GSM Network Capacity Planning

Trunking

Traffic Theory
-- Traffic Intensity
-- Grade of Service

Traffic Channels Dimensioning

SDCCH Channels Dimensioning

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 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.

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 Traffic Theory

Terminologies
 Traffic Intensity
 Busy Hour
 Request Rate ( BHCA )
 Set-up Time
 Holding Time
 Blocked Call
 Grade of Service (GoS)

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 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 = UAu
A : Total traffic offered by the system
U : Total number of users

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 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

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 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

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 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 )

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 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

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 Traffic Theory
Set up Time

Average time spent on a resource before getting response

from the called end.
Typically 3 - 5 secs for GSM ( up to POI setup)

Holding Time

Average time spent on any dedicated resource.

SDCCH Holding time ( typically 3 - 4 secs)

TCH Holding time ( actuall call duration + Alerting )

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 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 ?

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 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 %

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 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

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 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.

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 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

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 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

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 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
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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 .

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Cell Configuration

1L 1L
1L
2L

2L
1L 4L
2L
1L

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CONNECTIVITY PLANNING

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WHAT TO CONNECT ?

MSC ----- PSTN

MSC ----- BSC

MSC ----- TRANSCODER *

BSC ----- TRANSCODER *

BSC ----- BTS

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 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

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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
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 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

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 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
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 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

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 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 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
64 kbps 10 4 Traffic Channels

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 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
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 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 )

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 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

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 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.

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 BSC Capacity

Maximum BTS's Capacity on "A" interface

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 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 optmized by selecting BTS configurations

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 BSC Capacity
BTS configuration

Star Configuration BTS

BTS BTS

BSC

BTS
BTS

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 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

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 BSC Capacity
BTS configuration
Loop configuration

BTS
A A
B

BSC B A

B
BTS
A B

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 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 ?

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 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

Capacity = No of Speech Circuits + Signaling Circuits
For Remote Transcoding

Capacity = No of Speech Circuits/4 + Signaling Circuits

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 BSC Capacity
Signalling Circuit Capacity on A interface
Signaling circuits

SS7 "A" Link : 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 ( call+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

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Transcoder - MSC Cpacity

TRANS BSC
MSC CODER

= 1 x E1 = 112 x 16 kbps chs

= 1 x E1 = 30 x 64 kbps chs

4 x E1 = 120 x 64 kbps chs

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 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 %.
Population Penetration = 200000
MSC Capacity = 10,000 Erlangs

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 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

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