Technical Acronyms
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Mobile Networks
acronyms Definition Information 2G Second Generation Wireless Systems GSM 2.5G Between 2G and 3G Wireless Systems GPRS 3G Third Generation Wireless Systems UMTS - data rate 64kbps to 384kbps 3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Projects 4G Fourth Generation Wireless Systems LTE 8PSK 8 Phase Shift Keying EDGE uses a combination of GMSK and 8PSK AB Access Burst UL ACK Acknowledgement AGCH Access Grant Common - DL
acknowledgement of access attempt sent on RACH
Assignment of dedicated channel AICH Acquisition Indicator Channel UMTS - AI indicator that RACH pre-ample acknowledged
RACH can be sent AM Acknowledged Mode See PDU - sequence delivery with flow control
like TCP AMR Adaptive Multi-Rate Speech compression - codec modes ANSI American National Standards Institution ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest ASK Amplitude Shift Keying AuC Authentication Center BA BCCH Allocation List of BCCH list details stored in MS table BCCH Broadcast Control Channel GSM-DL-Transmit at full power
mobiles monitor the BCCH
System Information to all mobiles BCS Block Check Sum BEP Bit Error Probability BER Bit Error Rate BMC Broadcast/Multicast Control UMTS BSC Base Station Controller coordinates channel allocation and resources
between BTS's BSIC Base Station Indentification Code Base Station identity transmitted in BCCH BSS Base Station Subsystem GSM - BSC and ascociated BTS's BSSGP BSS GPRS Protocol GPRS - Virtual connection for signalling
and data between the BTS and GGSN CAMEL Customized Application for the Mobile Network Intelligent Networks for mobile networks C/I Carrier to Interference ratio CCCH Common Control Channel Common Carrier - control information before RRC established CCH Control Channel CSCF Call Session Control Function Part of IMS
P-CSCF - Proxy Call Session Control Function
I-CSCF - Interrogating Call Session Control Function
S-CSCF - Serving Call Session Control Function CLPC Closed Loop Power Control UMTS - controls transmission power
on both the UL and DL CDMA Code Division Multiple Access CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data Cell Reselection Process of selecting a new Cell while in idle mode
(i.e. not in a call or passing data) CIC Circuit Identification Code E1/T1 - Identifies each voice circuit. CLPC Closed Loop Power Control LTE CM Connection Management GSM - Between MS and MSC CPICH Common Pilot Channel UMTS - in-cell timing reference - power measurements
CQI Channel Quality Indicator UMTS - UL - CQI reporting process
0 through 30
30 provides highest data rates C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity UMTS CS Circuit Switched CSD Circuit Switched Data CSE Camel Service Environment CSFB Circuit Switch Fall Back VoLTE - requires fall back to GSM or UMTS for voice calls
if not enough bandwidth on LTE CSG Closed Subscriber Group LTE - SIM information CV Coefficient of Variation dB Decibel (relative) dBm Decibels absolute (reference to milliwats) DL Down Link DL-SCH Down Link Shared Channel LTE DM-RS Demodulation Reference Signal LTE - estimation for uplink demodulation
of PUSCH and PUCCH DPC Destination Point Code DPCH Dedicated Physical Channel UMTS - Release 6 DPCCH Dedicated Physical Control Channel UMTS - UL DRX Discontinuous Reception DSCH Datalink Shared Channel UMTS - DL DSP Digital Signal Processor DTAP Direct Transfer Application Part GSM-MSC DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel LTE - User Plane
point to point unicast DTMF Dual Tone Multi Frquency Signal GSM - Speech coders cannot support DTMF DTX Discontinuous Transmission EARFCN E-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number LTE/FDD - designates carrier frequency
seperate uplink and downlink bands ECSD Enhanced Circuit Switched Data EFR Enhanced Full Rate eNB evolved Node B LTE - E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network eEDGE Evolved EDGE EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution 10kbps to 100kbps EGPRS Enhanced GPRS EIR Equipment Identification Register EPS Evolved Packet System LTE - All packet Core with support for legacy 3GPP FACH Forward Access Channel UMTS - DL - packet switched -
continuously monitored by mobile in idle for
signaling or data FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel UL/DL - Dedicated - Handover FB Frequency Correction Burst DL FBI FeedBack Information FBI Final Block Indicator FCCH Frequency Correction Channel Broadcast - DL - signature burst
Enables MS to synchronize to the frequency FDD Frquency Division Duplex FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access FEC Forward Equivalency Classes FEC Forward Error Correction FGI Feature Group Indicator LTE - 32 bit flags tells network what the UE supports FSK Frequency Shift Keying gb Interface GPRS - Link between BSC/PCU and the SGSN
Frame Relay GGSN GPR Gateway Support Node GRPS/UMTS - Access to IMS - IP network GMM GPRS Mobility Management Layer 3 (Registration - Authentication -
Attach - Location - Encryption and TLLI management) GMSC Gateway Mobile Switching Center GMSK Gaussian Minimum Shift Key GSM Air-Interface GP Guard Period GPRS General Packet Radio Service Provides packet data services to GSM GSM Global System for Mobile communications UL 880 to 915MHz DL 925 to 960 MHZ
