Professional Documents
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V900R008
Flow Control
Issue 02
Date 2008-06-30
INTERNAL
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Notice
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made in the
preparation of this document to ensure accuracy of the contents, but the statements, information, and
recommendations in this document do not constitute a warranty of any kind, express or implied.
Contents
1 Flow Control................................................................................................................................1-1
1.1 Overview.........................................................................................................................................................1-2
1.2 Availability......................................................................................................................................................1-2
1.3 Impact..............................................................................................................................................................1-4
1.4 Technical Description.....................................................................................................................................1-4
1.4.1 Flow Control Measures..........................................................................................................................1-4
1.4.2 Flow Control Algorithms.......................................................................................................................1-5
1.5 Implementation..............................................................................................................................................1-19
1.5.1 Configuring Flow Control....................................................................................................................1-19
1.6 Maintenance Information..............................................................................................................................1-22
1.7 References.....................................................................................................................................................1-23
Figures
Figure 1-1 Relations between the OM flow control levels and the flow control thresholds..............................1-17
Figure 1-2 Configuring flow control data..........................................................................................................1-20
Figure 1-3 Configuring BSC timer.....................................................................................................................1-21
Figure 1-4 Configuring software parameters.....................................................................................................1-21
Figure 1-5 Configuring TRX attributes..............................................................................................................1-22
Tables
1 Flow Control
1.1 Overview
This describes flow control. The flow control function enables the BSS to decrease the access
traffic flow and to provide good quality services.
1.2 Availability
This lists the NEs, software, and other conditions required for the implementation of flow control.
1.3 Impact
This describes the impact of flow control on system performance and on other features.
1.4 Technical Description
This describes the causes, measures, and algorithms related to flow control.
1.5 Implementation
This describes how to configure flow control.
1.6 Maintenance Information
This lists the alarms and counters related to flow control.
1.7 References
1.1 Overview
This describes flow control. The flow control function enables the BSS to decrease the access
traffic flow and to provide good quality services.
Definition
When the system traffic flow or the system load exceeds the design specifications, the BSS
system performs flow control to reduce the service connections or to disable some OM functions
based on priorities. This ensures the smooth operation of primary services and enables the system
to restore to the normal state within a short period of time.
Flow control can be classified into two types:
l Traffic flow control
Traffic flow control is an overload precaution. The traffic flow control function enables the
system to retain large traffic volume and ensures the stable running of the system.
l System congestion control
System congestion control is an overload protection measure. The system congestion
control function enables the system to control the message arrival rate when the system is
overloaded. Thus, the system load is reduced.
Purposes
The purpose of flow control is as follows:
l The BSC runs normally and provide services.
l The BSC provides optimal services.
l The BSC provides differentiated services based on the QoS policies.
Terms
Term Definition
Message arrival rate Message arrival rate indicates the number of specified messages
received by the BSC in a unit time.
1.2 Availability
This lists the NEs, software, and other conditions required for the implementation of flow control.
NEs Involved
Table 1-1 lists the NEs involved in flow control.
NOTE
l : NEs not involved
l : involved
Software Releases
Table 1-2 lists the versions of GBSS products that support flow control.
Product Version
Miscellaneous
The realization of flow control requires the cooperation of the MSC and the BTS.
l The MSC can process Overload messages and Load Indication messages on the A interface.
The MSC can process Overload messages and Load Indication messages sent by the BSC
according to the 3GPP 48008 protocol. When the BSC is overloaded, the MSC should
reduce the number of messages sent to the BSC.
l The BTS can process the Overload, CCCH Load Indication, and CBCH Load Indication
messages on the Abis interface.
When the BTS is overloaded, it can send the BSC flow control messages (such as Overload
messages and CCCH Load Indication messages), indicating the load conditions of the BTS.
