General Packet Radio Service

Abstract

IP based service technologies are becoming increasingly important in wireless communications. Cellular networks will be used as an access method to the Internet and other IP-based networks. There have been several attempts to optimize cellular networks for the packet data. One of them is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), which is an enhancement to the existing GSM system. GPRS is a new nonvoice value added service that allows information to be sent and received across a mobile telephone network. It supplements today's Circuit Switched Data and Short Message Service. GPRS was standardized by ETSI (The European Telecommunications Standards Institute) during the last five years. Although GPRS has been implemented in number of countries but still various trials I implementations are being carried out. It is expected that GPRS with its complete services will be implemented in more countries in near future. This thesis presents a detail discussion on various aspects of GPRS. It is pertinent to mention here that GPRS being an emerging technology, detailed information and literature was not available. Most of the information was in bits and pieces and scattered. It was only available on the Internet and in very few magazines. I have tried to build up this thesis from very basic for new entrants in IT field. On the other hand, professionals may find beneficial as it also contains the technical detail. The structure of the thesis includes Evolution of Mobile Technology and detailed description of GSM as GPRS is an extension to it. The GPRS system architecture, its fundamental functionality and Protocol Architecture, various applications and features are discussed in detail. Impact of GPRS in the Network, various Security aspects and limitations of GPRS are also highlighted for better understanding.