UL 1710 to 1785MHz DL 1805 to 1880 MHZ GSN GPRS Support Node GPRS/UMTS - SGSN and GGSN GTP GPRS Tunnel Protocol GPRS/UMTS/LTE - goes over UDP/IP
transport protocol stack Handover Process of selecting a new cell
while on a traffic channel GUTI Globally Unique Temporary Identifier LTE - MMEallocate a GUTI identifier GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier LTE HCS Header Check Sum HCS Header Check Sequence HLR Home Location Register Permanent Subscriber details HARQ Hybrid ARQ LTE - ACK/NAKs HSCSD High Speed Circuit Switched Data UMTS HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access UMTS - Release 5 - DL data rates overs 2Mbps HSPA+ High Speed Packet Access Evolved HSS Home Subscriber Server LTE/UMTS - Similar to HLR HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access UMTS - Release 6 IE Information Element IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity Mobile perminent Identity - assigned by device manufacture IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity IMS IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity IMS IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem 3GPP TS23.228 and IETF RFC 3261 (SIP) IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity Mobile perminent Identity -
assigned by service provider -
Mobile IMSI attaches
then network assigns a TMSI IP Internet Protocol ISDN Integrated Service Digital Networks ISUP ISDN User Part ITU International Telecommunication Union Iu Interface - Between RNC and Core Network UMTS IuB Interface - Between RNC and Node B UMTS IuR Interface - between RNCs UMTS - Allows soft handover between cells
connected to difference RNCs IWF InterWorking Function kbps Kilo-Bits Per Second L1 Layer 1 Physical L2 Layer 2 Data Link Layer L3 Layer 3 LA Location Area For Circuit Switching LAC Link Access Control LAC Location Area Code LAI Location Area Identity MCC + MNC + LAC LAPDm Link Access Protocol D-Channel GSM - L2 data link layer Um (Air) interface LLC Logical Link Control LTE Long Term Evolution 4G - Evolved 3GPP UMTS to All packet Core
Release 8 - 9 and 10
Also known as Evolved UTRA or E-UTRAN MAC Medium Access Control For Packet Switched -
multiplexing both user and control planes
maps logical channels to transport channels
eg 4SRBs to 4 DCCHs to 1 DCH
or 3 RABs to 3 DTCHs to 3 DCHs MAC Message Authentication Code MAP Mobile Application Part GSM/UMTS - SS7 protocl MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network LTE/TDD Mbps MegaBits per second MCC Mobile Country Code Part of Network Identity MCCH Multicast Control Channel LTE MCH Multicast Channel LTE MIB Master Information Block UMTS/LTE - DL - contains MCC and MNC
and SIB scheduling MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme 9 MCS in EDGE
GPRS has 4 coding schemes MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output Antenna Systems MNC Mobile Network Code Part of Network Identity MM Mobility Management GSM - between MS and MSC MOC Mobile Originated Call MSC Mobile Switching Center MSISDN Mobile Station International ISDN Number Mobile telephone number MTC Mobile Terminated Call MTCH Multicast Traffic Channel LTE - User Plane
multipoint channel for MBMS NACK Negative Acknowledgement NAS Non Access Stratum Protcol UMTS/LTE - Control -
CM and MM Signal-connection
and idle mobe mobility NB Nornal Burst Up link and DL NSS Network Switching Subsystem OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing LTE - DL Air Interface OPC Originating Point Code OVSF Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor UMTS P-TMSI Packet TMSI PACCH Packet Associated Control Channel PAGCH Paging Access Grant CHannel channel used for paging and Access grant PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel LTE - System information in the BCH to all UEs (MIB) - Physical Channel PBCCH Packet Broadcast Control Channel PCCH Paging Control Channel UMTS/LTE - Paging Control Channel PCCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel UMTS PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel LTE - Informs the UE about the number of OFDM
symbols used for the PDCCHs - UE Control Format Information (CFI) for Downlink control Channel PCH Paging Channel Common - DL PCI Physical Cell Identity LTE - Used with Cell re-selection PCS1900 Personal Communcation Service (1900 mbps) GSM in the USA
UL 1850 MHz to 1910MHz
DL 1930 MHz to 1990MHz
PCU Packet Control Unit PDCCH Packet Dedicated Control Channel PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel LTE - UE Downlink Control Information (DCI) for assignments on downlink shared channel PDCH Packet Data Channel PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol UMTS/LTE - sits above RLC PDP Packet data Protocol (PDP - IP Address assigned to mobile) PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel LTE - Dedicated user data and signaling information - shared resource
System Information Block SIB PDTCH Packet data Traffic Channel PDU Packet Data Unit Or Packet Control Unit - Or Protocol Data Unit -
three types - TM - UM - AM P_GW Packet Gateway LTE - Similar to GGSN PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel LTE - Sends ACK/NAK replies for uplink data transmissions PICH Paging Indicator Channel UMTS - PI Lets mobile know there is a message
