Open GSM Base Station for Developing regions! Looking for a trial

[Alberto Escudero-Pascual (lists)]

In one image for the geeks:
http://www.it46.se/images/uploads/1251111529_openbts46_trial.jpg

Low cost open GSM base station for developing countries

What did you do during your summer holidays? I was
building my own GSM network!

I have been waiting almost 20 years to make this phone
call!. Back in the 90's when I started my engineering
studies and discovered GNU/Linux, dreamed with a system
that could do what I have right now on my table :). The
first attempt was in 2001 when I was completing my PhD at
KTH in Sweden. During those years a group of researchers
in the Laboratory started to explore the possibility of
replacing as much of the GSM architecture (BSC, MSC) for
open source software. Although we had a commercial GSM
container with plenty of noisy equipment, the project got
stuck trying to find documentation for the GSM internal
interfaces.

In December 2008, I attended a conference about Mobile
Service in Developing Regions. I was very surprised not
to see anyone addressing the need of opening the GSM
infrastructure (hardware and software). Christmas period
was a good time for new projects so I decided to get in
touch with the openbts project and try to build their
base station. Assembling all the necessary hardware took
a bit of time! David Burguess from openbts has been
really helpful with hardware purchases!.

Yes! It does work, and that first phone call felt like a
different one :D. The base station uses a piece of
hardware known as USRP. The USRP is a radio communication
system where components that have typically been
implemented in hardware are now implemented using
software in a PC.

We are looking for sponsors for a deployment in a
developing region! Interested? Drop us a line!

-aep

PD. Thanks to the openbts folks for a great project!

[OPED Environnement et développement durable]

Dear Alberto,   I'm very interest for your GSM base station for developing countries. I'll like to know more about and look how I can do it in Cameroon (Central African Region).   Waiting your prompt reply. Thanks. Jonas KEMAJOU SYAPZE Directeur OPED - Organisation pour l'Environnement et le Développement Durable B.P. 12 675 Yaoundé - Cameroun Tel: +237 77 60 23 83 / 22 00 35 06 E-mail: oped...@yahoo.fr / jksy...@yahoo.com --- En date de : Lun 24.8.09, Alberto Escudero-Pascual (lists) <aep....@it46.se> a écrit :

[David Rowe]

Congratulations Alberto, there is nothing like that "first phone call"
experience on brand new telephony hardware.

A few months ago I was in a remote part of East Timor. This place had
electricity just a few hours a day and virtually no other services.
Suddenly my friends GSM handset beeped and there was a text from his
wife all the way for Australia. Nothing else worked but GSM worked just
fine........

GSM is a fine system: the handsets are cheap, and unlike Wifi it
propagates well over long distances without line of site issues. Now we
can make even GSM base stations using open source hardware and software
components. The only problem is that GSM seems to attract business
models that are too expensive for the people who really need them.

Cheers,

David

On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 13:31 +0200, Alberto Escudero-Pascual (lists)
wrote:

[Alberto Escudero-Pascual (lists)]

Definitely licensing is an issue but should not be a show-stopper. There
is plenty of bandwidth available in rural areas in the 850 and 900 GSM
bands. GSM handsets are some cheap and battery efficient that at least we
should give it a try :)

/aep

--
Stopping junk mailers is good for the environment

> Hi
>
> Very very interesting. One major challenge will be to find a surrogate
> network that would be will to allow a test. openbts operates on a
> licensed
> frequency and this guys are no where near being kind in Nigeria or West
> Africa for that matter. Anyway I'm open to any help to make this project
> go
> forward. Good job guys.

> --
> Tola Ogunsan
> VoiceNode Networks
> 824 Faraway Court
> Mitchellville, MD 20721
> +1 240 463 8914 (US)
> +44 208 114 9277 (UK)
> +1 416 907 7407(CANADA)
> MSN: tola...@hotmail.com
> skype: begra8fl
> yahoo: begra8fl
>
> >
>

[Antoine van Gelder]

On 25 Aug 2009, at 00:37 , David Rowe wrote:
> The only problem is that GSM seems to attract business
> models that are too expensive for the people who really need them.