1.3 Impact
This describes the impact of flow control on system performance and on other features.
l When the flow control takes effect, some system OM functions may be forbidden and some
service flow may be controlled. For example, debug logs cannot be outputted, or some
tracing messages may be limited.
l When the flow control takes effect, some functions cannot be used. For example, the
SDCCH dynamic adjustment function is forbidden.
l When the flow control takes effect, the BSC may discard some access request messages,
such as access request messages from MSs, paging messages, and incoming BSC handover
request messages.
l Internal causes
Internal causes such as OM in batches or internal exceptions may increase system
processing loads or exhaust key system resources.
l External causes
Excessive traffic flow from other NEs may lead to the BSS overload. For example, the
MSC sends a large number of paging messages within a short period of time, or a large
number of MSs send or resend access request messages simultaneously. All this increases
the traffic flow and processor load of the BSC and exhausts key system resources. Thus,
the BSS system is overloaded.
The BSC takes various flow control measures to decrease the system load. This ensures the
smooth processing of primary services and enables the system to restore the normal state within
a short period of time.
The BSC has the following flow control measures:
l 1.4.2.1 Flow Control of Message Arrival Rates
l 1.4.2.2 Flow Control on LAPD Links
l 1.4.2.3 Traffic Flow Control on the Um Interface
l 1.4.2.4 Cell Flow Control
l 1.4.2.5 Inner Flow Control
l 1.4.2.6 OM Flow control
l 1.4.2.7 Abis Resource Access Control
l 1.4.2.8 Congestion Backpressure Mechanism
l The BSC does not discard the random access request messages that are responded by the called party.
Instead, the random access request messages of this type are taken as examples to calculate the message
arrival rate.
l The BSC determines whether to discard the global paging messages and the second paging messages
according to the flow control strategies. These discarded messages are not included in the calculation
of message arrival rate.
3. If there are no available resources for type OTHER, the resources for type MOC
are assigned.
4. If there are no available resources for type OTHER, the call request is rejected.
If the cause is of type MOC, the strategy of controlling the message arrival rate is
as follows:
If there are available resources for type MOC, the call request is accepted.
If there are no available resources for type OTHER, the call request is rejected.
If the cause of an random access request message is of type OTHER, the strategy of
controlling the message arrival rate is as follows:
If there are available resources for type OTHER, the call request is accepted.
If there are no available resources for type OTHER, the call request is rejected.
DL Flow Control
If the rate at which the messages are sent to the LAPD link in the BSC is higher than the rate at
which the BSC sends the messages on the LAPD link to the Abis interface, DL messages are
buffered in the I frame queue or are even discarded. Therefore, the size of the messages in the
I frame queue should be calculated to determine whether to start flow control. The principles of
enabling or disabling the flow control function are as follows:
l If the ratio of the occupied I frame queues on the LAPD link is higher than Flow Control
Start Threshold, the flow control function is enabled. By default, the Flow Control Start
Threshold is set to 90%. That is, if the ratio of the occupied I frame queues on the LAPD
link is higher than 90%, all paging messages are discarded.
l If the ratio of the occupied I frame queues on the LAPD link is lower than or equal to Flow
Control End Threshold, the flow control function is disabled. By default, the Flow Control
Start Threshold is set to 60%. That is, if the ratio of the occupied I frame queues on the
LAPD link is lower than or equal to 60%, no paging messages are discarded.
If a great number of paging messages are processed by only one CPU on the GXPUT, the CPU
may fail because of overload. Therefore, the BSC determines the flow control level on the basis
of the CPU usage. The strategies of flow control are as follows:
l If CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Paging Flow Control in Slight Congestion
(%) < CPU usage CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Paging Flow Control
in Minor Congestion (%), the BSC performs the slight flow control on paging messages.
The BSC determines the ratio of discarded paging messages on the preceding flow control levels
according to Flow Control Ratio of XPU's CS/PS Paging (%) and Flow Control Ratio of
XPU's Other Paging (%).
UL Flow Control
If a large number of random access request messages are sent on the LAPD links on the Abis
interface, the traffic flow of the system is sharply increased. Thus, the LAPD links are
overloaded.
