GPRS Network Planning Aspects

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Telecom Network Planning Global

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Jari Ryynänen

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© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 1
 Contents
• Nokia GPRS Releases
• Nokia GPRS Network - Structure
• Network Planning Procedure and Services
• GPRS Mobility Management
• GPRS Power Control
• GPRS and GSM Resource Sharing
• GPRS Coding Schemes
• Capacity Planning
• Frequency Planning
• Coverage Planning
• GPRS Support in Totem

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Nokia NMS for GPRS

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• GPRS Statistics and Counters

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• GPRS and Other Features

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 2

 GPRS Growth Stages & Nokia Releases

Nokia Release 2 Nokia Release 3

Nokia Release 1

60% • Low penetration • Growing penetration • High GPRS penetration

• Basic GPRS terminals • High end terminals & growing traffic volumes
GPRS Mobile Penetration

appear • GPRS is a standard

feature in all mobiles
40% • Cost effective network
wide introduction of GPRS
• Enhanced GPRS
20%
Services • Full set of GPRS
services
•Increased GPRS NW
capacity •Optimised NW
operation
0%
2000 2001 2002

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 Nokia GPRS Network - Structure
Short Message
Service Centre
PSTN
Network
SMSC
Home Location
Register

MSC
SS7
HLR NMS
NW

BSC Billing
BTS System
PCU

Charging
Gateway
SGSN Integrated Network
Serving GPRS
Management
Support Node CG

GPRS Internet
BG
InterPLMN Backbone
Corporate

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Network Border IP Network
Gateway

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GGSN Intranet Server

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Domain
DNS Legal
Router
Name Gateway GPRS Firewall

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Systems Intercept Support Node Local
Area NW

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 4

 Nokia GPRS Network - Capacity

1 PCU
• 2Mbit/s data processing for GPRS
BSC • One PCU can be freely connected up to 64 cells, 128 TRXs,
BTS 256 radio channels
PCU
MAX 8 PCUs / BSC

Serving GPRS
Packet Processing
SGSN
Support Node •20 Mbit/s mean packet processing capacity (1.3 Mbit/s per
PAPU)
•48 Mbit/s peak packet processing capacity
Subscribers
GPRS •120 000 Attached subscribers
Backbone •up to 2 IP contexts per subscriber
IP Network

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• Data Transfer Capacity 16Mbit/s (4-8kpps)

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GGSN
• Supports 50 000 active PDP contexts

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Gateway GPRS Support Node

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 5

 GPRS Network Planning Procedure
GPRS Planning GPRS Planning
Services Process

• Pre-Planning
• Capacity Calculation for Dimensioning and Roll-
Out Planning
• Coverage Design for Dimensioning and Roll-Out Capacity Planning Monitoring
Planning Network Doctor
Totem
• Initial Network Configuration NDW

• Detailled Planning
• Traffic and Performance Analysis of Existing NMS/2000
Network
• Definition of the Radio Interface Design Criteria PlanEdit

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NPS/X 3.3
CDW
• Preliminary Capacity Planning

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Frequency Planning
Parameter Planning

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• Preliminary Coverage / Frequency Planning Coverage Planning

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© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 6
 Radio Network Planning
• Radio NW Capacity Planning
INPUT OUTPUT
• Capacity calculation in Netdim
• Capacity calculation in Totem 3.1 •Speech traffic •Required # of
• Paging capacity estimation •Data traffic TRXs
• (by adjusting the size of RA •C/I •Throughput /
and LA) Capacity
•FH, IUO, IFH

• Radio NW Frequency Planning

• Frequency Planning with NPS/X 3.3
• Throughput requirement must be considered in frequency
planning
•Higher Throughput -> Higher C/I requirement
• Dedicated frequencies can be allocated for GPRS use if

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• Soft Capacity features (IFH, FH) increase the throughput

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 Radio Network Planning
Coverage Planning
• Coverage prediction with NPS/X for the existing
network
• Using the existing coverage or an additional coverage
to improve the throughput:
– Microcells
– Separate indoor sites
– Metrosite Concept
• Flexible capacity / coverage
• GSM900 - GSM1800 TRXs in the same
BTS

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• Shared or Dedicated GPRS capacity (TS,

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TRX, band basis)