It may well turn out that we will now start seeing some small change
in this regard. :-D

100% awesome Alberto!

How hard would it be to bridge that GSM stream with a VOIP network?

I ask out of interest in the two hybrid models:

-> Localized GSM network and using VOIP for backhaul to service
providers.

-> Localized VOIP network and using GSM for backhaul to service
providers.

*wicked.grin*

Someone should probably tell the regulator that the headaches w/ WiFi
are nothing on what will be coming down the pike!

- antoine

--
http://7degrees.co.za
"Libré software for human education."

[Sjur Eivind Usken]

> I ask out of interest in the two hybrid models:
>
> -> Localized GSM network and using VOIP for backhaul to service
> providers.
>

This is where the openBTS project is needed! Wicked Alberto!!

They set up this openBTS on the "burning man" festical a year or two
back. Then they connected an Asterisk with VoIP to it and to the leased
lines. They had it up and running and suddenly noticed that people were
using it to call home.... (the GSM phone just attaced to the network, no
more questions asked about roaming....)

> -> Localized VOIP network and using GSM for backhaul to service
> providers.
>
>

This is is very easy to do today and no need of the openBTS. You get
TeleS GSM gateways (4 channel for about 750 euro) or other cheaper
models They do direct SIP Trunking and even analog ports if you want to.
Then just point your OpenSER og Asterisk to a trunk to the GSM gateway
and you are up and running. There are larger communitites connectiong a
local PBX with hunderds of phones to a GSM "backbone".

Sjur
VoIP expert looking for new projects!
http://www.usken.no

[David A. Burgess]

David -

I personally believe that GSM is the best candidate technology low-
cost rural service, given an implementation of the network that is
properly adapted to the application. The problems with it are purely
regulatory, not technical. The core question is whether or not
governments are serious about universal service. Telcos have long
had economic excuses for limiting service and governments have
accepted those arguments. It will be interesting to see what happens
when those excuses are removed, and politics and greed will have to
be used more nakedly to maintain the current situation. I keep a blog
and I put all of my standard arguments and speeches there now:

http://openbts.blogspot.com/search/label/universal%20service

-- David

On Aug 24, 2009, at 3:37 PM, David Rowe wrote:

>
> GSM is a fine system: the handsets are cheap, and unlike Wifi it
> propagates well over long distances without line of site issues.
> Now we
> can make even GSM base stations using open source hardware and
> software
> components. The only problem is that GSM seems to attract business
> models that are too expensive for the people who really need them.
>

David A. Burgess
Kestrel Signal Processing, Inc.

[Alberto Escudero-Pascual (lists)]

Hi David B.,

As soon as you are recovered from Burning Man, we will like to hear more
about the experience, specially how did it go with more power in the base
station (LNA, Duplexer, etc).

Did the SMS server scale ok?

I am very eager to get a showcase running in a developing region. But I
will definitely like to see something of the 3 Kms radius to make a case.
Even it is a trial for a small period of time, i think it is worth to try
it out.

/aep

PD. Full credits should go to the openbts gang!! I just see the potential
of the toy. Will start working integrating with a2billing soon!

<Antoine> When it comes to backhaul we are currently considering a low
cost GSM USB gadget known as the mobigater. Giovanni from celliax.org is
completing as we talk the port of celliax to freeswitch

--
Stopping junk mailers is good for the environment

>

[David A. Burgess]

Antoine -

-- David

On Aug 25, 2009, at 3:21 AM, Antoine van Gelder wrote:

>
> -> Localized GSM network and using VOIP for backhaul to service
> providers.

OpenBTS does exactly thi already. Direct GSM->VoIP was the whole
point of the project.

>
> -> Localized VOIP network and using GSM for backhaul to service
> providers.

That's a different problem. Probably not hard with Asterisk and a
GSM modem.

>

-- David

[David Rowe]

Hi David,

You know in my ideal world anyone would be able to roll out an OpenBTS
in either urban or rural areas, and become a village telco. It's
technically feasible and with OpenBTS the capital costs are not high.
Then everyone in the world would have 1 cent phone calls.

