Capacity and Load Sharing in Dual-Mode Mobile Networks

Author: Juha Peura Supervisor: Prof. Patric stergrd Instructor: M.Sc. Jarkko Laari, DNA Finland Oy

Agenda

Background Objectives of the thesis Capacity Load sharing Conclusions

Background
The amount packet data in mobile networks have increased dramatically Operators have to guarantee quality of service New solutions needed for traffic handling

100 % 90 % 80 % 70 %
Percentage

UMTS Downlink Data [MB]

60 % 50 % 40 % 30 % 20 % 10 % 0%
29.7.2007 12.8.2007 26.8.2007 9.9.2007 23.9.2007 7.10.2007 4.11.2007 2.12.2007 13.1.2008 27.1.2008 10.2.2008 21.10.2007 18.11.2007 16.12.2007 30.12.2007 24.2.2008

Date

Objectives of the thesis

What are the main performance bottlenecks in todays mobile networks? Is it possible to ease the situation with load sharing algorithms?

Capacity channel elements

Channel element is a measure of node B hardware resources Separate CE pools for UL/DL, common to all sectors One 12.2 kbps speech service uses one channel element HSUPA takes up to 32 CEs, non-serving cells reserves also CEs CEs are a capacity bottleneck in uplink direction Many RAX-boards have 64 CEs Suggested minimum is 128 CEs

Capacity Iub transmission

Symmetric bit pipe between base station and RNC 3GPP have specified two transport methods: ATM and IP Implemented using so called E1s Maximum throughput of one E1 is 2 Mbps For speech traffic one E1 has been sufficient Fast packet connections need multiple E1s Transmission is a capacity bottleneck in downlink Base station buffers data from Iub Future choice Ethernet/IP transmission

Capacity HSDPA
HSDPA uses the power margin left over from R99 services HSDPA throughput depends on achievable Signal-tointerference and noise ratio (SINR) Power allocated for HSDPA effects the throughput largely
Throughput[Mbps] = 0.0039 x SINR^2 + 0.0476 x SINR + 0.1421
25 20 15

SINR dB

PHS DSCH SINR SF16 (1 ) Pown Pother Pnoise

10 5 0 0,0 -5 -10 Average cell throughput [Mbps] 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0

Load sharing
Enhances performance by pooling together resources Inter Frequency Load Sharing - Traffic sharing between WCDMA carriers Directed Retry to GSM - Speech traffic diverted from WCDMA to GSM

Directed Retry to GSM

Why? 3G most beneficial for PS data users 3G UEs are becoming more common and coverage improves constantly -> free capacity to GSM More resources for data users Balances load between networks No additional investments

Directed Retry to GSM - limitations

Only applicable to speech traffic Coverage of UMTS and GSM cells should be same Overloading of GSM network possible Should not be used if GSM -> UMTS handovers are in use (ping-pong effect) GSM target cell quality not guaranteed (blind ISHO) -> call drops Increased signaling, mobiles not reachable during LA updates Configuration to entire network can be laborious 3G users may wonder why they are in GSM

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Directed Retry to GSM - principles

Redirection decission based on cell load
(used downlink carrier power) After cell load exeeds specified sharing threshold, speech calls are diverted to GSM network Sharing fraction parameter specifies the percentage of directed calls while the cell load is above the sharing threshold Released power can be allocated for PS users Sharing parameters can be assigned independently to each cell
Cell load (downlink carrier power)

max carrier power capacity reserved for HSDPA this load directed to GSM sharing threshold

time

Directed Retry active

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percentage of peak hour traffic

100 % 120 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 %

packet
percentage of peak hour traffic
100 % 120 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 0%

speech

0%

Load sharing - traffic profiles

time

time

0: 00 1: 00 2: 00 3: 00 4: 00 5: 00 6: 00 7: 00 8: 00 9: 0 10 0 :0 11 0 :0 0 12 :0 13 0 :0 14 0 :0 15 0 :0 0 16 :0 17 0 :0 18 0 :0 19 0 :0 0 20 :0 21 0 :0 22 0 :0 23 0 :0 0

0: 00 1: 00 2: 00 3: 00 4: 00 5: 00 6: 00 7: 00 8: 00 9: 0 10 0 :0 11 0 :0 12 0 :0 13 0 :0 14 0 :0 15 0 :0 16 0 :0 17 0 :0 18 0 :0 19 0 :0 20 0 :0 21 0 :0 22 0 :0 23 0 :0 0

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Load sharing - measurements

Functionality and different parameters were first tested in a single cell Larger scale test in live network for a three week period 20 most loaded cells were chosen for the measurement Feature was tested with radical parameters to really find out how load sharing performed A set of key performance indicators (KPI) was defined to assess the effects of the feature DR-success ratio, Speech setup success rate, dropped calls,
admission number, lack of CEs, speech traffic (Erl), PS traffic .

Network counters were used to gather information about the functionality Raw data was filtered and manipulated for final results
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Load sharing - results

Directed Retry to GSM worked well in overall Total of 93117 speech call redirection attempts, 86033 were succesful DR-success rate was 92 %, with carefull cell selection > 95 % success rate possible
Directed Retry to GSM success rate
14 12 10

Cells

8 6 4 2 0 5 % 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % Success rate

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Load sharing results UMTS

KPI DR - FALSE DR - TRUE Difference

Speech setup success rate Dropped calls percentage Speech traffic (Erl) PS R99 traffic (Erl) PS R99 setup success rate PS R99 retainability HS traffic (Erl) HS User Thu DL (kbps) HS User Thu UL (kbps) HS setup success rate HS completion success rate CS speech payload (kbits) HSDPA RAB attempts HS drop % Admission number Failed after admission NG user down-switches UL hardware lack

99,63 0,36 1,12 1,86 94,41 94,14 0,72 139,24 33,38 97,32 79,35 240 706 657 153 603 17,13 2 949 3 013 15 733 2 351

29,29 0,53 0,39 2,06 98,96 97,97 0,79 158,21 42,58 97,65 76,36 99 813 954 164 147 20,06 1 504 2 789 8 057 817

-71 % 48 % -65 % 11 % 5% 4% 10 % 14 % 28 % 0% -4 % -59 % 7% 17 % -49 % -7 % -49 % -65 % 15

Load sharing results GSM

KPI

DR - FALSE

DR - TRUE

Difference

TCH attempts TCH H_Block % TCH T_Block % TCH RF_Loss % TCH traffic (Erl)

623 921 0,06 0,73 0,14 2,67

820 990 0,02 1,66 0,23 3,26

32 % -62 % 129 % 60 % 22 %

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Conclusions
Transmission, CEs and HSDPA power allocation can form a capacity bottleneck Load sharing between UMTS and GSM works reliably, if configured well Performance of PS users can be enhanced with Directed Retry to GSM, at least a little 3G traffic still relatively low, it is questionable if load sharing is needed at this point.

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Future research

Load sharing between UMTS carriers

more sophisticated feature than Directed Retry to GSM between UMTS2100 and UMTS900 two way directions taking into account cell load applicable to all services

Service based handover

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THANK YOU !

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