BER and FER prediction of control and traffic channels for a GSM type of air-interface

Performance analysis of a mobile communications system is often done separately at network and at link level. It is difficult to study a modern mobile communications system like GSM analytically, due to the complexity. Hence simulations are used. It is desirable to include all link aspects in a network simulator, but without having to simulate every single link, since this would be to time consuming. In this paper a method is presented to find the BER and FER from the signal to interference (C/I) values for a GSM type of air-interface, which can be used for integration of link aspects in a network simulator. The accuracy is within 0.2 dB in case of the BER and 0.5 for the FER. Both traffic and control channels are studied and the method is independent of hopping sequences and speed.