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Introduction
Short message service is a mechanism of delivery of short messages over the mobile networks. It is a store and forward way of transmitting messages to and from mobiles. The message (text only) from the sending mobile is stored in a central short message center (SMS) which then forwards it to the destination mobile. This means that in the case that the recipient is not available, the short message is stored and can be sent later. Each short message can be no longer than 160 characters. These characters can be text (alphanumeric) or binary Non-Text Short messages. An interesting feature of SMS is return receipts. This means that the sender, if wishes, can get a small message notifying if the short message was delivered to the intended recipient. Since SMS used signaling channel as opposed to dedicated channels, these messages can be sent/received simultaneously with the voice/data/fax service over a GSM network. SMS supports national and international roaming. This means that you can send short messages to any other GSM mobile user around the world. With the PCS networks based on all the three technologies, GSM, CDMA and TDMA supporting SMS, SMS is more or less a universal mobile data service.
à Note The actual limit of size of SMS is 160 characters if Latin alphabets are used. If non-Latin alphabets like Chinese or Arabic are used, the limit is 70 characters.
How does SMS work
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The figure below shows a typical organization of network elements in a GSM network supporting SMS.
The SMC (Short Message Center) is the entity, which does the job of store and forward of messages to and from the mobile station. The SME (Short Message Entity), which can be located in the fixed network or a mobile station, receives and sends short messages.
The SMS GWMS (SMS gateway MSC) is a gateway MSC that can also receive short messages. The gateway MSC is a mobile network's point of contact with other networks. On receiving the short message from the short message center, GMSC uses the SS7 network to interrogate the current position of the mobile station form the HLR, the home location register.
HLR is the main database in a mobile network. It holds information of the subscription profile of the mobile and also about the routing information for the subscriber, i.e. the area (covered by a MSC) where the mobile is currently situated. The GMSC is thus able to pass on the message to the correct MSC.
MSC (Mobile Switching Center) is the entity in a GSM network, which does the job of switching connections between mobile stations or between mobile stations and the fixed network.
A VLR (Visitor Location Register) corresponds to each MSC and contains temporary information about the mobile, information like mobile identification and the cell (or a group of cells) where the mobile is currently situated. Using information form the VLR the MSC is able to switch the information (short message) to the corresponding BSS (Base Station System, BSC + BTS's), which transmits the short message to the mobile. The BSS consists of transceivers, which send and receive information over the air interface, to and from the mobile station. This information is passed over the signaling channels so the mobile can receive messages even if a voice or data call is going on.
To use the Short Message Service, users need the relevant subscriptions and hardware, specifically
Ø A subscription to a mobile telephone network that supports SMS
Ø Use of SMS must be enabled for that user (automatic access to the SMS is given by some mobile network operators, others charge a monthly subscription and require a specific opt-in to use the service)
Ø A mobile phone that supports SMS
Ø Knowledge of how to send or read a short message using their specific model of mobile phone
Ø Destination to send a short message to, or receive a message from. This is usually another mobile phone but may be a fax machine, PC or Internet address.
Applications
Some of the common applications of SMS are
· Exchanging small messages like See you at 8.0 tonight at xyz. SMS is particularly suited for these kinds of short messages because SMS is much cheaper than calling some one and giving the same message. Calling some one to give the same message would invariably take more time and hence more cost.
· Many operators offer e-mail service over SMS. Every user is assigned an e-mail address at signup and any message delivered to that email is converted to short messages and delivered to the mobile.
· It is possible to send e-mail messages (less than 160 characters) from a mobile phone to any e-mail address via SMS.
· Information services like news, weather, entertainment and stock prices etc. can be availed just by sending a keyword like NEWS, WEATH etc to the short message center number.
· SMS can be used by the network operators to provide services like balance enquiry in case of prepaid cards using SMS.
· Mobile chatting is one more hot application of SMS
· SMS can be used to notify users that they have received new voice-mail or fax messages.
