PCS(personal communication service) PCS is a wireless phone

service similar to cellular telephone service but emphasizing personal service and extended
mobility. It's sometimes referred to as digital cellular (although cellular systems can also be
digital). Like cellular, PCS is for mobile users and requires a number of antennas to blanket an
area of coverage. As a user moves around, the user's phone signal is picked up by the nearest
antenna and then forwarded to a base station that connects to the wired network. The phone
itself is slightly smaller than a cellular phone. According to Sprint, PCS is now available to 230
million people.The "personal" in PCS distinguishes this service from cellular by emphasizing that,
unlike cellular, which was designed for car phone use and coverage of highways and roads, PCS is
designed for greater user mobility. It generally requires more cell transmitters for coverage, but
has the advantage of fewer blind spots. Technically, cellular systems in the United States operate
in the 824-849 megahertz (MHz) frequency bands; PCS operates in the1850-1990 MHz bands.

6. DCS A digital cross-connect system (DCS or DXC) is a piece of

circuit-switched network equipment, used in telecommunications networks, that allows lower-
level TDM bit streams, such as DS0 bit streams,to be rearranged and interconnected among
higher-level TDM signals, such as DS1 bit streams. DCS units are available that operate on both
older T-carrier/E-carrier bit streams, as well as newer SONET/SDH bit streams.

DCS devices can be used for "grooming" telecommunications traffic, switching traffic from one
circuit to another in the event of a network failure, supporting automated provisioning, and
other applications. Having a DCS in a circuit-switched network provides important flexibility that
can otherwise only be obtained at higher cost using manual "DSX" cross-connect patch panels.It
is important to realize that while DCS devices "switch" traffic, they are not packet switches—they
switch circuits, not packets, and the circuit arrangements they are used to manage tend to
persist over very long time spans, typically months or longer, as compared to packet switches,
which can route every packet differently, and operate on micro- or millisecond time spans.

D-AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service)

D-AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service), sometimes spelled DAMPS, is a digital version
of AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service), the original analog standard for cellular telephone
phone service in the United States. D-AMPS adds time division multiple access (TDMA) to AMPS
to get three channels for each AMPS channel, tripling the number of calls that can be handled on
a channel. D-AMPS is Interim Standard-136 from the Electronics Industries
Assocation/Telecommunication Industries Assocation (EIA/TIA).

D-AMPS is one of three digital wireless technologies that use TDMA. The other two are GSM
and PDC. Each of these technologies interprets TDMA differently so they are not compatible. An
advantage of D-AMPS is that it is easier to upgrade to from an existing analog AMPS network. An
alternative to D-AMPS and the other two TDMA technologies is direct sequence code division
multiple access (CDMA).

DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless

Telecommunications)
Unlike the analog cordless phones you may have in your home, DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless
Telecommunications) is a digital wireless telephone technology that is expected to make cordless
phones much more common in both businesses and homes in the future. Formerly called the
Digital European Cordless Telecommunications standard because it was developed by European
companies, DECT's present name reflects its global acceptance. Like another important wireless
standard, Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), DECT uses time division multiple
access (TDMA) to transmit radio signals to phones. Whereas GSM is optimized for mobile travel
over large areas, DECT is designed especially for a smaller area with a large number of users,
such as in cities and corporate complexes. A user can have a telephone equipped for both GSM
and DECT (this is known as a dual-mode phone) and they can operate seamlessly.

DECT has five major applications:

1) The "cordless private branch exchange." A company can connect to a wired telephone
company and redistribute signals by radio antenna to a large number of telephone users within
the company, each with their own number. A cordless PBX would be especially useful and save
costs in a company with a number of mobile employees such as those in a large warehouse.

2) Wireless Local Loop (WLL). Users in a neighborhood typically served by a telephone company
wired local loop can be connected instead by a cordless phone that exchanges signals with a
neighborhood antenna. A standard telephone (or any device containing a telephone such as a
computer modem or fax machine) is simply plugged into a fixed access unit (FAU), which
contains a transceiver. The Wireless Local Loop can be installed in an urban area where many
users share the same antenna.

