856

OpenBTS Based Microtelecom Model:A Socio-

Economic Boon To Rural Communities

Neethu Prasannan, Gintu Xavier, Akhil Manikkoth Gandhiraj R*, Rakesh Peter, Soman K.P
Centre for Excellence in Computational Engg &Networking Centre for Excellence in Computational Engg &Networking
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, *Department of Electronics & Communication
Coimbatore, India Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham,
neethu.prasannan89@gmail.com Coimbatore, India

Abstract— This paper proposes a low cost, low power,

reconfigurable and flexible Open BTS (Base Transceiver Station)
model based on SDR (Software Defined Radio) using USRP. A
microtelecom model serves people at the “bottom of the pyramid”
along with ensuring the ROI (Return on Investment) for MNO’s
(Mobile Network Operators). Thus a new telecom revolution that
clubs Microtelecom business model with Open BTS concept would
positively affect the socio-economic progress of rural communities,
thereby ensuring the overall growth of developing nations. The
success of a proposed model of this kind would encourage
government to take initiatives and confidently invest on policies that
would benefit the low-waged and less-privileged rural communities.

Keywords— Microtelecom, Open BTS, SDR, USRP.

I. INTRODUCTION Figure 1: Microtelecom business ecosystem

Digital mobile radio networks are currently being incomes and thus self-esteem status and government policies.
designed and deployed around the world. Its introduction and This in-turn leads to more productivity in rural areas which
expansion will greatly influence industry and the way people indirectly impacts the .
use communication and information services. However, rural
This model minimizes the risk of large urban operators
connectivity has long been an area of business that the MNO’s
deploying in rural areas. The microtelecom ecosystem ensures
have engaged wearily due to low population density and low
the operators that, they get financial (USO/Bank), technical
ROI for infrastructure deployment. Until recently,
(infrastructure provider) and management (rural entrepreneur)
telecommunication in rural areas in developing countries has
services (depicted in figure 1). Such a model can be realized
been mainly driven by government policy and initiatives. Rural
using OpenBTS -a low cost alternative to the high end cellular
teledensity is still very poor and can be improved through the
networks that relies on Software Defined Radio (SDR) and
introduction of appropriate modern technology along with the
open-source solutions to provide free local and cheap long
participation of private sector licenses.
distance communication for remote areas.
Microtelecom – is a business model that optimizes
telecom infrastructure for a very specific application serving II. OPENBTS
low income, hard-to-reach communities in rural areas whereby
OpenBTS is a software implementation of complete
it increases the telecom penetration level. Characteristic
cellular GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication)
features of this model are: low cost, low power, ease of
protocol stack. OpenBTS relies on SDR for transmission and
deployment, near zero maintenance and flexibility. This model
reception of signals in GSM bands. It serves the entire
holds mutual benefit to both the user and the operator.
functionalities of existing GSM technology. GSM is one of the
The model holds the promise of mainstreaming the most acceptable telecommunication standard all over the
rural areas; a necessity to bring about inclusive and sustainable world. Various functions of GSM are distributed over multiple
growth of a country. The increased connectivity helps the rural components such as BSC (Base Transceiver Station), MSC
communities to get updates about the current socio-economic (Mobile Switching Center), HLR (Home Location Register)
overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The telecom spread and VLR (Visitor Location Register).
helps people at the bottom of the pyramid to attain voice, higher

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Figure 2: OpenBTS Architecture

OpenBTS replaces these various bulky and complex The rural areas where the model is to be deployed is
hardware components in GSM by a single hardware called divided into multiple cells (microcells) based on the spatial
USRP and open source software. USRP act as base transceiver layout of the area and the power capability of the BTS used.
station in OpenBTS. Either USRP-1 or USRP-2 can be used. Each microcell will be provided with a separate BTS. USRP-2
USRP transmits/receives GSM signals and all the signal connected to a suitable antenna acts as the BTS for the
processing is done in OpenBTS software running in a general proposed model. This model facilitates SMS, voice call and
purpose PC. OpenBTS services include message sensing and VOIP. Asterisk is the entity that offers voice calls and VOIP.
call connectivity. Message sending and call connection within Each microcell may or may not have its own asterisk. This
the network is little bit easy task. But for connecting to other model offers services within (intra) and between (inter)
GSM network, we need VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). microcells. Each microcell users can communicate among
So we can route calls to other network, only if OpenBTS themselves through its BTS at ease. Intra cell connectivity is
network is connected to any network. For establishing a call, possible through VOIP.
OpenBTS uses PBX (Private Branch Exchange) servers
implemented in Asterisk Server package. Asterisk an open
source framework with a complete PBX software in linux
platform and it does PBX call switching. Call management and
call routing is done by asterisk server. It contains databases of
all the subscribers registerd in OpenBTS network. To extend
the coverage multiple BTS are connected through local
wireless networks. Connectivity between mobile stations and
BTS ( USRP ) is through wireless and various BTS are
connected to asterisk through WiFi routers. Various asterisk
processors are interconnected (wired).

