General Packet Radio Service

(GPRS)

Mobile Computing and Broadband

Networking Laboratory
CIS, NCTU

Outline

Introduction
GSM System
Circuit-Switch
Packet-Switch
GPRS
Compare GPRS with GSM
The functions of SGSN and GGSN
The future of GPRS
Conclusions

Introduction

Internet is developed rapidly and includes more

and more information in recent years
Peoples activity areas are not limited
Cell phones are more convenient
There are plenty of powerful information in the
Internet
Using the mobility of the cell phone and those
valuable information in the Internet

GSM System

GSM System

Voice communication
Using Short Message Service (SMS) to transmit
data
Using Circuit-Switch
Disadvantages:

The transmit speed is too slow (9.6 Kbps or 14.4 Kbps)

No support of multimedia data: audio and video
Low efficiency for bandwidth
Too expensive to support multimedia services

Circuit-Switch

Packet-Switch

Burstiness comparison

GPRS (General Packed Radio Service)

GPRS (cont.)

Advantages

High bit rates

4 code schemes (9.05Kbps ~ 21.4Kbps)

8 channels (171.2Kbps)

Using packet-switching and is more suitable for bursty

traffic
Fast call setup time (always connected)
Coexistence with GSM systems
Using radio resource and network more flexible
Counting the fees by the amount of data
An important step to 3G

GPRS (cont.)

GPRS provides two types of services:

PTP (Point-To-Point)
Connectionless: IP
Connection-oriented: X.25

PTM (Point-To-Multipoint)
Multicast Service (PTM-M)
Group Call Service (PTM-G)

Compare GPRS with GSM

High-speed circuit-switch data (HSCSD)

Giving a single user simultaneous access to multiple

channels
The highest speed is up to 115.2 Kbps

Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)

Eight-phase-shift (8 PSK) modulation

Every time slot can support up to 48 Kbps
The highest speed is up to 384 Kbps
40 times of GSM and 3 times of GPRS

Data Services Comparison

The Architecture of GSM

The Architecture of GPRS (cont.)

The Functions of SGSN and GGSN

Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)

Admission control
Mobility management
Receiving and delivering the packets
Address translation and mapping
Encapsulation

Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)

The interface between GPRS network and packet

data network

Protocol Architecture

Protocol Architecture (cont.)

Physical layer:

RFL (Physical RF Layer) modulation/demodulation

PLL (Physical Link Layer) error
control congestion detect

Data link layer:

MAC (Medium Access Control) slotted ALOHA

RLC (Radio Link Control) error correction
LLC (Logical Link Control) always connected

Protocol Architecture (cont.)

GPRS supports interworking of MSs with X.25-, IPbased networks by encapsulation and decapsulation
Between SGSN and MS, further encapsulation is
performed by SNDCP (SubNetwork-Dependent
Convergence Protocols)

including: multiplexing compression segmentation

The MAC is derived from a slotted reservation

ALOHA protocol, and operate between MS and BTS

Three Kinds of Routing Examples

Applications of GPRS

The Future of GPRS

The Future of GPRS (cont.)

Conclusions

GPRS is economical for the operators

It is more popular in Europe
People demand more mobile data access
Its data rate is limited by the availability of
time slots
The development of cell phones is slow
The problem of junk mails

Reference

A.A Samjani, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS),

IEEE Potentials, Volume: 21, April-May 2002.
Internet Network Communication (Chinese), June 2001.
www.3g-generation.com/gprs_and _edge.htm
Michael Clever, Mass Market Solution for Mobile
Data, Telecommunications, June 1999.
David Tade, Evolving Wireless System: Choosing a
Migration Path, Telecommunication, February 1999.