3) Cordless Terminal Mobility. The arrangement used by businesses for a cordless PBX can also
be used by a service that provided cordless phone numbers for individual subscribers. In general,
the mobility would be less than that available for GSM

4) Home cordless phones. A homeowner could install a single-cell antenna within the home and
use it for a number of cordless phones throughout the home and garden.

5) GSM/DECT internetworking. Part of the DECT standard describes how it can interact with the
GSM standard so that users can be free to move with a telephone from the outdoors (and GSM
signals) into an indoor environment (and a DECT system). It's expected that many GSM service
providers may want to extend their service to support DECT signals inside buildings. A dual-
mode phone would automatically search first for a DECT connection, then for a GSM connection
if DECT

SPACE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS(SDMA)

SDMA allow serving multiple users to access same frequence but
different timeslots

FREQUENCE REUSE
Frequency reuse is the process of using the same radio
frequencies on radio transmitter sites within a geographic area,
which are separated by sufficient distance to cause minimal
interference with each other. Frequency reuse allows for a
dramatic increase in the number of customers that can be served
(capacity) within a geographic area on a limited amount of radio
spectrum (limited number of radio channels).

Frequency planning is the assignment (coordination) of radio

channel frequencies in wireless systems that have multiple
transmitters to minimize the amount of interference caused by
transmitters that operate on the same frequency. Frequency
planning is used to help ensure that combined interference levels
from nearby transmitters that are operating on or near the same
frequency do not exceed a certain interference (desired signal to
interference) level compared to the desired signal.

The ability to reuse frequencies depends on various factors,

including the ability of channels to operate in with interference
signal energy attenuation between the transmitters. A frequency
plan is the assignment of radio frequencies to radio transmission
sites (cell sites) that are located within a defined geographic area.
The frequency plan may use ratios that are different dependent on
the number of transmitting sites to the number of antennas
(sectors) on each site. A common frequency reuse plan for GSM is
the ability to reuse a radio frequency on every 4th site that has
three 120 degree sectors each – 12 total sectors. This plan is
commonly called “4/12”.

Handover

In cellular telecommunications, the terms handover or handoff

refer to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session
from one channel connected to the core network to another
channel. In satellite communications it is the process of
transferring satellite control responsibility from one earth station
to another without loss or interruption of service.

2 Purpose

3 Types

4 Comparison

5 Possibility

6 Implementations

7 Reasons for failure

8 Vertical handover

9 Handoff Prioritization

10 Inter and Intra System Handof

Purpose

In telecommunications there may be different reasons why a

handover might be conducted:

when the phone is moving away from the area covered by one cell
and entering the area covered by another cell the call is
transferred to the second cell in order to avoid call termination
when the phone gets outside the range of the first cell;
when the capacity for connecting new calls of a given cell is used
up and an existing or new call from a phone, which is located in an
area overlapped by another cell, is transferred to that cell in order
to free-up some capacity in the first cell for other users, who can
only be connected to that cell;

in non-CDMA networks when the channel used by the phone

becomes interfered by another phone using the same channel in a
different cell, the call is transferred to a different channel in the
same cell or to a different channel in another cell in order to avoid
the interference;

again in non-CDMA networks when the user behaviour changes,

e.g. when a fast-travelling user, connected to a large, umbrella-
type of cell, stops then the call may be transferred to a smaller
macro cell or even to a micro cell in order to free capacity on the
umbrella cell for other fast-traveling users and to reduce the
potential interference to other cells or users (this works in reverse
too, when a user is detected to be moving faster than a certain
threshold, the call can be transferred to a larger umbrella-type of
cell in order to minimize the frequency of the handovers due to
this movement);

in CDMA networks a handover (see further down) may be induced

in order to reduce the interference to a smaller neighboring cell
due to the "near-far" effect even when the phone still has an
excellent connection to its current cell;

etc.