on PCH transport (paging message). PLMN Public Land Mobile Network PLMN - ID Public Land Mobile Network - ID Made up of the MCC and MNC PMCH Physical Multicast Channel LTE - Multicast - Broadcast multimedia services (MBMS) and (MBMSFN) PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator LTE - PO Paging Occasion LTE - A hash of the mobile IMSI is used to determine the PO PPCH Packet Paging Channel PRACH Physical Random Access Channel LTE - Allows UE Random Access to network - registration - resource request PRB Physical Resource Block LTE - PSK Phase Shift Key PSK Pre-Shared Key PSS Primary Synchronization Block LTE - DL - Synchronization for all UE devices
- indication of carrier frequencies and bandwidth PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network PTCCH Packet Timing Advance Control Channel PTM Point to Multipoint P-TMSI Packet - Temporary Mobile Subscriber Indentity Assigned by SGSN when mobile registers
with packet switched system PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel LTE- Uplink Control information for assignment to uplink shared channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel LTE - Uplink user data and signaling information QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation QoS Quality Of Service QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift keying QCI QoS Class Identifier QCI 1 for Voice
QCI 5 for IMS/SIP Signaling RA Routing Area For packet switching RAB Radio Access Bearers UMTS - ie voice frames RACH Random Access Control Common - UL RAN Radio Access Network RAT Radio Access Technology RAT windowing used to determine handover
between technologies LTE/UMTS/GSM
Operators can change on the fly to move subscribers from
LTE to GSM for example RFN Reduced TDMA Frame Number Used to keep mobile in synchronization
with network RLC Radio Link Control For packet switched -
provides layer 2 functions such as segmentation
transfers data and signaling between upper
layers and MAC layer RLC Release Confirm RNC Radio Network Controller UMTS - Controls use of radio resources RR Radio Resource management GSM -between BSS and MS RRC Radio Resource Control RSRP Reference Signal Receive Power LTE - details in SIB 1
Part of Cell selection/re-selection RSRQ Reference Signal Receive Quaility LTE - Release 9 RTCP Real Time Control Protocol RTP Real Time Transport Protocol RTT Round Trip Time RXLEV Receive Level Mobile receive level beacon frequency from the BTS 's
8 bit value contains both UL and DL signal levels
- Range 0-63 RXQUAL Receive Quality 3 bits Range 0-7 SGi SGi Interface LTE - P-GW to IMS - IP network S1 S1 Interface LTE - eNobeB to MME ( S1-C ) or Serving GW ( S1-U ) S5 S5 Interface LTE- S-GW to P-GW S6A S6A Interface LTE - MME to HSS S8 S8 Interface LTE - S-GW to P-GW for inter-PLMN connection S10 S10 Interface LTE - Between MMEs S11 S11 Interface LTE - MME to S-GW
Bearer management SABM Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode GSM - first message sent after tuning to a channel.
The Mobile initiates a LAPm connection with the BSS SACCH Slow Access Control Channel Dedicated - UL/DL - Call supervision and updates
while MS has on going session on traffic or SDCCH SAE System Architecture Evolved LTE - SAPI Service Access Point Identification SB Synchronization Burst DL SCH Supplemental CHannel SCH Synchronization Channel GSM - Broadcast - DL - frame synchronization
Contains frame number and BSIC SCCPCH Secondary Common Control Physical Channel UMTS - carries
Transport Channel - Paging Channel - Forward Access Channel SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol LTE - A reliable connection-oriented transport protocol
similar to TCP SC-FDMA Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access LTE - UL - Air Interface SDCCH Standalone Dedicated Control Channel Dedicated - UL/DL - Call Setup
authentication - ciphering - location update and SMS SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node SF Spreading Factor UMTS - SF16 is overhead and control information
S-GW Serving Gateway LTE - similar to SGSN SIB System Information Block UMTS - DL - Contains mobile timers and counters -
Cell selection details - Measurements - Neighbors SID System Identifier SIM Subscriber Identity Module SIP Session Initiation Protocol IMS - Application-layer control (signaling) protocol
Creates - modifies and terminates IP sessions
Supports both UDP and TCP SM Session Management Layer 3 - GPRS SMS Short Message Service SMSC Short Message Service Center SNDCP SubNetwork Dependent Convergence Protocol Layer 3 between SGSN and MS - Compression of PDUs SRB Signal Radio Bearer UMTS / LTE- signal frames
LTE SRB 0 on CCCH
SRB 1 and SRB 2 on DCCH SRS Sound Reference Signal LTE - Uplink Channel quality information at different frequencies SRVCC Single Radio Voice Call Continuity VoLTE SS Supplementary Services SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal LTE - DL - Synchronization for all UE devices
- indication of carrier frequencies and bandwidth SS7 Signaling System 7 STP Signaling Transfer Point STP Spanning Tree Protocol SVLLTE Simultaneous Voice and LTE data LTE - Two UEs in one - One with LTE data
the other on GSM or UMTS voice
3GPP TS23.216 and TS23.237 TAI Tracking Area Identifier LTE - UEs are registered within tracking areas TAU Tracking Area Update LTE - TB Transport Black TBF Temporary Block Flow TBF is a connection between the RLC nd MAC.
