[Information] GSM Basic abbreviations and acronyms

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A


A5/1/2/3/8X - Encryption algorithms for GSM networks

AAL - ATM Adaptation Layer


A-bis = Interface between the BSC and BTS in a GSM network
AB - Access Burst
used for random access and characterised by a longer guard period to allow for burst transmission from a MS that
does not know the correct timing advance when first contacting a network

ABR- Available Bit Rate

AC - Alternating Current ( the standard electricity type )
ACCH - Analog Control Channel
ACTE - Approvals Committee for Terminal Equipment
ACTS - Advanced Communications Technologies and Services – a European technology initiative


ACU - Antenna Combining Unit

AC Charger = an accessory device that allows you to power and/or charge your phone from a wall outlet


Activation the process:

Activation the process by which a cell phone account is created, your phone number assigned, and your phone programmed
so that you can make and receive calls.

Active Flip/Keypad :

Active Flip/Keypad Cover a feature that will answer a call by opening the keypad cover and end a call by
closing the keypad cover.



ADC - Analog to Digital Convertor

ADPCM- Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation
( a form of voice compression that typically uses 32kbit/s)


Advice of charge:
A service which provides the user with information on the cost of calls from a mobile phone



AFC - Automatic Frequency Control

AGC - Automatic Gain Control

AGCH- Access Grant Channel; downlink only, BTS allocates a TCH or SDCCH to the MS, allowing it access to the
network

A-interface :
Interface between the MSC and BSS in a GSM network

Airtime:
The amount of time a subscriber spends using his/her mobile phone


Air interface:

In a mobile phone network, the radio transmission path between the base station and the mobile terminal



AM -Amplitude Modulation

AMPS - Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) is the analog mobile phone system standard developed by Bell Labs, and
officially introduced in the Americas in 1983[1][2] It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America (and other
locales) through the 1980s and into the 2000s, and is still widely available today, although use has dropped considerably with
the introduction of various digital standards.

Total Access Communication System (TACS) and ETACS are mostly-obsolete variants of AMPS which were used in some
European countries (including the UK). TACS was also used in Japan under the name Japanese Total Access Communication
(JTAC).[3][4]





AMR - Adaptive Multi-Rate codec.

Developed in 1999 for use in GSM networks, the AMRhas been adopted by 3GPP for 3G


ANSI - American National Standards Institute.

An non-profit making US organisation which does not carry out standardisation work but reviews the work of standards bodies
and assigns them category codes and numbers

ANSI-136
See D-AMPS

Analogue:
The representation of information by a continuously variable physical quantity such as voltage


Antenna:
a part of a cell phone that receives and transmits cellular radio-frequency transmissions


AoC
Advice of Charge

API -Application Program Interface



ARIB - Association of Radio Industries and Businesses.
Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. An organisation established by Japan’s Ministry of Posts and Communications
to act as the standardisation authority for radio communication and broadcasting


ARM
one of the three types of processors that can be found in Pocket PCS. Created by ARM Ltd., the ARM processor has a
unique architecture compared to its two competitors (MIPS and SH3), and therefore can only run programs created specifically
for it.

ARPU
Average Revenue Per User

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange

ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit

Electronic chips designed for some concrete purposes (for example, in phone it controlls communication between MCU and
DSP) They're designed and produced by the companies which use them.

ASP - Application Service Provider


Asymmetric Transmission:
Data transmissions where the traffic from the network to the subscriber is at a higher rate than the traffic from the subscriber to
the network



A-TDMA - Advanced Time Division Multiple Access

ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode; a multiplexed information transfer and switching method in which the data is organised into fixed
length 53-octet cells and transmitted according to each application’s instantaneous need


AVCH - Analog Voice Channel

AUC
Authentication Centre; the element within a GSM network which generates the parameters for subscriber authentication

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B

BB5 - base band 5

BCC - Base-station Color Code

B-CDMA - Broadband Code Division Multiple Access

BCH - Broadcast Channels( carry only downlink information and are mainly responsible for synchronisation and
frequency correction (BCCH, FCCH and SCH)

BCCH - Brodcast Control Channel
the logical channel used in cellular networks to broadcast signalling and control information to all mobile phones
within the network

BER - Bit Error Rate; the percentage of received bits in error compared to the total number of bits received
BERT - Bit Error Rate Test


BGA- ball grid array

BHCA-Busy Hour Call Attempts( the number of call attempts made during a network’s busiest hour of the day)

B-ISDN - Broadband ISDN

BPS - Bits Per Second
( a measure of how fast binary digits can be sent through a channel. The number of 0s and 1s that travel down the
channel per second.)


BREW - Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless
BREW - is an open source application development platform for wireless devices equipped for code division multiple
access BREW makes it possible for developers to create portable applications that will work on any
handsets equipped with CDMA chipsets. A similar and competing platform is J2ME (Java 2 Micro
Edition), from SunMicrosystems.


