Configurations, capacity, and performance of the Flexi Product description of Flexi BSC

BSC

6 Configurations, capacity, and performance of

the Flexi BSC

6.1 Configurations

The Flexi BSC is available in a compact one-cabinet configuration for up to 4200 TRX
configurations. It has the flexibility to be equipped with a number of PCUs and trunk
circuits according to the requirement.

Table 2 Flexi BSC maximum capacity steps in the hardware environment

Flexi BSC 1...700 ...1400 ...2100 ...2800 ...3500 ...4200
TRXs *
BTS sectors 700 1400 2100 2800 3500 4200
(BTS)
BTS sites 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
(BCF)
Active BCSUs 1 2 3 4 5 6
TCH for 5600 11200 16800 22400 28000 33600
GPRS/EDGE
**

* Software is scalable in 1 TRX steps with licence keys.

** Abis 16 kbit/s channels for GPRS/EDGE.

g Note: Due to signalling link allocation, the sum of BTSs and BCFs cannot be more than
6000, that is, if 4200 BTSs are used, maximum 1800 BCFs can be configured.

For a description of the configurations, see Engineering for Flexi BSC.

6.2 Traffic handling capacity

With reference to the nominal model below, the maximum processing capacity of a Flexi
BSC is 25 200 Erl, giving full support to 4200 TRXs.
The BHCA value varies heavily depending on the call mix. With the nominal call mix the
call processing capacity is 743 400 BHCA and with a call mix having a very short call
mean holding time and other supporting characteristics over 4 M BHCA can be reached.

Table 3 Circuit switched processing capacity of the Flexi BSC with nominal call mix
Reference model of call traffic (call mix and
parameters):
Mean holding time 120 s
Proportion of MS originated calls 70%

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Product description of Flexi BSC Configurations, capacity, and performance of the Flexi
BSC

Table 3 Circuit switched processing capacity of the Flexi BSC with nominal call mix
(Cont.)
Reference model of call traffic (call mix and
parameters):
Proportion of MS terminated calls 30%
Proportion of handovers 1.5 per call
Proportion of location updates 2 per call
Proportion of IMSI detaches 0.1 per call
For terminating call attempts, the no-answer 63%
call attempts to paging requests
SMS call rate 1 req./subs./1 hour

The above-mentioned traffic processing capacity of the BSC can be achieved with the
latest Flexi BSC hardware environment in a maximum capacity configuration. Some new
functionalities and network characteristics might, however, have an influence on the
capacity of the Flexi BSC. The maximum traffic processing capacity (25 200 Erl) of the
Flexi BSC supports 4200 full rate TRXs or 2100 half rate TRXs. Connectivity for 4200
AMR HR TRXs is available as an optional Soft Channel Capacity functionality.

6.3 Connectivity

Different types of connections are provided with Flexi BSC as follows:

• 18 optical SDH/Sonet interfaces with fibre redundance (18 active and 18 redundant
interfaces)
• 800 E1/T1 connections used on external interfaces with ET units
• 13 Gigabit Ethernet connections are provided for the IP interfaces (1000Base-SX
optical or 10/100/1000Base-T/TX)

The details of the Flexi BSC external connectivity are given in the following table.

Table 4 Flexi BSC external connectivity

Purpose Technology Card Connectivity
Traditional telecom STM-1 / OC-3 ETS2 18 + 18***
connectivity for all interfaces
purposes*
E1 / T1 interfaces ET16 800
CESoPSN (E1/T1 Giga Ethernet ETIP1-A 9 + 9***
over IP) connectivity interfaces
for all purposes*
Connectivity for Giga Ethernet i/f for ETP 6+6
Packet Abis Packet Abis over IP
STM-1 / OC-3 i/f for ETP and ETS2 6 + 6 and 3 + 3
Packet Abis over
TDM
Connectivity for A Giga Ethernet ETP and ETP-A 4 in pool
over IP interfaces

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BSC

Table 4 Flexi BSC external connectivity (Cont.)

