GPRS Overview

GPRS functional overview

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a wireless packet data service that is
an extension to the GSM network. It provides an efficient method
to transfer data by optimizing the use of network resources. The GPRS radio
resources allocator allows to provide multiple radio channels to only one user in
order to reach high data user rate. Furthermore, one radio channel can be shared by
multiple users in order to optimize the radio resources. Then, the GPRS enables a
high spectrum efficiency by sharing time slots between different users, supporting
data rates up to 170 kbit/s and providing very low call set-up time.
Additionally, GPRS offers direct Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity in a
point-to-point or a point-to-multipoint mode and provides packet radio access to
external packet data networks (PDN).

GPRS introduces a minimum impact on the BSS infrastructure and no new physical
radio interface. The Nortel Networks GPRS network architecture is implemented
on the existing wireless infrastructure with the inclusion of the following network
entities:

BSS side:

-Packet Control Unit Support Node (PCUSN)

Core Network side:

-Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)
-Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN)
-SS7/IP Gateway (SIG)

Nortel Networks

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