Teletraffic theory

(for beginners)

Samuli Aalto
[email protected]

teletraf.ppt S-38.118 - The Principles of Telecommunications Technology - Fall 2000 1

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Contents

• Purpose of Teletraffic Theory

• Network level: switching principles
• Telephone traffic models
• Data traffic models

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Traffic point of view

• Telecommunication system from the traffic point of view:

incoming outgoing
traffic traffic
users system

• Ideas:
– the system serves the incoming traffic
– the traffic is generated by the users of the system

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Interesting questions

• Given the system and incoming traffic,

what is the quality of service experienced by the user?

• Given the incoming traffic and required quality of service,

how should the system be dimensioned?

• Given the system and required quality of service,

what is the maximum traffic load?

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

General purpose

• Determine relationships between the following three factors:

– quality of service
– traffic load
– system capacity

quality of service

system capacity traffic load

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Example

• Telephone traffic
– system = telephone network
– traffic = telephone calls by everybody
– quality of service = probability that the connection can be set up,
i.e., “the line is not busy”

1234567 PRRRR!!!

A B

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Relationships between the three factors

• Qualitatively, the relationships are as follows:

system capacity quality of service quality of service

traffic load traffic load system capacity

with given with given with given
quality of service system capacity traffic load

• To describe the relationships quantitatively,

mathematical models are needed
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Teletraffic models

• Teletraffic models are stochastic (= probabilistic)

– systems themselves are usually deterministic
but traffic is typically stochastic
– “you never know, who calls you and when”
• It follows that the variables in these models are random
variables, e.g.
– number of ongoing calls
– number of packets in a buffer
• Random variable is described by its distribution, e.g.
– probability that there are n ongoing calls
– probability that there are n packets in the buffer
• Stochastic process describes the temporal development of a
random variable
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Practical goals

• Network planning
– dimensioning
– optimization
– performance analysis
• Network management and control
– efficient operating
– fault recovery
– traffic management
– routing
– accounting

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Contents

• Purpose of Teletraffic Theory

• Network level: switching principles
• Telephone traffic models
• Data traffic models

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Telecommunication network

• A simple model of a
telecommunication network access network
consists of
– nodes
• terminals trunk network
• network nodes
– links between nodes
• Access network
– connects the terminals to the
network nodes
• Trunk network
– connects the network nodes
to each other
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Switching modes

• Circuit switching
– telephone networks
– mobile telephone networks, e.g. GSM
• Packet switching
– data networks
– two possibilities
• connection oriented: e.g. X.25, Frame Relay
• connectionless: e.g. Internet (IP), SS7 (MTP)
• Cell switching
– fast (connection oriented) packet switching with fixed length
packets (called cells), e.g. ATM
– integration of different traffic types (voice, data, video)
⇒ multiservice networks
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Circuit switching (1)

• Connection oriented: B
– connections set up end-to-
end before information
transfer
– resources reserved for the
whole duration of connection
– e.g. telephone call reserves A
one (two-way) channel from
each link along its route
(time division multiplexing)
• Information transfer as
continuous stream network node =
(telephone) switch

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Circuit switching (2)

• Before information transfer B

– delay (to set up the
connection)
• During information transfer
– no overhead
– no extra delays (besides the
propagation delay) A
• Efficient only if

connection holding time >>

connection set up time

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Time division multiplexing (TDM)

• Used in digital circuit switched systems

– information conveyed on a link transferred in frames of fixed length
– fixed portion (time slot) of each frame reserved for each channel
– location of the time slot within the frame identifies the connection
• TDM multiplexer
– input: n 1-channel physical connections
– output: 1 n-channel physical connection

TDM multiplexer
1
time slot

1
frame
n
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Connectionless packet switching (1)

• Connectionless: B
– no connection set-up
– no resource reservation B
• Information transfer as
discrete packets
– varying length B
A B
B

– including header with global

address (of the destination)
– packets compete dynamic-
ally for processing capacity
of nodes (next hop from network node =
routing table) and trans- (packet) router
mission capacity of links
(statistical multiplexing)
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Connectionless packet switching (2)

• Before information transfer B

– no delays
• During information transfer B
– overhead (header bytes)
– packet processing delays
– packet transmission delays B
A B

B
– queueing delays (since
packets compete for joint
resources)

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Statistical multiplexing

• Used in digital packet/cell switched systems, e.g. Internet, ATM

• Statistical multiplexer combines the packet flows of n incoming
links to a joint outgoing link
– capacity of the outgoing link reserved dynamically
as packets arrive asynchronously and randomly
⇒ need for buffering

statistical multiplexer
1
packet

n
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Contents

• Purpose of Teletraffic Theory

• Network level: switching principles
• Telephone traffic models
• Data traffic models

