WHITE PAPER

HSS Products Enabling RNC Development

A White Paper

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RNC Development

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright Hughes Software Systems, 2004 All information included in this document is under a license agreement. This publication and its contents are proprietary to Hughes Software Systems. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Hughes Software Systems Plot 31, Electronic City, Sector 18, Gurgaon 122 015, INDIA Tel: +91-124-2346666, 2455555 Fax: +91-124-2455100, 2455101 Website: www.hssworld.com E-mail: info@hssworld.com

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All the brand names and other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

DISCLAIMER
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as commitment by Hughes Software Systems. Hughes Software Systems assumes no responsibility or makes no warranties for any errors that may appear in this document and disclaims any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Contents
1. Introduction 2. System Overview
2.1. RNC Position in WCDMA Network 2.2. RNC Functions RNC Internal View 2.3. RNC Interfaces 2.4. RNC Application 2.5. System Requirements for RNC

5 6
6 6 7 8 9 9

3. HSS Offerings
3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 4.7. Interface Software Control Plane Stacks User Plane stacks Features of HSS Control Plane stacks: Features of HSS User Plane stacks: High Performance Reliability Portable Uniform Management Interface Compatibility and Interoperability Standards Compliance HSS Stacks Performance Analysis A case study

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10 10 10 10 12

4. HSS Products Features

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14 14 14 14 15 15 16

5. Conclusion

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Figures
Figure 1: WCDMA Network Architecture ...................................... 6 Figure 2- RNC Internal View for ATM Transport ............................ 7 Figure 3: RNC Internal View for IP Transport .............................. 8

1.

Introduction
3G technology supports a wide range of

This platform is characterized by high data processing capabilities, which facilitate basic 3G services such as high-speed data access and highresolution video. The Interface software consists of a set of Control Plane and User Plane protocol stacks. It handles the syntax and protocol details specified in various 3GPP, ITU-T, IETF specifications. However, the RNC Application controls the decision-making or Resource Management. The RNC Application is responsible for

applications with varying quality of service profiles. The emerging role of Internet in the sphere of communications has also contributed to the evolution of 3G network. 3G networks are logically divided into a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a Core Network (CN), connected via an open interface. The RAN consists of the physical entities, Radio Network Controller (RNC) and Node B, which manage the resources of the access network. RAN facilitates and supports the interface between the User and the Core Network. A carrier-grade switching system such as RNC typically consists of the following three components: A hardware platform Interface software to implement the various control/user plane protocols specified by various standardization bodies. RNC Application

managing the resources and coordinating the various interfaces. As it uses the interface software, it does not have to deal with syntax and protocol details. This paper presents an overview of the RNC, its interfaces with various network nodes and typical system requirements of an RNC. It also includes a brief description of the software components provided by HSS and their features.

RNC Application Interface Software Protocol Stacks by 3GPP, ITU-T, IETF etc.

High-end Hardware Platform

The hardware platform typically is a chassis comprising multiple line cards for terminating network interfaces. It also consists of processor cards for hosting the various control/user plane stacks and RNC Application.

RNC Development

2.

System Overview
This section describes the network positioning,

basic functions and different interfaces of RNC in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network. It also outlines the performance and network deployment requirements of a typical carrier grade RNC. Figure 1 depicts the position of RNC in a typical WCDMA Network Architecture.

Uu

Access Network

Core Network

Node B
Iub Iur Iub Iu_PS Iu_CS
MSC

B
VLR

RNC

RNC

Gs

Node B

SGSN

Uu

Figure 1: WCDMA Network Architecture 2.1. RNC Position in WCDMA Network

As depicted in Figure 1, the RNC is connected to Node B via an Iub interface. A single RNC may be connected to multiple Node Bs. Unlike the GSM network, an RNC in the UMTS network is connected to other RNCs via an Iur interface. The RNC is connected to Core Network via an Iu interface. The Iu interface towards the Packet-Switched (PS) domain of the core network is called Iu-PS, and the Iu interface towards the Circuit-Switched (CS) domain is called Iu-CS.

2.2. RNC Functions

A typical RNC performs the following functions: Admission Control Handover Control Load Control Power Control Transfer of User Data Overall system access control Radio channel ciphering and deciphering Integrity protection

Functions related to mobility such as Handover and relocation

RNC Internal View

Figure 2 and Figure 3 below depicts the modular structure of an RNC for ATM transport and IP transport respectively and the interaction of various modules with each other.

