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RAN Capacity Guidline
RAN Capacity Guidline
Contents
4.7 RAN Capacity Management Guide
RAN18.1
Issue 01
Date 2016-02-29
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Bantian, Longgang
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Website: http://www.huawei.com
Email: support@huawei.com
Contents
1.1 Overview
3.2 Dimensioning
4 Reference Documents
1
1.1 Overview
About This Document
This document describes the six capacity management activities throughout network lifecycle, which are, capacity
planning, dimensioning, product configuration, capacity monitoring, capacity optimization, and capacity expansion.
01 (2016-02-29)
Draft A (2015-12-31)
This is a draft.
2 Overview of Capacity Management
New network construction and inventory network operation involve different capacity management activities, as
shown in Figure 2-1.
Each management activity consists of some key actions, as shown in Table 2-1.
Capacity planning As to new network construction, confirm the network construction objective, su
as the network capacity and requirements for user experience.
Dimensioning Compute resources that require special attentions, including air interface
resources, CE resources, Iub resources, and RNC resources (load sharing).
Product configuration Compute the requirements for base stations, cells, boards, and transport devices
Capacity monitoring Monitor the major resources that affect system capacity. Network status is
monitored in real time.
Capacity expansion Add air interface and device resources to expand system capacity.
3 Capacity Management Activities
Every network undergoes a cyclical process that includes developing users, light load, heavy load, and capacity
expansion. Based on years of network maintenance and service experience, Huawei works out two capacity planning
solutions: basic capacity planning and xMbps planning. Resources required in the two solutions are shown in Figure
3-1.
The network capacity is planned based on the current and future capacity demands to ensure basic network KPIs
(such as KPIs related to accessibility and service drops).
3.1.1.1 Prerequisites
Before basic capacity planning, predict network capacity requirements based on the current capacity status and
future service planning. To know about the current capacity status, evaluate loads of the devices and the air interface
on the network.
New network
Operator demands include traffic demands and user experience assurance solutions.
The network construction objective will be regarded as the acceptance standards of the new network after being
established. Capacity and user experience are the most important factors.
Reach an agreement with the operator in terms of network construction objectives. The objectives are the service
demands of the new network.
----End
Inventory network
If the usage of a resource type does not exceed the corresponding capacity expansion threshold, the future capacity
demands are predicted based on the current traffic model and service loads.
There are various factors causing an increase in loads. The following factors are defined for future capacity demand
prediction:
During future capacity demand prediction, you can specify several load subitems for each kind of resource based on
consumption factors, and then sum up all load subitems after each of them times its corresponding increase factor to
calculate the total loads.
----End
xMbps planning aims to meet the data rate required by end users. It evaluates the data rates supported by the air
interface on a grid level to decide the difference between the current and target data rates, and then provides carrier
capacity expansion and site planning advice or a multi-sector solution by means of simulation.
3.1.2.1 Background
Basic KPI can no longer reflect user experience of web browsing and video services in the Mobile Broadband (MBB)
era. The xMbps assesses the current grid-level capacity of the network and provides capacity planning suggestions.
Mobile networks have entered the MBB era leaving the 2G voice era behind. Videos are evolving from high
definition (HD) to ultra HD (UHD). The performance of mobile networks is limited by the air interface. Therefore,
providing a high bearer bandwidth ensures good user experience.
User experience of a service needs to be evaluated from various aspects. The bearer rates to ensure good user
experience from various aspects may also be different, as shown in table Table 3-1. The highest bearer rate is
selected as the bearer rate for the service.
The bit rates of video services with different definitions are obviously different. Although the definitions are the
same, actual bit rates are different because of different dynamic picture proportions and video coding levels. The
preceding table is for reference only.
The distribution of MBB services is unbalanced. The proportion of high data rate services in urban areas is large
while the proportion of low data rate services in rural areas is large. Therefore, xMbps should be planned based the
area of the network.
For example, the target areas can be classified into major areas, valued areas, and common areas based on HD
services, valued users, and terminal distribution.
Table 3-2 Area classification
The values of xMbps for different areas should be specified separately based on the mainstream valued services. In
areas where web services and low definition video services are dominant, the target bearer rate is set to 1 Mbit/s. In
areas where HD or UHD video services are leading, the bearer rate is set to 5 Mbit/s or 10 Mbit/s. This can reduce
CAPEX.
A specific xMbps anywhere and anytime is not an absolute requirement. It can be defined as follows from the
perspective of engineering planning: The xMbps is reached in a specified percentage (typical value: 95%) of places
within a specified percentage (typical value: 90%) of time to ensure user experience of the good level or above.
A proper target rate is calculated based on the typical rate required by services through analyzing service types and
the ratio of each type of service. 1 Mbit/s can meet 90% of service requirements for networks with non-video service
requirements. Therefore, 1 Mbit/s is used as the target rate during xMbps planning
To evaluate the grid-level rate capability, calculate the theoretical rate of each grid based on the channel quality
indicator (CQI), number of UEs, and available power in this grid, and then geographically display the rates in the
form of grids.
