Cell Broadcast » History » Revision 12
Revision 11 (laforge, 09/29/2018 09:13 AM) → Revision 12/25 (laforge, 09/29/2018 09:22 AM)
h1. Cell Broadcast
{{>toc}}
Normally, all user plane data in GSM/GPRS networks are sent in point-to-point channels from the network to the user. Those are called "dedicated" radio channels whcih exist between the network and one given phone/subscriber at a time.
Cell Broadcast is an exception to that rule. It permits user data (so-called SMS-CB data) to be broadcast by the network in a way that can be received by all phones in the coverage area of the given [[BTS]] simultaneously.
More high-level information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_Broadcast and the related specification is found at "3GPP TS 23.041 Technical realization of Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)":http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/23041.htm
h2. Use Cases
Cell Broadcast was used for various different use cases primarily in the 1990ies and early 2000s, including
* advertisement of the GPS position of the cell tower you're currently camping on
* advertisement of the calling codes of your current "home zone", i.e. a "lower cost short distance" call zone travelling with you as you roam around.
More recently, SMS-CB is seeing some uptake by various desaster warning systems, such as
* CMAS (Commercial Mobile Alert System), later renamed to WEA ("Wireless Emergency Alerts":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts) in the US.
* EU-Alert in the European union
* Messer Ishi (Rocket Alert) in Israel
* ETWS (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System) in Japan
* KPAS (Korean Public Alert System)
h2. Osmocom Cell Broadcast support
* [[OsmoBTS:]] implements the "SMS BROADCAST COMMAND" Message in RSL according to Section 8.5.8 of 3GPP TS 08.58 *but not all hardware targets support this yet, see #1617. osmo-bts-sysmo and osmo-bts-octphy are fine.*
* [[OsmoNITB:]] and [[OsmoBSC:]] implement a VTY command @bts <0-255> smscb-command <1-4> HEXSTRING@ to send a given hex-formatted cell broadcast message to a specified BTS
** you (obviously) first need to enable a timeslot/channel combination on the BTS that actually includes a CBCH, i.e. ccch+sdcch4+cbch or sdcch8+cbch
!osmocom-cbs.png!
This is sufficient for manual transmission of cell-broadcast messages in a lab environment or in small networks. The functionality has been developed and "used at the 31st annual CCC congress (31C3) to deliver spoofed _Presidential Level Alert_ messages":https://twitter.com/2b_as/status/549695235207737344/photo/1
h3. How to test/use it
You need to perform two steps:
h4. make sure your related BTS is configured to use a channel combination with CBCH
For using a combined CCCH with SDCCH/4 and CBCH you can use the following example snippet as part of osmo-bsc.cfg:
<pre>
network
bts 0
trx 0
timeslot 0
phys_chan_config CCCH+SDCCH4+CBCH
</pre>
h4. telnet to osmo-bsc at port 4242, and enter something like
<pre>
enable
bts 0 smscb-command 1 001000320f1141660c344dd3cba09a0c
</pre>
where "1" is the number of blocks required (each 22 bytes need one block)
and the hex-dump at the end is the encoded GSM 04.12 message to be broadcast.
h3. What's missing (for production operation in larger networks)
* mechanism to broadcast one (set of) cell broadcast messages from the BSC to multiple/all BTSs, rather than one BTS individually
* BTS reporting of current CBCH load
* BSC scheduler scheduling multiple alternating sets of CBCH messages based on the current CBCH load reported by BTS
* external interface from BSC to a Cell Broadcast Center (CBC), e.g. according to 3GPP TS 48.049 (CBSP)
* an Osmocom implementation of the Cell Broadcast Center (OsmoCBC) which can manage and dsitribute messages to multiple BSCs and which has an external interface by which cell-broadcast can be entered into the network
h2. Message Structure
* Message has maximum 15 pages
* Each page is 82 bytes of data, resulting in 93 characters in GSM 7-bit default alphabet
* Messges are broadcast on logical channels (more like an address)
* Subscribers can activate/deactivate selective addresses
h2. Further Reading
* ITU-T SG2 (Standardization of CB Channels)
* 3GPP TS 23.041 Cell Broadcast
* ETSI 102 444
* "3GPP TS 23.041 GSM: Technical realization of Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)":https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/123000_123099/123041/15.02.00_60/ts_123041v150200p.pdf
* "3GPP TS 48.049 GSM: Baste Station Controller - Cell Broadcast Centre (BSC-CBC) interface specification; Cell Broadcast Service Protocol (CBSP)":https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/148000_148099/148049/15.00.00_60/ts_148049v150000p.pdf
* "3GPP TS 22.268 PWS: Public Warning System (PWS) requirements":http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/122200_122299/122268/14.00.00_60/ts_122268v140000p.pdf
* "3GPP TS 44.012 GSM: Short Message Service Cell Broadcast (SMSCB) support on the mobile radio interface":https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/144000_144099/144012/15.00.00_60/ts_144012v150000p.pdf
h3. EU-Alert
* ETSI/EMTEL TS 102 900
h3. CMAS
* "FCC 08-99: First Report and Order":https://www.one2many.eu/assets/files/16_first-report-and-order.pdf
* "FCC 08-164: Second Report and Order":https://www.one2many.eu/assets/files/17_second-report-and-order.pdf
* "FCC 08-184: Third Report and Order":https://www.one2many.eu/assets/files/18_third-report-and-order.pdf
* ATIS/TIA Standard J-STD-100 (Mobile Device Behavior)
* ATIS/TIA Standard J-STD-101 (Federal Alert Gateway to CMSP Gateway Interface Spec)
* ATIS/TIA Standard J-STD-102 (Federal Alert Gateway to CMSP Gateway Interface Test Spec) Standards J-STD-100, 101, 102
h3. ETWS
* "3GPP TS 22.168: ETWS Requirements Stage 1":https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/122100_122199/122168/08.03.00_60/ts_122168v080300p.pdf
* various modifications to TS 23.038, 23.401, 25.304, 25.331, see http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/WiCr--370051.htm