BSC - Base Station Controller
BSS - Base Station System
Base Station Subsystem
BSIC - Base Station Identity Code or
Base transceiver Station Identity Code


BTS - Base Transceiver Station
(This device allows communication between phones and cellular network or it is the network entity which
communicates with the mobile station)





Back-Lit Illumination illuminates a wireless device’s display and keypad for better low light viewing
Band : a specific range of frequencies in the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.



Battery:
A chargeable device which provides the mobile phone with power. A variety of battery technologies have been
used for mobile phones including nickel cadmiu(NiCad),nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-ion)
Battery status/Battery charge display
An indication of the amount of battery life remaining
Battery Capacity the capacity of wireless devices’ battery. Measured in milliampere hours (mAh).

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C

C1 - path loss-criterium

C2 - cell-reselection criterion


Call barring
A service which enables users to bar certain incoming or outgoing calls on their mobile phones

Call timer:
A service which keeps track of the amount of airtime being used by the subscriber on a cumulative basis

Call divert:
The capability to divert incoming calls to another phone (fixed or mobile) or to an answering service

Call hold:
The ability to put an ongoing call on hold whilst answering or making a second call

Caller ID:
Caller Identification (displays the name/number of the person calling a mobile phone. Also known as CLI)

CAI - Common Air Interface
( a standard developed for the UK’s public CT2 networks which enabled the same handset to be used on different networks)

CAMEL - Customised Application for Mobile network Enhanced Logic
( an IN feature in GSM networks that enables users to carry personal services with them when roaming into other networks that support CAMEL)

CB - Cell Broadcast


CC - Call Control(manages call connections)

CCB - Customer Care and Billing

CCCH - Common Control Channels; a group of uplink and downlink channels between the MS and the BTS (see PCH, AGCH and RACH)


CCONT- Current Controller (in nokia fones)

CCS7 - Common Channel Signalling No. 7



CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access
(Code Division Multiple Access; also known as spread spectrum (or IS-95), CDMA cellular systems utilise a single frequency band for all traffic, differentiating the individual transmissions by assigning them unique codes before transmission. There are a number of variants of CDMA (see W-CDMA, B-CDMA, TD-SCDMA et al)



CDMAone:
The first commercial CDMA cellular system; deployed in North America and Korea; also known as IS-95

CDMA2000:
A member of the IMT-2000 3G family; backwardly compatible with cdmaOne

CDMA 1X:
The first generation of cdma2000; the standardisation process indicated that there would be CDMA 2X and CDMA 3X but this no longer appears likely

CDMA 1X EV-DO:
A variant of CDMA 1X which delivers data only

CDPD - Cellular Digital Packet Data (a packet switched data service largely deployed in the USA. The service uses idle analogue channels to carry the packetised information.)

CDPSK - Coherent Differential Phase Shift Keying

CDR - Call Detail Records
(the record made within the cellular network of all details of both incoming and outgoing calls made by subscribers, The CDR is passed to the billing system for action)


Cell:
The area covered by a cellular base station. A cell site may sectorise its antennas to service several cells from one locationCell site
The facility housing the transmitters/receivers, the antennas and associated equipment

Cell splitting:
The process of converting a single cell to multiple cells by sectorising the antennas in the cell site or constructing additional cells within a cell site



Cell Site:
a fixed cellular tower and radio antenna that handles communication with subscribers in a particular area or cell. A cellular network is made up of many cell sites, all connected back to the wired phone system.

CELP:
Code Excited Linear Prediction; an analogue to digital voice coding scheme, there are a number of variants used in cellular systems

CEPT - Conference of European Posts and Telecommunications.

(A organisation of national posts, telegraphs and telephone administrations. Until 1988, when this work was take over by ETSI, the main European body for telecommunications standardisation. CEPT established the original GSM standardisation group)

CF - Call Forwarding

CI - Carrier to Interference ratio

CIBER - Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Roamer Record

CID - Caller Identification

Circuit switching:

A method used in telecommunications where a temporary dedicated circuit of constant bandwidth is established between two distant endpoints in a network. Mainly used for voice traffic; the opposite of packet switching

CLID - Calling Line Identification

CLIP - Calling Line Identification Presentation
CLIR - Calling Line Identification Restriction
CM - Connection Management(it is used to set up, maintain and take down call connections)

CNR - carrier to noise ratio
CNT- Content



COBBA- Common Baseband Analog

CPE - Customer Premises Equipment; all the equipment on the end user’s side of the network interface