The most basic form of handover is when a phone call in progress

is redirected from its current cell (called source) to a new cell
(called target).[1] In terrestrial networks the source and the target
cells may be served from two different cell sites or from one and
the same cell site (in the latter case the two cells are usually
referred to as two sectors on that cell site). Such a handover, in
which the source and the target are different cells (even if they are
on the same cell site) is called inter-cell handover. The purpose of
inter-cell handover is to maintain the call as the subscriber is
moving out of the area covered by the source cell and entering
the area of the target cell.

A special case is possible, in which the source and the target are
one and the same cell and only the used channel is changed
during the handover. Such a handover, in which the cell is not
changed, is called intra-cell handover. The purpose of intra-cell
handover is to change one channel, which may be interfered or
fading with a new clearer or less fading channel.

Hard handover

Is one in which the channel in the source cell is released and only
then the channel in the target cell is engaged. Thus the connection
to the source is broken before or 'as' the connection to the target
is made—for this reason such handovers are also known as break-
before-make. Hard handovers are intended to be instantaneous in
order to minimize the disruption to the call. A hard handover is
perceived by network engineers as an event during the call. It
requires the least processing by the network providing service.
When the mobile is between base stations, then the mobile can
switch with any of the base stations, so the base stations bounce
the link with the mobile back and forth. This is called 'ping-
ponging'.

Soft handover

Is one in which the channel in the source cell is retained and used
for a while in parallel with the channel in the target cell. In this
case the connection to the target is established before the
connection to the source is broken, hence this handover is called
make-before-break. The interval, during which the two
connections are used in parallel, may be brief or substantial. For
this reason the soft handover is perceived by network engineers
as a state of the call, rather than a brief event. Soft handovers may
involve using connections to more than two cells: connections to
three, four or more cells can be maintained by one phone at the
same time. When a call is in a state of soft handover, the signal of
the best of all used channels can be used for the call at a given
moment or all the signals can be combined to produce a clearer
copy of the signal. The latter is more advantageous, and when
such combining is performed both in the downlink (forward link)
and the uplink (reverse link) the handover is termed as softer.
Softer handovers are possible when the cells involved in the
handovers have a single cell site.

Handover can also be classified on the basis of handover

techniques used. Broadly they can be classified into three types:
Network controlled handover

Mobile phone assisted handover

Mobile controlled handover

Comparison[edit]

An advantage of the hard handover is that at any moment in time

one call uses only one channel. The hard handover event is indeed
very short and usually is not perceptible by the user. In the old
analog systems it could be heard as a click or a very short beep; in
digital systems it is unnoticeable. Another advantage of the hard
handover is that the phone's hardware does not need to be
capable of receiving two or more channels in parallel, which
makes it cheaper and simpler. A disadvantage is that if a handover
fails the call may be temporarily disrupted or even terminated
abnormally. Technologies which use hard handovers, usually have
procedures which can re-establish the connection to the source
cell if the connection to the target cell cannot be made. However
re-establishing this connection may not always be possible (in
which case the call will be terminated) and even when possible
the procedure may cause a temporary interruption to the call.

One advantage of the soft handovers is that the connection to the

source cell is broken only when a reliable connection to the target
cell has been established and therefore the chances that the call
will be terminated abnormally due to failed handovers are lower.
However, by far a bigger advantage comes from the mere fact that
simultaneously channels in multiple cells are maintained and the
call could only fail if all of the channels are interfered or fade at
the same time. Fading and interference in different channels are
unrelated and therefore the probability of them taking place at
the same moment in all channels is very low. Thus the reliability of
the connection becomes higher when the call is in a soft handover.
Because in a cellular network the majority of the handovers occur
in places of poor coverage, where calls would frequently become
unreliable when their channel is interfered or fading, soft
handovers bring a significant improvement to the reliability of the
calls in these places by making the interference or the fading in a
single channel not critical. This advantage comes at the cost of
more complex hardware in the phone, which must be capable of
processing several channels in parallel. Another price to pay for
soft handovers is use of several channels in the network to
support just a single call. This reduces the number of remaining
free channels and thus reduces the capacity of the network. By
adjusting the duration of soft handovers and the size of the areas
in which they occur, the network engineers can balance the
benefit of extra call reliability against the price of reduced
capacity.