It's established to transfer data between MS and BSS
- It lasts until all RLC/MAC blocks have been
transferred and acknowledged TCAP Tansaction Capabilities Application Part GSM-MSC TCH Traffic Channel Full and Half rate voice traffic channel TDD Time Division Multipexing UMTS standard - generally not used TDMA Time Division Multiple Access GSM TDMA Frame TEI Terminal Endpoint Identification TFI Transport Flow Identifier TLLI Temporary Logical Link Identifier SGSN assigns to mobile TM Transparent Mode See PDUs - sent with no header information TMSI Temprary Mobile Subscriber Identifier Temporary Mobile Identity - Allocated by the VLR T301 Timer LTE - Connection re-establish time (RRC re-establishment) T304 Timer LTE - UE RRC reconfiguration - Handover T310 Timer LTE - Connection resume (look for N310 Out Of Service indicators) T311 Timer LTE - Cell Reselection timer (look for N311 In Service Indicators) T320 Timer LTE - Cell Reselection Timer (in SIB 2) T323 Timer LTE - Release 8/9 - Dormant Release Timer T3412 Timer LTE - timer between Attach Request UL to Attach Accept DL UA Unnumbered Acknowledge GSM - BSS replies to SABM
with Unnumbered Acknowledge(UA)
to complete the LAPm setup handshake UARFCN UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number UMTS - Channel Number UDP User Datagram Protocol UL-SCH Uplink Shared Channel LTE - multilpexing of data and signalling of UEs UM Unacknowledged Mode See PDUS - length and sequence number in headers
similar to UDP UMTS Univeral Mobile Telecommunications System 3G Radio Access -uses WCDMA URI Uniform Resource Identifier IMS
Tel URI - Globally unique identifier
SIP URI - SIP phone number
looks like an email address i.e. sip:x@:port USF Uplink State Flag UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network VAD Voice Activated Detection for discontinuous transmission VLR Visitor Location Register Dynamic allocation ( cashes ) subscriber details VoIP Voice Over IP VoLTE Voice Over LTE LTE - Requires IMS to support VPN Virtual Private Network WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access X2 X2 Interface LTE - eNB to eNB - handovers - loadbalancing -
interference management
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| acronyms | Definition | Information |
|---|---|---|
| 2G | Second Generation Wireless Systems | GSM |
| 2.5G | Between 2G and 3G Wireless Systems | GPRS |
| 3G | Third Generation Wireless Systems | UMTS - data rate 64kbps to 384kbps |
| 3GPP | 3rd Generation Partnership Projects | |
| 4G | Fourth Generation Wireless Systems | LTE |
| 8PSK | 8 Phase Shift Keying | EDGE uses a combination of GMSK and 8PSK |
| AB | Access Burst | UL |
| ACK | Acknowledgement | |
| AGCH | Access Grant | Common - DL acknowledgement of access attempt sent on RACH Assignment of dedicated channel |
| AICH | Acquisition Indicator Channel | UMTS - AI indicator that RACH pre-ample acknowledged RACH can be sent |
| AM | Acknowledged Mode | See PDU - sequence delivery with flow control like TCP |
| AMR | Adaptive Multi-Rate | Speech compression - codec modes |
| ANSI | American National Standards Institution | |
| ARQ | Automatic Repeat reQuest | |
| ASK | Amplitude Shift Keying | |
| AuC | Authentication Center | |
| BA | BCCH Allocation | List of BCCH list details stored in MS table |
| BCCH | Broadcast Control Channel | GSM-DL-Transmit at full power mobiles monitor the BCCH System Information to all mobiles |
| BCS | Block Check Sum | |
| BEP | Bit Error Probability | |
| BER | Bit Error Rate | |
| BMC | Broadcast/Multicast Control | UMTS |
| BSC | Base Station Controller | coordinates channel allocation and resources between BTS's |
| BSIC | Base Station Indentification Code | Base Station identity transmitted in BCCH |
| BSS | Base Station Subsystem | GSM - BSC and ascociated BTS's |
| BSSGP | BSS GPRS Protocol | GPRS - Virtual connection for signalling and data between the BTS and GGSN |
| CAMEL | Customized Application for the Mobile Network | Intelligent Networks for mobile networks |
| C/I | Carrier to Interference ratio | |
| CCCH | Common Control Channel | Common Carrier - control information before RRC established |
| CCH | Control Channel | |
| CSCF | Call Session Control Function | Part of IMS P-CSCF - Proxy Call Session Control Function I-CSCF - Interrogating Call Session Control Function S-CSCF - Serving Call Session Control Function |
| CLPC | Closed Loop Power Control | UMTS - controls transmission power on both the UL and DL |