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 Radio Network Planning
• Radio NW Parametrisation according to the stated quality targets
• PlanEdit, NMS, CellularDataWarehouse (CDW) to handle all the parameters
• GPRS activation parameters
• Cell reselection parameters (C1 and C2)
• PC parameters (Uplink in Release 1)
• Load control parameters
• GPRS capacity (dedicated, shared)
• HSCSD load control

• Quality Monitoring and Optimisation

• New GPRS related counters in BSC
• Combined NMS/NetworkDataWarehouse (NDW) statistics for speech and GPRS
• GPRS support in TOM for drive tests

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• GPRS Interworking with other soft capacity features

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• IUO/IFH (Regular layer for GPRS -> higher reuse, high throughput)

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FH (Reduction in interference -> higher throughput)
• Dual Band (Flexible, good quality -> high throughput)
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 BCCH and GPRS
• Existing BCCH modified to include new parameters for GPRS
 No reduction in cell traffic capacity when introducing GPRS
 Signaling capacity shared by Circuit Switched & GPRS

Informs if SI14 and

SI15 are sent

System info 13 GPRS

Mobile
System info 14

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System info 15

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Frequency hopping
Packet power control &

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information -MA list etc...
interference measurement
information

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 GPRS Mobility Management
Location
Area (LA) MSC/VLR

Gs Interface
Routing SGSN
Area (RA)
• Routing Areas used for GPRS Mobility Management
• For simplicity, can be the same than LA (GSM specs: RA <= LA)

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• Needed signaling / paging capacity depends on the size of RA

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• In IDLE mode no GPRS Mobility Management

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•

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In STANDBY mode periodic Routing Area Update
• In READY mode a Cell Update when MS changes the cell
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 GPRS Cell Selection and Reselection

l 1 GPRS mobile cell selection / reselection the same than the Circuit
Re Switched idle mode cell selection
• Cell is selected autonomously by the mobile
• MS uses C1 and C2 parameters for cell selection/reselection
(SYSTEM INFORMATION TYPE 3)
• GPRS handover is called as cell reselection
• Cell reselection can be done during the data connection
C1

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C2

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 GPRS Cell Selection and Re-selection
Procedure for cell selection during data transmission:
• MS leaves the packet transfer mode and enters the packet idle mode in the
old cell
• MS reads the system information messages in the new cell
• MS reports to the SGSN
• Initiates uplink TBF (data, signalling or dummy),
• Makes cell update
• Data transmission is started in the new cell
• No data retransmission in inter-PCU HO
• LLC frame is retransmitted if the PCU has been changed

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 GPRS Power Control
• Uplink Power Control Rel 1
- Due to bursty nature of traffic will not be as effective as for Circuit
Switched traffic
- Open loop PC (specified in ETSI)
- PC parameters for MS are transmitted on BCCH
ater
•Downlink Power Control L
Power control
- Not supported in the first release data
- Requires measurement reports
which will load the network UL Power

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- Mobile near far effect a problem Control DL Power
Control

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Measurement
Reports

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 Uplink Power Control
PCH = min(CH - C + 48),PMAX)
CH, sets the minimum power level (default: 17 - GSM900, 18 - GSM1800)
, sets the slope for the uplink power level (default: 0.7/0.8)
• C, normalised received signal level in DL direction
 0, ETSI specified value, 39 - GSM900, 36 - GSM1800
PMAX, max power of the cell allowed for MS
MS power control with MS Output Power as a function of Received DL Signal Level
the default values:
35
MS Transmission Power

30
25
(dBm)

20 GSM900
15 GSM1800

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0

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-45
-50
-55
-60
-65
-70
-75
-80
-85
-90
-95
-100
-105
-110

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Received Signal Level (dBm)

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 GPRS and GSM Resource Sharing
• Circuit Switched traffic has priority
• Also GPRS dedicated time slots can be defined
• In each cell Circuit Switched & Packet Switched territories are defined
• Territories consist of consecutive timeslots
• GPRS can be set to favour the BCCH Transceiver -> higher throughput
Default GPRS capacity
Temporary Circuit
GPRS Switched
TRX 1 CCCH TS TS TS TS TS TS TS
Territory
capacity

