Quality of Service (QoS) in 3GPP

1. UMTS QoS Architecture

2. UMTS QoS Management
3. UMTS QoS Classes
4. QoS Attributes (QoS Profile)
5. Management of End-to-End IP QoS
1. UMTS QoS Architecture
3GPP TS 23.107 defines 3GPP QoS architecture with
the following major QoS principles
QoS has to be provided end-to-end
the QoS attributes are needed to support asymmetric bearers
the number of user-defined and controlled attributes should
be as small as possible
the derivation and definition of QoS attributes from the
application requirements have to be simple
it should be able to provide different levels of QoS using
UMTS-specific control mechanisms that are not related to
QoS mechanisms in the external networks
 the QoS mechanisms have to allow efficient use of
radio capacity and efficient resource utilization
it should allow independent evolution of core and
access networks
the UMTS network should be evolved with
minimized impact on the evolution of transport
technologies in the wireline networks
the UMTS QoS control mechanisms shall be able to
efficiently interwork with current QoS schemes
 the overhead and additional complexity caused by
the QoS scheme should be kept reasonably low, so
as the amount of state information transmitted and
stored in the network
the QoS behavior should be dynamic, i.e., it should
be possible to modify QoS attributes during an
active session
UMTS QoS Architecture
 QoS functions are divided into different layers
Each bearer service provides its QoS services by utilizing
the services furnished by lower layer(s)
End-to-end QoS
Terminal Equipment (TE) to Mobile Terminal (MT)
Local Bearer Service
UMTS Bearer Service
External Bearer Service
 UMTS Bearer Service
Radio Access Bearer Service
provides confidential transport of signaling and user data
between MT and CN Iu Edge Node
Core Network (CN) Bearer Service
connects the UMTS CN Iu Edge Node with the CN
Gateway to the external network
should efficiently control and utilize the backbone
network in order to provide the contracted UMTS Bearer
Service
the packet core network should support different
backbone bearer services for a variety of QoS
2. UMTS QoS Management
Management of the UMTS Bearer Service includes
management functions in control plane and user plane
Management functions
seek to ensure the negotiated QoS between UMTS Bearer
Service and external services, including TE/MT Local Bearer
Service and External Bearer Service
End-to-end QoS is achieved by
translation and mapping of the QoS requirements and QoS
attributes between the UMTS Bearer Service and external
services
UMTS QoS management in control plane
Control Plane
Four major functional blocks in control plane
Bearer Service Manager


QoS
BS manager
(component managers)
(component managers)
UMTS, radio, Iu, and CN BS manager
BS managerQoS
QoSBS manager
admission control entity


UMTS Bearer Service (BS) Manager
Radio Access Bearer (RAB) Manager
Local Bearer Service (BS) Manager
Radio Bearer Service (BS) Manager
 Translation Function

BS management

 Admission/Capability Control



CN EDGEadmission control model
PDP contextQoS

 Subscription Control
CN EDGEBS manager
QoS
 To establish or modify a UMTS bearer service
the Translation Functions in the MT and the
Gateway signal / negotiate with external bearer
services
the service primitives and QoS attributes are
converted between the UMTS Bearer Service and
the external bearer services
the Translation Functions further signals/negotiates
with the UMTS BS Managers in MT, CN Edge, and
Gateway
 Each UMTS BS Manager consults with its associated
Admission/Capability Control to decide whether the
requested services and desired resources are available
and can be granted
the UMTS BS Manager in CN Edge also consults with the
Subscription Control to check the administrative privileges
for the requested services
once all checks are positive, a UMTS bearer service could be
established/modified
each UMTS BS Manager requests services from lower layers
and translates its service attributes to lower layers
 example
the UMTS BS Manager in MT requests services from the
Local BS Manager and the Radio BS Manager
the UMTS BS Manager in Gateway asks services from the
CN BS Manager and the External BS Manager
in addition to the Iu BS manager and the CN Manager in the
CN Edge, the UMTS BS Manager in CN Edge translates
QoS attributes and requests services from the RAB Manager
in UTRAN as well
the RAB Manager in UTRAN verifies with its associated
Admission/ Capability Control to determine whether the
requested services are supported and the desired resources
are available
UMTS QoS management in user plane
User Plane
User plane
ensures that the user data transmitted in UMTS
Bearer Service conforms to the traffic
characteristics and service attributes defined by the
control plane
 Four major components
Classifier
QoS
DiffServ (Differentiated Services)DSCP
(Differentiated Service Code Point)TCP port number