Possibility[edit]

While theoretically speaking soft handovers are possible in any

technology, analog or digital, the cost of implementing them for
analog technologies is prohibitively high and none of the
technologies that were commercially successful in the past (e.g.
AMPS, TACS, NMT, etc.) had this feature. Of the digital
technologies, those based on FDMA also face a higher cost for the
phones (due to the need to have multiple parallel radio-frequency
modules) and those based on TDMA or a combination of
TDMA/FDMA, in principle, allow not so expensive implementation
of soft handovers. However, none of the 2G (second-generation)
technologies have this feature (e.g. GSM, D-AMPS/IS-136, etc.).
On the other hand, all CDMA based technologies, 2G and 3G
(third-generation), have soft handovers. On one hand, this is
facilitated by the possibility to design not so expensive phone
hardware supporting soft handovers for CDMA and on the other
hand, this is necessitated by the fact that without soft handovers
CDMA networks may suffer from substantial interference arising
due to the so-called near-far effect..

In all current commercial technologies based on FDMA or on a

combination of TDMA/FDMA (e.g. GSM, AMPS, IS-136/DAMPS,
etc.) changing the channel during a hard handover is realised by
changing the pair of used transmit/receive frequencies.

For the practical realisation of handovers in a cellular network

each cell is assigned a list of potential target cells, which can be
used for handing over calls from this source cell to them. These
potential target cells are called neighbors and the list is called
neighbor list. Creating such a list for a given cell is not trivial and
specialized computer tools are used. They implement different
algorithms and may use for input data from field measurements
or computer predictions of radio wave propagation in the areas
covered by the cells.
During a call one or more parameters of the signal in the channel
in the source cell are monitored and assessed in order to decide
when a handover may be necessary. The downlink (forward link)
and/or uplink (reverse link) directions may be monitored. The
handover may be requested by the phone or by the base station
(BTS) of its source cell and, in some systems, by a BTS of a
neighboring cell. The phone and the BTSes of the neighboring cells
monitor each other's signals and the best target candidates are
selected among the neighboring cells. In some systems, mainly
based on CDMA, a target candidate may be selected among the
cells which are not in the neighbor list. This is done in an effort to
reduce the probability of interference due to the aforementioned
near-far effect.

In analog systems the parameters used as criteria for requesting a

hard handover are usually the received signal power and the
received signal-to-noise ratio (the latter may be estimated in an
analog system by inserting additional tones, with frequencies just
outside the captured voice-frequency band at the transmitter and
assessing the form of these tones at the receiver). In non-CDMA
2G digital systems the criteria for requesting hard handover may
be based on estimates of the received signal power, bit error rate
(BER) and block error/erasure rate (BLER), received quality of
speech (RxQual), distance between the phone and the BTS
(estimated from the radio signal propagation delay) and others. In
CDMA systems, 2G and 3G, the most common criterion for
requesting a handover is Ec/Io ratio measured in the pilot channel
(CPICH) and/or RSCP.

