GSM Network Capacity Planning
Trunking
Traffic Theory
-- Traffic Intensity
-- Grade of Service
Traffic Channels Dimensioning
SDCCH Channels Dimensioning
Trunking
LOCAL GATEWAY
SWITCH SWITCH
So, What is the objective behind Capacity Planning ?
Estimating the optimum number of resources required in a
system to meet the desired performance requirements.
Traffic Theory
Terminologies
Traffic Intensity
Busy Hour
Request Rate ( BHCA )
Set-up Time
Holding Time
Blocked Call
Grade of Service (GoS)
Traffic Theory
Traffic Intensity
TRAFFIC INTENSITY IS MEASURED ON 1 CALL
PER-HOUR BASIS OR 1 CALL PER MINUTE BASIS
THE UNIT OF MEASUREMENT IS ERLANGS
Au = uH
Au : Traffic in Erlang generated by each user
H : Average duration of call / 60 (per hour basis)
u : Average no of calls per hour
A = U Au
A : Total traffic offered by the system
U : Total number of users
Traffic Theory
Traffic Intensity ... Contd.
In GSM, we have two types of Traffic Intensities
TCH Traffic Intensity = Avg no of calls x Avg duration of call
Average duration of call = 120 secs
Average number of calls = 0.75 -- 1.5 ( range )
Traffic generated on TCH will range between 0.025 -- 0.05 erlang
Traffic Theory
Traffic Intensity ... contd
and ...
SDCCH Traffic Intensity = Avg no of SDCCH usages x Avg usage time
Avg no of SDCCH usage = 1(for a TCH call) + 3 updates = 4
Average usage time = 4 secs
Traffic generated on SDCCH will be typically 0.0044 erlang
Traffic Theory
Busy Hour
1 Hour of the day in which Traffic is maximum
Also referred to as Peak Hour.
Busy Hour is not a fixed hour, its timing will vary in
different locations
Busy Hour may also be different for different resources
SDCCH busy hour
-- typically morning hours ( frequent on/offs and updates)
TCH busy hour
-- heavy call traffic hour ( could be back-home hours )
Traffic Theory
Request Rate ( BHCA )
No of requests(or attempts) for a resource in the busy hour
SDCCH Request Rate
-- No of RACH's + No of Handover Requests for SDCCH
TCH Request Rate
-- No of RACH's in a cell with cause as MOC or MTC
+ No of Handover Request for TCH
Traffic Theory
Set up Time
Average time spent on a resource before getting response
from the called end.
Typically 3 - 5 secs for GSM
Holding Time
Average time spent on any dedicated resource.
SDCCH Holding time ( typically 3 - 4 secs)
TCH Holding time ( actual call duration + Alerting )
Traffic Theory
Blocked Call
A call request rejected due to unavailability of resource.
Indication of Congestion
In GSM a call can be blocked due to unavailability of :
AGCH
SDCCH
TCH
How many blocked calls can you tolerate ?
Traffic Theory
Grade of Service
Percentage requests blocked in an hour
Ability of the user to access the system
during busiest hour
Benchmark to define desired system
performance
GOS and blocking are same.
A network is non-blocking if the communication resources
equals the number of users.
Conventionally used value of GOS is 2 %
TYPES OF TRUNKING SYSTEM
Blocked Calls Cleared System
Requested is immediately cleared (forgotten) at blocking
Erlang B table is used to estimate traffic for a GOS
No. of Capacity (Erlangs) for GOS
channels C = 1% = 1.5 % =2% = 5%
2 .153 .190 .223 .381
7 2.50 2.74 2.94 3.74
8 3.13 3.40 3.63 4.54
14 7.35 7.82 8.20 9.73
15 8.11 8.61 9.01 10.6
16 8.88 9.41 9.83 11.5
22 13.7 14.3 14.9 17.1
30 20.3 21.2 21.9 24.8
37 26.4 27.4 29.6 31.6
Types of Trunking Systems
Assumptions deciding Erlang B table :
A request for channel may come at any time.
All free channels are fully available for servicing calls until all
channels are occupied.
Call durations are exponentially distributed. Longer calls are less
likely to happen.
Traffic requests also follows exponentially distribution of inter-arrival
times. Mulitple requests will not occur at regular intervals.
Inter-arrival times of call requests from different users are
independent of each other.
There are finite number of channels available in the trunking pool.
