GSM Network Capacity Planning

Trunking

Traffic Theory
-- Traffic Intensity
-- Grade of Service

Traffic Channels Dimensioning

SDCCH Channels Dimensioning

Company Confiden 10/4/99 1

 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.

Company Confiden 10/4/99 2

 Traffic Theory

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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 3

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 4

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 5

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 6

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 8

 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 ?

Company Confiden 10/4/99 10

 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 %

Company Confiden 10/4/99 11

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 12

 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.

Company Confiden 10/4/99 13

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 14

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 15

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 16

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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 19

WHAT TO CONNECT ?

MSC ----- PSTN

MSC ----- BSC

MSC ----- TRANSCODER *

BSC ----- TRANSCODER *

BSC ----- BTS

Company Confiden 10/4/99 20

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 21

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
Company Confiden 10/4/99 22
 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 24

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 25

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 26

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 27

 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 )

Company Confiden 10/4/99 28

 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 ?

Company Confiden 10/4/99 36

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 37

 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

Company Confiden 10/4/99 41