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GSM SIM BOX –SERVER

GSM GATEWAY

Case Study For Police

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• Overview

• TOPEX SIM Server Architecture

• Architecture components

• TOPEX SIM Server features

• Alarms and statistics

• Advantages

• Redundancy mechanism

• Power supply autonomy

Content

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Overview• Manages the SIM allocation without the need of human intervention by

gathering the SIM cards in a central location

• Virtual allocation of SIM cards – any SIM card stored in the SIM Box may be dynamically assigned to any GSM channel of any TOPEX gateway

• SIM cards organized into logical groups named SIM Pools

• Mobile modules organized into logical groups named GSM Pools

• Remote recharging from the web based interface of the prepaid SIM cards

• The administration and maintenance is achieved from the password protected web based interface

• The information is exchanged via IP connection:– Necessary bandwidth 64kbps– Roundtrip delay between SIM Server/box and GSM GW should be

bellow 800ms

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TOPEX SIM Server architecture

IP Network

2G/3G Networks

Remote OAM

TOPEX SIM Server

TOPEX SIM Box 10

TOPEX SIM Box 1

Cellular Gateway

2G/3G Networks

2G/3G Networks

LAN

10 GSM ch

4 GSM ch

30 GSM ch

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Architecture components• TOPEX SIM Server – a central device manager which administrate

several SIM Boxes and GSM Gateways– One SIM Server can manage 10 SIM boxes – more than 5000

SIMs!

• TOPEX SIM Box – storage device which contains up to 512 SIM cards

on a single equipment

• TOPEX VoiBridge – Cellular Gateway – up to 4 GSM / UMTS channels – available with FXO, BRI, PRI and VoIP trunks

• TOPEX Qutex – Cellular Gateway – up to 20 GSM / UMTS channels – available with FXO, BRI, PRI and VoIP trunks

• TOPEX multiAccess – Cellular Gateway – up to 64 GSM/UMTS channels

• OAM PC – web based administration, operation and maintenance interface

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TOPEX SIM Server features• Each SIM can have:

– Maximum “talk-time” per day and Maximum “talk-time” per month• Why?

– Avoid extra-usage of a SIM - improve network test reliability

• Algorithms for choosing a SIM:– Talk time - the SIM with minimum talk time will be offered– Nr of calls - the SIM with the minimum number of calls will be offered– Last usage - the SIM which has the longest idle state– Credit - the SIM which the maximum credit value will be offered

• Why?– To do load-balancing between the SIMs. One does not want to use some

SIMs more and some less. They have to be used approximately equally – establish a constant use of SIM cards during tests

• Generate SIM “travel” in GSM Gateways located in different places– SIMS can be allocated to modules in one gateway and then programmed to

move to modules in another gateway

Why?● Multiple gateways can use minutes from the same SIM – test the availability of network to handle the SIM

cards movement

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Alarms and statistics

• Real time alarming system

• Alarms sent through SMS or E-Mail in case of:

– malfunction SIM cards

– failed connection between system components

– low ASR and ACD

– insufficient SIM cards in a SIM pool

• Advanced statistics – report system on SIM, SIM Pool, GSM Pool, gateway, operator

• CDR generation - text file with details such as: equipment name, card and port number, provider, IMSI code, number of calls or talk time

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TOPEX VoiBridge

• VoIP to GSM / UMTS small capacity gateway

• SIM Server ready – work with TOPEX SIM Server

• Capacity– 2 up to 4 channels VoIP to GSM gateway– 2 up to 4 channels VoIP to UMTS gateway

• 1 SIM card per GSM channel

• SIP and H.323 supported – any to any conversion

• Mobile frequencies covered:– GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz– UMTS: 850/1900/2100 MHz

• Configurable alarms by e-mail, SMS or phone call in case of low ASR or hardware failures

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TOPEX Qutex

• VoIP PRI GSM / UMTS medium capacity probe

• Capacity:– Up to 10 or 20 GSM/UMTS channels– 5 plug-in boards with 2 or 4 GSM/UMTS channels per each board

