Air Interface

-Varun Singh

Air Interface
Radio Transmission Techniques
FDMA TDMA

FDMA
Frequency

Channel

Time

TDMA
Frequency Time Slot

Time

GSM Frame Structure

Hyperframe ~3.5 hrs Superframe 6.12 sec Multiframe 120 msec Frame 4.615 msec 0

... ... ...

7

2048 Superframes 51 or 26 Multiframes 26 or 51 Frames 8 TS

Frame Types
There are two types of multi-frame
26 TDMA-frame multi-frame is used to carry TCH, SACCH and FACCH 51 TDMA-frame multi-frame is used to carry BCH, CCCH, SDCCH and SACCH

Frame number
Internal clk. of the BTS to which the MS has to synchronize FN is broadcasted 5 times in a multi-frame Any value between 0 [(26 X 51 X 2048)-1] FN is a combination of T1, T2, T3
T1 (11bit) Number of super frame in Hyper frame ( 0.. 2048) T2 (5 bit) Number of multi-frame in the super frame (26 or 51) T3(6 bit) Number of TDMA frame in multi-frame (51 or 26)

Channels of GSM System

Logical channels : Each logical channels perform a specific task Physical channels : Each time slot in a TDMA frame corresponds to one Physical channel.

Uplink / Downlink
Down-link: the transmission path from Base Station to Mobile Station (935 MHz to 960 MHz) Up-link: the transmission path from Mobile Station to Base Station (890 MHz to 915MHz)

Air Interface Layers

Layer 3 Messages Layer 2 Packets Layer 1 Bits

Messages Logical Channels Radio Transmission Terminal

Messages Logical Channels Radio Transmission Base Station

Logical Channels
Control Channels
Broadcast Channels (BCH) Common Control Channels (CCCH) Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH)

Traffic Channels (TCH)

Full Rate (TCH/F) Half Rate (TCH/H)

Control Channels
Broadcast Channels (BCH)
Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH) Synchronization Channel (SCH) Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)

Common Control Channels (CCCH)

Paging Channel (PCH) Random Access Channel (RACH) Access Grant Channel (AGCH)

Dedicated Control Channels (DCCH)

Stand alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH) Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCH) Cell Broadcast Channel (CBCH)

Logical Channel List

Traffic channels (TCH)
BCH TCH/F: Full-rate Traffic Channel TCH/H: Half-rate Traffic Channel FCCH: Frequency correction SCH: Synchronization BCCH: Broadcast control

Two-way

Base-tomobile

Signaling CCCH /Ctrl. channel

PCH: Paging AGCH: Access grant RACH: Random access

Mobile-to -Base

DCCH

SDCCH: Stand-alone dedicated control SACCH: Slow associated control Two-way FACCH: Fast associated control CBCH: Cell Broadcast

Logical Channels
FCCH:
BTS sends the frequency correction channel on time slot 0 of the BCCH_TRX. FCCH allows a MS to identify the Frequency of the BTS in GSM system.Exactly 5 FCCH are sent per 51 multi-frame.

SCH :
SCH contains the absolute value of the Frame Number (FN) of BTS and the base station identity code(BSIC).BSIC consists of NCC (Network Color Code) which identifies the PLMN and BCC (Base station Color Code)

BCCH :
BCCH Transmit the system information. i.e. in which frame number the page req. is sent on the PCH and which frame numbers are available for RACH in UL

Logical Channels
AGCH :This a response from BTS
to MSs RACH. MS gets the information about SDCH which can be used for signaling from AGCH.This also contains TA information.

PCH : Carries the Paging REQ message CBCH : Used to transmit the broadcast messages to the
mobile users.

SDCCH :SDCCH is used to exchange signaling information

between MS and BTS when no TCH is active. SDCCH is used in the UL and Dl for connection set up and location update.

Logical Channels
SACCH: SACCH is used to transmit the signaling data
during connection. This is the in-band control channel assigned to TCH or SDCCH.One SACCH Ts per multiframe(26/51multiframe)

FACCH : An in band signaling channels just like SACCH

,that is associated with the active connection between MS and BTS. FACCH is used wherever delay is not acceptable. Then FACCH is inserted instead of user data. The stealing flag serves to distinguish user data from signaling within the burst.

RACH : Communication request from MS to BTS

Channel combinations
Traffic channel Frame structure (26 Multi-frame)
1. 2. 3. TCH/FS + FACCH/FS + SACCH/FS TCH/HS(0,1) + FACCH/HS(0,1)+SACCH/HS(0,1) TCH/HS(0) +FACCH/HS(0)+SACCH/HS(0) + TCH/HS(1)+ FACCH/HS(1)+ SACCH/HS(1)

Signaling channel Frame structure (51 Multiframe)

4. 5. 6. 7. FCCH +SCH + CCCH + BCCH FCCH + SCH+ CCCH +BCCH + SDCCH/4 + SACCH /4 CCCH + BCCH SDCCH/8 +SACCH/8

Layer 3
Radio Resource Management
To manage the physical and logical channels on the Air-interface Depending on message type the RR is processed by MS, BSS or MSC

Mobility Management
MM uses the channel that RR provides to transparently exchange data between MS and NSS Typical application of MM is Location Update

Call Control
Like MM it uses connection RR provides for information exchange.

Location Updating Procedure

Mobile station
Carrier sine wave SYNC CHANNEL INFORMATION SYSTEM INFORMATION CHANNEL REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT LOCATION UPDATING REQUEST AUTHENTICATION REQUEST AUTHENTICATION RESPONSE CIPHERING MODE COMMAND CIPHERING MODE ACK LOCATION UPDATING ACCEPT TMSI ALLOCATION COMPLETE CHANNEL RELEASE

Base station

Category

Logical Channel
FCCH

RRM (BSC) RRM RRM RRM MM (MSC) MM MM RRM RRM MM MM RRM

SCH BCCH RACH AGCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH

Mobile-originated call, mobile to land call flow (part 1 of 2)

MS BSS MSC/VLR HLR PSTN

Channel REQuest IMMediate ASSign Complete layer 3 Info, AUThentication REQuest AUThentication RESponse Cipher Mode Complete Cipher Mode CMD Cipher Mode CMD Cipher Mode Complete TMSI REALlocation CoMmanD TMSI REALlocation COMplete SETUP

Mobile call
Mobile station Base station
Carrier sine wave SYNC CHANNEL INFORMATION SYSTEM INFORMATION PAGING REQUEST CHANNEL REQUEST IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT PAGING RESPONSE AUTHENTICATION REQUEST AUTHENTICATION RESPONSE CIPHERING MODE CIPHERING MODE ACK SETUP CALL CONFIRMED ALERTING CONNECT ASSIGNMENT COMMAND ASSIGNMENT ACK CONNECT ACK conversation conversation conversation DISCONNECT RELEASE RELEASE COMPLETE CHANNEL RELEASE

Category

Logical Channel
FCCH SCH BCCH PCH RACH AGCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH SDCCH FACCH TCH TCH FACCH FACCH FACCH FACCH

RRM RRM RRM RRM RRM RRM MM MM RRM RRM CMCM CM CM RRM RRM CM

CM CM CM RRM