· It provides an alternative to alphanumeric paging services
· Using SIM-Toolkit, now a part of GSM specifications, SMS can be used to have on the air activation of features. By sending codes embedded in short messages from the server network operators can remotely provision the users wireless terminal
· Internet e-mail alerts.
· Downloading new ring tones.
Limitations of SMS
There is no doubt that SMS has been very popular. The figures in the section above support this. What is more interesting to observe is that this popularity has been in spite of many limitations of SMS. Many of these limitations are the driving force behind the developments and initiatives being taken in the field of short messaging. Some of the limitations of SMS are
· Messages are plain vanilla in nature. You can only send simple text messages. There is no scope for any graphics or audio.
However
As mentioned in the next section EMS would help fill this gap.
· The messages are limited by size. An SMS message can't exceed 160 characters. (BTW this limitation is due to the limitation in the MAP protocol in GSM) In case of longer e-mails or information service messages like news, the messages need to broken down into more than one message. The need to break the messages into several smaller segments could make SMS comparatively costlier in comparison to GPRS (for the same kind of service). Also, This doesn't look very appealing on a mobile device!
However
MMS (talked about later) would remove the limitation of small messages
· The limitation of easy input mechanisms in mobile devices makes it very uncomfortable sending messages larger than even 5-6 words.
However
Predictive text input algorithms implemented in a mobile phone can greatly help. Voice recognition systems can further help ease the situation
· SMS operators use many proprietary protocols and application developers need to implement different interfaces for making their applications work with different SMS centers. X.5 is used as a popular protocol for connecting with SMS centers.
· SMS protocol data units as defined in GSM 0.40 are also not very efficient. The various header fields in the PDU are fixed which puts a constraint on the scenarios that can be indicated. G specifications are being looked up to look and address these constraints.
· Data rate and latency. GPRS and USSD provide better data rates and lower latency compared to SMS. This is because SMS uses the slow signaling channel, which is used for many other things also in GSM.
However
MMS will use data channels and hence higher rates and lower latency.
· The store and forward nature of SMS, though useful in many applications makes SMS not very suitable for WAP
Initiatives and future developments
SMS is a first generation GSM service. As described in the previous section, SMS has some inherent limitations. The majority of these are to do with the fact that SMS is plain vanilla in nature. Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) is a mechanism by which you can send a comparatively richer message that are combination of text, simple melodies, pictures (simple, black and white) and animations to an EMS compliant handset. The service is very much based on the existing SMS. It basically extends the User Data Header (UDH) in SMS (UDH makes it possible to include binary information in the message header) and infact needs no upgrade to the network infrastructure. The handsets however need to be EMS compliant. The first EMS handsets should be available by mid of 001.
à In EMS there are 10 different predefined sounds including low and high chimes and chords, Ding, TaDa, Claps, Drum and Notify.
à EMS standards are a part of rd Generation Partnership Project (GPP) technical specification G TS .040, Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS)
The next step in the evolution of SMS, which requires substantial changes in the network infrastructure, is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) that allows a combination of text, sounds, images and video. MMS will support pictures and interactive video. It will be possible, for example, to send mobile greeting cards and visiting cards using MMS. MMS uses standardized protocols like WAP, MExE and SMTP. While EMS requires content reformatting for mobile devices, there is no such requirement for MMS. Theoretically MMS may run on any bearer service, but practically it would require GPRS or G bearer services before it starts appearing. AS opposed to SMS, MMS needs a dedicated channel. It would also require new network elements like Multimedia Messaging Relays, MMS Server and MMS User Databases. While MMS trials have been planned in mid 001, the first MMS compliant handsets are expected to hit the market only in end 00. MMS is being standardized by the GPP
à According to GPP standards MMS is a new service, which has no direct equivalent in the previous ETSI/GSM world or in the fixed network world.
SMS, WAP, and GPRS?
Where does SMS go with services like WAP and GPRS? Well, The first thing to understand is that SMS is a bearer service. It is a mechanism of sending short messages. WAP provides the user with services and protocols that can be used on top of SMS. With the increased use of WAP, the SMS traffic in networks should see considerable increase.