Radio Resource Management and control

Iub Control Plane

Transport Network Control Plane

Iub User Plane

Iur User Plane

NBAP

ALCAP

Iub FP AAL2

SAAL - UNI AAL5 ATM

R N C A P P L I C A T I O N

Iur Control Plane

Transport Network Control Plane

Iur FP

RNSAP SCCP - B

ALCAP

MTP3 B / M3UA AAL2 SAAL NNI / SCTP AAL5 / IPOA ATM

Iub

Iur

Uu User Plane

Uu Control Plane

Iu Control Plane Iu User Plane RANAP GTP (# 1) Iu UP SCCP - B

Transport Network Control Plane ALCAP

P D C P RLC MAC

B M C

RRC

RLC MAC

MTP3 B / M3UA (# 2) AAL2 IPOA SAAL NNI / SCTP AAL5 AAL5 / IPOA ATM

Iub-FP

Uu Iu-CS Iu-PS

#1: GTP will exist in the case of Iu-PS #2: Iu-CS uses MTP3 and SAAL for Signaling Transport Plane Iu-PS can use either MTP3/SAAL or M3UA/SCTP for Signaling Transport Plane

Figure 2- RNC Internal View for ATM Transport

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Iur User Plane

Iur Control Plane

Iub User Plane

Transport Network Control Plane

Iub Control Plane

RNSAP IUR FP RTP/RTCP SCCP M3UA SCTP IP DATA LINK

IUB FP UDP IP

TBD

NBAP SCTP

R N C A P P L I C A T I O N

UDP

DATA LINK

Iur
Iu User Plane Iu Control Plane

Iub

Uu User Plane

Uu Control Plane

IU UP RTP/ RTCP GTPU

RANAP SCCP M3UA

PDCP

BMC RLC MAC Layer 1

RRC

UDP IP DATA LINK

SCTP

Uu

Iu-CS

Iu-PS

Figure 3: RNC Internal View for IP Transport Note: Transport Network Control Plane has not been frozen in the specifications.
procedures for services such as Radio Access Bearer Assignment/Release, Paging, and SRNC Relocation.

2.3. RNC Interfaces

Iu Interface The Iu interface provides protocol termination for the interface between RNC and the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) or Mobile Station Controller (MSC). This functionality is for packet switched/circuit switched capabilities. The Iu interface facilitates

It provides a transparent path for the Network Access Server (NAS) signaling messages between the User Equipment (UE) and CN. It also transports User data between CN and RNC. Iub Interface

The Iub interface provides protocol termination for the interface between RNC and Node B. It provides a set of functions, which includes Cell Configuration Management and Node B. Iur Interface The Iur interface provides protocol termination for the interface between Drift RNC and Serving RNC. It facilitates procedures for services such as Radio Link Management/Supervision, Physical Channel Reconfiguration, Paging, and Common Transport Channel Management. It also transports User data between two RNCs. Uu Interface The Uu interface provides protocol termination for the interface between UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and UE. It facilitates procedures for services such as RRC Connection and Radio Bearer Management, Mobility Management, and Measurements. It also facilitates procedures for Paging, Authentication and Ciphering. Management, System and Common Radio Transport Link Channel Management/Supervision, Information

RNC may support up to 256 Node Bs. It may support approximately 64K subscribers. International standards define six service usage environments of 3G services. The network planning is accomplished in such a way so as to facilitate an equal distribution of these usage sets. The mean traffic intensity can be statistically estimated as 1.15 Busy Hour Call Attempts (BHCA) per user. Therefore, for an average of 64k subscribers, a typical RNC may be required to support 74k BHCA. It should also support peek data rate of 20 Mbps for CS domain and 200 Mbps in downlink/700 Mbps in uplink for PS domain.

Management. It also relays User data between RNC

Compatibility and Inter-operability The RNC should be inter-operable with network nodes and User Equipment compliant with different UMTS releases.

2.4. RNC Application

The RNC Application interacts with multiple interfaces for the overall control of the RNC. It is also responsible for all decision making. It also performs various other control functions such as Admission control, Power Control, Mobility Management.

2.5. System Requirements for RNC

Performance Based on market research analysis, it can be concluded that a typical medium sized field deployable

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Iu-UP

3.