| CDMA | Code Division Multiple Access | |
| CDPD | Cellular Digital Packet Data | |
| Cell Reselection | Process of selecting a new Cell while in idle mode (i.e. not in a call or passing data) | |
| CIC | Circuit Identification Code | E1/T1 - Identifies each voice circuit. |
| CLPC | Closed Loop Power Control | LTE |
| CM | Connection Management | GSM - Between MS and MSC |
| CPICH | Common Pilot Channel | UMTS - in-cell timing reference - power measurements |
| CQI | Channel Quality Indicator | UMTS - UL - CQI reporting process 0 through 30 30 provides highest data rates |
| C-RNTI | Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity | UMTS |
| CS | Circuit Switched | |
| CSD | Circuit Switched Data | |
| CSE | Camel Service Environment | |
| CSFB | Circuit Switch Fall Back | VoLTE - requires fall back to GSM or UMTS for voice calls if not enough bandwidth on LTE |
| CSG | Closed Subscriber Group | LTE - SIM information |
| CV | Coefficient of Variation | |
| dB | Decibel (relative) | |
| dBm | Decibels absolute (reference to milliwats) | |
| DL | Down Link | |
| DL-SCH | Down Link Shared Channel | LTE |
| DM-RS | Demodulation Reference Signal | LTE - estimation for uplink demodulation of PUSCH and PUCCH |
| DPC | Destination Point Code | |
| DPCH | Dedicated Physical Channel | UMTS - Release 6 |
| DPCCH | Dedicated Physical Control Channel | UMTS - UL |
| DRX | Discontinuous Reception | |
| DSCH | Datalink Shared Channel | UMTS - DL |
| DSP | Digital Signal Processor | |
| DTAP | Direct Transfer Application Part | GSM-MSC |
| DTCH | Dedicated Traffic Channel | LTE - User Plane point to point unicast |
| DTMF | Dual Tone Multi Frquency Signal | GSM - Speech coders cannot support DTMF |
| DTX | Discontinuous Transmission | |
| EARFCN | E-UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number | LTE/FDD - designates carrier frequency seperate uplink and downlink bands |
| ECSD | Enhanced Circuit Switched Data | |
| EFR | Enhanced Full Rate | |
| eNB | evolved Node B | LTE - |
| E-UTRA | Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access | |
| E-UTRAN | Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network | |
| eEDGE | Evolved EDGE | |
| EDGE | Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution | 10kbps to 100kbps |
| EGPRS | Enhanced GPRS | |
| EIR | Equipment Identification Register | |
| EPS | Evolved Packet System | LTE - All packet Core with support for legacy 3GPP |
| FACH | Forward Access Channel | UMTS - DL - packet switched - continuously monitored by mobile in idle for signaling or data |
| FACCH | Fast Associated Control Channel | UL/DL - Dedicated - Handover |
| FB | Frequency Correction Burst | DL |
| FBI | FeedBack Information | |
| FBI | Final Block Indicator | |
| FCCH | Frequency Correction Channel | Broadcast - DL - signature burst Enables MS to synchronize to the frequency |
| FDD | Frquency Division Duplex | |
| FDMA | Frequency Division Multiple Access | |
| FEC | Forward Equivalency Classes | |
| FEC | Forward Error Correction | |
| FGI | Feature Group Indicator | LTE - 32 bit flags tells network what the UE supports |
| FSK | Frequency Shift Keying | |
| gb | Interface | GPRS - Link between BSC/PCU and the SGSN Frame Relay |
| GGSN | GPR Gateway Support Node | GRPS/UMTS - Access to IMS - IP network |
| GMM | GPRS Mobility Management | Layer 3 (Registration - Authentication - Attach - Location - Encryption and TLLI management) |
| GMSC | Gateway Mobile Switching Center | |
| GMSK | Gaussian Minimum Shift Key | GSM Air-Interface |
| GP | Guard Period | |
| GPRS | General Packet Radio Service | Provides packet data services to GSM |
| GSM | Global System for Mobile communications | UL 880 to 915MHz DL 925 to 960 MHZ UL 1710 to 1785MHz DL 1805 to 1880 MHZ |
| GSN | GPRS Support Node | GPRS/UMTS - SGSN and GGSN |
| GTP | GPRS Tunnel Protocol | GPRS/UMTS/LTE - goes over UDP/IP transport protocol stack |
| Handover | Process of selecting a new cell while on a traffic channel | |
| GUTI | Globally Unique Temporary Identifier | LTE - MMEallocate a GUTI identifier |
| GUMMEI | Globally Unique MME Identifier | LTE |
| HCS | Header Check Sum | |
| HCS | Header Check Sequence | |
| HLR | Home Location Register | Permanent Subscriber details |
| HARQ | Hybrid ARQ | LTE - ACK/NAKs |
| HSCSD | High Speed Circuit Switched Data | UMTS |
| HSDPA | High Speed Downlink Packet Access | UMTS - Release 5 - DL data rates overs 2Mbps |
