GSM Call Flow

Call processing means all steps which set up,

maintain, and then end a call.
According to the Telecom Glossary put out by the
American National Standard for Telecommunications,
call processing means:
1. The sequence of operations performed by a
switching system from the acceptance of an incoming
call through the final disposition of the call.
2. The end-to-end sequence of operations performed
by a network from the instant a call attempt is
initiated until the instant the call release is
completed. . .
 GSM Call Flow contd..,
 The first part to mobile call processing is
initialization. It's what happens when you first
turn on your phone.
 You get a connection to a nearby cell site,
then the cellular network checks your
account.
 If you have a valid telephone number and
your account is good then your call proceeds.
Let's take this step by step….
 GSM Call Flow contd..,
 You turn on your phone. Assume that you're
in your home location.
 First of all a connection is to be established
with near by BTS. It is not possible to make
a call unless your mobile has a link to a cell site.
 So a connection to cellular system is to be
established which means that a frequency is
needed to transmit on
 GSM Call Flow contd..,
So the mobile tries to find out broadcast channels.
Again, the BCCH is not a dedicated radio frequency.
It is rather a channel within the bit stream carried by
any of the frequencies in a cell.
A base station's Broadcast Control Channel
continuously sends out identifying information about
its cell site and helps the mobile to get some
information about the cell site.
For the initial period mobile acts as a receiver
checking for a signal from any base station with in
the range.
 GSM Call Flow contd..,
 The mobile scans the available frequencies
and measures the received level on each
channel.
 Finally the GSM system decides which cell has
to handle the mobile station which is usually
the cell site delivering the highest signal
strength to the mobile.
 As a next step, the mobile receives
corresponding bursts on FCCH and SCH and
synchronizes with the cell site.
Location Management
 Involves two basic operations
Paging
Search by system to track the mobile
MSC broadcasts message
Target replies in the uplink channel
Update
Mobile sends update message on the uplink
channel when it changes its location.
 Location management in GSM is
handled by Mobility Management layer
in the GSM protocol architecture.
 A powered-on mobile is informed of an
incoming call by a paging message.
 If the paging is done exactly for one cell,
then network requires updating each
time it changes the cell which
increase the burden on the system
 Because of that a compromise solution
used in GSM is to group cells into
“Location areas”
Updating messages are required when
the mobile station moves between
location areas.
 Also mobile stations are paged in the
cells of their current location area.
MS States
An MS can be in one of the following states:
 Detached: MS is powered off
 At tach ed: MS power is on
 An attached MS can be:
 Idle: MS has no dedicated channel allocated and listens to
BCCH and PCH
 Active: MS has a dedicated connection to the network
 Changing from idle to active mode can be a result of location
updating, call setup, short message transfer etc.
Location updating
When mobile powered
Performs update indicating it’s
international mobile subscription id
The above procedure called “

When moves to new Location Area or a Different PLMN

Update message sent to new
If MS authorized in the new then
subscriber’s HLR updates the current location
sends a message to the old MSC/VLR to cancel it’s
VLR entry
IMSI Attach
 When an MS is switched on, the IMSI attach
procedure is executed. This involves the
following steps:
 1. The MS sends an IMSI attach message to
the network indicating that it has changed
state to idle.
 2. The VLR determines whether there is a
record for the subscriber already present. If
not, the VLR contacts the subscriber’s HLR for
a copy of the subscription information
 3. The VLR updates the MS status to
idle.
 4. Acknowledgement is sent to the MS
 Mobile Originated Call (MOC)
1. The MS uses RACH to ask for a signaling channel.
2. The BSC allocates a signaling channel, using AGCH.
3. When the channel is allocated, it sends its IMSI and
VLR is signed as busy.
4. The MS sends a call set-up request via SDCCH to the
MSC/VLR. Over SDCCH all signaling preceding a call
takes place. This includes:
Marking the MS as “active” in the VLR
The authentication procedure
Start ciphering
Equipment identification
Sending the called party’s number to the network
Checking if the subscriber has the service “Barring of outgoing
calls”activated
5. The MSC/VLR instructs the BSC to allocate an idle TCH. The BTS
and MS are told to tune to the TCH.
6. The MSC/VLR forwards the called party
number to an exchange in the PSTN, which
establishes a connection to the subscriber.
7. If the called subscriber answers, the
connection is established
MOC (Call set-up MS to PSTN)
 Mobile Terminated Call (MTC)
 The major difference between an MTC and MOC is that in a call to an MS the
exact location of the mobile subscriber is unknown.
 Therefore, the MS must be located using paging before a connection can be
established.
 Below is the description of the call set-up procedure for a call from a PSTN
subscriber to a mobile subscriber.
1. The PSTN subscriber keys in the MS’s telephone number (MSISDN).
The MSISDN is analyzed in the PSTN, which identifies that this is a call to a
mobile network subscriber.
A connection is established to the MS’s home GMSC. Now the call has
entered the dialled party’s network
2. The GMSC analyzes the MSISDN and queries the HLR for information about
how to route the call to the serving MSC/VLR.
3. The HLR translates MSISDN into IMSI, and determines which MSC/VLR is
currently serving the MS.
 The HLR also checks if the service, “Call forwarding to C–number” is
activated, if so,the call is rerouted by the GMSC to that number.
4. The HLR requests an MSRN from the serving MSC/VLR.
5. The MSC/VLR returns an MSRN via HLR to the GMSC.
6. The GMSC analyses the MSRN and routes the call to the MSC/VLR.
7. The MSC/VLR knows which LA the MS is located in. A paging message is sent
to the corresponding BSC.
MTC contd..,

8. The BSC’s distribute the paging message to the BTS in the desired
LA.
9. When the MS detects the paging message, it sends a request on
RACH for a SDCCH.
10. The BSC provides a SDCCH, using AGCH.
11. SDCCH is used for the call set-up procedures
 Over SDCCH all signaling preceding a call takes place. This
includes:
 Marking the MS as “active” in the VLR
 The authentication procedure
 Start ciphering
 Equipment identification
12. The MSC/VLR instructs the BSC to allocate a TCH.
 The BTS and MS are told to tune to the TCH.
The mobile phone rings. If the subscribe answers, the connection
is established
Call to MS from PSTN (MTC)
 Mobile Originated Call (MOC)

 1, 2: connection request
 3, 4: security check
 5-8: check resources
(free circuit)
 9-10: set up call
 Mobile Terminated Call (MTC)
1: calling a GSM subscriber
2: forwarding call to GMSC
3: signal call setup to HLR
4, 5: request MSRN from VLR
6: forward responsible MSC to GMSC
7: forward call to current MSC
8, 9: get current status of MS
10, 11: paging of MS
12, 13: MS answers
14, 15: security checks
16, 17: set up connection
MTC/MOC
Sequence of Operations for an

Incoming Call
Call flow when MS is in roaming