Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)
Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) originally called Groupe
Spécial Mobile is the first true standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM is
being used by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.
Due to its wide deployment and international roaming between mobile phone
operators subscribers can use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM offers
digital signaling and speech channels and is considered a second generation (2G)
mobile phone system.
CellularArchitecture
GSM is a cellular network, which means that mobile phones connect to it by
searching for cells in the immediate vicinity.
There are five different cell sizes in a GSM network—macro, micro, pico, femto and
umbrella cells. The coverage area of each cell varies according to the implementation
environment. Macro cells can be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is
installed on a mast or a building above average roof top level. Micro cells are cells
whose antenna height is under average roof top level; they are typically used in
urban areas. Picocells are small cells whose coverage diameter is a few dozen
meters; they are mainly used indoors. Femtocells are cells designed for use in
residential or small business environments and connect to the service provider’s
network via a broadband internet connection. Umbrella cells are used to cover
shadowed regions of smaller cells and fill in gaps in coverage between those cells.
Cell horizontal radius varies depending on antenna height, antenna gain and
propagation conditions from a couple of hundred meters to several tens of
kilometres. The longest distance the GSM specification supports in practical use is 35
kilometres (22 mi). There are also several implementations of the concept of an
extended cell, where the cell radius could be double or even more, depending on the
antenna system, the type of terrain and the timing advance.
Indoor coverage is also supported by GSM and may be achieved by using an indoor
picocell base station, or an indoor repeater with distributed indoor antennas fed
through power splitters, to deliver the radio signals from an antenna outdoors to the
separate indoor distributed antenna system. These are typically deployed when a lot
of call capacity is needed indoors, for example in shopping centers or airports.
However, this is not a prerequisite, since indoor coverage is also provided by in-
building penetration of the radio signals from nearby cell.
The modulation used in GSM is Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), a kind of
continuous-phase frequency shift keying. In GMSK, the signal to be modulated onto
the carrier is first smoothed with a Gaussian low-pass filter prior to being fed to a
frequency modulator, which greatly reduces the interference to neighboring channels
(adjacent channel interference).
Network structure
The network behind the GSM seen by the customer is large and complicated in order
to provide all of the services which are required. It is divided into access and core
networks.
The Base Station Subsystem (the base stations and their controllers). BSS is also
called access network.
The Network and Switching Subsystem (the part of the network most similar to a
fixed network). This is sometimes also just called the core network.
The GPRS Core Network (the optional part which allows packet based Internet
connections).
All of the elements in the system combine to produce many GSM services such as
voice calls and SMS.
As GSM networks are "cellular," which means that mobile phones connect to it by
searching for cells in the immediate vicinity.
GSM networks operate in four different frequency ranges:-
MACRO cells can be regarded as cells where the base station antenna is installed on a
mast or larger building structures that are taller than an average roof-top level.
MICRO cells are cells whose antenna height below average rooftop level and are
typically used in urban areas.
PICO cells are small cells whose diameter is only few dozen meters; they are used mainly
in indoor applications.It can cover e.g. a floor of
a building or an entire building, or for example in shopping centers or airports,which
means that there are several radio antennae placed within one pico cell.
UMBRELLA cells= A layer with micro cells is covered by at least one macro cell, and a
micro cell can in turn cover several pico cells. A covering cell is called an umbrella cell.
ADVANTAGE of Micro and Pico cells over Macro cell:-
In micro and pico cells, the base station antennae are at the range below roof
level, and therefore is less affected and disturbed by the interference from surrounding
base stations .This means
that the same frequency can be re-used more often in a micro or pico cell than in a macro
cell
DISADVANTAGE of Micro and Pico cells over Macro cell:-
The frequency bands can be differentially affected by disturbances from other base
stations .Especially in micro and pico cells, the interference on the uplink frequencies can
vary rapidly and greatly since, for example, mobile stations can turn corners at high
speed. Another disadvantage is that the base station must turn off its own
transmitter during measurement since certain radio communication systems require that
the base station, during an ongoing conversation, send continuously on the carrier wave
where conversation is ongoing in some time slot.