ClassifierMTGateway
local bearer serviceexternal bearer
service
 Conditioner

QoS

conditioner(traffic shaping)
(traffic policing)
Mapper
QoS
QoS
marks data in order to receive the intended QoS
 Resource manager
responsible for managing and distributing
resources according to the QoS requirements
include scheduling, bandwidth management, and
power control for the radio bearer
 Before entering the domain of UMTS Bearer Service,
traffic is classified and conditioned in the MT and the
Gateway
Based on packet header or traffic characteristics, data are
classified into different UMTS bearer services
They are then conditioned to ensure conformance with the
negotiated QoS
 For downlink traffic to MT, there is also a traffic
conditioner in UTRAN
The conditioner in the Gateway is for conditioning traffic
that enters the core network from external networks
The output traffic from the conditioner in the gateway may
not conform with the QoS attributes specified for downlink
traffic in the UTRAN
packets may be shaped or dropped
shaping: the process of delaying packets within a traffic
stream to cause it to conform to some defined traffic profile
dropping: the process of discarding packets based on
specified rules
3. UMTS QoS Classes
3GPP define two major classes (according to delay
sensitivity)
real time
conversational class
streaming class
non-real time
interactive class
background class
 real-time traffic is more delay sensitive than is non-real-
time traffic
conversational class is most sensitive to delay,
followed by streaming class, interactive class, and
then background class
UMTS QoS Classes
4. QoS Attributes (QoS Prole)

