Global System For Mobile Communications Network Research Articles

An optimal sliding window size for maximising GSM network throughput

The throughput of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network is to be maximised for effectively and efficiently meeting the service requirements of the ever-increasing mobile subscriber base. The period of temporary storage of subscribers' profiles in the Visitor Location Register (VLR) at a Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) affects the throughput of a GSM network. This research study proposes a sliding window method for determining the storage period of profiles in the VLR, and the principle of optimisation for such a policy is to maximise the throughput and minimise the call set-up time in a GSM network.

Adaptive algorithm for mobile user positioning based on environment estimation

This paper analyzes the challenges to realize an infrastructure independent and a low-cost positioning method in cellular networks based on RSS (Received Signal Strength) parameter, auxiliary timing parameter and environment estimation. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated using field measurements collected from GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network, but it is technology independent and can be applied in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems) and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks, also.

Remote Energy Monitoring, Profiling and Control Through GSM Network

This paper presents design and development of a global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based energy monitoring, profiling and control system. The proposed system integrates consumer’s digital energy meter with energy monitoring system which is controlled by electric supply company. Single phase or three phase digital electric meters can be used with indigenously developed add on module, which acquires energy usage data at consumer premises and after necessary processing transmits it to the electric supply company using short message service (SMS) and global packet radio service (GPRS) through GSM network. At the electric supplier end, an energy monitoring system manages all received meter readings, computes the billing cost, updates the database and maintains an energy consumption profile for each consumer. System controls all operations at the electric supply company headquarters and generates various warning alerts on occurrence of faults in the system. A working prototype of complete system has been developed using digital energy meter manufactured by MicroTech Industries, Pakistan, to demonstrate an efficient and transparent means of automatic meter reading, billing and notification using existing wide spread GSM network.

Development of Models for Managing Network Congestion on Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) in Nigeria

Unexpectedly, the level of patronage being experienced in Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) in Nigeria is overwhelming. This is as a result of freedom of calling from anywhere at anytime and clarity of the voice enjoyed in GSM since it is on a digital technology platform. This has brought a lot of congestion in the network resulting in poor services by the operators. This research has developed a management algorithm for the management of the congestion ex- perienced in the GSM network in Nigeria. It explores the use of Erlang-B in determining the appropriate probability level for some range of subscribers. Thereafter, when there is congestion, block time sharing, dynamic allocation without time slicing, dynamic allocation time slicing with signal sensing, frequently recent call allocation, and priority allocation algorithms were developed to manage the congestion. Furthermore, a hybrid algorithm was developed that integrates all the algorithms to- gether in other to manage the congestion considering all the strengths and constraints of each algorithm. If the recommended congestion management algorithm is followed comprehensibly, the congestion problem on the GSM network will be reduced drastically.

Securing Speech in GSM Networks using DES with Random Permutation and Inversion Algorithm

Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is one of the most commonly used cellular technologies in the world. One of the objectives in mobile communication systems is the security of the exchanged data. GSM employs many cryptographic algorithms for security like A5/1, A5/2 and A5/3. Even so, these algorithms do not provide sufficient level of security for protecting the confidentiality of GSM. Therefore, it is desirable to increase security by additional encryption methods. This paper presents a voice encryption method called: "DES with Random permutation and Inversion", based on current voice channel, which overcomes data channel's insufficiencies and solves the problem of penetrating the RPE-LTP vocoder by the encrypted voice. The proposed method fulfils an end-to-end secured communication in the GSM; insure a good compatibility to all GSM networks, and easy implementation without any modification in these systems.

CellSense: An Accurate Energy-Efficient GSM Positioning System

Context-aware applications have been gaining huge interest in the last few years. With cell phones becoming ubiquitous computing devices, cell phone localization has become an important research problem. In this paper, we present CellSense, which is a probabilistic received signal strength indicator (RSSI)-based fingerprinting location determination system for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) phones. We discuss the challenges of implementing a probabilistic fingerprinting localization technique in GSM networks and present the details of the CellSense system and how it addresses these challenges. We then extend the proposed system using a hybrid technique that combines probabilistic and deterministic estimations to achieve both high accuracy and low computational overhead. Moreover, the accuracy of the hybrid technique is robust to changes in its parameter values. To evaluate our proposed system, we implemented CellSense on Android-based phones. Results from two different testbeds, representing urban and rural environments, for three different cellular providers show that CellSense provides at least 108.57% enhancement in accuracy in rural areas and at least 89.03% in urban areas compared with current state-of-the-art RSSI-based GSM localization systems. In additional, the proposed hybrid technique provides more than 6 and 5.4 times reduction in computational requirements compared with state-of-the-art RSSI-based GSM localization systems for rural and urban testbeds, respectively. We also evaluate the effect of changing the different system parameters on the accuracy-complexity tradeoff and how the cell tower and fingerprint densities affect system performance.