The BSC controls the arrival rate of random access request messages sent from the BTS, and
determines the flow control levels based on the CPU usage. The flow control strategies are as
follows:
l If CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Channel Required Flow Control in Slight
Congestion (%) < CPU usage CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Channel
Required Flow Control in Minor Congestion (%), the BSC performs the slight flow
control on random access request messages.
l If CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Channel Required Flow Control in
Minor Congestion (%) < CPU usage CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's
Channel Required Flow Control in Major Congestion (%), the BSC performs the minor
flow control on random access request messages.
l If CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Channel Required Flow Control in
Major Congestion (%) < CPU usage CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's
Channel Required Flow Control in Critical Congestion (%), the BSC performs the
major flow control on random access request messages.
l If CPU usage > CPU Occupied Rate Threshold of XPUT's Channel Required Flow
Control in Critical Congestion (%), the BSC performs the critical flow control on random
access request messages.
The BSC determines the ratio of discarded random access request messages on the preceding
flow control levels according to Flow Control Ratio 1 of XPU's Channel Required(%), Flow
Control Ratio 2 of XPU's Channel Required(%), and Flow Control Ratio 3 of XPU's
Channel Required(%).
TRX Overload
When a TRX in the BTS is overloaded, the following procedure is initiated:
1. The BTS sends an Overload message to the BSC with the cause value Processor Overload
and the overloaded TRX.
2. On receiving the Overload message, the BSC starts the internal timer and sets the state of
the overloaded TRX to the overload state. In this case, the BSC stops assigning the SDCCHs
and TCHs of the TRX. It also stops the SDCCH dynamic adjustment and reconversion.
l If the TRX runs normally after the internal timer expires, the BSC can perform channel
assignment and SDCCH dynamic adjustment.
l If the internal timer does not expire (the TRX is in the overload state) and the BSC again
receives an Overload (processor overload) message related to the TRX, the BSC restarts
the internal timer and sets the TRX to the overload state.
1. The BTS sends the BSC a CCCH Overload Indication message, indicating that the PCHs
of the current cell are overloaded.
2. On receiving the CCCH Overload Indication message, the BSC sends an Overload message
to the MSC with the overload cause CCCH Overload. The Overload message also indicates
the overloaded cell.
3. After receiving the Overload message, the MSC reduces paging messages sent to the BSC.
NOTE
The flow control related to paging channel overload is a basic function of the BSS and does not require
data configurations.
Based on the loads of the CBCHs, the BTS sends the CBCH Load Indication messages to the
BSC. The CBCH Load Indication messages indicate whether the CBCH is overloaded or
underloaded.
l If the CBCHs of the current cell are overloaded, the BSC does not send cell broadcast
messages to the cell within a period of N x 1.883 seconds so that the load on the CBCHs
is reduced. Where, N is the delay value that is indicated in the CBCH Load Indication
message, and 1.883 indicates the minimum interval (with a unit of seconds) between two
consecutive broadcast messages in a cell.
l If the CBCHs of the current cell are underloaded and the CBCH Load Indication message
indicates the number N, the BSC determines how many cell broadcast messages can be
sent. Assume that N is the number of cell broadcast messages that can be sent to the current
cell, M is the number of cell broadcast messages that need to be sent, and S = Min {M, N}.
The number of cell broadcast messages that can be sent by the BSC to the BTS is S.
NOTE
The flow control related to cell broadcast messages does not require data configurations, but requires the
BSC to support cell broadcast short messages.
If there is no channel available for assignment after the BSC receives a channel request message,
the BSC triggers the cell flow control. Cell flow control is performed to avoid the following
situations:
l When a large number of MSs simultaneously send location update requests or channel
requests, the BSC sends a large number of Immediate Assignment messages or Immediate
Assignment Reject messages to the BTS. Thus, the BTS is overloaded and the transmission
queue of AGCHs overflows.
l After sending a channel request message, the MS retransmits the channel request message
if it does not receive a real-time response from the network. When an Immediate
Assignment message is discarded, the MS cannot use the activated SDCCH, which is not
released until timer T3101 of the cell expires. Thus, the SDCCH is wasted.
The cell flow control function uses double timers to adjust the flow control level. The double
timer mechanism is described in the 3GPP 48058 protocol. When a cell is initialized, the flow
control level of the cell is zero and the flow control state is Idle state. Abis Flow Control Timer
1 (timer T1) and Abis Flow Control Timer 2 (timer T2) are not running. Table 1-3 describes
the transition of the flow control states.
