Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station Network

Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station Network 1
Melbourne Institute of Technology
SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
BE301-TELECOMMUNICATION MODELLING AND
SIMULATION
Assignment 2
Term 1, 2018
Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station
Network
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Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station Network 2
INTRODUCTION
It is very important to plan a public land mobile network, PLMN, on simulation software before
performing the implementation on the ground. The design and implementation of a Base Station
Network follows from the GSM network regulations document in the Request for Comments, RFCs. The
mobile communication system on land is defined in cells and sectors as discussed further in the
literature review. The GSM architecture for the PLMN has the base station subsystem which links to the
mobile switching center. The base station transceivers are the first line connection to the user or mobile
equipment. The BTS performs location updates and connects to the user equipment to ensure that the
mobile user is connected to the cellular network. The PLMN uses microwaves and radio waves to
transmit message signals over the atmosphere. The use of GSM technology allows for the voice
connections, data connections, and short message services. there are mainly three service domains used
in the GSM namely the bearer services, the telematic services and the supplementary services. The
mobile communication flow is as illustrated in the block diagram below,
Figure 1 Service Domains in GSM [Source: ICS 243E- Wireless Telecommunication Systems]
The system architecture of the GSM is as illustrated below,

Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station Network 3
Figure 2 GSM system Architecture
LITERATURE REVIEW
The GSM system has two frequency bands namely GSM 900 and GSM1800. The feasible frequencies and
channel spacing of the two bands are:
GSM 900 ; 890−915 MHz∧935−960 MHz
GSM 900 ; channel spacing: 200 kHz
GSM 1800 ; 1725−1780 MHz∧1820−1875 MHz
GSM 1800 ; channel spacing :200 kHz
Another advanced technology is the UMTS whose bandwidth is given as
UMTS ; 1920−1980 MHz∧2110−2170 MHz
UMTS ; channel spacing−200 kHz

Design of GSM Cellular Mobile Radio Base Station Network 4
When designing a PLMN, the design for the urban areas is different from that of the remote areas. In the
urban regions, there are so many man-made structures which are referenced as the concrete jungle
which must be taken into consideration as they are likely to cause a lot of interference and signal
blocking, especially the skyscrapers. For the terrestrial communication using microwave electromagnetic
signals, there propagation of a signal is modelled using a 2-ray model and Fresnel zones. When the earth
is assumed to be flat, the 2-ray model is used to model a propagation channel where the receiver gets a
signal using the direct path and the reflected ray.
Such that the path difference between the direct path and the reflected path is given as,
∆=¿
For the Fresnel zone design, seeks to avoid the destructive earth reflections which may not get the
signals to the receiver end. The following estimates are considered when planning to set-up WiMAX and
LTE PLMN networks in different areas,
Environment Path Loss Exponent, n