| HSPA+ | High Speed Packet Access Evolved | |
| HSS | Home Subscriber Server | LTE/UMTS - Similar to HLR |
| HSUPA | High Speed Uplink Packet Access | UMTS - Release 6 |
| IE | Information Element | |
| IMEI | International Mobile Equipment Identity | Mobile perminent Identity - assigned by device manufacture |
| IMPI | IP Multimedia Private Identity | IMS |
| IMPU | IP Multimedia Public Identity | IMS |
| IMS | IP Multimedia Subsystem | 3GPP TS23.228 and IETF RFC 3261 (SIP) |
| IMSI | International Mobile Subscriber Identity | Mobile perminent Identity - assigned by service provider - Mobile IMSI attaches then network assigns a TMSI |
| IP | Internet Protocol | |
| ISDN | Integrated Service Digital Networks | |
| ISUP | ISDN User Part | |
| ITU | International Telecommunication Union | |
| Iu | Interface - Between RNC and Core Network | UMTS |
| IuB | Interface - Between RNC and Node B | UMTS |
| IuR | Interface - between RNCs | UMTS - Allows soft handover between cells connected to difference RNCs |
| IWF | InterWorking Function | |
| kbps | Kilo-Bits Per Second | |
| L1 | Layer 1 | Physical |
| L2 | Layer 2 | Data Link Layer |
| L3 | Layer 3 | |
| LA | Location Area | For Circuit Switching |
| LAC | Link Access Control | |
| LAC | Location Area Code | |
| LAI | Location Area Identity | MCC + MNC + LAC |
| LAPDm | Link Access Protocol D-Channel | GSM - L2 data link layer Um (Air) interface |
| LLC | Logical Link Control | |
| LTE | Long Term Evolution | 4G - Evolved 3GPP UMTS to All packet Core Release 8 - 9 and 10 Also known as Evolved UTRA or E-UTRAN |
| MAC | Medium Access Control | For Packet Switched - multiplexing both user and control planes maps logical channels to transport channels eg 4SRBs to 4 DCCHs to 1 DCH or 3 RABs to 3 DTCHs to 3 DCHs |
| MAC | Message Authentication Code | |
| MAP | Mobile Application Part | GSM/UMTS - SS7 protocl |
| MBMS | Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service | |
| MBSFN | Multimedia Broadcast over a Single Frequency Network | LTE/TDD |
| Mbps | MegaBits per second | |
| MCC | Mobile Country Code | Part of Network Identity |
| MCCH | Multicast Control Channel | LTE |
| MCH | Multicast Channel | LTE |
| MIB | Master Information Block | UMTS/LTE - DL - contains MCC and MNC and SIB scheduling |
| MCS | Modulation and Coding Scheme | 9 MCS in EDGE GPRS has 4 coding schemes |
| MIMO | Multiple Input Multiple Output | Antenna Systems |
| MNC | Mobile Network Code | Part of Network Identity |
| MM | Mobility Management | GSM - between MS and MSC |
| MOC | Mobile Originated Call | |
| MSC | Mobile Switching Center | |
| MSISDN | Mobile Station International ISDN Number | Mobile telephone number |
| MTC | Mobile Terminated Call | |
| MTCH | Multicast Traffic Channel | LTE - User Plane multipoint channel for MBMS |
| NACK | Negative Acknowledgement | |
| NAS | Non Access Stratum Protcol | UMTS/LTE - Control - CM and MM Signal-connection and idle mobe mobility |
| NB | Nornal Burst | Up link and DL |
| NSS | Network Switching Subsystem | |
| OFDM | Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing | LTE - DL Air Interface |
| OPC | Originating Point Code | |
| OVSF | Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor | UMTS |
| P-TMSI | Packet TMSI | |
| PACCH | Packet Associated Control Channel | |
| PAGCH | Paging Access Grant CHannel | channel used for paging and Access grant |
| PBCH | Physical Broadcast Channel | LTE - System information in the BCH to all UEs (MIB) - Physical Channel |
| PBCCH | Packet Broadcast Control Channel | |
| PCCH | Paging Control Channel | UMTS/LTE - Paging Control Channel |
| PCCPCH | Primary Common Control Physical Channel | UMTS |
| PCFICH | Physical Control Format Indicator Channel | LTE - Informs the UE about the number of OFDM symbols used for the PDCCHs - UE Control Format Information (CFI) for Downlink control Channel |
| PCH | Paging Channel | Common - DL |
| PCI | Physical Cell Identity | LTE - Used with Cell re-selection |
| PCS1900 | Personal Communcation Service (1900 mbps) | GSM in the USA UL 1850 MHz to 1910MHz DL 1930 MHz to 1990MHz |
| PCU | Packet Control Unit | |
| PDCCH | Packet Dedicated Control Channel | |
| PDCCH | Physical Downlink Control Channel | LTE - UE Downlink Control Information (DCI) for assignments on downlink shared channel |
| PDCH | Packet Data Channel | |
| PDCP | Packet Data Convergence Protocol | UMTS/LTE - sits above RLC |
| PDP | Packet data Protocol | (PDP - IP Address assigned to mobile) |
