Synthesized frequency hopping in GSM networks: implementation and results

The slow frequency hopping (SFH) feature allows a mobile station in a GSM network to change its operation frequency from a time slot to another resulting in 217 hops per second. This technique can be applied on all traffic and signaling channels, except for the broadcast common control channel (BCCH), which must transmit on a fixed frequency in order to make possible correct RXLEV measurements for the neighbor cell mobiles based on Recommendation GSM 05.08. The SFH improves the link quality (mainly for slow moving mobiles) and increases the network capacity according to J. Charles (1998). Both simulation and measurements reveal these beneficial effects.