Wireless Communication System Development of Mobile Robot Based on Embedded Technology

Using the broad coverage of Global System for Mobile communications GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) wireless network, monitoring remote target is one of research hot spots of remote control. The fact of applying the wireless communication technology, embedded processing techniques to remote monitoring system to realize the complete solution of the wireless remote monitoring system has strong industry value and research significance.This article offers a kind of monitoring system based on GSM. With wheeled mobile robots as an experimental platform, once robot detect water, fire, gas leakage or illegal invasion through the sensor, it will report to the householder through the short message in order to take emergency measures. Take GSM network as the communication channels , because it has a series of advantages such as fastness, reliability, low cost, less maintenance costs ,etc

RESTRICTED ACCESS CONTROL FOR DOORS AND GATE SECURITY USING GSM WIRELESS NETWORK

This paper is to view the possibility available to us through the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) wireless network system, which can be applied to door/gate access security and control in offices and homes. The opening and closing of door can be very tasking being the reason why public places like shops and hotels put an automatic system to open and close doors for customers while others employ bell boys for this purpose. There is the possibility of extending this to homes and offices by using wireless GSM network to perform this task such that one can activate the door to open while he is still approaching the door using one’s hand set. Also access can be granted to only authorized persons who have been given the access code thereby creating access security. There is the possibility of applying it for house gate and eliminate the need for gate man in the compound.

GSM Co-Channel and Adjacent Channel Interference Analysis and Optimization

Most current Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) frequency planning methods evaluate the interference and assign frequencies based on measurement reports. Assigning the same or adjacent frequencies to cells close to each other will introduce co-channel and adjacent channel interference which will reduce network performance. Traditionally, man power is used to check and allocate new frequencies which is time consuming and the accuracy is not satisfactory. This paper presents an intelligent analysis method for optimization of co-channel and adjacent channel interference by exploiting cell configuration information. The method defines an interference evaluation model by analyzing various factors such as the base station layer, the azimuth ward relationship, and the cell neighborhood relationships. The interference for each frequency is evaluated and the problem frequencies are optimized. This method is verified by a large number of actual datasets from an in-service GSM network. The results show this method has better intelligence, accuracy, timeliness, and visualization than traditional methods.

Streetlight Monitoring System for Energy Saving Based on GSM Network

This streetlight monitoring system is aimed at preventing unnecessary energy wastage by applying the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology. This system consists of two parts: the monitoring centre and the terminal nodes. The Siemens TC35 GSM module is used to send and receive short messages and it is installed in the monitoring centre and each streetlight. ATmega168 is used to determine whether or not it is necessary for the streetlights to be turned on, and then it executes commands from the control centre. When the sky is bright enough for drivers, the streetlights will automatically turn off. Also, if some streetlights are broken down, the TC35 GSM module will send an alarm short message to the monitoring centre and maintenance personnel will repair the lights as soon as possible. Thus, maintenance personnel will no longer have to make time-consuming visits to check up on the function status of every streetlight. All information is presented in the monitoring computer which is programmed in LabVIEW. The workman can easily turn on or off any streetlight by clicking on the screen.

Quality Measurements on the Radio Interface of the Mobile Communication in the Proximity of the Power System

Problem statement: The electric power lines and its associated equipments generally produce an electromagnetic noise in their environment, which are likely to have dangerous effects on propagation environment to the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) cellular mobile network. Approach: In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of the power line noise and its correlation with the GSM burst; showing that the considered noise source to the Mobile Station (MS) and Base Transceiver Station (BTS) of GSM system is due to the presence of fundamentals and harmonics fields (electric and magnetic fields) in the proximity of power lines functioning at the permanent state; specially the present of the 5th harmonic field which is close to the GSM pulsed field at the frequency 217 Hz. Results: This study shows the measurements and analysis results for QoS of GSM network based on the GSM metrics such as Mobile Station Power (MSP), Received signal power level (RxLevl), Received signal quality (RxQual), Carrier to Interference ratio (C/I) and Frame Error Rate (FER). These experiments were done inside and outside an area of 50m distance from the tower of power line and take on consideration the two real situations (in the case of the absence of BTS and in the case of the presence of the BTS inside an area of radius 50m around the power line). Conclusion/Recommendations: The experimental results in idle and dedicated mode are more important and it has been observed that the influence of this noise produced by these power lines leading to a degradation of the MSP, RxLev and RxQual respectively with an important FER.

