Osmocom#OsmocomBB

File:BS11 BTS.JPG

In 2008 Harald Welte and Dieter Spaar experimented with a base transceiver station (BTS) from Siemens that was end-of-life and implemented the BSC side of the A-bis protocol, which eventually turned into OpenBSC. After attracting more interest, support for other BTS models was added.{{Cite book|url=http://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmobsc-usermanual.pdf|title=OsmoBSC User Manual}} The first release of the OpenBSC project took place at the 25th Chaos Communication Congress held in December 2008.{{Cite web|title=25C3: Running your own GSM network|url=https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2008/Fahrplan/events/3007.en.html|date=2009-01-10|website=fahrplan.events.ccc.de|access-date=2020-05-27}}

In the following years, the software has been used at various hacker cons such as the Chaos Communication Congress, Chaos Communication Camp and Electromagnetic Field to provide a cellular network.{{Cite web|title=GSM Phone Network At EMF Camp Built On Raspberry Pi And LimeSDR|url=https://hackaday.com/2018/08/30/gsm-phone-network-at-emf-camp-built-on-raspberry-pi-and-limesdr/|last=By|date=2018-08-30|website=Hackaday|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-25}}{{Cite web|title=CCCamp: 5,000 Hackers Out Standing In Their Field|url=https://hackaday.com/2019/08/30/cccamp-5000-hackers-out-standing-in-their-field/|last=By|date=2019-08-30|website=Hackaday|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-25}}{{Cite web|title=33C3: Hackerkongress endet mit Humba-Täterä im explodierenden Bällebad|url=https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/33C3-Hackerkongress-endet-mit-Humba-Taeterae-im-explodierenden-Baellebad-3583271.html|website=heise online|date=31 December 2016 |language=de|access-date=2020-05-25}}

In 2010, a telephone-side implementation of the GSM stack was developed, named OsmocomBB. Together with OpenBSC, these projects became part of the new Osmocom umbrella project.

The Sysmocom GmbH company was founded by Welte and Holger Freyther{{Cite web|title=SysmoBTS: Harald Weltes Sysmocom verkauft freie GSM-Basisstation - Golem.de|url=https://www.golem.de/news/sysmobts-harald-weltes-sysmocom-verkauft-freie-gsm-basisstation-1205-91914.html|access-date=2020-06-29|website=www.golem.de|language=de-DE}} in 2011 to provide commercial support.{{Cite web|title=About sysmocom background and company culture|url=https://sysmocom.de/about2/index.html|last=sysmocom|date=2016-02-28|website=sysmocom.de|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}{{Cite web|title=Sysmocom - Cellular Network Infrastructure - Open Source Mobile Communications|url=https://osmocom.org/projects/cellular-infrastructure/wiki/Sysmocom|website=osmocom.org|access-date=2020-05-27}}

Since 2018 Osmocom software and Sysmocom hardware has been used in Villa Talea de Castro in Mexico to provide a cellular network to around 3500 people.{{Cite web|title=Am Rande des Funklochs|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/handyempfang-am-rande-des-funklochs-1.3826448|last=Herrmann|first=Boris|website=Süddeutsche.de|date=15 January 2018 |language=de|access-date=2020-05-27}}{{Cite web|title=In defense of the right to communication (DeutscheWelle original video)|url=https://vimeo.com/363361602|website=Vimeo|language=en|access-date=2020-05-27}}

Osmocom software has been used in research projects.{{Cite journal|last1=Bosma|first1=Jeffrey|last2=Soeurt|first2=Joris|title=Eavesdropping on and decrypting of GSMcommunication using readily available low-costhardware and free open-source software in practice|url=https://www.os3.nl/_media/2016-2017/courses/ot/jeffrey_joris.pdf|journal=University of Amsterdam|access-date=2020-05-27|archive-date=2018-10-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181021222244/https://www.os3.nl/_media/2016-2017/courses/ot/jeffrey_joris.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://osmocom.org/projects/baseband/wiki/ProjectRationale|title = ProjectRationale - OsmocomBB - Open Source Mobile Communications}}

OpenBSC was a project to develop a free software implementation of GSM protocol stack and elements. It runs on Linux and requires an E1 interface (ISDN Primary Rate Interface, via mISDN). It is written in C and licensed using the GPL (≥v2) license.