| PDSCH | Physical Downlink Shared Channel | LTE - Dedicated user data and signaling information - shared resource System Information Block SIB |
| PDTCH | Packet data Traffic Channel | |
| PDU | Packet Data Unit | Or Packet Control Unit - Or Protocol Data Unit - three types - TM - UM - AM |
| P_GW | Packet Gateway | LTE - Similar to GGSN |
| PHICH | Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel | LTE - Sends ACK/NAK replies for uplink data transmissions |
| PICH | Paging Indicator Channel | UMTS - PI Lets mobile know there is a message on PCH transport (paging message). |
| PLMN | Public Land Mobile Network | |
| PLMN - ID | Public Land Mobile Network - ID | Made up of the MCC and MNC |
| PMCH | Physical Multicast Channel | LTE - Multicast - Broadcast multimedia services (MBMS) and (MBMSFN) |
| PMI | Precoding Matrix Indicator | LTE - |
| PO | Paging Occasion | LTE - A hash of the mobile IMSI is used to determine the PO |
| PPCH | Packet Paging Channel | |
| PRACH | Physical Random Access Channel | LTE - Allows UE Random Access to network - registration - resource request |
| PRB | Physical Resource Block | LTE - |
| PSK | Phase Shift Key | |
| PSK | Pre-Shared Key | |
| PSS | Primary Synchronization Block | LTE - DL - Synchronization for all UE devices - indication of carrier frequencies and bandwidth |
| PSTN | Public Switched Telephone Network | |
| PTCCH | Packet Timing Advance Control Channel | |
| PTM | Point to Multipoint | |
| P-TMSI | Packet - Temporary Mobile Subscriber Indentity | Assigned by SGSN when mobile registers with packet switched system |
| PUCCH | Physical Uplink Control Channel | LTE- Uplink Control information for assignment to uplink shared channel |
| PUSCH | Physical Uplink Shared Channel | LTE - Uplink user data and signaling information |
| QAM | Quadrature Amplitude Modulation | |
| QoS | Quality Of Service | |
| QPSK | Quadrature Phase Shift keying | |
| QCI | QoS Class Identifier | QCI 1 for Voice QCI 5 for IMS/SIP Signaling |
| RA | Routing Area | For packet switching |
| RAB | Radio Access Bearers | UMTS - ie voice frames |
| RACH | Random Access Control | Common - UL |
| RAN | Radio Access Network | |
| RAT | Radio Access Technology | RAT windowing used to determine handover between technologies LTE/UMTS/GSM Operators can change on the fly to move subscribers from LTE to GSM for example |
| RFN | Reduced TDMA Frame Number | Used to keep mobile in synchronization with network |
| RLC | Radio Link Control | For packet switched - provides layer 2 functions such as segmentation transfers data and signaling between upper layers and MAC layer |
| RLC | Release Confirm | |
| RNC | Radio Network Controller | UMTS - Controls use of radio resources |
| RR | Radio Resource management | GSM -between BSS and MS |
| RRC | Radio Resource Control | |
| RSRP | Reference Signal Receive Power | LTE - details in SIB 1 Part of Cell selection/re-selection |
| RSRQ | Reference Signal Receive Quaility | LTE - Release 9 |
| RTCP | Real Time Control Protocol | |
| RTP | Real Time Transport Protocol | |
| RTT | Round Trip Time | |
| RXLEV | Receive Level | Mobile receive level beacon frequency from the BTS 's 8 bit value contains both UL and DL signal levels - Range 0-63 |
| RXQUAL | Receive Quality | 3 bits Range 0-7 |
| SGi | SGi Interface | LTE - P-GW to IMS - IP network |
| S1 | S1 Interface | LTE - eNobeB to MME ( S1-C ) or Serving GW ( S1-U ) |
| S5 | S5 Interface | LTE- S-GW to P-GW |
| S6A | S6A Interface | LTE - MME to HSS |
| S8 | S8 Interface | LTE - S-GW to P-GW for inter-PLMN connection |
| S10 | S10 Interface | LTE - Between MMEs |
| S11 | S11 Interface | LTE - MME to S-GW Bearer management |
| SABM | Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode | GSM - first message sent after tuning to a channel. The Mobile initiates a LAPm connection with the BSS |
| SACCH | Slow Access Control Channel | Dedicated - UL/DL - Call supervision and updates while MS has on going session on traffic or SDCCH |
| SAE | System Architecture Evolved | LTE - |
| SAPI | Service Access Point Identification | |
| SB | Synchronization Burst | DL |
| SCH | Supplemental CHannel | |
| SCH | Synchronization Channel | GSM - Broadcast - DL - frame synchronization Contains frame number and BSIC |
| SCCPCH | Secondary Common Control Physical Channel | UMTS - carries Transport Channel - Paging Channel - Forward Access Channel |