Purpose Technology Card Connectivity
IP connectivity for Giga Ethernet ESB24-D 2+2
application features** interfaces

* Abis (Dynamic), Ater, A, and Gb (FR)

** Gb over IP, O&M, Lb, DFCA, CBC, and A interface signaling (SIGTRAN)
*** Internal cabling modification, additional cables available also for installed base to
extend the connectivity from 16+16 (ETS2) or 8+8 (ETIP1-A)
All needed interfaces can be connected with IP/Ethernet connections: user traffic from
the Abis and Ater interfaces with E1/T1 channelized in IP interface with ETIP1 plug-in
units and user traffic from the Gb interface with native-IP interfaces. All IP interfaces
support Gigabit Ethernet optionally with electrical 1000BaseT/TX or optical 1000Base-SX
Ethernet connections.

6.4 Signalling capacity

The GSM network has been originally specified (GSM 08.08) and designed to use 64
kbit/s CCS7 links in the A-interface. Due to various reasons, the CCS7 links can be
congested in the A-interface. The situation can be improved with higher capacity CCS7
links on the A-interface between the BSC and MSC/MGW:

• a maximum of 16 SS7 signalling links. Optionally wider 128, 256, 512 kbit/s or
2Mbit/s signalling links can be configured instead of the standard 64 kbit/s links.

Table 5 Signalling capacity of the Flexi BSC

Flexi 1...700 ...1400 ...2100 ...2800 ...3500 ...4200
BSC
TRXs
Maximum
number of
SS7 links
64 kbit/s 8 16 16 16 16 16
128 kbit/s 4 8 12 16 16 16
256 kbit/s 2 4 6 8 10 12
512 kbit/s 2 4 6 8 10 12
1024 1 2 3 4 5 6
kbit/s
2 Mbit/s 1 2 3 4 5 6

There shall always be configured at least two links in different BCSUs. The GSM
standards limit the number of SS7 links to a maximum of 16.

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Product description of Flexi BSC Configurations, capacity, and performance of the Flexi
BSC

SS7 signalling over IP is available as an optional SIGTRAN functionality. SIGTRAN

provides extended capacity compared to traditional SS7 links. There must always be
configured at least two links in different BCSUs.
LAPD signalling links can be configured to 16, 32 or 64 kbit/s speeds. A 32 kbit/s
signalling link is needed for more than 100 000 pages per hour or more than 18 radio
channels because of increased measurement reporting. A 64 kbit/s signalling link is
required for more than 200 000 pages per hour. The overload of the signalling link can
be monitored using the telecom LAPD link supervision with a possibility to set an alarm
in an overload situation. For more information, see BSS (BSC) Traffic Handling,
Overload Protection and Network Planning.
Introduction of HR enables TRX configurations of more than 18 radio channels, which
leads to increased load in measurement reporting. Because of this, the capacity of a 16
kbit/s signalling link is not sufficient in all cases. Therefore it is recommended that also
with HR the TRX configurations should be restricted to the maximum of 18 radio
channels if 16 kbit/s signalling links are used.
With TRX configurations of more than 18 radio channels, a 32 kbit/s LAPD link is highly
recommended for supporting the telecom signalling that half rate requires. The overload
of the signalling link can be monitored by the telecom LAPD link supervision with a
possibility to set an alarm in an overload situation.

6.5 Packet handling capacity

In the Flexi BSC the packet handling capacity is provided by Packet Control Units
(PCUs):

• packet handling capacity and connectivity per each PCU2-E unit is 384 BTSs, 1024
TRXs, and 1024 traffic channels (16 kbit/s, Abis) for GPRS/EDGE use
• PCU2 software is scalable in 256 channel (16 kbit/s, Abis) steps with licence keys
• maximum capacity of Flexi BSC with full configuration (30 PCU2-E units) is 1024 x
30 = 30720 traffic channels (16 kbit/s) per Flexi BSC for GPRS/EDGE use

The packet handling capacity mentioned above can be achieved with the new hardware
environment. However, some functionalities may have extra requirements for the
hardware or an influence on the packet handling capacity of the BSC.

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