The first version implemented the GSM specification 21.12 and 08.5x, and worked for a specific Base Transceiver Station (Siemens BS11 MicroBTS).

OpenBSC implemented several MSC components, including the A-bis protocol (the protocol between the BTS and the BSC), AUC, HLR, VLR (both using SQL tables), and a SMS Switching Center. OpenBSC can be accessed using telnet.

OpenBSC supported the following BTS devices:

• Siemens BS11 (microBTS) (E1 Primary Rate interface)
• ip.access nano BTS (PoE-interface)

OpenBSC is now considered legacy and the features have been split into different projects: OsmoBSC, OsmoMSC and OsmoHLR.{{Cite web|title=Overview - OpenBSC - Open Source Mobile Communications|url=https://osmocom.org/projects/openbsc|website=osmocom.org|access-date=2020-05-27}}

rtl-sdr{{Cite web|title=RTL-SDR: Seven Years Later|url=https://hackaday.com/2019/07/31/rtl-sdr-seven-years-later/|last=By|date=2019-07-31|website=Hackaday|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-25}} was discovered by Steve Markgraf, who also created osmo-fl2k for radio transmissions. These projects deprecated the use of OsmoSDR.{{Cite web|title=RTL-SDR: Seven Years Later|url=https://hackaday.com/2019/07/31/rtl-sdr-seven-years-later/#comment-6169016|last=Markgraf|first=Steve|date=2019-07-31|website=Hackaday|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-27}}

The OsmoTETRA project implements the TETRA protocol.{{Cite web|title=TETRA-Digitalfunk für jedermann|url=https://www.heise.de/security/meldung/TETRA-Digitalfunk-fuer-jedermann-1253092.html|website=Heise Online|date=June 2011 |language=de|access-date=2020-05-26}}{{Cite web|title=Digitaler Behördenfunk: Hacker arbeiten an freier TETRA-Implementierung - Golem.de|url=https://www.golem.de/1101/80600.html|website=www.golem.de|language=de-DE|access-date=2020-05-26}}{{Cite web|title=OsmocomTETRA - OsmocomTETRA - Open Source Mobile Communications|url=https://osmocom.org/projects/tetra/wiki/OsmocomTETRA|website=osmocom.org|access-date=2020-05-26}} Osmo-tetra implements the lower layer of the protocol.{{Cite web|title=Osmo-tetra - OsmocomTETRA - Open Source Mobile Communications|url=https://osmocom.org/projects/tetra/wiki/Osmo-tetra|website=osmocom.org|access-date=2020-05-26}} Some conducted research revealed that some government traffic is not properly secured.

OsmocomBB is a free firmware for the baseband processor of mobile phones which handles the encoding and radio communication of both voice and data. OsmocomBB is the only existing free implementation of baseband firmware, excluding failed projects like TSM30 from THC and MadOS.{{cite thesis|type=M.Sc.|last=Pönsgen|first=François|date=2015|page=5|title=GSM and GPRS Security Using OsmocomBB|publisher=Norwegian University of Science and Technology|url=https://ntnuopen.ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/2352780/13286_FULLTEXT.pdf|access-date=2017-05-04}}

File:Motorola C123 OsmocomBB.jpg

OsmocomBB implements the GSM protocol stack's three lowest OSI Layers of the client side GSM protocol and device drivers. The protocol layers forming the kernel exists on the baseband processor, typically consisting of an ARM processor and a digital signal processor.File:Motorola C139 LCD screen glare.jpg

It has support for the Calypso chipset produced by Texas Instruments.Cooper, T. A. (2012). [http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32401 Integration of Open-Source GSM Networks] (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Tech).

Karsten Nohl has extended OsmocomBB to be able to detect IMSI catchers.{{Cite web|title=GSM-Hacking: Osmocom-Patch entdeckt stille SMS und Abhöraktionen - Golem.de|url=https://www.golem.de/1112/88680.html|access-date=2020-06-29|website=www.golem.de|language=de-DE}}

• OpenBTS, FOSS project for implementing a BTS using GNU Radio

{{Reflist}}

• [https://osmocom.org/ Official website]

{{Mobile telecommunications standards}}

Category:Free communication software

Category:Software using the GNU General Public License

Category:Telecommunications

Category:Software using the GNU Affero General Public License

Category:Free software programmed in C

Category:Free software programmed in C++