Scribd
Upload
67 views3 pages

LTE and The Number of Simultaneously Connected Users

The document discusses the number of users that can be simultaneously connected to an LTE base station. It explains that there are three connection states - off, idle, and connected. While over 1000 users could potentially transmit signaling data at once in an idle state, the document estimates that in practice the number is closer to 100 users in an actively connected state at a time, based on calculations involving network size and usage patterns. The crude estimates provide a ballpark figure for the maximum number of simultaneous active connections in real-world networks.

Uploaded by

zaki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
67 views3 pages

LTE and The Number of Simultaneously Connected Users

The document discusses the number of users that can be simultaneously connected to an LTE base station. It explains that there are three connection states - off, idle, and connected. While over 1000 users could potentially transmit signaling data at once in an idle state, the document estimates that in practice the number is closer to 100 users in an actively connected state at a time, based on calculations involving network size and usage patterns. The crude estimates provide a ballpark figure for the maximum number of simultaneous active connections in real-world networks.

Uploaded by

zaki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

WirelessMoves
MyThoughtsontheEvolutionofWireless,FOSSandthePast,PresentandFutureofComputing

LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnected
Users
RecentlyIreadthisveryinterestingpostthatanalyzedhowmanyuserscanbeconnectedtoan
LTEeNodeBsimultaneously.Astheauthorsaysinthearticlethereisnosingleanswertothisas
manyfactorsareplayingintothegame.Fromapureuplinksignalingpointofviewtherecanbe
wellover1000userssimultaneouslyinRRCConnectedstate.InpracticeIwouldntbesurprised
ifnetworkssetthatnumberwaylowerasthatnumberisfartoohightogiveanyoneahalfway
decentspeedexperience.Sohowmanymighttherebeconnectedsimultaneouslytoabase
stationtoday?Letsplaywithsomenumbers.

ItsAllAboutState

BeforeIstartletsdefinewhatwearelookingforhere.Basically,anLTEdevicecanbeinthree
states:

Off

Itcanbeswitchedofforinflightmodeinwhichcaseitisnotconnectedtothenetworkatall.

RRCIdle

WhenitisswitchedonbutnottransferringdatathenetworkputsthedeviceintheRRCIdlestate
aftersometime.InthisstateitstillhasanIPaddressbutthereisnocontextforthedeviceinthe
basestation(eNodeB).Theonlythingthedevicedoesinthisstateislisteningtosystem
informationbroadcasts,takessignalstrengthmeasurements,performscellchangesandlistensto
thepagingchannelsoitcanreacttoincomingcircuitswitchedvoicecalls,SMSmessagesand
incomingIPdatapackets.Thisisalistenonlymodesonoresourcesarerequiredatthebase
stationtokeepthedevicehappy.

RRCConnected

WhendataneedstobetransferredtheUEestablishesanactiveconnectiontoaneNodeB.To
keeptheovertheairconnectivity,themobileandthenetworkhavetosendadditionalsignaling
dataperiodicallyeveryfewtensofmilliseconds,especiallyintheuplinkdirectionevenifnoIP
https://blog.wirelessmoves.com/2016/02/lteandthenumberofsimultaneouslyconnectedusers.html 1/3
6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

packetsaretransmitted.Thisisrequiredsothenetworkknowsthatadeviceisstillreachableand
togetinformationaboutthesignalqualityexperiencedinuplinkanddownlinksofutureIP
packetscanbecodedandmodulatedforthecurrentreceptionconditions.Oncethetransmit
bufferisemptyonbothsidestheconnectionremainsinRRCConnectedstateasthemobile
deviceandeNodeBcantknowiftherewillbefollowontrafficornot.Onlyifthereisnofurther
IPtrafficforsometimedoesthenetworksetthephysicalconnectionfromRRCConnectedto
RRCIdle.ThisstatechangedelayisconfigurableandatypicalvalueIveobservedinpracticeis
60seconds.ThatmeansthatevenifonlyfewIPpacketsareexchangedforasecondortwo,e.g.
foraninstantmessengerstatusupdate,thedevicestaysinRRCConnectedstateforovera
minuteandperiodicallytransmitsstatusinformationintheuplinkdirectionduringthattime.
DuringthattimethenetworkcansetthedevicetoConnectedDRX(DiscontinuousReception)
statethatreducestheamountofstatussignalingintheuplinkdirectionattheexpenseof
additionaldelaybeforethedevicecantransmitdataagainonceIPpacketsfromanappendupin
thetransmissionbuffer.

LetsDoSomeMath

SotakingtheaboveintoaccountletssaythatthemajorityofdevicesinanLTEnetworktoday
aresmartphonesthatgeneratealotofbackgroundtrafficfrominstantmessengersandchatty
otherapps.Letsassumethathappensonceevery4minutes,i.e.15timesanhour.Inother
words,eachdeviceisconnectedfor15minuteseveryhourtothenetwork.Itsoundslikealot
butletserronthissideoftheequationratherbeingtooconservative.Duringthattimeadevice
transfersalmostnodatabutitisstillconnectedanddependingonhowConnectedDRXis
configuredsendsmoreorlesssignalingdata.

Twoothernumberswerequireforaballparkestimationofthenumberofsimultaneoususersin
ConnectedstateatanLTEbasestationisthenumberofbasestationsinthenetworkandthe
numberofLTEdevices.WhileVodafonedoesntgivespecificdetailsItakeitfromtheirpress
releasesthattheymusthavearound20.000basestationsitesinGermanyfromwhichtheyserve
around40millioncustomers.Letssayoutofthose40millioncustomersthereare15million
LTEsmartphones.Thenumbermightbetoohighbutletsagainerronthehighendhere.

Inotherwords,15milliondevicesaredistributedamong20.000basestations,whichwouldbe
15.000.000/20.000=750devicesperbasestation.Eachbasestationhas3sectorswhichresults
in250devicespersector.Aseachdeviceisonlyactiveonefourthofthetimethatwouldbe
around63devicesthatareinRRCConnectedstateatthesametime.Assomebasestationsserve
moredevicesthanothersletsbegenerousandbumpthatnumberupto100devicesinRRC
Connectedstate.Whencomparedtothemorethan1000devicesthatcouldtransfersignaling
informationintheuplinkdirectionthereisstillareassuringlybigdeltabetweenthetwo
numbers.

Agreed,itsacrudecalculationbutitshouldgivegoodballparkestimationifhowmany
simultaneouslyconnecteduserswearetalkingaboutinpracticetoday.

https://blog.wirelessmoves.com/2016/02/lteandthenumberofsimultaneouslyconnectedusers.html 2/3
6/2/2017 LTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsersWirelessMoves

February24,2016 Martin Uncategorized

2thoughtsonLTEAndTheNumberOfSimultaneouslyConnectedUsers

Christopher
February24,2016at6:25pm

Thinkaboutplaceswherelotsofpeoplecongregateandusesmartphones,e.g.trainstations,
sportsstadiums

Martin
February24,2016at7:43pm

Especiallysportsstadiumsareachallengeinpractice.Theonlywaytodoitrightistohave
lotsofsmallcellsinthestadium,i.e.properinhousecoverage.

Commentsareclosed.

https://blog.wirelessmoves.com/2016/02/lteandthenumberofsimultaneouslyconnectedusers.html 3/3

You might also like