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GSM Technology

It started in 1982 when the European Conference of postal and Telecommunication Administrators invented Grouped Special Mobile that could be used all over Europe. Today GSM is a standard used for mobile phone systems.
In 1989 the European Telecommunications Standard Institute took over and, in 1991 Radiolinja, Finland launched the GSM network with help of Ericsson.

Shortly, GSM became Global System for Mobile Communications and spread its technology all over the world becoming the most used network. The GSM Association and manufacturers estimated that the standard is used by 80% of all mobile markets and 1.5 billion subscribers use it in 212 territories and countries.
Being used by subscribers throughout the entire world, GSM became omnipresent in short time-span. There are also international roaming agreements between two or more network operators, which has opened the door for emerging telecom markets such as Afghan Wireless and more.
GSM is different from its previous technologies because it has digital speech and signaling channels that make it better and reliable for users.

Both consumers benefit from the standard of GSM: subscribers are able to travel around the world using their mobile phones without changing them or their mobile operator. On the other hand, network operators are able to choose the equipment they want. It suits their needs from a big variety of equipment vendors specialized in GSM standard.

GSM was also the first network that implemented low-cost for text messaging or Short Message Service (SMS) including an emergency number that can be dialed worldwide. This low-cost SMS was adopted by the rest of the mobile phone networks.
The new versions of the GSM standard are backward-compatible with the first GSM system. Release’97, for example, added data capabilities like General Packet Radio Service or, shorter, GPRS. Release’99 is using enhanced data rates for GSM evolution which gives more speed for data transmissions.

A mobile phone is connected to a GSM network by looking for cells that are very close-GSM equals cellular network. A GSM network is made of five cell sizes: macro, micro, femto, umbrella and pico cells. The cell size is directly proportional to the direction where the network is deployed. Macro cells are sent from a station antenna which is installed on a building or a mast that is higher than any normal roof top levels. Micro cells are used in cities, small towns, especially urban areas. Its antenna can be placed under normal roof top levels.

Femto cells are connected to the provider’s network through an internet connection and it is suitable for residential and small business developments. Picocells are used mainly indoor because they can cover almost 20 meters.

Cell radius can vary from a dozen kilometers to hundreds of meters depending on antenna gain, propagation conditions and antenna height. A GSM specification can support up to 35 kilometers (longest distance). But it can be extended with several implementations like doubling cell radius.

In some indoor coverage’s where pico cells are used and it can’t cover all the call capacity that is needed, power splitters can be used. These power splitters can distribute the cells from the indoor pico cell to an outdoor antenna. This kind of technology is used especially in malls and airports.