In 1982, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) created the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) to develop a standard for a mobile telephone system that could be used across Europe.
In 1987, a memorandum of understanding was signed by 13 countries to develop a common cellular telephone system across Europe. Finally the system created by SINTEF lead by Torleiv Maseng was selected.
In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990. The first GSM network was launched in 1991 by Radiolinja in Finland with joint technical infrastructure maintenance from Ericsson.
By the end of 1993, over a million subscribers were using GSM phone networks being operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries.
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 a number of sections and these are each covered in separate articles.
The packet control unit (PCU) is a late addition to the GSM standard. It performs some of the processing tasks of the BSC, but for packet data. The allocation of channels between voice and data is controlled by the base station, but once a channel is allocated to the PCU, the PCU takes full control over that channel.
The PCU can be built into the base station, built into the BSC or even, in some proposed architectures, it can be at the SGSN site. In most of the cases, the PCU is a separate node communicating extensively with the BSC on the radio side and the SGSN on the Gb side.
Traffic Channels (TCHs)
Full-Rate TCH
Full-Rate Speech Channel (TCH/FS) : Carries speech digitized at a raw data rate of 13 kbps, sent at 22.8 Kbps.
Full-Rate Data Channel for 9600 bps (TCH/F9.6) : Carries data sent at 9.6 Kbps. With FEC code, the data is sent at 22.8 Kbps.
Full-Rate Data Channel for 4800 bps (TCH/F4.8) : Carries data sent at 4.8 Kbps. With FEC code, the data is sent at 22.8 Kbps.
Full-Rate Data Channel for 2400 bps (TCH/F2.4) : Carries data sent at 2.4 Kbps. With FEC code, the data is sent at 22.8 Kbps.
Half-Rate TCH
Half-Rate Speech Channel (TCH/HS) : Carries speech digitized at 6.5 Kbps, sent at 11.4 Kbps.
Half-Rate Data Channel for 4800 bps (TCH/H4.8) : Carries data sent at 4.8 Kbps. With FEC code, the data is sent at 11.4 Kbps.
Full-Rate Data Channel for 2400 bps (TCH/H2.4) : Carries data sent at 2.4 Kbps. With FEC code, the data is sent at 11.4 Kbps.
(For more details about FEC channel coding, turn to [7].)
Control Channels (CCHs)
Broadcast Channels (BCHs)
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) - DOWNLINK -
Frequency Correction Channel (FCCH) - DOWNLINK -
Synchronization Channel (SCH) - DOWNLINK -
Common Control Channels (CCCHs)
Paging Channel (PCH) - DOWNLINK -
Random Access Channel (RACH) - UPLINK -
Access Grant Channel (AGCH) - DOWNLINK -
Dedicated Control Channels (DCCHs)
Stand-alone Dedicated Controls (SDCCHs) - UPLINK/DOWNLINK -
Slow Associated Control Channel (SACCH) - UPLINK/DOWNLINK -
Fast Associated Control Channel (FACCHs) - UPLINK/DOWNLINK -
BCHs
For
a frame for traffic channe, a super frame consists of 51 multiframe
that is made of 26 TDMA frames. For a frame for control channel, a
super frame consists of 26 multiframe that contains 51 TDMA frames.
Each TDMA frame spans 4.615 ms, consisting of 8 time slots, during each
of which a user sends data called "burst". Of a normal burst, the
payload (information-bearing part) occupies two 57 bit blocks.