You can provide reasonable advice on carrier capacity expansion and site planning through simulation and
positioning based on the difference between the current grid-level rate capability and the target rate. This method is
also applicable to multi-sector planning.
----End
3.2 Dimensioning
At the dimensioning stage, the service demands of capacity planning are used to predict the critical resource
demands for network construction, such as the air interface, CE, IUB, and RNC resources. These resources required
at the dimensioning stage are abstract and irrelevant to the network topology and hardware type.
At the product configuration stage, the abstract resource demands of dimensioning are used to configure base
stations, cells, boards, and transport devices based on product specifications, capability, and other related
parameters.
For details about how to configure RNC, see SRAN11.1&GBSS18.1&RAN18.1 BSC6910 Configuration Principles
(Global) and SRAN11.1&GBSS18.1&RAN18.1 BSC6900 Configuration Principles (Global).
For details about how to configure NodeB, see SRAN11.1&GBSS18.1&RAN18.1&eRAN11.1 3900 Series Base
Station Configuration Principles and SRAN11.1&RAN18.1 BTS3911E Series Base Station Configuration Principles.
It is required to monitor major resources affecting network capacity to learn real-time network status after the
network operates steadily, thereby enabling the network to stay in optimal status and meeting carriers' service
requirements. The resources whose capacity needs to be monitored can be classified into air interface and device
resources.
If air interface resources are found to be insufficient, decide whether capacity optimization can be conducted to
relieve the congestion situation first. If the problem persists, perform capacity expansion.
For details, see RAN18.1 Capacity Monitoring Guide (BSC6910-Based) and RAN18.1 Capacity Monitoring Guide
(BSC6900-Based).
Capacity optimization in this section indicates capacity optimization over the air interface by enabling features or
functions to increase network capacity. If network capacity needs to be improved to meet increasing service
demands, you are advised to perform network optimization.
For details, see UMTS Uplink Throughput Improvement Solution, UMTS Downlink Throughput Improvement Solution,
and UMTS Small Data Packet Storm Solution.
Network capacity needs to be expanded when it cannot meet the capacity standard for network construction
currently or in the foreseeable future. The rules for capacity expansion are as follows:
Compared with new network construction, inventory networks provide more information for reference. You can
decide whether to add resources or authorization based on the resource utilization on the network from all resource
dimensions and under the selected network construction solution.
When the maximum system capability cannot meet service demands with the current network configurations, you
have to modify the network configurations to increase the network capacity.
You are advised to use this capacity expansion solution if the network adopts basic capacity planning.
In typical smartphone traffic scenarios, the relationships between system capacity demands/system capacity
capability/actual system capacity/lower limit of system capacity and the number of users are shown in the following
figure.
Figure 3-5 Relationships between system capacity demands/system capacity capability/actual system capacity/lower
limit of system capacity and the number of users
In a statistical sense, the traffic demand of each user is steady, and the capacity demand increases as the number of
users increases. Users interfere with each other due to self-interfering characteristics of the CMDA scheme. As the
number of users increases, the actual system capacity capability decreases.
The actual system capacity increases as the number of users increases and then decreases until the number of users
almost reaches the maximum number that the system capacity can support. Generally, when the actual system
capacity has a turning point or cannot meet the minimum system capacity demand, capacity expansion needs to be
performed.
You are advised to use this capacity expansion solution if the network adopts xMbps capacity planning.
Figure 3-6 Relationships between user-required throughput/user-perceived throughput/xMbps and the number of
users
C: target xMbps for the area where the network is planned based on xMbps
In a statistical sense, the user-required throughput is basically steady in the specified traffic scenarios (relevant to
user types, service types, and charging policies). The throughput demand is not affected by the number of users.
The user-perceived throughput is steady and then decreases after the number of users gradually reaches the
maximum number that the system capacity can support. When the xMbps cannot meet requirements, capacity
expansion needs to be performed.
The standards for expand the capacity of the air interface are described in Table 3-3.
Combination of basic capacity and Expand the capacity of point A/B in Figure 3-5, and consider the C
xMbps planning capacity expansion point in Figure 3-6.
Air interface resources include the downlink power, CE resource, and uplink load. Air interface capacity expansion
focuses on the downlink power and uplink load. The lower capacity expansion point is used as the capacity
expansion point of the air interface.
Downlink power
Indexes of downlink power mainly include Transmitted Carrier Power (TCP) and non-HSDPA power (Non-HS TCP
and Non-HSPA TCP). So the capacity expansion of downlink power needs to find out the relationship between basic
capacity and downlink power (TCP and Non-HS TCP) and between user-perceived throughput and downlink power
(TCP and Non-HS TCP).
Figure 3-7 shows the dimension reference of downlink power and describes the capacity expansion method based on
downlink power.
Figure 3-7 Relationship between system capacity/user throughput and Non-HS TCP
Collect the measured values of system capacity, user-perceived throughput, and downlink power.
Step 2 Make a relationship diagram.
Make a scatter chart with horizontal coordinate as downlink power. For example, Figure 3-7 shows the system
capacity (HSDPA traffic, unit MB), user-perceived throughput (unit kpbs), and Non-HS TCP of a site. (The capacity
and throughput are average values.)