GPRS, on the other hand, is a packet based data service that provides much higher throughput. Unlike SMS, it provides a real time data bearer. The users always stay connected to the network. But GPRS and SMS don't really compete with each other in the real sense. The costs involved in sending small messages for an end user in case of SMS are expected to be lower than that in GPRS (packet data) service because the responsibility for sending the message to the recipient in case of SMS lies entirely on the short message center as opposed to the user in GPRS. In GPRS there is no concept of storage. Confirmation of delivery is a unique feature of SMS because of the very nature of short message service. Simultaneous transmission with GSM voice, data, and fax services is another distinguishing characteristic of SMS.
True, GPRS will be a much better option to use for services like WAP, but the availability of GPRS and GPRS-compliant handsets will take some time to pickup. Also, SMS needs no special network elements and handsets. It is something that almost every mobile user has and can use to send messages to any other mobile user without worrying about the capabilities of that mobile and its network!
Conclusions
SMS, because of its very nature has unique advantages that other non-voice services do not have. It provides a very convenient method of exchanging small bits of information between mobile users. The reasons for the enormous popularity of SMS have been the fact that this mechanism of sending and receiving messages not only saves time but costs less as well. In many situations one is relatively much more comfortable sending a message via SMS than talking over phone. With new information services and unique value added services being used by the operators the popularity of SMS is increasing further. SMS is also uniquely positioned as a very attractive advertisement medium. SMS should no longer be treated as a value added service in mobile networks. SMS is not only providing a useful mechanism for a host of innovative services over mobile networks but it acting as a point of entry for new data services like WAP in mobile networks.
Abbreviations
SMTP Simple Mail Transport Protocol
MexE Mobile station application execution environment
WAP Wireless Application Protocol
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GPP Third Generation Partnership Program
MAP Mobile Application Part
TDMA Time division multiple access
CDMA Code division multiple access
An Introduction to the Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS)
Ø The Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) is the ability to send ring tones and operator logos and other simple visual messages to EMS capable handsets and additionally the ability to send and receive a combination of simple media such as melodies, pictures, sounds, animations, modified text and standard text as an integrated message for display on an EMS compliant handset.
Ø The Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) is a standard developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (GPP) to embrace and extend the ability to send ringtones and operator logos and other simple visual messages to EMS capable handsets and additionally the ability to send and receive a combination of simple media such as melodies, pictures, sounds, animations, modified text and standard text as an integrated message for display on an EMS compliant handset. There are many different potential combinations of these media. For example, when an exclamation mark appears in the enhanced message, a melody could be played. A simple black and white image could be displayed along with some text and this sound effect. As such, EMS has two main applications person-to-person messaging and phone personalization.
Ø New phones supporting EMS are needed. Support for EMS is widespread amongst terminal manufacturers such as Ericsson, Alcatel, Siemens and Motorola.
Ø However, network modifications to support EMS are minimized. Extending the use of the long established and widely used User Data Header (UDH) common in SMS has standardized the Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS). The UDH makes it possible to include binary data in a normal short message prior the text message itself. EMS is an enhancement to SMS but is very similar to SMS in terms of using the store and forward SMS Centers, the signaling channel and the like to realize EMS. EMS has little or no impact on today's SMS Centers. The introduction of EMS should be totally transparent to SMS Centers since they already support the User Data Header. This is a key advantage to EMS- the fact that network operators need make no additional investments to SMS Centers or network infrastructure providing their networks already support binary 8 bit messaging and unless EMS message volumes mean investment in new SMS Center capacity. The principal modification to existing SMS Centers would be in the case that mobile network operators wanted to charge differently for EMS- in such a case, the SMS Center would need to record the relevant technical values and generate Call Detail Records for billing purposes accordingly. Some network operators have indeed started investigating whether they can change their charging policy for EMS compared with SMS. They would like to charge for one enhanced message, instead of several SMS. One EMS can be made up of several short messages.