Bearer services discussed for QoS attributes

QoS attributes in UMTS bearer service
 Attributes
delivery order
whether the SDU (Service Data Unit) should be delivered in
order
maximum SDU size
the maximum allowable size of SDUs
SDU format information
the possible actual sizes of SDUs, which might be useful for
RLC operation in UTRAN
SDU error ratio
the fraction of lost or detected erroneous SDUs
 residual bit error ratio (BER)
the undetected bit error ratio of a delivered SDU
delivery of erroneous SDUs
whether the detected erroneous SDU should be
transmitted
transfer delay
the maximum delay of 95th percentile of the delay
distribution of all delivered SDUs
traffic handling priority
the priority for SDUs
 allocation/ retention priority
the priority for allocation and retention of the UMTS
bearer
source statistics descriptor
shows the traffic characteristics of SDUs
studies have shown that speech holds a discontinuous
behavior, in which there are talking and silent periods
by specifying the source characteristics, it helps the
system in making a decision for admission control to
achieve statistical multiplex gain
Values of UMTS bearer service attributes
QoS attributes in RAB (radio access bearer) service
Values of RAB (radio access bearer) service attributes
5. Management of End-to-End IP QoS
Assuming the external network is based on IP,
this section discusses the management and
interaction between the UMTS Bearer Service
and the External Bearer Service to provide end-
to-end IP QoS
Control plane for end-to-end IP QoS management
 Two extra components in the control plane of
the management function to provide end-to-end
IP QoS
IP BS (Bearer Service) Manager
P-CSCF (Proxy Call State Control Function)
 IP BS Manager
controls the external IP bearer service
utilizes standard IP mechanisms to manage IP
bearer services
to interact with UMTS Bearer Service, the IP BS
Manager leverages the Translation Function to map
the mechanisms and parameters used within the IP
bearer service to those used within the UMTS
bearer service
 Two IP BS Managers
one in the UE (User Equipment)
one in the Gateway (the Gateway might be a
GGSN)
the IP BS Managers in the UE and the GGSN could
communicate with each other using relevant
signaling protocols
 IP BS Manager may support Int-Serv/RSVP or
Diff-Serv edge function
Diff-Serv edge function
required for the IP BS Manager in GGSN
optional for the IP BS Manager in UE
Int-Serv/RSVP
optional for both UE and GGSN
 PEP (Policy Enforcement Point) function
defined in IP policy framework
optional for UE
mandatory for GGSN
Capability of IP BS managers in UE and GGSN
 P-CSCF
a mobiles first contact point for IP multimedia sessions
essentially is a local SIP server
includes a Policy Control Function (PCF)
PCF
coordinates the applications with the resource management in
IP layer
a logical entity for policy decision, which conforms to the
policy framework defined by IETF
effectively is a PDP (Policy Decision Point), whereas the IP
BS Manager in GGSN is a PEP (Policy Enforcement Point)
 Go interface
the interface between PCF and GGSN
supports the transfer of information and policy
decisions between PCF and IP BS Manager in the
GGSN
 QoS resource authorization for IP bearer service
SIP adopted by 3GPP as the signaling protocol for
packet domain
the QoS authorization process is triggered when
receiving a SIP message
the payload of a SIP INVITE usually contains SDP
(Session Description Protocol), which specifies the type
of media, codec, sampling rate, etc.
 PCF identifies the connection information such as media
and bandwidth requirements for a downlink connection
PCF then relays the SDP message to the destining UE
once the SDP from destining UE is received, the PCF
identifies the uplink connection information
it also authorizes the requested QoS resources and
enforces the IP bearer policy
the SDP message is then forwarded to the originating
UE
Radio Resource Management (RRM)
Radio Resource Management (RRM)
algorithms are responsible for efficient
utilization of the air interface resources
RRM is needed to guarantee Quality of Service
(QoS), to maintain the planned coverage area,
and to offer high capacity
Typical locations of RRM algorithms in a WCDMA network
 RRM functions
connection based functions
Handover Control (HC)
handles and makes the handover decisions
controls the active set of Base Stations of MS
Power Control (PC)
maintains radio link quality
minimize and control the power used in radio
interface, thus maximizing the call capacity
 network based functions
Admission Control (AC)
handles all new incoming traffic
check whether new connection can be admitted to
the system and generates parameters for it
Load Control (LC)
manages situation when system load exceeds the
threshold and some counter measures have to be
taken to get system back to a feasible load
 Packet Scheduler (PS)
handles all non real time traffic, (packet data
users)
decides when a packet transmission is initiated
and the bit rate to be used
Connection Based Functions
Power control Outer Loop Power Control
prevent excessive If quality < target,
increases SIRTARGET
interference and near-far
effect
open-loop power control
rough estimation of
path loss from
receiving signal
initial power setting,
or when no feedback Fast Power Control
channel is exist If SIR < SIRTARGET,
send power up
command to MS
 fast close-loop power control
feedback loop with 1.5kHz cycle to adjust uplink /
downlink power to its minimum
even faster than the speed of Rayleigh fading for
moderate mobile speeds
outer loop power control
adjust the target SIR setpoint in base station
according to the target BER
commanded by RNC
 Handover
softer handover
a MS is in the overlapping
coverage of 2 sectors of a
base station
concurrent communication
via 2 air interface channels
2 channels are maximally
combined with rake
receiver
 soft handover
a MS is in the overlapping
coverage of 2 different base
stations
concurrent communication via
2 air interface channels
downlink: maximal combining
with rake receiver
uplink: routed to RNC for
selection combining, according
to a frame reliability indicator
by the base station
Network Based Functions

RT / NRT : Real-time / Non-Real-time RAB : Radio Access Bearer

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