8/20/2020 Fundamentals of Nokia AirScale BTS baseband dimensioning

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SBTS Dimensioning > Baseband dimensioning > WCDMA baseband dimensioning in SBTS

Fundamentals of Nokia AirScale BTS baseband

dimensioning

AirScale system module baseband capacity

A single Nokia AirScale BTS supports up to 24 cells with two-way Rx Div and 12 with four-way Rx Div.

The available ASMI WCDMA baseband resources can be split into independent baseband pools called local cell
groups (LCG).

The LCG is a pool of baseband resources dedicated for traffic and CCCH processing from the respective cells.
Access Baseband Capacity (accessBbCapacity) is the parameter used to define LCG baseband capacity. The
available system module baseband capacity can be split into a number of LCGs.

Each LCG supports up to 12 two-way Rx Div cells and six four-way Rx Div. Up to four LCGs can be created during
SBTS commissioning. Another LCG is created when the number of cells is higher than 12, or more HSPA schedulers
are needed (each LCG has its own HSUPA and HSDPA schedulers). More than one LCG is used in the Multi-
Operator RAN (MORAN) case.

In the SRAN 18 SP release, the Nokia AirScale BTS can use one ASIA card and up to three ABIA cards. With the
introduction of the SR001621: SRAN cell sets allocation on full AirScale module feature in the SRAN 17A
maintenance package, the Nokia AirScale BTS supports two ASIA cards and up to six ABIA cards a single SBTS.
WCDMA does not support baseband pooling between the half subracks since the baseband resources are not shared
between cores.

In case WCDMA related RF units are connected to two ABIAs (for example, when the SR002075: Support for
configuration WCDMA radio modules connected to two ABIAs feature is used) within one half-subrack of an AirScale
system module, there is a limitation on the number of WCDMA cells configured in the RF units connected to these two
ABIAs. There can be up to 16 (two-way Rx Div) WCDMA cells configured on each RF unit (with WCDMA cells)
connected to those two ABIAs. Still, maximum of 24 WCDMA cells (two-way Rx Div) is supported for whole SBTS.

The WCDMA baseband capacity is represented by subunits. Each ABIA card provides a capacity of eight subunits.

Table: WCDMA capacity correspondence with ASMI HW configuration

HW configuration WCDMA capacity

1 x ASIA + 1 x ABIA 8 subunits

1 x ASIA + 2 x ABIA 16 subunits

1 x ASIA + 3 x ABIA 24 subunits

2 x ASIA + 4 x ABIA 32 subunits

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HW configuration WCDMA capacity

2 x ASIA + 5 x ABIA 40 subunits

2 x ASIA + 6 x ABIA 48 subunits

Subunits are used for processing:

Common Control Channel (CCCH)

Release 99 (R99) traffic
HSDPA cells, users, and throughput
HSUPA cells, users, and throughput
Interference cancelation (parallel interference cancelation (PIC) pool allocation)

The LCG baseband capacity is configured during the SBTS commissioning. The smallest LCG size is of four subunits
(half ABIA card), while the maximum size is 24 subunits (three ABIA cards), located in the same half subrack. The
LCG baseband capacity is configurable with two subunits per step.

AirScale system module sharing

In SRAN, the AirScale system module supports system module sharing functionality. A single BB card can be shared
between two RATs.

Select a type of system module configuration

AirScale WCDMA + GSM WCDMA + GSM LTE + WCDMA

WCDMA + LTE
introduction case a case b in two basebands

WCDMA FDD-LTE

The WCDMA and FDD-LTE card sharing consist of:

- Four subunits for WCDMA

- Remaning half ABIA for LTE allocation

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Table: Dedicated RATs and their corresponding WCDMA BB capacity for a single ABIA

Concurrent RAT WCDMA available capacity

LTE (half ABIA) 4 subunits

GSM (up to 24 TRXs) 6 subunits

GSM (up to 36 TRXs) 4 subunits

Note:
The WCDMA can also utilize BB resources from another ABIA card.