CPU - Central Processing Unit

CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Substrate


Codec:
A word formed by combining coder and decoder the codec is a device which encodes and decodes signals. The voice codec in a cellular network converts voice signals into and back from bit strings. In GSM networks, in addition to the standard voice codec, it is possible to implement Half Rate (HR) codecs and Enhanced Full Rate (EFR) codecs

Control signal:
A signal sent to a cellular phone from a base station or vice versa which carries information essential to the call but not including the audio portion of a conversation

CRC - Cyclic Redundancy Check

CRM - Customer Relationship Management


CSE - CAMEL Service Environment

CSS - Customer Support System

CT - Cordless Telephony

CT0:
Zero generation cordless telephony; the earliest domestic cordless phones which used analogue technology and which had severe limitations in terms of range and security


CT2:
Second generation cordless telephony;

CT1:
First generation cordless telephony; Improved analogue phones with greater range and security; a number of European nations produced CT1 standards

CT2-CAI:
Second generation cordless telephony-common air interface
(Using digital technology CT2 phones offered greater range, improved security and a wide range of new functionalities. Used in both domestic and cordless PABX deployments, CT2 was standardised as an interim ETS but was overwhelmed by DECT)

CTA - Cordless Terminal Adaptor (a DECT term)

CTM - Cordless Terminal Mobility

CTR - Common Technical Regulation

CUG - Closed User Group

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D


D/A - Digital to Analogue conversion

DAC - Digital to Analogue Convertor

DAMA - Demand Assigned Multiple Access

D-AMPS - Digital AMPS, a US wireless standard also known as IS-136

DAN - DECT Access Node



Data capable:
Mobile phones which have the capability to enable transmission of data from a laptop computer or PDA via the phone

Datacable : interface for conecting a mobile fone to pc

db - decibel (unit if sound)
DB - Dummy Burst; transmitted as a filler in unused timeslots of the carrier
DCT /3,4 - digital core technology

DCT/L - digital core technology linda


DCCH - Digital Control Channel
DTCH - Digital Traffic Channel
DTX - Discontinous Transmission Exchange

DCA - Dynamic Channel Assignment

DCCH - Dedicated Control Channels
( responsible for roaming, handovers, encryption etc)

DCE - Data Communications Equipment

DCH - Data Clearing House

DCPSK - Differentially Coherent Phase Shift Keying

DCS1800 - Digital Cellular System at 1800MHz, now known as GSM1800


DECT - Digitally Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications system, a second generation digital cordless technology standardised by ETSI

DEPSK - Differential Encoded Phase Shift Keying

DES - Digital Encryption Standard



DFSK - Double Frequency Shift Keying


Digital:
a method of representing information as numbers with discrete values; usually expressed as a sequence of bits
Digital a method of encoding a transmission that involves translating information (in the case of digital phones the information would be a voice conversation) into a series of 0’s and 1’s. Digital communications technology offers cleaner calls without the static and distortion that is common with analog phones. The majority of new handsets sold today are digital rather than analog technology.




DPCM - Differential Pulse Code Modulation

DPSK - Digital Phase Shift Keying

DQPSK - Digital Quadrature Phase Shift Keying

DS-CDMA - Direct Sequence CDMA

DSP - Digital Signal Processor
Digital Signal Processing refers to manipulating analog information, such as sound or photographs that has been converted into a digital form to improve accuracy and reliability of digital communications.


DSC- Digital Signal Controller

DSRR - Digital Short Range Radio
( a UK standard for a low power, short range radio system designed for small voice and data networks)

DTE - Data Terminal Equipment

DTMF - Dual Tone MultiFrequency;
(better know as Touch Tone. The tones generated by touching the keys on the phone are used for a variety of purposes )

DTX - Discontinuous Transmission

Dual Band:
The capability of GSM infrastructure elements and handsets to work across both the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands. The capability to seamlessly handover between the two bands offers operators major capacity gains



Duplex:
The wireless technique where one frequency band is used for traffic from the network to the subscriber (the downlink) and another, widely separated, band is used for traffic from the subscriber to the network (the uplink)

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E


EDGE - Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution
EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS), is a digital mobile phone technology that allows for increased data transmission rate and improved data transmission reliability. It is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America.

It can be used for any packet switched applications such as an Internet connection. High-speed data applications such as video services and other multimedia benefit from EGPRS' increased data capacity. EDGE Circuit Switched is a possible future development.



EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory

EFR- Enhanced Full Rate
(Enhanced Full Rate (codec): an improved version of the standard voice codec used in GSM phones; offers improved speech quality without impacting on network capacity)

EFT - Electronic Funds Transfer

EGSM - Extended (frequency range) GSM

EIR - Equipment Identity Register (a database that contains a list of all valid mobile stations within a network based on their IMEI)

EIRP - Effective Isotropic Radiated Power

EPOC :
The mobile phone operating system developed by Symbian. Derived from epoch-the beginning of an era-EPOC is a 32-bit operating environment which comprises a suite of applications, customisable user interfaces, connectivity options and a range of development tools

EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory

Erlang:
A dimensionless unit of average traffic density in a telecommunications network

ERMES - Enhanced Radio Messaging System
(IT is a paging technology developed by ETSI which was intended to allow users to roam throughout Europe. Adopted by a number of European and Middle Eastern countries, ERMES, like paging in general, was overtaken by the ubiquity of GSM)

ERO - European Radiocommunications Office

ERP - Effective Radiated Power

ESMR - Enhanced Special Mobile Radio; a US PMR variant (see SMR)

ESN - Electronic Serial Number; a 32-bit number that uniquely identifies a mobile phone

ESPRIT - European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology

ETACS
Extended TACS (the extension of TACS by the addition of new frequencies)

ETS - European Telecommunications Standard

ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute: The European group responsible for defining telecommunications standards

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F


FACCH - Fast Associated Control Channel

( similar to the SDCCH but used in parallel for operation of the TCH. If the data rate of the SACCH is insufficient borrowing mode is used)

FB - Frequency Correction Burst; used for frequency synchronisation of the mobile

FCC - Federal Communications Commission; the US regulatory body for telecommunications

FCCH - Frequency Correction Channel (also Frenquency Control Channel)

FDD - Frequency Division Duplex

FDMA - Frequency Division Multiple Access
(a transmission technique where the assigned frequency band for a network is divided into sub-bands which are allocated to a subscriber for the duration of their calls)

FEC - Forward Error Correction

FH - Frequency Hopping

FH-CDMA - Frequency Hopping CDMA

FMC - Fixed Mobile Convergence

FMI - Fixed Mobile Integration

FPLMTS - Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications System
(the original title of the ITU’s third generation concept now known as IMT-2000)

FRA - Fixed Radio Access; see WLL

FSDPSK - Filtered Symmetric Differential Phase Shift Keying

FSK - Frequency Shift Keying
( a method of using frequency modulation to send digital information)

FSOQ - Frequency Shift Offset Quadrature Modulation

FSS - Fixed Satellite ServiceGb
(The interface between the PCU and the SGSN in a GSM/GPRS network)


FOMA - Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access

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G

Gc:
The interface between the GGSN and the HLR in a GSM/GPRS network

Gd:
The interface between the SGSN and the SMSC in a GSM/GPRS network

Gf:
The interface between the SGSN and the EIR in a GSM/GPRS network

Gi:
The interface between the GGSN and the Internet in a GPRS network

Gn:
The interface between the GGSN and the SGSN in a GPRS network

Gp:
The interfaces between the GGSN/SGSN and the Border Gateway in a GPRS network

Gr:
The interface between the SGSN and the HLR in a GPRS network

Gs:
The interface between the SGSN and the MSC in a GSM/GPRS network

GAIT - GSM/ANSI 136 Interoperability Committee

GAP - Generic Access Profile; a DECT term

Gbit/s:
A unit of data transmission rate equal to one billion bits per second

GMSC - Gateway Mobile Services Switching Centre; the gateway between two networks

GCF - Global Certification Forum

Geostationary:
Refers to a satellite in equatorial orbit above the earth which appears from the surface to be stationary

GERAN - GSM-EDGE Radio Access Network the name for the evolution of GSM towards 3G based on EDGE

GGRF - GSM Global Roaming Forum

GGSN - Gateway GPRS Support Node; the gateway between a cellular network and a IP network.

GHz:
A unit of frequency equal to one billion Hertz per second

GMPCS - Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite

GMSK - Gaussian filtered Minimum Shift Keying

GPRS:
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a mobile data service available to users of GSM and IS-136 mobile phones. GPRS data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of transferred data, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independently of if the user actually has transferred data or been in an idle state. GPRS can be utilized for services such as WAP access, SMS and MMS, but also for Internet communication services such as email and web access. In the future, it is expected that low cost voice over IP will be made available in cell phones.



GPS:
The Global Positioning System (GPS), is currently the only fully-functional satellite navigation system. More than two dozen GPS satellites are in medium Earth orbit, transmitting signals allowing GPS receivers to determine the receiver's location, speed and direction.



GRX - GPRS Roaming Exchange

GSM

The Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM (original acronym: Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. GSM service is used by over 2 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories.[1][2] The ubiquity of the GSM standard makes international roaming very common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs significantly from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are Digital call quality, which means that it is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This fact has also meant that data communication was built into the system from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).




GSM MoU - The GSM Memorandum of Understanding
(an agreement signed between all the major European operators to work together to promote GSM. The precursor of the GSM Association)

GSM-R : GSM-Railway,
A variant of GSM designed to meet the special communications needs of international train operators