TRX 2 TS TS TS TS TS TS TS TS Circuit /
Packet
Switched

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Dedicated Territory
GPRS

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Territory upgrade until the Capacity
Territory downgrade

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Default GPRS Capacity and
in interval of Territory according to the

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Upgrade Guard Time Circuit Switched traffic

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 16

 GPRS and GSM Resource Sharing
Parameters

Parameters for Territory management:

• GPRSenabled (BTS-level)
• GPRSenabledTRX (TRX-level) effect of
• DedicatedGPRScapacity (BTS-level, %) introducing GPRS
on NW Quality & Capacity
• DefaultGPRScapacity (BTS-level, %)
• PreferBCCHfreqGPRS (BTS-level)
• TerritoryUpdateGuardTimeGPRS (BSC-level)

GPRS territory parameters can be changed when:

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• Online when the cell GPRS capability is set off by GPRSenabled parameter or

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• The cell is locked.

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 Resource Sharing between GPRS MS
• Several mobiles can share one timeslot
• Mobiles are queued - maximum 7 Uplink, 9 Downlink
• Uplink State Flag used to tell which mobiles turn to transmit
Uplink State Flag

TS 1
New MS
TS 2

TS 3

Multislot Mobile

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• Timeslot selected to give maximum throughput

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• Each mobile gets 1 / (no. of MS in queue) of the channels capacity

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 RLC / LLC Transmission

LLC frame
SGSN LLC retransmissions
-max 12160 information bits
LLC frame -a header of 32 bits
Gb -ack/non-acknowledged modes
RLC block
RLC blocks
-160 information bits with CS-1
BSC PCU
= 8 kbit/s
-a MAC header of 21 bits

BTS 4 interleaved bursts -acknowledgement every 18

blocks, if retransmissions more

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 GPRS Coding Schemes
Coding Payload (bits) Theoretical Data Rate
Scheme per RLC block* (kbit/s)
Nokia GPRS CS1 181 9.05

Error
Data

Correction
Release 1 CS2 268 13.4
CS3 312 15.6
CS4 428 21.4

• CS1 & CS2

- Implemented in ALL Nokia BTS without HW change
More Data
=
• CS3 & CS4 Less Error
Correction
- Will not fit in normal 16kbit/s Abis TRAU frame

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- Feature candidate for future release

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• New TRX for TalkFamily & MetroSite

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• Not feasible for PrimeSite & 2nd Generation * RLC Block = 456 bits after puncturing
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 GPRS Coding Schemes
Throughput versus C/I, link level simulations
• All Nokia BTS support GPRS without any modification (CS1 & CS2)
• For signalling only CS1 is used (ETSI)
• 8 Timeslot parallel connections supported
Network throughput - 1 Timeslot Network throughput - 3 Timeslots
Typical NW C/I Typical NW C/I
Minimum Average Minimum Average
16 50
CS-3
14 CS-3
CS-2 40
12 CS-2
CS-4
10 CS-4
Kbit/s

30

Kbit/s
8
CS-1 CS-1
6 20
4
10

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0 0

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0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25

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C/I C/I
Nokia Simulations - RLC polling interval = 18 blocks, non-frequency hopping)

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 GPRS Coding Scheme Selection
 All Calls start with CS1
 Change to CS2 based on successful transmission (without retransmissions)
 Retransmissions always with the same coding scheme
 After unsuccessful retransmissions, the coding changed back to CS1
 Other alternatives also under study, like RXQUAL or C/I based link
adaptation
CS1 CS2
LLC All Blocks OK

CS2
LLC
All Blocks OK

CS2

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LLC Required CS1

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Retransmissions

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CS1

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LLC
All Blocks OK

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 Capacity Planning

• GPRS “bandwidth” can be estimated via the voice time slot

usage
• E.g. 1 TRX cell with 7 traffic TSs
• Offered voice traffic: 2.88 Erl (Blocking=2%)
• For GPRS: 7 - 2.88 = 4.12 “Erl”

available GPRS
time slots GPRS “bandwidth”
15
14
13
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7
6

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3 fixed GPRS Tss = number of TRXs
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1 one fixed GPRS TS in the cell
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1 2 3 4 5 6
number of TRXs