Note:
If the LTE cells are located within the half of ABIA, there is no need for the baseband pooling functionality
(LTE2733 feature) tto have the BB card shared with FDD-LTE and WCDMA. If the cells are located beyond the
half of ABIA, the baseband pooling feature (LTE2733) must be enabled for LTE cells. For more information on
the LTE cell capacity, see the SBTS Supported Configurations document in the SRAN Operating
Documentation.

Each LCG has statically allocated baseband resources, while the remaining part is used for dynamic traffic allocation
(Rel.99, HSUPA users, and HSUPA throughput).

The LCG baseband capacity available for traffic can be further impacted by the following:

Additional CCCH resources

HSDPA scheduler resources
The number of activated interference cancellation units (PIC pools)
The number of local cell groups with the RAN3374: Narrowband Interference Cancellation feature activated
The number of local cell groups with at least one cell that has the SR002014: SRAN Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
GSM+WCDMA feature activated
Static HSUPA allocation
Static HS-FACH uplink allocation

The static baseband allocation is done during the system module startup. The remaining subunits after the static BB
allocation (pure traffic subunits) can be used for R99 DCH users, HSDPA users (A-DCH)/(SRB), and HSUPA users
and throughput.

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There are two HSDPA scheduler allocation scenarios that depend on the LCG baseband capacity variant:

LCG with baseband capacity of four subunits

LCG with baseband capacity of more than four subunits (for instance, six subunits, or eight subunits, or ten
subunits, and so on)

The LCG with four subunits baseband capacity requires 1,125 subunits for the HSDPA scheduler, allowing the
activation of one HSDPA scheduler.

The LCG that has more than four subunits baseband capacity requires 1,625 subunits for the HSDPA scheduler,
allowing the activation of up to three HSDPA schedulers.

Baseband resources allocated for the HSDPA schedulers can also be used for the CCCH processing. This means that
for the basic cell configurations, there is no need to allocate any additional baseband resources for the CCCH
processing.

Table: HSDPA scheduler allocation scenarios

LCG baseband Maximum number HSDPA scheduler Number of HSDPA CCCH pool
capacity of cells per LCG baseband schedulers available with
resources HSDPA baseband
resources

4 subunits Up to 12 cells (up to 1,125 subunits 1 2 CCCH pools

6 HSPA cells)

More than 4 subunits Up to 12 cells (R99 1,625 subunits 1 or 2 or 3 3 CCCH pools

or HSPA cells)

The table Examples of WCDMA capacity allocation SU (1x LCG scenario) presents examples of WCDMA AirScale
system module capacity allocation and the maximum number of HSPA or R99 users determined by the available BB
capacity and single LCG HSPA users capacity.

Table: Examples of WCDMA capacity allocation SU (1x LCG scenario)

WCDMA available Baseband capacity Maximum amount Maximum amount Maximum amount
capacity for pure traffic use of HSUPA users (F- of HSUPA users of R99 CE
DPCH) (non-F-DPCH)

4 SU (0,5 x ABIA) 2,875 SU 220 154 276

6 SU (0,75 x ABIA) 4,375 SU 340 238 420

8 SU (1 x ABIA) 6,375 SU 500 350 612

10 SU (1,25 x ABIA) 8,375 SU 620 462 804

12 SU (1,5 x ABIA) 10,375 SU 620 574 996

14 SU (1,75 x ABIA) 12,375 SU 620 620 1188

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WCDMA available Baseband capacity Maximum amount Maximum amount Maximum amount
capacity for pure traffic use of HSUPA users (F- of HSUPA users of R99 CE
DPCH) (non-F-DPCH)

16 SU (2 x ABIA) 14,375 SU 620 620 1380

18 SU (2,25 x ABIA) 16,375 SU 620 620 1572

20 SU (2,5 x ABIA) 18,375 SU 620 620 1764

22 SU (2,75 x ABIA) 20,375 SU 620 620 1956

24 SU (3 x ABIA) 22,375 SU 620 620 2148

Note:
Regarding the LCG baseband capacity, the table Examples of WCDMA capacity allocation SU (1x LCG
scenario) presents one LCG case allowing a maximum reach of 620 HSPA users. To achieve more than 620
HSPA users per SBTS, another LCG has to be created.

Id: DN09257073 © 2019 Nokia. Nokia confidential.

Issue: 08

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