Ø Initially, EMS will be like smart messaging in terms of user trends. In other words, people will use websites and premium rate services to request a ring tone or operator logo for their phone. In such cases, how many other EMS capable phones that are out there is largely irrelevant- all that matters is that the individual wants to participate in the whole cool ringtones services world. In the later stages, as EMS devices ship from several vendors in large volumes, EMS transactions will start to involve person-to-person messaging, like SMS. People will use the ability to add simple media extensions to EMS as a means to send more creative and interesting text messages to each other. This later person-to-person capability is what EMS was originally designed for, unlike Smart Messaging that only supports the forwarding of picture messages from phone to phone.
Ø The sender of an enhanced message composes the message on their EMS compliant device. The EMS user who decides when or where to insert other media such as pictures or sounds can enter text. In practice, it will be challenging to design an intuitive user interface for enhanced message composition from a handset, which may only be able to store a few basic images. Some handset vendors believe that the majority of the enhanced messages will be created directly in the phones because nowadays, even the low-end phones have relatively large displays. Early indicators are however that the picture editors in EMS phones are difficult to use, hence composition of enhanced messages is likely to therefore be principally something that is driven from Internet sites.
Ø If an enhanced message is sent to a handset that does not support EMS there might well be a problem because EMS messages may be binary encoded and legacy phones might fail to display those EMS messages at all. In the case of an alternate textual representation of EMS data and corresponding user data headers, the message would show garbage text fragments making no sense to the recipient. This is exactly what happens when you send a Nokia smart message to a non-Nokia handset today. Non-binary EMS messages sent to a non-EMS handset (e.g. EMS messages containing text formatting but not pictures or animations) may well be displayed as plain text, depending on handset vendor implementations. The current GPP standards do not currently require non-EMS handsets to implement filters that help render incoming EMS as normal text messages. This example also illustrates the need for an intelligent converter that helps to represent a message with enhanced text formatting in a way suitable for legacy, non-EMS handsets.
What is WAP?
Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson and the US software company Phone.com (formerly Unwired Planet) were the initial partners that teamed up to develop and deploy the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is an attempt to define the standard for how content from the Internet is filtered for mobile communications. WAP was developed because content is now readily available on the Internet, and there needs to be a way of making it easily available to mobile terminals. One of the reasons why the mobile industry has got so excited about WAP is because it combines two of the fastest growing industries wireless and the Internet.
The Wireless Application Protocol is a protocol designed for use with · Any existing or planned wireless service such as SMS, Circuit Switched Data, Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)· Any mobile network standard such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobiles (GSM), or Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS)
The Wireless Application Protocol incorporates a relatively simple micro-browser into the mobile phone. As such, WAP's requirement for only limited resources on the mobile phone makes it suitable for today's standard small screened handsets. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is designed to add value-added services by putting the intelligence in the WAP servers whilst adding just a micro-browser to the mobile phones themselves. Microbrowser-based services and applications reside temporarily on servers, not permanently in phones. The Wireless Application Protocol is aimed at turning a mass-market mobile phone into a network-based smartphone.
The Wireless Application Protocol embraces and extends the previously conceived and developed wireless data protocols such as the technology developed by Phone.com (formerly Unwired Planet) and Nokia's Smart Messaging.
This technology has been incorporated into WAP- and renamed using some of the many WAP-related acronyms such as WMLS, WTP and WSP. Someone with a WAP-compliant phone uses the in-built micro-browser to make a request in for information or service. This request is passed to a WAP Gateway that then retrieves the information from a Internet server either in standard HTML format or preferably directly prepared for wireless terminals using Wireless Markup Language (WML). If the content being retrieved is in HTML format, a filter in the Wireless Application Protocol Server may try to translate it into WML. The requested information is then sent from the WAP Gateway to the WAP client, using whatever mobile network bearer service is available and most appropriate.
