Mobile Application Part

The Mobile Application Part (MAP) is an SS7 protocol which provides an application layer for
the various nodes in GSM and UMTS mobile core networks and GPRS core networks to
communicate with each other in order to provide services to mobile phone users. The Mobile
Application Part is the application-layer protocol used to access the Home Location Register,
Visitor Location Register, Mobile Switching Center, Equipment Identity Register, Authentication
Centre, Short message service center and Serving GPRS Support Node.
Facilities provided
The primary facilities provided by MAP are:
• Mobility Services: location management (roaming), authentication, managing service
subscription information, fault recovery,
• Operation and Maintenance: subscriber tracing, retrieving a subscriber's IMSI
• Call Handling: routing, managing calls whilst roaming, checking that a subscriber is
available to receive calls
• Supplementary Services
• Short Message Service
• Packet Data Protocol (PDP) services for GPRS: providing routing information for GPRS
connections
• Location Service Management Services: obtaining the location of subscribers

MAP Signaling
In mobile cellular telephony networks like GSM and UMTS the SS7 application MAP is used.
Voice connections are Circuit Switched (CS) and data connections are Packet Switched (PS)
applications.
Some of the GSM/UMTS Core Switched interfaces in the Mobile Switching Center (MSC)
transported over SS7 include the following:
B -> VLR (uses MAP/B). Most MSCs are associated with a Visitor Location Register (VLR),
making the B interface "internal".
C -> HLR (uses MAP/C) Messages between MSC to HLR handled by C Interface
D -> HLR (uses MAP/D) for attaching to the CS network and location update
E -> MSC (uses MAP/E) for inter-MSC handover
F -> EIR (uses MAP/F) for equipment identity check
H -> SMS-G (uses MAP/H) for Short Message Service (SMS) over CS

There are also several GSM/UMTS PS interfaces in the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)
transported over SS7:
Gr -> HLR for attaching to the PS network and location update
Gd -> SMS-C for SMS over PS
Gs -> MSC for combined CS+PS signaling over PS
Ge -> Charging for Customised Applications for Mobile networks Enhanced Logic (CAMEL)
prepaid charging
Gf -> EIR for equipment identity check
 INTERFACE BETWEEN DESCRIPTION
Um MS-BSS The air interface is used for
exchange between a MS & BSS
Abis BSC-BTS This is an internal interface that
links BSC & BTS,it has not
been standardized. This
interface allows control of radio
equipment and RF allocation in
the BTS
A BSS-MSC This interface is b/w BSS &
MSC.It manage the allocation
of suitable radio reources to the
MSC & Mobility Management.
It uses BSSAP
Protocols(BSSMAP & DTAP)
B MSC-VLR This handdles the signaling b/w
MSC & VLR,it uses MAP/B
protocol. Most MSC are
associated with a VLR making
the B-interface internal.
Whenever the MSC needs to
access data regarding an MS
thats is located in its area,it
interrogatesthe VLR using
MAP/B protocol over the B
interface.
C GMSC-HLR or SMSG-HLR This interface is b/w HLR or
SMSC. Each call originates
outside of Gsm(such as an MS
terminating call from the
PSTN) must go through a
gateway to obtain the routing
information that is required to
complete a call,& the MAP/C
protocol over C-interface is
used for thes purpose.Also the
MSC can optionally forward
billing information to the HLR
after call clearing.
D HLR-VLR This interface uses the MAP/D
protocol to exchange data
related to the location of the
MS & subsets of subscriber
data.
E MSC-MSC This interface connects
MSC's.This interface exchanges
 data that is related to handover
b/w the anchor and the relay
MSCs usinf the MAP/E
Protocol.this can also be used to
connect GMSC to an SMSC
F MSC-EIR This interface uses the MAP/F
protocol to verify the status of
the IMEI that the MSC
retrieved from the MS
G VLR-VLR Tis interface interconnects two
VLR's of different MSCs and
uses the MAP/G protocol to
transfer subscriber information
-for example during a location
update procedure.
H MSC-SMSG This interface is uses the
MAP/H protocol to support the
transfer of short messages.
I MSC-MS Messages exchanged over the I-
interface are transparently
relayed through the BSS

BSS-MAP-This protocol is also used to convey general BSS (Base Station System) control
information between the MSC (Mobile Switching Centre) and the BSS. An example is the
allocation of traffic channels between the MSC and the BSS.