| SCTP | Stream Control Transmission Protocol | LTE - A reliable connection-oriented transport protocol similar to TCP |
| SC-FDMA | Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access | LTE - UL - Air Interface |
| SDCCH | Standalone Dedicated Control Channel | Dedicated - UL/DL - Call Setup authentication - ciphering - location update and SMS |
| SGSN | Serving GPRS Support Node | |
| SF | Spreading Factor | UMTS - SF16 is overhead and control information |
| S-GW | Serving Gateway | LTE - similar to SGSN |
| SIB | System Information Block | UMTS - DL - Contains mobile timers and counters - Cell selection details - Measurements - Neighbors |
| SID | System Identifier | |
| SIM | Subscriber Identity Module | |
| SIP | Session Initiation Protocol | IMS - Application-layer control (signaling) protocol Creates - modifies and terminates IP sessions Supports both UDP and TCP |
| SM | Session Management | Layer 3 - GPRS |
| SMS | Short Message Service | |
| SMSC | Short Message Service Center | |
| SNDCP | SubNetwork Dependent Convergence Protocol | Layer 3 between SGSN and MS - Compression of PDUs |
| SRB | Signal Radio Bearer | UMTS / LTE- signal frames LTE SRB 0 on CCCH SRB 1 and SRB 2 on DCCH |
| SRS | Sound Reference Signal | LTE - Uplink Channel quality information at different frequencies |
| SRVCC | Single Radio Voice Call Continuity | VoLTE |
| SS | Supplementary Services | |
| SSS | Secondary Synchronization Signal | LTE - DL - Synchronization for all UE devices - indication of carrier frequencies and bandwidth |
| SS7 | Signaling System 7 | |
| STP | Signaling Transfer Point | |
| STP | Spanning Tree Protocol | |
| SVLLTE | Simultaneous Voice and LTE data | LTE - Two UEs in one - One with LTE data the other on GSM or UMTS voice 3GPP TS23.216 and TS23.237 |
| TAI | Tracking Area Identifier | LTE - UEs are registered within tracking areas |
| TAU | Tracking Area Update | LTE - |
| TB | Transport Black | |
| TBF | Temporary Block Flow | TBF is a connection between the RLC nd MAC. It's established to transfer data between MS and BSS - It lasts until all RLC/MAC blocks have been transferred and acknowledged |
| TCAP | Tansaction Capabilities Application Part | GSM-MSC |
| TCH | Traffic Channel | Full and Half rate voice traffic channel |
| TDD | Time Division Multipexing | UMTS standard - generally not used |
| TDMA | Time Division Multiple Access | GSM TDMA Frame |
| TEI | Terminal Endpoint Identification | |
| TFI | Transport Flow Identifier | |
| TLLI | Temporary Logical Link Identifier | SGSN assigns to mobile |
| TM | Transparent Mode | See PDUs - sent with no header information |
| TMSI | Temprary Mobile Subscriber Identifier | Temporary Mobile Identity - Allocated by the VLR |
| T301 | Timer | LTE - Connection re-establish time (RRC re-establishment) |
| T304 | Timer | LTE - UE RRC reconfiguration - Handover |
| T310 | Timer | LTE - Connection resume (look for N310 Out Of Service indicators) |
| T311 | Timer | LTE - Cell Reselection timer (look for N311 In Service Indicators) |
| T320 | Timer | LTE - Cell Reselection Timer (in SIB 2) |
| T323 | Timer | LTE - Release 8/9 - Dormant Release Timer |
| T3412 | Timer | LTE - timer between Attach Request UL to Attach Accept DL |
| UA | Unnumbered Acknowledge | GSM - BSS replies to SABM with Unnumbered Acknowledge(UA) to complete the LAPm setup handshake |
| UARFCN | UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number | UMTS - Channel Number |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol | |
| UL-SCH | Uplink Shared Channel | LTE - multilpexing of data and signalling of UEs |
| UM | Unacknowledged Mode | See PDUS - length and sequence number in headers similar to UDP |
| UMTS | Univeral Mobile Telecommunications System | 3G Radio Access -uses WCDMA |
| URI | Uniform Resource Identifier | IMS Tel URI - Globally unique identifier SIP URI - SIP phone number looks like an email address i.e. sip:x@:port |
| USF | Uplink State Flag | |
| UTRAN | UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network | |
| VAD | Voice Activated Detection | for discontinuous transmission |
| VLR | Visitor Location Register | Dynamic allocation ( cashes ) subscriber details |
| VoIP | Voice Over IP | |
| VoLTE | Voice Over LTE | LTE - Requires IMS to support |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network | |
| WCDMA | Wideband Code Division Multiple Access | |
| X2 | X2 Interface | LTE - eNB to eNB - handovers - loadbalancing - interference management |