Second‐Generation (2G) Cellular Communications
Jack L. Burbank, Julia Andrusenko, Jared S Everett, William Kasch · 2013
Second-generation (2G) cellular networks marked the beginning of digital mobile cellular communications. This chapter focuses on providing a detailed technical overview of GSM and its evolutionary enhancements, as these technologies continue to play an important role in the modern mobile Internet. It includes an extended discussion of the history of GSM, from the original concept in 1982 up through the evolution to GERAN, realized in Release 5 first published in 2002, which aligns the GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network with the concepts of 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The chapter discusses the next major step in the evolution of GSM networks-the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 7 enhancements commonly known as EDGE Evolution. It provides a technical overview of the essential concepts, architecture, protocols, and procedures of a GSM cellular network. The chapter briefly describes the GSM physical layer, addresses main concepts in the operation of GPRS networks. Controlled Vocabulary Terms cellular networks; General Packet Radio Service networks; Global System for Mobile Communications cellular network; GSM; radio access networks; telecommunications