Short message service center

A Short Message Service Center (SMSC) is a network element in the mobile telephone network
which delivers SMS messages. When a user sends a text message (SMS message) to another user,
the message gets stored in the SMSC which delivers it to the destination user when they are
available. This is a store and forward option. The Short Message Service is realised by the use of
the Mobile Application Part (MAP) of the SS#7 protocol, with Short Message protocol elements
being transported across the network as fields within the MAP messages.These MAP messages may
be transported using 'traditional' TDM based signalling, or over IP using SIGTRAN and an
appropriate adaptation layer. The Short Message protocol itself is defined by 3GPP TS 23.040 for
the Short Message Service - Point to Point (SMS-PP), and 3GPP TS 23.041 for the Cell Broadcast
Service (CBS).
Four MAP procedures are defined for the control of the Short Message Service:
• Mobile Originated (MO) short message service transfer;
• Mobile Terminated (MT) short message service transfer;
• Short message alert procedure;
• Short message waiting data set procedure.
MO short message service transfer

Call flow for the Mobile Originated short message service

The diagram to the right depicts a simplified call flow for a successful submission of a mobile
originated short message.
When the subscriber sends a short message, the handset sends the text message over the air
interface to the VMSC/SGSN. Along with the actual text of the short message, the destination
address of the SM and the address of the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC) are included, the
latter taken from the handset's configuration stored on the SIM card.
Regardless of the air interface technology, the VMSC/SGSN invokes the MAP service package
MAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE to send the text to the Interworking MSC of the
Service Centre whose address was provided by the handset. This service sends the mo-
ForwardSMa[›] MAP operation to the SMSC identified in the SM Submission from the handset,
embedded within a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) message, and transported
over the core network using the Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP).
The Interworking MSC of the SMSC, on receipt of the MAP mo-ForwardSM message, passes the
SMS-PP Application Protocol Data Unit (APDU) containing the text message to the actual Service
Centre (SC) of the SMSC for storing, and subsequent 'forwarding' (delivery) to the destination
address and the SC returns an acknowledgement indicating success or failure. On receipt of this
submission status from the Service Centre, the Interworking MSC will send an appropriate
indication back to the VMSC/SGSN of the sending subscriber. The message submission status is
then forwarded, over the air interface, to the subscriber's handset.
MT short message service transfer