HSS Offerings
This section describes the HSS 3G offerings,

Iub-FP Iur-FP GTP-U PDCP

which can enable the OEMs to reduce time-to-market for RNC.

3.1. Interface Software

HSS has developed the control plane and user plane stacks required for building an RNC. Stacks for various interfaces of RNC - Iu, Iub, Iur and Uu interface are available as ready-to-use and platform-independent building blocks. These interfaces are divided into various planes, Control Plane and User Plane. A brief description of HSS Stacks for various planes is given below.

3.4. Features of HSS Control Plane stacks:

RANAP Stack Features/Functions:
w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Interacts with both 3G SGSN (PS Domain ) and 3G MSC (CS Domain)

Provides Iu Signaling Connection Management, where connections are maintained on a per domain/per UE basis. Facilitates a set of general UTRAN procedures from the CN Supports Paging Notification where it also implements Paging Coordination.
Supports SRNS Relocation in conjunction with the RNC Application. Provides SCCP Connection Management Provides Redundancy Support

3.2. Control Plane Stacks

Radio Access Network Application Protocol (RANAP) for Iu Interface RNSAP for Iur interface Node B Application protocol (NBAP)- for Iub Interface Radio Resource Control (RRC) - for Uu interface Signaling Connections Control part (SCCP) Message Transfer Level Part 3 (MTP3)-B /SAAL-NNI for the ATM transport option M3UA/Simple Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) for the IP transport option ALCAP SAAL-UNI(for ATM transport option) for Iub Interface Radio Link Control (RLC), Media Access Control (MAC)- for Uu interface
w w w w w w w

RNSAP Stack Features/Functions:

w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Supports RNSAP Common, Dedicated, Mobility, and Global procedures for both SRNC and DRNC Provides SCCP Connection Management Provides Redundancy Support

3.3. User Plane stacks

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 NBAP Stack Features/Functions:

w

MAC Stack Features/Functions

w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Supports NBAP Common and Dedicated procedures Provides Redundancy Support

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Supports mapping logical to transport channels Provides selection of appropriate Transport Format for each Transport Channel (TFCI Selection)

RRC Stack Features/Functions:

w w w

Supports Release 4 and Release 99 Configures RLC/MAC entities Performs the mobility functions of the RRC connection Performs paging and notification Supports UE measurement reporting and reporting control Controls ciphering configuration of RLC/MAC Performs integrity protection and integrity check of RRC messages Supports parallel execution of multiple transactions between UTRAN and UE Broadcasts information related to the access stratum and non-access stratum. A separate SIB Encoder Library, which is used at RNC and Node B, supports this function.

Supports identification of UEs on common transport channels Supports multiplexing / de-multiplexing of higher layer PDUs into / from transport block sets Provides traffic volume monitoring Provides dynamic transport channel type switching Provides Ciphering support for TM Mode RBs For message transactions between the RLC, MAC and FP protocol entities, zero buffer copy mechanism is used.

w w

w w

w w

w w

SCCP Stack Features/Functions:

w w w

Class 0, 2 Services Segmentation and Re-assembly Redundancy Support Distribution Support

RLC Stack Features/Functions:

w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 MTP3-B Stack Features/Functions:

w

w w w

Supports Segmentation and Re-assembly Supports Concatenation and Padding Supports the transfer of User Data in AM/UM/TM mode Provides Error Correction and In-Sequence Delivery Provides Flow Control Provides Ciphering support for AM/UM Mode RBs

Provides Message routing, discrimination and distribution Provides Signaling Link Management Supports Load Sharing Provides Redundancy Support Provides Distribution Support

w w w w

w w

M3UA Stack Features/Functions:

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RNC Development

Transport of SS7 MTP 3 user signaling over IP using SCTP

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Provides RNC Flow Control, Error Detection or Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) Transport of AMR data streams of various data bit rates Rate matching of AMR data

SCTP Stack Features/Functions:

w

Reliable transport of signaling on top of an unreliable routing-based packet network such as IP.