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 BSS Capacity Dimensioning
(CS1, control signalling included)
200
6TRX (44TCH)
180
4TRX (30TCH)
160
GPRS Capacity (kbit/s)
140
120
100
2TRX (14TCH)
80
60
40 2% Blocking 2% Blocking 2% Blocking
20
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Circuit Switched Load (erl)

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• Based on Nokia Research Center simulations

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 GPRS User Throughput - Web Pages
2TRX Cell with 4.1 Erl Circuit Switched Load (50% loaded)

18
Coding Scheme CS1
16
6TS Mobile
14
12
Mean kbit/s

10 3TS Mobile

8
6
1TS Mobile
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2

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Offered GPRS Load kbit/s
Note ! Due to larger packet sizes in FTP and email applications rates should be better
© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 25
 Retransmission Percentage
GPRS Simulation Example
• Retransmission percentage vs. average CIR

Macro 2/6, 1-slot, WWW traffic

100 Retransmission
[%] CS-1
80
Retransmission
60
[%] CS-2
%

40 Retransmission
20 [%] CS-3

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Retransmission

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[%] CS-4

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Average burst CIR over the w hole netw ork [dB]

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 C/I versus Throughput
Network level simulations
• Throughputs vs. CIR. Shaded areas describe the regions where each
coding scheme is best.
• C/I 20dB is required for high throughput -> requires a good quality network!
Macro 2/6, 1-slot, WWW traffic

Net throughput CS-

12 1
10 Net throughput CS-
kbit/s

8 2
6 Net throughput CS-
4 3

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0 10 20 30 4

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Average burst CIR over the w hole

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netw ork [dB]

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 Frequency Planning
Sonera Simulations
• Effect on frequency reuse patterns, voice traffic with 2% blocking as
background load
Outage probability (C/I=9 dB, TRXs=3)
16

•
K=7
Reuse 9 with voice 14
K=9
K=12
traffic + 100% K=13
GPRS load has the 12
K=16
K=19
same interference
probability than 10

Reuse 7 with only

p (%)

8
voice traffic!!
• 2-3 dB additional
6

interference with full 4

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GPRS_0% GPRS_25% GPRS_50% GPRS_75% GPRS_100%
GPRS load

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 Coverage Planning
Sonera Simulations
• 10 % outage probability is typical criteria in network planning

Carrier C/I with outage probability 10 %

30

GPRS_0%
25 GPRS_50%
r R GPRS_100%

20
C/I (dB)

15
• 50% GPRS load
worsens C/I by 1 dB 10

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• 100% GPRS load

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worsens C/I by 2 dB

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0
0.25

0.30

0.35

0.40

0.45

0.50

0.55

0.60

0.65

0.70

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00
r/R
© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 29
 GPRS Support in Totem
INPUT OUTPUT

• Capacity Calculation for •Speech traffic •Required # of

• Dimensioning and •Data traffic TRXs
• Roll-Out Planning •C/I •Throughput /
Capacity
•FH, IUO, IFH

• Coverage Design
• An estimated GPRS throughput (kbit/s) with different channel
coding schemes in an existing network can be shown
• A coverage plan to fulfil the required GPRS throughput can be
prepared

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Coming 12/99??

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 30

 Nokia NMS for GPRS
• Combined GSM and Data Network
management
Nokia NMS for GPRS
• Integrated access: all
applications/tools can have a
seamless access from the same
S
terminal
Q
N
M 3 • Integrated fault management:
P - SNMP traps from the IP backbone
IP GSM - Q3 Alarms from the GSM network
• Integrated Performance
Management allowing the
collection and monitoring of both

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Seamless growth path from the current NMS/2000 GSM management

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system to the GPRS System Solution

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 31

 Process centric view
Operator Processes in GPRS Network Management

Building
 Adding SGSN's
 Adding GGNS's
 Downloading GPRS SW

 Radio Network Planning  Performance

 IP network Planning Reporting
 IP Address management
 Security Planning Operating

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 Trouble Management

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 Activating GPRS
 Adding/changing GPRS

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Planning
subscriber parameters

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 32

 GPRS Statistics and Counters
A lot of new counters are proposed for GPRS. Here are some examples:
Number of data RLC Number of data retransmitted Number of RLC control
blocks RLC blocks blocks

