OMF001006 GSM

Signaling SystemBSSAP(BSS)

Huawei Wireless Training Department

Contents
1 BSSAP Functional Structure
2 Distribution Sub-layer Functional Structure
3 DTAP Functional Structure
4 BSSMAP Functional Structure
5 Message Example
6 Means of BSC Signaling and Interface Tracing
7 Relevant GSM Specifications

1 BSSAP Functional Structure

BSSAP Functional
Structure
Transmission
Equipments
for Air
Interface

Corresponding
BSC Processing
Modules

Corresponding MSC
Application and
Control Modules

BSSAP
DTAP

BSSAP

BSSMAP

DTAP

BSSMAP

Distribution Function

Distribution Function

SCCP

SCCP

MTP

MTP
A-Interface

BSS

MSC

BSSAP Functional Structure

BSSAP BSS Application Part
BSSMAP BSS Management Application Part
DTAP Direct Transfer Part
SCCP Signaling Connection Control Part
MTP Message Transfer Part

BSSMAP

DTAP

Distribution Function
SCCP

Functions

Distribution Sub-layer
Functional Structure
of BSSAPs Distribution Sub-layer

To discriminate DTAP and BSSMAP messages

To distribute the DTAP messages to radio link L2 joint

To converge the DTAP messages received from radio

link L2 to A-interface signaling link

Components of Distribution Sub-layer

Components of Distribution Sublayer

DTAP
Octet 1

Identifier

Octet 2

DLCI

Octet 3
Octet 4

BSSMAP
Octet 1

Identifier

LI

Octet 2

LI

L3

Octet 3

L3

..

..

Octet L

Message

Octet L

Message

Distribution
Data Unit
Length Indicator

L3 Messages

3 DTAP
DTAP takes charge of transferring transparent L3
messages from MS to MSC or from MSC to MS. BSS
will not analyze it. It is transferred between BSS and
MSC by using SCCP service class 2 (basic connectionoriented class).
I Distribution Data Unit
User data

II Length Indication
III Detailed L3 Message

DTAP Distribution Data Unit

Distribution Data Unit has two parameters:
Discriminator

: 00000000
Data Link Connection Identity DLCI :
To indicate the data link type that should be used on the radio
interface for the messages sent from MSC to BSS
To indicate the data link type on the radio interface that reports the
message which is sent bye BSS to MSC.

Bits:
Discriminator:

7 6

5 4

3 2

0 0 0

0 0

D D=0 stands for non-transparent

transmission

4 BSSMAP

The transmission of BSSMAP messages upon SCCP

is for the BSSMAP functional entities of both MSC and
BSS to exchange information.
The distribution data unit of BSSMAP messages only
has the discriminator. D should equal to 0 which
stands for non-transparent transmission.
Bits:
Discriminator:

7 6

5 4

3 2

0 0 0

0 0

D D=0, non-transparent

transmission.

5 Message Example

For better understanding of BSSAP message,

there are two examples for BSSMAP and
DTAP respectively.

BSSMAP message

DTAP message

Example of BSSMAP Message

The following is a real message traced with MA10 on Ainterface.

000 FB 0B 3B C3 B2 40 30 E0 01 01 00 41 02 02 06 04
43 B2 00 FE
020 04 04 43 C1 00 FE 0F 21 00 1F 57 05 08 00 64 F0
00 25 00 00
040 01 17 12 05 08 20 64 F0 00 25 00 01 08 49 06 20
72 90 00 00
060 60 00

Example of BSSMAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message Format

According Contents

?XXXXXXX

BSN

?1111010

X???????

BIB

?XXXXXXX

According
Bytes

0xFB

1???????

Backward
SN

Backward Indication Bit

FSN

?0001011

Forward SN

0x0B

X???????

FIB

1???????

Forward Indication Bit

??XXXXXX

LI

??111011

Length Indicator

00??????

Spare

????0011

Service Indicator

??00????

Spare

11??????

Network Indicator

XX??????
????XXXX

SI

??XX????
??XXXXXX

NI

0x3B

0xC3

Example of BSSMAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message Format According Contents
XXXXXXXX
??XXXXXX

According
Bytes

DPC

10100010
??000000

DSP 00B2

XX??????
XXXXXXXX
????XXXX

OPC

01??????
00110000
????0000

OPC 00C1

XXXX????

SLS

1110????

SLS 0E

XXXXXXXX

Message Type

00000001

CR message

0x01

3 Bytes

Source Local
Reference

010041h

Source Local
Reference

0x01
0x00
0x41

????XXXX

Protocol
Class

????0010

Class 2 Service

XXXX????

0xB2
0x40
0x30
0xE0

0x02
0000????

Spare

Example of BSSMAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message Format According Contents
1 Byte

Mandatory variable
length parameter
pointer

00000010

1 Byte

Mandatory variable
length parameter
pointer

00000110

1 Byte

Length
Indicator

04h

Called Address
Length

???????X

SPC Indicator

???????1

Including SPC

??????X?