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Classical model for telephone traffic (1)

• Loss models have

traditionally been used to
describe (circuit-switched)
telephone networks
– pioneering work made by
Danish mathematician
A.K. Erlang (1878-1929)
• Consider a link between two
telephone exchanges
– traffic consists of the ongoing
telephone calls on the link

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Classical model for telephone traffic (2)

• Erlang modelled this as a loss system with n servers

– customer = (telephone) call
• λ = call arrival rate
– service time = (call) holding time
• h = average holding time
– server = channel on the link
• n = number of parallel channels on the link
µ
1
λ

n
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Traffic process

channel-by-channel call holding

occupation time
6
channels

5
4
3
2
1

time
call arrival times
blocked call
nr of channels
occupied
nr of channels

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
traffic volume time

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Traffic intensity

• In telephone networks:

Traffic ↔ Calls

• The amount of traffic is described by traffic intensity a

• By definition, traffic intensity a is
the product of the arrival rate λ and the mean holding time h:

a = λh
– Note that the traffic intensity is a dimensionless quantity
– Anyway, the unit of traffic intensity a is called erlang

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Example

• Consider a local exchange. Assume that,

– on the average, there are 1800 new calls in an hour, and
– the mean holding time is 3 minutes
• It follows that the traffic intensity is

a = 1800 ∗ 3 / 60 = 90 erlang
• If the mean holding time increases from 3 minutes to 10
minutes, then

a = 1800 ∗10 / 60 = 300 erlang

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Blocking

• In a loss system some calls are lost

– a call is lost if all n channels are occupied when the call arrives
– the term blocking refers to this event
• There are (at least) two different types of blocking quantities:
– Call blocking Bc = probability that an arriving call finds all n
channels occupied = the fraction of calls that are lost
– Time blocking Bt = probability that all n channels are occupied at
an arbitrary time = the fraction of time that all n channels are
occupied
• The two blocking quantities are not necessarily equal
– If calls arrive according to a Poisson process, then Bc = Bt
• Call blocking is a better measure for the quality of service
experienced by the subscribers but, typically, time blocking is
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easier to calculate

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Teletraffic analysis

• System capacity
– n = number of channels on the link
• Traffic load
– a = (offered) traffic intensity
• Quality of service (from the subscribers’ point of view)
– Bc = probability that an arriving call finds all n channels occupied
• If we assume an M/G/n/n loss system, that is
– calls arrive according to a Poisson process (with rate λ)
– call holding times are independently and identically distributed
according to any distribution with mean h
• Then the quantitive relation between the three factors is given
by the Erlang’s blocking formula
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Erlang’s blocking formula

an
Bc = Erl(n, a ) = nn!
i
∑ ai!
i =0

• Note: n!= n ⋅ ( n − 1) ⋅ K ⋅ 2 ⋅1
• Other names:
– Erlang’s formula
– Erlang’s B-formula
– Erlang’s loss formula
– Erlang’s first formula
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Example

• Assume that there are n = 4 channels on a link and the offered

traffic is a = 2.0 erlang. Then the call blocking probability Bc is

24 16
2
B c = Erl( 4 , 2 ) = 4! = 24 = ≈ 9 .5 %
2 3 4
1 + 2 + 22! + 23! + 24! 1 + 2 + 2 + 6 + 24 21
4 8 16

• If the link capacity is raised to n = 6 channels, Bc reduces to

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Bc = Erl( 6 , 2 ) = 2
6!
3 4 5 6
≈ 1 .2 %
1 + 2 + 22! + 23! + 24! + 25! + 26!

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 Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required capacity vs. traffic

• Given the quality of service requirement that Bc < 20%,

required capacity n depends on traffic intensity a as follows:

n(a ) = min{N = 1,2,K | Erl( N , a ) < 0.2}

50

40

30
capacity n
20

10

10 20 30 40 50
29
traffic a

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required quality of service vs. traffic

• Given the capacity n = 10 channels, required quality of service

1 − Bc depends on traffic intensity a as follows:
1 − Bc (a ) = 1 − Erl(10, a )
1

0.8

0.6
quality of service
1 − Bc 0.4

0.2

0
10 20 30 40 50
30
traffic a

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 Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required quality of service vs. capacity

• Given the traffic intensity a = 10.0 erlang, required quality of

service 1 − Bc depends on capacity n as follows:
1 − Bc (n) = 1 − Erl(n,10.0)
1

0.8

0.6
quality of service
1 − Bc 0.4

0.2

0
10 20 30 40 50
31
capacity n

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Contents

• Purpose of Teletraffic Theory

• Network level: switching principles
• Telephone traffic models
• Data traffic models