The rhetoric about the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) has finally given way to the reality as mobile network operators have realized that there is little money to be made or competitive advantage to be gained from WAP today - everyone (and we mean everyone) is doing it - and very few are doing it with any impact or innovation (everyone is doing the same tired services we have seen before and all through Internet portals
Somehow WAP, a mere protocol, a means to an end, got elevated it into an end in itself. Many IT companies, financial analysts, advertising agencies and web design agencies were sucked into the whole full Mobile Internet access myth and over-promised and under-delivered The lessons from WAP do not bode well for the mobile data revolution that we all anticipate. Lots of people have been misled and lots of claims have been exaggerated but no real damage has been done. We will get to the Mobile Internet but need to be full and frank in making people clear of the current limitations of mobile devices.
The mobile communications industry itself should have known better but then data is a new thing and everyone was looking for a way to make it successful to get Circuit Switched Data traffic up and make information services a success finally. Some pundits are joking that the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) really should be renamed Where Are the Phones! Network operators and retailers are finding it hard to get large volumes of working WAP phones.
Unfortunately, mention of customers has been neglected in the whole WAP story - the phones, tariffs, service configuration and provisioning, service access and all other elements of the value chain have been disregarded. For example
· It is very difficult to configure WAP phones for new WAP services, with 0 or so different parameters needing to be entered to gain access to a WAP service. Only the Nokia 7110 can be programmed over the air to take the burden of WAP service configuration away from the user. This is described in details for the Nokia 7110 and Motorola L series in the new edition of Data on WAP, published by Mobile Streams in December 1. Many operators are working with phone manufacturers to receive their WAP phones with their WAP Gateway settings preprogrammed.· WAP is a protocol that runs on top of an underlying bearer. None of the existing GSM bearers for WAP - the Short Message Service (SMS), Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) and Circuit Switched Data (CSD) are optimized for WAP. The forthcoming General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) with its immediacy and packet transport and new tariffing models is a more ideal bearer. The TDMA standards body designed a new bearer called GUTS especially for use with WAP services.· WAP services are expected to be expensive to use since the tendency is to be on-line for a long Circuit Switched Data (CSD) call since features such as interactivity and selection of more information are used by the end user. It takes several short messages to send one piece of information through WAP. Without specific tariff initiatives, there are likely to be some bill-shocked and surprised WAP users when they see their mobile phone bill for the first time after starting using WAP, even if their user experience was good.· The WAP standard is incomplete, with key elements such as Push (proactive sending of information to mobile devices) and wireless telephony (updating address reports and the like) not yet standardized (they will be standardized in WAP 1., due for standardization in late 1 and first implementation in Spring 000). Proprietary push protocols from the likes of Phone.com could complicate implementation of Push.· There are many WAP Gateway vendors out there competing against each other with largely the same standardized product. This has led to consolidation such as the pending acquisition of APiON by Phone.com.· Other protocols such as SIM Application Toolkit and Mobile Station Application Execution Environment (MExE) are respectively already widely supported or designed to supercede WAP. It will be interesting to see how all these protocols handle convergence with the forthcoming new open Internet standard XML.
It might have been better to wait until WAP 1. and GPRS are implemented before launching WAP services commercially. Plans for updating the WAP 1.1 phones that are now being sold to WAP 1. are unclear. Have these issues even been considered? We think we know why customers have been ignored by the WAP Forum having attended the proceedings at the WAP Forums meeting in London in the summer of 1. The WAP Forum is divided into Experts Groups who sit around and discuss arcane technical details in mind numbing detail. You might think that the Marketing Experts Group would be interested in customers and keeping the proceedings customer centric but no, it turns out that all they are interested in is how many press articles have been written about WAP. We didnt hear the word customer once during the proceedings.
We certainly think that WAP WILL BE important to enable the smooth transition from one bearer to another such as the migration of existing applications to GPRS. We are certainly at a crossroads in mobile communications as we move from voice to non-voice centric services. We have a lot to learn from WAP and other services. Within 18 months, all new mobile phones will support WAP, but how many subscribers will there be?Please note that this sample paper on Short Message Service: What, How and Where? is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Short Message Service: What, How and Where?, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom college papers on Short Message Service: What, How and Where? will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
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