GSM/EDGE: A mobile communications system determined to stay

Abstract The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is still the most successful mobile communications system worldwide. During the last decade, major steps have been taken towards an improvement of GSM with respect to performance and spectral efficiency. To serve the increasing demands of more and more users for higher data rates, significant efforts are made towards a further evolution of GSM. The standard extension Voice Services over Adaptive Multi-User Channels (VAMOS) has been specified in 3GPP Release 9. In VAMOS mode, two overlaid Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK) signals are transmitted in the same time slot and frequency channel, potentially doubling the capacity of existing GSM networks in many cases. In this paper, we address channel estimation and detection techniques for the VAMOS downlink. In a new 3GPP work item called TIGHTER, it is also foreseen to tighten all downlink receiver performance requirements for all data and voice services by at least 2 dB through the application of more sophisticated processing techniques at the receiver. Furthermore, a 3GPP study on Signal Precoding Enhancements for EGPRS2 (SPEED) to further modify the modulation and coding for data services by introducing OFDM has been started recently. We present ideas for improved receivers to enable tighter performance requirements and for SPEED transmission concepts, which might merit further investigation.

A Combined Scheme for Controlling GSM Network Calls Congestion

Network congestion and signal quality degradation are the major problems of the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) most especially as the number of customers increases. They are issues that constantly and continuously demand for further researches to improve network performance. Congestion in various systems has always been tackled with various attempts, all of which falls in either the congestion avoidance category or congestion management category. Congestion avoidance has however been adjudged the best scheme for controlling network congestion and this is the approach employed in this research work. The conventional GSM network calls congestion control methods such as Token Bank, Auto atic Call Gapping among which Call Admission Control (CAC) is the best, was selected for this work. Dynamic load balancing technique was combined with CAC to re-route calls that would have been dropped to another less busy cell within the Base Station Controller (BSC) area. A naive form of Dijkstra shortest path algorithm was used to find the shortest route to which calls can be transferred among the collocated base station cells. The combined algorithms were implemented on JAVA platform using real life call data record (CDR) collected from Globacom Nigeria Limited New Call Blocking and Handoff Call Dropping Probabilities (NCBP and HCDP) were used to measure the performance results. The two probabilities were computed for both CAC only and the combined scheme. The results obtained showed that there is significant reduction in the values of both NCBP and HCDP by 71.43% and 100% respectively, of cells considered for the new combined scheme when compared with that of the CAC only. This indicates that the new scheme has further reduced the values of the NCBP and HCDP which enabled the cells to accommodate more calls thereby increasing the efficiency of the network performance.

A Low Cost Wireless Data Acquisition System for a Remote Photovoltaic (PV) Water Pumping System

This paper presents the design and development of a 16F877 microcontroller-based wireless data acquisition system and a study of the feasibility of different existing methodologies linked to field data acquisition from remote photovoltaic (PV) water pumping systems. Various existing data transmission techniques were studied, especially satellite, radio, Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). The system’s hardware and software and an application to test its performance are described. The system will be used for reading, storing and analyzing information from several PV water pumping stations situated in remote areas in the arid region of the south of Tunisia. The remote communications are based on the GSM network and, in particular, on the Short text Message Service (SMS). With this integrated system, we can compile a complete database of the different parameters related to the PV water pumping systems of Tunisia. This data could be made available to interested parties over the Internet.

Development of a Low-Cost GSM SMS-Based Humidity Remote Monitoring and Control system for Industrial Applications

The paper proposes a wireless solution, based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) networks [1] for the monitoring and control of humidity in industries. This system provides ideal solution for monitoring critical plant on unmanned sites. The system is Wireless [2] therefore more adaptable and cost-effective. Utilizing Humidity sensor HSM-20G, ARM Controller LPC2148 and GSM technology this system offers a cost effective solution to wide range of remote monitoring and control applications. Historical and real time data can be accessed world wide using the GSM network. The system can also be configured to transmit data on alarm or at preset intervals to a mobile phone using SMS text messaging. The proposed system monitors and controls the humidity from the remote location and whenever it crosses the set limit the LPC2148 processor will sends an SMS to a concerned plant authority(s) mobile phone via GSM network. The concerned authority can control the system through his mobile phone by sending AT Commands to GSM MODEM and in turn to processor. Also the system provides password security against operator misuse/abuse. The system uses GSM technology [3] thus providing ubiquitous access to the system for security and automated monitoring and control of Humidity.

Radio Map Framework for GSM Positioning

This paper introduces radio map framework for creation of GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network radio maps. These radio maps are structured in the way that they can be utilized later on as a data source for fingerprinting-based localization methods. Attributes of fingerprinting localization method as well as particular radio signal parameters are explained. The framework handles data measurement, data transfer and data visualization scenarios. Data are basically various radio signal parameters coupled with position coordinates. These data make up a database, which allows centralized storage and opens a path to service-oriented localization architecture in the future. Visualization provides means to verify radio map quality, distribution and density in perceptible and user friendly way as well as means to present and publish achieved results. Entire system is aimed to provide usability by multiple users and further optimization. Centralization allows easy implementation of changes and system maintenance at one place.

