3
58 26
58 3
8.25
It contains 116 encrypted bits, 114 of which are of
encrypted speech ora data, the two other bits being used
to indicate the burst is in steal mode for FACCH. It also
incudes a guard time of 8.25 bit (30.46 us) duration
during which the transmitter is powered down. Training
sequence is a fixed bit pattern which the receiver uses
to create a model of the air interface. The three tailbits are
used to reset the convolutional coder, and also act as a
start and stop bit pattern