Introduction

Gaussian Minimum Shift Key (GMSK)

GMSK
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
Modulation scheme used in GSM
Bandwidth-time product
Describes the amount the symbols overlap
BT = 0.3 for GSM networks
Good spectral efficiency
At the expense of some inter-symbol interference (ISI)
Data rate: 270.8 kbps

MSK
GMSK is based on MSK
Minimum Shift Keying
Linear phase changes
Spectrally efficient
At baseband, bit transitions are represented by
cycle sinusoid


Generating a GMSK Waveform

The figures in the following slides are from the University of Hull:
http://www.emc.york.ac.uk/reports/linkpcp/appD.pdf
GMSK as implemented by quadrature signal processing at baseband
followed by a quadrature modulator
Pulse Shaping
Input: Binary pulse train (+1/-1)
Each binary pulse goes through a LPF with a Gaussian impulse
response
The filter smoothes the binary pulses
The filter output is truncated and scaled
This process results in a train of Gaussian shaped pulses
Summing and Integration
The pulses are summed together (left)
The signal is integrated over time to obtain a continuous
waveform which captures the bit transition information
(right)

I&Q Signals
The resulting waveform is divided into In-Phase and
Quadrature components
In-phase: Left
Quadrature: Right
The two signal components are then up-converted to the
carrier frequency
GMSK Properties
Improved spectral efficiency
Power Spectral Density
Reduced main lobe over MSK
Requires more power to transmit data than many
comparable modulation schemes
Advantages of GMSK
Provide constant envelop.
Provide good power efficiency.
It has good spectral efficiency.
Degradation due to ISI is tolerable.
GMSK is highly useful in wireless Communication.
Useful in wireless data protocols and systems using cellular Digital
Packet data CDPD and Mobitex.

Disadvantages of GMSK
GMSK has irreducible error rate Problem
Derived from CMSK modulation
Average probability of error is:

GSM Modulation Specifications

In the GSM standard, Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying with a time-
bandwidth
product of 0.3 was chosen as a compromise between spectral
efficiency and
intersymbol interference. With this value of WTb, 99% of the
power spectrum
within a bandwidth of 250 kHz, and since GSM spectrum is
divided into 200
kHz channels for multiple access, there is very little interference
between the
channels. The speed at which GSM can transmit at, with
WTb=0.3, is 271 kb/s
(It cannot go faster, since that would cause intersymbol
interference).
14
Gaussian MSK
Gaussian pulse shaping to MSK
- smoothens phase trajectory of MSK signal
over time, stabilizes instantaneous frequency variations
- results in significant additional reduction of
sidelobe levels
GMSK detection can be coherent (like MSK)
or noncoherent (like FSK)
15
premodulation pulse shaping filter used to filter NRZ data
- converts full response message signal into partial response
scheme

full response baseband symbols occupy T
b

partial response transmitted symbols span several T
b

- pulse shaping doesnt cause patterns averaged phase trajectory to
deviate from simple MSK trajectory
Gaussian MSK
16
GMSKs main advantages are
power efficiency - from constant envelope (non-linear amplifiers)
excellent spectral efficiency
GMSK filter can be completely defined from B
3dB
T
b
- customary to define GMSK by B
3dB
T
b
pre-modulation filtering introduces ISI into transmitted signal
if B
3db
T
b
> 0.5 degradation is not severe
B
3dB
= 3dB bandwidth of Gaussian Pulse Shaping Filter
T
b
= bit duration = baseband symbol duration
irreducible BER caused by partial response signaling is the
cost for spectral efficiency & constant envelope
Gaussian MSK
17
Impulse response of pre-modulation Gaussian filter :
h
G
(t) =
|
|
.
|

\
|

2
2
exp
o
t
o
t
o is related to B
3dB
by
B
B
5887 . 0
2
2 ln
=
o =
transfer function of pre-modulation Gaussian Filter is given by
H
G
(f) =
( )
2 2
exp f o
Gaussian MSK
18
(i) Reducing B
3dB
T
b
: spectrum becomes more compact (spectral efficiency)
causes sidelobes of GMSK to fall off rapidly
B
3dB
T
b
= 0.5 2
nd
lobe peak is 30dB below main lobe
MSK 2
nd
peak lobe is 20dB below main lobe
MSK ~ GMSK with B
3dB
T
b
=
(ii) increases irreducible error rate (IER) due to ISI
ISI degradation caused by pulse shaping increases
however - mobile channels induce IER due to mobiles velocity

if GMSK IER < mobile channel IER no penalty for using GMSK
Impact of B
3dB
T
b
19
PSD of GMSK signals
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 (f-f
c
)T