SAAL-NNI Stack Features/Functions:

w w

Supports SAAL connection management Provides Link status and remote processor status mechanisms

Iur FP Stack Features/Functions:

w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Supports transport of MAC-C/SH SDUs between SRNC and DRNC every 10ms Supports Flow Control of FACH Data Streams Multiplexes several UEs on one Transport Bearer Provides CRC Check Provides Error Detection (CRC Calculation) Provides transport of UL and DL DCH Data Supports Set of Coordinated DCHs on the same Transport Bearer

Provides reliable exchange of signaling information

w w

Supports signaling link error monitoring

ALCAP(Q.2630, Q.2150) Stack Features/Functions:

w w w w w

Establishing and releasing end-to-end ondemand AAL2 connections Signaling conversion for MTP-3

SAAL-UNI Stack Features/Functions:

w

Iub FP Stack Features/Functions:

w

Establishment and release of SAAL connections for assured transfer of data Signaling link error monitoring Flow control

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Node Synchronization Transport Channel Synchronization Transport of TBS across Iub interface in Uplink and Downlink Transport channels between Node B- CRNC (for common channels) and between Node B - SRNC within each TTI of 10ms/20ms/40ms/80ms

w w

w w w

3.5. Features of HSS User Plane stacks:

GTP-U Stack Features/Functions:
w

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Provides user data transmission Provides tunneling of multi-protocol data packets

w w w

Error Detection (CRC Calculation) Transport of UL and DL DCH Data Supports set of Coordinated DCHs on the same Transport Bearer

w w

PDCP Stack Features/Functions: Iu-UP Stack Features/Functions:

12

Supports Release 5, Release 4 and Release 99 Compression of redundant network PDU header information Transfer of packet data protocol user data using RLC services Sequence numbers for radio bearers to support loss-less SRNS relocation Flexible internal memory allocation (dynamic or static) to minimise memory usage

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RNC Development

4.

HSS Products Features

HSS stacks are platform-independent (ease of

4.3. Portable
HSS stacks use a virtual environment known as the Common Stacks Porting Library (CSPL), which provide a uniform OS service interface for interacting with the Operating System. CSPL shields the HSS stacks from the Operating System function calls and instead provides consistent function interface, irrespective of the OS used. CSPL maps these function calls to the OS function calls. Thus, all stack

porting) and characterized by high performance, high throughput and high availability. They also provide high scalability. This has been made possible by modular design and porting library.

4.1. High Performance

The performance aspect of RNC is related to its ability to meet the call/session setup delays, timing requirements for providing the required QoS to the connected UEs. This requires a high throughput, which has been achieved by implementing the following design principles. Efficient memory management Optimized data structures Efficient search algorithms An efficient distribution framework is also

components become available for a particular OS by porting the CSPL to the OS. The advantages of using CSPL are: Uniform OS Services interface for all stacks Standardizes porting to new operating systems Readymade ports for popular operating systems:
w w w w

Solaris Linux VxWorks Win32

required to facilitate high throughput rates. Traffic must be distributed across multiple instances, thereby increasing the traffic handling capacity of nodes and providing a unified view of the external network and stack users. HSS has established a strategy for the distribution of its protocol stacks, which can be tailored according to customer needs.

Facilitates integration of a stack entity with other entities CSPL also provides the following services to the stacks:
w

Memory Management for Contexts and Messages Scheduling Timer Management Messaging

w w w

4.2. Reliability
Carrier grade solutions require very high

4.4. Uniform Management Interface

HSS protocol stacks provide an interface with a Management Entity. This interface is used for initialization, provisioning of the stacks, managing timers, debug trace levels, error levels and statistics reporting required for the operation, administration and maintenance of protocol stacks. These are explained below in detail.

availability, of the order of five nines. This is achieved by ensuring that there are no single points of failure in the system. HSS has prior experience in developing carrier grade solutions and has a High Availability Framework, which has been used internally for various HSS products and customer solutions to implement high availability systems. High Availability Platform support has been provided for most of the Application Protocol stacks.

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4.4.1. Provisioning
The protocol stacks are initialized and provisioned through the is Management provided to Interface. the The in static the information stacks

Statistics can be used by the RNC developer to provide diagnostic for O&M purposes.

4.4.4. Error Handling

This module contains the functions for error processing. Any occurrence of an error results in a call to a function in this module. This code is organized in a separate module to allow porting by the user, to enhance system diagnostics and customize the error handling. Error Handling is a compile time option that can be included or excluded using a compile time flag.

provisioning API. Examples of static information are the number of nodes connected and the point codes. Parameters that tune the run-time-memory requirements of the stack are provided along with this information. For example, the number of UE contexts supported by the stack is configured through this API. The operator-specific values for Procedure Retries and Timer Values are also provided.