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Classical model for data traffic (1)

• Queueing models are

suitable for describing
(packet-switched) data
networks
– pioneering work made by
ARPANET researchers in
60’s and 70’s
(e.g. L. Kleinrock)
• Consider a link between two
packet routers
– traffic consists of data
packets transmitted
on the link

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Classical model for data traffic (2)

• This can be modelled as a waiting system with

a single server and an infinite buffer
– customer = packet
• λ = packet arrival rate
• L = average packet length (data units)
– server = link, waiting places = buffer
• R = link’s speed (data units per time unit)
– service time = packet transmission time
• 1/µ = L/R = average packet transmission time

µ
λ

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Traffic process

state of packets in the system (waiting/being transmitted)

waiting
time
transmission
time
time
packet arrival times
number of packets in the system
4
3
2
1
0
time
link utilization
1

0
time

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Traffic load

• In packet-switched data networks:

Traffic ↔ Packets

• The amount of traffic is described by traffic load ρ

• By definition, traffic load ρ is the quotient between the arrival
rate λ and the service rate µ = R/L:

λ λL
ρ= =
µ R
– Note that the traffic load is a dimensionless quantity
– It can also be interpreted as the probability that the server is busy.
So, it tells the utilization factor of the server
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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Example

• Consider a link between two packet routers. Assume that,

– on the average, 10 new packets arrive in a second,
– the mean packet length is 400 bytes, and
– the link speed is 64 kbps.
• It follows that the traffic load is

ρ = 10 ∗ 400 ∗ 8 / 64,000 = 0.5 = 50%

• If the link speed is increased up to 150 Mbps, the load is just

ρ = 10 ∗ 400 ∗ 8 / 150,000,000 = 0.0002 = 0.02%

– 1 byte = 8 bits
– 1 kbps = 1 kbit/s = 1,000 bits per second
– 1 Mbps = 1 Mbit/s = 1,000,000 bits per second 37

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Teletraffic analysis

• System capacity
– R = link speed in kbps
• Traffic load
– λ = packet arrival rate in packet/s (considered here as a variable)
– L = average packet length in kbits (assumed here that L = 1 kbit)
• Quality of service (from the users’ point of view)
– Pz = probability that a packet has to wait “too long”, i.e., longer
than a given reference value z (assumed here that Pz = 0.1 s)
• If we assume an M/M/1 queueing system, that is
– packets arrive according to a Poisson process (with rate λ)
– packet lengths are independent and identically distributed
according to exponential distribution with mean L
• Then the quantitive relation between the three factors is given 38
by the following waiting time formula

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Waiting time formula for an M/M/1 queue

 λL exp(−( R − λ ) z ), if λL < R ( ρ < 1)

Pz = Wait( R, λ ; L, z ) =  R L
 1, if λL ≥ R ( ρ ≥ 1)

• Note:
– The system is stable only in the former case (ρ < 1). Otherwise the
queue builds up without limits.

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Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Example

• Assume that packets arrive at rate λ = 50 packet/s and the link

speed is R = 64 kbps. Then the probability Pz that an arriving
packet has to wait too long (i.e., longer than z = 0.1 s) is

Pz = Wait(64,50;1,0.1) = 50
64
exp(−1.4)) ≈ 19%

• Note that the system is stable, since

ρ = λRL = 50
64
<1

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 Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required link speed vs. arrival rate

• Given the quality of service requirement that Pz < 20%,

required link speed R depends on arrival rate λ as follows:
R (λ ) = min{r > λL | Wait(r , λ ;1,0.1) < 0.2}
70
60
50
40
link speed R 30
20
10
0
10 20 30 40 50
41
arrival rate λ

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required quality of service vs. arrival rate

• Given the link speed R = 50 kbps, required quality of service

1 − Pz depends on arrival rate λ as follows:
1 − Pz (λ ) = 1 − Wait(50, λ ;1,0.1)
1

0.8

0.6
quality of service
1 − Pz 0.4
0.2

0
10 20 30 40 50
42
arrival rate λ

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 Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

Required quality of service vs. link speed

• Given the arrival rate λ = 50 packet/s, required quality of

service 1 − Pz depends on link speed R as follows:
1 − Pz ( R ) = 1 − Wait( R,50;1,0.1)
1

0.8

quality of service 0.6

1 − Pz 0.4
0.2

0
60 70 80 90 100
43
link speed R

Teletraffic theory (for beginners) Samuli Aalto

THE END

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