• Up to 4 SIM cards for each GSM / UMTS channel

• SIM Server ready – can be used with TOPEX SIM Server

• Frequencies covered:– GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz– UMTS: 850/1900/2100 MHz

• Configurable alarms by e-mail, SMS or phone call in case of low ASR or hardware failures

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• VoIP PRI GSM / UMTS large capacity probe

• Capacity:– Up to 32 or 64 GSM/UMTS channels– 16 plug-in boards with 2 or 4 GSM/UMTS channels per each board

• Up to 4 SIM cards for each GSM / UMTS channel

• SIM Server ready – can be used with TOPEX SIM Server

• Frequencies covered:– GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz– UMTS: 850/1900/2100 MHz

• Configurable alarms by e-mail, SMS or phone call in case of low ASR or hardware failures

TOPEX multiAccess

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IP

Solution without SIM Server

TOPEX VoiBridge

TOPEX VoiBridge

GSM Network

NOCReplace SIM

Traffic generator through

GSM Network

GSM Network

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GSM Network

Mobile Users

SIM allocation

SIM cards storage box – 512 SIM cards/boxTOPEX

SIM Server TOPEX SIM Box

IPNetwork

Remote OAM

SIM server aplication

IP PBX

H323 or SIP

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Branch 1

IP PBX

H323 or SIP

Branch 2IP PBX

H323 or SIP

Branch n

Solution diagram

Central Location

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Solution description

• The solution includes several remote locations and a central location

• In each remote location will be installed a TOPEX GSM Gateway equipment – between 4 and 32 channels GSM Gateway

• The GSM Gateway will be connected to the company IP PBX through SIP or H.323 trunks

• The calls to the GSM network from the sites will be routed through the GSM Gateway equipment in order to cut the costs of the calls from fixed to mobile

• In the central location will be installed the SIM Server and the SIM Box equipments

• All the SIM cards will be stored in the central location

• The remote locations will not include SIM cards in the GSM Gateways

• The allocation of SIM cards will be made remotely from the central location to all remote sites

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How it works

TOPEX VoiBridge TOPEX VoiBridge

GSM Network

Mobile User

SIM request

SIM allocation

NOC

TOPEX SIM Server TOPEX

SIM Box

SIM request

SIM allocation

IP

GSM Network

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TOPEX SIM Server advantages

• All SIM cards used are virtually stored and managed in a single central “SIM SERVER”

• All SIM cards are physically stored in SIM Boxes located at client premises

• The SIM server allocates the SIM cards remotely, via an IP connection - avoids expensive and time-consuming trips for on site SIM card replacement and recharging

• The GSM modem has access to the remote SIM via a GSM terminal adapter/SIM emulator

• Flexible SIM allocation, according to tariff plans of the mobile carriers (advanced LCR)

• No need for human intervention to change SIMs manually

• Different algorithms for SIM selection; flexible SIM timer settings (minute, hour, day)

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Redundancy mechanism I

• The SIM Server solution includes a central storage system – SIM Box equipment with SIM cards

• The remote locations contains 4 channels GSM Gateways – TOPEX VoiBridge

• The allocation of the SIMs is made remotely from the SIM Server application

• The first redundancy mechanism consist in local SIM cards installed in the GSM Gateways – additional to the SIM cards located in the SIM Box

• The communication between the SIM Box and the remote gateways contains a Keep Alive Mechanism on the TCP/IP connection

• When the TCP/IP connection is broken the Keep Alive mechanism signals the malfunction between the gateways and the SIM Box

• The remote gateways will automatically use the local SIM cards instead of SIM Box cards

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Central storage for SIM cards

TOPEX SIM Server TOPEX

SIM Box

IPNetwork

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Redundancy mechanism I diagramCentral

