Mobile and Wireless Communication

Complete Lecture Notes #14

Lecture # 14
By
Student Lecture Notes
Network components of the Switching Subsystem

The switching Subsystem comprises the following subsystems.

 MSC (Mobile Switching Centre)

 HLR (Home location Register)
 VLR (Visitor Location Register)
 AU (Authentification Centre)
 EIR (Equipment Identification Register)
Network Components of MSC

 GSM/DCS has digital exchanges called Mobile Services switching Centre

 MSC are responsible for establishing traffic channel connections to
- to the BSS
- to other MSC
- and to other networks
Network Components of MSC

 The database of MSC contains the information for the routing traffic channels
connections and handles the basic and supplementary services

 In addition MSC performs the administration of cells and location areas

 Unlike the PSTN the mobile subscriber current location determines the MSC
responsible for it at that particular moment.

 GSM/DCS contains a central component called the Home location Register

which Administers the subscriber data.
Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register

 The HLR is a database where the mobile subscribers are created, barred or
deleted by the operator
 The HLR contains all the permanent subscriber identities as well as the
services (and corresponding restrictions) a mobile subscriber is authorized to
use
Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register

 In general there is one central HLR per mobile network operator and one
VLR per each Mobile Services Switching Centre (MSC) but this can
vary according to the different vendor implementations

 HLR contains entries for each and every subscriber (MSISDN Number)
within a mobile network. Mostly HLR contains static and permanent
information about a subscriber.

 VLR is a database that contains part of the data available in the HLR and
other dynamic information about the mobile stations’ currently roaming
in the administrative areas of the associated VLR. Data in the VLR are
more dynamic than the other because of the mobility nature of the
mobile stations.
Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register

 When a mobile station moves from one Location Area to another their
information is updated in the VLR, so as to locate the mobile stations.
When a subscriber moves out to new VLR area then HLR inform the old
VLR to remove the information related to the given subscriber.

 Interface between HLR and VLR is called as D-Interface as per the GSM
standard which help to share information between nodes. Information
about location such as LAI (Location Area Information), attached status
and Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) are stored in the VLR.

 Also some of the authentication information is passed from HLR to VLR

for the authentication requirements.
Difference between HLR and VLR

Even though both HLR and VLR act as databases within the same mobile
network, in most designs VLRs are assigned limited geographical area to
handle all dynamic data about the subscribers within that area while HLR
act as more centralized node that provide more static information about the
subscribers within whole network.

HLR handles the subscriber administration activities within the network

while VLR supports the mobility function and other dynamic information
about the subscribers.
Home Location Register and Visitor Location Register

 The MSISDN (Mobile Station – International subscriber directory number)

number is the telephone number that is assigned to a mobile user. This
telephone number makes it possible for any subscriber of the plain old
telephone network to call a mobile station.

 The mobile station international ISDN number is structured according to the

ITU-T Recommendation E.164 numbering plan. The structure of the mobile
number is

 Country Code (CC) of the country in which the mobile station is registered, f
National mobile number which consists of National Destination Code
(NDC)
Subscriber Number (SN)
Difference between MSISDN and IMSI

 A subscriber becomes customer of an operator by buying the SIM card

of the operator. At this point the subscriber is allocated an IMSI and an
MSISDN. IMSI is used to identify a subscriber by the operator. But
MSISDN is the number which is used for dialing.
Equipment Identification Register

 The MSc also verifies whether the mobile equipment is approved or not
therefore requests the (IMEI) from the MS and then sends it to the
Equipment identification register.
 International Mobile Equipment identity
Represents an internationally uniquely defined code which is assigned to the
every mobile equipment by the manufacturer.

It consists of four parts and provides information, such as the manufacturer,

to the mobile network. It is usually printed on the device under the battery.

IMEI can be used to "ban" a stolen phone, making it hard to use by the thief
with a new SIM card.
Network Components of MSC

 TAC Type Approval code made up of 6 digits

 FAC Final assembly code characterizes assembly location with 2
digits
 SNR serial no. 6 digit code assigned by manufacture
 SP spare bit
Network Components of MSC

MSC requests IMEI from MS and send to EIR

Network Components of MSC

In Equipment identification register, the IMEI of the whole mobile

equipment used are categorized into three lists

 White List: contains the mobile equipment approved without

restrictions.
 Grey List: contains the equipment to be observed
 Black list: contains the unapproved equipment.

The EIR checks whether the IMEI fits into one of three list and passes the
results to MSC.
Network Components of Radio subsystem

The radio subsystem consists of

 Mobile Equipment
 Base station
 Radio interface
The Radio Interface
The Radio interface

 The GSM/DCS frequency bands

The Radio interface

 Both sub-bands uplink and down link are divided into carriers or
radio frequency channels (RFC) with a bandwidth of 200khz

 The carrier access procedure in the frequency range is called

frequency division multiple access (FDMA)
The Radio interface

The difference between the GSM and DCS

radio channels relate to
 The operating frequency
 The bandwidth of sub-bands
 The duplex spacing (the spacing between associated channels in
uplink and the downlink respectively)
 The number of carriers provided
Radio frequency channels in GSM/DCS

 Depending upon the traffic volume every radio cell uses one or more RFC
 As the network capacity is limited the RFC has to be used several times
 To avoid the co-channel interference, it must be observed during the network
planning that adjacent cells use different RFC
 Therefore a safe distance is required between the BTS using the same RFC,
called reuse distance
Radio frequency channels in GSM/DCS

 In densely populated areas, the

transmission power is kept low and
accordingly the cell radius is small

 With a short safe distance a

multiple use of the same RFC is
possible.

 Similar to PCM 30 system(1 link

with 32 channels)

 1 RFC consists of 8 channels,

several mobile subscribers can
access one RFC at the same time.
Radio frequency channels in GSM/DCS
Physical Channels

 A physical channel is defined by a specific carrier pair (i.e., by an

RFC) and by the time slot no in the TDMA frame.
Physical Channels

A physical channel can function as

 traffic channel for the transmission of speech and data information

 Control Channel for the transmission of signaling and control
information

The generic term for traffic and control channel respectively is logical
channel
Architecture of BTS
Architecture of BTS
 Every TDMA system is responsible for transmitting the 8 physical channels in
TDMA frame of an RFC

 No of TDMA systems is equal to no of RFC used by BTS

 Network and control information is transmitted from the TDMA system to the
antenna combiner and vice versa

 The interface circuit is terminating equipment for 2Mb/s link to BSC

 It handles physical interface functions e.g. synchronization, signal level

adaptation and channel distribution to TDMA system
Architecture of TRAU
 Architecture of BSC
The BSC is responsible for BTS control and administration of radio resource and frequencies
The traffic and control channels from and to the BTS are switched through by switching device