In CDMA systems, when the phone in soft or softer handover is

connected to several cells simultaneously, it processes the
received in parallel signals using a rake receiver. Each signal is
processed by a module called rake finger. A usual design of a rake
receiver in mobile phones includes three or more rake fingers
used in soft handover state for processing signals from as many
cells and one additional finger used to search for signals from
other cells. The set of cells, whose signals are used during a soft
handover, is referred to as the active set. If the search finger finds
a sufficiently-strong signal (in terms of high Ec/Io or RSCP) from a
new cell this cell is added to the active set. The cells in the
neighbour list (called in CDMA neighbouring set) are checked
more frequently than the rest and thus a handover with a
neighbouring cell is more likely, however a handover with others
cells outside the neighbor list is also allowed (unlike in GSM, IS-
136/DAMPS, AMPS, NMT, etc.).

Reasons for failure[edit]

There are occurrences where a handoff is unsuccessful. Lots of

research was conducted regarding this. In the late 80's the main
reason was found out. Because frequencies cannot be reused in
adjacent cells, when a user moves from one cell to another, a new
frequency must be allocated for the call. If a user moves into a cell
when all available channels are in use, the user’s call must be
terminated. Also, there is the problem of signal interference
where adjacent cells overpower each other resulting in receiver
desensitization.

Vertical handover[edit]

Main article: Vertical handover

There are also inter-technology handovers where a call's

connection is transferred from one access technology to another,
e.g. a call being transferred from GSM to UMTS or from CDMA IS-
95 to cdma2000.

The 3GPP UMA/GAN standard enables GSM/UMTS handoff to Wi-

Fi and vice versa.

Handoff Prioritization[edit]

Different systems have different methods for handling and

managing handoff request. Some systems handle handoff in same
way as they handle new originating call. In such system the
probability that the handoff will not be served is equal to blocking
probability of new originating call. But if the call is terminated
abruptly in the middle of conversation then it is more annoying
than the new originating call being blocked. So in order to avoid
this abrupt termination of ongoing call handoff request should be
given priority to new call this is called as handoff prioritization.

There are two techniques for this:

Guard Channel Concept

In this technique, a fraction of the total available channel in a cell

is reserved exclusively for handoff request from ongoing calls
which may be handed off into the cell.

Queuing

Queuing of handoffs is possible because there is a finite time

interval between the time the received signal level drops below
handoff threshold and the time the call is terminated due to
insufficient signal level. The delay size is determined from the
traffic pattern of a particular service area.

Inter and Intra System Handoff[edit]

Inter System Handoff

If during ongoing call mobile unit moves from one cellular system
to a different cellular system which is controlled by different
MTSO, a handoff procedure which is used to avoid dropping of call
is referred as Inter System Handoff.

An MTSO engages in this handoff system. When a mobile signal

becomes weak in a given cell and MTSO can not find other cell
within its system to which it can transfer the call then it uses Inter
system handoff.
Before implementation of Inter System Handoff MTSO
compatibility must be checked and in Inter System Handoff local
call may become long distance call.

Intra System Handoff

If during ongoing call mobile unit moves from one cellular system
to adjacent cellular system which is controlled by same MTSO, a
handoff procedure which is used to avoid dropping of call is
referred as Intra System Handoff.

An MTSO engages in this handoff system. When a mobile signal

becomes weak in a given cell and MTSO finds other cell within its
system to which it can transfer the call then it uses Intra system
handoff.

In Intra System Handoff local calls always remain local call only
since after handoff also the call is handled by same MTSO.
GSM - Security and Encryption(A3/A5/A8
Algorithm)

GSM is the most secured cellular telecommunications system

available today. GSM has its security methods standardized. GSM
maintains end-to-end security by retaining the confidentiality of
calls and anonymity of the GSM subscriber.

Temporary identification numbers are assigned to the subscriber’s

number to maintain the privacy of the user. The privacy of the
communication is maintained by applying encryption algorithms
and frequency hopping that can be enabled using digital systems
and signalling.

This chapter gives an outline of the security measures

implemented for GSM subscribers.