Location

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Keep alive mechanism – no connection

between the GW and the SIM Box

X

TCP/IP connection is

down

XX

VoiBridge will use only the local SIM

cards

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Redundancy mechanism II• The second redundancy mechanism implies the use of 2 or several SIM Box storage equipments

which allows the distribution of SIM cards

• Instead of using a single SIM Box for storage, the SIM cards are distributed in 2 or several boxes with an additional redundancy purpose

• Each GSM module from the remote GSM Gateways will have assigned 2 SIM cards – one SIM card from SIM Box 1 and one SIM card from SIM Box 2

• The SIM cards from the SIM Box 1 will have attached a higher priority than the SIM cards from SIM Box 2

• When the SIM Box 1 is unavailable the GSM module can not use anymore the SIM card with higher priority. In this case the GSM module from the remote GSM Gateway will use the SIM card with a lower priority located in the second SIM Box

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SIM Server

IPNetwork

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Redundancy mechanism II diagramCentral

Location

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

SIM Box 2SIM Box 1

SIM Box 1 malfunction

SIM Cards distribution in SIM Box 1 and

SIM Box 2

High Priority

Low Priority

GSM module uses the SIM card

with high priority

GSM module will use the SIM card

with a lower priority

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SIM Server

IPNetwork

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Redundancy mechanism II diagramCentral

Location

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

SIM Box redundant

SIM Box 2

SIM Box 2 malfunction

SIM Cards distribution in SIM Box 1 and

SIM Box 2

High Priority

Low Priority

GSM module uses the SIM card

with high priority

GSM module will use the SIM card

with a lower priority

SIM Box 1 SIM Box 3

TOPEX multiAccess

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Redundancy mechanism III

• The third redundancy mechanism includes the possibility to use empty SIM Box equipments with the same IP address with the operational one

• When the operational SIM Box equipment fails or it is damaged, the client can use the other SIM Box equipments

• The client need to extract manually the boards with SIM cards from the damaged SIM Box and to insert them in the new SIM Box

• This mechanism will require some time for SIM cards movement but will resolve the problem which can appear in the case of a unusable central SIM storage box

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SIM Server

IPNetwork

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

Redundancy mechanism III diagramCentral

Location

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

TOPEX VoiBridg

e

SIM Box 2SIM Box 1

SIM Box 1 malfunction

SIM Cards movement from SIM Box 1

to SIM Box 2

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Power consume• For power supply back-up autonomy for TOPEX equipments we recommend UPS systems

• The consumed power for each equipment provided by TOPEX is detailed in the table below:

• According to equipments installed in each location the UPS can be dimensioned in order to achieve the required capacity by the Turkish Police

TOPEX Equipment Consumed power (Watts)

SIM Server (HP Proliant PC Server) 250

SIM Box – 512 SIM cards 60

VoiBridge – 4 GSM channels 40

Qutex – 10 GSM channels 60

multiAccess – 30 GSM channels 90

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UPS autonomy• For instance if the central location 1 SIM Server unit, 1 SIM Box unit and 1 multiAccess the

consumed power is about 400 W (250 + 60 + 90) which means around 560 VA

• By using an UPS system with 2200 VA (2,2 KVA) the autonomy for the equipments installed in the central location will be around 1.5 hours. In case of using a larger capacity UPS, for instance 5KVA the power supply autonomy will increase to 3 hours.

• The central location where the SIM Box and SIM Server will be installed has the highest power consume. For the other sites which includes 1 VoiBridge, Qutex or multiAccess the power supply autonomy is detailed below:

Equipment name VoiBridge Qutex multiAccess

Consumed power 40 W 60 W 90 W

Autonomy for 1 KVA UPS 3h 3h 1h 40m

Autonomy for 3 KVA UPS 8h 50m 8h 5h 30m

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Contact www.birtel.com.tr info@birtel.com.tr Tel +90 312 442 56 02 Fax +90 312 442 56 03Address Abidin Daver Sk.  No:7/11   Çankaya - Ankara Türkiye

Birtel Network Technologies