Decide capacity expansion points based on the relationship diagram such as Figure 3-7.
For networks built based on basic capacity planning and concerning the traffic turning point, perform capacity
expansion when Non-HS TCP reaches 50%.
l For networks built based on basic capacity planning and concerning minimum expected traffic (such as 300 MB),
perform capacity expansion when Non-HS TCP reaches 75%.
For networks built based on xMbps planning and the target is set to 1000 kbps, perform capacity expansion when
Non-HS TCP reaches 36%.
----End
Uplink load
Uplink load refers to the received total wideband power (RTWP) of a cell. The RTWP decides the uplink coverage
and system stability. Therefore, the capacity expansion based on the RTWP needs to consider uplink coverage and
system stability.
Figure 3-8 shows the relationship between system capacity/user-perceived throughput and RTWP.
When the system capacity increases gradually, RTWP increases and cell coverage decreases to below the target
(such as 64 kbps edge rate) at a moment. At this moment, you are advised to perform capacity expansion.
RTWP increases with the system capacity. Perform capacity expansion when the corresponding load factor
(Accurate background noise needs to be identified because background noise will not lead to mutual increase.)
enters the non-linear area (not exceeding 95% normally).
When the uplink coverage and system stability are satisfied, you can find out the cross point between network
capacity and RTWP (as shown in Figure 3-8) and decide whether to perform capacity expansion.
Capacity expansion for the air interface can be implemented by adding carriers, adding NodeBs, or splitting sectors.
Adding carriers
In hotspot valued areas, good user experience needs to be ensured. Adding carriers to increase spectrum resources is
the first choice to alleviate the pressure of network capacity.
Low-frequency band is used as the coverage layer to achieve wide coverage nationwide.
High-frequency band is used as the capacity layer for traffic absorption in hot spots.
Adding NodeBs
As the number of users or traffic volume increases, the required capacity will exceed the maximum capacity
provided by a NodeB. Under this circumstance, new NodeBs need to be added to avoid user experience
deterioration.
In densely populated urban areas, NodeBs carry multi-frequency multi-mode devices. Antenna and cabinet space is
insufficient, and rent and installation and maintenance fees are expensive. To solve this problem, Huawei provides
the Easy Macro solution. Easy Macro is small and light and can be installed flexibly, such as on street light poles,
stadiums, roofs and walls, and independent poles, without occupying any ground space.
Easy Macro uses the Active Antenna System (AAS) and outdoor BBU:
AAS
The AAS is a new type of radio frequency (RF) module following the Remote Frequency Unit (RFU) and Remote
Radio Unit (RRU). The AAS integrates functions of RF modules and antennas and therefore saves antenna and site
resources.
Outdoor BBU
The outdoor BBU integrates the functions of main control, transmission, and baseband processing all into one
module. It is characterized by small size and easy deployment.
Smart phones become more and more popular and user behaviors always change, leading to continuous upgrade of
traffic modes and challenging user experience demands. In densely populated urban areas and indoor hot spots
where adding macro NodeBs or adding spectrum resources cannot meet requirements, add micro NodeBs.
Micro NodeBs are advantageous in terms of site acquisition and flexible deployment. They can absorb traffic
accurately in densely populated urban areas and hot spots, improving user experience. Huawei provides the
AtomCell and LampSite solutions:
AtomCells is small and easy to camouflage, and so it can be deployed on light poles, bus stations, and telephone
booths. Microwave, WiFi, and e-Relay solutions that are developed for micro NodeBs make backhaul easier.
Therefore, AtomCell can help carriers deploy micro NodeBs in densely populated areas and hot spots.
LampSite features large capacity, small size, and easy deployment. It can improve capacity indoor quickly to meet
the service requirements of indoor users.
Splitting sectors
When new NodeB and spectrum resources are unavailable, Huawei provides the multi-sector solution.
This solution can increase site capacity by 50% to 90% and improve coverage by 3 dB without adding NodeB or
spectrum resources. This effectively addresses the concerns of carriers and improves user experience. Figure 3-10
shows the comparison between normal and multi-sector solutions.
Spectrum resources of the air interface are the most precious. Device capacity must support the full utilization of the
air interface capability and match the demands for air interface capacity.
The average and peak resource usage on the live network and the peak-to-average ratio (PAR) coefficient can be
used for determining the capacity expansion threshold.
RNC resources
The types, monitoring indexes, and capacity expansion thresholds of RNC resources are listed in Table 3-4.
VS.LC.ULCreditUsed.Mean
VS.LC.DLCreditUsed.Mean
VS.HW.DLCreditAvailable
VS.HW.ULCreditAvailable
VS.DedicMeaRpt.MEAN
VS.BTS.CnbapCap.UseRate
Table 3-6 ATM transmission resources and their capacity expansion thresholds
Resource Type Monitoring Index Capacity Expansion
Threshold
User plane
User plane
Device capability includes hardware and licenses which need to be considered when capacity expansion is
performed for devices as required by air interface capacity expansion.
4 Reference Documents
Reference documents about capacity management activities are listed in Table 4-1.