Idle state A cell has no channel The flow control Timers T1 and T2 are
available for level is increased by running.
assignment. one. Timers T1 and
T2 are started.
Timers T1 and T2 are The current cell has The traffic statistics Timers T1 and T2 are
running. no available channel. are performed. running.
Timer T2 is running. The current cell has The flow control Timers T1 and T2 are
no available channel. level is increased by running.
one. Start timers T1
and T2.
NOTE
When the flow control level changes, the BSC modifies the parameters MS MAX Retrans and
Tx-integer in the system information and retransmits the system message. The new system
message requests the MS to reduce channel request messages and to increase the interval of
sending channel request messages. Table 1-4 describes the flow control measures that are taken
when the cell flow control level changes.
45 1 Tx-integer = 15.
The length of timer T3122 specified in the immediate assignment reject message sent by the
BSC varies with the cell flow control level. The higher the cell flow control level is, the higher
the length of timer T3122 is. That is, the duration that the MS waits before retransmitting a
channel request message increases with the increase in the cell flow control level. Table 1-5
lists the mapping between the cell flow control level and the length of timer T3122.
Table 1-5 Mapping between the cell flow control level and the length of timer T3122
Cell Flow Control Level Length of Timer T3122 (Unit : Second)
0 10
1 30
2 90
3 130
4 170
The BSS limits some auxiliary functions based on the inner flow control levels, as listed in
Table 1-6.
Table 1-6 Auxiliary functions related to the internal flow control levels
Control Item Flow Control Level
l If the current flow control level is 0 or an emergency call is being made, the flow control
is not performed.
l If the current flow control level is not 0 and no emergency call is being made, the flow
control level (slight/minor/major/critical) is determined according to the CPU usage of
the GSCU in the GTCS or according to the resource usage of the GTCS. Then, a
proportion of messages are discarded according to the flow control level. The default
proportions of messages that are discarded under different flow control levels are as
follows:
If CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Slight Congestion (%) CPU usage of the GSCU
in the GTCS < CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Minor Congestion (%), the BSC starts
the slight flow control.
If CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Minor Congestion (%) CPU usage of the GSCU
in the GTCS < CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Major Congestion (%), the BSC starts
the minor flow control.
If CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Major Congestion (%) CPU usage of the GSCU
in the GTCS < CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Critical Congestion (%), the BSC
starts the minor flow control.
If the CPU usage of the GSCU in the GTCS CPU Ratio of SCU of TC in Critical
Congestion(%), the BSC starts the critical flow control.
NOTE
In addition, the flow control level can be determined according to the resource usage of the GTCS.
That is, if the resource usage of the GTCS > Major Flow Control Ratio of TC (%), the major
flow control of the GTCS is started.
Table 1-7 lists the default proportions of messages that are discarded under different
flow control levels.
Table 1-7 Default proportions of messages discarded under different flow control levels
Flow Control Level Proportions of Parameter
Messages Discarded
NOTE
The discarded messages under flow control are resource request messages. The corresponding
calls cannot request resources from the GTCS side, so these calls are released.
3. When the duration is higher than the Flow Control Timer Length Between BM and TC
(ms), the BSC clears the flow control information recorded by the CPU in the GTCS.
OM Flow control
This describes the OM flow control. The GOMU/GBAM and service boards determine whether
to perform OM or whether to send OM messages to other boards based on relevant information.
The system monitoring processes monitor in real time key system resources such as the CPU
usage and system message resources in the GOMU/GBAM and service boards, and then
calculate the usage of these resources and the flow control level of each board. Then, based on
these flow control levels, flow control is performed on messages, such as log messages and
signaling tracing messages.
The flow control levels of the GOMU/GBAM and each service board are broadcast to other
boards through periodical message broadcasts. A board determines whether to perform OM or
send OM messages to other boards based on its flow control level and the flow control levels of
other boards received from periodical message broadcasts.
By default, the OM flow control of the BSC uses hierarchical flow control and has multiple flow
control thresholds (ThSt). For each flow control level, the BSC performs relevant operations.
l If the value of a flow control source is smaller than ThSt1, the flow of the flow control
source is not controlled.
l If the value of a flow control source is greater than ThStn, all the flow control sources are
discarded.
l If the value of a flow control source is between ThSt1 and ThStn, the flow of the flow
control source is controlled based on its flow control level.