Mobile Station Authentication(A3 Algorithm)USING

CSM
The GSM network authenticates the identity of the subscriber
through the use of a challenge-response mechanism. A 128-bit
Random Number (RAND) is sent to the MS. The MS computes the
32-bit Signed Response (SRES) based on the encryption of the
RAND with the authentication algorithm (A3) using the individual
subscriber authentication key (Ki). Upon receiving the SRES from
the subscriber, the GSM network repeats the calculation to verify
the identity of the subscriber.

The individual subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never

transmitted over the radio channel, as it is present in the
subscriber's SIM, as well as the AUC, HLR, and VLR databases. If
the received SRES agrees with the calculated value, the MS has
been successfully authenticated and may continue. If the values
do not match, the connection is terminated and an authentication
failure is indicated to the MS.

The calculation of the signed response is processed within the

SIM. It provides enhanced security, as confidential subscriber
information such as the IMSI or the individual subscriber
authentication key (Ki) is never released from the SIM during the
authentication process.
Signalling and Data Confidentiality
(A8 Algorithm)
The SIM contains the ciphering key generating algorithm (A8) that
is used to produce the 64-bit ciphering key (Kc). This key is
computed by applying the same random number (RAND) used in
the authentication process to ciphering key generating algorithm
(A8) with the individual subscriber authentication key (Ki).

GSM provides an additional level of security by having a way to

change the ciphering key, making the system more resistant to
eavesdropping. The ciphering key may be changed at regular
intervals as required. As in case of the authentication process, the
computation of the ciphering key (Kc) takes place internally within
the SIM. Therefore, sensitive information such as the individual
subscriber authentication key (Ki) is never revealed by the SIM.

Algorithm A5
Encrypted voice and data communications between the MS and
the network is accomplished by using the ciphering algorithm A5.
Encrypted communication is initiated by a ciphering mode request
command from the GSM network. Upon receipt of this command,
the mobile station begins encryption and decryption of data using
the ciphering algorithm (A5) and the ciphering key (Kc).

Subscriber Identity Confidentiality

To ensure subscriber identity confidentiality, the Temporary
Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI) is used. Once the authentication
and encryption proc1XAedures are done, the TMSI is sent to the
mobile station. After the receipt, the mobile station responds. The
TMSI is valid in the location area in which it was issued. For
communications outside the location area, the Location Area
Identification (LAI) is necessary in addition to the TMSI.

Base station subsystem

The base station subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional
cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling
traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the network
switching subsystem. The BSS carries out transcoding of speech
channels, allocation of radio channels to mobile phones, paging,
transmission and reception over the air interface and many other
tasks related to the radio network

Transcoding is the direct analog-to-analog or digital-to-

digital conversion of one encoding to another This is usually done
in cases where a target device (or workflow) does not support the
format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced
file size,[1] or to convert incompatible or obsolete data to a better-
supported or modern format.
Base transceiver station
The base transceiver station, or BTS, contains the equipment for
transmitting and receiving radio signals (transceivers), antennas,
and equipment for encrypting and decrypting communications
with the base station controller (BSC). Typically a BTS will have
several transceivers (TRXs) which allow it to serve several different
frequencies and different sectors of the cell (in the case of
sectorised base stations).

picocell
a small mobile phone base station connected to the phone
network via the Internet, typically used to improve mobile phone
reception indoors and considered to be smaller than a microcell.

A BTS is controlled by a parent BSC via the "base station control

function" (BCF). The BCF is implemented as a discrete unit or even
incorporated in a TRX in compact base stations. The BCF provides
an operations and maintenance (O&M) connection to the network
management system (NMS), and manages operational states of
each TRX, as well as software handling and alarm collection.

The functions of a BTS vary depending on the cellular technology

used and the cellular telephone provider. There are vendors in
which the BTS is a plain transceiver which receives information
from the MS (mobile station) through the Um air interface and
then converts it to a TDM (PCM) based interface, the Abis
interface, and sends it towards the BSC. There are vendors which
build their BTSs so the information is preprocessed, target cell lists
are generated and even intracell handover (HO) can be fully
handled. The advantage in this case is less load on the expensive
Abis interface.