III. SYSTEM DEPLOYMENT MODEL

A rural entrepreneur with amble aid from government

(refer figure 1) can successfully deploy a Microtelecom model
based on OpenBTS and can attain ROI in a short run. A Figure 3.OpenBTS Base Station using USRP-2 @ Amrita
proposed practically deployable model of OpenBTS is as CEN Lab
shown in figure 4.

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Figure 5: OpenBTS microtelecom model Steps for compiling OpenBTS:

1. cd OpenBTS/public trunk
IV. LAB SET-UP 2. sudo ./bootstrap
3. sudo ./configure
To ensure the validity of the proposed model, a lab 4. sudo make
setup has been deployed and tested in CEN Department, 5. sudo make check
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Coimbatore. Two USRP-2 6. sudo make install
hardware were placed at two locations as base stations. For the
call management and routing, a single asterisk server is used. The OpenBTS is now installed in the system.
Software realization of this set-up was performed as in the
E. Configuring USRP
following steps.

For USRP-1:
A. Installation
Basic requirements: autoreconf -i
PC with Ubuntu(version) and GNURadio installed in it. ./configure --with-usrp1
make
B. Dependencies for OpenBTS
For USRP-2:
The packages required for compiling various parts of
OpenBTS can be downloaded by executing following autoreconf -i
command in terminal: ./configure --with-uhd --with-resamp
Make
sudo apt-get install autoconf libtool libosip2-dev
This makes USRP comapatible with OpenBTS
libortp-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev g++ sqlite3 libsqlite3-
dev erlang libreadline6-dev libboost-all-dev
F. Editing OpenBTS configuration file
C. Getting Source Code
Full fledged working of this model calls for two necessary
steps:
OpenBTS-UHD source code can be downloaded 1. GSM Band in India is 900. For conducting such an
from Ref[11] as tar file. experiment an unlicensed user should find free
channels in the GSM Band. This can be achieved
D. Compiling Source Code using a spectrum analyzer. From the spectrum find
the null point and theirby calculate the ARFCN
ountry Code (MCC),Mobile Network Code
The tar file downloaded above contains a folder –
public trunk, that has files to be compiled.
2. Mobile Country Code is different for each
country.For India it is 404.Apart of MCC ,each

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 859

network operators have their-own network code.Since

OpenBTS is our own network we can assign any cd smqueue
number as MNC. sudo ./smqueue

Modify the above mentioned parameters inside the file 2. For connecting calls
OpenBTS.config.
The phones should be registerd in asterisk
SIP>conf and asterisk extensions.conf, before
E. Running OpenBTS making calls.For running asterisk use the
command -sudo asterisk
1. cd OpenBTS/publictrunk/app
3. For establishing VOIP
2. ./OpenBTSs
Two BTS can be connected via either a wires or
F. Connecting a phone to OpenBTS
wireless local area network.
SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) contains
information regarding all available networks .The network
connectivity in our mobiles can be switched to OpenBTS by
following the steps as shown in figure 5.

Figure 6.OpenBTS using USRP-1

Figure 5.Network selection in mobiles

Once our mobile phones are registered to the

OpenBTS network, we can get the IMSI using the command
‘tmsis’.

Now the mobile phones are connected to OpenBTS

network. freely make calls and messages within the network.

G. Establishing services
The experimental set-up proved satisfactory in
establishing voice calls, messages and VOIP in the network.
The additional steps required are: Figure 7.OpenBTS using USRP-2
1. For message activation

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Figure 8.Running OpenBTS

Figure 8.Running Asterisk

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V. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The OpenBTS lab set-up was successfully deployed

in CEN Departement, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. The
snapshots in Figure. 8 substantiates the successful operation of
OpenBTS services.The full scale deployment of the telecom
model can thus be established. The performance of such a
deployment depends upon the antenna and the coding schemes
used.

References

[1] Vishal Sehgal, ’Microtelecom Business Model’ 2010 VNL.

[2] http://www.vnl.in
[3] Abhinav Anand, Veljko Pejovic, David L. Johnson, Elizabeth M.
Belding University of California, Santa Barbara “VillageCell: Cost
Effective Cellular Connectivity in Rural Areas” ICTD2012 2012
Atlanta, GA, USA.
[4] Abul Azad, “Open BTS Implementation with Universal Software Radio
Peripheral”.
[5] E.Natalizio, V.Loscri, G.Aloi, DEIS University of Cliabria, Italy “The
Practical Experience of Implimenting a GSM BTS through Open
Software/Hardware” 2010, IEEE.
[6] Matthias Fähnle Advisor: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frowin Derr Software-Defined
Radio with GNU Radio and USRP/2 Hardware Frontend: Setup and
FM/GSM Applications
[7] Soft rock and other SDR Radios:http://www.softrockradio.org/.
[8] Ettus Research LLC:http://www.ettus.com.
[9] Reed, Jeffrey, “Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio
Engineering”, Prentice Hall, 2005.
[10] Bard, John and Kovarik, Vincent, “Software Defined Radio: The
Software Communications Architecture, ”Wiley series in
software radio, 2007.
[11] www.github.com

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