Authenticated and Secure End-To-End Communication Channel Using SMS Messages

One of the key issues of modern cryptography is the problem of establishing a secure end-to-end communication over an insecure communication channel. Short Message Service (SMS) is a hugely popular and easily adopted communications technology for mobile devices. Users conduct business, disclose passwords and receive sensitive notification reports from systems using this communication technology. SMSs by default are sent in clear text form within the serving GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network, Over The Air (OTA), and potentially over the public Internet in a predictable format. This allows anyone accessing the GSM system to read, and or modify the SMS content even on the fly. In this paper, we present an approach mainly consists of two steps, first, SHA-1 authentication is used to generate a message digest that is combined with previous message digest and a shared secret key to form an initial key stream. Secondly, this key will be used as input to a mathematical equation derived in prefix notation from randomly selected set of operators and functions supported by the software platform extracted from special table. The final key stream is the output of this equation which is

A comparison of three methods to determine mobile station location in cellular communication systems

AbstractThree methods to determine location of a mobile station in cellular communication systems are proposed and compared in this paper. The methods are introduced taking global system for mobile communications (GSM) networks as an example, although the results could be generalised for application in universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) networks. All three of the methods determine the mobile station location using coordinates of several base stations and corresponding timing advance (TA) parameter values. The values of the TA parameter are obtained applying the forced handover technique. The first method, the method of squares, locates the mobile station in a square region according to the data provided by one base station. The data are collected for several base stations and assembled such the mobile station is located in an intersection of the square regions, which takes a rectangular shape. This rectangle may be refined by the other two methods. The method of annuli locates the mobile station in an annular region, according to the definition of the TA parameter, while the method of circles locates the mobile station within a circular region. The region of the mobile station location is obtained as an intersection of the regions, again. In this manner, the area where the mobile station might be located is reduced. The mobile station coordinates are estimated applying a probabilistic approach, treating the mobile station coordinates as a two‐dimensional random variable. It is shown that the methods of squares and circles are robust, not being affected by indirect wave propagation, while the method of annuli provides the best localisation, but it is sensitive on indirect wave propagation. The methods are verified applying simulation of a real GSM network. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Transtelephonic Electrocardiographic Transmission in the Preparticipation Screening of Athletes

Transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission (TET) is the most widespread form of telecardiology since it enables clinicians to assess patients at a distance. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of TET either by fixed telephone line (POTS) or by mobile phone in the preparticipation screening of young athletes. A total of 506 players, aged 20.5 ± 6.2 years, from 23 soccer clubs in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, Greece, were physically examined in their playfields by a general practitioner (GP) and had their ECG recorded. In 142 cases, and on the judgment of the GP, the ECG was transmitted via POTS and/or global system for mobile communications (GSM) to a specialised medical centre where it was evaluated by a cardiologist. The mean total time for recording, storing, and transmitting the ECG was four minutes per subject. It was found that the success rate for transmission at first attempt was similar for both fixed and mobile networks, that is, 93% and 91%, respectively. The failure rate in the GSM network was correlated to the reception level at the site of transmission. Only in about half (n = 74) of the transmitted ECGs did the cardiologist confirm “abnormal” findings, although in 16, they were considered to be clinically insignificant. Consequently, 58 athletes were referred for further medical examination. Our results indicate that TET (either by fixed telephone line or by mobile phone) can ensure valid, reliable, and objective measurements, and significantly contribute to the application of medical screening in a great number of athletes. Therefore, it is recommended as an alternative diagnostic tool for the preparticipation screening of athletes living in remote areas.

Instant Ciphertext-Only Cryptanalysis of GSM Encrypted Communication

In this paper we present a very practical ciphertext-only cryptanalysis of GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) encrypted communication, and various active attacks on the GSM protocols. These attacks can even break into GSM networks that use “unbreakable” ciphers. We first describe a ciphertext-only attack on A5/2 that requires a few dozen milliseconds of encrypted off-the-air cellular conversation and finds the correct key in less than a second on a personal computer. We extend this attack to a (more complex) ciphertext-only attack on A5/1. We then describe new (active) attacks on the protocols of networks that use A5/1, A5/3, or even GPRS (General Packet Radio Service). These attacks exploit flaws in the GSM protocols, and they work whenever the mobile phone supports a weak cipher such as A5/2. We emphasize that these attacks are on the protocols, and are thus applicable whenever the cellular phone supports a weak cipher, for example, they are also applicable for attacking A5/3 networks using the cryptanalysis of A5/1. Unlike previous attacks on GSM that require unrealistic information, like long known-plaintext periods, our attacks are very practical and do not require any knowledge of the content of the conversation. Furthermore, we describe how to fortify the attacks to withstand reception errors. As a result, our attacks allow attackers to tap conversations and decrypt them either in real-time, or at any later time. We present several attack scenarios such as call hijacking, altering of data messages and call theft.