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60

BT
b
= (MSK)
BT
b
= 1.0
BT
b
= 0.5
BT
b
= 0.2
Increasing BT
b

reduces signal spectrum
results in temporal spreading and distortion
BT
b
90% 99% 99.9% 99.99%
0.2 GMSK 0.52 0.79 0.99 1.22
0.25 GMSK 0.57 0.86 1.09 1.37
0.5 GMSK 0.69 1.04 1.33 2.08
MSK 0.78 1.20 2.76 6.00
20
RF bandwidth
containing % power as fraction of R
b

[Ish81] BER degradation from ISI caused by GMSK filtering is
minimal at B
3dB
T
b
= 0.5887
degradation in required E
b
/N
0
= 0.14dB compared to case of no ISI
e.g. for BT = 0.2 99% of the power is in the bandwidth of 1.22R
b
21

[Mur81] shown to perform within 1dB of optimal MSK with B
3dB
T
b
= 0.25
since pulse shaping causes ISI P
e
is function of B
3dB
T
b

P
e
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
0
2
N
E
Q
b

P
e
= bit error probability
is constant related to B
3dB
T
b
B
3dB
T
b
= 0.25 = 0.68
B
3dB
T
b
= = 0.85 (MSK)
BER of GMSK for AWGN channel
22

(i) pass m
NRZ
(t) through Gaussian base band filter (see figure
below)
- m
NRZ
(t) = NRZ bit stream
output of Gaussian filter passed to FM modulator




used in digital implementation for
- Global System for Mobile (GSM)
- US Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD)
(ii) alternate approach is to use standard I/Q modulator
GMSK Transmitter Block Diagram
NRZ bits
RF GMSK Output
Gaussian
LPF
FM
Transmitter
GMSK Transmitter
23
GMSK Receiver
RF GMSK signal can be detected using
(i) orthogonal coherent detectors (block diagram)
(ii) simple non-coherent detectors (e.g. standard FM discriminators)
(i) GMSK Receiver Block Diagram-orthogonal coherent detectors
loop
filter
modulated IF
input signal
t /2
IF LO
clock
recovery
t /2 t
demodulated
signal
I
Q
24
carrier recovery using De Budas method for (similar to Costas loop)
S(t) = output of frequency doubler that contains 2 discrete frequency
components
- divide S(t) by four: S(t) /4
- equivalent to PLL with frequency doubler
25
demodulated
signal
clock
recovery
loop
filter
VCO
D Q
C
D
C Q
D Q
C
modulated IF
input signal
D Q
C
D Q
C
D Q
C
Logic Circuit for GMSK demodulation
De Budas method implemented using digital logic
2 D flip flops (DFF) act as quadrature product demodulator
XORs act as based band multipliers
mutually orthogonal reference carriers generated using 2 DFFs
VCO center frequency set to 4 f
c
( f
c
= carrier center frequency)
26
e.g.
Assume 0.25GMSK: B
3db
T
b
= 0.25 & R
b
= 270kbps
then
T
b
= R
b
-1
= 3.7us
B
3dB
= 0.25/T
b
= 67.567kHz
Occupied Spectrum - 90% power 0.57R
b
= 153.9kHz
- use table
Detecting GMSK signal by sampling output of FM demodulator
is a non-optimal, effective method
Digital Modulation
Modulation is used because:
The channel does not include the 0 Hz frequency
and baseband signalling is impossible
The bandwidth of the channel is split between
several channels for frequency multiplexing
For wireless radio-communications, the size of the
antenna decreases when the transmitted frequency
increases.
Carrier Frequency
In simple modulation schemes, a single frequency
signal, the carrier, is modified at the rate of the data.
The carrier is commonly written as:
( )
cos 2
c
A f t t +u
f
c
= Carrier frequency
A = Carrier Amplitude
u = Carrier phase
The 3 main parameters of the carrier:
amplitude, phase and frequency can be
modified to carry the information
leading to: amplitude, phase and
frequency modulation.
Digital Modulation
CPM: Continuous Phase Modulation
Frequency or phase modulation
Example: MSK, GMSK
Characteristic: constant envelope modulation
QAM: Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
Example: QPSK, OQPSK, 16QAM
Characteristic: High spectral efficiency
Multicarrier Modulation
Example: OFDM, DMT
Characteristic: Muti-path delay spread tolerance,
effectivness against channel distortion
GMSK Modulation
Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying.