However there are many powerful business, political, and social forces
blocking the way. Mobile phones businesses are just _sooooo_
profitable. Mobile phones are so addictive that poor people spend large
chunks of their income on service. I even see this in my daughter and
their teenage friends - 30% of their income on pre-paid mobile calls.
They _must_ have a mobile.

Hence the need for some competition. Which in my mind is what the
Village Telco/Mesh Potato is all about.

Despite using Wifi which has some disadvantages we are going to build a
competing system to GSM. In many countries the regulatory road is open
and there is a huge market for reasonably priced phone calls. My hope
is that this competition will ultimately help lower phone call costs -
no matter what technology (GSM or Village Telco/Mesh Potato) people are
using.

Cheers,

David

[meno]

hey guys did u see this equipment?

http://www.huawei.com/news/view.do?id=10843&cid=42

[Victor Grau Serrat]

Since overcoming the regulatory environment may prove the biggest
hurdle, I am curious to hear from people on this list if anyone has any
valuable input on which countries may provide the more lenient
regulation to try this out. I know this is what Alberto essentially
asked in the first place, but I would enjoy fostering the discussion on
the list if people have any thoughts.

Best,
V.


En/na David Rowe ha escrit:

[Alberto Escudero]

A good alternative is to try to obtain a license for a trial in several
countries. I wonder if this is something doable in South Africa.

Any other countries where we have the right contacts?

-aep

--
Stopping junk mailers is good for the environment

>

[Rael Lissoos]

Hi Alberto

I will pass this on to some south african telco lawyers and see what the say.

What are the spectral ranges that you can use.

Kindest
Rael

[Alberto Escudero]

The current boards seems to work better in GSM-850 and GSM-900. I am not
sure that is possible to run the toy in 1800 or 1900 Mhz.

David B?

[Mike Jensen]

Any chance of 450Mhz?
Mike

[Alexander Chemeris]

Hum, have you ever seen any phones which support this band?
From what I know there are almost no equipment which support
it.

--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.

SIPez LLC.
SIP VoIP, IM and Presence Consulting
http://www.SIPez.com
tel: +1 (617) 273-4000

[Mike Jensen]

Well after further research it seems indeed that 450Mhz has been talked
about for extended range in rural areas by Sony/Ericsson/Nokia since
2005, but almost nothing done anywhere on GSM, although much more on CDMA...
Mike

[Sjur Usken (gmail)]

Other companies also trying to "break" the licensing hurdle.... the
makers of femtocells products...
(BTW: Alberto, excellent job! )

Femtocells: Vendor adopts 'direct to consumer' sales strategy

By Paul Rasmussen Comment | Forward
In an unusual switch, the Edinburgh-based femtocell developer, HSL,
has adopted a sales strategy that involves cutting out the mobile
operator and selling the micro base station direct to the consumer.

This move, seen by some as high-risk, comes after Vodafone's launch of
its own femtocell product was received by subscribers with huge
disinterest. Also, given the marketing power of Vodafone, HSL is
strangely not attempting to undercut on price--its product, with a
rather consumer-friendly branding of HSL 2.75G, is priced very similar
to Vodafone's Home Gateway device at around €180.

However, the company claims that its femtocell can work with any
network operator, or even multiple network operators, over a user's
own broadband connection. But, to do this, HSL needs radio spectrum in
which to operate, and integration into the network-operator's back end
infrastructure--neither of which is trivial.

HSL believes it can overcome these hurdles by persuading possible
consumers to register their interest on the company's web site. Using
this, HSL plans to convince mobile operators to route calls through
their network--why they should provide this service is not detailed by
HSL.

However, MD and technical director of HSL, Mark Hay, said that the
installation and use of the network would not cost operators very much
and would allow them to manage their service better so that customers
receive the best coverage that is possible given their locations.

The company has confirmed that it is pursuing agreements with
operators in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Oceania with
regard to its femtocell product.