Coding
Scheme Uplink Downlink Uplink Downlink Uplink Downlink

CS 1 56 108 8 22 8 20

CS 2 27 80 3 10 - -

Number of RTSLs requested / allocated for one TBF

1 2 3 4 5-8

Request
Uplink 4 17 21 13 0

Request

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Downlink 2 13 22 15 1

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Allocated
Uplink 3 15 17 8 0

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Allocated

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Downlink 3 10 17 8 1

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 BSC Statistics for GPRS
Available Measurement

PCU measurement - 65 counters

Traffic measurement - 7 counters

Resource availability measurement - 4 counters

Resource access measurement - 30 counters

Handover measurement - 2 counters

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Availability measurement - 1 counter

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 BSC Statistics for GPRS
Formula examples :

Comparing of CS1 & CS2

Ratio of CS1 and CS2 for RLC data blocks = (A + B) / (C + D)

Comparing of uplink and downlink

Ratio of uplink and downlink RLC data blocks = (A + C) / (B + D)

where A = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in uplink with CS1 coding scheme

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B = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in downlink with CS1 coding scheme

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C = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in uplink with CS2 coding scheme

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D = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in downlink with CS2 coding scheme

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 35

 BSC Statistics for GPRS
Formula examples :

Ratio of retransmitted data and a whole transmitted data on uplink and downlink

Ratio of transmitted data and a whole transmitted data RLC data blocks with
CS1 coding = (C + D) / (A + B)

where A = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in uplink with CS1 coding scheme
B = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in downlink with CS1 coding scheme
C = Counter for number of retransmitted RLC data blocks in uplink with CS1 coding
scheme

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D = Counter for number of retransmitted RLC data blocks in downlink with CS1
coding

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scheme

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 BSC Statistics for GPRS

Formula examples :

Ratio of control blocks and data blocks on uplink and downlink

Ratio of RLC control blocks and data blocks CS1 coding = (E + F) / (A + B)

where A = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in uplink with CS1 coding scheme
B = Counter for number of RLC data blocks in downlink with CS1 coding scheme
E = Counter for number of control RLC blocks in uplink with CS1 coding scheme

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F = Counter for number of control RLC blocks in downlink with CS1 coding

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 GPRS and Other Features
IUO/IFH:
 GPRS MS doesn't have access to the IUO/IFH super layer
At start low GPRS traffic -> OK to use only regular layer
Release1 does not support Network requested cell re-selection
No IUO C/I estimation
Less capacity for GPRS
High reuse on the regular layer -> high throuhput
More interference for the regular layer because of GPRS traffic
Frequency Hopping:
 Basically FH improves the GPRS throughput

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 With tight reuse schemes the GPRS throughput will suffer

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 With BB FH, TS0 cannot be used for GPRS (GSM specs., different FH group)

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 BCCH TRX preference doesn’t help with BB FH

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© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 38
 GPRS and Other Features
Dual Band:
 DB 1800 layer is normally less interfered -> more suitable at the beginning for
the GPRS service
 In Idle mode, the C2 parameter is used to suck the DB traffic to 1800 layer,
the same parameter is used in GPRS Release 1 for GPRS cell selection
HSCSD:
 Has priority over GPRS but can be controlled by HSCSD load parameters
Extended cell:
 GPRS is not supported in Extended cell in Release1 -- so ETRX can not carry
GPRS TCHs
Satellite Abis:

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 GPRS is not supported over Satellite Abis (long delay)

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Forced Handover For O&M Reason:

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 If there are GPRS TSLs in the TRX to be blocked, BSC moves those TSLs to

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CS territory before TRX blocking

© NOKIA CS / NS / JRy Page 39

 Explanations
TBF
• A Temporary Block Flow (TBF) is a physical connection used by the two RR
entities to support the unidirectional transfer of LLC PDUs on packet data
physical channels.
• The TBF is allocated radio resource on one or more PDCHs and comprises a
number of RLC/MAC blocks carrying one or more LLC PDUs.
• A TBF is temporary and is maintained only for the duration of the data transfer
(i.e. until there are no more RLC/MAC blocks to be transmitted and, in RLC
acknowledged mode, all of the transmitted RLC/MAC blocks have been
successfully acknowledged by the receiving entity).

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