Used in GSM and DECT standards.
Relevant to mobile communications because of
constant envelope modulation:
Quite insensitive to non-linearities of power
amplifier
Robust to fading effects
But moderate spectral efficiency.
What is GMSK Modulation?
Continuous phase digital frequency modulation
Modulation index h=1/2
Gaussian Frequency Shaping Filter
GMSK = MSK + Gaussian filter
Characterized by the value of BT
T = bit duration
B = 3dB Bandwidth of the shaping filter
BT = 0.3 for GSM
BT = 0.5 for DECT
GMSK Modulation, Expression for the
Modulated Signal x(t)
( )
( ) cos 2 ( ) with:
( ) 2 ( )
c
t
k
k
x t f t t
t h a s kT d
t
t t t
+
=

= + u
u =

}
2
1
) ( =
}
+

t t d s
Normalization
a
k
= Binary data = +/- 1
h = Modulation index = 0.5
s(t) = Gaussian frequency shaping filter
s(t)= Elementary frequency pulse
GMSK Elementary Phase Pulse
Elementary phase pulse = ( )
( ) 2 ( ) 2 ( ) .
t
t
t hq t h s d

t t t t

= =
}
( ) ( ) .
t
q t s d t t

=
}
| |
( )
For , ( 1) ( ) 2 ( ) ( )
( ) cos 2 ( ) cos 2 ( ) .
n n
k k
k k
n
c c k
k
t nT n T t h a q t kT a t kT
x t f t t f t a t kT
t
t t
= =
=
e + u = =
| |
= +u = +
|
\ .

Architecture of a GMSK Modulator

Coder
Bits a
k
r t ( )
VCO
h
x t ( )
h t ( )
Gaussian filter
GMSK modulator using a VCO

( )
k
k
a s t kT

( )
k
k
a t kT o

( ) ( ) * ( ) s t r t h t =

Rectangular filter

x t ( ) Coder
Bits a
k
s t ( )
2 t h

}
t
u ( ) t
cos()
sin()
+
-
s t r t h t ( ) ( ) * ( ) =
GMSK modulator without VCO
( )
k
k
a t kT o

( ) cos 2
c
f t t
( ) sin 2
c
f t t

Equation for the Gaussian Filter h(t)
2 2
2
2
2
2 2
( ) exp
ln(2) ln(2)
ln(2)
( ) exp
2
B
h t B t
H f f
B
t t
| |
=
|
\ .
| |
=
|
\ .
The duration MT
b
of the gaussian pulse
is truncated to a value inversely
proportional to B.
BT = 0.5, MT
b
= 2T
b

BT = 0.3, MT
b
= 3 or 4T
b

Frequency and Phase Elementary
Pulses

- 2 - 1 0 1 2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
BT
b
= +
BT
b
=
0 5 ,
BT
b
=
0 3 ,
t in number of bit periods T
b

T g t
b
( ) Elementary frequency pulse
-2 -1 0 1 2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
t in number of bit period T
b
BT
b
= +
BT
b
=
0 3 .
BT
b
=
0 5 .
Elementary phase pulse

( ) t
t/2
The elementary frequency pulse is
the convolution of a square pulse
r(t) with a gaussian pulse h(t).
Its duration is (M+1)T
b
.
GMSK Signals Binary sequence
GMSK modulated Signal
u
( ) t
( )
z t t
I
( ) cos ( )
= u
( )
z t t
Q
( ) sin ( )
= u
5
1
0 5 10 15 20
-1
0
1
0 5 10 15 20
-1
0
1
t
0 5 10 15 20
1
-1
0
t
0 5 10 15 20
-5
0
t
0 5 10 15 20
-1
0
t
t
in rd
Power Spectral Density of GMSK
Signals
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
-140
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
Power spectral density of the complex envelope of GMSK, BT=0.3, fe=8, T=1.
Logarithmic scale
Frequency normalized by 1/T
Implementing a GMSK Modulator
on a DSP
Quadrature modulation can be used:
The DSP calculates the phase u and the 2 baseband
components z
I
and z
Q
and sends them to the DAC.
Or a modulated loop can be used.
In this case, the DSP generates the instantaneous
frequency f
inst
signal that is sent to the DAC.
inst
( ).
k
k
f h a s kT t
+
=
=

GMSK spectral shaping

GMSK spectra shaping
Simple GMSK generation
GMSK Demodulator
Digital GMSK demodulator