[Alberto Escudero]

I am not really sure of the advantages of 450 Mhz vs 850 Mhz. Link budget
is definitely better but I am not sure that Cells can get larger as there
is some limiting factors in the GSM timing.

The testbed I have builds a small Cell of 20-50 meters, enough for testing
and not bothering anyone.

The USRP board provides nice scanning features that allows you to choose a
channel that is not occupied. Picture attached for the curious!

-aep
--
Stopping junk mailers is good for the environment

>

[Alexander Chemeris]

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 12:24, Alberto Escudero<aep....@it46.se> wrote:
> I am not really sure of the advantages of 450 Mhz vs 850 Mhz. Link budget
> is definitely better but I am not sure that Cells can get larger as there
> is some limiting factors in the GSM timing.

I think they can emit less power at least, i.e. be cheaper, as amplifiers
and other RF stuff is actually much more costly then DSP part.

> The USRP board provides nice scanning features that allows you to choose a
> channel that is not occupied. Picture attached for the curious!

Yeah, I'm using this to choose ARFCN for me too :)
But I think we should rather use beacon scanner - something similar
to what mobile does when searching for BS. Then we'll be able to get
a full list of BSs and used ARFCNs nearby and choose a free one
(semi-)autoamtically.

Also one should keep in mind that sequential ARFCNs can't be used
becauase of frequency band overlap - ARFCNs are spaced by 200kHz,
but have bandwidth of 270.833kHz. I.e. if you see ARFCN 5 occupied,
you cannot use ARFCNs 4 and 6.

And, sure, you should keep in mind, that license holders still will be
very unhappy and you may get a big troubles with autorities if they
find you.

--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.

[Vickram Crishna]

[@Alex: And, sure, you should keep in mind, that license holders still will be very unhappy and you may get a big troubles with autorities if they find you.]

This 'live' testing is best done in some reasonably remote locality, which is in fact available in most countries, but almost certainly not available without a license. From what I have seen, even those countries that offer some amount of 'open license' experimental permission do not allow it in these highly commercial bands.

In India, actually, technically, any 'testing', at any frequency, can be carried out in a privately owned compound, provided the signal does not 'leak' out and attract unwanted attention. I unfortunately do not have access to a rural college/school, or else I would have suggested this be done here. 

--
Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com

[Alberto Escudero]

I am happy to let you know that FreeSWITCH route calls from OpenBTS, the
open base station based on the Universal Software Radio USRP. Yes! Calls
from a standard handset to a GSM base station connected to FreeSWITCH

If you want to read more about the idea check:
http://openbts.sourceforge.net/
http://www.it46.se/entry/380 (our effort to deploy the technology in a
developing region)

I have put a few notes for others to give it a try available here:
https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/openbts/wiki/OpenBTS/SettingUpFreeSWITCH

-aep
--
Stopping junk mailers is good for the environment

>
>

[Josselin Magloire YOUMBI]

Hi and thank Alberto,
Well thank you very mush for all what you do to develop telecommunication in the world and particular for african's country. Well let me know i can visited one of this instllation or follow workshop about this.
Am working in one similar project in Cameroon to provide universalle telecommunicaiton services for rurals zones and poors. So let me know how to deploy this praticaly.
Regards
Josselin

2009/9/17 Alberto Escudero <aep....@it46.se>

--
Josselin M YOUMBI
Ingénieur Télécoms - Reps Technique
Groupe YOCANET  - Cybervillage
PO Box. 10 207 Douala-Cameroun
Tel: +237 33 08 5272
Cell +237 99 65 3287 / 75 22 1980
yocan...@yahoo.fr

[Alberto Escudero]

Sjur just let me know that the wiki page in sourceforge is password
protected.
I will move the page to the public wiki now
http://gnuradio.org/trac/wiki/OpenBTS

Legalities!

[Alexander Chemeris]

You just need to use http instead of https to view it:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/openbts/wiki/OpenBTS/SettingUpFreeSWITCH

Btw, your site it46.se is not working for me. It can't resolve the
name, looks like some DNS failure.