4.4.2. Debugging and Tracing

The stacks provide for multiple trace levels. The tracing support is controlled by a compile time option that excludes/includes tracing facilities. After the tracing facilities are included through the compile time option, the run-time control of tracing is achieved through: Trace flags which specify the module/functionality/control flow for which the tracing information is required. Trace levels that specify the details of the tracing information required. By selecting the right trace levels for various trace flags, the operation of the stacks can be debugged effectively. APIs are provided to set the trace level of any trace flag and to retrieve the current trace level.

4.5. Compatibility and Interoperability

HSS has delivered RNC protocol stacks to various customers, where nodes compliant to different UMTS releases have inter-operated with each other. The RNC protocol stacks have been inter-operated with network nodes of various OEMs and have been tested against the standard test tools. It reduces the risk of inter-operability against other vendor equipment.

4.6. Standards Compliance

HSS products conform to the international standards published by 3GPP, ETSI and ITU-T. HSS is committed towards the continued conformance of its products to these standards as they evolve in the near future.

4.4.3. Statistics Collection

APIs are provided to collect various statistics in the RNC protocol stacks. A message-based interface is provided for the initialization and collection of various statistics for events occurring in the stack layer such as reception of peer messages. This facility can be excluded at compile time. The following statistics classes are collected: Protocol Statistics Connection Data Statistics Error Statistics

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4.7. HSS Stacks Performance Analysis A case study

Performance analysis of HSS control plane stacks was done on a COTS reference platform. The reference platform was PowerPC single-processorbased. It had an: OC3/STM1 Communications controller, 400 MHz clock, 100 MHz system bus 1 MB L2 (secondary cache) cache and on-chip D/I cache of 32 KB. The messages used in the calculation covered all the important messages required in a typical call setup scenario. Uu Interface: RRC Messages at Uu interface required for Connection Setup RRC Connection Request RRC Connection Setup RRC Connection Setup Complete Initial Direct Transfer RRC Security Mode Connection setup/hr (at 10 % CPU) = 115K Iub Interface: NBAP messages at Iub interface required for Connection Setup Radio Link Setup Request Radio Link Setup Complete Connection setup/hr (at 5 % CPU) = 125K Iu Interface: RANAP Messages required for Connection Setup Initial UE message Security Mode Command Direct Transfer Radio Access Bearer (RAB) Assignment Request RAB Assignment Response Connection setup/hr (at 10 % CPU) = 130K

Considering the connection release time and unsuccessful call attempts, and extrapolating the afore-mentioned connection setup data, BHCA of 150K (from the signaling message-processing perspective) can be achieved using HSS stacks on a single processor-based platform. HSS has also done a study of standard Network Processors available. Based on this study and extrapolating the results, it can be said that HSS user plane protocol stacks, when ported on Network Processor should be able to meet the data throughput requirements.

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5.

Conclusion
The implementation and of the the HSS Interface reduces time-to-market

It meets all the carrier grade requirements such as high availability, high throughput and interoperability. The interface software a short span of time. can help

software facilitates the development of the RNC Application considerably. The Interface software handles the protocol details, thereby allowing the user to focus on the core functionality of RNC Application.

immensely in the development of a typical RNC within

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Hughes Software Systems is a key supplier of communication technologies for Voice over Packet, Intelligent Networks and High-speed Mobile Networks, and is fully focussed on the needs of its customers to build Next Generation Networks.
The comprehensive set of software building blocks from HSS consists of both protocol stacks and Integrated Interfaces for the 3G/UMTS Network Nodes
Integrated Interfaces Uu Iu-PS Iu-CS Iub Iur Stacks RRC,RLC,MAC,FP, PDCP RANAP, SIGTRAN GTP NBAP, SAAL, ALCAP RNSAP

Hughes Software Systems

Plot 31, Electronic City, Sector 18, Gurgaon 122 015, India Tel: +91-124-2346666, 2455555 Fax: +91-124-2455100, 2455101
HSS USA, East Coast
Germantown Tel: +1-240-453-2498 Boston Tel: +1-617-547-6377 Dallas Tel: +1-972-517-3345

HSS Europe
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HSS USA, West Coast

San Jose Tel: +1-408-436-4604 Los Angeles Tel: +1-323-571-0032; 571-0114

HSS India
Gurgaon Tel: +91-124-2455555; 2346666 Bangalore Tel: +91-80-2286390

E-mail: info@hssworld.com

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