Call flow for the Mobile Terminated short message service

The figure to the right depicts a call flow for Mobile Terminated short message delivery.For the
sake of simplicity, some of the interactions between the VMSC and VLR, and VMSC and Handset,
have been omitted.
When the SMSC determines it needs to attempt to deliver a short message to its destination, it will
send the SMS-PP APDU containing the text message, the 'B-Party' (destination phone number) and
other details to the Gateway MSC (GMSC) logical component on the SMSC.[2] The GMSC, on
receipt of this short message, needs to discover the location of the B-Party in order to be able to
correctly deliver the text to the recipient (the term Gateway MSC, in this context, indicating an
MSC that is obtaining routing information from the Home Location Register (HLR)). To do this, the
GMSC invokes the MAP service package MAP_SEND_ROUTING_INFO_FOR_SM, which sends
a sendRoutingInfoForSM (SRI-for-SM) MAP message to the destination number's HLR, requesting
their present location. This SRI-for-SM message may be sent to an HLR in the same network as the
SMSC, or via an interconnect to an HLR in a foreign PLMN, depending on which network the
destination subscriber belongs to.
The HLR performs a database lookup to retrieve the B-Party's current location, and returns it in an
acknowledgement message to the SMSC's GMSC entity. The current location may be the MSC
address the subscriber is currently roaming on, the SGSN address, or both. The HLR may also
return a failure, if it considers the destination to be unavailable for short messaging; see the Failed
short message delivery section below.
Having obtained the routing information from the HLR, the GMSC will attempt to deliver the short
message to its recipient. This is done by invoking the MAP_MT_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE
service, which sends a MAP mt-ForwardSMc[›] message to the address returned by the HLR,
regardless of whether it is an MSC (Circuit Switched SMS delivery) or an SGSN (Packet Switched
SMS delivery).
The VMSC will request the information needed for it to deliver the Short Message to its recipient
by sending a Send_Info_for_MT_SMS message to the VLR. The VLR will then instigate a page
request, or subscriber search, for the destination subscriber's Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number
(MSISDN), and return the result to the VMSC. Since a typical deployment sees the VLR being co-
located with the MSC, this message flow is usually internal to the platform.d[›] Should the page or
search for the subscriber fail, the VLR will indicate the failure cause to the VMSC which will abort
the Short Message delivery procedure and return the failure to the SMSC (see the Failed short
message delivery section below). If the page of the handset was successful, the VMSC will then
send the Short Message APDU, using the Direct Transfer Application Part (DTAP) carried in an
SCCP connection over the air interface to the destination, and receive an acknowledgement in
response.
Once the short message is delivered, the VMSC/SGSN will send an acknowledgement to the SMSC
indicating successful delivery. The GMSC component of the SMSC passes the result of the delivery
attempt to the Service Centre. In the case of successful delivery, the delivered text message will be
removed from the Store and Forward Engine (SFE) and, if requested, a delivery report sent to the
text originator.If the delivery failed, the SMSC invokes a retry procedure to periodically make
further attempts at delivery; additionally, it may register with the HLR to receive a notification
when the B-Party becomes available for short message delivery in the future (see the Failed short
message delivery section below).

Failed short message delivery

When the VMSC/SGSN indicates a short message delivery failure, the SMSC may send a message
to the HLR, using the MAP_REPORT_SM_DELIVERY_STATUS procedure, indicating the reason
for the delivery failure and requesting that the SMSC be put on a list of service centres wanting to
be notified when the destination party becomes available again. The HLR will set a flag against the
destination account, indicating that it is unavailable for short message delivery, and store the
SMSC's address in the Message Waiting Data (MWD) list for the destination party. Valid flags are
Mobile Not Reachable Flag (MNRF), Memory Capacity Exceeded Flag (MCEF) and Mobile Not
Reachable for GPRS (MNRG). The HLR will now start responding to SRI-for-SM requests with a
failure, indicating the failure reason, and will automatically add the requesting SMSC's address to
the MWD list for the destination party.
The HLR may be informed of a subscriber becoming available for short message delivery in several
ways:
• Where the subscriber has been detached from the network, a reattach will trigger a Location
Update to the HLR.
• Where the subscriber has been out of coverage, but not fully detached from the network, on
coming back into coverage it will respond to page requests from the Visitor Location
Register (VLR). The VLR will then send a Ready-for-SM (mobile present) message to the
HLR.
• Where the MS has had its memory full, and the subscriber deletes some texts, a Ready-for-
SM (memory available) message is sent from the VMSC/VLR to the HLR.
Upon receipt of an indication that the destination party is now ready to receive short messages, the
HLR sends an AlertSC MAP message to each of the SMSCs registered in the MWD list for the
subscriber, causing the SMSC to start the Short Message delivery process again, from the
beginning. Additionally, the SMSC will go into a retry schedule, attempting to periodically deliver
the SM without getting an alert. The retry schedule interval will depend on the original failure cause
- transient network failures will result in short retry schedule, whereas out of coverage will typically
result in a longer schedule.
MSISDN Format
An MSISDN is limited to 15 digits, prefixes not included (e.g., 00 prefixes an international
MSISDN when dialling from Sweden).
MSISDN - Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number
In GSM and its variant DCS 1800, MSISDN is built up as
MSISDN = CC + NDC + SN
CC = Country Code
NDC = National Destination Code, identifies one or part of a PLMN
SN = Subscriber Number

In the GSM variant PCS 1900, MSISDN is built up as

MSISDN = CC + NPA + SN
CC = Country Code
NPA = Number Planning Area
SN = Subscriber Number

Example
MSISDN: 79261234567
CC 7 Russia
NDC 926 MegaFon
SN 1234567 Vasily Pupkin