GPRS Packet Data Operations

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is the packet data evolution to GSM. It supports the capability to efficiently provide packet data services to subscribers over the existing GSM air interface. GPRS also provides a new packet data network that supports the subscriber’s packet data services. This course discusses the key procedures that are performed in the GPRS packet data network, including those that are performed by the mobile to make its presence known in the network, to initiate a data session and to deactivate the data session. A step-by-step analysis of different packet data operations is included in the course. The GPRS protocol stack is explained in order to show the roles of the different protocols in packet data operations. The course also discusses the issue of addressing in GPRS networks. As the GPRS network is an IP based network, the details of how information flows between the different GPRS components are described in detail. The concepts of the data session establishment are solidified with a series of real-world examples.