What is GSM Technology?

GSM is the Global System for Mobile Communications. GSM is an international digital cellular telecommunications standard. The GSM standard was released by ETSI (European Standard and Technology Institute) back in 1989. The first commercial GSM services were launched in 1991 and after its early introduction in Europe, the standard went global in 1992. Since then, GSM has become the most widely adopted and fastest-growing digital cellular standard, and it is positioned to become the world's dominant cellular standard.

Today's second-generation GSM networks deliver high quality and secure mobile voice and data services (such as SMS/Text Messaging) with full roaming capabilities across the world.

Today's GSM platform is a hugely successful wireless technology and an unprecedented story of global achievement. In less than ten years since the first GSM network was commercially launched, it became the world's leading and fastest growing mobile standard, spanning over 174 countries. Today, GSM technology is in use by more than one in ten of the world's population and growth continues to soar with the number of subscribers worldwide expected to surpass one billion by the end of 2003.

The progress hasn't stopped there. Today's GSM platform is living, growing and evolving and already offers an expanded and feature-rich 'family' of voice and data enabling services.

The GSM family of wireless communication platforms which include today's GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3GSM, fit together to create GSM - The Wireless Evolution.

The Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) network is a cellular telecommunication network with a versatile architecture complying with the ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute) GSM 900/GSM1800 standard. Siemens’ implementation is the digital cellular mobile communication system D900/1800/1900 that uses the very latest technology to meet every requirement of the standard.

Here is a typical diagram of a GSM Cellular Network.

This selection of Siemens advertising material should help to spark some new ideas for uses of GSM modules, it will give you a good idea of the scope of applications that GSM modules can be used for.

• Click on each poster below to view it full size

Other Useful Links

GSM World website http://www.gsmworld.com/index.shtml

Siemens Wireless Modules Website.