A mobile communication network works and communicates based on the standard technical specifications related to a particular mobile communication technology such as the GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, and 5G system. Also, mobile communication standard technical specifications are large in number and can be bewildering to a new learner. Reading and its implementation, through computer code, of the contents of a GSM/GPRS/UMTS/LTE/5G technical specification requires a substantial amount of effort, especially the Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols. From a technical specification, one would come to know what to and when to transmit or receive information. But what is not available in the 3GPP technical specifications is the how to implement part as it is implementation dependent. This book was written keeping these facts in mind, so that students can learn the practical, real‐world mobile telecommunications domain subject areas and equip themselves while in college, before starting a career in the relevant domains. To make the contents easier to understand, necessary figures, tables, and sample codes are provided to illustrate the underlying concepts. The illustrative figures and concepts are sometimes general in nature, i.e. applicable for GSM/GPRS or UMTS/LTE/5G system, or all of them, and sometimes a straight copy from the concerned 3GPP technical specification with due permissions.
This book is an overview and may not contain exhaustive descriptions or information on various individual components and protocols of a mobile communications system based on the GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, and 5G system. The book attempts to provide the reader with an overall background of the various aspects of an end‐to‐end system development based on the available mobile communication technologies and systems. This book reflects the author's 12 years of experience with a full lifecycle of software research and development, deployment, testing, operation, and maintenance in the areas of mobile communication, Radio Access Network (RAN), and Core Network (CN) domain deployed across the available platforms, including satellite‐based mobile communications systems.
Who should use this book?
Mobile Communications System Development: An Introduction to Practical Approach for Systems Understanding, Implementation , and Deployment is primarily for students who have just graduated in either computer science or electronics and communications discipline and is looking for an exciting career in the mobile communications domain. It is also appropriate for students currently studying in the above‐mentioned disciplines and looking for project work assignments as a part of the academic curriculum in the mobile communication domain. An experienced person from another software domain can also go through this book for a career reboot into the mobile communication domain.
How to use this book?
Mobile communications systems protocol layers, their functions and procedures, and other related information, such as referring to figures, being presented may be brief in nature. For further details about the underlying protocols along with the materials being presented here, the concerned 3GPP technical specification(s) on its website (www.3gpp.org) [1] must be referred to while going through a chapter of this book. The concerned 3GPP technical specifications numbers are mentioned in the References section of the book. The reader is advised to refer to the mentioned 3GPP technical specification and the section number for complete information on the described protocol functions and procedures. Familiarity with the 3GPP website is also important as the reader will be required to visit it quite often to refer to its technical specifications.
Structure of this book
Overall, this book is divided into four parts, each containing several chapters. Each part begins with introductory objectives and also mentions the purposes of each chapter under it. Each chapter is followed by its summary. Also, the book starts with an introductory chapter that provides a brief description of the career opportunities offered by mobile communications systems and network ecosystems.
Part I Introduction
This part contains eight chapters containing the background and introductory aspects and areas of mobile communications systems and networks based on GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, and 5G systems. The materials presented in this part are general in nature but applicable across the mobile communications systems and networks. Even if a reader is starting a career in the LTE or 5G system and network, as a developer or O&M person, one has to know the major key concepts from the legacy GSM/UMTS networks as well.
Part II Operation and Maintenance
This part contains three chapters covering various aspects and areas of the troubleshooting and resolution of mobile communications systems and network issues.
Part III Development of Mobile Communications Systems
This part contains four chapters covering various aspects and areas of the development of mobile communications systems protocol stack and layers based on the 3GPP standards and their technical specifications. This part also describes hardware platforms to be used for the development of mobile communications systems network elements.
Part IV 5G System and Network
This part contains seven chapters covering various aspects and areas of a 5G system and network based on its first Release 15 as standardized by the 3GPP. Also, an overview of the enhancements made into the existing features of the 3GPP Release 15 and the addition of new services or capabilities which have been added as part of the 3GPP Release 16 and Release 17 are covered in this part.
Dibrugarh, Assam, India
Rajib Taid
Acknowledgments
I thank my dear friends and colleagues for offering encouragement and valuable comments during the preparation of this book. During my time in Hughes Software Systems (now known as Aricent, located in Gurgaon, India), I had the opportunity to work with very smart and talented people who were generous in sharing their knowledge and experience. Special thanks also go to Mr. Sumit Kasera (AVP, Technology at Aricent, Gurgaon, India) for his valuable feedback on this book.
I would also like to thank 3GPP for permitting me to reproduce a few snapshots from the concerned 3GPP technical specifications.
I would also like to thank and appreciate John Wiley & Sons Ltd., UK, and its acquisition, editorial, production, and publishing staff, for their continuous support and cooperation during the entire process of this book’s production.
List of Abbreviations
Here are the glossaries of some of the terms used in this book for ready references. For a complete list of terms and their definitions, please refer to the 3GPP TR 21.905 [24].
3G/4G/5G 3rd /4th/5th Generation3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project5GS 5G System5G‐GUTI 5G Globally Unique Temporary Identifier5G‐S‐TMSI 5G S‐Temporary Mobile Subscription Identifier5GC 5G Core NetworkA‐bis A‐bis InterfaceACK Acknowledged ModeAKA Authentication and Key AgreementAMF Access and Mobility Management FunctionAMP Asymmetric Multicore ProcessingAP Application ProtocolAPN Access Point NameAF Application FunctionARFCN Absolute radio‐frequency channel numberARQ Automatic Repeat RequestAS Access StratumASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation OneAuC Authentication CenterAUSF Authentication Server FunctionBCF Base Control FunctionBCH Broadcast Channel (Transport)BCCH Broadcast Control