The BTSs are equipped with radios that are able to modulate layer
1 of interface Um; for GSM 2G+ the modulation type is Gaussian
minimum-shift keying (GMSK), while for EDGE-enabled networks it
is GMSK and 8-PSK. This modulation is 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).

Frequency hopping is often used to increase overall BTS

performance; this involves the rapid switching of voice traffic
between TRXs in a sector. A hopping sequence is followed by the
TRXs and handsets using the sector. Several hopping sequences
are available, and the sequence in use for a particular cell is
continually broadcast by that cell so that it is known to the
handsets.
A TRX transmits and receives according to the GSM standards,
which specify eight TDMA timeslots per radio frequency. A TRX
may lose some of this capacity as some information is required to
be broadcast to handsets in the area that the BTS serves. This
information allows the handsets to identify the network and gain
access to it. This signalling makes use of a channel known as the
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH).

Sectorization
By using directional antennas on a base station, each pointing in
different directions, it is possible to sectorise the base station so
that several different cells are served from the same location.
Typically these directional antennas have a beamwidth of 65 to 85
degrees. This increases the traffic capacity of the base station
(each frequency can carry eight voice channels) whilst not greatly
increasing the interference caused to neighboring cells (in any
given direction, only a small number of frequencies are being
broadcast). Typically two antennas are used per sector, at spacing
of ten or more wavelengths apart. This allows the operator to
overcome the effects of fading due to physical phenomena such as
multipath reception. Some amplification of the received signal as
it leaves the antenna is often used to preserve the balance
between uplink and downlink signal.
Base station controller
The base station controller (BSC) provides, classically, the
intelligence behind the BTSs. Typically a BSC has tens or even
hundreds of BTSs under its control. The BSC handles allocation of
radio channels, receives measurements from the mobile phones,
and controls handovers from BTS to BTS (except in the case of an
inter-BSC handover in which case control is in part the
responsibility of the anchor MSC).

The BSC is undoubtedly the most robust element in the BSS as it is

not only a BTS controller but, for some vendors, a full switching
center, as well as an SS7 node with connections to the MSC and
serving GPRS support node (SGSN) (when using GPRS). It also
provides all the required data to the operation support subsystem
(OSS) as well as to the performance measuring centers.

A BSC is often based on a distributed computing architecture, with

redundancy applied to critical functional units to ensure
availability in the event of fault conditions. Redundancy often
extends beyond the BSC equipment itself and is commonly used in
the power supplies and in the transmission equipment providing
the A-ter interface to PCU.

The databases for all the sites, including information such as

carrier frequencies, frequency hopping lists, power reduction
levels, receiving levels for cell border calculation, are stored in the
BSC. This data is obtained directly from radio planning engineering
which involves modelling of the signal propagation as well as
traffic projections.

Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)

The Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO) is the mobile
equivalent to a PSTN Central Office. The MTSO contains the
switching equipment or Mobile Switching Center (MSC) for routing
mobile phone calls. It also contains the equipment for controlling
the cell sites that are connected to the MSC.

The systems in the MTSO are the heart of a cellular system. It is

responsible for interconnecting calls with the local and long
distance landline telephone companies, compiling billing
information (with the help of its CBM/SDM), etc. It also provides
resources needed to efficiently serve a mobile subscriber such as
registration, authentication, location updating and call routing. Its
subordinate BSC/RNC are responsible for assigning frequencies to
each call, reassigning frequencies for handoffs, controlling
handoffs so a mobile phone leaving one cell (formally known as
BTS)'s coverage area, can be switched automatically to a channel
in the next cell.
All cellular systems have at least one MTSO which will contain at
least one MSC. The MSC is responsible for switching calls to
mobile units as well as to the local telephone system, recording
billing data and processing data from the cell site controllers.