SSN Indicator

??????1?

Including SSN

??XXXX??

GT Indicator

??0000??

Have not GT

?X??????

Route
Indicator

?1??????

DPC+SSN Addressing

0???????

Domestic Standby

X???????

Called Address
Pointer
Calling Address
Pointer

According
Bytes

0x02
0x06
0x04

0x43

Example of BSSMAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message
Format

According Contents

According
Bytes

2 bytes

SPC

00B2h

DPC

0xB200

1 byte

SSN

0xfe

A-interface SSN

0xFE

OPC

0x04

1 byte
5 bytes

Optional Parameter
0x04
Name
Optional Parameter 04 43 C1 00
FEh
Contents

1 byte

Optional Parameter
Name

0x0F

1 byte

Optional Parameter
Length

0x21

Same format to
called address
SCCP user data
SCCP user data
length)

04 43 C1
00 FEh
0x0F
0x21

Example of BSSMAP Message

BSSMAP Message Disassemble

0x00 BSSMAP indicator

0x1f BSSMAP message length = 31
0x57 Complete L3 information
0x05 Cell ID IEI
0x08 Cell ID length
0x00 Cell ID discriminator
0x64 0xf0 MCC dig.
0x20 MNC dig.
0x25 0x00 LAC
0x00 0x01 CI

Example of BSSMAP Message

BSSMAP Message Disassemble

0x17 L3 information IEI
0x12 L3 information length = 18
0x05 Skip Indicator = 0 PD =5(Mobile Manager)
0x08 message type Locate Update request
0x20 LocUpdate type = 0 Normal Location Updating

Ciphering key sequence = 2

Example of BSSMAP Message

BSSMAP Message Disassemble

0x64 0xf0 MCC dig.

0x20 MNC dig.
0x25 0x00 LAC
0x01 Classmark1
0x08 Mobile ID length
0x49 Mobile ID type = 9 IMSI,length is odd number
0x06 0x20 0x72 0x90 0x00 0x00 0x60 IMSI number

Example for DTAP Message

The following is a real message traced with

MA10 on A-interface.

000 0C FF 22 C3 C1 80 2C 30 06 03 00 41
00 01 16 01 00 13 05 12

020 03 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
11 11 11 11

Example for DTAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message format
?XXXXXXX
X???????
?XXXXXXX
X???????
??XXXXXX

BSN

?0001100

BIB

0??????? Backward Indication Bit

FSN

?1111111

FIB

1??????? Forward Indication Bit

LI

??100010

Length Indicator

00??????

Spare

????0011

Service Indicator

??00????

Spare

XX??????
????XXXX

SI

??XX????
??XXXXXX

Corresponding
Message Content

NI

Backward SN

Forward SN

11?????? Network Indicator

Corresponding
Bytes

0x0C

0xFF

0x22

0xC3

Example for DTAP Message

MTP and SCCP message

disassemble
Standard Message format
XXXXXXXX
??XXXXXX

Corresponding Message Content

DPC

11000001
??000000

XX??????
XXXXXXXX
????XXXX

OPC

10??????
00101100
????0000

XXXX????

SLS

0011????

DS
00C
P
1
OP
00B
C
2
SL
S03

Corresponding
Bytes

0xC1
0x80
0x2C
0x30

Example for DTAP Message

MTP and SCCP message
disassemble
Standard Message format
XXXXXXXX

Message Type

Corresponding Message

Corresponding
Content Bytes

00000110

DATA FORM 1

0x06

3 Bytes

Source Local
Reference

030041h

Source Local
Reference

0x03
0x00
0x41

1 Byte

Segmentation/
Reassembly

00000000

No more data

0x00

1 Byte

Mandatory
variable length
parameter pointer

00000001

User data pointer

0x01

1 Byte

Parameter
length

00010110

User data length

0x16

Example for DTAP Message

DTAP message disassemble

0x01 DTAP message type
0x00 Spare DLCI
0x13 DTAP message length
0x05 Protocol Discrimination (PD)=5(MM),
Skip Indicator=0 effective

Example for DTAP Message

DTAP message disassemble

0x12 Authentication Request
0x03 Ciphering key sequence number(CKSN
Kc SN)= 3
Authentication parameter rand IEI
0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01
0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01 0x01

6 Means of BSC Signaling and Interface tracing

Signaling
analyzer

MA10
KC1297

BSC Maintenance Console

GSM Interface Tracing

GSM Interface Tracing

Review

NO7 Message Tracing

NO7 Message Tracing

Review

Comparison of different means

Signaling Analyzer

Expensive. Need additional investment

Can trace all the signaling of A-interface and Abis-interface from the
physical layer.

GSM Interface Trace

Need no additional equipment and investment.

A-interface Trace: Trace BSSAP and SCCP in BSC.
A-bis Interface Trace: A-bis interface L3 messages.
Um Interface: Um interface L3 messages.

7 Relevant GSM Specifications

GM

0808 A interface

GM

0858 A-bis interface

GM

0408 Um interface