Types of Trunking Systems
Blocked Calls Delayed System
GOS ( delay calls) = exp ( - ( C - A ) t / H )
C = No of channels,
A = Traffic Intensity obtained from chart,
t = Time (secs ) for which call is delayed
H = Average duration of calls
GOS ( blocked delayed calls ) = GOS x GOS (delay calls)
GOS = Targetted GOS
Traffic Channel Dimensioning
Calculation of no of TCH required in a cell* depends on :
GOS & Traffic Intensity
Traffic Intensity = No of users x Traffic Intensity per user
No of users depends on demographic data as :
Population Distribution
Car usage distribution
Income
Fixed Line data
Service cost
Mobile Phone cost
* Cell area depends on propagation factors
Estimating No of users and Traffic
Example : Car usage distribution
4L streets = 1.1 Km
1L 2L streets = 2.1 km
1L 1L 1L streets = 6.4 km
2L Avg Spacing between
vehicles = 10m
2L Total vehicles in 100%
street congestion case
1L 4L = 1500
2L For 50% penetration
= 750 users
1L
Traffic = 750 x 0.025 = 18.5 erl;
corresponds to 27 TCH's
Estimating Channels from last case
Traffic Intensity = 750 x 0.025 = 18.5 erlangs
At GOS of 2 %, we need 27 TCH's
& 9 SDCCH's.
A cell configured with 4 ARFCN with B+D & 1 D config,
will provide 12 SDCCH's and 30 TCH's which satisfies.
Another method of achieving is with 2 sectors, each having
2 ARFCN's , with B & D config, which will give 8 SDCCH and
14 TCH in each sectored cell .
Cell Configuration
1L 1L
1L
2L
2L
1L 4L
2L
1L
CONNECTIVITY PLANNING
WHAT TO CONNECT ?
MSC ----- PSTN
MSC ----- BSC
MSC ----- TRANSCODER *
BSC ----- TRANSCODER *
BSC ----- BTS
Speech on Terrestrial circuit
BSC Transcoder
BTS
Abis A
S 0 1 2 3 S 0 1 2 3
16 Kbps 16 Kbps
S
13 Kbps
64 Kbps 0
1 A
2
3
MSC
Air Interface
13 Kbps
BTS
TCH/SDCCH are the traffic resources
8 PCHN on 1 ARFCN
Minimum 1 PCHN required for CCCH / and SDCCH
1 ARFCN gives 7 TCH max and 4 SDCCH min.
TCH's and SDCCH's can be altered by adding carriers
and channel configurations
Abis Interface
E1 / T1
Abis is a G.703 interface. It could be E1 or T1
Abis carriers Traffic information of all the mobiles in the cells controlled by the
BTS.
Abis also carries signaling information between BTS and BSC
Signaling over Abis is done by LAPD protocols
LAPD has several modes of implementation
--- LAPD
--- LAPD Concentrated
--- LAPD Multiplexed
Each TCH/F on Air Interface requires 16kbps sub-channel on Abis.
16 kbps subchannel on Abis is a nailed connection also known as RTF
Abis Interface
LAPD Modes
LAPD
Signaling for each TRX is on a dedicated 64 Kbps circuit
Maximum Signalling for 10 Transceivers on 1 E1 link
64 kbps 0 Sync
64 kbps 1 TRX Signaling
64 kbps 2 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 3 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64 kbps 4 TRX Signaling
64 kbps 5 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 6 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64 kbps 7 TRX Signaling
64 kbps 8 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 9 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
Abis Interface
LAPD Modes
LAPD Concentrated mode 1
Signaling for 4 TRX's is on a dedicated 64 Kbps ciruit
Maximum Signalling for 13 Transceivers on 1 E1 link
64 kbps 0 Sync
64 kbps 1 4 x TRX Signaling
64 kbps 2 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 3 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
64 kbps 4 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 5 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64 kbps 6 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 7 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64 kbps 8 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 9 4 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64kbps 10 4 x TRX Signaling
Abis Interface
LAPD Modes LAPD Concentrated mode 2
Signaling for All TRX's is on a dedicated 64 Kbps circuit
Maximum Signaling for 15 Transceivers on 1 E1 link
64 kbps 0 Sync
64 kbps 1 ALL TRX Signaling
64 kbps 2 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 3
} 1 TRX
4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 4 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 5
} 1 TRX
4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 6 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 7
} 1 TRX
4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 8 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 9 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
64 kbps 10 4 Traffic Channels
Abis Interface
LAPD Modes
LAPD Multiplexed
Signaling for each TRX is on 16kbps subchannel.