Figure 1-1 shows the relations between the OM flow control levels and the flow control
thresholds.
Figure 1-1 Relations between the OM flow control levels and the flow control thresholds
Flow
control level
0
ThSt1 ThStn Flow
control source
When the flow control level reaches level 2, the BSC controls the flow of the signaling tracing
messages.
NOTE
Table 1-8 Mapping between the service type and the service priority
CS Preferred PS Preferred
MS-originated calls 1 1
MS-terminated calls 1 1
Emergency calls 0 0
VBS 13 13
VGCS 13 13
Supplementary services 15 15
Call re-establishment 6 6
Intra-BSC handover 3 3
PS services 5 1
Other services 15 15
Table 1-9 Mapping between the service priority and the congestion level
0 10 20 50 70 80
1 10 20 50 70 80
2 12 22 52 72 82
3 12 22 52 74 82
4 13 24 54 74 84
5 13 24 54 76 84
6 14 26 56 76 86
7 14 26 56 78 86
8 16 28 58 78 88
9 16 28 58 79 88
10 18 30 60 80 90
11 20 32 62 81 92
12 22 34 64 82 94
13 24 36 66 83 96
14 26 38 68 84 98
15 28 40 70 85 100
NOTE
As listed in Table 1-9, the value in a cell at the crossing point of the service priority row and the congestion
level column indicates the numerator of the percentage of the access resources to be discarded to the total
access resources. For example, the percentage in service priority 5 and at congestion level 4 is 76%.
If access control is enabled, the resource administration module obtains the ratio of access
resources to be discarded by service priority and congestion level according to the mapping listed
in Table 1-9. Then, based on the ratio, the resource requests from some calls are rejected.
When the IP or HDLC transmission is used over the Abis interface, the BSC obtains the
transmission traffic situation over the Abis interface by cell. If one TRX in a cell is congested,
the BSC regards that the cell is congested.
When congestion occurs, the BSC performs different operations on CS services and PS services.
l For subsequent CS calls, the BSC preferentially allocates half-rate channels. If only full-
rate channels are available in the congested cell, the BSC converts the full-rate channels
into half-rate channels, and then allocates these half-rate channels. This helps relieve the
congestion on the Abis interface.
l For PS services, the BSC performs the following operations:
Notifying the SGSN of congestion
Reducing the downlink GPRS data rate and the number of additional timeslots to
alleviate the congestion on the Abis interface
1.5 Implementation
This describes how to configure flow control.
Procedure
Step 1 On the Management Tree tab page of the BSC6000 Local Maintenance Terminal, right-click
BSC6000 and choose Configure BSC Attributes from the shortcut menu. A dialog box is
displayed. Set relevant parameters in the following manner:
l Click the Flow Control Data tab, and then set parameters, as shown in Figure 1-2.
l Click the BSC Timer tab. Set the parameters, as shown in Figure 1-3.
l Click the Software Parameters tab. Set the flow control data of the GTCS, as shown in
Figure 1-4.
Step 2 Set Flow Control Start Threshold and Flow Control End Threshold.
1. On the Management Tree tab page of the BSC6000 Local Maintenance Terminal, right-
click the target TRX and then choose Configure TRX Attributes from the shortcut menu.
2. In the TRX view list box, select the TRX whose attributes are to be modified. Then, click
Set TRX Attributes. A dialog box is displayed. Click the RSL Setting tab, as shown in
Figure 1-5.
Set Flow Control Start Threshold and Flow Control End Threshold.
----End
Alarms
Table 1-10 lists the alarms related to flow control.
ID Description
ID Description
Counters
Table 1-11 lists the counters related to flow control.
Specification Meaning
1.7 References
l 3GPP 48.058 Base Station Controller - Base Transceiver Station (BCS-BTS) Interface
Layer 3 Specification
l 3GPP 48.008 Mobile Switching Centre - Base Station system (MSC-BSS) Interface Layer
3 Specification