Maximum signaling for 15 TRX's on
64 kbps 0 Sync
64 kbps 1 TRX Signaling/ 3 Traffic Channels } 1 TRX
64 kbps 2 4 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 3 TRX Signaling/ 3 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 4 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
64 kbps 5 TRX Signaling/ 3 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 6 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
64 kbps 7 TRX Signaling/ 3 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 8 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
64 kbps 9 TRX Signaling/ 3 Traffic Channels
64 kbps 10 4 Traffic Channels
} 1 TRX
Abis Interface Capacity
Capacity on Abis is the number of 64 kbps circuits required
For Local Transcoding
Capacity = No of TCH at BTS + No LAPD signaling circuits + OML*
For Remote Transcoding
Capacity = No of TCH at BTS / 4 + No LAPD signalling circuits + OML*
Capacity = Number of 64 kbps circuits
No of TCH = Sum of all TCH's in each sector at the BTS
No of LAPD circuits = Depends on LAPD mode
OML = optional ( vendor dependent )
Abis Interface Capacity
Example
1 cell = 15 x 16 kbps speech channels
3 cells = 45 x 16 kbps speech channels
= 12 x 64 kbps speech channels 15 speech ch
1 BTS = 12 + 1 ( RSL ) = 13 x 64 kbps
channels C1
BSC
C3 C2
15 speech ch 15 speech ch
Exercise !!!
A BTS has 3 sectored cells.
Each cell has a subscriber capacity of 600, calculate the
number of TCH and SDCCH required at GOS 2 % and also
calculate the capacity on the Abis interface with LAPD
concentrated mode 2 signaling.
BSC Capacity
Maximum BTS's Capacity on "A" interface
BSC Capacity
Maximum BTS's
No of BTS's supported by the BSC is vendor specific
It is generally based on either or both of below :
1. Maximum number of TRX's BSC can support
(in terms of traffic)
2. Maximum number of PCM interfaces BSC can support.
Max PCM interfaces can be optimized by selecting BTS configurations
BSC Capacity
BTS configuration
Star Configuration
BTS BTS
BSC
BTS
BTS
BSC Capacity
BTS configuration
Chain Configuration
BSC BTS BTS
26 x 64 kbps 13 x 64 kbps
ch ch
1 x E1 1 x E1
BSC Capacity
BTS configuration
Loop configuration
BTS
A A
B
BSC B A
B
BTS
A B
Exercise !
Each BTS needs 13 x 64 kbps circuits
H BTS
BTS BTS I BTS
B
BTS C
L BTS
N J
K A BTS D
BTS
BSC BTS
M E
BTS G
O
BTS F BTS
BTS BTS
Calculate the Number of E1 Links for each of the links ?
BSC Capacity
Capacity on "A" Interface
Capacity on A interface depends on Traffic of BSC at targeted GOS.
Traffic of BSC = No of Subscribers under BSC x Traffic per Subscriber
From calculated traffic, using Erlang B table calculate the
number of circuits required.
For Local Transcoding (BTS Side)
Capacity = No of Speech Circuits + Signaling Circuits
For Remote Transcoding (MSC Side)
Capacity = No of Speech Circuits/4 + Signaling Circuits
BSC Capacity
Signaling Circuit Capacity on A interface
Signaling circuits
SS7 : Used for MSC - BSC signaling
OML : For OMC
TBL : Transcoder BSC Link
Capacity for SS7 link
Calculate the BHCA per second
BHCA : No of SDCCH attempts (calls+updates) x No of Subscribers .
On average each attempt requires 6 signaling messages
No of messages per second = 6 x BHCA per second
On average each message is of 25 octets
Capacity of Signaling circuit ( kbps ) = 25octets x No of messages per second
Transcoder - MSC Capacity
TRANS BSC
MSC CODER
= 1 x E1 = 112 x 16 kbps chs + 3 Signaling +1 sync.
= 1 x E1 = 30 x 64 kbps chs+ 1 Signaling +1 sync.
4 x E1 = 120 x 64 kbps chs
MSC Capacity
MSC Capacity = No of Subscribers x Traffic per subscriber
Long term calculation is based on Population Penetration
--- Population Penetration is the mobile population
out of total population of PLMN ( city )
Population Penetration = Total Population x Penetration rate
MSC Capacity = Population Penetration x Traffic per subscriber
Example : For a city population of 10,000000 with penetration
rate of 2 %. Traffic per subscriber is 0.05 Erl.
Population Penetration = 200000
MSC Capacity = 10,000 Erlangs
Network Elements Capacity
MSC - PSTN Link Capacity
--- Estimate the % of PSTN calls from Total calls
--- Calculate the PSTN Traffic based on above estimation
--- Set a GOS
--- Calculate the no of channels by using Erlang B Table
